Amulon’s BodyBlog

  I feel it… I am not sure what I did differently, but this morning when I got up and went down to workout doing Plyometrics I was pumped. I got moving and decided to really go for it.

   After jumping around for a bit and really making a goal of touching the ceiling on every jump I starting sweating and it started coming in rivers. I started laughing at myself because my eyes were burning with sweat in them. I didn’t want to stop and grab my towel so I just kept going till the break and could finally towel off a bit. By the time to Bonus round kicked in.. I was leaning on my knees to get a breath.. and kept at it.

My daughter came up to see what was making the noise. (I was trying to land soft but jumping higher I didn’t land quite as soft as usual.) I just smiled because I was tired. She went back to bed. My family were all sleeping in because of a break from School.

 Then went to work and had to climb my usual couple flights of stairs to open the vault and felt it in my legs. (I am beginning to like that feeling.)

 On a side note. I found of yesterday that another dream might come true for me. I talked with a friend that owns a "Haunted House" and is looking at building another one in my area. I wanted in and he said I could. I will be meeting with his partners and next year about this time might be the proud partner of my own "Haunted House." I am a HUGE fan of Halloween and all things scary. This is the only month that I wish I could extend out for a long period. One day I would love to make a horror movie that is actually scary along the lines of "The Changeling." I am not a fan of gore being used as much as it has been lately. I realise that is part of the scare, but to make it the focus takes away from the movie and makes it less scary and more gross. I could rant on forever about that…

 Plus, I got on the scale this morning. It said 165 lbs. I am not sure if it is accurate, so I will check it tomorrow as well and see. I don’t feel a lot different.

  This is probably not what most of you might think it is. I am just ranting a bit. I have decided that as soon as I finish doing my P90x that I will be looking at joining a gym and seriously start weight lifting. My goal: not quite sure. It’s kind of like starting a journey into a forest and not sure whats on the other side, but the whole thing is kind of exciting. That is how I feel. I am excited to see what I can accomplish and see what I can make my body do. I am not sure what the end result will be. I have always been a guy with a smaller frame and would like to see what changes I make through weight lifting that would change that to some degree. This is where I continue to bump into some friction.

   My wife seems to not fully support me in this endeavor. I am not fully sure why, but she seems to have some kind of reservations that I can’t clue into. When I went and met with my trainer last night and was talking to her on the phone. She wasn’t a bit excited about it. That is frustrating for me. I think that she thinks that I am going to become some huge muscle bound ego walking around. But even if I could put on a ton of muscle I am not really that kind of person to have a huge ego. That just isn’t me and never will be. I just want to push the limits of what I can do. I like the idea of being in really good shape. When I told my wife that she said. "Well, that is different than weight lifting." again, I said "honey, even if I wanted to I can’t pack on so much muscle without resorting to steriods. So, you have no worries about me getting HUGE." I can’t seem to convince her of that fact. I would like to be bigger (more musclular) than I currently am, but that wouldn’t make me huge. So I am not sure what to say to her. I would love for her to join me in the journey, but I don’t see that happening.

  So, I guess I will forge ahead and see what happens. I have no idea what lies ahead, but I am way excited about the journey, a bit nervous, but excited. Hopefully, the gym isn’t nearly as crowded as it was last night. Blah… I hope most people don’t like early mornings and I can get my workout done without having to wait forever.

   Other than that.. I am super excited about the new "Nightmare on Elm street" which comes out in Oct. Though, I hope that they don’t stray too much from the original and make it like the new "Friday the 13th" which seemed more like Rambo taking out college kids then Jason… but that is another whole blog in of itself.

   Have you ever had one of those mornings where it’s slightly cold outside and you are in your bed nice and warm and the thought of getting out of bed to go workout doesn’t seem all that tempting? Well, that is the kind of morning I was having. I work up before my alarm went off. Not early enought to go back to sleep and too early to feel like jumping out of bed, so I laid there and thought. I could sleep in.. I have to go to SL and I only have an hour, it’s cold and you haven’t been feeling all that well. You can give yourself a break…. blah…blah. Then my better side jumped in and said "GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED!" And I then reasoned that I could sit in bed and not sleep and not work out while arguing with myself or I could just get up and get to it and be done.

   So, I headed downstairs and turned Tony on… he is way too happy in the morning. Started moving and proceeded to have a great workout which I am still feeling. I am much happier with myself for just doing it.

