a little change, a little interruption

I had a nice little stretch in June and July, but some school projects slowed me down in July. Then I started biking to school. And I couldn't bike and workout in the same day. It was killing me.

So I haven't worked out since Aug 5. But I started doing Pilates and a Ball workout twice a week at UNO. That's been good for my core. I can't even do it all yet, it hurts so.

But I miss the workouts.

Yesterday, after the Pilates, there was a free body fat test. I'm at 14.9 % and have 29 lbs of muscle, so they said. Not bad at all.

I talked to a nutritionist there who recommended egg white omelets with low fat mozzarella and spinach. I made one today with tomatoes, mushrooms and onions. It was delish and I'd do it again, I tell you.

So, we'll see when I can work out again. Workin on it.

that was fun

Same and I are drying off. I'm sitting on a towel and she's rubbing her back on the rug. We just got back from a run in the rain. It was drizzling when we started and picked up from there. And it felt right to just keep on. We ran to City Park where I did my chin/pull ups ans Same whined at me. I heard a roar coming from Tad Gormley Stadium, which was just a few hundred yards away.

Better, nicer, warmer

What have been doing this last month? Well, my workouts have not been as consistent as I'd like - I missed a few days - but they've been more invigorating than usual. Those new exercises, including the parkour, the chin and pull ups and the french press, have all produced results. The parkour helps me core, the ups my back, the french my tris.

I weighed myself at home just now. 195 lbs. I can't really trust it but can compare it to my last weigh in. Which is the same.

I've been wearing my sleeveless shirts more often. I got a new one from my mom and some more 3/4 pants - love em. I can really notice a difference in my body shape, and I like it. I do feel better about myself, actually. I don't know though if it's the pride in my accomplishment or if it's I feel "hotter." Feels like the former.

Just one more thing. I'm waiting for my pecks to have that cut look. Not even close now. I'm doing bench and incline for chest. Maybe there's something else...

Oh, and today I ran with Old Girl (Same) to City Park. I knew I'd seen one of those exercise stations you see along running paths before - with the stretching posts and instructions. I wanted a pull-up bar. We finally found it behind the Museum. Gosta.

Parkour, negatives and Eve Ensler

I used to tell myself that I knew the secret to looking good. I knew that it didn't matter what you looked like on the outside. I knew that the most beautiful people I knew were beautiful because of something within. And that's what I told myself. I knew the secret. I mostly thought of this when I got dressed for school. Didn't matter what I wore. Didn't matter that I didn't have the nicest clothes. It was all within. Didn't matter that I couldn't find an acceptable way to fix my hair. It was all within, and it had a name: confidence.

Good workout today. I had thought that I might have to ride my bike to the swing set, since my knee was acting funny. But it felt fine this morning and I started jogging. I felt slow, like dead weight. But not too slow. And I remembered something I hadn't remembered in a while.

Parkour. I didn't stop when a car was coming and I wanted to cross the street. I kept going and cut over when it was clear. I jumped off the curbs. I cleared the median. I jump on the jungle gym and ducked under the chain and went down the slide.

I did some reading online before I left about chin ups. I learned that a chin up is very similar to a pull up - chin ups are done with palms facing me, pull ups with palms out. Pull ups are harder but work the lats better. I learned that they're both hard, actually. Some tips to get started where to mix pull ups and chin ups, keep trying, and to do negatives. That means jumping up and slowing letting yourself down.

I did 7 chin ups, 3 pull ups, 5 more chin ups and then 7 pull up negatives. When I looked in the mirror before my shower it seemed my lats where bigger, giving me more of that "sting ray" look. That V.

A funny thing about the bicep curls: my left seems to be weaker than my right. Could be that I'm more tired after the run. Maybe I'll switch the bi's and tri's.

Oh, and I found a cd of Eve Ensler reading her play The Good Body. It's about her and other women spending their lives hating their bodies. I bought it on a whim from Goodwill. I want to listen to it again, it just finished, because it's related to what I'm doing here. Changing my body with the idea that it'll make me happier. I know this has been talked about forever, and I don't want to try to talk about something that I don't really understand, but thinking about it today as I listened to Eve, it reminded me of that theory I mentioned above. And it reminded of that word: confidence.

wearing my tan on my sleeve

I've been doing a few things that are out of character.

