6/17/2013 – 272.1 Lbs
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Category Archives: 2012
Scan of hand drawing
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inspiration – art every day
MOOC – Massively Online Open Course
Massive open online courses are a relatively new version Open Courses. These are FREE online courses you can actually sign up for and take with others at various universities and other learning institutions offering them.
MMOCs are different then traditional Opencourseware because they let you actually sign up and take the classes where as typical opencourseware is just stuff the universities and institutions put online for free as a learning material… typically in the past opencourseware was sort of historical artifacts from past classes that are now open for the world to look at such as recordings of classes, syllabus, texts that professors put together, reading lists covered in various classes, etc.
MOOCs are different because these are classes you actually sign up for, and do homework for as they are in progress, etc. A nice aggregator I’ve found for opencourses can be found at http://www.class-central.com/
. It’s nice because it lists classes from several of the places offering them instead of just the classes at one location.
Here’s some more MOOC links:
https://www.coursera.org/
https://www.udacity.com/
http://www.edx.org/
http://www.canvas.net/
http://www.academicearth.org/
http://library.sdsu.edu/guides/sub2.php?id=210&pg=155
Here’s a nice list with links related to more traditional Opencoursware locations around the internet:
http://www.core.org.cn/OcwWeb/Global/all-courses.htm
http://www.missouristate.edu/fctl/124900.htm
On a side note, currently there is a huge debate going on with the University of Missouri and several other universities in regard to whether a syllabus is a copyright protected document or not. The trial will be starting in a few weeks. The issue has been in the local papers for the last year or two since the issue came to light. It looks like those instigating the suit have been keeping a blog about the issue. It will be interesting to see what comes of this lawsuit. If the courts side with nctq many more courses might become available to the public as opencourses even at universities that don’t want to open their courses to this type of thing.
Second side note:
As far as I know, the University of Missouri, including UMKC does NOT do opencourseware or MOOCs. However, you’d think UMKC would be interested in doing it since soon Google’s super high speed fiber will be in Kansas City. Having that much bandwidth available would be a fantastic thing for a place offering MOOCs. Something like that might have kept the recent Coursera problem from happening.
Maybe behind the scenes, the google fiber thing will increase the speed at Universities in the area due to the Internet 2 consortium?
http://doit.missouri.edu/research/internet2.html
However, it’s highly doubtful this type of thing results in ‘free classes’ for the masses… It would be nice if it would though.
inspiration – painting a day blog…
http://lisadaria.blogspot.com/ – I need to start doing something like this…
I also want/need to get back in to the daily exercise routine. After the hernia surgery I’ve been taking it easy. I need to get back in to it… It’s sometimes harder than other days. The timing belt went out on one of the cars the other day so we are carpooling now… Which means up extremely early and to work a couple hours earlier than normal daily… tough to be inspired when you are tired/exhausted physically and mentally due to looooooong days.
workout and weird dreams…
Last night Tekla and I worked out with Power 90 tape for the first time. We are off to a nice start! Hope to keep it up. I’m really glad she’s working out with me. It is so much easier to stay on course when you have a great workout partner. Together we are going to Kick ass and take names.
I had a weird dream about 3:30 or so this morning. I journaled about it… Then tried to go back to bed since REM time was broken by it, but laid in bed about an hour and a half never fully falling asleep. I did have the bipap machine on though so got some rest, just could not sleep too deeply after that.
Lots of odd bits and pieces to that dream… I might write more about it someday, but for now, I’ll just say part of it involved “G-I-N-G-WHORE” being sung to the tune of B-I-N-G-O in reference to someone named Ginger…
I did a little more writing this morning, but am not doing the midi keyboard practice this morning since I feel like I need a full night of good rest to take that on.
Day 2
We didn’t do the Power 90 last night… and I also didn’t do any art. I did go in to the ‘art room’ last night… which is our second bedroom which is currently used as a storage room in half of it and I have a few tables set up for art in the other part of it. It was extremely cold as we have it blocked off to keep the cold air from the rest of the apartment to save on heating costs, etc. I tried to set up an encaustic painting area, but got a major headache. I played around with taking the feet off of a skillet in there since they are partly broken. I re-arranged quite a few things… However, after that I think the stress from being in there mixed with the cold and the thoughts of how little I’ve been in there, etc. just sort of gave me a migrane headache… I was in there a couple of hours probably, just re-arranging things… shortly after I left the room Tekla got home since she worked last night. After that we went out to eat at a Chinese buffet across from Golden Coral. It’s a nice place… and it’s fairly cheap. I think it’s usually about twenty bucks between the two of us. I was really feeling ill during the meal. I think it was the cold from the room mixed with some sinus problems I’ve been having as well stress from being back at work the first day in many days dealing with very complex system issues (adjusting some hold bills are tricky – have to queue claim, print to screen to create an Account Receivable Counter on the Plan, then manually adjust off the balance, and note the visit – a very multi-step process that should only take 30 seconds but really takes about 5+ minutes per claim, and I had quite a few of those to deal with the last hour of work… among the many other things I did the rest of the day – have to jump through hurdles to just get the system to do what it should do automatically but never does as it was not programmed to do things the right ‘smart’ way of handling EVERYTHING… )… Tekla rubbed my head to try to help the migraine a bit, but it only helped so much. Needless to say after the dinner we pretty much went directly to bed shortly after that… Today, I did write some more in morning pages. I also did practice midi about half an hour, but only about 15 minutes of it got recorded since the computer ran out of memory or something as some error message popped up about virtual memory running out. Not sure why it worked yesterday in recording half an hour, but not today?.. Here’s today’s recording. I tried to practice more of the C-scale. It’s very difficult to get my left hand to do the transition when heading back down the scale. My middle finger just doesn’t seem to land on E all the time since it’s such a complex wrist movement… It also doesn’t help that the keyboard is probably on a desk that’s a little too high compared to where the office chair is at maximum height. Elbows are probably about even or a little below the keyboard, and they should be above for optimal use… might have to get a new desk or chair someday down the road?… might need a new keyboard too someday as this one has a lot of static in the sound coming out of the speaker in the earphones (I use earphones since it’s so early morning and I live in an apartment)… so here’s the short version of what did actually record. I was hoping it would be the full 30 minutes, but the computer thought otherwise.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5pC9Gwr9zBIOEgxbVlpdzA2aXM
2.1.2011 Winter Zip
few more photos
2019 edit – stopped using winkflash eons ago. Now just use google photos.
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few more random photos added to http://mastermesh.winkflash.com/
Added a few tablet photos in a new folder tonight. Most of the past folders are family photos and things. If you are a friend/family ask me for the password sometime if you don’t have it yet.
The Tablet sketch folder doesn’t have a password. Not much there… just posting it as a sample of where my skill is now… very bad… will improve over time.
inspirations – Tony Oursler
Organizing…
Going to try to do some organizing going forward.
I’ve been wasting too much time playing video games, and other non-productive things now and then the last few years. I have enjoyed that since it helped me stay away from getting too serious about things, and/or to lower stress from work and other places (or blow off steam from stressful situations at work – what better way to deal with stress at work than going in to a video game to blow things up, go hunting, etc.)
I’m starting to work on an excel database linking blog listings of various images I’ve uploaded here to locations of those images on the hard drive and where they’ve been uploaded online.
It’s a very time consuming project, but eventually, I’m going to try to use this project to help me do several things.
- It’s going to help me figure out what is worthy of being in a ‘real’ portfolio either online on it’s own website, and/or in a printed format.
- It will help me figure out where I need to put my next efforts going forward
- It will help me organize things, get rid of duplicates, etc.
- It will help me organize things in a way that I can group things that are related together better so that I can create ‘collections’ of items to group together to sell as packages on Turbosquid, etc., or to show off in categories in other locations, etc.
- It will help me organize keywords better and figure out what needs new ones, which ones to dump, etc.
- It will give me a chance to look at a lot of great stuff (and some not so great stuff) that I’ve created that I haven’t looked at in a while since it’s been hiding on a hard drive, hidden away from my two eyes
The surgery is scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving. I am going to have to have at least a couple of weeks of recovery time after that before I can get back in to working out too much. I do plan to get back in to that. My goal is to work on this database project, the blog, and possibly creating more artwork as I do that so that I’m developing a bit of a recovery in health as well as mental focus/art focus, etc. I have not been doing the artist’s way writings, and might not except now and then? I actually see this blog and posts like that as sort of doing that without doing that. I don’t want to make it so that the art focus takes away from the exercising focus going forward. However, I don’t want to balance it out the opposite way either and focus too much on working out and not enough on art – I think I may have done that when I was trying to do the two a days…
so… I might just go down to the one a day workouts when I get to where I’m doing the working out again.
I’m not sure if I’ll keep up the 1000 day tracker thing or blog about the exercise so much, but I might since it was helping me stay focused and on goal. I probably will sometimes list some groupings from the database project in the blog here from time to time. I tried something like this a year or three back, but never got too far with it. I think part of that was because I got too off track with various things, including but not limited to the video games, moving to where we are now, etc.
It is very time consuming and difficult to organize thousands of photos and sketches, etc. However, it’s something I think I need to do. Strangely, the video games have somewhat gotten me to realize that a little… Organizing the shop, booth, and apartments in Entropia Universe, and organizing the hundreds of blueprints and other items my avatar owns in there has helped me realize my real world life needs some organization… time to unclutter and CREATE FROM THE CHAOS.
THE MANIFESTO
I will come back to this post at a later date. I’ve added a category just for this post to be all by itself… I have some interesting ideas on what to put here in the coming days, months, years… However, I don’t have time to put it all together right this second… will come back here to add more later…
ARTIST STATEMENT… (note today is 10/11/12 :))
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PET PEEVES/REAL WORLD MANIFESTO
Credit/refund issues (DRG too) – BANKS, INSURANCES, HOSPITALS, AND ANY OTHER SERVICE ORGANIZATION…
Treating others with compassion…
GET RID OF PATIENT RESPONSIBILITY ALREADY!
