Neeven Soodyall
Body-For-Life: 11/12 Weeks Nearly Done
Oct 20, 2011
So here we are, the night before the last day of the 11th week of my 12-week Body-For-Life effort. Back in July, a week after my 47th birthday, I weighed in at 267.4 lb which was particularly frustrating because it represented a 7-lb gain over two weeks. So much for the removal of 80% of my stomach; I was really going through a rough time controlling my weight.At the beginning of August, enough-was-enough and I bought a one-year membership of my city's recreation centre which includes used of the gym and pool near our condo and any other city-owned facility. On the recommendation of my bodybuilder buddy, Avzal whose advice I sought for a way to train, I embarked upon Bill Phillips' Body-For-Life weight-training and cardio-vascular fitness regimen.
This morning was a cardio session where I hit the stationary recumbent bike and the pool particularly hard. When I got back home and weighed myself, I was in for a pleasant surprise: 242.2 lb (110 kg), my lowest weight since surgery. Not only does this represent a loss of 109 lb (49.5 kg) since surgery, but also a not-insignificant dip of 25.2 lb (11.5 kg) since I started training 11 weeks ago.
It bears mentioning that this is probably the first time in my life that I've trained so hard, 6-days-a-week, without incurring any injury. Back in the squash days, by now I would have torn a ligament, pulled a muscle or twisted an ankle which would have stuck me on the couch for days with a bag of potato chips and a declining willpower to return to the gym. This time, however, alternating sessions between weight training and cardio, especially riding the bike and swimming rather than running, went a long way towards keeping me injury-free. Even the weight training alternates upper and lower body workouts so there's plenty of time between sessions to rest weary muscles and allow them to recuperate.
Today, Friday, will be a hectic day of activity starting with an upper body weight workout, squash in the afternoon and, table tennis at night. As I no longer have any excuse to avoid playing squash because I am light-enough to not do any injury to myself, and at the coaxing of my friend, Daniel, I will be picking up a racquet tomorrow afternoon for the first time in about 3 years and hitting balls with my friend, Natalie.
Next week will be significant because it will be the very first time in my entire athletic life that I followed to completion on my own a strict training programme. The last time I did that was in the late 80's under the tutelage of squash coach Bob Callaghan at Princeton.
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About Me
Surrey,
Location
42.5
BMI
Surgery
12/23/2010
Surgery Date
Nov 16, 2010
Member Since