I've always been too self-conscious to take off my shirt. Getting in the pool was always a mental battle. I had to convince myself that it didn't matter what I looked like. I laid by the pool today shirtless.

I guess it started when I bought a sleeveless shirt from Amercian Apparel. Just going in there is like, I don't know, a practice in playing it cool. I know I probably stand out like square in a circle shop, but I try to keep it together. I may not be one of you, I think, but I'm sure as hell trying to act like it.

So I wore it to pick up Bek and she laughed, like I knew she would. It's all related to this body building thing. It'll be strange and funny but then it'll be normal. I'm trying not to take myself too seriously here.

Back to the point of this post, I wore my sleeveless Mexico jersey to Jazz Fest, laid shirtless in the park with Same, wore the AA shirt to the bike shop and then just now took off my shirt by the pool while I read. Oh, and I'm doing it to get rid of my tan line, not to show off. I'm not that comfortable with my body. I'll show the guns first, then maybe later the whole arsenal.

(By the way, I'm trying to reflect more, assess my feelings more in this endevour. Because I'm realizing, as I read a book for my summer course -the book is called The Ethnographic I- that the emotion is, actually, where it's at. If I don't reveal how this effects me, what I really think about it all, then you readers will never connect. Oh, and while I was hoping this book would help with my Peace Corps book, I am finding that this story will be a good candidate as well. Maybe even the bike building thing could turn into an essay. Also, this blog thing really is turning out to be a good way record my thoughts. And it'll be helpful to go back and see how I felt in contrast to how I feel when I read it.)

Back in the Saddle

Two days straight, Monday and Tuesday, I was in thy gym. I drank my protein and did my ab work. I did some new stuff, too. Inspired by the routines I mentioned in my last post, I added the French Press (a tricep excercise with dumbells, replacing the machine), a Dumbell Row (replacing the machine row) and Arnold-inspired chin-ups. I read that he did different kinds of chin ups, behind the back, using v-shaped bars. He could do 50.

I couldn't find a place to do the chin-ups in the apartment complex but I thought maybe I could use some of the playground equipment on Jeff Davis. So I jogged there. The first time I've jogged since soccer ended. Slow going (and now my right knee hurts again). The first jungle gym was no good. I jogged past Canal and found a swing set. There weas a construction crew working on a restaurant nearby, and I was a bit self conscious. This happens to me sometimes. When I'm doing something that might draw attention to myself. Like biking, or waiting for a bus. But I told myself I was in New Orleans, not Lake Charles, and they probably wouldn't give it a second thought.

I did 10 chin-ups. 5, then 3, then 2. I loved it, though. I felt weak and with that I felt the need to strengthen. I know the reps will only go up.

back in the saddle?

This week I worked out twice, doing the more-reps-less-weight thing. Next week I should be right on. I'll try this workout for now, but I found a few back ups from a Natural Bodybuilding website, NANBF.org.

a change of pace

I haven't worked out for three weeks now. I took that first week off because my elbow felt funny. Then I just couldn't get back into the gym. There are a few reasons: since we moved I started taking the bus, which takes a long time to get anywhere, so I had to wake up earlier, thus I lost my work out time; also, it's the end of the semester and I've had lots of work to do. I plan on starting up again next Monday.

It's strange to think that my protein shake jar and blender have taken a break, too. And my workout towel and journal.

I'm sure my new weight and photos will show little improevment, if any, from last month. But after my last post I started putting peanut butter in my smoothies and pecans in my pancakes. I like the change.

Also, I bought chocolate flavored protein powder. I was getting bored with the vanilla, even though broseph warned me that the chocolate was nasty. When I bought it from Walmart I was carrying it around and a guy pushing a cart and following his wife stopped me.

"Where'd you get that?" he said.
"Pharmacy area," I said.
"Yeah, I need some of that. What kind you got?"
"Chocolate."
"Yeah, that's right. The chocolate's the best."

When I get back in the gym I'm going to vary my weights and reps and maybe exercises, too.