MAKE LAWS, EMAILS, VERBAL STATEMENTS AGREE IN ALL AGENCIES, COMPANIES, ETC.
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VIRTUAL WORLD MANIFESTO…
Day 29 – (warning: there’s a weigh in and video)
Well, it’s the 29th day of the 1000 day challenge. Tomorrow is day 30, the time of no more taking it easy…
Tomorrow I will start the 2nd month’s challenge, which will be doing that second workout every day, at least 5 days a week – 6 if possible. I will keep doing the one workout a day in the morning, and then do this second workout after work. I expect to see some major calorie burning going on since I’m basically going to be doubling the number of calories burned daily through exercise. Because of that I probably will need to keep an eye on my blood sugar a lot more than I have up til now because going low on sugar can be a big problem for me since I’m diabetic. It’s never been an issue too much up til now since I never really went to my max on exercise, but doing two hard workouts daily might put me there…
Today I also tried doing a little writing at lunch. I’m going to try to make that in to a habit over time.. I’m using the habit tracker from the LDS that was linked to from one of the first posts about the 1000 day challenge. I’m using that tracker for stuff like that instead of the main ones because it lets me track a little easier than the regular one that tracks day by day… since it’s a cross off tracker. I’m also using that tracker to start tracking my times of going to the gas station and paying at the pump (instead of going in, and likely picking up some diet soda and snacks in the convenience store while at as I typically have done in the past – a bad habit I’m trying to start to break…)
I decided to go ahead and shoot the video for this ‘month’ tonight since it’s still afternoon so the light is good…
Plus I really just kind of want to see where I am visually with the video comparisons so that I know where I need to go as that sort of gives me inspiration about what level I need to aim for tomorrow and going forward. The videos take a little while to upload and link to, etc. and this blog posting takes a little while to put together so I’m probably going to not exercise tonight, or on other month ends when these types of videos get posted.
Today’s weigh in weight is 273.6 lbs. That’s 19 lbs down since 9/3/2012, and 22.9 lbs down since 6/24/2012. That puts my goal of ‘getting in to my BMI target range’ at somewhere between 96.6 lbs -133.6 lbs more to lose. It’d be nice if I reach that goal in the next year or so, but if it takes longer, it takes longer… That’s why I’m making this is a 1000 day challenge, not a 30 day challenge, not a 90 day challenge, but 1000 day challenge… In the past I’d have seen this sort of progress and just quit after that… not this time… going all the way to that 1000 days, exercising and doing other things to live a better life than I ever have in my entire life. It will be so nice to actually get to the ‘BMI’ weight that Doctors are always talking about… that weight where people can’t say you are obese any more… where you can look at them and say I got down to my goal weight, why aren’t you there yet?… 😉
Here’s the video I shot this afternoong, Day 29 of the 1000 Day Challenge (10/2/2012)
273.6 lbs:
Here’s the video from Day zero of the 1000 day challenge (9/3/2012) – 292.6 lbs
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Below are the videos and weight ins from before the 1000 day challenge when I tried to do the Power 90 but had to quit around day 60 because of an accidental stab wound… which caused me to have to ‘rest’ 2 weeks which really was not good on the weight loss thing, but that’s the past… I’m looking forward now… Just looking at the videos for comparison purposes… Even though the past is the past, it’s good to know where you came from so that you can tell where you are going…
8/21/2012 – 284.6 lbs
8/16/2012 – 285.3 lbs:
8/9/2012 – 281.8 lbs
8/1/2012 – 284.8 lbs
7/24/2012 – 286.2 lbs
7/17/2012 – 289.2 lbs:
7/14/2012 – 288.6 lbs
Before then
6/29/2012 I was 292.1 lbs
6/24/2012 I was 296.5 lbs
Memorial Day – May 28, 2012 –
4/30/2012
4/10/2012
I have to thank my amazing wife, Tekla, for being behind me all the way in this crazy 1000 day challenge thing. Sorry I wake you up so early darling but now you can start to see the progress…
This is only the beginning…
Much more to come. 😉 🙂 :p
(*note – if some of the videos don’t show yet, it’s probably because they are not done uploading yet… Currently uploading the oldest ones and they are only at 5% upload progress so far in youtube at the time of this posting… if you really have to see the vids, come back and look again tomorrow…*)
Day 9 – switching it up
It’s Day 9 of the 1000 day challenge, and today I decided to do something a little different…
so.. Tonight I’ll do the Power 90 tape that I’ve normally been doing in the mornings up til now since I really ‘want’ to do that every day if possible, and my body is starting to get used to that workout so it’s nothing unexpected and too hard on me like the fit for duty was the other day. I think doing it at night will make me not give up the evening routine as much as I have been.
That leaves the mornings open to try something new… so I just completed a Martial Fusion Cardio Blast workout this morning on the All Fitness TV channel in the Roku. That was a nice slow paced cardio workout that was awesome. My back is a feeling a little pain since I’m not 100% used to the ‘horse stance’ yet, but it was light cardio and a nice sweat, so I think I might do more things like this in future mornings from time to time. Switching it up works more muscles and makes me work harder since it’s not the same movement every time, keeps me from getting ‘used to’ the same ol routine and also makes it a little fun to try something new now and then.
sore and tired…
I’ve been very sore and tired this afternoon. I think the lactic acid from the overdoing it yesterday afternoon is catching up to me again. Going to not do a workout tonight to let my body repair itself a little before starting it up again tomorrow… eating supper right now right after work… I was feeling famished this afternoon… not sure if it’s really a physical need for food, or a mental thing that is compensating for the lactic acid. Either way… sore, tired, hungry… going to go finish eating now…
Day 8 Morning…
Well, it’s September 11, and my 8th day of the 1000 day challenge. The morning Workout was just completed.
Almost forgot to eat some ham during breakfast, so added that as a note to my daily excel tracker. It’s important to have protein after workouts according to many forums and blogs I’ve read since your body supposedly ‘absorbs’ the protein best within one hour after working out… so I probably will start snacking on a little ham, turkey or something similar after both the morning and evening workout. I don’t plan to do a lot of other snacking, but am considering this an important snack so won’t count it as an S on the No S diet that I’m starting to follow, but not as strictly as I probably should yet… I may even convert it in to supper after the evening workout if I feel the need to eat more since my wife doesn’t always get home til fairly late in the evening, and as mentioned in a previous post, I’m diabetic, so I don’t know if I can keep up waiting for her all the time for supper because I need my energy for the workouts and also to keep up sugar levels since my lunch is actually fairly early most days at work. We are trying to eat healthier… lots of salads, veggies, a few fruits, and stuff like mushrooms, spinach, etc. Lots of salads will probably be our near future.
My typical breakfast these days is a bowl of honey cheerios in milk with ginger sprinkled on it and a couple of teaspoons of milled flaxseed, and sometimes a little sprinkle of tumeric (the ginger and tumeric are supposed to help with inflammation, so in theory help keep pain levels down a little). My typical lunch is a ham, turkey, or some other type of meat sandwich with a slice of cheese, two slices of bread, a sprinkle of tumeric and sometimes some other sort of spice on it – curry, or garlic salt, or Italian, or just the tumeric and somedays not even that, just the turkey and cheese… sandwich has some spinach or lettuce on it most days, but not all days. Sides for lunch are usually some type of fruit – usually an orange, and some type of veggie or ligher version of fruit or light healthy food — peppers, mushrooms, mini-tomatoes, grapes, etc. Suppers vary from day to day, but I’m probably going to try more salads with some meat and light fruits in it.
Last night, after the ‘Fit for Duty’ workout I was fairly sore in back and calves. Luckily, my amazing wife is currently in training to be a massage therapist so she gave me a very nice calf rub last night that helped enormously. I also took a hot bath after that to help a little too. I haven’t had a ‘bath’ for years since I’m usually a shower person, but as I increase the intensity and amount of workouts I’m doing daily, I probably will start doing that more often since that hot water and steam is amazing for the leg pain. I think that I really need to start working bathes in more since my calves get so tight after some workouts if I really push it, and because my shins seem to be a magnet for shin splints if I overdo things too much.
