I find that although these products do give me a energy boost and help me to power through my workouts, they also keep me hyped up for most of the day. In other words, when I take a pre-workout drink… I CAN"T SLEEP!

This is from someone who never drinks coffee, tea or soda drinks because of the exact same reason. They keep me wired until the wee hours of the morning.

I have tried taking smaller doses of the supplements and taking them earlier in the day but either it then becomes ineffective or it still keeps me up. I find that on days that I take a pre-workout drink I average about 4 hours sleep. Then I have to take another the next day because I am so tired and it all just becomes a viscious cycle.

The reason I am writing this is to see if anyone knows of a supplement or herb or whatever that can mimic the effects of say, NO-EXPLODE, but will only last for an hour or 2.

The only thing I have come up with so far is to overdose on red cordial! Hey, it does the trick for children all over the country So I thought why not give it a go. haha. Any parent would Tell you that yes it does seem to supercharge kids for a period of time.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated. There must be others out there that have this same dillema so I am hoping that someone has found something effective but without the drawbacks. Please let me know if you have.

About 6 months ago I decided to buy a treadmill as a backup for all those times when it is not possible to go for a run out in the real world. I much prefer to do street runs but it is not always possible due to weather or because of my busy lifestyle. I shopped around and finally decided to buy a York treadmill retailing at about $1100 or so. I figured that, sure it is not the best treadmill out there, but it is certainly in my budget and for what I was using it for (as a cardio backup), I did not need to spend $2000+ for a beast of a treadmill. This York treadmill seemed to fit the bill nicely.

More fool me for ever thinking that York would build something of quality!

As I said, I mostly run on the street so during those 6 months I probably only used the thing about 50 times, max! To my dismay the thing can’t take the pounding of someone jogging on it and the footpad (the board under the conveyor belt) just gave way and split. Pretty much my foot just went right through the damn thing.

I pulled apart the thing and found that the footpad is made of shitty old mdf. Absolutely no strength in it at all. What would posses a company to make the part of their treadmill that takes the most pounding out of such a weak material? Why on earth wouldn’t you use marine ply like most other treadmill have in them?

It astounds me that a specialist piece of equipment, purpose built for a specific use, is too flimsy to be used for what it was intended. I only weigh about 80kg and have only used this thing less than 50 times for chrissake. Too bad if I was a 120kg women who bought this fool of a machine intending to loose weight or something. God forbid that it ever be used for such a purpose!

So, after much deliberating, I have decided to buy the wood and repair the thing myself. Sure, I could send it back under warranty but I know they would just fix it with just another shitty piece of mdf. At least if I fix it myself, then I know it will be done right and will be built to last! So there goes my weekend.

So please, if you are reading this, heed my warning and stay clear of low quality equipment like that of York. Only buy from companies that have a high build quality and use quality components. If you buy York equipment and find that they are great, then good for you, but I am just saying that from my experience the stuff that they sell is second rate and shonky!

Shame on you York for foisting this sort of crap onto the public.

The first was on the day we were to start training together (a Friday). He rocked up at our designated training time only to tell me he would not be ready to start training till monday. Great start! The second was about half way through the month when he just did not show up for legs. I trained by myself and when I got back home there was a message waiting for me from about 1 hour after he was supposed to show up. Luckily for him, on the message, he apologized profusely and repeatedly about him not turning up and not letting me know earlier.

So, we persevered, and I found that as a training partner he is not too bad. I always maintain that it is better to train with someone who is slightly stronger than you, but, although he is far weaker than me in most exercises, he always worked really hard and gave a full effort. So, even though our 4 weeks was cut a few days short by me injuring myself, all in all it went quite well. He made some big improvements and learned a lot about training. I enjoyed the novelty of having a training partner for a while but I am sure glad to be back training by myself.

The biggest thing I can say is that I have now put him on the right track with his training but it is just up to him to continue to work hard and train right for him to continue to improve. Only time will tell, so we will see the next time I run into him…

Well, in a moment of weakness, today I agreed to let him be my training partner, but strictly only for 4 weeks. Then it is adios amigo and I am going to go back to training alone again. I have told him he had better not let me down in those 4 weeks and he has agreed to try hard and push himself.

I have not had a training partner in years so this will be quite novel. I am already getting aprehensive about it.

I would like nothing more than to be able to blog after 4 weeks about how great this guy was as a training partner and how I would love to continue training with him. I doubt that is going to happen though. I hope he proves me wrong. I hope he exceeds my expectations. 

