sarahmichigan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sarahmichigan) wrote2007-12-08 02:20 pm
sarahmichigan) wrote2007-12-08 02:20 pm
5 Health & Fitness Goals in 55 Days - 4 down, one to go!
1. Run a mile in 14:30 or less - COMPLETED (Nov. 3)
2.Go for at least one 10-day stretch where I floss EVERY day. COMPLETED (started Nov. 1, ended Nov. 10)
3.Re-taking the fitness test I took back in July and scoring higher on flexibility and scoring in the "average" or "above average" range for upper body strength (i.e. 12-15 "girly push-ups"). -COMPLETED (Dec. 8).
4.Swimming a half mile in one session. COMPLETED (Nov. 21)
5. Maintain the pace of three upper body weight routine days EVERY week for the entire 55 days of my health & exercise challenge. - IN PROGRESS.
I had my fitness re-test today. I met my upper body strength goal, and while I didn't improve my flexibility as much as I wanted to, it was somewhat improved, along with just about every other measure of fitness. My blood pressure and heart rate were up over the test I took in July, but I attribute this to 1) my heart rate being taken half-way through the test instead of at the beginning, and 2) me being quite nervous.
I'm pretty geeked about this. It'll be interesting to see how my stats look when I've been going to the gym for a full year. I think I want to re-test again next August or September.
Now all I have to do is keep the pace of 3 weight-training days per week until Christmas Eve, and I'll have met all 5 goals. Between that and the stretches and stretchy-band strength exercises I'm doing for my shoulder rehabilitation, I'm going to be a monster of muscle and will be pushing out those 17 girly push-ups any week now!
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5. Maintain the pace of three upper body weight routine days EVERY week for the entire 55 days of my health & exercise challenge. - IN PROGRESS.
I had my fitness re-test today. I met my upper body strength goal, and while I didn't improve my flexibility as much as I wanted to, it was somewhat improved, along with just about every other measure of fitness. My blood pressure and heart rate were up over the test I took in July, but I attribute this to 1) my heart rate being taken half-way through the test instead of at the beginning, and 2) me being quite nervous.
Weight/Body Fat
July: 42.3 %
December: 40.8 %
My weight had only gone down two pounds from July, which is just under one percent of my body weight, but my body fat percentage went down 2.5 percent. I lost 4 pounds of fat and gained 2 pounds of muscle.
Waist-to-hip Ratio
July: 0.88
December: 0.86
I wish I had the exact inches, but they didn't write them down for me. I lost something just shy of 3 inches off my hips and something between 3 and 4 inches off my waist.
Cardio Fitness
20 % improvement in how low my heart rate stayed at the same MPH and incline on the treadmill and my use of oxygen during the test. I went from Average cardio fitness to Above Average.
Upper Body Strength
July: 10 girly push-ups
December: 15 girly pushups
This was a 50 % increase in my upper body strength and it bumped me from Below Average to Average for upper body strength for my age and gender. I would have to be able to push out 17 to score "Above Average."
Lower Body Flexibility
July: 12.3 inches
December: 14.4 inches
You get three tries to reach toward your toes and push a bar as far as you can, and they average the 3 results. My farthest reach was actually 14.75 inches. Though I'm very flexible through the hips, my hamstrings are chronically tight. I think an improvement of 2 inches is pretty good. Percentage-wise, this took me from the bottom 7 percent in flexibility (as compared to my peers) to the bottom 15 percent. There's still room to improve here, though, so I've decided I'm going to aim for doing hamstring stretches twice a day every day (except on days I take yoga, which usually includes hamstring stretches anyway) to improve this further.
Upper Body Flexibility
July: 12 cm
December: 9 cm
This measures when you put your hands behind your back, with one arm going over the top and the other coming from below, how close you can get to touching. They also average the two sides. You actually want your number to become smaller as you're trying to close the gap between your fingers, so I improved by 3 centimeters on average. The side where I'm getting physical therapy improved the most, so that's encouraging. I went from the Well Below Average range to the Below Average range. When I complete physical therapy, I plan to keep using some of the same stretches, so hopefully that will continue to improve.
July: 42.3 %
December: 40.8 %
My weight had only gone down two pounds from July, which is just under one percent of my body weight, but my body fat percentage went down 2.5 percent. I lost 4 pounds of fat and gained 2 pounds of muscle.
Waist-to-hip Ratio
July: 0.88
December: 0.86
I wish I had the exact inches, but they didn't write them down for me. I lost something just shy of 3 inches off my hips and something between 3 and 4 inches off my waist.
Cardio Fitness
20 % improvement in how low my heart rate stayed at the same MPH and incline on the treadmill and my use of oxygen during the test. I went from Average cardio fitness to Above Average.
Upper Body Strength
July: 10 girly push-ups
December: 15 girly pushups
This was a 50 % increase in my upper body strength and it bumped me from Below Average to Average for upper body strength for my age and gender. I would have to be able to push out 17 to score "Above Average."
Lower Body Flexibility
July: 12.3 inches
December: 14.4 inches
You get three tries to reach toward your toes and push a bar as far as you can, and they average the 3 results. My farthest reach was actually 14.75 inches. Though I'm very flexible through the hips, my hamstrings are chronically tight. I think an improvement of 2 inches is pretty good. Percentage-wise, this took me from the bottom 7 percent in flexibility (as compared to my peers) to the bottom 15 percent. There's still room to improve here, though, so I've decided I'm going to aim for doing hamstring stretches twice a day every day (except on days I take yoga, which usually includes hamstring stretches anyway) to improve this further.
Upper Body Flexibility
July: 12 cm
December: 9 cm
This measures when you put your hands behind your back, with one arm going over the top and the other coming from below, how close you can get to touching. They also average the two sides. You actually want your number to become smaller as you're trying to close the gap between your fingers, so I improved by 3 centimeters on average. The side where I'm getting physical therapy improved the most, so that's encouraging. I went from the Well Below Average range to the Below Average range. When I complete physical therapy, I plan to keep using some of the same stretches, so hopefully that will continue to improve.
I'm pretty geeked about this. It'll be interesting to see how my stats look when I've been going to the gym for a full year. I think I want to re-test again next August or September.
Now all I have to do is keep the pace of 3 weight-training days per week until Christmas Eve, and I'll have met all 5 goals. Between that and the stretches and stretchy-band strength exercises I'm doing for my shoulder rehabilitation, I'm going to be a monster of muscle and will be pushing out those 17 girly push-ups any week now!