Day END: Evolution Complete

SPOILER ALERT:  I have a third leg now.

This is it.  It's finished.  The Evolution Program is complete.....But, is a evolution ever really over?

As far as progress goes, I definitely felt functional improvement.  Doing all those core and total body work outs were so elegantly practical.  I can see and feel the stability in my posture and my hips in my every day. All my movements feel all the more safe and solid.  This is especially great progress that I hope to maintain throughout my entire life.
All in all, I'm very happy I applied to this program.  It really helped me continue to prioritize my overal health and fitness when it's so easy to just work, eat, sleep.  I had an opportunity to learn to break from the typical workout mold of one muscle group at a time, and from focusing on repetitive muscle movements that have very little application in everyday life.

I absolutely plan on continuing working out at the same pace I have been.  I'd also like to continue working with a trainer.  It really makes every workout session that much more high-yield.  I also plan to continue trying out different forms and theories in workouts.  Having spent this time with kettlebells and total body work has really inspired me to keep trying different variations of strength and resistance training.

I've made such great progress with only short spurts of time in the middle of my packed schedule that I'm very motivated to keep it going.  If anything, this experience really proved to me that regardless of your schedule getting a great workout (not just a decent workout), in fact, can be done without interfering with work and personal life... On the contrary, it really enhances every other aspect of your life.  It really is a win-win-win situation.

Long term, I'll continue training--improving functional capacity, core strength, and learning new ways to train.  


Thanks to Tyler, Felicia, and the rest of the Fitcorp for making this Evolution possible!

Day 90: Home Stretch?

Why do you mock me, cameraman? WHY?!

The last big stretch is coming up for the Evolution Program.  Will be meeting with Tyler for training and getting some final nutrition recommendations before heading into this home stretch.  It feels like a home stretch, though it definitely isn't the end of my continuing evolution.  Have gone through a great deal so far and am looking forward to the final reflection and see what's changed overall--both physical and mental.

Intern year is still going strong, but so am I.

Day 73: Pilgrim's Progress

I fill my bag with snack bars, too!

Last day of another week of nights.... and what better way to cap it off than with an intense training session with Tyler?  


Did some really great new stabilization workouts today that involve just about every muscle AT EXACTLY THE SAME TIME.  Great challenge!  Also had a chance to do some freeweight basics which was a fantastic way to switch things up and rekindle some nostalgia for my previous workout routines.  


All in all, having had such a bizarre schedule for the last several weeks, it was cemented in my head just how important it is to have a trainer with a relatively flexible schedule...especially when you know that your work schedule makes about as much sense as going the wrong way down a two-way street.

Day 67: The Nocturnist

Creepy?  Or just fortuitously peaceful?

I start back on nights this weekend, and while it put my most active hours during the times that most people are asleep it really opens up the opportunity to do things during the day before and after my shift... mostly because it's during regular business hours.  What that means:  I get to work out more regularly during the week AND have more opportunities to train with Tyler.  The last week of night shifts I was able to sandwich a shift with workouts.  I may try and do that this time to maximize the number of times I get to work out and really gain the maximum benefit from my sleep during the day.  If anything, it'll help make sure that my sleep during the day is just that much more restful.  Looking forward to it!

Day 61: Conserving Willpower

Great article summarizing a lot of important principles and studies related to decision-making, self-control, and willpower:

MAGAZINE

Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue?

By JOHN TIERNEY

Published: August 17, 2011

The very act of making decisions depletes our ability to make them well. So how do we navigate a world of endless choice?

Day 54: Sticking To It

Now that I'm going to be heading to a new medical floor soon, my schedule will be shifting once again. It'll definitely require some more time of adjustment in order to figure out the best time to head to the gym. Despite the crazy schedule, though, I've still been able to go at least 3 times a week to the gym for about 30 minutes at least. Still keeping it up! I'd have to say that probably the most difficult thing about working approx. a 16-hour shift 6 out 7 days of the week does make it quite the challenge to balance everything, particularly taking care of general life things like cooking, cleaning, and laundry. I'm excited for this next schedule, which will hopefully provide more opportunities to keep the Evolution going strong!

Day 48: Double time!