Well, I guess only time will tell. We start next friday.

wish me luck .

A lady drives in to work and parks her car in our driveway and proceeds to lock her keys in the car. After informing us of her mistake she calmly takes a seat while we endeavour to get her car open for her and all the while we are trying to compensate for lost business because of the traffic that she is causing to turn away because they can no longer enter our premises. After about 15-20 of no luck and many customers that turned away we called a automobile breakdown service on her behalf so we can get her car open and get it moved.

Here is the kicker:

This lady refused to let the auto club open her vehicle and get her keys out unless we paid for the service call! WTF right? I though this was a joke and started looking around for a camera. It didn’t take me long to realise that she was serious. Her reasoning was that she made a special trip just to purchase something from our business and in the course of doing so, made an error in our driveway. If we did not offer that service or perhaps did not have a driveway then maybe she would not have locked her keys in, so therefore we are liable to pay any service call that may arise.

I responded with "That’s rediculous!" to which she was then totally flabberghasted that I could not see the logic of her arguement. To her, The fact that we should pay for her stupidity seemed like a perfectly reasonable request and she was dumbfounded that I seemed reluctant to pay.

Hello? What planet do you live on lady? I think it might be one of your own fantasy worlds!

This lady continued to argue for about another 40 mins until I had had enough of all the lost business and threatened to hook my truck up to her car and skulldrag it off the driveway so our customers could enter. At this point she relented and agreed to pay the service call but "would be taking the matter further and would definately be writing letters and requesting reimbursments from the owners  of the company"

Anyway, although this has nothing to do with training it got me thinking of that song "Flagpole sitta" and the line "been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding- the cretins cloning and feeding…" 

This may sound harsh, but come on… This is one person that should not be allowed to breed. Sorry.

Just wanted to know if any of you guys out there knew anyone like that.

My mind is still blown from the whole experience! but i hope it at least brought a smile to your day

I have lived with this Beast since I was about 20 years old. Most of the time it lies dormant, deep inside me. But then it awakens…

When that happens, the Beast is unleashed and the evil grows.

My body is taken over by this unholy animal. I am wracked with up to 6 migraines a day, 1 every few hours. I am in constant and excruciating pain and vommiting uncontrollably all day long.

I can’t train, I can’t work, I can’t function. Every noise, every flash of light, every smell becomes a messenger for evil and feeds the Beast constantly, so it’s power can grow. 

When this beast rears it’s ugly head, It then becomes a battle to bring it back under control, and ultimately to exorcise it from my body so it will hibernate again. My allies against this monster: my weapon masters, my battle strategists and my sage advisors. Also known as my doctors. They supply me with the weapons I need to fight the Beast- the various potent medicines, which, like most weapons can be just as dangerous as the Beast itself. Yet these weapons must be weilded anyway, lest the Beast become too strong to eradicate and the evil grow too big to control.

And lo, after around 6 weeks of constantly battling the Beast, it begins to weaken. My weapons start to take their toll on it’s power. Soon the Beast is forced to relinquish control of my body and retreat into the depths of hell from which it was spawned.

The Beast hibernates again, leaving my body drained, my mind dulled, my spirit broken. The battleground, my body, is left a scarred and barren wasteland. A dead husk of it’s former self. A featureless landscape, that must now be built up again to restore it to it’s halcyon days. The days before it was obliterated by the Beast and scorched by the weapons used in the Great Battle that ensued.

I must then start the long journey to normalacy again, letting my body heal and repair so I have the strength to do battle the next time there is a call to arms.

Then the fear rises…

The fear that one day soon the Beast will awaken once again.

And thus the neverending battle rages within me.

side note* I get cluster headaches periodically. They last around 6 weeks then dissapear for some months before returning. Medically, cluster headaches are very rare and still a bit of a mystery. There is no real way to control them.They are the bane of my existence. I am currently about 3 weeks into a cluster.

the article:

Scientists report that people who regularly pump iron 3 times a week are more likely to go bald.

They found that testosterone levels soared an average of 25% after a session but the levels returned to normal after 30 mins, when the body converted it into a chemical called DHT. However, DHT shrinks follicles and roots - so hair grows back thinner each time. They found it affected both men and women.

Just thought I would put this out there to see what people think about this.

I had 2 thoughts about this.