Oh, and I bought a sleeveless shirt for the summer. I like the look of my arms, except that they're white as ghosts.

weight and diet

So, I think I have my correct weight.  189 lbs.  This week I worked out here at the apartment and then once at UNO.  It just worked out better time-wise.  So I was able to weigh myself as I once did.  So let's throw last month's crazy number out. (Also, I weighed myself at the HPC to compare - it read 195.5 lbs., 6.5 lbs. different, for future reference.)

I talked to my brother yesterday and got some ideas diet-wise.  He's using the Zone diet as a basis for his diet, and basically it's less breads and more fats and proteins, meaning peanut butter and olive oil, for example.  I added pecans to my pancake this morning and will add pb to my protein smoothies.

Plus, at UNO I kinda hurt my right elbow.  Felt like a nerve pinch, slight.  I took off the next day and the next and here we are.  I'll get back in the gym Monday, maybe changing up some of the exercises for less weight and more reps, since I'm getting bored.

a note on the new gym

This gym is small here at the apartment.  No bars, just some dumbells and a broken multi-purpose machine.  The rest is treadmills, stairmasters and bikes, which are popular.  Those and the ab cruncher benches, all of which I don't use.  I think they're silly.  I'd rather really run or ride or climb.  Or crunch.

The only other people I've seen use the dumbells are women who do lite workouts, and that hasn't been often.  I've had to change my routine a little.  For example, some dumbells are missing, but they have the all-in-one dumbell that you can adjust.  So I have to use that for 25 and 40 lbs, I think it is.  And when I''m ready for 60 lbs +, I'll have to go there, too.

I don't mind the smaller gym, the fewer options, the different crowd - mostly thirty-somethings and middle-aged professionals here.  I've chatted with some of them, just a bit.  It's more, what's the word...well, the conditions encourage social interaction.  Which is nice.

Back on track

looks like I'm back on track.  It did my four workouts this week.  I still have to get back on track with the protein shakes, though, and the ab and back workouts.  I took off a few pounds for each exercise so I could get back into it without hurting meself.

Unbelievable

So, it seems I gained around 10 lbs in a month.  Confused I am.  New gym, new schedule...is that the answer?  Well, like I said, whatever.  I'm happy.  I've never weighed this much, and 200 lbs is a big benchmark.

Weigh-in

In the past, I weighed myself after a workout. So all the weights up to this month, March, are all on the same scale after a workout and should be good. This month we have moved and I no longer use the gym nor the scale I used to. So, I used another scale, here in the athlete's gym.

Today I went into the old gym and used the scale with pants and shoes, my business casual attire, not the gym clothes I usually have. I didn't come straight from a workout either, though I did workout out this morning. The scale read 194 lbs. The scale at home said 200 lbs. yesterday and the scale here in the athlete's gym says 199 lbs. Whatever. Should I average them out, or what?

Spring Break for my Shoulder

I haven't worked out for one week, exactly, because I hurt my left shoulder my last workout. Not sure how, as I mentioned last post. I'll get back on it soon enough.

Owie

I hurt myself yesterday. I blame it on my erratic workouts - I haven't begun a routine since we moved. It has to do with my new ride to school, the city bus. It takes quite a bit longer than driving (ten minutes by car, 60 minutes by bus) and I haven't timed my whole day effeciently yet. Frustrating.

So, yesterday I had some time at home to work out, so I wanted to start doing it right. I had noticed that I'd been forgetting to warm up for the sake of saving time, so this time I went all out. I ran up and down six flights of stairs and then did two ten-rep sets of squat thrusts - focusing on push ups at the same time.

When I went to incline press, I couldn't do the 50 lb dumbells, only did 8 reps, then I couldn't do 45 lbs, did 6 reps. I didn't notice my left shoulder was hurting until last night. This morning it hurt even more and I realized I must have hurt it a little at the workout and then aggrevated it later in the day when I walked to the grocery store and carried the groceries back home. It was a load.

So, I think I'll use this week or so to heal up, figure out my schedule, then get back into it. I'll also start up a journal, so I can record everything going on as I bulk up, not just the gym stuff I'm writing about here..