Just finished my week of working nights (9pm to 10am... and beyond at times).  Was fortunately able to make it to the gym a few times in between sleep.  Had one interesting day where I went to the gym before my shift, and went to the gym again at the end of my shift.  A day had gone by since I had worked out with Tyler, but since I had done the night shift it really felt like I had just sandwiched a day with gym-time.  Things are still progressing smoothly and I'm looking forward to continuing the Evolution process.  Had a chance to meet with Amy Boyce, the nutritionist for Fitcorp, and we did a quick trip to Trader Joe's and worked on finding things that were quick to prepare and carry that were healthy and fit within my overall fitness goals and my crazy schedule.  Speaking of...just another month of crazy schedule before two weeks of reasonable human schedule.  Looking forward to it!

-Sent from Joel via email to Fitcorp 

Day 42: Working Double-Time

To say I'm busy is an understatement. Everyday is the equivalent of two workdays in one, leading to each week feeling like two weeks! Long hours can definitely put you in the fast lane to losing track of time! Either way, still going strong. During first of the busy weeks was able to go to the gym three times (one of which was a training session with Tyler). Not bad considering is was a 90+ hr work week! Next I start up the night shift. Let's see how things hold up when I also need to sleep during the day and work at night!

-Sent from Joel via email to Fitcorp

Day 25: The Real Challenge

The intensity of intern year has begun and finding the time to train and workout has (as expected) become the real challenge. The main things that have been really helpful toward keeping it up so far have been to:

1) Adapt.

Having 30-minute workouts that have the same level of intensity of longer workouts, but condensed into 30 minutes, helps make squeezing in a workout all the more doable--especially when you factor in any kind of commute to and from the gym. Making workouts and training sessions that are more of a "total body" workout helps even more. This way you don't ever neglect any muscle groups. It makes an even bigger difference when you never know when you'll have to cancel a workout/training session.

2) Prioritize.

Know your values and make sure that your time and effort (and money!) reflect them. In order to make sure that my health, career, and quality of life are all balanced appropriately I need to make sure to schedule in the things that matter into my week. If I schedule in work and meetings because I find them to be important investments of my time, then it makes sense to also schedule time at the gym and time for sleep. Working my schedule so I can hard-book the time I need to work out with as much time in advance as possible can sometimes be like a Sudoku puzzle from hell, but saves a lot of headache and schedule shuffling later on. I also like to make sure that I have at least 7 hours of sleep every day, so I schedule that in and keep it just sacred as an important business meeting or work shift. Sleeping much less than 7 hours, for most people (genetically speaking), makes workouts and training sessions almost a waste of effort (with collateral damage of wasting time and money), since you need to give your body time to recover, rebuild, and recuperate. This allows your body to be in a better place than it was before your workout/training. This all happens at the microscopic level... slowly building up day after day toward being macroscopically noticeable.

3) Focus.

Do whatever it takes to make sure that you'll commit and follow-through with your plans to workout/train. Focus on what motivates you. Write it down on a piece of paper and keep it in your wallet or pocket. Set it as your phone or computer's desktop image if you need to! Build up as many "will power points" as you can whenever you have a chance. Some studies have shown that we all wake up in our day with a set amount of "will power points" and we expense them throughout the day--from having the motivation to get up out of bed and brush your teeth to having the will power to go to the gym at the end of a long day. While some say that physiologically you're better off going to the gym in the late afternoon and early evenings due to fluctuations of your cortisol levels, if there's a motivation wall in the way of getting you to the gym at the end of the work day, then make a point of getting a membership at a gym that opens up early enough that you have time to workout/train before work... before you've used up too many of your "will power points." If something in your life is taking up way too much of your brain's attentional capacity and distracting you from your priorities, consider taking the time to work those distractions out. If those distractions will take a bit of time before you can resolve them, it may be worth working on cognitively muting them long enough to focus on your daily priorities so they don't get in the way of your social and physiologic functioning.