1. Man, I am so glad that I pump iron a lot more than 3 times a week. haha.   and

2. Why, oh why, couldn’t this be true of all the hair on my chest & forearms & legs etc. That would save me a lot of time shaving those areas LOL.

I was driving home from work and as I turned into my (long) street I see in the distance a nice looking female physique in a short skirt walking along. Even from this distance I could see that this girl took care of herself and had a great body. As I get closer it becomes obvious that she doesn’t just have a great body..she is absolutely smoking HOT! I can make out the shapely muscles in her calves, her strong and sexy legs and her perfectly formed butt contained in a form hugging skirt. As I get closer and then pass her in my car, I can also see that This girl has a trim and athletic body, perfect breasts and stunning facial features. Topped off with beautiful flowing long hair. Quite literally, This could be the girl of my dreams… model good looks and the sensationally sexy body of a goddess. She was just a vision of beauty as she walked along, radiating determination, strength and confidence. She could make any man’s jaw drop and as I passed I could only look at her and say "oh my god…" 

Anyway, I pull up at the front of my house and start getting my work gear out and after a few minutes I hear a wonderfully lyrical voice say "excuse me.." I turn to see who is talking to me and it is this same drop dead georgous girl I had just passed a few minutes ago. "yes?" I say (yeah, i know… a real smooth talker).

She tells me she is looking for a certain street nearby but is a bit lost. I tell her I have a map in the car and get it out to help her. As we are looking up the street in the map, this APHRODITE leans up against me to look as well and i feel her body brushing against mine, I can smell her hair and her sweet perfume and feel the heat of her body all while listening to her silky voice as she speaks.

Well, I remember thinking, this must be a setup… One of my friends or a football buddy has arranged for this little ‘meeting’ to have a laugh because things like this don’t happen in real life. All this while, this mega-babe is leaning and brushing against me. I show her how to get to her destination and she says thanks but since she is in a hurry would I mind giving her a lift there if it was not too much trouble.

Well, some could say I am far too trusting or you could say I am just a nice guy but I agree to give her a lift. Mainly since my car is right there, it is about to rain and the walk to her destination is all uphill from here. I was just probably too smitten by this GODDESS to refuse anyway!

As we drive there we have a great conversation, we laugh and talk and generally have a fun time. She tells me how she wouldn’t ussually ask a stranger for a lift but that she is in a hurry. She says she has been living here but is leaving tonight and just had to pick up some of her gear from her friend’s place before she left. We just seemed to click and I remember thinking "damn this girl is just…. just…. PERFECT!" All too soon we arrive at her destination and I drop her off. We say our goodbyes and we part ways.

Sorry to dissappoint you guys, but there was no hot spontaneous sex romp or anything like that. Just a beautiful moment when 2 total strangers came together and shared a moment in time. A brief connection between two souls and the happiness of a wonderful shared experience. 

As I am driving home again I remember thinking "Wow! I just had the girl of my dreams enter my life for the briefest of moments and then leave again forever… never to be seen again" 

and then just this final thought as I pulled into my driveway and considered the possibilities…

"If only…."

You see, I just could not get comfortable in those tiny seats when the whole craft is full of passengers packed in like sardines. I think the problem stems from having wide shoulders and physique.

I tried an aisle seat but I found passengers would bump me when they walked past to use the toilet and the stewardesses would do the same when using the food cart.

Next flight, I was put in a center seat. I spent the whole trip hunched forward, trying to pull my shoulders together so the people either side of me could sit properly in their seats without having my shoulders encroaching on them.

Next flight I had a window seat. This was a little better but I still had to lean to the side all trip to keep within my seat. Also this meant that I was "trapped" in my seat all flight because I could not get past the other passengers in my row who were asleep.

It seems to me that airline seats are way too small. The only way I see to avoid the problem in the future would be to fly 1st class but I can’t really afford that.

I would be interested to know how you other gym hewn civilians do it. I know there are a lot of guys out there that are bigger and wider than me, so how do you guys fly? What are the worst experiences you have had and do you have any tips. Is there anyone out there with a good experience or have you found and airlines that provides it’s passengers with ample room?

It just seems to me that in the grab for cash and to cram as many people together in a plane as possible, the airlines have created an almost ludicrus seat size for normal people  let alone bodybuilders. I feel sorry for those people who are grossly overweight.

The whole time spent on the plane was painful and unconfortable for me and it makes me think twice about travelling in the future. Please reply with any hints ,tips suggestions or stories. Thanks and have a great day