In this mornings workout, I was able to do at least one and a half rounds of jumping jacks and bunny hops before I had to switch to doing the side steps due to the leg pain… so my endurance is definitely improving. I probably will try to stick with the I-II tapes for most of 30 days since I’m working in an evening workout when I can since I don’t want to overdo things and burn out… taking it nice and slow and easy on this round of Power 90 because I don’t have day 90 as my end goal… I have day 999 as being one day away from an end goal… actually, I don’t even really have much of a pre-conceived goal in mind because I think sometimes that type of thing, when it comes to weight loss and getting in shape is really counter-productive…
I do plan to get in shape, get healthy, and ultimately get to my BMI target goal someday… I do not plan on setting a day that I’ll get to that weight goal and then beating myself up if I don’t get there by day X. I just am enjoying the ride towards this healthier way of living… It’s an amazing new way of life! 🙂
Do whatever you must do – whatever it will be – it will be the right choice… No need to beat yourself up if you don’t always meet your goals 1000% of the time… You should be congratulated for at least trying since that’s 90% more than most people do. If you don’t get to where you want to be, just re-adjust, alter course, and head in a new direction unhindered by past failures… No need to beat yourself up for trying to do the right things! 😉
Day 7 Evening…
Afternoon/Evening accomplishments for today:
Did one Fit for Duty Cardio workout. Man, that is one hard work. I was expecting something to do with running since it is cardio, but no, it’s all pushups, crunches, squats and suicides!.. Suicides are where you squat down, put hands on ground, kick legs back, do a push up, pull feet back in, and then explode up, jumping as you go… crazy hard stuff that I’d consider power strength training, but that I guess the armed forces considers cardio…
Before that workout, did some walking/exercises at work. We have a tilted bench to do incline crunches on and a machine that lets you pull your arms together by raising your own body weight outside of the building. I did about 20 crunches, and 20 of the arm pull in things… Also did some ‘lunch box’ shoulder fly and curl exercises as I walked down to that equipment and up from there around the building, around the parking lot, and up the hill to where I park now. I have no idea on how far the distance is around the building but basically between going down there, around outer perimeter of the lot, and up the hill, it’s probably about a 10 minute walk or so… I used to walk the lots with my Aunt on breaks in morning and afternoons, but can’t do that any more since she’s probably going to retire in a couple of years, and I never know when my breaks are going to be since I’m always on the phone with insurance companies and may be on hold, or end up in some last minute meeting that was called 10 minutes beforehand that seem to get called more and more these days so scheduling a regular time to take breaks is hard where I work. Same with lunches… Somedays it’s 11, other days it’s 12, sometimes even 12:30 or 1, depending on the meetings that day.. which those calling the meetings never ask the other folks involved when they prefer to take the meeting, etc.. irritating, but that’s the way it works there…
At the car, before coming home, after climbing that hill, I took this long pry bar out of the trunk that I got from my Granny’s house earlier this year and used it to do a mini-workout. Granddad passed away several years ago, and Granny finally had to go to a retirement home, so the kids and grand kids cleaned out what we could this year so that the house can be sold… If you need a great house in Columbia Area, this place is really nice…
Since I’ve been doing this No S thing, the ‘shovel glove’ exercises over there got me interested in figuring out how to do something like that, but since I don’t have a sledge I just used this prybar… It’s less like a barbaric hammer to work out with, and more like a bo staff… pulling a Donatello from TMNT instead of Thor, lol. I have no idea how much the pry bar weighs, but it’s solid steel, and I’m guessing it’s about did 12-20 lbs or so… It’s about the size of a good walking stick… maybe 3 feet long or so… I did about 15 ‘chopping’ type of swings with it on both sides, but since it’s not really weighted like a hammer or axe, it seemed more like extremely heavy baseball swings, so by the end I think I was treating it more like those than like an axe. Then I did about 15 sort of jab moves where I held it up and just sort of jabbed it forward like a sword type of thing… Did that on both arms… then did about 15 moves that were like stirring a witches cauldron in both direction, with hands placed in different positions and holding the thing up to where the top of it was about even with my shoulders… then I did about 20 or so curls with it, and a few one hand curls in each arm too. My hands were all read after that due to callouses that are starting to come up and because the red paint from the thing was coming off like crazy. I’ve got some webbed work gloves that I picked up and put on my lunchbox after I got home so that I can use those if I do that sort of thing again. All this weight training… I’m probably going to sore in the morning… I actually am already there a little. Those suicides are tough on your back if you are not ready for them, and probably are even if you are ready for them…
I’m going to also try to take a concrete brick with me to put in the trunk along with the pry bar tomorrow… because it might work as a neat little workout piece of equipment…
Look out world, the Vigilante known as the Bare Footed Midnight Moon Runner is about to raise from the grave like a Phoenix, lol.
Day 7 of the 1000 day challenge
It’s day 7 and the workout for today is done! 🙂
I did the I-II Circuit. I upped the weight a little today. Over the weekend I finally found a way to get the little dumbbells to work since I couldn’t use them up til now due to no sleeve on the middle (these are ancient weights from way back when I was in high school, so not all of the parts are there, lol)… Took the foam sleeve off of the leg bar that used to go on the bottom of the bench press for leg lifts and cut it in half, using half for each little bar. Works perfectly on the little weights! Surprised I didn’t think about this up til now… I used 4.8 lb weights on there, so 9.6 lbs on each arm + weight of bar itself, probably makes it close to 10 lbs each. Amazing how much better real dumbbells with bars work than just lifting a 10 lb weight by itself with my middle finger or index finger going through the hole in the middle. This was tough. First time I’ve done this type of workout with ‘real’ bars like this and did it with more than 5 lb weights. I felt the burn. I did end up using the little open handed 5 lb weights on the shoulder fly, but all the other exercises today were using the bars. I’m thinking about possibly doing a workout tape tonight, but we’ll see. If I do, I’m thinking about possibly trying a Fit for Duty podcast or something similar. I’m not sure if my arms are going to be ready for that or not. Will just have to try it and see where I am pain-wise.
Day 6 of the 1000 day challenge
I somehow managed to get a workout in today. I was a bit rushed and barely had time to do it since we went to Grandparent’s day for Granny this afternoon, but today’s workout did get done! 🙂
weird weigh in…
Weigh in weight today: 278.9. measured twice… Maybe last weight in was wrong… had to be? I really think my scale is off, but I’ll trust if for now since it’s all I have to go by. Doesn’t make me feel so bad about the last weigh in if it was wrong. Batteries had to be changed in the scale today, so maybe last weigh in was high because of the battery problem? If last weigh in was right, that’s 13.7 lb change in weight in just a few days. I guess if it’s all water weight, it might be possible… just seems odd. I’m going to guess last weight in was wrong?
day 5 of the 1000 day challenge …
Well, it’s day 5 of the 1000 day challenge. I’ve decided to make today a ‘rest day.’ I’ll also probably consider this an S day of the No S diet, so will give myself a little slack. I was originally going to make Sundays be the S day, but Saturday seems more logical since it’s the day after a long work week.
Day 4 of the 1000 day challenge…
Day 4 of the 1000 day challenge is now complete. Did a workout this morning a few minutes ago! 🙂
I wasn’t sure about doing this before the workout since this morning my calf had a really weird tightening cramp going on about 3 AM after my wife’s foot hit my leg while she was sleeping… calf cramp was extremely painful… but after reading some of the diet quotes about how exercise is good to combat pain as it moves the lactic acid, it made me go ahead and try it out today, and sure enough, I made it through the workout ok. That calf is a still a little sore now, but not as bad as it was before the workout.
Trying to combat this pain a little with some ginger and tumeric in the cereal this morning besides just the milled flaxseed that usually goes in there… Supposedly these spices help combat inflammation type of pain…
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edit – WOW! Ginger in the cereals milk is fantastic tasting. Can’t taste the tumeric much, but that ginger really gives the cereal some really good flavor. Surprised no cereal producers have put this sort of spice on many of their products yet, lol.
Day 3 of the 1000 Day Challenge
Day 3 of the 1000 Day Challenge is now knocked out. Worked out this morning! Feeling great. I actually have both nostrils today, and neither is draining a ton like yesterday. Yesterday I felt horrible most of the day from the time I got up til I went to bed. I am hoping that whatever it was that got me yesterday does not come back to haunt me today.
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I added a few more quotes to the Diet Quotes post from a few days back. I will probably add more over time there as I come across more stuff in various places on the internet or in quote books, etc.
I added tumeric to my regular ham sandwich today. I think doing that daily might help with some pain issues a little since that is suppossed to help reduce inflamation.
I’ve started wearing some jewelry my wife gave me a few years back on occassion more. It kind of goes with helping me explain to myself why I’m doing this 1000 day challenge – in order to live longer and have a happy, long life with her… and it also is sort of a little bit of en ego booster of types since it does help accentuate my looks a bit. Wearing a necklace now that she made by hand and also sometimes will wear the pocket watch that she had engraved… I got to be careful with that though since if it’s in my pocket I don’t want it to get smashed by steering wheel as I’m getting in and out of the car, etc. My leg comes close to the wheel sometimes when getting in and out of the car.
Pain is a temporary thing… that’s related to one of the diet quotes… lactic acid build up is what real after workout pain is… and if you keep on pushing through it it goes away. I think that’s part of the reason I feel so great this morning. Worked out and feel fantastic. Hoping this keeps up after every workout. I’m still doing the I-II tapes with Power 90 right now, but might move up to III-IV next week or the week after that. I think part of my problem with last time I moved up to III-IV is that I didn’t have full mastery of the I-II cardio abs. Cardio was no problem, but that ab ripper 200 was probably too much… This time I plan to ease in to it more so that I don’t burn out. Starting out the Level I-II tapes are fine. Eventually, when I do plan to move up to III-IV I might try doing 15 reps on ab ripper 200 for a week before moving up to the full 20 reps… I-II is only 10 reps for each of the ab ripper 100 moves, so 15 before the 20 seems like it might be a logical maneuver.
drained…
Feeling very drained the last two days… Allergy season is upon us, and it’s got me not being able to breathe very well, blowing nose every hour or two, and feel like I have a big headache and being really drained all day… I have avoided the snacks, seconds, and sweets, and did do the workout this morning and yesterday, and will try tomorrow. Sore muscles + hay fever is a bad combo.. Hopefully I can keep it up though at least til the ‘rest day’ this weekend…
Various Workout Videos, Workout Tips, and Workouts Online
I’ve been exploring the wide world of the internet from time the time the last few months, and have found quite a few nice online workout videos and diet advice in various locations such as youtube, podcasts, etc. I’m going to start a list here of some of the places to find these awesome resources…
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Please note: I take ABSOLUTELY NO RESPONSIBILITY for any of the content linked to below… I’m just linking to various videos and exercise links I’ve found online… I didn’t upload most of this stuff. If there’s some copyright violation or whatever, please don’t come knocking on my door with a court order or something like that. If you are a copyright owner and some of the stuff below is violating your rights, just leave a comment and I’ll try to delete the link as soon as I get a chance to read your comment.
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nice calorie counter thingy – http://www.fitclick.com/calories_burned?At_Home_Training&oc=729&page=11
Here’s why I’m tempted to do the Bodyrock videos as ‘the morning’ workouts…
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Here’s an awesome tip… Use Google Video search!
Do a search for something in Google’s video search like a keyword for workout, or cardio, interval, etc. and then in the left column pick the option for results that are 20+ minutes in length. Blamo, you just found yourself a bunch of 20+ minute workout videos! 🙂 😉
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HOME MADE JUMP ROPE:
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Ryan Magin’s Youtube channel – He explores how various actors workout.
http://www.youtube.com/user/RyanMagindotcom?feature=watch (warning – he’s trying to sell you something)
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nice long workouts here for medicine ball, etc:
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Walking 1-2-3 miles:
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Sword Workout – finally something I might be able to use to workout the crowbars besides the shovelglove stuff.
