Macrobolic’s BodyBlog

Merry Christmas, etc. to everyone. Have a safe, fun holiday and don’t eat too much candy

These are too funny/awesome. I thought I would post them here to share:

Australian Apocalypse
Movie/Year: Mad Max, 1981
We’re not sure what went down exactly, but something was suppose to have turned Australia into a dusty wasteland in 1981—well, more of a dusty wasteland—which would in turn make certain men named Max very irritable. Gasoline and other resources would also become really scarce, too, forcing many a barbie to go sadly shrimpless.

Big Brother
Movie/Year: 1984, 1984
Silly George Orwell. To his 1948 brain, by 1984 we’d all be under the rule of a totalitarian government that watches our every move, listens to our every conversation, and manipulates the media and history, twisting facts to suit its own narrow-minded ends. Ha! Everyone knows that didn’t happen until 2000.

The Big Lockup
Movie/Year: Escape From New York, 1988
Escape From New York warned that, right at the tail end of the 1980s, the crime rate in America would rise so high that Manhattan island would have to be turned into a giant maximum security penitentiary. Then, nine years later, the president of the United States would get his ass dumped in there by political activists, only to emerge victoriously 24 hours later to the strains of American Bandstand.

Alien Neighbors
Movie/Year: Alien Nation, 1991
According to Alien Nation, Los Angeles was suppose to have become Ellis Island 2.0 for homeless aliens right around the time grunge started becoming popular. Since the “Newcomers” were able to adapt to our society so easily, they became a godsend to Middle American’s looking for yet another minority group to hate and fear. You know, just to break up the monotony.

What are they going to do next, jail the kids that chose the name?! This is outrageous. These people need to seriously take a step back and look at what they are doing. Ugh!

Briton allowed her class of 7-year-olds to choose teddy bear’s name

KHARTOUM, Sudan - A British primary school teacher has been arrested in Sudan, accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet by letting her class of 7-year-olds name a teddy bear Muhammad, her school said on Monday.

Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons told Reuters they feared for her safety after receiving reports that young men had already started gathering outside the Khartoum police station where the Liverpool woman was being held.

Teachers at Unity High School in central Khartoum said Gibbons, 54, made an innocent mistake and simply let her pupils choose their favorite name for the toy as part of a school project.

Police arrested Gibbons on Sunday at her home inside the school premises, said Unity director Robert Boulos, after a number of parents made a complaint to Sudan’s Ministry of Education.

Boulos said she had since been charged with “blasphemy,” an offense he said was punishable with up to three months in prison and a fine.

A spokesman from the British Embassy in Khartoum said it was still unclear whether Gibbons had been formerly charged. “We are following it up with the authorities and trying to meet her in person,” he said.

Boulos said he had decided to close down the school until January for fear of reprisals in Sudan’s predominantly Muslim capital. “This is a very sensitive issue.”

“We are very worried about her safety,” he added. “This was a completely innocent mistake. Miss Gibbons would have never wanted to insult Islam.”

Class voted on toy name
Boulos said Gibbons was following a British National Curriculum course designed to teach young pupils about animals and their habitats. This year’s animal was the bear.

Gibbons, who joined Unity in August, asked a girl to bring in her teddy bear to help the second grade class focus, said Boulos.

The teacher then asked the class to name the toy. “They came up with eight names including Abdullah, Hassan and Mohammed. Then she explained what it meant to vote and asked them to choose the name.” Twenty out of the 23 children chose Muhammad.

Each child was allowed to take the bear home at weekends and asked to write a diary about what they did with the toy. Each entry was collected in a book with a picture of the bear on the cover, next to the message “My name is Muhammad,” said Boulos.

The bear itself was not marked or labeled with the name in any way, he added, saying Sudanese police had now seized the book and had asked to interview the 7-year-old girl.

Boulos said the first he knew about the course was last week when he got a phone call from the Ministry of Education, saying a number of Muslim parents had made formal complaints.

One Muslim teacher at Unity, who also has a child in Gibbons’ class, said she had not found the project offensive.

“I had no problem with it at all,” the teacher said. “I know Gillian and she would never have meant it as an insult. I was just impressed that she got them to vote.”

The country’s state-controlled Sudanese Media Centre reported late Sunday that Gibbons had been arrested for “insulting the Prophet Muhammad.” It said charges were being prepared “under article 125 of the criminal law” which covers insults against faith and religion.

No one was immediately available for comment from Sudan’s ministries of Education or Justice.

Unity, an independent school founded in 1902, is governed by a board representing major Christian denominations in Sudan, but teaches both Christians and Muslims aged 4 to 18.

Stay safe and have fun.

And remember, if you choose to drink, DO NOT DRIVE!

Don’t risk it. See everyone tomorrow.

This is an excerpt from Ron Harris’ column in IronMan Magazine, "A Bodybuilder Is Born: What was your excuse again?" that I thought I would share with the Brotherhood. The column is about a fictional character named Randy who trains with Ron. But the story of the following man, Greg Rando is real….

The night show was going to be pretty thrilling because we had not one but three enormous guest posers: Jay Cutler, Gunter Schlierkamp and Dave Palumbo…

What I didn’t know- because he wasn’t listed on the contest flyer- was that there was fourth guest poser, one who would make a much more significant impression on all of us than the three giants would.