   The weekend wasn’t such a victory. I was out way too much with the family and restuarants were too tempting. I gave in, but tried not to over do it. So, I have to workout this week to work all that fat back off. My mind tries to tell me that my body needs the extra food because I am working out and need to energy… sheesh, doesn’t it ever give up???? I need to come up with some healthy treats that I can eat when I want to reward myself. Any suggestions?? Is there anything that tastes like a cheat, but isn’t?

  I also have to call my trainer today. Trying to get a diet together before I line up the gym and him once I finish with P90x. Though I think I will keep doing the Plyometrics and Core synergistics because they are fun.

   A bientot. Andy 

  Really looking forward to this weekend. Why? Because my youngest son is turning 8 and I get to go to his B-day party. He is way excited and he wants me to go play Lazer Tag with him and his buddies. I have this distinct feeling that I am going to be a one man team…  (this is when I am glad that it isn’t paintball.) We should have a great time celebrating another year of being blessed with such a great kid. I pray for a 100 more! Plus, I like not acting my age once in a while. My wife might say I don’t like acting my age a bit more.. but hey, it’s my blog. Kids keep you young and I love it!

   Workout. I plan on killing my back/chest tonight. I want to feel sore. I also really like this move from Core synergistics that really works your obliques and I want to do some of those. I plan on mastering several sets of pullups. I am determined to get to 20 on one set!!!

  Hopefully everyone can have a great weekend and spend sometime with those they care about and have a kick butt workout as well.

 A Bientot!!

Andy

  Jumped on the scale once again today. Bingo.. like magic. I am now 167 lbs. I have really been watching what I eat this past week and even though when I look in the mirror and feel like nothing is changing a whole lot. The weight must be going somewhere.

  I even resisted temptation last night. Went home and my wife had made Pizza. I said "sorry, sweetie but I can’t eat that. Especially if I want to go out on the weekend with you." She tried to win me over with the "one slice won’t hurt." and the "you have done so well, give yourself a break." So I made Cod on the grill and ate that with a salad. She also baked cookies. (killing me.) They smelled so good and then baked bread afterwords. I love freshly baked break. So I did take a tiny slice of the whole wheat bread.

  Anyways, today will be another test. A wholesaler is coming in and taking me to lunch. Blah… I will have to pick a restaurant that I don’t like. Make it easier on myself.. like Chillis. (don’t care for it.)

   Did my Cardio today and liked it. I am starting to feel a lot more energetic lately and almost feel like adding in another workout at night. Nothing crazy, but just something. I am liking the feeling.

   Well, going to get back to work. Should of bought stocks again.. dang it. Now here’s to hoping that they drop again so I can buy some more and have more fun when I go to Cancun.

 Andy

  Ever wanted to gripe? Well, that is how I feel today. Last night I went home and decided to really blast my biceps and Shoulders. WELL, I did a damn good job and my arms hurt today. On top of that I must of done some good work on my obliques yesterday because they are really sore. (core synergistics)

   Then I come to work and someone want to come in and cry to me about having to pay a fee to cash is stupid check? Give me a break people. Either you have an account and you deposit your check someone wrote you into it or you go to the bank it’s drawn on and pay the fee to cash it. That is how it works. If you were the idiot who screwed up your checking account and now can’t open an account. Well, sorry. Again, not my fault and you screaming and dropping the "F" bomb doesn’t help your case. I still won’t cash your check. Instead I might just have the police come and escort you out and make sure you don’t come back.

 Then I have tickets to go to Cancun and I need to get my dang passport, but I don’t have my birth certificate. So now I am ordering it from Indiana. Sheesh.. got my wifes in under an hour because she was born here. I have to wait 20 days.. which is pushing it. Because our Anniversary is in NOV and I want to surprise her.. Patience..

   I also have no more holes in my belt. So.. now that my pants don’t fit anymore and my belt doesn’t get any smaller I am screwed.

   Ok.. now back to work and the feeling that I need to bust myself again today. I did KenpoX this morning and feel like I could of pushed a bit harder. So, maybe another round of it? Or hit my triceps and chest.. I am determined to get to 50 pushups straight out. I also want to get to 10 pullups but with my biceps feeling so wonderful right now I dare not.. Ab ripper sounds kinda fun though. Gets the frustration out.

  There ya go!

  Finally, I broke through the barrier. Not that my goal is to really lose a ton of weight. My goal is to lose the fat..gain a bunch of muscle.

