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The stationary bicycle has been my preferred form of cardio for quite some time. The first time I got on it I thought I wasn’t going to make it but I figured out how to get my rythm and I figured out how to use the up and down stroke to reduce muscle fatigue (foot straps are an invaluable tool when riding) Yesterday, I had a little too much energy at 5AM and I didn’t have anything that I interested me in the few hours before I was going to sleep. So, I did what any other unstable person might do, I chugged a pre-workout drink and headed to the gym. My current regimine consists of alternating 4 and 5 day lifting cycles. The current day in my program was legs

My workout consisted of
Squats - 20×225lbs 10×275lbs
Leg press - 40×275lbs
Calf raises - 50×135lbs
Medicine ball lunges - 60ea
Medicine ball bridges
Side bridges
Three point bridges

I’m not moving around a bunch of weight because I’m not trying to pack on muscle - I’m just trying to stay a lean mean fighting machine.

If I’m feeling especially ornery I’ll go for some deadlifts. They are quite hard on my back so I tend to shy away from them. After my workout I hit the stationary bike and did 15 miles in 37 minutes while climbing 2400ft of elevation. (If I did my math right I maintained a near constant speed of 24mph - not too shabby) Needless to say - I nearly killed myself. I was amped up from the workout when I got home but I knew my body had nothing left in the tanks. I’m sure parts of my body think there is a disconnect between muscles and brain. I should have stopped working out when I was done lifting, I should have given in to the pain, and I should have not set the stationary bike on level 14. There are days when I’m amazed by the amount of drive that is hiding deep inside me.

It was quite an odd feeling when I woke (at 1400)- I wasn’t really sore. I was simply wore out - still. I downed a bunch of cereal and couple of bananas and waited for it to kick in. I was dragging until 0030 this morning when I finally started to get out of the slump (I work nights at the moment).

Previously that day Jessica and I took our bikes out for the first time this year. She has an old Roadmaster mens bike, its a “wal-mart” special thats 2-3 inches too tall, and I have a Giant Sedona, a trail/city bike, that allows me to do a little of anything. I got it a 6-7 years ago for roughly $400 because I knew someone that worked at the bike shop. It was the cheapest entry level “non-walmart” bike I could afford at the time. I feel bad for her because she doesn’t know how easy I’ve got it compared to her. If you’ve ever ridden on a cheap bike and moved to a higher quality bike you’ll understand exactly how much easier of a ride you’ll get. I’m sure that if I rode her bike, which I couldn’t because its too darn small, that I would have burned 25% more energy just trying to get the darn thing moving. I forgot how much I liked to get out and just feel the wind in my face while hearing the ratchet of the chain as I rode around.

As a kid my bike was my primary form of transport until I was old enough to drive the Plymouth Voyager (the model with the monstrous, earth rotation altering, 2.2L I4 generating an amazing 96hp complete with fake wood paneling). I only had a heavy ass “roadmaster” type bike at the time and probably did no more than 20 miles on any given day. I rode that darn bike everywhere. I’ve never owned a road bike but I’m thinking next year - next year I might try and get one. I can always pick up a used bike on Craigslist or I can just wait until the end of the season and try to pick up one on clearance. I’ve got to get back on the road more often. I’d like her to come along with me but I know that I’ve got to get her a better bike first - she’s never going to make it if she is trying to keep up on her bike. I’d like to ride from our house to Sunrise point on Rainier (its only 83 miles away with a 5900 foot change in elevation - childs play…. or not) next year. We’ve got a lot of training to do in the off-season if we’re going to make it.

I’ve been getting to the gym and doing my time but the quality of my workouts have suffered. The gym at Balad was absolutely packed with equipment, unfortunately, that is not the situation at McChord’s gym. For some reason, the quality of my workout has been slipping but I’m still doing my time. I can definitely tell that I’m not getting an adequate amount of stretching - I feel so old some days. I’ve got to give myself a little credit because all I do is move awkward heavy boxes all night long. The lightest box that I move weighs 71lbs and I’m bound to move at least a dozen of them a night.

Everyone is taught how to properly lift an object at some point during our working lives. Use your legs, don’t twist your back etc. These damn things are so awkward that its nearly impossible to practice the proper lifting techniques. My lower back bears the brunt of the work.

I’m still going to the gym - I’m still putting my time in - I’m just not seeing the same gains that I saw while deployed. I haven’t seen any weight gains since I returned so at least I’ve got that going for me. I just need to find a way to spice up my workouts - cayenne pepper maybe?

I’m not in the mood to write a full post so I’m going to give you a file and a couple of links. First off is the best appeal to an Article 15 punishment that I’ve ever seen. Its well worth the read - I had a feeling that I wasn’t the only sarcastic ass in the Air Force.

Next up is an writer that looks at our nation and its productivity if we completely eliminated obesity. Its more editorial than fact but she does bring the work of a few economists into the mix. Its an interesting read thats worth checking out.

Last is an article about corn and how it is and isn’t impacting the cost of food and gasoline in our country. For some reason, as an Iowa native, I feel compelled to write about corn whenever I get a chance. My home state only stands in the spotlight once in a great while. Most Americans only hear about Iowa once every four years during the Caucus. It’s a shame that most of them are still unable to point it out on a map.

