Moving...

Since Slim & Strong is over, I have started a new blog which will follow my exercise goals, routine, and progress. If you want to follow that it is at http://kamen-exercise.blogspot.com/. This will be the last message to this blog, I don't want to spoil it as I like it the way it is!

If this is the first time you hit this blog, and you want to read about my Slim & Strong experience, I strongly suggest reading this blog in chronological order. The later posts often drop information which was included in those before.

Ariane's blog, related to the program and the final results, is here.

It's over! The results are here! And the winner is...

When I started this a little less than 2 weeks ago, I had no idea I can achieve such result. I still have hard time believing / imagining it. I lost 20lb (14.4lb of which fat!) and I truly am in the best shape of my life. I did push it a notch up (Karate & MMA classes, running, etc.) for a total of 2.5 hours of exercise on some of the days (yeah, I am crazy, I know), but this definitely came as a result of the inspiration Ariane infused in us. I have not seen such lively, knowledgeable and determined trainer... I have had my fair share of PTs, and she is just the best. She has definitely won a well deserved place in my "most influential people to me" list. In some aspects, in the last two weeks I have learned more useful things than in any two years of my 22-year education :)

Big thank you, Ariane!

I just had to post a (censored for privacy) version of the following (from Ariane) below.

Dear Slimmer and Much Stronger Boot Campers!

Congratulations on completing 12 days of of hardcore butt-kicking! You lost a combined total of 80 lbs in the last 12 days!

...

To be honest, I'm totally blown away by the results so many of you have created for yourself. I have never seen participants lose so much weight in such a short time, so I'm thinking that the short-term goal really helped you to focus on what you wanted to achieve. It was a close competition between several of you but in the end there was one guy who pulled off the most incredible results I have ever seen:

The biggest loser is KAMEN!

Kamen dropped 8.9% of his original weight (20 lbs), his body fat percentage dropped by 4.7%, he lost 14.4 lbs of pure fat (pick up a 15 lb dumbbell at the gym and be amazed at how heavy it is....) and lost 9.5 inches. Given the high intensity of his workouts he also lost some muscle, but his weight will stabilize once he cuts down on his workouts a bit and adds more calories back in. Kamen, you won a free month of Slim & Strong!

...

You've all built an amazing amount of strength and endurance, built muscle and lost fat and that deserve celebration.

...

Wishing you continued success and great health and I'll see you on the Bridge soon!

Cheers, Ariane

Week 2 Day 5

The last day... I just did the class in the morning. 06:30-07:30. Stay tuned for the final results...

Week 2 Day 4

Pretty lazy day... Just Ariane's class in the morning (6:30-7:30). The most interesting part is that final measurements were taken for part of the group. Results are even better than I expected. For the last 11 days I have:

• lost 20lb (225.5lb -> 205.5lb)
• lost 14lb+ of fat (23.7% @ 225.5lb -> 19.0% @ 205.5lb, i.e. 53lb fat -> 39lb fat)
• lost 3.5" on my waist

Keep you fingers crossed that nobody beats that tomorrow (from the other half of the group)!

Week 2 Day 3

Very low energy day... After Ariane's class (6:30-7:30) took a day off work, went back home and slept till the early afternoon. 5 hours of sleep are just not enough for an old man like me anymore. After that did the Mixed Martial Arts class (19:30-20:30) and a good 4 mile run (23:00-23:50).

Average speed was a good (for me) 6mph (i.e. 10 min/mile) and heart rate stayed below 180 all the time, even on the hills. With the pretty constant speed (regardless of grade of elevation), am I pretty happy with this result.

Week 2 Day 2

Nothing really special today, talking about the food is getting boring, as it is one and the same every day. No running today, so just the 6:30 - 7:30 class with Ariane and Karate in the evening 19:30 - 20:30. Thing to note is that before I started this, I was really tired at the end of the Karate classes. I now have way more energy, even after class.

Week 2 Day 1

Week 2 is starting. Special challenge of the week - no sugar and 100 extra pushups per day.

As with every other major undergoing, one gets more and more lazy as time goes by. Therefore I am simplifying the blogging format. You will see the changes as you go through it...