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AR 7 – http://www.ar7now.com/
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AR 7 – ‘Conan’ workout – http://blog.onthebox.com/2011/11/08/the-conan-workout-challenge-part-1/
http://hasfit.com/ultimate-warrior-workout.html
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Fitness Blender on Youtube
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Some nice little tools/plugins/Hardware to help with your home theater system (i.e. getting videos like the ones listed in this post to play on your tv or other type of monitor, etc.)
Streaming video needs a way to get to it’s end location (tv, hdmi monitor, etc.). Some hd tvs have hdmi ports that can just send video directly to a digital tv, using the tv as a second monitor…
For older tvs, some little gizmo is handy… For xbox and stuff like that xmbc might be the solution…
Some smart tvs now can do some video streaming… but some content providers block that when they can, so results can very depending on the hardware/software and what you are trying to stream.
For those on a little more of a budget or that are not in to gaming, streaming devices like the Roku or WD TV Live are fantastic. Take the time to evaluate and think about things before you decide to pick one streamer over another… they are very different beasts… for example The Roku 1 has good ol component out ports for audio/video to go to tvs whereas Apple TV doesn’t seem to have that, nor does later versions of the Roku… as with all gizmos and gadgets, you have to juggle what features you want vs what features will work with the gizmos and gadgets you already own since some things may not be compatible… and some folks try to scam the masses that are not aware of this sort of thing too much (like folks selling junk on ebay to convert hdmi signals in to component signals for regular old school tv ports without letting the buyer know that that won’t work without some other little gizmo that has to be purchased separately, etc.. buyer beware!)
Sometimes computers are needed as ‘middlemen’ of sorts to get some streams to tvs, etc. For this, great software like Plex and Playon Exists among many other various software packages, some of which is free, some of which is not so free…
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another little tip… if you find a video somewhere online that you can’t download for whatever reason, but you want to download, use a screen scraper that will record what’s on your monitor. The best/easiest one I’ve found for this sort of thing is bandicam. The free version lets you record 10 minutes at a time and it puts a little watermark on it… If you don’t mind the watermark that shouldn’t be a big deal. The free version of fraps doesn’t let you record 10 minutes at a time, even though some say fraps is better for this sort of thing, especially for recording online gaming, etc. What I like about bandicam vs fraps is bandicam makes it just a little easier to record areas on screen with a little box, or record one window… fraps it’s more hard to record one window or one area… there’s a few other screen scrapers out there like these two tools, but these two are probably the best ones…
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as far as with bandicam, etc. goes… it records avi files… if you do need videos more than 30 minutes there are ways to put several avi files in to one video file. Easiest way to do that is with a little command line thing:
What is the best way to join multiple DVD VOB files? Using the Windows copy command: Because the VOBs are simply split files created from previously contiguous larger file, you can reconstruct the larger file using the window copy command. To do this:
a) Open a cmd window using the Windows run command.
b) cd to the folder containing your VOB files.
c) At the command line, enter a command similar to:
copy /b vob1.vob + vob2.vob + vob3.vob outputFile.mpgThis will concatenate multiple VOB files into one output file. Note: Please don’t forget the /b switch.
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Avidemux works too… but not as well… it can rip up the area between the two avis or mp4s that are joined making screen unseeable as it’s all pixelated to hell.
Virtual dub is ok too…
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if it’s just avi files, windows movie maker or some cheap software like Magix Video Music maker work too.
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http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=155566
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http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57463254-221/apple-tv-vs-roku-vs-nexus-q-media-streamers-compared/ – little article comparing a few different streaming hardware options
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http://www.youtube.com/user/GoldsGymChannel?feature=watch – Gold’s Gym Youtube channel
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Vivace Workouts:
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Use Bungee Cord as an exercise band?
http://www.livestrong.com/article/416678-is-there-any-benefit-to-exercising-with-bungee-cords/
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http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU9y3tBw5WSsfnnvDjd431Dg = Olympus Training Fitness courses on youtube
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http://www.youtube.com/user/KozakSportsPerform/videos?view=0 – HasFit Video Channel on Youtube.
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Real Hollywood Trainer
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http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1222 — nice info on Kettle bells.
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http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2011/01/08/kettlebell-swing/ – more info on kettle bells
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Nice little video on starting kettle bells:
Some of the lifts near the end are very similar to what I’ve been doing with the dumb bells in the Power 90 videos
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http://www.youtube.com/user/joshone?feature=watch – Sincere John’s Youtube Video Channel
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http://www.livestrong.com/article/332093-cinder-block-exercises/ – Cinder Block Workout
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=120677201&page=1 – Another Cinder Block workout
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http://thetumblrgym.com/workout – nice little list of workout and diet videos on youtube (won’t mention most here since most are 3 minutes or shorter – great for info, but not so great for being your ‘online workout’)
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http://www.youtube.com/user/MensHealthMag?feature=watch – Men’s Health Videos on Youtube
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Adrienne White mentions in some of her youtube videos (see link below) that her cardio workouts have 150 beats per minute, and some other workout and fitness folks have similar type of suggestions… so how do you find out how many beats per minute a song is? There’s various ways, but one website that used to rock for this was djbpmstudio.com, however, it went offline quite a while back and nothing has replaced it with the amount of stuff it had listed in my humble opinion… BUT, we are still in luck because there’s an archive of it in the internet archive’s way back machine! 🙂
http://web.archive.org/web/20100104140833/http://djbpmstudio.com/bpm-music-index.html
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http://www.youtube.com/user/amkjwhite?feature=watch – Adrienne White Youtube Channel
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Efit Youtube Channel
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http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/dumbbell-shovel-exercise?cm_mmc=EOWNL-_-860358-_-03282012-_-DumbbellShovel-_-dek&smartcode=NLS860358
Dumbbell shovel
http://bcove.me/m0n6zwp0
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Body Rock 30 Day challenge
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Crossfit Exercises – http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html
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Interesting article on ‘chronic cardio’ over at http://strengthrunning.com/2012/06/debunking-chronic-cardio/
There’s also a few blogs and forums I’ve read about it lately… interesting idea… the idea is that if you overwork, you will get hurt… seems logical. Makes me think maybe my wanting to do workouts twice a day is a mistake?… Not sure on what is the most appropriate stance on that issue yet since working out this intensely is still a fairly new way of life for me.
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http://omniworkout.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/sixpackshortcuts?feature=watch – Six Pack Shortcuts youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/befit?feature=results_main = Be Fit Channel on Youtube has quite a few free workout videos, some even from the popular folks like Jane Fonda, Jillin Micheals, etc. Very nice treasure trove there.
http://www.bodyrock.tv/ – Body Rock TV has a lot of great workouts on youtube. There’s multiple contributors to it, so various multiple channels on youtube… that’s why I’m linking to the main website… You’ll have to explore a bit yourself if you want subscriptions to all the youtube channels related to this.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FreeYogaVideos?feature=watch – Learn Yoga on youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/user/yogatoday – Learn even more yoga over there!
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Shovel Glove Moves – http://www.youtube.com/user/everydaysystems?feature=watch
More Shovel Glove Moves including the ‘samuari’
http://www.youtube.com/user/phayzeSG?feature=watch
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Also, if you have a roku or some other way of playing video from internet on tv, both All Fitness TV channel, and Live Exercise seem pretty interesting as well as a few podcasts like Yoga Today, Hillary’s Yoga Practice Podcast, Yoga with Les, and Fit for Duty.
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Fit For Duty on Youtube… (if you have problems finding it in itune podcasts)
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now for something a little bit different…
Here’s a video about why exercise is bad for you…
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If like me, you find the ‘live exercise’ channel on roku to not work well, you might try getting their videos via youtube…
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A few interesting videos
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Zuzana’s Zwow workouts
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Zumba Nation:
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I’m sure there’s many more out there on the internet. Will update the list with more eventually. Have fun. Happy exercising! 🙂
Day 2 of the 1000 day challenge!
Day 2 of the 1000 day challenge has now been completed. Did a morning workout. Feeling strong. It’s still the entry level tape, but I got a good workout so no complaints here. Need to allow myself time to build up to the advanced level again.
Day 1 of the 1000 Day Challenge is done!
The morning workout for today has been completed. I went back down to the Level I-II Power 90 tape. These taking it easy days the last few days have made me very weak. I was struggling to just get through this tape. I was sweating like crazy and not having been getting up this early, really kind of just wanted to give up and go back to bed, but I did not, and will not give in to that sort of nagging negative thought. I got through this and will continue. Only 999 days more to go to get to the end of this challenge! 🙂 😉
I have a 48 oz glass of water that I squeezed some fresh lemon in to. Refilled the water on it a little after the workout since workout killed off half of it. Now I’m in the process of eating a bowl of cereal with two teaspoons of flaxseed. I also had 3 thinly sliced pieces of ham so that I have some protein this morning. I’m still not loving the taste of the flaxseed, but it’s tolerable. I don’t know if I should keep up with that since I’m adding the ham as the fiber may counteract the protein.. the purpose of the protein is to keep the carbs in the body a little longer and use that to hold the carb’s energy til the body really needs it since otherwise the body will ‘eat itself’ sort of and drain protein from the muscles of the body in order to mix with the carbs to make the energy needed. That fiber in the flax seed may counteract the meat somewhat? Not sure on that since I’m not a dietitian. If you are, maybe you can help answer that question in the comments?…
I will try to do the No S diet but am not focusing on it or tracking it yet… that will happen in the second or third month. Probably third since I want to focus on morning workouts in first month, adding evening workouts to the morning workouts the second month, and then do the no S as ‘the main goal’ for the third of the 30 day challenges… snowballing it all so keeping up with the exercise as I focus on that. I will hopefully have the no S diet as an automatic daily habit by then since I’m sort of trying it out now, but if I fail before the third month it won’t be a biggie since goal here is to work and focus on one area at a time so I don’t overburden myself, which could lead to failure, negative thoughts and then showball the failures, which would be a bad thing, a very bad thing. I’ve let that happen way too often in the past — no more!
