Weight tracking

For me it is very easy to gain weight. In very young years I was not the fittest, but in my mid/late teens I started exercising a lot, got fit and also enjoyed eating a lot - which I needed due to all the training. We are talking about 6-10 sessions of at least one hour each every week, so it was intense. During that time I weighed about 85 kg.

During my years at university I gained weight, but the last year was very intense in school, I lived quite an ascetic life and ensured I went to the gym a few times plus did some running. I started working being the fittest I have ever been and weighed in on 88 lean kilos.

Working meant a lot of sitting still on the butt as well as starting eating lunches at restaurants, both of which I was not used to. I relatively quickly gained 20 kilos! I felt heavy. When bending down to tie my shoe lasers I got out of breath. I quickly realized something had to be done and by changing some eating habits relatively quickly lost a few kilos and felt a bit better.

Since then I have been around 100 kg, but a few years back I carved out most carbohydrates from my diet and went down to 96 kg, felt - and looked - much better!

This was unfortunately not sustainable and I slowly gained weight again.

Lately I broke my all time high and weighed in on 107.8 kg!!

I believe the gain had been more gradual this time, so did not feel as heavy or tired compared to last time. I still feel that I could row decently on the rowing machine, but of course not as well as back in the days. In any case, the surprising breaking of my all time high has now made me determined to loose weight again and I am on my way, with some setbacks last two weeks, as can be seen in the graph below.

I strongly believe for this to work in a more sustainable matter this time around I need to change some habits, but also keep some in order to not make the change too drastic and thus not sustainable. So, in short:

- no sweets during the work week
- no more french fries during 2016
- weigh myself and keep track of that at least once per week
- exercise more

Regarding the exercise I will only do limited running until under 100 kg again in order not to ruin my knees, but biking, rowing, walking and the odd tennis game is on the agenda. I will keep track of calories burnt via exercise via the Suunto watch described in earlier post (I am not sponsored by Suunto, I just happen to like their product; you might have your own similar device).

I will also make my fight against being unfit semi-public by making posts here on the blog.

Get fit in seven minutes a day, every day

In case you have not tried it I can recommend the app Seven. The app basically takes you through a seven minute high intensity routine that you are supposed to do every day. Science shows this to be very effective.

You use your own body weight and only need a floor, wall and step(s) to execute, it can in other words be done anywhere.

I was using it for a while and it was motivational to get rewards for being able to perform the exercises x days in a row etc. When I was previously using it, I could really feel a difference in my strength which was very nice. The reason for stop using it I cannot really remember, but I am sure it was something stupid and then laziness affected myself.

You can choose the voice of different instructors and personally I enjoyed the one from the drill sergeant!

I will restart using this again any day now and will do the exercises every day there is not other exercise performed (you are "allowed" to skip days when you do other exercise without breaking the "suite").

6 km run

Despite not being light enough for running without risking my knees, I today went for a social run with a friend. 6 kilometres in a modest 6 min/km pace, which I have to say made me tired, but is nowhere near the speed I used to have in earlier part of my life. I simply need to loose weight to dare to run more in order to become faster.

Nevertheless, running is a very time efficient way of training and I burnt over 700 kilocalories in the 36-37 minutes the run took. The Sunnto watch described in earlier post kept track of distance, calories burnt as well as heart rate.

All in all a good feeling afterwards, but some small pain in the knees later in the day, which confirms I need to be careful when running when as heavy as I am currently (103 kg).

The ultimate training equipment part II - the Suunto Gambit3 Peak HR

I own a fantastic device to keep track of my personal training - the Suunto Ambit3 Peak HR.

With this device I am able to keep very good track of calories consumed, intensity of training, recovery time, heart rate, how far I moved during the exercise etc. Via a connected app on my mobile phone, I can setup which training types should be available for me to select from the watch (e.g. indoor rowing, running, trecking, mountainbiking etc.). I can also setup which metrics should show when I am doing a particular sport, e.g. distance, heart rate, duration etc.

On the Suunto movescount.com page I am able to keep track of my trainings over time and the Movescount app gives me an overview over amount of training over last 30 days. Here I try to keep the calories consumed over 10'000 during the last 30 days.

I can highly recommend purchasing this device as a motivational tool for the typical middle aged office worker who needs a "kick in the butt" in order to get moving.

For myself I have done a few training sessions just because I am able to track them properly using this watch. Any investment within reasonable economical limits which makes me move more is worth it, so I am very happy with this watch.

That it is made in exotic country called Finland is not necessarily negative.

Suunto belongs to Amer Sports, which also happens to know a few other famous brands, e.g. Wilson! As an investment, Amer Sports trades at a P/E ratio of 24.5 and with a divident of under 3%. So, while I love their products, I am not going to invest in this company.

The ultimate training equipment - the rowing machine

As with many things in life, it helps to understand what your targets and motivation are. When it comes to exercise, I would like to stay in reasonable shape and good health.

While diet alone can determine these factors to a large extent, our body is built for exercise and quickly affects the brain, mood etc. in case it does not get enough movement.

There are of course multiple ways of achieveing this and before I get into what I believe to be that ultimate solution, I would like to point out that the best form of exercise is the one you actually do! We can foce ourselves only for so long, but if you do not really like jogging/running, you will sooner or later find an excuse to abstain.

So, with that said, please allow me to get to the point and present to you what I believe to be the ultimate piece of training equipment:

The Concept 2 model D rowing machine.

Why rowing? Done in the right way, this will give you both a strength, endurance and aerobic exercise. It enables all muscles in your body, focusing on the larger ones (legs, back, arms), meaning the energy burn is very efficient. While some strain will be put on the knees, it is not at all the same kind of impact as from running.

Combined with a few push-ups, the rowing machine can provide you with all the training you need. While not extremely social, you can do this from the comfort (well, it can and should actually be a bit painful) of your own home. (I will in later posts describe how you can row against others using the machine, some software and the magic of Internet).

Why the Concept 2 rowing machine? Well, there are of course alternatives, many of them cheaper. However, this is the rowing machine used in all good rowing clubs around the world, so thay must be doing something right. I am very happy with my machine, even though I have honestly never owned a different one. I have tested other ones at gyms etc, but always been left disappointed.

If you row 20 km per week (split on 2-5 sessions) in good pace (i.e. above 65% of your max heart rate on average), you will do wonders to your health and well being.

For me a very tough, rewarding and time efficient exercise session looks like below:

5 km rowing (around of below) 20 minutes
1 min plank
100 pushups in total (split into sets of xx depending on your fitness level)
1 min plank
Stretching (in particular legs and back)

For me the above takes 40-45 minutes and burns just over 700 kcal.

This blog - health & wealth

This blog will be a series of posts on the topics of health (being fit, avoiding health related problems) and wealth (how to save, how to invest, what not to do etc.).

I will describe what works for me and what I have learn during the 40+ years of my existence.

A random picture I took the other day.

As the blog name implies I have a past as a rower, but do not actively row anymore today. One of the things I will describe however, is the proper usage of a rowing machine and the benefits of using that on a semi-regular basis (I truly believe this to be one of the bext forms of exercise out there).

I do not expect an extended audience, so if anything I write about is even remotely of interest to you, please feel free to leave a comment, which would make me happy (depending on what you actually write of course).

Starting the blog

Ok, ok, so yet another blog. Let's see if there will be any interest in the physical exercise, investing etc.

First step is to learn about how to change the layout of the blog, so that it looks decent (even including some of the ads I plan to include).