Greg Rando was his name, and I had known him for about 10 years. Greg won the Team Universe Overall Championship in 2001, defeating some pretty heavy hitters from the other classes to do so: Marvin, Ward, Derik Farnsworth, Tito Raymond and Jeff Willett. Greg had earned his pro card in the IFBB and was just three weeks away from making his pro debut at the Night of Champions in New York. He is also a successful business owner, with his own gym and a thriving personal-training business.

Oh wait, did I forget to mention something? Greg is 34 years old and has been legally blind since he was 15.

Emcee Mike Katz introduced Greg and informed the audience that he was visually impaired. As a stagehand led him to the center of the stage, I nudged Randy.

Randy-"Jeez, I just realized he can’t even see how great he looks, can he?"

Ron-"No, he can’t. Vain bastards like you and me must clock in about an hour of mirror time ever day checking our buffed selves out. Greg is a professional bodybuilder and has never once flexed in a mirror to appreciate how awesome he looks. Makes you think doesn’t it?"

Randy-"Yeah, If he can look this good with a handicap like that, what the hell is my excuse?"

Ron-"Exactly. Guys like Greg who let nothing get in the way of achieving their goals make us all stop and realize most of the excuses we have are just plain lame. I have heard so many excuses from guys who say they want to have a bodybuilder’s physique but the can’t because they don’t have the time, they don’t have the money, their kids or their wife are a hassle, they have a bum knee or lower-back problem, you name it. What was your excuse for a while Randy?"

Randy-"Uh, I couldn’t get big because I wasn’t using steroids". (How many times have we heard/thought this?)

He shook his head as he admitted this, knowing how foolish that belief had been.

I saw Greg three weekends later onstage in New York, competing against 45 other IFBB professionals. He didn’t win, and he didn’t even make the top 15. But there was no doubt in the mind of anyone in that theater that he was a champion. Rando got louder and heartier cheers and applause than almost any other man in the show, even though most of the others had faces and physiques that were plastered all over the magazines every month and thus far more recognizable.

Flex Wheeler was sitting next to me and stood up to give him an ovation.

Since that night we saw Greg guest pose, both Randy and I have had a new attitude in the gym. It’s clear now that whatever we were allowing to hold us back was nothing but an illusion. Nothing can prevent you from making your dreams come true unless you let it.

There is a phrase that says, "Excuses are lies we tell to ourselves." I really believe that. Now you need to ask yourself this question, and think hard:

"What was your excuse again?"

http://www.gregrando.com/

"Go without a coat when it’s cold; find out what cold is. Go hungry; keep your existence lean. Wear away the fat, get down to the lean tissue and see what it’s all about. The only time you define your character is when you go without. In times of hardship, you find out what you’re made of and what you’re capable of. If you’re never tested, you’ll never define your character."

-Attributed to Henry Rollins

I have just started using this to track my meal plan, and I gotta tell you, I love this website.

No more guessing how many of (insert nutrient) is in this food. I just gotta type it in or click on the food list and I’ve got it. I think this is going to be very helpful for me through the rest of my cut and when I start bulking again.
I always seem to bulk up too quickly and gain much more fat than I should. I believe this website will help me stay out of trouble from now on

I thought that this article was interesting, and could help some people out.

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/custom/msn/careeradvice/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=630&SiteId=cb
msnnc630&sc_extcmp=JS_630_netcal1&cbRecursionCnt=2&cbsid=3a771006cfbc4ff7b1134a823607d9d8-241906226-RT-4

So, you’re experienced?  Before you advertise this in your résumé, be sure you can prove it.

Often, when job seekers try to sell themselves to potential employers, they load their résumés with vague claims that are transparent to hiring managers, according to Scott Bennett, author of “The Elements of Résumé Style” (AMACOM). By contrast, the most successful job seekers avoid these vague phrases on their résumés in favor of accomplishments.

Instead of making empty claims to demonstrate your work ethic, use brief, specific examples to demonstrate your skills. In other words, show, don’t tell.

Bennett offers these examples:

Instead of… “Experience working in fast-paced environment”
Try… “Registered 120+ third-shift emergency patients per night”

Instead of… “Excellent written communication skills”
Try… “Wrote jargon-free User Guide for 11,000 users”

Instead of… “Team player with cross-functional awareness”
Try… “Collaborated with clients, A/R and Sales to increase speed of receivables and prevent interruption of service to clients.”

Instead of… “Demonstrated success in analyzing client needs”
Try… “Created and implemented comprehensive needs assessment mechanism to help forecast demand for services and staffing.”

The worst offenders
It’s good to be hard-working and ambitious, right? The hiring manager won’t be convinced if you can’t provide solid examples to back up your claims. Bennett suggests being extra-careful before putting these nice-sounding but empty words in your résumé.

Laura Morsch is a writer for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

I was just looking at my progress stats, and was sort of amazed at the poundage increases that I had during my 6 months doing the "power lifting" program. It wasn’t really all powerlifting but the main goal was to put up more weight on Bench, Squat, and Deadlift.

I was suprised to see that I increased my bench by 33lbs (the least out of all of them),  increased my squat by 77lbs, and increased my deadlift by 92lbs. That is insane to me, because I am not a newb to lifting by any means

I can’t wait to end my cut in September so that I can start lifting for maximum weight again, but I gotta do the cut cause my bodyfat just skyrocketed during that time. I am going to be doing a P/RR/S routine for the first little while, and I hope that in the power week, I will be able to up all of those lifts even more.

So today was my final day of classes for the summer semester. This semester has been unusually difficult for me even though I was only taking 2 classes (probably cause I’ve been working full time).

At least it is over and I don’t have to worry about school for the next 2 weeks. Thank goodness.