Restarting the workouts – Day Zero
Today is Day Zero of the 1000 day challenge. Tomorrow morning I will restart the Power 90 Level I-II dvd workout. I will probably do the level I-II tapes for at least a week or a few days before moving up to III-IV again. I might have to do a full 30 days of them… only time will tell. Either way, I plan to do either a Power 90 or some similar type of workout EVERY morning for 1000 days, except once a week — and even then, the once a week thing may just get ignored and I might just do workout every day.
The stab wound kept me from working out for a week and then I just sort of let my diet go to hell the last few days after that since I knew I would be starting this 1000 day thing… I found it difficult to re-start the workouts, especially at the level I was before the one week forced down time… so now like Phoenix, I am rising again and I will succeed!
It will be tough but I can do it and will do it! My main goal, if it is possible, is to get to my ‘goal BMI’ weight by the end of the 1000 days… which should, for my height be somewhere around 140-177 lbs or so since I’m roughly 6′ tall, give or take an inch or two….
I just did a weigh in and am currently 292.6. That is a sad weight gain of many lbs, but at least I did not gain back all of the weight that I had before I started the Power 90 completely (I was over 296 lbs before that), just a lot of it (about 7.6 lbs gained in two weeks or so, give or take)..
so, therefore, the goal is to basically lose anywhere from 115.6 – 152.6 lbs over the course of the next 1000 days. 1000/7 = 142.857 so I basically need to lose about a lb a week or more to get to my goals.
I think that’s very doable. Actually, I know that I can exceed that since I’ve done it before, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to exceed it every week since I’m sure I’ll hit a plateau eventually in some way… I think, NO, I KNOW I can do this, and I WILL DO IT. I will have other goals as I go along, but the first month is to do a morning workout every day, except on Sundays if possible… may even do a workout then too, but probably not. I will also probably do more too. I want to start doing a workout in the morning and one in the evening, and do the No S diet all the while because I think that will be more sustainable then some crazy diet scheme that many yo-yo dieters use. I don’t know if I’ll list everything in as much detail as in the past since I may use variety of exercise plans as the Power 90 may get old now and then. I have a weighted vest, so may just take that for a walk or jog some days… Found tons of exercise videos online through roku and youtube, so may try yoga somedays, etc. The main thing is there has to be some exercise and diet I consistently follow to get to my weight loss goals. I will add in art goals now and then some months, and continue those as I have set myself up for at least 32 ‘goals’ and the morning workout, evening workout, and no s diet are at least 3 of those monthly goals. I may not always do all three starting out, but by the third month plan to strictly adhere to all three and add various other things along the way… This is going to be extremely challenging, but not impossible, and very doable, so I think I can, I must, and I WILL! I have decided. Now it’s time to commit, and then succeed!!!! 🙂
Day Zero of the 1000 day challenge:
Day 67
Day 67 of the Power 90 workouts is now complete. I did the Circuit III-IV today. It was tough. I didn’t do as many pushups as I normally do. I think I also bent my knee wrong in some of the calf raises since it was in a bit of pain, but it’s not so bad at the moment. I am still not sure if I’ll do the I-II or III-IV cardio ab tape tomorrow. I am going to try to do an add on tonight but we’ll see how I feel. I have to go to the dentist today so may not feel like working out tonight.
day 66 – rest day
I’m taking a rest day today because I had a bad night last night… It was self inflicted since we had Mexican food last night for supper… All that high carb and gassy food really upset my stomach and lower back most of the night. It finally had to sleep with a pillow under my legs to get some pressure off of my back as I laid in bed, and even that didn’t help enough so at 1:30 am or so I went to the living room and laid with a back massager on my lower back for about a half an hour before I finally went back to bed, and then I still didn’t sleep very well and was up to go to the bathroom and stretch out my back a time or three… my stomach is definitely in no shape to do the cardio tape today. I was tempted to do the I-II tape instead of III-IV… I got through a few minutes of the stretches in III-IV cardio/abs and just decided I’m not in shape to do the cardio abs today today… there’s no way in hell I’m ready to do any sort of crunches in this condition and I’m sure my stomach won’t take the running and jumping jacks, so I’m just going to consider today a rest day and workout the rest of the week. I hate doing that since I really eventually want to get back to the rest days being on Sundays, but I need to listen to my body and it’s telling me it needs more rest right now. Got to start being more strict with the No S diet… No more sixteen dollar shits! I did avoid soda and snacking yesterday though, so I am starting in the right direction with that, (even if I did do a ‘seconds’ sort of if you count the nachos at Mexican place as seconds)…
I think part of me is subconsciously, or consciously afraid to do the cardio abs tape since I keep avoiding it… Maybe I should go back to to the I – II tape when I try again in a couple of days and do that for a week or two since that week off due to the stab wound probably has made my body not be at the level it needs to be at to do the III-IV tape on that. The III-IV circuit seems easier to me than the III-IV cardio/abs… I think your body has to be more ‘in shape’ to do the cardio because of all of the crunches and stuff — which is stuff you have to have muscles for. The circuit is still tough too, but it’s not as intense as all of those exercises in the ab ripper if you aren’t fully prepared for it. Kinda weird how that works since you’d think the it’d be the other way around since circuit is the tape that uses the weights.
Going to be tough to avoid coffee and soda on a day like today when I’m missing out on some sleep last night, but hopefully I can do it.
Another reason for the rest day today – Shin splints. These were really bothering me badly last night, and still are bothering me a little today if I hold my legs in certain positions. I’m hoping the pain goes away with a day of rest… I’m thinking the level I-II cardio abs may be the way to go at least for the rest of this week when doing the cardio so that I don’t overdo it.
day 65 evening…
No workout tonight. I originally was planning on doing a workout every night and every morning, but am feeling a little sore today in abs and have a little bit of a headache and feel dehydrated, so no workout tonight. Tomorrow will be a new day. Weigh in tonight: 284.6 lbs. That’s a loss of .7 lbs since 8/16/2012 (i.e. last Thursday). Still have not lost all 3.5 lbs I gained on the forced rest days but but since this is day two of the NO S diet I think I’m not doing too bad… So far have avoided soda, snacks, and sweets today. Hope to keep it up tonight. It was tough smelling the chicken at the gas station after work as I was filling up gas… there’s a chicken place next to the gas station in the same building… but I avoided it. Also avoided going in to the gas station by paying at the pump. I need to do that more often. Now that snacks are out of my diet, I hope to do the pay at the pump thing more. Up til I started this diet I had started a very bad habbit of always going in to the convenience store and getting a 45 oz diet mt. dew mixed a spash of tropicana… God just writing that out here is making me salivate. Might try a round of turbo tapping to help erase this…
This diet is making me appreciate food more when I do eat during meals. Not sure on what the headache today is about. I think it’s due to one of the rooms I was in this afternoon for a meeting at work being excessively hot, also due to stress at work, but I think dehydration and sinus issues are part of the problem. Even though it’s still extremely dry around here and hot outside ragweed is popping up all over the place and spreading it’s evil pollen everywhere. Damn you weeds! Damn you to hell…
Day 65
Day 65 of the Power 90 is now complete. Performed the Circuit III-IV this morning. Last night I did not do too good on the ‘no seconds’ or ‘no soda’ rule for supper’s No S diet, but did avoid snacks and sweets yesterday. Tekla brought me a diet mt dew for supper and I didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth… However, today is a new day and we are starting off better today. Had a hand full of deli meat and will now finish off a bowl of cereal with flax seed as soon as I get this post published. I really like this eat protein with every meal idea. It really does seem to help with sugar spikes and making it easier to not snack…
Day 64 add on…
Day 64 cardio workout for tonight has now been completed. Today it was tough not doing any snacks or sodas, but I got through the day ok. It can only get easier going forward.
Day 64 – partial workout
Day 64’s workout this morning was a partial workout. I did the cardio/abs III-IV tape til the first round of run lunge and quit after that since I was feeling out of breathe, very sore, belching some, etc. Stomach, abs, and legs are not ready for this today after the almost full week of resting last week. However, I did at least try. I might actually have to go back to level I-II if I find that I can’t do this III-IV tape by the end of the week. However, I’m hoping that if I ease my way in and don’t overdo it, just doing partial workouts like today that I will be able to get back in to the III-IV routine regularly quicker than taking backsteps to I-II. I will try to do a workout tape tonight too…
Also, today is the first day of the No S diet. No sweets, no snacks, no seconds, except on Sunday for Supper. I’m also adding a no soda rule… Not eating snacks or drinking soda will be a big change for me, but I think and know I can do it. I will likely drink more water though, which isn’t a bad thing. If I’m cranky the next few days — now you know why.
I’m also trying something a little new with the diet too. Going to try to make sure to eat at least 20% or so of each meal as some form of protein… either eggs or deli meat for the most part. The reason for this is that based on some reading (see links in previous posts) doing this helps the body hang on to the carbs a little longer when you eat them, making getting rid of the snacks not be such a harsh thing… supposedly the protein causes the release of energy from the food with the carbs take a little longer since the body takes a little longer to break down the protein… also supposedly that helps regulate sugar a little better since there are not as many glucose releases that cause spikes in blood sugar… Hopefully the theories behind all of that work. It sounds logical. It also explains why I was always snacking a little at work now and then when I let myself in the past.. eating cereal and milk is basically nothing but carbs and that’s what I used to always eat for breakfast…
Day 60…
Well, it’s day 60. I’m kinda bummed out since I have not been able to workout the last few days because of the cut on my arm. Doctor’s instructions were to rest a few days. I’ll probably start the working out again this weekend or on Monday at the latest. I was going to use this weekend as an excuse to go hog wild since I was going to start the No S diet stuff on Monday, and also start hard core on doing the workouts twice a day then… but after tonight’s weigh in I’m not so sure that that’s a great idea to not workout on the weekend… because I went up in weight! I’m now 285.3 lbs.
