Macrobolic’s BodyBlog

During the “dog days” of summer, the temperature inside a parked car can climb to more than 160°F—even with the windows slightly open! Heatstroke and brain damage can occur in a dog whose body temperature rises above 109°F. With only hot air to breathe, dogs can suffer and even die in a matter of minutes if left inside a parked car in warm weather. Every year, there are numerous reports about dogs who have died these horrible, agonizing deaths.

If you see that an animal is confined to a vehicle in a parking lot in hot weather, please consider it an emergency. Please do the following right away:

1. Write down or memorize the make, model, and license plate of the vehicle.

2. Go into the store right away and ask to speak with a manager about an emergency situation.

3. Nicely and calmly explain to the manager that there is an animal confined to a vehicle in the parking lot, that he or she could perish in a matter of minutes, and that you would like to have the animal’s guardian paged without further delay. Follow the manager around until this is done, please. Be pesky!

4. Stay around and wait for the owners of the vehicle to show up. Smile and be friendly, and explain how quickly a dog can die in this hideous way and that you are worried about their dog. Tell them that the dog looks terribly hot and is panting heavily, and ask that they please rush the dog home to the comforts of air conditioning as soon as possible. People may get defensive or nasty, so just stay nice and calm. And again, be pesky.

5. If the owners don’t show up, or if they show up and refuse to get the dog out of this deadly situation, call your local animal control emergency number and make clear that this is an emergency. Be ready to call 911, please. Animal control may tell you that it has no one to send or can’t be there for another hour. If that is the case, call 911. An animal’s life may depend on it!

6. Don’t leave the scene until the situation has been resolved. Don’t believe anyone who says, “We’ll be right out.” Make sure that they get the dog out of that car!

Please don’t be shy in these situations. Animals depend on us to be firm and do what’s right. Thank you!

Ok everyone, the goals for my workouts are going to change (like I said, sort of).

What I am going to be working on in July-September is fat loss, nothing else. I have gotten too big of a gut and my bf% is way too high for my bodybuilding goals.

So the plan is to have a balls-to-the-wall 3 months of cutting. I hope to reach a bodyweight of 180-185lbs at a much lower bf%. (I came up with the 180-185 based on my current weight, bf%, and what I think will be possible in the next 3 months).

After this cut, I will resume training for the 315lbs bench, 405lbs squat, and (this has changed as well), a 495lbs deadlift. But my diet will be much cleaner the next time around, so bodyfat will be kept to a minimum.

For updates, see my training journal at:  http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=1008070