The Pay Off :-)

From August 26th 2010 until now. This is the progress I've made. In number form :-) First set of numbers is From August 2010. Second set is from Feb. 18th 2011

This past August, while out in B.C. to sign up for Ironman Canada. I stopped in at the 'Competitive Edge' tent in Ironman Village. They were offering free tests on body metrics. i.e. Body fat %, Muscle Mass, Metabolic Age ect, ect. I knew the test would come out and say I was pretty much Superman (not), but I thought I would get tested anyway :-) Step 1: Strip down.

Results were as follows in August:
1. Weight: 153.4 lbs
2. % Body Fat: 16.2%  - This put me in the middle of the healthy range
3. % total body water: 59.6% - For a racer, you should be above 60% to 65%
4. Muscle Mass: 122.1 lbs - Lean body mass (How much of my body is muscle)
5. Physique Rating: 5 - This number assesses the users physique according to the ratio of body fat and muscle in the body. A 5 rates made me an Average Muscle & Average body fat.
6. BMR: 1705 cal - Number of calories I'd need at rest for a day to live. BMR= Base Metabolic Rate.
7. Metabolic Age: 22 - Age level of my body according to my BMR
8. Bone Mass: 6.4 lbs - Physical weight of my bones in my body. I was a bit low in the cat. :-(
9. Visceral Fat Rating: 4 - Indicates level of fat surrounding my vital organs in my stomach area. A 4 rating is very good. Healthy is rated as anywhere from 1 to 12. But 12 needs work.

So needless to say, I left feeling a little bit, average. Here I am signing up for Ironman and what I'm working with is average? Not a chance. Time to get the cracking on the training.

 Fast forward to the now. Since then, I signed up and started my training plan. And for those of you who know me, you know I have been taking this very serious. So here is the pay of of my training. This past Friday, I went and got an updated test. Here were my numbers :-)

Results are as follows:
1. Weight: 148.4 lbs - Down 5lbs :-) That's always a good thing :-)
2. % Body Fat: 7.9%  - Down 8.3%. This now puts me in the 'Underfat' range. But don't worry, it's OK.
3. % total body water: 64.2% - For a racer, you should be above 60% to 65%
4. Muscle Mass: 129.8 lbs - Up 7.7 lbs Lean body mass (muscle) This is awesome :-)
5. Physique Rating: 8 - An 8 rates made me as a 'Thin and Muscular Athlete :-)
6. BMR: 1810 cal - Number of calories I'd need at rest for a day.
7. Metabolic Age: 12 - Down 10 years on my metabolic age. Awesome sauce :-)
8. Bone Mass: 7 lbs - Up .6 lbs. This just puts me into the Average bone mass range. :-)
9. Visceral Fat Rating: 1 - Down 3 points. 1 is as low as the scale goes. So I am pretty sure 1 stands for awesome and super healthy :-) :-) :-)

My conclusion: Training for an Ironman is the best workout and diet plan there is :-) It's nice to see all my hard work is paying off. Can't wait to see my numbers just before Ironman this August.

Jesse James Brown