That’s a total loss since the first weigh in of 11.2 lbs, and a weight gain of 3.5 lbs since 8/9/2012, which was a week ago. Today at work we had a monthly meeting that they do the birthday cake at and I had 3 pieces of cake… Last night Tekla and I had speghetti, and I’m sure the serving size was way more than it should have been, especially with all the french bread. Tekla keeps reminding me that I want to make these changes for life, not just the 90 days, so little setbacks are not a huge thing since I have the rest of my life to reverse them and get back on course. She is, of course, right, but it is still frustrating when stuff like this happens. I was expecting to look a lot better than I am now by day 60. Going forward, I know I can do better, especially if I’m doing the workouts at night too. The few times that I have done them I’ve felt great afterwards. I really like the idea of doing two workouts a day.
Of course, the scale I’m using seems to be off. Tried to weight the jack handle and when I weight with it in my arms it’s saying I lost weight today, lol. Might be time to change the batteries?
Will I stick with the video workouts I’ve been doing after the 90 days… Not sure… may try something new. Reading about the No S diet was interesting… The guy that created that diet is in to shovelglove, which is swinging a big sledge hammer around as a form of working out. I can identify with the sledghammer/lumberjack idea a little being from a rural area, and also having gone up to Astoria and Portland area a couple of years ago since my wife has some relatives up there. (one of the family members up there specializes in importing exotic wood from Japan and elsewhere, etc. Kinda goes with the ‘exotic farmer’ saying mentioned in an earlier post from back in college, lol). I don’t own a sledge hammer yet, but do have a big jackhandle that I got from my granddad’s house earlier this year when we were cleaning the place out that I might try using. Swung it around a little today and almost broke something, so if I do it I will definitely have to do it outside or in the laundry room across the hall… apartments too small for that sort of exercise.
Ok… Time for the videos… I kinda like looking at the videos here on the blog next to one another since it makes it easier to compare/contrast, etc.
Day 60, 285.3 lbs:
Day 30, 289.2 lbs:
Before Power 90, 296.5 + lbs:
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The “battle wound” – this is a shot of the knife wound taken the morning after it happened.
Kind of a crappy pixelated video, but it gives you some idea. Kinda hard to show it in camera since the angle was straight on as the pointy end of the knife went straight in. The knife was in the dish rack drying when it happened… my arm hit it while trying to wash some other dishes, so I guess I sort of impaled it on accident. Needless to say, any dishes I do from now on, the knives will always have sharp edge down, not up. I used to always point the knives up to keep the part that touches the food less prone to getting germs on it, etc. but not any more… just too risky with our damn small kitchen sink.
No idea how far the knife went in, but my guess is based on the width and angle, it probably went in about half an inch or so. The wound bled through several napkins I used to apply pressure to it. It quit bleeding by the time ambulance got here, so I didn’t go in with them to the ER… I probably should have since the stupid hospital will probably bill this thing as a x99 ‘patient convenience’ item, which some insurances don’t pay… urgh.. don’t get me started on how screwed up the insurance world is these days.
High calorie per minute exercises and workouts
http://joshsgarage.typepad.com/articles/2010/01/kettlebell-training-burns-1200-calories-per-hour.html – Kettlebell 1200 per hour!
http://www.livestrong.com/article/224735-number-of-calories-burned-per-activity/
http://www.acefitness.org/fitfacts/fitfacts_display.aspx?itemid=2666&category=13
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/calories-olympic-athlete_n_1735846.html#slide=1324072
modified no s diet
I’m contemplating eventually starting a modified NO S diet.
The rules would be, if I start it, NO, WHEN I START IT:
– no snacks
– no sweets
– no sugary foods
– no seconds
– no soda (or coffee, or anything other than tea or water usually — even then, no tea during meals since I read somewhere that tea has some chemical (riboflavin or something like that) which causes you to not digest food as well as you should – tea is fine between meals but not during meals because of that?..)
– no salty foods
– no six, sixteen dollar or sixty dollar shits (in other words, no eating out at restaurants, cafeterias, or overpriced places like that where the cost per meal is usually about six dollars or more per plate, which usually just results in you overeating and having to go use the toilet an hour or two later — you paid sixty dollars for that shit at the steakhouse)
– no steakhouses
– no saltines (I’m the type that could put a whole pack of saltines in a bowl of soup if I allow myself too… guess this falls under no salty foods, but maybe it could be a new rule – no soup?… )
– no salsa (I tend to overeat at Mexican restaurants, etc.)
– no ‘sleeping in’
– no ‘staying up late’ (need to go to bed by 9 or 10 PM instead of by 1:30 AM, etc.)
– no ‘sorry’ – in otherwords got to stay focused on positive things and not looking negatively at things I have not accomplished yet… and if/when I do falter and get off course, get up, brush off, and continue onwards instead of getting sullen and feeling sorry for myself or whatever. Got to get rid of the negativity in my life since that just drowns me and snowballs in to depression ultimately. Can’t let that happen any more.
except on Sunday for Supper.
Sunday will be the ‘rest’ day for the workouts, so this should work nicely if I can do it. It will take a lot of willpower to not do snacks. I’ve become too used to having them… It’ll also take a lot of willpower to go without soda and caffiene since I’ve made diet soda my ‘way of life’ since getting diagnosed with diabetes, but I think I can make this change eventually and WANT to make this change. Goal is probably to start it Monday, but we’ll see.
I guess I can call this the NoS 2WO diet – No S, Two Work Outs a day.
the witch doctor’s brew cabinet is open…
Between watching Dr. Oz and listening to John Tesh and doing some reading… I’ve started adding spices to my unsalted sunflowers these days. This is being done to help stop inflammation, lower blood sugar, lower blood pressure, etc.
Spices in the witch doctor’s cabinet at this time:
Tumeric, Curry, Garlic Powder, Cinnamon, and Ginger. Out of those I think tumeric is the ‘wonder drug’ that does the best, so I add it to the stuff most often, usually with one or two of the others.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-662-TURMERIC.aspx?activeIngredientId=662&activeIngredientName=TURMERIC
I also use flax seed in cereal in the mornings somedays, but not every day. Here’s a little tip I bet you didn’t know… Both sunflower seeds and flax seeds should be refrigerated to keep them good for longer periods of time. Weird, I know, especially since the Hy-Vee here in town stores there unsalted sunflower seeds in tubes that are not in the refrigerator section. I guess maybe the tubes might be air tight, so that might be part of the reason for that?…
:(
Went to the Urgent Care today. They were not able to do stitches since over 12 hours has passed since the time of the accident. They won’t do stitches past that time since they are afraid it will cause infection…
and…
what’s worse is it’s advised that I take a few days of ‘rest’ so as to not infect this wound on my arm with sweat and/or damage it due to movement of the skin and muscles in the wounded area… 😦
so…
I guess I’m going in to days 58-62 without working out… 😦
It kinda pisses me off that I can’t ‘finish strong’ but since I plan to continue the workouts well past day 90, I guess it’s not too bad of a thing.. just kinda irritating…
Day 62 will be Saturday… After that I’ll decide if I need to rest on the weekend too or workout then. I’m thinking about just ‘resting’ til Monday… since the wound happened Monday night that’ll give me a week to heal basically. After that, I plan to get back in to the workouts regularly. Just kinda makes me mad that I can’t do the full 90 days this go round… but I guess I’ll have many more months to do that in the future since I plan to continue working out regularly the rest of my life… Not sure if I’ll keep blogging about the workouts, but might… it has helped me stick to the plan when I take the time to blog about it, so maybe for that reason I should continue the blogging about the exercises…???…!!!…
Day 58 – forced rest day… stabbed myself.
Today I’m going to take a rest day. I’m very sad about this since I was planning on doing rest days on the weekends going forward. However, last night after my cardio workout I decided to wash some dishes before taking a shower and ended up accidentally stabbing myself in the arm with a steak knife. It was in the dish drainer drying and my arm accidentally hit it at an angle that the tip went straight in to the top of my forearm, about a half in to an inch or so and it took a good hunk of meat off. It was bleeding profusely when it happened. However, I held paper towels on it tightly and it eventually quit before the ambulance got here after I called 911. I was going to go to urgent care to have it looked at but they closed a few minutes before I got there… so I might try to make an appointment with a doctor to have it looked at today. We put a couple of butterfly banaids on it. It’s not hurting too badly if I don’t touch it. I just need to probably have someone look at it to see if I need stitches since the point of the knife went in so deeply. My wife and I have decided I better take it easy today so I don’t start the bleeding up again or get it infected.
Day 57 add on!
Day 57 add on is now done. First cardio add on that was over 30 minutes. Whoo Hoo. Look at them calories burning! 🙂
Diet Quotes
I come across various little quips and quotes the more I read about diet and excercise in various places online and offline. Decided it’s time to start a list. I’ll more to this later as I find more.
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Flu Shot Q&A:
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/flushot.htm
Why do some people not feel well after getting the flu shot?
The most common side effect of the flu vaccine in adults is soreness at the spot where the shot was given, which usually lasts less than two days. The soreness is often caused by a person’s immune system making protective antibodies to the killed viruses in the vaccine. These antibodies are what allow the body to fight against flu. The needle stick may also cause some soreness at the injection site. According to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), rare symptoms include fever, muscle pain, and feelings of discomfort or weakness. If these problems occur, they are very uncommon and usually begin soon after the shot and last 1-2 days.
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Chronic Cardio Links
http://fitnessforfunction.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/chronic-cardio/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chronic-cardio-2/#axzz2979kFXvU
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread63751.html
http://paleohacks.com/questions/81844/what-is-chronic-cardio#axzz2976c86fS
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread67113.html
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chronic-cardio/#axzz2979kFXvU
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Quick tip: try to get at least 30% of your total calories from protein because in a Danish study… People who got 30% of their calories from protein lost twice as much weight as people who ate less than 15% of their calories from protein and here’s why… Your body burns the most calories when digesting protein.
