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.

not funny

My idea was to write a funny story about my journey from skin and bones man through weight rooms to the body building stage. So far I’ve kept to my workout schedule, drank down my protein shakes and posed for pictures every month (three so far). Pretty good. But it’s not funny.

Tonight I decided to drink more protein powder. For the last month or so I’ve downed 120grams on days I work out and 60 on those I don’t. Now I’m doing 180 – daily. See what that does.

But isn’t the thought of me in a bikini brief, glistening with oils, flexing on a stage funny enough?

Mirrors

This is my routine. In the locker room, after the workout, I open my locker and take out my towel and put away the record book, wash cloth and jump-rope. I sit on the wooden bench and untie my blue diadora soccer training shoes. The shoes and then socks come off and I store them in the locker. My shirt comes off. Mirrors line the walls all the way to the bathroom. I take a look. Oo, I forgot I shaved my chest. Flex a little. Admire. I check out the side, the profile on the way to the shower. I get another look as I turn the corner, the mirrors above the sinks. Shower. I check myself out on the way to the locker. The clean clothes come on – undies and pants first, I check the mirror, nice. Then socks and shoes. Mirror. The shirt comes last.

here in the HPC

Here in the HPC, I’m daydreaming, looking out over the parking lot. I’m thinking about the sounds I hear. Thuds and metallic tinks, over and under, harder and lighter, tink. It’s the baseball team. I bet they’re doing it on purpose.

Signs in the fitness center say don’t drop the weights – if you do, you need a spotter or you’re lifting too much. I can’t remember anyone breaking that rule. Makes me feel superior to these guys. We’re a sophisticated crew, there in the fitness center. Careful to their careless.

Today, I did see a guy trying too hard, lifting too much. I actually gave him a nickname, something I don’t normally do. Ok, I do. His is Anderson Cooper. His hair was short and silver and he was middle-aged and lean. It was the quad machine. People groan loudly sometimes – I hiss. One guy does a good orgasm. Anderson Cooper here, though, roared. His body, his whole body, strained. I tried not to stare. It was like a wooden two by four about to snap. To each his own. I just assume everyone in there knows what he or she is doing – or at least know more than I. But he looked suicidal the way he did that. Like he was prying open a gator’s mouth.

Jump rope

11-9-07 (Jay’s Bday)

I’m bigger than I’ve ever been. And that’s not saying much. Actually, my last weigh-in, last Wednesday, had me at 180 pounds, which is ten pounds shy of my record, set back when I was training for soccer try outs (though I think a lot of that weight came from my legs – my memory may just lack credibility, alas). This morning I spent some time in the shower looking at my new pecs. Two lumps. To me, they’re mountains but I know to anyone else…. I started warming up this week, before I start lifting. This was Jay’s suggestion. He mentioned it to me this past weekend. He was trying to kill time on his way to a book expo – his new thing is sales. He said he does the elliptical machine for five minutes. I laugh trying to imagine that. I’ve never actually touched any of those “fake running” machines. No thanks. Can’t convince myself that they’re better than running on the ground. Though I did do the row machine, well, that’s different. Anyway, I’m jumping rope. Seems to help. My weights increased this week, except for the military press, and this is why, I think. I’m pooped at that point because I do three exercises in a row using the same muscles – the bench press, incline and military. By military I’m dying. I realized this because Wednesday I had a great military press day – because I had a comfortable bench and incline day. Today, I increased in both the bench and incline and died on the military. Therefore, I will cut out the fourth set of the bench (that was Will’s idea, we’ll see if that changes anything).