Exercise

• 06:30 - 07:30 Slim & Strong with Ariane
• 19:30 - 20:30 Karate
• 21:45 - 21:50 33 full body push-ups
• 21:50 - 22:10 Run (Ariane's Advanced Workout for Speed, Week 2)
• 22:40 - 22:45 33 full body push-ups
• 23:00 - 23:05 34 full body push-ups

Food (I am renaming this to "Food" because of the negative conotation of the word "Diet")

• Breakfast - Omlette with 2x Turkey, Peppers, Spinach, and Mushrooms
• Snack - Large Latte
• Lunch - Zigolini's Salad - Romaine, 2 Eggs, 1 Avocado, Turkey, Roasted Peppers, Kalamata Olives, Olive Oil, Vinegrette
• Snack - 20g Protein Shake, 1oz Raw Cashew Nuts
• Snack - 1lb of Veggies (Broccoli, Peppers, Carrots, Asparagus, Celery, Tomatoes)
• Dinner - 4cups Yogurt (plain, fat free)

Run

Ariane's Advanced Workout for Speed, Week 2: 10 repetions of (1 min run @ 7.0 mph; 1 min walk @4.2 mph). Very happy with the HR progress... it is not spiking as much anymore. Stayed below 170 for most of the run.

The Weekend

Saturday

09:00 - 19:00 My first attempt at surfing ;) 2.5 hour class, and the only way I was able to stand stable on my feet was this:

Some other notables included beach volleyball, diving in the ocean, accompanied by a test of the underwater camera (below), and coming across some humongous sea shells (below). There was a horseshoe crab on the first dive, but I did not have the camera with me. Once I fetched it, I could not find it anymore :(

19:30 - 21:00 Weight training... I am doing this for a second time with my friend, and I should say weights did look a lot lighter after a week of Slim & Strong!

21:00 - 00:00 Relax

00:00 Back to bed

Diet - being on the go is hard to give exact numbers... Grilled Salmon, Grilled Turkey, Veggies, Whole Wheat Pita, Lots of yogurt... stuff like that.

Sunday

08:00 - 11:30 In preparation for the Hike with Todd...

11:30 - 17:30 The Hike: 9.14 miles, of which 1.25 was a big mix-up (and we had to define our own trail to fix that), and 0.8 miles was a swim (the pointy red thing in the lake below). You can see full details on Garmin Connect.

This was a repeat of last week's group hike but much better weather & pace. Try to find the route differences - these were the most fun. Here are some pics:

17:30 - 19:00 Drive back

19:30 - 20:30 Dinner

21:45 Go to bed - Week 2 starts tomorrow!

The Diet (in no particular order)

• Some cottage cheese
• 3 Bananas
• 8oz Ham
• 6 slices of Whole Wheat bread
• 2.5 Power bars
• 9 liters of water
  (including a new personal best - 1 gal (3.8l) in less than 20 minutes after the hike)
• Pork tenderloin with spinach for dinner...

Week 2 of Slim & Strong starts tomorrow!

Day 5

Most interesting so far...

The Schedule

• 05:00 Wake up
• 06:30 - 07:30 Slim & Strong with Ariane
• 08:30 - 09:00 Work (more like the realization that I can only concentrate to check mail)
• 09:00 - 10:20 Nap - interesting isn't it?
  On the fifth day of sleeping 5h/day it hit me that I am not 19 anymore and this is unsustainable for long periods of time. So I sent a mail to my group that I am stepping out of the office, walked to battery park, set my iPhone's timer to 1:00 countdown and laid on the grass... One hour later I was a brand new person. My first offense of this type for my three years I have worked seriously.
• 10:20 - 18:30 Real work
• 18:30 - 21:00 Checked that drinks place in the middle of the Hudson close to Ellis Island
• 22:00 - 23:00 Run (details below)
  
• 00:00 Go to bed

The Diet

I was not very precise today...

• Breakfast
• Roasted Turkey
• Slice of Whole Grain Bread
• Organic Valley Cottage Cheese (low fat) 1 cup
• Snack - XL Latte after the nap
• Lunch - Large Zigolini's Salad
  
  • Romaine Lettuce, 2 x Turkey, 2 Eggs, Avocado, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Carrots, 2 x Roasted Peppers, Onions, Olives, Olive Oil, Vinegar
• Snack - Raw Cashew Nuts 1 oz
• Dinner - Veggies
  
  • Broccoli, Peppers, Carrots, Tomatoes, Celery - roughly 1lb sized plate...
  • Slice of Whole Grain Bread
  • Organic Valley Cottage Cheese (low fat) 1 cup
• Snack - 1lb Strawberries (before run)
• Snack - Yogurt (plain, low fat) 2 cups

No nutritional value computation today (lunch was eat-out so no clue what to enter for each ingredient). If something is wrong Ariane will complain when she reads it :)

The Run

The run fit's Ariane's Advanced Running Endurance Workout for Week 2 (5 miles @ 5-6 mph).

My actual values were 5 miles @ 5.2 mph for just under 1 hour and HR below 170. It really felt like walk in the park, and I am quite happy about it. Complete details are available on Garmin Connect.

Going Surfing Tomorrow for the first time in my life!