Overall, the current hospital service I'm on has a schedule where I frequently finish around the time that Tyler isn't available to train; however, I've still been able to make it to the gym at the end of every other day for the most part given my schedule's constraints. I reliably go to the gym on my day's off, too. The next service I work on combines day shifts and night shifts... while some might find it less than ideal, it's actually pretty great to have night shifts. It allows for a few hours before and after work that occur during regular working hours when the sun is still up and people are still out. This will make it much easier to schedule time with Tyler. In terms of rest or mind/body days, I find that incorporating mindfulness techniques into the average work-day (regardless of how hectic it is) it actually helps increase the efficiency and efficacy of work overall and really makes the stressful things of the heavy work days a lot less stressful. It's also been really really great to have co-workers and teammates who value your time and work with you to make sure that everyone gets out of work when they're supposed to. Covering each other's backs is so incredibly valuable.

Day 14: Rapid-fire Step-up

Things picked up a bit today with this two-cycle routine:

Monster-walking

Swings with Red KB

10 reps.

Reverse lunge with slider and twist with yellow KB

10 reps each side.

Farmers walk with red KBs racked on forearms

30 sec.

Agility Rings

30 sec

Swings with Red KB

10 reps.

Bridge Hamstring Curls

10 reps.

Deadlift and press overhead with red KB

10 reps.

Push-ups on balance ball

10 reps.

Pistol squat with yellow KB

10 reps.

Plank hand taps with 3 second hold

10 reps.

Russian twist and press with yellow KB

10 reps.

At the end of the day we measured... dun dun DUN... BODY FAT. We used the calipers, which definitely look like Medieval instruments of torture...

We did some measurements and after cross-referencing with some charts I came out to a baseline of 5-6% body fat, which puts me in the "Athletic" category. The next category from there is the 2-4% "Superior" category.

Guess which category we're shootin' for...

Day 13: Birthday + Rest Day

I'm pretty sure that's the sound I make when I eat birthday cake, too.

Day 12: THE BELLS!

The theme for today's training session was all kettlebells... Russian Kettlebells... the KBs... We did two cycles of:

Monster-walking

Swings with Green Kettlebell

12 reps. This instructional video essentially covers how to do it... but I really chose this video because the soundtrack and voice combo is pretty awesome.

Overhead Press with Yellow Kettlebell

10 reps each side.

Swings with Green Kettlebell

12 reps.

Strife

12 reps.

Swings with Green Kettlebell

12 reps.

Row with Green Kettlebell

12 reps each side.

Swings with Green Kettlebell

12 reps.

Lungeback with Green Kettlebell

10 reps each leg.

Swings with Green Kettlebell

12 reps.

Burpees

10 reps. These are a lot of fun when you really focus on doing it all in one continuous motion.

Day 11: Rest Day

Can often be more complicated to do than it looks...

Day 10: Military-style

Did Military-style routine again, and really pushed to get one more rep in good form. Aahh the feeling of Evolution...

Day 9: TRX = FUN

TRX straps today! These are always great. They let you really focus on your core (all the important stabilizers!) and using your own weight as resistance. It's probably one of the better solutions for gymnastics rings when they're not available. We did two cycles of:

Stork

10 reps each side. While holding TRX straps, lean forward with one arm extending and contralateral hip extended (leg straight, toes pointed). Finish a rep by coming back into the center with your back upright.

Side Lunges

12 reps each side. Holding straps, do side lunges while keeping toes parallel and back upright.

Skaters

10 reps each side. Holding straps, do a backwards lunge (feel free to add a little skater flair to full extension of that hip).

Push-ups

10 reps. Facing away from anchor point, focusing on peak contraction at the top to really get those pecs.

Hanging Rows

10 reps. Facing anchor point, pull toward anchor point with both hands.

Tricep Extensions

10 reps. Facing away from anchor point.

Power Pulls

10 reps each side. Facing anchor point, pull toward one hand at a time. Remember, the more parallel you are with the ground the more challenging the move.

Bicep Curls

10 reps each side. Facing perpendicular from anchor point while keeping the arm that isn't curling at 90-degrees from your body (you'll look like a leaning T at full extension).

Plank

30 sec.

Saws

10-12 reps each side. Similar to plank sawing, but with two hands and your body is what moves back and forth.

Lateral Swings

30 sec. While in plank position, swing legs in TRX straps together to each side focusing on obliques and going from one side to the next in one continuous motion.