PenteKing’s BodyBlog

The title is from a popular 70s song by Arthur Hammond. When it was first popular, I was a Lance Corporal in the Marine Corps, on my way to Vietnam. I came to California during one of the worst rainfalls of the past six years (at the time). It rained the entire time I was in Pendleton, training to go overseas.

Many years later, I moved to San Diego, and was once again, faced with a deluge of water. In calendar year 2004, San Diego received more than 100 inches of rain. I was convinced that my presence in the city had somehow upset the ecological balance, and that it would rain forever.

Luckily, my fears were unfounded. San Diego soon returned to its normal sunny state. Rainfall was sporadic and infrequent - the way the natives claimed it should be. All was well with the world.

Today, it rained all day. The forecast for the weekend is rain, rain and more rain. I’m not complaining, because it’s been a long dry spell for us, and the water is needed, but every time I look out my window and see those storm clouds, I can’t help but wonder if I’ve done something I shouldn’t have.

Have you ever had one of those days when you wake up later than planned, and rush around the rest of the day because you feel like you’re a day late and a dollar short? (Which, by the way, is my all time favorite cliche? Why? That’s a story for another time and place.)

At any rate, I get to the gym and have a fantastic workout. I’m jazzed, energized and rarin’ to go. I work my back until I can barely stand erect. I blast my biceps until tears stand out in my eyes, and then, just to prove I’m a man, I do some shoulder work as well.

So, there I am; dripping sweat; exhausted; feeling really good about myself, although tired as hell, and I turn away from checking myself out in the mirror and this woman (whom I’ve never seen before) comes up to me and says, "Excuse me, but are you Omar Sharif?"

Man, I’m still smiling about that. You all have a good day.

Wednesdays, as many of you know, is my day to spin with Tracy. I missed last week due to a variety of circumstances (not the least of which was my unfortunate tendency to sleep through my alarm clock).  This morning, I DID IT AGAIN! I’m thinking to myself, "WTF!?" This is totally not like me at all. I’m usually Johnny on the Spot when it comes to appointments. In fact, I’m usually early. So, to miss two weeks in a row is like HUGE.

I swear, I must be under some sort of cloud, because first Coach failed to show for a training session, and then I sleep through my alarm and miss my spinning class. Are the Fates conspiring against me here, or is simply a matter of not enough sleep and motivation?

I think it’s time to take a step back and evaluate what’s going on in my life. Something is afoot.

At great personal expense, I hired coach for another month. I engaged her to train with me twice a week for the entire month of December, with the idea being to see how far we could improve my stats. We agreed to meet at 6:30 a.m. every Monday and Friday (holidays excepted, of course) and swore a blood oath to one another to do this.

This morning, at 5:55 a.m., as I’m getting ready to head out the door, Coach has one of the desk clerks at the gym call me to tell me that "something has come up" and today’s session is cancelled. Ordinarily, I would let something like this roll off my back, but this is the third time Coach has done this to me. So, my question to the community is, "What do you do when your trainer fails to show up?"

Do I ask for a refund? Do I let this slide and not say anything? Or do I fire Coach and find someone more dependable? Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?

For the past month, I’ve been chowing down on a couple of eggs every morning. I usually have egg whites, mixed with tomatoes and scallions, with a dollop of low-fat feta cheese every now and again. The egg whites are usually consumed around 10:00 a.m., about two hours after my morning oatmeal (usually 2 packets of organic oatmeal, with half a tablespoon of raisins).

Today, one of my co-workers decided to share with me the dangers of eating eggs. They were, he claimed, the most over-hyped protein on the market. Its health benefits are nothing more than marketing hyperbole, and it leads to high cholesterol and weight gain. Until that last statement, I wasn’t really paying attention to my colleague’s rants, but that last comment about gaining weight captured my attention. So, when I got home, I fired up my laptop, started FitDay and searched its database for an egg’s nutritional value. Here’s what I found:

1 large, whole egg (raw) contains 75 calories, 5 grams of fat (!) and 6 grams of protein. A quarter of a cup of Egg Beaters (to which one egg is equivalent, more or less) contains 30 calories, zero grams of fat, and the same 6 grams of protein. That’s a relief.

Tomorrow, when I see Dave, I can tell him to stuff it. I like my morning egg whites.

As a long-time Pats fan (I attended games when they went 2-14, so I’m no fair weather fan), it’s gratifying to see the team do so well. Unfortunately, they had to wait until I moved from Boston to achieve greatness, so I can only bask in their accomplishments as an ex-pat (pun intended). Still, I figured I would do well with my newly adopted team, the Chargers. Last year’s run (before they were stopped by those self-same Patriots) was magical. I had high hopes and expectations for this season.