(use meat/fish for protien when possible – some vegan possibilities do exist, but it’s probably best to go with lean meat since it’s about as much ‘protien’ as you can get.. don’t go with protien shakes/bars after working out if you can help it because that’s processed food, and processed food is typcially worse for you than ‘real’ food because the processing drains some nutrients out… cheese/eggs is another ok food source… but watch it since cheese can be high fat — the process that creates cheese drains most carbs from cheese, which is why cheese is actually a diabetic friendly snack (unless your sugar is low and you need to spike it to get back to where sugar level needs to be, in which case a glass of milk or juice is better – milk has about 10 g of carbs per 8 oz serving. Juice has a lot more, and if you are really low is faster acting than milk because of that… also, as far as milk goes, skim or 1% is better than 2% or higher percentages milke like whole milk – reason is that fat content stops insulin from working… which is why type II diabetes exists in the first place… more fat in your body and food = slower time for your blood to absorb the carbs you throw at it to increase sugar levels).)
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A positive attitude is very important for successful weight loss and weight management. To lose weight permanently, you must make a commitment to gradually adopt a healthier way of life.
—
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Flaxseed vs Fish Oil Pills — the solution… Take both if you can afford it.
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20080912/flaxseed-oil-pills-vs-fish-oil-pills
http://www.genesmart.com/pages/fish_flax_confusion/85.php
http://www.livestrong.com/article/404266-flaxseeds-vs-fish-oil/
http://blogs.menshealth.com/bellyoff-nutritionist/fish-oil-vs-flax-oil-which-is-best/2011/02/11/
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http://www.mikemahler.com/online-library/articles/fat-loss/maxwell-sledgehammer-workout.html
The mechanics of the sledge swing are the exact opposite of the KB Swing: the effort is bringing the sledge down with as much force as possible. If you want an extra good workout, hold at the bottom of the handle, fists touching, and use a large, windmill-like overhead stroke to engage as much musculature as possible
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Caffiene is bad for you!
http://www.livestrong.com/article/282235-how-do-i-avoid-caffeine-withdrawal/
http://www.healingnaturallybybee.com/articles/mn5.php
http://www.starling-fitness.com/archives/2008/10/28/avoid-caffeine/
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Kettlebell tip: Get a stronger grip so as to avoid neck pain…
With the momentum of the swing, the exerciser is able to endure flexion and extension of the arms, without pain and can work an often under respected asset: the grip. When the grip is weak, the forearm is weak. Then the elbow and also the shoulder, which leads to neck pain. Point being: Don’t have a weak grip.
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Diet Soda is bad for you:
http://www.wnho.net/new_aspartame_studies.htm
http://www.streetdirectory.com/food_editorials/health_food/healthy_eating/your_diet_cola_is_killing_you.html
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Determine your BMI
There are several ways of measuring your ideal body weight. One of the most popular methods to gauge whether or not you are overweight is the body mass index (BMI). The BMI uses a mathematical formula that measures both a person’s height and weight in determining obesity. To calculate your BMI, multiply your weight by 703, and divide the answer by your height in inches. Divide this figure by your height again.
(Weight in Pounds x 703) / (Height in Inches) = BMI
For example, a 250-pound person at 5’10″ would have a BMI of 35.86. People with BMIs of 25 and above are considered to be overweight. Having a body mass index over 30 places you at risk for developing obesity-related medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease. A BMI over 40 indicates that a person is morbidly obese.
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The President’s challenge isn’t just for kids…
https://www.presidentschallenge.org/challenge/adult.shtml
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Caffiene has an impact on blood sugar! No wonder diet soda is not good for you, and coffee is/was slowly killing me (did have a couple of cups today – mixed sugar free hot chocolate in with it, so asking for major trouble — and now it’s the end of the day and am feeling that major trouble… caffiene headache… ouch… if you’ve never had a low sugar incident from diabetes, imagine the same sort of sensation as caffiene headache but more dehydration – like the front of forehead from temple to temple ‘feels like a dried sponge looks’ … some don’t feel that way when low/high, but when I’m low that’s how I feel.)
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/blood-sugar/AN01804
http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20050309/caffeine-tied-to-blood-sugar-problems
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Dirt Cheap Weight Set – learn to recycle! 🙂
http://fitsupermom.com/at-home-improvements/
http://www.designboom.com/contest/view.php?contest_pk=17&item_pk=19008&p=1
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http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/dumbbell-only-home-or-gym-fullbody-workout.html – dumbbell only full body workout
—
http://amerryrogue.blogspot.com/2012/05/tractor-tires-cinder-blocks-sledge.html – Tractor Tires and Cinder blocks
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Kettle Bells are suppossed to be an awesome way to burn calories and work out… Going to post some interesting links about them here:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2011/01/08/kettlebell-swing/
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http://life.familyeducation.com/foods/weight/46752.html
Make a fist and observe the size of it. This is about the size of your stomach.
…A fistful is still plenty of food to sustain your life, give you energy, release excess fat stores, look great, feel great, and get healthier.
Strategy #1: Be Very Specific
When we make goals that are vague, like “I want to lose weight,” we set ourselves up to fail.Motivation happens when your brain detects a difference between where you are and where you want to be. When you are specific about your goal (I want to lose 10 pounds), that difference is clear, and your brain starts throwing resources (attention, memory, effort, willpower) at the problem. A clear target looks something like this: “I want to weigh 135 pounds. I weigh 155 now, so that’s a difference of 20 pounds.”
Being specific gives you clarity because you’ve spelled out exactly what success looks like. That means more motivation — and better odds of success.
Strategy #2: Create An OK-To-Eat Plan
Faced with unexpected temptations — the dessert menu, the catered work lunch — we end up eating things that sabotage our weight-loss goals. The best way to guarantee you make the right choices is to create an “if-then” plan:
“If the dessert menu arrives, I’ll order coffee.”
“If I am at a business lunch, I’ll have a salad.”
Studies suggest that coming up with safe-to-eat plans makes you two to three times more likely to reach your diet goals.Strategy #3: Track Your Success
To stay clear about that gap between where you want to go and where you are now, monitor your progress. Keep getting on that scale; mark the days you exercise on a calendar.Another thing: When you think about the progress you’ve made, stay focused on how far you have to go, rather than how far you’ve come. If you want to drop 20 pounds, and you’ve lost 5 so far, keep your thoughts on the 15 that remain. When we dwell too much on how much progress we’ve made, it’s easy to feel a premature sense of accomplishment and start to slack off.
Strategy #4: Be A Realistic Optimist
As much as we want to believe otherwise, losing weight isn’t easy. It turns out that it’s important to accept this.Believing you will succeed is key, but believing you will succeed easily (what I call “unrealistic optimism”) is a recipe for failure. Take it from the women, all obese, who enrolled in a weight-loss program in one study. Those who thought they could lose weight easily lost 24 pounds less than those who knew it would be hard. The successful dieters put in more effort, planned in advance how to deal with problems, and persisted when it became difficult.
So don’t try to tamp down your worries — they can help prepare you for shape-up challenges.
Strategy #5: Strengthen Your Willpower
The capacity for self-control is like a muscle: It varies in strength from person to person and moment to moment. Just as your biceps can feel like jelly after a workout, your willpower “muscle” gets tired when you overtax it.To strengthen it, pick any activity that requires you to override an impulse (such as sitting up straight when your impulse is to slouch), and add that to your daily routine. And take baby steps. Instead of going junk-free overnight, begin by eliminating, say, those chips you eat by the bag, and substitute them with a fruit or vegetable.
Hang in there, and sticking to your diet will become easier because your capacity for self-control will grow.
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When someone starts a new exercise program, they often experience muscle soreness. The more intense and “unfamiliar” the program, the more intense the muscle soreness.
This soreness is most prevalent 24 to 48 hours after each workout. In the first few weeks of a new program, soreness is the body trying to “protect and defend” the effected or targeted tissue. Exercise physiologists refer to this as delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.
This type of soreness is thought to be caused by tissue breakdown or microscopic tears in muscle tissue.
When this happens the body protects the tissue. The muscle becomes inflamed and slightly swollen with
fluid retention. This temporary retention of fluid can result in a 3- to 4-pound weight gain within a few
weeks of a new program. Keep in mind that muscle soreness is not necessarily a reflection of how hard you
worked. In fact, some people feel no signs of muscle soreness, yet will experience the muscle protection mechanisms of water retention and slight swelling.
Most people are motivated enough to put up with this temporary muscle soreness. Yet, many, especially those who really need immediate weight loss to keep them motivated in those first couple of weeks become
discouraged and quit!
There was a dog who was bound on a chain, before a butchers shop. Came along a wolf, looked at him and asked: “Now, how did you get that well fed?” The dog asnwers “I have to guard that door behind me, and get a slab of meat every day for it.” The wolf replied “I could gaurd a door too…seems to be profitable.” Dog says “well, you definitely should, why not ask my master?” Wolf looks at dog, noticing the neck of the dog being almost naked and sore from the chain, and when he proposes the dog to come for a walk,. the dog can’t he’s chained to the wall. So wolf says: “Sorry, but I’ll be rather free and hungry than fat and chained…”
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http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=8787
Giving it 100% is way easier than 97% because that little “just this once” monster sneaks in there and creats a battle every time no matter if he wins that round or not!
JUST DO IT!!!
No excuses. No more thinking about it. Not tomorrow. It’s simple. Just Do It…..and do it NOW!
it’s what you do consistently day in and day out that will matter most in the long run
leave out all the self berating! You don’t deserve it because perfection is only an illusion…everyone slips up now and then.
It doesn’t matter if you fall flat on your face. What matters is what you do next.
let it go, and move along.
Being hungry is NOT an emergency red-alert situation. There are people who would like you to think it is. Many of them are somehow involved in selling food.
Habits take time to form. There is no known way to expedite or rush this process.
“Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.”
W. Somerset Maugham
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https://www.facebook.com/nosdiet
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
– Winston Churchill
So don’t eat when you’re hungry. Don’t eat when you’re depressed. Don’t eat when you’ve seen a good number on the scale and you think you can afford a few extra calories. Eat when it’s time to eat, just like thin people did for thousands of years.
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Great Abs are made in the Kitchen.
You can’t out-train bad nutrition.
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.