  So along those lines.. I dropped some fat. I am down to 18% bf and 168lbs. I have been following my clean eating diet a lot better. I think that might of done the trick. I am not sure how accurate the scale I have is at measuring BF.. I use to think it was broke because I was losing weight and the BF wasn’t moving. Then one day it dropped. MAGIC. I also hate to think that I still have 13.4 pounds of fat to lose before I am at 10%. I will feel really skinny at 155 pounds.

   I than have a new learning curve. How to build muscle without getting the fat back. The way I am eating now I am pretty sure I can stick with. Adding more food.. can do. Should I just try to add more protein mainly? I will also be working out at a gym at this point and lifting a lot more heavy weights. So hopefully that will make the difference. At that point should I lay off of cardio?

Plus on the P90x side.. core synergistics is a bear. My back is really feeling it. Some of those funky moves take quite a bit of midsection strength to hold them up and balance. I THINK I LIKE IT… I might have to keep this up even when I start lifting at the gym. Makes me feel like it I could master it I would be in some really good shape overall.

   Well, off to good start this week. Hopefully the rest of you are kicking it as well. Bradl… I like the french. Where did you learn it? Ledford, one day I will be trying to catch you on the workouts. Keep it up.

 Andy

  I was reading a post in the forums about Genetics and how it said that some people are born fat.. blah, blah.

  I subscribe to the idea that you might be born a certain way. That is a given. My brother was born larger than me. I was born with a small frame. (my girls will love me for it.) Weight was never an issue until I got older.. other than I had a heck of a time gaining it. So, that just means I have to do things differently that someone else to achieve the results that I want.

  This line goes along with so many thoughts.. now days people are so quick to believe what anyone tells them. Take this pill and you won’t be depressed, take this and you will be skinny and look like a model. No work.. no required changes. I hate it and wish we could sue them all until the companies dried up. We need to teach correct principles and tell people.. wake up. It takes work to get the things you want. If you want to lose weight? Do the research and find out what works for you and get after it. You will improve your odds by a long shot.

  I am determined to break my mold. Once I lose the rest of the chub. I am going to pack on a solid mass of muscle that I haven’t had before. I am going to do this at age 40 and prove that genetics doesn’t define my ability to change. My course isn’t chosen by what I was handed to me at the start. I have the ability to choose it by sheer power of hard work and determination. So screw the genetics and get to work.

Work in progress.

Andy

  Today I woke up and didn’t have much motivation at all. I did guys night last night. We ended up going to a movie. "Gamer"— blah. Not that great a movie. I was actually looking foward to it with Gerard Butler from 300. Anways, got home late.

   Went into my bathroom. A note on the mirror from my daughter Amber. Basically said how much she loved me and appreciated me. That put a big smile on my face! She is the one in the picture.

  Went downstairs and decided since I would be all alone tonight that I would workout tonight. Started getting ready for work. Then my wife comes down with the boys. They are all excited. They went to a safety fair last night and I guess the Army was there with a climbing wall. They asked who could do 100 pushups and get a T-shirt to the kids. No one jumped for it, so they dropped the number to 40 pushups. My boys said they could do it. The only 2 out of a whole group. They both got down and cranked out 40 push ups and the proceeded to climb the wall to the top. The guys asked them what they do to get in good shape and they said "workout with dad." I think my chest got a little bigger just from that!!

  So needless to say. They watch and learn even when you don’t think they are paying attention. That is some good motivation to keep me trying to be a better dad. 

 Hope you guys and gals can have as good a day as me.

Andy

  I had to laugh. Recently I have been allowing myself to get caught up in just my weight without looking at the progress I have made. I was checking myself out in the mirror the other day.. (I noticed I have tended to do that a bit more often than I have in the past. Funny, how a new muscle starting to pop can make you excited.) and I noticed that I have put some nice growth into my biceps and I almost have a diamond on my left tricep. Not sure why, but my right tricep is not as pronounced. <— dont make any smart comments that I might consider making.

  I also got on the scale. Still 170lbs… BUT I have dropped another 1% in BF. So… I figure I must be putting on some muscle and still burning fat. It will be a happy day when I get to 10% BF. In the mean time I like taking the gains as they come…. even if they seem to be a bit slower in getting here.

  Not going to talk about workout. I did it.. enjoyed it and that is what counts. I almost feel like doing another tonight, but it is guys night out and I plan on being out a bit late.

   A Bientot.

Andy