Making Statements, Not Excuses

Well i went to the gym a little bit anxious because you are always a little bit anxious about a new 1 rm. so i went in and hyped myself up. Keep in mind my 270 bench fell off a little so i really wasn’t expecting to even reach that at this point. Well i ended up doing more than that. In fact, I hit a 280. I felt really good. So i know the strength is still there. I now just have to work on the cutting up but that will come in time. Today I will test my Squat and Leg Press maxes. DO WORK BABY!!

I have put it off ong enough and after last week, and seeing some stories about other guys my age going through with it, i have decided to be proactive so i don’t have to be reactive in the event it happens…I’m going to get a prostate exam. There is something about us men that makes us think we are invicible we often mistake a little soreness for something much bigger. Now i feel great and obviously am getting healthier all the time. But most men in their 40s and up usually dicover that they have cancer in the prostate. I guess i always had an issue with someone getting close to that certain part of my anatomy. But now its time to stop making excuses. I will be getting yearly physicals and starting this year i will be getting my prostate checked. The life i save may be my own.

Yesterday we lost a tremendous Icon in American pop culture. Whether you loved him, hated him or were indifferent about him, no one can argue that Michael Jackson was the greatest entertainer the world had ever seen (with apologies to Elvis and Beatle fans). At one time i tried to emulate all of his dance moves but stopped after nearly snapping my ankles a couple of times. In any case, i know this had nothing to do with bodybuilding or training but i just thought I’d list my Top 10 MJ songs that i’d work out to if i absolutely had to.

 10. Beat it

 9. Wanna Be Starting Something

 8. Jam

 7. PYT Pretty Young Thing

 6. Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough

 5. State of Shock

 4. Smooth Criminal

 3. Dirty Diana…Its as close to a rock song as he could get

 2. Billie Jean

 1. Thriller….What else would I put there?

It has definately been a frustrating few months for me lately, even though i’m a generally happy person and content, the current situation with the economy has taken its toll. I haven’t had a real source of income for the last six months, I have been forced to downsize and live really frugal which has cut greatly into my supplement and nutrition budget, I hate having to live with relatives and now i’m dealing with mechanical problems with my automobile. Filling out endless job applications, that with the exception of a few follow up calls have resulted in nothing. But somehow throughout all of this i always see where someone is going through something even more painful and see where they don’t even complain. I guess I’m really being humbled right now because for the first time really in my life i’m living out of a comfort zone that i really had gotten settled into. But through it all I get up, pray, read some biblical passages and go right back at it. If not for the gym, my faith and great people and friends that I have made on here, I think I would have given up by now. I know about 5-6 years ago I would have. But as long as you have breath, there is always a reason to believe that tommorow will be better. So my advice to anyone who is going through similar issues, pick up life’s lemons and throw them back at life. As much of a cliche as it is…tough times don’t last, but tough people do. DO WORK guys!

 I was at the gym and saw this musclehead who is in every gym, you know the guy who is a bodybuilding legend in his own mind and God’s gift to women all rolled up into one. Well he sees a pretty attractive girl walk in and before the lady can get her gym I.D. swiped he was all over her trying to impress her and then proceeding to ask for her number. She kindly turned down his request and tried to began her workout. Ok now here is where i want to go upside a fool’s head with a 45 lb plate. The guy just refuses to leave the girl alone saying things like…what do you think you are too good for anybody? Finally the girl simply says , No i’m just too good for jerks like you. Now his musclebound feelings are hurt and he proceeds to call her a stupid b*tch. But he said it loud enough that the gym owner heard it from his office on the other side of the gym. After coming out to see what was up, the girl told him and he promptly told musclehead he was suspended indefinately from the gym. He told him, get off the roids and control your temper and maybe he will lift the suspension. It seems that this guy had a lot of complaints against him in the past and the owner finally had enough. Some guys just don’t get it. NO means NO! Just like Bodyspace is not a dating site, the gym is not a nightclub. Both are places for you to get better physically and mentally. C’mon guys stay classy.

Last week I told you guys about doing kettlebell training. I’m always adding something new to my training to get me to the ultimate level of fitness. This week i’m gonna go to a spin class to see how i like it. At my gym they have a virtual screen inside the spin room to actually simulate a variety of actual experiences while on the bike. Should be interesting. I wonder how much intensity I can get from it. I’ll let you guys know tommorow.

First of all I just want to say that I am a pretty laid back and cool person and I try to be friends with as many people as who will allow me to befriend them. Second as with any website that has a network of people such as myspace, facebook, twitter, bodyspace, hi 5, black planet, whatever…these are microcosms of our society. Once you get more familiar with people who are all in one place, life starts to rear its head. People make friends with others, develop groups and lifelong relationships with others. People become successful in reaching their goals and others don’t get so successful and then jealousy and envy begins to set in and what happens next? D-R-A-M-A! For the last couple of days one person who is very disrespectful to other people on here has gotten more attention by being negative than most anyone else who just want to come on this site and get better. By being negative and everyone falling into his trap instead of simply ignoring him, he is now the center of attention on bodyspace. This has given birth to several blogs being written about the most inspirational members and/or the old Top 6 which I personally am glad is gone. But now its snowballed into a lot of people attacking others who are using the site for good purposes such as helping people improve their health. Since when has it ever been cool to bash people for doing something positive. So the people offer products and workout plans that make them successful for a small fee. Nothing good in life is free. And the people that are going to these men and women are not being held at gunpoint and being forced to purchase these people’s services. They have the option to either do it themselves, get bad advice from someone else or pay a little money to let these people help them. They chose to pay for these people’s services so its neither here or there with me and it shouldn’t be with anyone else. If you don’t like the fact that these people are selling their products, simply don’t buy them or even look at their pages. I just want to kill all the drama and get back to the business of improving myself and watching others improve. So let’s all just shake hands, chill out and have fun again on here

Normally i get up early enough so there is just enough lightb outside so i can see in front of me but also so that it is cool enough outside to get my outdoor running drills out of the way. This morning however it was already 80 degrees in Tallahassee at 7:30AM….maybe because its gonna reach 101 by noon. I think Mother Nature didn’t get the memo that it is just June. Not July or even the Dog Days of August. Nonetheless i got out there and said DO WORK!!! I got in my sprints, stadium sets, and plyo box jumps. Needless to say I was soaked in sweat and was sticky because it was humid too. But after getting it done and catching that blast of AC I felt so much better. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.

I have been in slumps before, what about you guys? What do you do to get out of them? I usually just mix things up a little bit like changing my training split. This year i started planning weekend get-a-ways to undisclosed locations so i can just close myself into a room and just relax and forget about eveything else around me. One guy at my gym suggest going to find the ugliest, narliest woman I can think of and hook-up with her for a one-night stand. After finding a trash can to vomit in i respectfully declined. I wouldn’t suggest that for anyone else either. In any case I always come back stronger than ever after my weekend of relaxation.

I did my first kettleball workout today just to see what it was all about and man what a workout! Talk about total body workout. I swear there wasn’t one workout we did where every part of my body wasn’t being used. I thought P90X was a beast. I still will do my cycle but man i will add kettleball somewhere into my routine. I even got some cardio in there because it was constant, steady work. If you haven’t done this yet i suggest you try it at least once.