Got my ass kicked today

Not literally, in case that was the only reason you tuned in, sorry for your disappointment.

I woke up early and hit the gym at about 5am. I do this from time to time, but normally I'm an afternoon lifter. Needed to get it out of the way early today because I'm moving and setting up utilities all day long, and we all know how time consuming that is.

So anyways, gym was pretty empty, and it looked like I was going to have a good session. Breezed through the first 6-7 stations, which are all Cybex machines like the picture on the right. Arms were starting to feel tight, and that's a good sign that the workout is being effective. A couple of meat heads came in and started using the bench press and squat stations for an eternity, so I decided to switch it up and do free weights for the rest of the morning, hit my pull-ups and abs, and call it a day.

Well, it suffices to say that I haven't touched free weights in quite some time. I think they are tedious, and boring, and don't do much for me than other weight stations do, so I typically avoid them for everything but curls. Today I got about 20 minutes into it and quickly noticed that I had rivulets of sweat flowing down my face and back, as if I never lifted before. About 5 minutes after that my shirt was completely soaked through, and the bench had standing water on it. Didn't feel exceptionally weak, but could definitely tell I was getting a max workout.

Finally, I finished all that up and spent about 5 minutes wiping everything down ,and then headed over to the pull up and dip bars. Normally, I can do 10 pull ups in a row and about 15 dips in a row in a set. I got up on this thing this morning and struggled to do 3 dips. WTF!!

My arms were completely dead. Triceps were so exhausted I could barely even hold my weight up on them, much less dip and pull myself back up. so I stopped for a minute to rest and thought pull ups may be a bit better, because they involved different muscles. Grabbed on to the bar and excruciatingly did 5 of them before I almost fell off the bar. By this time I'm water logged from sweat, physically exhausted, and thinking my body temperature was at least 106 degrees. For some reason I told myself "do 1 more set of 5 pull ups and then GTFO". If you don't know what GTFO means, ask your mom and dad. Or just google it.

Anyhow, I grabbed on to this bar, which seemed at least 4 feet higher than it was 2 minutes ago, and struggled to do 3 pull ups before gravity took over and pulled me to the ground, hard. Like, almost straight onto my ass and then the back of my head hard. i took that as a cue and promptly left them gym with my dignity intact.

Opened the door to the parking lot and lo and behold a frigging hurricane had popped up while I was in there. On top of that, I had parked about 100 feet farther away than normal for reasons unknown, so on top of my shirt being soaked through every piece of my clothing gets to be uniform. What a way to start the day. Hoping thing improve, but not looking likely.

Until next time!

Quickly gaining upper body muscle

I'm currently in the hiring process for both the local police and fire departments here, and their fitness requirements include a certain amount of timed pull ups and push ups. Since I have never been able to even do 1 pull up, I knew this was an area that I needed to start working on immediately, so I would be ready for the test in a couple months.

Now for a little back history: all throughout my life I have been weak in the upper body. Even when I was playing football and lifting weights constantly, my bench press max was never even close to my body weight. I could never figure out how to get stronger and keep progressing into higher weights. Since I started lifting again in the last 2 years, my bench press has risen, but still , nowhere near equaling my body weight. My biceps and triceps have grown, and become firmer, but the weight does not increase.

So anyways, at Wal-Mart I found a common pull-up bar for 19.99. It's one of those things that hangs on a door jamb, which you probably saw in some infomercial hosted by a wrestler or some other equivalent meat head. When I got home I put it in the doorway and promptly did 2 pull ups. I felt really weak while doing them, and didn't think my grip would hold. Thinking I needed to stay with it, I made a resolution to do at least 10 pull-ups a day, and also to do 100 push ups a day as well.

I saw results within the first week. Almost immediately, my bench press went up 10 pounds. I was able to do more on the incline press, and my curls were increased as well. The results didn't stop the next week: everything kept increasing. I'm simply amazed at the fact that all I needed to do to get stronger were simple pull ups and push ups. It never crossed my mind that these simple exercises would play such a pivotal role in muscle growth. I had always saw them as tedious calisthenics, which were slightly above useless, barring military punishment.

Now I am benching my body weight, and doing 10 pull ups in a row. I've upped my limits to 50 pull ups and 200 push ups a day and I'm getting so much stronger that I continuously amaze myself. I highly recommend fitting 100 daily push ups into your routine. When I first started out, I was doing sets of 20, at any time I had spare. It's really easy to do, and doesn't take any time at all. You will see results, and very quickly.

The Joys of Downsizing

Doesn't it just make you feel awesome to throw out half of your possessions? We're moving within the next month, so today I was tasked with cleaning out the closets and choosing what clothes I would be keeping and which I would be sending to goodwill.