Day 4

A simple day...

The Schedule

• 05:00 Wake up
• 06:30 - 07:30 Slim & Strong class with Ariane
• 08:30 - 18:30 Work
• 19:00 - 22:30 Procrastination (saw "Whatever Works" for a second time :)
• 23:00 Go to bed

The Diet

• Breakfast - egg white omelet with ham peppers and mushrooms
• Snack - XL Latte
• Snack - Nutrex Pro Gram (protein shake)
• Lunch
• Organic Valley Cottage Cheese (low fat) - 1 cup
• 1 Slice of Whole Grain Bread
• Asparagus (raw) 6oz
• Green Peppers (raw) 6oz
• Snack - Raw Cashew Nuts - 1oz
• Dinner
• Hormel All Natural Oven Roasted Turkey - 6.5oz
• 2 Slices of Whole Grain Bread
• Green, Yellow, and Red peppers (raw) - 3 x 5oz
• Snack - Yogurt (plain, low fat) - 2 cups

Summing up:

• Carbohydrates - 179g (22.4g dietary fiber, 6.6g starch, 91.6g sugars), 697 calories
• Protein & Amino Acids - 178g, 703 calories
• Fat & Fatty Acids - 37.9g (13.4g saturated, 10.9g monounsaturated, 3.8g polyunsaturated) 341 calories
• Total - 1741 calories

No kicking, No running, ...

Day 3

Today I will be more brief... Sorry (or actually: Enjoy)!

Schedule

• 05:00 Wake up
• 06:30 - 07:30 Slim & Strong with Ariane
• 08:30 - 18:30 Work
• 19:30 - 20:30 Mixed Martial Arts class
• 22:00 - 22:30 Running (Ariane's Week 1 of Advanced Workout for Hills)
• 23:30 Go to bed

Diet

• Breakfast
• Organic Valley Cottage Cheese (low fat) - 1 cup
• Whole grain bread - 1 slice
• Snack - Large Latte
• Lunch
• Mixed Raw Vegetables - 6oz Broccoli, 4oz Cauliflower, 2oz Carrots
• Roasted Salmon - 4oz
• Whole grain bread - 1 slice
• Snack - Raw Cashew Nuts - 1oz
• Dinner - Roasted Chicken - 8oz
• Snack (before run) - Blueberries - 2 cups
• Snack (after run) - Yogurt (low fat, plain) - 2 cups

According to www.nutritiondata.com this sums up to:

• Carbohidrates - 178g (20.8g diatary fiber, 6.7g starch, 106g sugars) - 696 calories
• Protein & Amino Acids - 181g, 738 calories
• Fat & Fatty Acids - 51g (16.1g saturated, 18g monosaturated, 9.3g polyunsaturated, 3120mg Omega-3, 5555mg Omega-6), 454 calories
• Total - 1888 calories

Run

Did Ariane's Week 1 of Advanced Workout for Hills, which originally is prescribed as follows:

• Repeat 6 times
• Run 2 min @ incline 2
• Run 2 min @ incline 0 (flat)

Again, for lack of threadmill I had to improvise... Picked a nice pice of the Prospect Park loop that had a decent slope (looks like approximately 5% from the graph below, but this is obviously fuzzy), and then ran 2 minutes uphill, 2 minutes downhill. Click on the image below for details...

The whole run is also available on Garmin Connect.

Day 2

Disclaimer

I should start with saying that I was planning to post mainly statistics on this Blog... Since I am a reasonably lame writer, I thought I might as well stay with the facts and don't risk it :) Well, I changed my mind, so stay with me if you are not afraid. I make no promises on quality of exposition that follows.

The Schedule

• 05:20 Wake up, 20 minutes late, slept through the nasty iPhone alarm... No idea what made me wake up and look at the clock...
• 06:30 - 07:30 No training today... Ariane held a nutrition workshop instead. For a person that got over-educated and spend 20+ years in school, I can somewhat surprisingly claim I learned some useful new stuff. Stay tuned for my more scientifically accurate diet below...
• 08:00 - 18:00 Work
• 18:30 - 19:30 Karate
• 20:50 - 21:20 Running by Prescription - Ariane's Week 1 Advanced Workout for Speed (details below)
• 00:00 Go to bed

The Diet

Post nutrition-workshop I just had to approach the blogging more scientifically... My starting point is 225lbs, 172lbs of which are lean mass and 53lbs of fat (23.7%). The goal is set to 193-198lbs total with target body fat of 12%.