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insulin + available protein = 90% reduction in proteolysis, while insulin + no available protein = 45% reduction in proteolysis.</blockquote>
…
And here’s the takeaway:Every time you stimulate insulin production by eating carbohydrates, you need to eat some complete protein with it—or instead of rebuilding your muscles and tissues, your body will continue to disassemble itself to get that protein. And the higher your blood sugar spikes, the more your body will disassemble itself anyway. Are you seeing the problem? When you eat, insulin signals your body to stop eating itself…but only if you’ve eaten protein, and only if your blood sugar isn’t spiking.
Every time you eat candy or drink a soda by itself, not only are you signaling your body to store fat…you’re disassembling your own muscle.
It’s even worse. That ‘healthy’ mid-afternoon apple or orange, to keep your blood sugar up? Same problem. And remember the food pyramid? Those “7-11 servings of heart-healthy whole grains” we’re all supposed to be eating every day? How are you going to stuff eleven servings into three meals?
You’re not: you’re going to snack.
That’s what we’re advised: never, ever let yourself get hungry. Keep your bloodstream filled with sugar and insulin at all times! So that’s what we do. Crackers, bagels, muffins, corn chips, rice cakes, cookies, danishes…all low-fat, of course.
And, even worse, low-protein. Being grain and sugar-based, snack foods contain little protein—and the protein they do contain is incomplete. (Corn and wheat are deficient in lysine, one of the essential amino acids.) If your body is short on any essential amino acid, it will still have to disassemble itself to get the one it needs, regardless of how much of all the others are available.
Every time you eat high-sugar, protein-deficient food—even whole fruit and “heart-healthy complex carbohydrates”—you’re making yourself fatter and weaker.
…
Conclusion:
Snacking Makes You Fat, And Snacking Makes You Weak.
This explains a lot, doesn’t it? Why so many joggers can pound out hundreds of miles and still squeeze up muffin tops? Why so many cyclists can spin for thousands of miles and still have to stuff a beer gut into their Lycra? Why even the skinny ones often look like famine victims—not like strong, healthy, capable humans? And why you never look like the people in the magazine ads, no matter how long you spend on the hamster wheels at the gym?
This helps explain why so many vegans (especially raw vegans) appear scrawny and malnourished. Fruit might have some nutrients in it, but it’s still essentially protein-less sugar.
… Stop eating birdseed (‘grains’) and diesel fuel (‘vegetable oil’).
Start eating real food.
“No one can hurt you without your permission.” – Ghandi
————
the application of the information is the key to success:
Ingredient #1: Think Differently
Ingredient #2: Believe Differently
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Interesting link about Marathon Monks who do a 1000 day challenge of their own sort…
http://halikhan.org/blog/general/marathon-monks-and-the-1000-day-challenge/
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaih%C5%8Dgy%C5%8D – another link about the monk’s challenge
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http://www.bikramyogavancouver.com/blog/post333.php – interesting article on a guy who did 1000 days of yoga.
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http://cookdingskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/10/1000-day-challenge.html – article about the ‘Lenten Challenge’ – sort of a 1000 day challenge for martial artists… which is sort of based on the Buddhist monk challenge listed above.
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URBAN NINJA LINKS
http://www.urbanninjablog.com/ – interesting little article on living in Thailand for under 1000 dollars a month!
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That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is more than a cliché with P90X—it’s your life.
Short-term goals are nice. It’s one way to stay in the game. But if you want to make a worldwide impact, then put your energy into the long-term goals.
Day 57
Day 57 – Circuit III-IV is now completed for the day. Today I’m really going to try to do a cardio workout tonight. I’m hoping to start doing that in the afternoons every weekday if I can make it happen.
Day 56 – Rest day
I’m taking a ‘rest day’ today from the Power 90. I kinda feel bad about that since this is really the second one in this 7 day segment, but I’m doing it to re-align the rest day back to the weekends. Somehow a few weeks ago I got the rest day put in the middle of the work week and it was stuck there til now. That made things a little weird since the day I was ‘resting’ from physical workouts I was still getting stress from work, etc. Realigning to weekend is more in line with the real goals of the program I think. It also prepares me to do the afternoon workouts during the work week.
new plan…
ok… new plan on working out.. will work out every morning, and then on afternoons when I can during the week. I really don’t feel like getting a second shower on weekends to accommodate working out twice. During the week it’s not so bad since I kinda want to get out of work clothes as soon as I get home anyways. Will I be able to do the nightly workouts everyday Monday – Friday? Not sure… maybe, only time will tell. I need to stay focused on making the morning routines work and stick with them, at least til the 90 days are up. I have been doing that pretty well. Need to stay on that goal before hopping around to new goals. I do like the idea of working out in the afternoon in addition to working out during the week, just not the idea of having to take two showers a day, especially on weekends since it dries out skin, etc. During weekdays it will be more tolerable. Just a matter of if I can make myself do the workouts during the week.
Day 55
Day 55 of the Power 90 is now complete. I did the Circuit III-IV tape today. It was a little more tough than normal since I’m a little low on sleep from last night. We went to the drive in and watched Bourne Legacy and Ted in a double feature. It was fun, but we got home pretty late since movie did not start til dusk (think it started around 9 PM). Pretty good movies. Pretty predictable, but not-too-bad.
starting tomorrow…
Starting tomorrow I will start the ‘new schedule’ of doing the power 90 in the morning and another cardio workout after work. I was going to start it today, but probably overdid the caffeine today with several diet sodas and a sugar free amp… Also, thinking about it more, I like the idea of starting the every other day thing tomorrow since tomorrow will be Circuit day. Doing a circuit workout in morning that is focused on weights will work nicely with a cardio workout at night to supplement it. Also, this will be nice since it will isolate the power 90 cardio workout to being on days by itself. That’s good because sometimes that ab ripper about kills me with pain. Need to give the abs time to recover, and this spacing out of things should allow for that I think.
Funny little things about Power 90
In Phase III-IV Circuit when Tony does the lunge/squats he miscounts on the first one and only does 4 instead of 5 squats.
In phase III-IV Circuit when doing the stretching at the beginning Tony says now switch arms but then corrects himself… The stretch goes from in front of the shoulders to behind the head with the same arm.
Tony’s little remarks to the camera about not sweating after the III IV sweat’s power yoga is not that funny if you are sweating a ton by then. I ususally end up flipping off the camera while in Warrior Pose as he says that. Same type of things goes for the ‘extra set of arms’ in the same tape when he lies and says there is only one when he starts the second set.
Might add more here later as I notice them.
Humor can be a good thing when working out, but being a jackass when you are instructor with snide remarks isn’t all that funny.
Day 54 …
Day 54 Workout was partially done. I was doing the Carido Abs III-IV tape and got up to about the last round of side kicks before I had to stop the workout. I was belching a lot and felt like I had some heartburn starting up. Also, the muscle on the side of my left leg under the sciatic nerve was starting to hurt a lot. I get sciatica there sometimes. Since we had greasy ol G&D pizza for supper last night I figured it was time to quit the workout today. I don’t feel like spitting up again today like I did the other day… We ate pizza last night because Tekla wanted to ‘celebrate’ and she loves that place. She was celebrating because yesterday was the first day she gave a full hour massage at school. She’s in a year long certification program at the Healing Arts Center in St. Louis so if you need a massage therapists over a year after you read this you might look her up if you are in this area and was a bit worried that she wouldn’t be able to do longer massages like that but she came through with flying colors. She’s going to be a great therapist.
I will probably try to do a cardio workout tonight though.
I thought about how to set up a realistic and obtainable set of goals today, which might be more realistic than the goals I set the other day, and more trackable too…
So here’s what I came up with…
Continue with the Power 90 workouts, or something similar after these first 90 days EVERY morning except the once a week ‘rest day’ whenever that will be (varies week to week depending on how I’m feeling any given day of the week)
Write 3 single space pages every night as a form of ‘morning pages’ for The Artists Way that I’m just doing at night instead of in the morning. Might be more productive and hit subconscious connections more in mornings, but I need to do these at night when I have more time since time is limited in mornings due to the workouts.
Do a cardio workout at night EVERY OTHER night.
On the nights that I don’t do the cardio workout, do a ‘photo walk.’ Photo walks are basically just nature walks with a camera. Sometimes these might be long walks with few photos. Other days they may just be short walks that don’t even move past a 12 foot area where hundreds of photos are shot in one area. In the past when I did this sort of thing it was very relaxing and helped me relieve stress, open up right brain thinking, open up ideas on composition creating, etc. I want to get back in to that sort of stuff. Practice makes perfect. I think of the camera as a sort of tool similar to a sketchbook or blog, etc. to capture textures, ideas, compositions, little ideas to build on later etc.
The walks probably won’t be super long… maybe 10-20 minutes. Might be longer sometimes. Only time will tell.
After the walks I will try to work on painting or drawing or maybe work on 3d stuff in computer — making stuff for Turbosquid, etc.
I’ll try to track most of this stuff in clip boards, excel files, and sometimes here on the blog, etc. I find that if I do all three I tend to stick to the program more and not get off course too much since the three ways of recording the thing makes it sort of sink in more… similar to the way elementary teachers try to get their students to learn by hearing the stuff, writing it down, and then regurgitating/repeating it back, etc.
Day 53 weigh in
Day 53 Weigh in:
Current Weight: 281.8
Loss since last weigh in 8/5/2012: 1.1 lbs.
Total Loss since first weigh in: 14.7 lbs.
I’m not feeling too great right now since back is aching, got slight muscle aches and headache. I think I might have possible electrolyte imbalance issues, and this working out every night and morning is too much. Going to skip workout tonight and try to do workouts at nights every other day and continue workout in morning every day and see how that works. I think that should theoretically give me enough rest time. Muscles need time to rest and repair. The extra nightly workouts are nice for the extra calorie burn but I don’t want to overdo it and burn out. Also, I think this workout every other night plan is awesome idea because on the off nights it’ll allow me time to do some more photography before the sun gets to where it’s not out at all after I get off of work and/or time to do painting, etc.
I am very happy to see that I did lose weight even though I carbed it up this week with taco bell, pizza at work, and some other stuff noted in previous posts. Makes me really see that this thing is working and working darn well! 🙂
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