So why are we 5-5, and why are the Pats 10-0 and heading toward immortality? I could whine and complain and engage in breast beating and say that I’m the jinx, but I’m not going to do that. The problem lies with the players and coaches. No one on the Chargers team (it seems) is willing to step up and do WHATEVER it takes to win. They had that attitude last year, but this season, it seems to have gone missing. They still have a chance to win the rest of their games and make the playoffs, but if they don’t get their MINDS right, all is lost.

I couldn’t help but reflect how relevant that statement is to bodybuilding in general. If you’ve got the right mindset, there’s nothing that can’t be accomplished. I hope the Chargers wake up to that realization before it’s too late.

On the recommendation of a friend, I visited a bicycle shop here in San Diego and spent about an hour with the sales representative (a lovely woman named Julia, whose passion for the sport would be evident to a deaf, dumb and blind person). I learned a great deal about bicycles, including the fact that I know NOTHING about them anymore. I used to be quite the fanatic, and even owned an elite racing bicycle, but that was twenty years ago. Technology and innovation have certainly made some amazing strides during that time. Needless to say, I was blown away. In fact, my head is still spinning. I’m trying to assimilate everything that Julia threw at me yesterday. (Don’t get me wrong; she didn’t try to pressure me at all. In fact, quite the opposite. She did, however, tell me more than my brain could absorb in one session. I’m afraid that several more visits are in order before a purchase is made.)

Immediately upon leaving the bicycle shop, I stopped off at my local sports store and purchased a pair of Harbinger lifting hooks. (Guaranteed for weights up to 850 pounds!!) I’ve been meaning to get something like this for quite a while as I have trouble with my wrists. Deadlifts and upright rows make my wrists sore for days afterward. The hooks are ideal in that I don’t have to grip the bar quite as tightly, and I have a better range of motion, thereby killing two birds with one stone. (BTW, have you ever seen anyone actually do that? Kill two birds with one stone, I mean. That must be one hell of a ricochet. But I digress.)

I tried the hooks and they work like a champ. I’m looking forward to working my back tomorrow so that I can break them in properly.

If anyone in the community has any advice or suggestions for a decent bicycle, please forward to my attention. I’m looking for something to use on roads, over the long haul (75 - 100 mile range), but I have absolutely no intention of taking it on mountain trails (cougars, don’t you know).

Yesterday was an off day. I did an hour on the stationary bicycle, but that hardly counted for anything. I’m back to the gym today to bust a gut over my leg and ab workout. I slept late (because I was lucky enough to have the day off) and had a good breakfast, so the only things left to do today are 1) work out; 2) purchase some new supplies (protein drinks, supplements, etc.); and 3) shop around for a new bicycle.

I want something that I can use for a trialthon, but not something that costs upward of $5,000. (How do people afford this stuff? What do they do for a living? Seriously, I feel deprived.) I’m going around to two or three different places today and will post my findings in a subsequent blog.

 Until then, keep throwing that iron around.

…for having a loving and devoted wife who loves me in spite of my flaws;

…for having raised sons that have turned into fine young men;

…for the circle of close friends it’s been my pleasure to know;

…for this community, whose support and encouragement is an important part of my success;

…for having enough to eat; a place to sleep; and for having clothes on my back;

…for being fortunate enough to be able to help those less fortunate than myself;

…for being alive.

Every day is a blessing. Every day is a chance to do good. Every day is another chance at happiness. Every day that you wake up, thank your lucky stars that you continue to exist in this world. It may not be much, but it’s all we have for right now, and it’s up to us all to make it a good and decent place.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and may you all be healthy and happy now and through the rest of your life.

When I started bodybuilding again in June of 2006, I weighed in at 245 pounds. I kept that secret to myself for quite a long time, but finally acknowledged it during one of my first posts to this web site. (Wow! What a weight that was off my conscience! (Pun intended)). Since then, I’ve successfully dropped fifty (50) pounds and now weigh 195 pounds. The first year of weight loss was great, but since reaching my current weight, I’ve seemed to plateau. No matter how much cardio I do; no matter how creatively I eat, nothing seems to work. I continue to tip the scales at 195.

Several community members have suggested that I forego the scale and concentrate on body fat percentage. That idea made a lot of sense to me, and so I adopted that approach, only to be disappointed. Let me explain.