Ready and Trained

I am writing here because I just cannot get to everybody as I wanted to (internet here is slow and I am working today).  I wanted to wish everyone in BB land a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving!  Eat alot of turkey and stay clear of the pecan pie.  JK  Take today as a day of family and commemoration.  Be thankful of your blessings and remember, Happy Thanksgiving from afar!  I may not get to spend this holiday with my family, but I am sharing it with the troops who also aren’t so lucky this year (my family away from home).

http://www.xdogevents.com/sandscramble.php  It is time for me to show what I have done with my accomplishments over here.  I had been looking for an event like this for a while.  Well here it is!  This is my chance to prove to myself that I have conquered alot since I started back on the health train.  I cannot tell you how excited I am!  Wish me luck!

OK, here is the deal!  I have not posted any pix in a while, mainly because I am waiting for the "Look Good Naked" groups photo show off on October 14th.  I have been so tempted to post.  Truth is, I want to see the actual changes and peoples reactions.  So I am saving all picture taking for that time.  But rest assured, I am making changes and doing well.  Wish me luck!

So, I just recently became an uncle and I got to tell you, it made me want to have another child.  My son is a blessing to me, even during the times when he misbehaves.  I look at it like this, he is a heaven sent angel who goes astray from time to time.  On his good days, he is a Godsend.  On his bad days, he is a mirror image to the life I once lived.  My only hope is that I can show him truth and send him into the world with all the wisdom he needs.  As for my wife, well when I return from deployment, I want a daughter.  Regardless of all the myths and legends of which sex is easier to raise, "daddy’s little girl" is still a dream of mine.  I will spoil her when she is young and threaten her boyfriends with death when she grows up.  Some of you may read this and laugh.  But I am actually serious.  I want to experience those life changing events with a daughter.  I love my son to death and nothing will come between us.  But I see that raising him, I have a different mindset when it comes to rewards and punishments.  The age old adage of "that’s my boy" is so prevalent in our household.  Beyond that, I want to experience the changes of life that I have found only a woman can bring.  Hopefully, I get my wish.  Either way, whatever the sex of the child my wife and I have together, I will love them the same.

I know there will be backlash for this but if everyone else can have an opinion, I think I am entitled to one. I am speaking on behalf of the military career that I have lived. The battle of the sexes has shown its unfair face in our military today! Fact, whenever a holiday comes around where women are the focus, life tends to get a little slower and everyone turns and pays attention to whatever is going on at the time. Men get only one holiday a year and they don’t all get to enjoy it because of their parental status or lack thereof. Very little concern gets put on those types of holidays and when I ask the question or bring it up during a conversation, the same reply of "because there are more men than women in the service" always seems to come out of people’s mouths, male and female alike. I was a single father deployed in a combat zone at one point of my life with full custody of my child. No one ever wrote stories about anyone else in this situation in the Stars and Stripes. And I know there are others out there who can claim the same. Yet we are all plagued with stories about single mothers in theater and how hard it is for them. During that time in my life I also had a problem with certain monetary entitlements I was supposed to be receiving. When I went to fix the problem, I was told I had to submit a whole bunch of paperwork to show proof of what I was claiming and that if I had been a woman, finance would not have needed so much information or proof. And guess who told me all that? A female! I saw a commercial on AFN that claimed 99% of all reported sexual crimes are male attackers. This number clearly won’t define when women are at fault for the same because whenever a man brings up a potential situation where a woman was the violator, he is turned away for 2 reasons: 1) no one will believe that such a situation took place; 2) no one is willing to deal with a woman when the tables are turned. I mention those 2 specific reasons because a similar case happened to me and I was actually blamed for the incident having taken place. Then I look at organizations like DACOWITS, an organization whose sole purpose in life is to advise the Secretary of Defense on all matters pertaining to women in the Armed Services. They report on issues like how women are being treated, how women are integrating into military life, and last but certainly not least, the well being of "highly qualified professional women in the Armed Services". I have seen personally many people, men and women alike, who have been passed aside because of "friendships" that exist between promotees and promoters. We don’t have any counsels that I know of reporting to the Secretary of Defense on those issues. And dare I get started on Women’s Equality Day! People jump through the hoops to make a fiasco of such an event where we pay homage to women, who actually suffered in their lives by the way, getting the chance to vote. I guess then perhaps, just so that we make it fair, we need to have an alcohol filled party on December 5th every year to commemorate the right to have a drink in the US? How about a commemoration day on December 15th for the right to bear arms? Let it be known, I do not have a problem with women. I am a married man and I love my wife. I encourage her to do the things she wants to do in life. My complaint here is how unfair our military society has become. We have become so worried about how women will take negative answers that we bow down to them so we can avoid a potential EO situation. I have seen females use the "sex card" to their advantage. They will claim they are all up for the mission and then delegate so as to make their own lives easier. But we will all turn our heads at this matter because females are so "delicate". I say, if you wish to make the military fair, make it fair for everyone. Opponents will look at this and claim that I am a sexist or a chauvinist. Those are the same people that allow this kind of blasphemy to take place and say, "everything is OK!" I will not deny that situations take place that are cruel to females either. But let’s not make it unfair to males just so we can make the world think we have made progress or change.