I’ve been on a quest - a quest to regain some of my youth. In particular, I’ve been trying to get rid of weight that I shouldn’t have been carrying around in the first place. When I left the states I was carrying 195lbs on my 5′11 frame. To put that in terms of a BMI I was a whopping 27.2 - I was overweight - and I wasn’t far from what they consider obese. Today I am a svelte 165lbs and with a “normal” BMI of 23. I haven’t been at this weight since I was 20 (I’m almost 27)

The last five pounds went when I gave up one more thing. I gave up Gatorade. Sure, Gatorade tastes great (I swear to god they aren’t paying me for this) and it replaces lost salt but it has calories. Each bottle contained something like 230 calories - I was going through two of them a day. I ended up drinking another bottle or two of water - a drink that is devoid of calories.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do when I go home. I know that if I go back to my old habits I’m going to have to work three times as hard to stay at this weight. I had a soda a few weeks ago and I thought I was going to go into sugar shock - maybe, just maybe, I can figure out moderation. I’ve been able to do it with my meals and I have been able to cut out snacks - snacks are simply food that I really don’t need. I allow myself something sweet (cookies or ice cream) about three times a week and I’ve found that watching the portion size has really helped me reach my goal. Gone are the days when I use the “shovel” method to crap heaping mounds of ice cream into a bowl. I always felt ill after eating that much - I think that I’ve finally figured out how to listen to the signals my body is sending me.

If I can do it, you can do it. Its going to be hard and you’ve got to manage your portion sizes and get to the gym. Sure, you can try diet alone but your progress is going to crawl at a snails pace.

My workout routine is always up for a revision and and I always try to do something a little different to keep my body guessing. The one thing that doesn’t change is that on days where I don’t lift, I do cardio. I loathe cardio but its a necessary evil so I must do it. My normal routine consists of using the cross trainer for 25 minutes followed by a gut busting “gut day.” My ankle has prevented me from using the cross trainer so my only option was to get on the bike. I was aiming for 30 minutes of high intensity biking - to me - high intensity is to keep the rpm above 100 for as long as possible. In an attempt to increase my motivation, I make sure that my mp3 player is loaded with intense music - there are no ballads and the temp is always cranked.

So, to begin my arduous bike workout, I set the level to 8 (of 20) and started to bike away - I biked to 5 miles, then 10 miles and before I knew it I was already at 35 minutes of elapsed time. I felt like I was in the groove so I aimed for another 5 miles before I got off the bike without dropping my intensity - I wanted to make up some time and get the next 5 miles done in under 10 minutes. It was a lofty goal but I know how to push myself past the breaking point when needed.

I selected an Ill Nino song and went to town - at 135rpm. Sweat that was on my brow began to come down in a torrent that obscured my vision - the searing pain in my legs caused tears to form in my eyes - I wasn’t going to be defeated. I was not going to surrender to the pain. Nobody could tell that my eyes were watering because my entire body was soaked - it appeared as if I had jumped in front of a fire hose. I kept on pumping my legs as hard as I could until I reached 15 miles - at that point I looked at the clock - 44:58 - I had done it.

I really couldn’t believe that I could push myself that hard - I’m completely worn out at the moment but I know that there has got to be some sort of energy reserve left. I tried to do the “gut buster” workout but my body was shot - I guess it will wait till tomorrow.

FYI - gut buster is comprised of no less than 6 gut exercises - I am for 200-300 total reps. The pain is quite intense - but - I’ve got free time and I’m still young. I often wonder how much further I can push myself - I guess I’ll just have to find out for next time.

On a side note, I try to title all of the blog posts in a creative manner - some titles don’t make the stringent selection process

Todays rejected post titles include

1. Push it, push it real good Salt-N-Pepa wrote as song called Push it - and push it I did

2. Bike it out, bike it out - my take on Walk it Out

3. My humps, my humps, my lovely lady humps. - this in an homage to Will Ferrel in Blades of Glory as he was on his bike cranking out some cardio - well, he really wasn’t cranking much. There was discussion about what this song meant and nobody really knew - they just knew that it was promiscuous.

The did it in Abu Ghraib prison to people that didn’t deserve the treatment. I do it to myself on a daily basis. Why in the world would somebody beat the ever living crap out of their body? Why would someone push themselves until they were in so much pain that they thought they were going to puke?

Boredom

I decided to see how hard I could push myself today. My shoulder is almost completely rehabbed - almost to the point where I don’t have to worry about it. I’m still working on strengthening the anterior deltoid muscle (the weak one in the bunch) so that it keeps all of the other muscles where there are supposed to be located. It was leg day - the most brutal day of the week. Leg day is an all out assault on the largest muscle group in the body. It is the muscle group that is constantly in use and the one that takes the most punishment (save for the heart of course). I went through my normal routine but I cranked it up to three sets of 20 reps. I normally work in the 3×12 range but I essentially doubled my reps while maintaining the same weights. By the time I was done with each set my legs were on fire - veins were starting to pop out from my skin that I didn’t even know existed. I could barely walk by the time that I was done - not being able to walk isn’t a bad thing in this case - it merely shows that I properly worked out the muscle group. If you’ve watched any bad horror movies and have seen zombies stumbling about - its probably close to how I’ve been walking around. We probably smell the same too - its been a few days since we’ve had running water. Unless the world goes to hell, I’ll get my first shower in days tomorrow morning.

