StressMonkey’s BodyBlog

This would be me if I tried joining Mike the GS on the Day of the Deads (or squats).

I’ve mentioned that I don’t care how strong I am and that’s still true, but man I am so stoked over some strength increases I’m seeing.  One of the things I worried about when I ditched the personal trainer was that I would get complacent and not push myself to keep trying harder things.  This week I did the following things (all of which I’ve never done before):

• Lunges with 50 lb dumbbells

• Shoulder presses with 60 lb dumbbells (only got 6 reps and they weren’t pretty but I did them)

• Flat bench with 70 lb dumbbells

When I started out my grip strength was so pathetic I couldn’t even do shrugs with the 70 lb dumbbells.  And to top it off when I stepped on the scale today I was 154.4, which is also a new record for me.  Woo hoo!

I wanted to scream when I read this. I never expected to see one of my favorite dishes on a list of the saltiest dishes in America. Ugh. And I was always so proud of myself for ordering this instead of the garbage people I go there with normally get.

16. Saltiest “Healthy” Food

Chili’s Guiltless Grill Chicken Platter

2,780 mg sodium, 590 calories, 85 g carbs

Beware the bait and switch. Many restaurants and packaged-food producers advertise their dishes as being low in calories and fat, only to jack up the sugar and salt content. Case in point: This platter actually has more sodium than Chili’s 1,890-calorie Country Fried Steak with sides, toast, and gravy. Stick with the Guiltless Salmon, the best choice on Chili’s sometimes-healthy special menu.

Link

I started working out properly in July 2007.  I finished celebrating the Fourth of July and walked into a gym and made big changes in my life.  The other day I was flipping through my pictures and came across shots of that last vacation I took before I started working out properly.  I was fourteen pounds lighter back then.  You would think that I would be able to look at those shots and be happy that I could use them to gauge the progress I’ve made.  I pretty much had the opposite reaction.  It was physically painful looking at them.  I could barely stand it.  All I could think was, “Holy @$%@, I look TERRIBLE!”  I don’t have any problems with being motivated to go to the gym (except for leg day), but if I ever do I’m going to put those old pictures of myself in my head.  I’m never going back to looking like that.

Anyone else have the same feelings?

My visit to the dermatologist could only be described as “odd”.  I’ve been going to the same guy for years, so he knows me.  It had been a year since my last visit, which was a few months before I joined a gym and hired a personal trainer.  I was fourteen pounds lighter then.

So I was sitting in one of the examining rooms wearing jeans and an undershirt for what seemed like an eternity.  When he finally comes in the room he glanced at me and exclaimed “WOW!  Look at that!”

Er, ok.

Then it got weirder.  He asked me to flex my tricep for him.  I swear I am not making this up.

Then he says to me (still not making this up), “So what’s your secret?  Testosterone?”

Are you kidding me?  Did he just ask me that?

I couldn’t decide if I was annoyed or flattered.  I was thrown for a loop when he asked so I just kind of laughed and said “Hard work and lots of protein shakes.”

He then proceeded to tell me that he “used to be in good shape” and then he started listing things in the gym he used to be able to do.  How nuts that Mike the GS just wrote about this in his blog.  I politely listened while in my head I was just thinking “Please can we get this over with?”

What was hilarious was that as I was getting ready to leave he asks me “So how did you get those scratches on your shoulders?”  (Whenever I do squats it looks like a dump truck ran over my shoulders.)  I said “squats” and he got a sheepish look on his face as if he should have known that (he should have).  He laughed and said, “Well, you’re my hero!”  How do you respond to that?  “Uh, thanks!”  I said and just left.  I actually felt bad afterwards.  I should have told him that if I can do it anyone can and encouraged him to start lifting again.  Oh well, I’ll do that next year!