PenteKing’s BodyBlog

I had my monthly bodyfat / measurement session today. My bodyfat percentage dropped another 1/2% which is a good thing, and my biceps, forearms and calves got bigger. Again, this is a good thing. My waist dropped by a full inch, which is  a very good thing indeed. Yet amidst all this positive news, two disturbing trends emerged. My thighs and my chest hadn’t budged so much as a micro-militer. My trainer, Rachelle, suggested it was because I wasn’t training properly and so she took me on a tour of the chest and leg exercises I had been doing.

Now, mind you, up to this point, I thought I was doing okay. Not great; but okay. Rachelle quickly knocked that notion into a cocked hat. By the time she was done with me, I felt like rubber- in both my upper and lower body. She elevated the term super-setting to an entirely new level. I barely had time to breathe or even recover before she had on the next exercise.

Now, to many of you, this training may be old hat. To me, it brought back long-buried memories of my younger days when I could barely crawl out of the gym. It was horrifying. It was scary. It was wildly motivating.

I signed Rachelle up for another month of training. Welcome to the world of bodybuilding.

For the most part, I prefer to work out in the morning. Not only is the gym less crowded, but once I get the juices flowing, it seems as though I fly through the rest of the day. I’m energized, I feel more alert, and I eat with more appetite. When I work out in the afternoon, I work out with the same intensity, but it takes me longer to get up to speed. The intensity is the same; the duration is longer.

Tonight was a case in point. I had an early morning meeting, so to be on the safe side, I skipped my morning workout, and decided to push it off until after five p.m. BAD MISTAKE! My decision threw off my whole day. Because the routine was so radically different than the one I’m accustomed to, it made me feel as if everything was slightly askew; as though some malevolent giant had tipped my world six degrees to one side. The day felt longer, and when I did finally make it to the gym, it was crowded. I had to wait at times for equipment to become available before I could use it. I know that my routine should be flexible enough to handle a few obstacles, but for some reason, it threw me off my game. Being a creature of habit has its downside.

At any rate, I just wanted to check in to say that training is still going well. I’ve renewed the contract with my personal trainer, and she has promised to kick my butt until I’m strong and fit enough to fit back. In the timeless words of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., "and so it goes."

For some reason, I got to thinking about the downturn in the stock market during my workout today. You may wonder at the connection, and when writing this down, I can see why, but at the time, it made perfect sense. See if you can follow my logic (for what it’s worth) on this.

The things that drive people to invest in the stock market are pretty much the same factors that propel them to begin dieting or exercising - they want quick result, and they want them NOW! At first, they reap the rewards of their initial investment because, being on the ground floor, they have nowhere to go but up. It’s like the obscenely obese person who goes on a diet and loses twenty-five pounds. They’re pumped because they can see actual progress. But soon enough, they hit a plateau. The gains aren’t as easy to come by anymore, and when that happens, they quit. They cash in and go looking for the next quick hit. They’re like dogs chasing their own tails in an endless round of elation and despair.

It’s only those who have the true intesentinal fortitude to continue to gut it out, through thick and thin, through the elation of euphoric highs, and desolation of abysmal depression. Those in the stock market who are scrambling like rats off a sinking ship are the "quick hit wonders". The rest of us - those of us who intend to see this through - we’re the survivors.

Of course, this is only my opinion. I could be wrong. 

I slept late today because my body absolutely, positively refused to get out of bed this morning. So instead of being up at 4:45 a.m., I rose at 6:45 a.m., showered, shaved, dressed, and got my butt out of the house. I stopped at my local Starbucks (I know…I know), and as I’m leaving the store, preparing to cross the street (the light was in my favor), some a**hole in a Ford Expedition comes barreling down the street, and without regard for my life and limb, tries to take the corner against the light. Oncoming traffic was too heavy even for this brainless buffoon, so after I re-swallowed my heart, I yelled at him for nearly taking me out. The arrogant s**thead had the gall to flip me the bird. Now, I’m usually one of the most conciliatory people on the face of the planet, but his extended middle finger rubbed me the wrong way. I threatened to tear his finger off and put it in a place where the sun never shines, and I think I would have tried to follow up on that threat if a gap hadn’t appeared in the oncoming traffic, giving him an excuse to peel away, leaving half his tire tread on the road behind him. I was so enraged, I flung my coffee cup at the truck and (lucky shot), hit his rear windshield. The Neanderthal never stopped or slowed down, so perhaps I was spared what could have been an ugly confontation.

Later, though, after having calmed down, I started wondering what could have possibly made this person into the rude, boorish, obnoxious jerk that he now was. Was it his upbringing; was he having a bad day (although how that could be possible that early in the morning is beyond me); did he have a spat with his significant other? Whatever the reason, why would he think it okay to careen through the world without thought or regard for his fellow citizens? What has happened to civility and social discourse? Or am I deluding myself into thinking those things ever existed. Perhaps people always acted this way, and I’m only now starting to notice.

Whatever the reason, whatever the cause, I was saddened by the encounter. It colored my whole day a melancholic shade of blue.

One of the hardest things about embarking on this journey has been how to avoid getting sucked back into my old way of life. I’m a consultant, and as a result, I spend a lot of time at networking events. There’s always a lot of wine and beer, and finger (read "fat") food about, and one is expected to drink, mingle and talk. It’s not easy being in a room full of people who are all drinking and eating and having a good time, and not participating.

