Matt Romanowski

Who is going for some off season fitness goals this year? I started towards the end of 2017 working towards some things for 2018. I'm down about 38 pounds, much stronger, and waaaay more endurance. I'm excited to see how things go for in 2018. I've also started a bit of a pet project on some aspects of driver performance that I'll have more info on late summer, but it should be interesting.

Who else has an off season plan going? What are you doing - weights, cardio, CrossFit, yoga......? Do you make any measurements of exertion when driving to compare your on track performance to your workout performance?

924RACR

Mainly, I'm gonna try to not get fatter.

I'm sure all here can guess how that's going...

Just gotta keep the beer budget under control.

For actual improvement - target is upper body and core. Want a bit more upper body capacity to manage fatigue in-car - but minimal bulk still, don't want to screw up my fit in the car. Not worried about cardio or the rest. Work at home without added weights (pushups, pullups, situps etc), can't stand paying a gym to do what I can do for free, plus loads of travel means I gotta DIY anyway.

Challenge: motivation isn't an issue, but finding time is; either busy with racecar and chores at home, or working long hours on the road...

Veloce Raptor

Focusing on core strength

hf1

In or off season, The Superman Protocol...

do: meat, eggs, water, cold showers, resistance training 15min/wk (exert all muscles to failure once a week, then let them recover; body-weight resistance is fine; maybe 5min quick drill before shower; mix it up any way you want -- not a rocket science)
little: wine, scotch, tea, coffee, cream
avoid: carbs, grains, beer, plants, supplements, long-term cardio

ProCoach

Congrats, Matt! Just in time.

This thread IS an inspirational one. Excited to see ideas and plans, as well as results...

Matt Romanowski

I track all my food know. It's amazing how many calories sneak in when you don't. I've cut a ton of carbs. Lots of protein though!


I never drank much to begin with, but I've stopped drinking totally. Makes some things much easier. Ever look at calories in a white russian?!

Matt Romanowski

Thanks! Putting data to it is great. I use my heart rate monitor from the car to track my workouts on my phone along with a Fitbit during the day. Tracking all my food in an app gets the input part. Then I can go for a set amount of weightloss a week. I also did a VO2 study, which was good to know my exact calorie requirements.

Then I made a plan and it's just time to execute. A WiFi scale concludes the feedback loop. No hiding there. I think the classis "I swear I was flat there" is the equivalent of "I swear I didn't eat any cookies!"

ProCoach

Hahahaha! A killer. And very true.

Thank you for starting this thread.

tkerrmd

one thing that I found is super helpful and I learned it from racing and needing a Pro Coach. try a personal trainer for a while. a qualified one will help you do things the right way, track fitness goals, take metabolic assessments, help with nutrition and most importantly help you excercise correctly and avoid injury, my 2 cents

dgrobs

Skiing. Lots of skiing.Got 13 days on the hill so far this season. Killington, Pico, and if Colorado ever gets some snow, then Vail and the Summit County areas as well.
Problem with Colorado and weight loss is..........never mind.

Edit: Posting this from the Killington Gondola......

LexVan

That's equal to +5 HP right there. Good job. Never an easy thing to do.

hf1

If you stick with meat, animal fat, and eggs, then you can eat to satiety, as much as you want -- no need to count anything. You'll end up eating twice (noon, 6pm) or once a day (skip noon) as the whole concept and feel of hunger changes. Even a 48hr fast becomes a non-event when the body reprograms to fat-burning mode (from standard carb-buring) for energy. What I thought was "hunger" all my life was really just a carb addiction. It was quite a revelation after doing the switch about a year ago.

Matt Romanowski

One things I would point out is I would not suggest a Fitbit as a workout heart rate monitor. It's fine for daily activity and general wear, but it's not accurate when working out. My Charge 2 HR was off about 30 bpm when I was working out at 160 bpm (it showed 130). It is nice to have as a general view of your daily movement, activity, and sleep patterns.

Does anyone have a monitor they really like?

DHI

^^^^
The basis of Tim Ferriss' 4 hour Body.
Introduced to me in 2011 and lost 40 pounds in 4 months. Still working for me 6 years later. Weight stable.
Just avoid carbs and sugar like if it were poison.
Never be hungry. Just eat and avoid these poisons.

Warning... Start this and prepare to throw out your entire wardrobe.

gbuff

Actually working on putting on a few pounds of good weight (i.e. not lard); if I were a jockey I'd need ballast

Then again, I've got a slow car so don't want to put on too much......shovelling all this snow we've been getting lately will help with that.

Gary