Now to finish up, two updates: we took new photos for March, which will be added to the slide show soon, and it looks like my monthly weigh in puts me around 196.5 lbs! That's what it says on the scale here in the athlete's gym, when I'm wearing jeans. I should add my weight to the slide show. I started at 176 or so in September - that's 20 lbs in 6 months. Dang, y'all.

"Crunch it out. Good."

So, we moved into our new apartment this weekend (thanks to my parents) and it looks great (thanks to my parents and family, who donated furniture). Today, I was going to begin working out in our gym, but my body said NO when I woke up. I'm telling myself I did enough work over the weekend moving dressers and sections of a sentional. So I'll start tomorrow.


Also, I wanted to add to my reflection on the pop music in the UNO gym. It may have sounded like I didn't like any of it. But I did like the Maroon 5 stuff. And other stuff. And thanks to my mom, I now know that I also heard a lot of Daughtry (she has his cd, man, he has a lot of songs out on the radio).

Finally, I wanted to mention the trainer at the UNO gym, a guy I only started seeing there recently. He was training a woman. And he was a real motivator. For example, while I was doing my bike-ab workout, he had the woman on an ab-machine of some kind, and he was pushing her the whole way: "Crunch it out. Good. Crunch it out. Good. Squeeze it. Good. Crunch it out. Good."

Shrug it out

Chris, my know-it-all younger brother (what, am I writing a kid's book here?), took a look at my slideshow when he was in town and the first thing he said was, "You need to do some shrugs." He pointed to my traps in one of the photos.

So I'm doing shrugs now.

I'd hate to leave out, as I record all this, the exposure I get to pop culture while I'm working out. The music they push through the air is all pop. Pop, pop, pop. Maroon 5, Fergie, the song about tear drops on a guitar and the song where the guys sings "Stop and staaaaaaaaaaaaare." I'll admit that if it weren't for Gym Radio, I woudn't know any of these songs, they would have passed me right on by and dissappeared. And I wouldn't have cared. But now maybe, in some future game of Pop Culture Trivia, I'll get a random song question right.

Also, in the tradition of moderm gyms, there are a couple dozen television sets lining the gym walls. That's where I get my SportCenter fix. I actually don't mind that at all.

And today might have been my last day in the UNO gym. That's because we're moving, beginning tomorrow, and I'll start using the apartment complex's gym. To celebrate that fact, a capoeira group danced in the lobby on my way out. That is on my list of things to do, to join up with a group like that. It was a good show. I love new experiences. (Oh, it also just happened to be National Sports and Fitness Day.)

11.5 lbs!

Since I started lifting and drinking protein shakes in October, I have gained 11.5 pounds. Muscle ways more than fat. For my current routine I am still using the bells and I have actually started some core work, courtesy of my broseph and a little e-research of my own. I do the "bicycle" ab workout and the supermans (I was doing them daily, got to get back on that, cause it's not happening now), ok, did them, and now I curl one arm at a time while standing on one foot (and rubbing my belly). And I try to work Mon - Thurs, but today was Valentines and time would not allow. We are moving soon, next week, to a place with a gym, so the pieces should fall right into place.

I also ran two miles and sprinted 100 yards ten times last Saturday. Felt great, just need to do that more.

I also have new photos for the slideshow, will get on that soon.

NYC break

Bek and I took off to NYC this past week for our anniversary. We met up with great friends and enjoyed the city. And I took all that time off of working out. I thought of restarting today, but woke up too tired. Got to get my energy back.

I have been reading Rings and have been enjoying it. At this point the narrator has given up boxing and is concentrating on meeting with his trainer's family here in NO and in NYC.

I've been thinking about adding a littel cardio to the mix. How about this: two miles or so run and some sprints. We'll see.

I need to take some Mr. February shots for the slideshow, hopefully tonight.

Rings: On the Life and Family of a Southern Fighter

Yesterday aften, as I killed time with a fellow English tutor, the subject off our professors' literary accomplishments arose. And I learned something very, very interesting. Seems Randy Bates, my Nonfiction Workshop professor, wrote a book about a time when he joined a gym to learn to box, and there he befriended a famous boxer. This is nonfiction and now I can't wait to get my hands on it, you can imagine my eyes widening as I realized that he has already done something quite simiar to what I am doing here: gym + writing = book.