Tonight was such a night. I went to a mixer at a downtown club, and as part of your admission ticket, you were free to drink all the wine and beer your little belly could hold. some folks were taking more than their fair share, while others were more moderate in their approach, but EVERYONE was drinking…except me. I felt so isolated and alone, it was almost scary. Had I really become the type of person who felt comfortable in social settings when I had a drink in my hand? If so, what did that say about me? It was a sobering experience.

You’ll be happy to know that I resisted temptation, had a reasonably enjoyable time (the music was excellent), and ate only the fruit and vegetables that were laid out. Still, I left early, still feeling a little odd and a little out of place. It’s a strange feeling, and I suppose it’ll take some getting used to.

 I’ll write more tomorrow.

I am super pumped today. My trainer took my monthly bodyfat percentage reading yesterday, and I dropped two percentage points! What a motivating moment. Man, it was simply incredible to see that magic number. I dipped below sixteen percent. Wahoo!

My body weight hasn’t changed substantially, but I guess that’s not as important as the bodyfat loss. It shows that I’m building muscle while getting lean, and that, after all, is the ultimate goal.

Still jazzed by yesterday’s news, I worked my shoulders and triceps extra hard today, and topped it off with forty minutes of hard aerobics. I tried this new routine that I found, in all places, in the San Diego Union-Tribune. You start off by warming up at about 3.5 mph, increase that to 6.5 mph for five minutes, drop back down to 4.0 mph for five minutes, and then boost it back up to 6.5. You do this for thirty minutes, and then spend the last ten at a steady pace (say 4.0 - 4.5 mph) at an incline of 1 or 2 percent. It’s harder than it sounds, and when you’re done, you’re sweating like a horse after a hard race. The newspaper article claims that this burns fat, while simultaneously building endurance and lung capacity. As is my usual routine, I’ll try this for 21 days and report back to the community on my progress.

Today is a great day. I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am. Two percentage points! I’m still dazzled.

I am super pumped today. My trainer took my monthly bodyfat percentage reading yesterday, and I dropped two percentage points! What a motivating moment. Man, it was simply incredible to see that magic number. I dipped below sixteen percent. Wahoo!

My body weight hasn’t changed substantially, but I guess that’s not as important as the bodyfat loss. It shows that I’m building muscle while getting lean, and that, after all, is the ultimate goal.

Still jazzed by yesterday’s news, I worked my shoulders and triceps extra hard today, and topped it off with forty minutes of hard aerobics. I tried this new routine that I found, in all places, in the San Diego Union-Tribune. You start off by warming up at about 3.5 mph, increase that to 6.5 mph for five minutes, drop back down to 4.0 mph for five minutes, and then boost it back up to 6.5. You do this for thirty minutes, and then spend the last ten at a steady pace (say 4.0 - 4.5 mph) at an incline of 1 or 2 percent. It’s harder than it sounds, and when you’re done, you’re sweating like a horse after a hard race. The newspaper article claims that this burns fat, while simultaneously building endurance and lung capacity. As is my usual routine, I’ll try this for 21 days and report back to the community on my progress.

Today is a great day. I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am. Two percentage points! I’m still dazzled.

I told you all how great it felt to go the gym twice in one day yesterday. that feeling lasted until the alarm went off at 4:55 a.m. Normally, I hit the snooze for eight minutes while I stretch, and then I get up, get my things together, bundle my food for the day and head on out to they gym.

Not today.

Today, I hit the snooze, and then didn’t hear the subsequent alarms until my wife elbowed me in the ribs at 6:35 and said, "Get the hell out of bed. You’re going to be late for work." Not a good way to start the day. So, I get in the car, make a quick pit stop at my local Starbucks (I know…I know), and as I’m pulling away from the curb, some idiot decides to dash across the street directly in front of me. Boom! I hit him, he goes flying. Startled as you can naturally guess I’d be, I spill all 16 ounces of the newly purchased coffee all over me. Surrounding traffic is either swerving madly around me and the guy on the ground that I’ve hit or is desperatly stomping on the brake, hoping to avoid a massive pileup on the streets of San Diego.

It’s a major miracle that no one was hurt. The guy I hit with my car didn’t even have so much as a bruise. He was so embarrassed by the incident, he didn’t even hang around to get my license plate number. In today’s litiguous age, I’m surprised he wasn’t on the phone to some shyster lawyer before he hit the ground. Needless to say, it was not an auspicious start to the day. I can’t blame all of this on the fact that I went to the gym twice yesterday, but just to be on the same side, I’m sticking to once a day from now on.

For reasons that lie buried deep in my pysche, I went to the gym twice today - once at 6:00 a.m. this morning where I tortured myself with a one hour spinning class. (Damn, that’s hard work!). Twelve hours later, feeling unusually motivated, I returned to do my leg routine (squats, hack squats, curls, extensions, lunges and calf raises). By the time I was finished, my legs felt like rubber, and I was wondering whether I was totally insane. The really funny part is that now, at 10:07 Pacific Time, I feel like a million (oops, better make that a billion, what with inflation and all) bucks. Either I’m drawing on reserves I never knew existed, or this is a special day. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

By the way, thanks to all of you who left comments about the homemade pizza. I knew I could count on the community to help me out. Thanks, and a tip of the hat to one and all.

My wife and I have this argument going. She claims that it’s okay to eat pizza…provided that it’s home-made, and put together with only fresh ingredients. As much as I would love to agree with her, I think pizza is pizza, and pizza is not the kind of stuff you want to be eating when you’re trying to be a bodybuilder. We agreed that we would let the bodybuilding world decide this issue for us. Vote yea or nay. At week’s end, I’ll tally the votes and publish the results.

Pizza or no pizza, that is the question.