I was ruthless. If it wasn't worn in the last 3 months, and I didn't anticipate wearing in the next month, it was going somewhere, but not to out next residence. The final tally: 8 over sized trash bags full of clothes, 2 large boxes full of DVDs, VCR cassettes and other useless junk that just took up space. The apartment is airier now, and I feel like it's a brand new place. It's just incredible how much of a change it makes.

The Goodwill pile:

I almost cried when I tossed three brand-new pairs of 48x30 jeans in this pile. At first because I can now wear 38 size jeans, and am so glad I'll never be that size again, and then again because they were freakin' brand new (never worn because they were a bit tight). That was 100-150 dollars wasted. Oh well. I found some clothes in the closet that I couldn't even remember buying or owning. Sayonara, fat clothes.

The trash pile:

If you think that's impressive: consider the fact that I haven't even touched my kitchen or the outside storage yet. I also have at least 5-6 large pieces of furniture to add to this collection. Guess moving won't be so bad this time around, after all.

Another Boring Rest Day

Ugh. Another rest day. Another very crucial day for my body to heal from all the pain and turmoil I've been putting it through. I get it, it's an important part of losing weight and gaining muscle.

So why do I feel like such a lazy bum? I really want to go running or play basketball. I am highly motivated to put my body in motion today. This is usually the case on my scheduled rest day, whereas on the days I have to work out I can be lethargic and unmotivated.

I suppose I can at least find something productive to do with my time off today. The closets and bathroom are begging for a spring cleaning because we are moving soon. I'll probably tackle that and then go through my clothes and donate all the stuff I don't wear anymore.

Resisting sitting on my ass and playing Call of Duty until Jasmine gets home will be a lesson in will power. I've not been able to resist it in the past.

Hell you know what, maybe I'll just go for a quick 2 mile run anyhow. I'm not that sore.

Looking for a Lower fat/Higher protein diet?

There's a very simple replacement for your evening dinner that will instantly eliminate countless grams of fat and boost your protein intake, which will also be very tasty and filling. I came upon it after having an epiphany caused by roasted Brussels sprouts.

What is this mystery diet you say? Well, the first and most important step is to eliminate potatoes from your diet, full stop. Mashed, fried, baked, roasted, all of them. Gone. Don't even stop at the potato section of the supermarket. In my house, the only potato we will eat is roasted sweet potatoes, and that is a rare occasion. Sweet potatoes are extremely high in antioxidants, it dwarfs the nutritional value of regular potatoes. One downside to sweet potatoes: extremely high glucemic value. Diabetics: this is a big no-no for you.

Ok, so you've eliminated the potatoes. Most of you are westerners, and we all know Americans, Irish, and the rest of us LOVE our potatoes. It's a travesty to even contemplate knocking them off our plates at dinnertime. So what do we replace them with?

The answer can be found in any common grocery store: brown grains. Barley, brown rice, and quinoa are some of the best grains you will find on the face of the planet. They all have extremely low glucemic values and they are packed with protein. Avoid white grains at all costs. They are nutritional garbage, and their glucemic value is through the roof. The best grains I have located are sold at Trader Joes for 3 bucks a packet. It is a blend of barley, rice, and spelt, and when cooked with chicken stock it tastes buttery and moist. Cook one cup of the grains with 3 cups of water mixed with one or two cubes of chicken stock, based on your taste preference. This goes extremely well with the next item on the new menu.

Eliminate all red meats. I know this will be hard. I love steaks too, being from the Midwest. It has to be done though. Cooking one chicken breast for dinner in place of a roast or steak will save you at least 20 grams of fat, 300 calories, and massive amounts of cholesterol. On top of the health benefits, chicken cooks faster, marinates faster, and goes with more sauces and side dishes than beef or pork.

Last step to close out the dinner is the best part, which is too often overlooked. Roasted vegetables are incredible. I have a variety of greens that I like to roast, but the best ones are Brussels sprouts and asparagus. I know, I know, if you're like I used to be, you're probably gagging at the thought of Brussels sprouts in any form. Trust me though, all you have to do is shake them in some olive oil and salt and roast them at 350 for about 35 minutes and they will come out very sweet and crunchy. The salt mixes with the sweetness of the veggie and creates an extremely tasty side dish. It completely changed my view of vegetables.

So if you're keeping score, the final rundown of this diet is one chicken breast, cooked in any form you like (I prefer grilled), half a cup of quinoa or barley/rice, and about 4 ounces of roasted vegetables. If you eat this meal for dinner only 3 times a week you will see notable changes in your health, stamina, and strength. Good luck exploring the multiple combinations of the ingredients, and fun ways to cook the chicken or other poultry. Most importantly, enjoy!