Meanwhile, the new routine seems good enough. I do feel stronger now with each excercise. I just need a killer core/ab routine.

New plan of action

Alright, so I needed a change. I realized a while back that with my seven excercises I tend to burn out by the last two or three. So I switched up the order, but still burned out. So now I have decided to split them up.

Monday and Wednesday will be military press, bench and curl days, and hopefully I can figure out a nice ab routine. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be decline, lat pull, pecs and dips. The workouts will be more often but shorter and more effecient, I think. Then, when we move, when I'm ready I'll move to a six-day plan, throwing in Friday and Saturday, because the gym will be right there.

Today I started that routine. It felt good, felt strong. My adreneline was high afterwards for a bit but I feel I'm crashing now. Oh, well.

Doh!

This past week was rough. I did work out on Tuesday last, in the evening. And I realized that night, as I tossed and I turned in bed, that working out in the afternoon/evening equals bad sleep. Funny, right? You'd think it tires me out and I sleep like a baby. But I've found my adrenaline shoots up, really up, and it takes awhile for it to fall back down. So, working out in the morning gives me a big boost for the work day but evening sessions give me a big boost for a sleepless night. Same thing when I play a soccer game in the aften (Danish for "afternoon"). Me no sleep good.

And then I didn't get back to the gym all week. This and that got in the way. One "this" is that we're looking to move into another apartment, one which has a gym. Boom, I think, no more excuse I just couldn't get out to the gym! Another "that" is I started my Spring semester at school. And Bek started her school, so our schedules are all hoo haw.

And in my haste I forgot my tennis shoes, so I had to work out in my green ankle socks and brown deck shoes.

missed out

Classes started yesterday, and though I can't blame the classes, well, I missed a work out. I even had all my stuff ready, my clothes and stuff. But the timing didn't work, which is a bummer, because I am trying to make these workouts as important as anything else on my schedule. So, i will try to go today, a Tuesday, and just shift this week to a Tues-Thurs-Sat schedule. I will keep u informed.

Ah, and I DID drink 120g of whey yesterday (I've had a little trouble getting 120g on my off-days).

Eat, son!

I am not paying any attention to my diet right now, not yet. I think my intake is healthy enough, though. I don't eat fast food or frozen dinners or drink sodas or much beer. I eat my veggies, too. Bek and I cook dinners at home and make enough for lunch the next day. Wow! I know. Awesome.

I'm just mentioning all this for the record. So, here's what I ate today, which is pretty typical. A protein smoothie, two satsumas, a chocolate soymilk protein drink, a pbj and chicken souvlaki for dindin. And we decided later that ice cream was a must, with hot fudge on top.

I plan on tailoring the diet and the workouts later. First, dem bones need some meat.

Give that kid some food!

Dizamn! That looks bad over there. Somebody feed that boy! So, I put this blog together last night - I back-dated the entries I'd written elsewhere and threw that incredible slideshow together.

The idea is that I'll be more likely to keep track of my progress with this blog. I'll reflect on my feelings and tell some stories. To start, I worked out last Wednesday for the first time since our "Christmas Tour" of family and friends. So, I had about two weeks off the weights, which worked out fine for me since my left shoulder started to bother me. I figured it was the bench, just a hunch, what with the strain that bar puts on my shoulders when I take it off (and not to mention that's how Will hurt himself a while back). This last time I at the gym I switched to dumbells, so now I'm completely off bars and machines. I only uses bells and the dip apparatus.

Oh, and I stopped the jumping rope a few weeks back and switched to the row machine (so I guess that technically counts as one machine I use). I switched becuase I sucked at jumping rope. Also, I started drinking 120g of whey protein everyday, not just on the days I work out, as I did before. And I started making smoothies in the morning with bananas and strawberries, so that makes it a whole meal, sort of (I remember the recipes for great smoothies from my days at the Smoothie King).

I knew there was something else...I started crunches and supermans in the morning while I'm making chocolate chip pancakes. I knew the "core" was important, and as the weights increased, I could tell. And I'm trying to fit in running into the workout routine.