I’ve been resisting the urge to expunge the material in my stomach - its been 30 minutes since I’ve walked out of there but the pain is so intense that I can barely hold my guts in check. Its a hobby - albeit a painful one.

Yesterday was a surprisingly productive day. I finished most of my major projects at work and passed them off to the people that have to review and approve the corrective actions. Its only taken two weeks to get where I am now; it normally only takes 2-3 days to take care of this kind of work. This month, because someone out there hates me, its taken quite a while. It doesn’t help that others were… forced to help me out with this stuff.

I took care of my yard yesterday; its a chore that I loath. All of my neighbors have electric hedge clippers while I made the decision when I got here that manual was the only way to go. If I bought electrics I would only have to get rid of them when I left this Island… its just not worth it. The whole process does give me a rather decent workout… manual clippers take quite a bit of energy.

Gotta get ready for work… more later

What I do to myself could be considered torture but from what others tell me, its what needs to be done to get into shape. I wake up each morning ready to stick with a diet that has maximum protein intake with very few carbs. Carbs aren’t that bad of a thing, most people don’t know when to eat them because if you eat them at the wrong time of the day you are much more likely to store them away rather than using them. My diet works like this

0530: 2 eggs, oatmeal or cereal and milk (400-500 calories)
0900: protein bar with 20-30g protein and 20-30g carbs (300 calories)
1030: pre-workout shake and supplements (200 calories)
1230: two skinless plain chicken breasts with a vegetable (700 calories)
1300: 50-60g protein shake (450 calories)
1430: meal replacement shake w/ 40g protein and 35g carbs (250 calories)
1630: fruit (apple/banana) and 4oz mixed nuts (yep, more protein) (600 calories)
1800: two skinless chicken breasts (seasoned this time around) and a vegetable (800 calories)
2000: 40-60g protein shake (450 calories)
2100: 4oz mixed nuts (600 calories)

Thats roughly 4000-5000 calories a day.

Each day its the same darn thing. I consume a large number of calories but I have very few complex carbs throughout the day. I tend to crave things like bread and potatoes but I know that my body does a poor job digesting that. I walk around all day and I feel like I’m starving despite eating as much as I am. This is absolute torture but I know that I cannot quit, I need to stick with this as I keep my body fat percentage down and I allow myself to build as much muscle as possible. I have become a gym training freak, I will do everything I possibly can to ensure that I don’t miss any of my time at the gym (4/5 days lifting, 3/4 days cardio each week).

This is what I must do as genetics aren’t in my favor, there are only a few of my family members that don’t gain weight regardless of what they eat… I’m not one of them, I need to have a scientifically balanced diet.

There is something about being angry that drives me to exhaustion. If I am angry about something for long enough I feel like I just ran a marathon and nearly pass out at the end of the day. Some people will let things bother them; I let those same thing infuriate me. I hate them all day long with such intensity that I can skip my evening workout, I’ve already burned just as many calories being angry.

We had an interesting conversation the yesterday about me being a jerk and we all came to the concensus that I hoped we would. Everyone thinks that I am a jerk (a fact I am well aware of) and they realize that my animosity is directed at everyone equally. I hate everyone the same just because I like to see people squirm. Yes, I am a sick sadistic bastard because I want to watch them writhe in their chairs while I yell at them. I want to see if they will really do anything because aside from the drunk ones, nobody has tried anything but half assed attempts at come backs. They are talking to one mean angry ass who has nothing better to do that taunt others so their replies are always wastes of air and time.

Yes, I take out my own problems on others because I am not able to deal with them myself. When I figure things out I’ll be happier than Ronald McDonald. Have you ever seen that guy sad? I don’ think so! Those giant sodas with all of that caffiene prevents him from sleeping and feeling bad so he never sleeps and is never sad. There is also that whole makeup thing going on with the smile permanently plastered to his face but thats a different story all together. I had to beat them to death with thier own shoes.

wow… went a long way for that reference that nobody will understand

I spent my time wisely today. Before I left for work I finished reading a book. At work in the morning I learned a task that I knew nothing about just to expand my knowledge a little (filling out hazardous goods declarations for air shipments… boring but interesting). In the afternoon I kept busy enough to not notice I was at work. At about 1454 I realized I was supposed to be at the track Doh! I got there as everybody else was taking off for the run and caught up with Rudy Perron, a really cool guy I used to work with. I ran my three miles and didnt feel that bad afterwards considering I hadn’t ran in a while. From there I went home, did the dishes and mopped the floor (a rarity). I ate some grilled fish and had a salad and decided it was time to go BACK to the gym. I killed my chest in the workout and I feel good right now. There is still some time left in the day so I’m going to do a little more reading. I don’t feel like that big of a turd anymore.