Supposedly I need 2830 calories a day to preserve the current state, but only 2330 to lose the extra fat. The suggested diet to stuff these 2330 calories in is as follows:

• Component Per Meal Total
• Carbohidrates 47 233
• Protein 35 175
• Fat 16 78

The first hit on Google of "nutirition data" proved useful :) - http://www.nutritiondata.com/

So here is what I ate:

• Breakfast - 2 slices of whole wheat toast + 4 oz of smoked salmon
• Snack - extra large skim latte
• Lunch - the other half of yesterday's chicken teriyaki
• Snack (afternoon) - 1oz raw cashews
• Snack (before karate) - 1 banana
• Snack (before running) - 1 banana
• Dinner - 2 cups of lowfat plain yoghurt + 1lb watermelon
• Supplements - multivitamin + glucosamine / chondroitin + fish oil
• Water intake - 6+ liters / 25+ cups

According to Nutrition Data this sums up to the following (the DV is off, as I have not imput my specific data there):

• Carbohydrates

• Protein & Amino Acids - 127g
• Fats & Fatty Acids

As one can easily notice, consitently below the prescribed diet... Should I eat more even if I am not hungry? Will have to find that out :)

I suppose I should mention that the site also produced some very nice and potentially informative pictures of little or no value... It reminded me so much of the pretty graphs we created while writing papers for conferences, difference being that my advisor was always able to make sense of them.

(click on the image to see it full glory of it)

The Run

Seems like the science does not end with the food. Ariane sent prescriptions for training runs... quite a few of them, scheduled by weeks, type (speed, hill, endurance), etc. All of them biased towards threadmills unfotunately (when I run, I like to have a feeling that I am getting somewhere...)

Long story short, I was once again surprised by my GPS... something I considered just another gadget / boy toy, which my dad got me two birthdays ago. So this little piece of machinery (mine is Garmin Edge 705) can be programmed for some advanced prescription workouts... And if you want to avoid the cluncky controls, you can get the free Garmin Training Center software. It goes beyond the scope of this writing to expand into how great that combo is...

After a few clicks, Ariane's Advanced Workout for Speed (Week 1) was on the device. It looks like this:

1. Repeat 10 times
   1. Run 2 min @ 6.5 mph
   2. Walk 1 min @ 4.2 mph

The whole thing takes 30 minutes and covers 3 miles. and the Edge is beeping for you telling you stuff like "Speed Up", "Slow Down", "Switch to Run/Walk", "Workout Complete". The full shabang of details is available on Garmin Connect, but here are a few interesting pieces:

Finally

It is quite obvious that I kind of got carried away with this whole post, but it is for the first and last time :)

Day 1

Schedule:

• 05:00 Wake-up
• 06:30 - 07:30 Slim & Strong class with Ariane
• 08:00 - 18:30 Work
• 19:30 - 20:30 Karate
• 21:30 - 22:00 Running 3.3 miles
• 23:00 - 00:00 Studying for Series 7 / Work
• 00:00 Go to bed

Diet:

• Breakfast - None
• Lunch - Chicken Teriyaki
• Snack (before Karate) - 1 banana
• Snack (before Running) - 1 banana
• Dinner - 5lb+ of watermelon

The Beginning

So I signed up for this thing... This blog will be the progress diary...
http://www.brooklynbridgebootcamp.com/inside.html#intensive

Slim & Strong INTENSIVE

Next session begins August 10-21, 2009

Dates: Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, 8/10/2009 - 8/21/2009
Time: 6:30 AM - 7:30 AM

If you're still not feeling comfortable in your bathing suit then it's about time to make it happen. Get in the best shape of your life with this 2-week intensive program of Slim & Strong. Get the individualized attention of Personal Training for the price of group sessions.

Receive the following:
2 weeks of Indoor Boot Camp - Take inches off your body with NYC's most effective workout

• Classes held at Luxury Club Boom Fitness (34th & Park Ave.)
• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at 6.30 - 7.30 a.m. (10 classes)
• Plus 4 outdoor sessions on the Brooklyn Bridge (14 classes total)
• No gym membership required; showers and lockers available
• Burn up to 800 calories per class!

1-hour Nutrition Workshop (dates TBA)

• What foods promote fat burning? Which will make you fat?
• How to lose fat for good without feeling hungry and deprived
• What approach gets fitness models lean, healthy and energized?

Extras

• Before and After Pictures
• Before and After Measurements (weight, body fat %, inches)
• Personalized Nutrition Plan
• Workout Bands with Home Boot Camp Routine
• Boot Camp T-Shirt/Tank Top
• Prizes for the biggest losers: 1st prize 1 free month of Slim & Strong
• Second prize: $200 shoppin spree at City Sports, Paragon Sports, or Nike
• Third prize: 10 free boot camp classes

Note: Up to 3 missed sessions can be made up within 30 days

Class Size: Limited to 20 participants