I saw the movie last night.  It was an emotional rollercoaster for me!  I have always had a fascination with certain time periods in history.  The Roman Empire, The Amercian Wild West, and of course, WWII.  The movie sort of got me thinking about fitness.  What am I prepared to do?  In the past, I have said that I wanted some sort of event to drive toward so as to keep me involved with health and fitness.  The people identified in that movie didn’t have a set event to drive toward.  They were forced out of their homes and they eventually had to fight and persist on their own accord.  They did it without the use of a gym or a track to run on (which is why I find workoutmom_2 so inspirational).  The lived in the woods never knowing where their next meal will come from.  They had the one thing that people lack sometimes in their fitness goals, mind set!  The mental capacity to endure in the roughest of conditions so one can live.  Now, I don’t think we should all force ourselves to live under tyranny just to gain the mentallity to continue with out fitness goals.  But, my latest understanding of my goals are driven toward being prepared to do great things by using some of the most simple concepts.  I have never wanted to be bulky or huge.  I have entertained being a fighter in the ever famous Octagon, but that is for my own purposes.  I wish to be physically fit to handle whatever challenge comes my way.  I don’t have to run the fastest or lift the heaviest, I just have to be able to endure.  Now, Daniel Craig is sort of my idol when it comes to physique.  I don’t care what you say, That is kinda what I want to look like someday.  So 2 things came out of this movie for me!  1. Persistence and perseverance are traits that start in the mind and not in the gym.  2. I must maintain the fight in order to look like Danny! 

The so long awaited road has hit its first breaking point!  I came out hitting hard and fell off the wagon.  I then caught a hell of a cold and that was all she wrote for the fitness goals.  Luckily, I have been trying to maintain diet and haven’t gained or lost anything.  I will say that my sex drive has gone skyrocket since this whole thing began for me and now I seem to have wasted away even from that.  I am going to try to get back on the horse with some good old fashioned fight training.  I don’t have a partner so this will be hard to accomplish, but nevertheless I will do all the basic exercises and routines anyway.  After all, shadow boxing is a great workout and may get me back into the spirit of things after a couple of weeks.  I have been noticing all the improvements and changes throughout the community and I have to say I am impressed.  I guess the motivation for me is that I have finally found a place where I can show off and have a semi competition with the other members at the same time.  Knowing that I have others "watching" me, makes me want to go further.  It also gives me that sense of knowing that I have people who look up to me wanting to see my changes also.  Thanks to all who have commented on me in the past.  And, if you receive a comment from me, I am just trying to help motivate the community.  I am sincere and I want to see others get ahead like others have helped me get ahead. 

I know I haven’t been on in a while.  It’s no secret I am in Iraq and things here get hectic and slow down, get hectic and slow down, get…. You get the point.  I have been keeping up with your profile and I am impressed with the way you have come along.  If I haven’t said it personally its because I am bogged down with what I do here.  Stay with it!  We make these changes within ourselves cause we are trying to effectively change self image.  Weight loss and transformation for me have been a life changing experience.  I am sure the same goes for you, too.  In light of all the problems I have here, I look at you and think "this person has it worst than I do and they are doing well so I have no need to complain".  It keeps me going and energetic.  I am glad to say that I have you as a friend and please know that you have helped me out just by posting a pic of your achievements or by blogging about something that i too have a problem with.  I can read your blog and see another solution to my issues.  So I thank you for helping me in that aspect.  With that I must say, keep you head up and your shoulders back and whatever you do, Stay motivated!

Well, the competition for me was good and bad!  My numbers weren’t as solid as I would have liked for them to be but they were high in my book so I am happy.  Deadlift 315, could have went higher but I listened to the judge and went too high.  Squats 315, could have went higher again.  This time I was just trying to play it safe and get my last lift to count.  Bench 245, this is where I am happy.  2 weeks ago, I couldn’t lift 220.  I do owe my success to CrossFit.  Their workouts really helped me gain.  My next step is a Tactical Strength Challenge.  This is one I actually hope to place on and being that I have over a month to train for it, I feel pretty excited about this.  Well, I hope all of you are doing well, be safe, and as always, Stay motivated!

If you havent’t been to this site, I highly recommend it!  I have been on this program for a month now and I have seen gains in fitness and body.  It has been a tremendous help for me.  I started out cutting the weights in half and going light on the cardio (meaning if the workout called for a bench press of 175, I would do 90; if a workout called for a 10k, I would do 5 in the morning and 5 at night).  A month later, I am kicking ass on the workouts using the weights they recommend and completing all the workouts.  If you are starting out or are in great shape, this site can offer something for you.  Check it out!   www.crossfit.com