Monday, September 30, 2019

Fall 2019 fitness goals


Welcome to the first day of Fall 2019 and please accept my belated greeting that’s one week late.

We’re going to have a great time here at Pierini Fitness chasing my Fall 2019 middle-aged man fitness, health and wellness goals.  If you read the previous post, you’ll learn of my previous goals and whether I achieved them.   

Continuing with a season-timing theme of goals, Pierini Fitness shares his Fall 2019 fitness goals.  He’ll train diligently to achieve them by the first day of Winter 2019.

Here they are:

Complete 100 alternating pull-ups and chin-ups in 20 minutes
This is a carryover goal from both Spring 2019 and Summer 2019 and one that was almost achieved but not quite.  My best time is 20:03 done at the end of Spring 2019.  I was unable to improve during Summer 2019.  Concentrating more on weighted pull-ups and chin-ups and making nice progressions doing these, I didn’t have a laser-like focus on achieving this goal, so I’ll keep trying.

Complete a single set of 18 pull-ups
On a good day, I currently can perform 15 reps.  My known lifetime best is 18 reps.  This goal will chase my lifetime best. 

Complete a single set of 25 bar dips
On a good day, I currently can perform 20 reps.  My known lifetime best is 25 reps.  This goal will chase my lifetime best. 

Run one mile in 7:00
My current best is 7:18 done on the last day of Summer 2019.  This will be a challenging goal taking lots of work.  I hope to have fun chasing it.  In my earlier middle-aged man days, I could run this one mile in 6:00.

Complete 100 burpees in 12:00
Like most fitness enthusiasts, I have a love-hate relationship with burpees.  I love what they do for my cardiovascular-respiratory conditioning but hate doing them.  I’ve had various burpees challenges in my middle-aged man training past and almost five years ago, had a goal of completing 100 burpees in 10:00.  I never achieved that goal, getting to a timed low of 12:03 on January 22, 2016 before falling off the burpees pony when I got a bad case of the flu.     

Pull-up hang hold of 1:50
I’ve started doing these again to improve my grip strength.  My middle-aged man known lifetime best is 2:08.  Recently, I’ve hung for 1:35.  Given that my training will be hit and miss on this one, we’ll see how I do.

Handstand hold against wall of 1:15
I’ve also started doing these again to improve my shoulder strength.  My middle-aged man known lifetime best is 1:59.  Testing where I was at with this on the last day of Summer 2019, I only held this hold for a weak 0:50.  Given that my training will be hit and miss on this one, we’ll see how I do.

Morning weight of 170-175 lbs. each day of Fall 2019
I weighed 170.2 lbs. on the first day of Fall 2019.  This is a good weight for the running and pull-ups/chin-ups workouts I’m doing so I’ll keep my dietary discipline at its peak with this goal in mind.

Achieve or maintain 16 percent body fat
I have a DXA-Scan scheduled for tomorrow and we’ll see where I’m at.  I had a Summer 2019 goal of 16 percent.  If I come in at 16 percent or lower, then this goal will be to maintain as I don’t desire to go any lower.  If I come in higher, then this will be my goal.

There you go Pierini Fitness sports fans, my Fall 2019 fitness goals.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Friday, September 27, 2019

Summer 2019 fitness goals accountability report


As previously reported here at Pierini Fitness, Summer 2019 fitness goals were established and the training I did during the summer just ended was based on achieving these goals.  I announced them here:  


Summer is over so now it’s time to give my sports fans an executive briefing of how I did.

Complete a 10k fun run at a 9:00 mile pace
I ran two fun runs this summer, a July 4th 5-miler and the popular Wharf to Wharf 6-miler.  My mile per hour pace for the July 4th run was 8:45 and for the Wharf to Wharf it was 8:50. 

This goal was achieved. 

Run one mile on a high school track in 7:30
On the last day of summer, I visited a local high school track and timed myself running one mile.  My time was 7:18.3.  

This goal was achieved.  

Complete 100 alternating pull-ups and chin-ups in 20 minutes
This was a carryover goal from Spring 2019 and one that was almost achieved but not quite as my final spring effort resulted in a time of 20:03.  So, I continued chasing this goal during the summer with the intention of meeting it only if I completed 5 rep minimum rounds.  This would require 20 rounds of 5 reps in 20 minutes.  I decided to relax the 5-rep minimum and gave one final effort on the last day of summer, completing 101 reps in 20:28.  

This goal was not achieved. 

Maintain bodyweight of 172-177 lbs. for 98 percent of Summer 2019 days
There were 94 days in Summer 2019, and I weighed less than 177 lbs. each day but there were some days when I weighed less than 172 lbs., probably due to the increasing running workouts. 

This goal was achieved.

Achieve 16 percent body fat
A DXA-Scan test I had done about one week before summer began reported my body fat was 18.8 percent.  I had a scan scheduled for Wednesday, but it was cancelled by the company due to technical difficulties.  I’m scheduled to have the scan done next Wednesday on October 2nd and will results in a follow-up report.  

To be determined if this goal was achieved. 

Trim waist to 32 inches
I started summer at 33.75 inches and ended at 33.50 inches.  

This goal was not achieved.

Bump VO2 Max to 46
VO2 Max (also maximal oxygen consumption, maximal oxygen uptake, peak oxygen uptake or maximal aerobic capacity) is the maximum rate of oxygen consumption measured during incremental exercise of increasing intensity.  The “V” is for volume, O2 is for “oxygen”.  VO2 Max is a measure of maximal oxygen consumption and, therefore, cardio-respiratory fitness and endurance capacity when exercising.

I started with a VO2 Max reading that bounced back and forth between 43 and 44, saw it drop to a low of 38 and eventually end on the last day of summer at 44.   

This goal was not achieved.

Pierini Fitness Fall 2019 fitness goals have been etched in stone and I’ll share them with on Monday. 

There you have it Pierini Fitness sports fans, my Summer 2019 fitness goals accountability report.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum