Day 2 – January 19, 2012 – Stiff today all over but in a good way. 20 minute stretch and light weights followed by basket ball at the CRA. I can no longer jump but the cardio was good. 6pm: really stiffened up in the quads and chest. 8pm: stretch for 20 minutes – lots of water.

Day 3 – January 20, 2012 – Super stiff but had a 60 minute walk at 9% incline 3.8m/hr followed by a 10 minute stretch. Vega and water shot. I got blisters on the between the balls of both feet. Running socks next time. I wonder where those are?

Day 4 – January 21, 2012 – Still stiff but hit the gym with Jessie French for the same circuit and added weight to all the bars – 100% better movement and I left the gym feeling extremely confident. Another big stretch at 4:30pm. Watched CrossFit videos until 12:30am on YouTube. Jacked!!!

Day 5 – January 22, 2012 – Feeling really good – high on endorphins. Good nutrition today. I bought a skipping rope so created a circuit to try it out. 3 rounds of 10 squats, 20 burpees, 10 situps, 1minute skipping (with the new rope). Really inefficient breathing rhythm during my circuit – especially during burpees. Completed a few double-unders but the roof is low 9′ so I’ll need to be efficient to complete them. 30 minute walk on the treadmill 9% at 3.8m/hr. There was sand in one of the running socks and made my blister worse on one foot.

Day 6 – January 23, 2012 – 7:30am minor joint stiffness in my right knee. Feeling good. 1pm: Awesome workout: warmup, squat testing – incremental sets of 5 reps from 45lb bar to 185lb. Finished with 5 rounds of a kettle bell routine at 1 pood 36.11lbs. Stretch.

Day 7 – January 24, 2012 – REST – Bought a 15lb, 35lb, 50lb kettle bell set. Feel great after yesterday – doing research on nutrition and looking forward to Marc’s meal plan / nutrition guide.

Day 8 – January 25, 2012 – 9am: Even though it was a rest day yesterday my body feels tired. My traps and bi’s are tight. 10:30am: workout – warm-up, straight press to max 5 reps 115lbs, Football gone bad 3 rounds with 2/25lb thrusters and a 20″ box jump – total reps = 69/48/48. Tabata situps 4min = 41. Stretch. Rear deltoids are SCREAMING!

Day 9 – January 26, 2012 – 9am: tired muscles and a little bone soreness on the right inside knee joint. Torn cartilage likely opening from the jumps. Bought some new protein powder called EDGE – has 4 ingredients (that’s it). 1pm: 40 swim laps at the aquatic centre. Started off ugly but got better. Still ugly swimming though. Stretched my body to the point of cramping it during my freestyle strokes but was able to relax by the end. I think a lesson or some coaching with accelerate the learning curve. I’ll take the camera to the pool next time to see what I’m doing in the water. My pinkies are worked hard to hold form. Recommendations: Speedo baby

Day 10 – January 27, 2012 – 7am: Tired right hamstring and very tight right groin. Full body fatigue from swimming inefficiently yesterday. Core is really tired. 12pm: another day of anaerobic awesomeness. Warm up – 3 rounds of – 10 air squats, 10 spidermans, 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 pull-up attempts. Strength training – Dead lift (DL) Technique training: 5x 5 reps of 95lb, 2x 5 reps of 135lb. Conditioning – 8rounds of 7 65lb clean to press, 50 yard sprint, 50 yard walk. Tabata Russian Twist 4 minutes Rx: 106. My core was super fatigued before the Twists and I thought I would only be able to do 30 reps or black out. That was just my head messing with me and I crushed that voice – Ah-hoo! Goal for next time: 128

Day 11 – January 28, 2012 – 9am: feeling great but have tight hamstrings from sprinting yesterday. Going to stretch, pound water and rest today. 11am: 3.5km family walk and goof around at the playground. Stretched on the bars in preparation for the next pull-up attempt on Monday. Bought some glucosamine, Calcium/Magnesium/VitaminD, and Primrose Oil.

Day 12 – January 29, 2012 – 2pm: remind me to never go to the pool on a Sunday afternoon; it was packed so I came home and did a 4km x-country/road run that follows the road and trails on Powerhouse road. I PR’d my time from 21:00 to 19:03 = 1:57 Sick! I couldn’t believe my eyes every time I looked at the splits. It was an amazing run on many levels. On the path I passed two motivating people. First, I saw a friend that has been battling cancer for the last year and half walking spryly and looking great – I’m assuming he’s all clear and that gave me a real surge of adrenaline. Secondly, I came across fellow Titanium Crossfit’er Tania Bystedt near the end of the run and collected a high-five to propel me to the finish. Outstanding. Massive cardio improvements and hill climbing endurance. I did a 6 minute kettlebell round (1 pood) and stretched for 20 minutes following the run. A relatively light workout today but I’m smiling ear to ear.

Day 13 – January 30, 2012 – Running on very little sleep today (parenting), I managed to rally for an inspired workout. After warming up and almost getting my first chin-up… almost, Marc started me with 5 sets of 5 back squats at 205lbs (after warm-up sets). I’m really trying to focus on my technique and range of motion. My hips are starting to loosen up and that is helping me get deep enough to break 90 degrees in my squat. Getting it right is really important to me because I’ve got big dreams brewing in the lifting department. We followed up with bench testing for a 5 rep max adding 20lb increments from 45lbs to 175lbs. I then did half a Rx (<–Crossfit prescribed) row workout. 12 rounds of 250m sprint followed by 250m active recovery. I was able to hold a sprint average around 1:43/500meters but was totally thrashed in the recovery strokes. Total time = 26:07. About half way through my technique improved considerably and learned how to really engage my core and make the row movement more efficient. Doing this produced the same averages with about 75% of the effort. I’m looking forward to beating that time. I wore a couple layers of skin off my right knee from rubbing my long-sleeved shirt against it. I didn’t notice until the soap hit it in the shower.

Day 14 – January 31, 2012 – 1pm: Tabata situps for a PR of 68 (41 previous). I did it with fresh abs instead of post WOD but I’ll take it for a benchmark. I stretched a ton today. I focused on my groin and hamstrings for an hour to increase my range of motion doing squats. My hips are bolted shut from a decade of sitting and it’s going to take hundreds of hours to unwind these puppies. 9:40pm: Swam for an hour at the pool. Worked on fixing a crossover on my freestyle. I got that straight and then worked on my kicking – then my crossover came back. Swimming is nuts. It’s like every stroke I take has a check list of 20 items and I only have the capacity to work on them one at a time. I had two laps where everything lined up though and it was an amazing feeling to fly through the water so effortlessly. It all ended abruptly with a cramp in my arch and then my calf in my right leg. I’m going to stretch a bit before hitting the rack and preparing for tomorrow’s WOD at Titanium Crossfit.

Day 15 – February 1, 2012 – I LOVE OLYMPIC LIFTING. Who knew? After my usual warmup – 3 rounds of 10 prison squats, 10 pushups, 10 situps, 5 chin-up attempts, Marc, my personal trainer from Titanium Crossfit, had me working on technique for my deadlift and strict press. Each time I am able to complete 5 sets of 5 reps in either discipline the weight increases by 10lbs for the next workout. I started at 60% of my 5 rep maximum for each. Building up allows me to work on technique so my nervous system can get used to the movements and I can build muscle before getting to the really heavy weight. After my strength training I did the Crossfit workout AMRAP “Cindy” (modified). AMRAP = As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes. A round consisted of 5 ring rows (usually pull-ups), 10 pushups, and 15 prison squats. I completed 9 rounds total and was totally torched. Although my rounds are low, I am so proud of my tenaciousness and mental toughness throughout the entire workout. In the last 2 weeks my squat range has increased over 10cm (3 inches). I can finally break a 90 degree angle when I squat and source power. This was a big victory milestone for me yesterday . The stretching yesterday really paid off and kept me alive in that workout. I’d like to be able to sit on my heels eventually while still standing. Doing so would allow me to maintain control while lifting really heavy weight down the road.

Day 16 – February 2, 2012 – Ran a course I named Pipeline today 6.73km in 43:55. I pushed into anaerobic 4 times. Once at the halfway mark on top of the hill for 30 seconds (nasty). I then walked for 50m. On the way back I did it again twice on two small hills for 10 seconds each and at the finish line for 20 seconds. For the last three I did slow recovery jogs for 100 meters instead of walking. My time wasn’t as good as I was hoping for but it sure was a burner. Yeehaa.

Day 17 – February 3, 2012 – Two glorious victories today. 9:30am: warm-up,

Kettlebell Circuit (1 pood) 5x

30sec Two handed swings

30sec Left push press

30sec Two handed swings

30sec Right push press

30sec Goblet Squats (became a stretch)

30sec Overhead lunges Left

30sec Overhead lunges right

1min rest… (repeat 5x)

The Goblet squats got me so low that I was almost sitting completely on my calves in a squat stance. My feet were far enough apart to source lots of power. The next step will be to get comfortable and more flexible down low like that but I feel most of the hard part, as far as flexibility goes, is over. Finally, to completely finish off my core: Tabata situps PR (personal record) of 78!!! Previous was 68 on January 31.

Day 18 – February 4, 2012 – 5min row, Warm-up, Squat technique 95×5, 115×3, 135×1, 140 5×5. Bench Press technique 45×10, 95×5,115 5×5. WOD today was 21-15-9 Wallball (20lb), Burpees, Situps = 8:49. One round of 21 reps for each, one round of 15 reps for each, etc.. Stretch. Following the workout one of the trainers Jesse French gave me some tall guy tips for burpees. If you spread your legs in the pushup getting up is much faster and easier on the abs when you pull your legs up to stand. It’s important to save your abs as much as possible for the situps. I’m going to practice that and see how things improve.

Day 19 – February 5, 2012 – A day of rest today. I did however, source a steady supply of homemade eggs. I am nervous of eating store bought eggs so I don’t eat them generally. Eggs are a good unprocessed dose of protein in the morning. My mom has always raised 4-6 chickens for eggs, kitchen scrap consumption, and Martha Stewart’esque garden esthetics. She’s a bit of a jet setter these days so I raided the hen house in true Spartan fashion.

Day 20 – February 6, 2012 – Deadlift and Bench Press technique day. That felt really good. WOD today was Tabata – left hand dumbbell hang snatches (35lbs), right hand dumbbell hang snatches (35lbs), and Russian Twists (20lb Medicine Ball). The total WOD was 12 minutes trying to get the most reps possible – 8 consecutive rounds of :20sec Left / :10sec rest / :20sec Right / :10sec rest / :20sec Twists / :10sec rest. My scores were 70 left arm, 74 right arm and 168 Russian Twists for 312 reps. I was really happy with my pacing and managed to keep my shoulders in good shape with proper technique.

Day 21 – February 7, 2012 – A stressful day of balancing parenting with work today so I promised to beat the @#$% out of myself at 8:45pm. Kettlebell (35lb) warmup: 3 rounds of 10 swings, 10 left thrusters, 10 right thrusters. 10 Lunges each leg. 5 goblet squats (35lb kettlebell) with 10sec each in the basement. WOD (Angie Modified) – 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats, 100 full kettlebell swings (50lb) – for time.

Total time: 21:01. I no rep’d myself 7 times for incomplete movements (and made them up). I’m really proud of my intensity which was solid until about 60 of each, then my mind started chirping and the warrior stepped in. I broke everything into sets of 20 reps except for pushups which I did 10 before situps and 10 after. My grip strength is really improving. A couple weeks ago I couldn’t even hang on to the 50lb Kettlebell for more than 20 half height reps. Today I was crankin’ it full for 100! Recommendation: more push-up work and one hand work with the 35lb bells to keep building technique and strength. These are the weak links right now but not by much.

Day 22 – February 8, 2012 – I walked briskly for an hour pushing my daughter, the empress (2.5yrs), around to town and back. I got the blood moving but this was otherwise a solid day of rest. My body feels fantastic – even after my late evening workout. No soreness or stiffness. I’m antsy as all hell and looking forward to cramming in a workout sometime tomorrow.

Day 23 – February 9, 2012 – 7am: woke up with a swollen left knee. My outside ligament is over stretched likely from the squats on Day 21. I noticed it twinging yesterday when I was walking down hill – today it’s full of fluid. 8:45am: Warm-up, then 5 rounds of :30second intervals with a 35lb kettlebell -

• two arm swing
• round the waist right
• two arm swing
• round the waist right
• two arm swing
• static goblet press
• one arm swing left
• one arm swing right
• rest

(repeat)

Then had a :30second rest into Tabata sit-ups for a PR of 82!! My schedule is working out today thanks to this quick and nasty workout. 4:15pm: knee is looking better but the ligament is tender to touch.

Day 24 – February 10, 2012 – 7am: my knee is still a bit stiff but the fluid is gone and it’s good enough to train on. Today I was so close to a chin up it that I thought I got it. On video review though it’s no good. I’m pretty confident that a good kettle bell workout and run tomorrow followed by a rest on Sunday will make at least one possible on Day 27. My goal on Day 1 was to make one chin up by Day 29. Strength training today: Squats – 3 set warm-up followed by 5×5 165lb. These were really solid and stable throughout. Strict Press – 3 set warm-up followed by 5×5 90lb. WOD today was a series of moves in combination for 5 sets. The weight increased for each set starting at 75 and ending at 90lbs. Without letting go of the bar:

• 5reps deadlift
• 5reps hang cleans
• 5reps front squat
• 5reps push press
• 5reps good morning (bowing with the bar on your shoulder)
• 5reps bent over row
• 1 minute rest and repeat.

I need to continue building squat flexibility and get used to relaxing my shoulders when the bar is in rack position for my front squats.

Day 25 – February 11, 2012 – A ridiculous night of parenting made going to Titanium CrossFit impossible this morning so I opted for an afternoon conditioning workout instead. 2pm: Warm-up 3 rounds of 10 squats, 10 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 kettle bell swings (1pood). Ran Pipeline: 41:42 a new PR for that course. I made up almost 2.5 minutes over my previous PR for that course on the way back and didn’t go anaerobic until the last 100 meters at the end. I have set a new goal for that course – sub 40 by day 40. Running technique and VO2 max will make the difference. Immediately following the run I decided to jump right into a 21-15-9 of situps, squats, and kettle bell swings (1 pood). Total time: 5:46. Next time I’ll up the weight to 1.5pood and throw push-ups into the mix just to destroy myself. My quads were on fire for an hour after the workout and it was the squats at the end that did it. I have some lactic acid build up that seems to be going away as I write this but if my legs are stiff tomorrow I might go shoot hoops for a really light workout.

Day 26 – February 12, 2012 – Rest.

Day 27 – February 13, 2012 – The gates to glory are finally open – I got my first chin-up today! I’m elated! I did at least 10 more perfect reps throughout the rest of my workout. I couldn’t believe that my body could go from doing zero to 11 perfect reps (with at least :20 second rests in between) in one day. I am over the moon and looking forward to posting the video about the massive mental and physical milestone. My confidence is soaring. After completing my usual warm-up today I completed dead lift warm-up sets followed by 5 sets of 5 reps of 165lbs flawlessly and quickly. The weight keeps going up by 10 lbs each training day but my body is adjusting very well and staying in perfect alignment throughout the movement. Slow weight progression is a good approach. Then I did warm up sets of bench press and 5×5 of 125lbs – it was easy but I really focused on perfect technique and creating solid motor pathways. The WOD today was AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) for 12 minutes of 250meter rowing and 20 push-ups. I was 5 pushups shy of 6 rounds so I only get 5rounds. I was upset but totally bonked and happy with the fact I just did 115 perfect pushups. My rowing was good and I averaged about 1:44/500m each round. Next time I’ll push to sub 1:40/500 and make sure I complete at least 6 rounds with stronger pushups. Hell, I’ll go for 7 rounds. Ah-woo!

Day 28 – February 14, 2012 – 5km Benchmark run today at the Vanier Track. 5km total time: 28:11. My 4km split time was: 22:41 which beat my Day1 run time by 1:35. That difference is about 300 meters. I met a grade 7,8,9 group from NIDES and talked to them about the project and cheered them on as they ran their own workout around the track. It was an added bonus to the day.

Day 29 – February 15, 2012 – Benchmark Day. Today I did the first overhand pull-up I’ve ever done in my life. 5minute row, warmup. Squats 3 warmup sets then 5×5 170lbs, Strict Press 3 warmup sets then 5×5 95lbs. WOD 10min AMRAP 7 squat cleans 20lb medicine ball, 7 20″box jumps, 7 pushups. I completed 7 rounds in 9:30.

Day 29 – BENCHMARKS – We checked measurements today and I took a bit of time to reflect on what I’ve learned these last 29 days, which I’ll get to in a second. I’ve lost 16lbs – from 281 to 265. My chest is down 1.5inches, waist down 2inches (look out speedo here I come), hips down 1.5inches, and Body Fat Percentage down 2% on rough calculation to 26%. What’s cool about this is that I haven’t focused on any of this stuff throughout the month. All I’ve been thinking about is how to improve my workout performance. Attributes like flexibility, strength and cardio have become central to everything I do. The numbers are just a bonus. Thanks for being with me on this journey. I appreciate it more than you know.

“Zac Whyte joined our class today and gave a most compelling presentation, sharing information and stories about The Power of R; empowering 10 and 11 year old kids to think globally and act locally, to RETHINK… to be mindful of waste management and contributing positively to a more sustainable planet. Thanks Zac for your inspiration!”

Join me as I set forth on a personal journey to put a check mark on my bucket list by becoming a warrior class athlete in 365 days. I’ll be joined by a whole host of characters from my community, primarily my personal trainer Marc Mazzocchi from Titanium Crossfit in Courtenay, BC, Canada. http://theroadtosparta.com and http://facebook.com/theroadtosparta

For the duration of the challenge I will be completely reforming my lifestyle to achieve my goal. Instead of doing it alone I thought it would be helpful and motivating to document the journey online and in video blogs so people can follow along. I’m a firm believer in the saying “what gets measured gets managed,” and I’d be documenting this stuff anyways. Be sure to connect with me on Facebook and tell me what you think or at the very least throw some encouragement my way.

Motivations

I’ve never been proud of my body image – I’m built like a rectangular tank so achieving the V-shape that bodybuilders are famous for is difficult without putting on tons of bulky (impractical) muscle. I’ve come to terms with that but now I’m starting to get pretty pudgy in the midsection and that is worrying me. I was a successful athlete in High School but have gone through many cycles of poor exercise and nutrition since then. When I turned 30 my body started going South without me. I’m 35 now, a father and a husband – my life is in order but my fitness goals are not being met. I have a media company and work as a professional speaker/presenter for different agencies. I spend all of my time thinking about how to do good in the world and very little about my own body. Being physically fit is the one thing, I feel, that can unlock my full potential the fastest. It’s time for my mind and spirit to justify a healthier physical lifestyle.

Expectations

1. Become a lean machine.
2. Learn new techniques to strengthen my body, improve my flexibility and focus my agility. I have really terrible knees and hips from motorbike accidents, basketball, volleyball and football injuries and recently a pinched nerve in my back (a computer injury – ha!). These injuries have held me back from training for over a decade. I want to negate these aches and pains with muscle, flexibility and sound training practices.
3. Improve my daily nutrition and eating habits. If it eats like a god and it moves like a god; it must be a god.
4. Crush pull-ups all day long. I haven’t even tried to do a chin up in over 10 years and doubt I can even do one. I watched a movie called 300 a few years back and on the bonus footage DVD there was a clip showing the actor’s training sessions. I was mystified by the guys doing full-on psycho pull ups, not just once, but repeatedly. I’m hoping to be able to do that after a year.
5. Cut my body fat percentage in half and pack on more lean, functional muscle.
6. Meet new people in person and online through the process. I don’t get out much so this will be a great outlet for social interaction in different circles.
7. Run a 50km solo at the end of the year.
8. Learn to swim again. An endurance swim might be in the cards too. We’ll see how it goes.
9. Have fun.

Reservations

I’m scared shitless about this whole project.

Day 1 – January 18, 2012

Age: 35

Height: 198 cm (6’6″)

Weight: 127.5kg (281lbs)

Body Fat Percentage: 27.5-28%

4000m Run: 24:16

Sponsor

Titanium Crossfit

Here’s the letter I received:

First I would like to thank you very much for taking the time to come in to speak to the Global Studies class at Isfeld. We have spent the term focusing on personal consumption and what the students can do personally to make a difference. Your presentation fit in perfectly with the curriculum and inspired students to continue to make a difference everyday by way of changing their habits. The students have become more aware of the use of plastics and the importance of recycling. Students expressed genuine awareness and concern over taking care of their environment. We appreciate the opportunity for you to come in to speak to the students at no cost to the school. The reinforcement of all of these ideas by you had a much greater impact on students than I could have ever imagined.

I am not even sure I can express in words the impact you had on the students. Upon discussing with my students after your visit, many students expressed, ” Zac is my new hero!” They found your presentation the best part of the course, and said that you truly inspired them. I know it might sound like I am exaggerating, but I am not. They were moved by your experiences, your stories, your passion. When things get difficult, if you ever question if you are on the right path, don’t…you are! Again, I cannot thank you enough, you certainly helped make the final days of the Global Studies class amazing.

Lisa Chase – Teacher – Mark R. Isfeld Global Studies

On December 21, 2011 I took my camera to check out the improvements at Campbell River Waste Management Centre and meet up with my buddy Jesse Lee. For more information about the site and programs click here.

“The kids really enjoyed your talk and were still bringing ideas up right before Christmas. They loved how you brought in the consumer parts of things… showing that you don’t NEED, as much as you WANT. I would love to have you in again to talk to them about ANY subject. Everyone was totally engaged, and that is saying a ton for this group!” Eileen Monks – Courtenay Elementary Teacher – Grade 2/3 – 2011

To book me for a Power Of R presentation in SD71 or SD72 contact me here.

There are many good reasons to ride the bus and commute on Comox Valley Transit. Learn the four biggest reasons in this video and keep it real in the Comox Valley.

Zac in Garbage City, Cairo

This fall I visited a lively bunch of grade seven students at Airport Elementary and told the tale of Mokattam Village, better known as Garbage City, Cairo. The students were learning about ancient Egypt and their understanding made the modern day story of the Zabbaleen people that much more invigorating. The, approximately 60,000, people living in Mokattam divert an extraordinary 80% of the waste stream from Cairo’s inner core and turn it into profit through recycling and livestock husbandry. Development in Cairo and the recent Arab Spring are threatening this remarkable utilization of waste for profit but that was not the focus of this presentation. The people of Mokattam have shown the world what is possible when it comes to recycling and a zero waste mentality. They are a living, functioning example of exactly what the world needs to be doing to deal with it’s waste as a resource instead of potentially toxic landfill material.

To tie the story together, the second half of the presentation demonstrated to each student how they could each reduce their ecological footprint and make a powerful difference in their local community by reducing and reusing their waste.  The Power Of R was in the house.

 ”This fall I had the pleasure of having Zac Whyte come into my grade 6/7 classroom. We wanted to combine his work around solid waste reduction, with our class’ current study of Egypt. Zac was able to put together an engaging, relevant and unique presentation combining these two topics. He has an outstanding classroom presence, and his extensive knowledge and personal passion was able to inspire all of my students; he is terrific!” – Vanessa Hitchcock – Elementary Teacher