Don’t Have a Keg…

I’m home again and it appears that I actually lost a little weight and bodyfat on my trip. Not bad for a vacation. I haven’t checked my other stats as I’m just too darn tired from jet lag and going back to bed!

Tried yet another new activty today while finishing up my vacation in Hawaii - SNUBA. What’s SNUBA you say? Well it’s a combination of snorkeling and SCUBA. You don’t require any certification and don’t go as deep as with SCUBA, but you have an air supply (which floats on the surface) so you can go down as far as 25 feet which, of course, is superior to snorkeling where you are pretty much limited to the surface. Anyway, great fun and if you are ever on the "big Island" I have to recommend taking a SNUBA session with Big Island Watersports - my instructor/guide was Bula and did an excellent job with our group. He also has an album coming out next month under his name. In addition to being a surfer/diver - and my guess is part-time bodybuilder from his physique and how quickly he was able to guide me to the nearest gym (no fitness center in my current hotel) - he’s a rythm and blues artist. Seems that everyone I’ve met here in the islands does one thing, but really wants to do something else. Not too much different from back home, but, I digress…

Anyway, cardio is going well due to the hiking I’ve been doing. Lifting is behind and I need to catch up today and/or tomorrow. Depending on how tired I am from the swim today - but I’m itching to get back into an actual gym so I think I’ll be making a trek down the block to see if I can find the one that Bula recommended.

By the way, I also need to work on my tan a little. I’m noticing that the tan I’ve gotten really is making my muscles stand out more - cool!

Okay, I just had about the toughest two hours or physical work that I can recall in a long time. Since I was here in Hawaii, I thought what a better thing to do than to learn to surf? How hard can it be? I’ll tell you - for a 40+ year old man carrying way too much around his middle it’s very hard! The surfing itself isn’t that strenuous, and I actually got up on the board once at the end for about 2 seconds (maybe less). That part is all about balance and skill - but paddling to and from the waves, oh my aching shoulders! Oh how hard it is to keep your head up while paddling so you don’t suck in all that sea water! Oh, oh, oh!

The patience of the instructors - who ended up dragging me too and fro - was exceptional. If you are ever at Waikiki and need a lesson, I highly recommend taking one from Earl and his staff at "Hot Spots" surfing school located at the Hilton Hawaii Village. Those guys are pros who have a lot of patience. They had to deal with not only me but a young boy of about 7 years - who by the way, was way better than I was. Of course, it was his second time and my first.

And that’s pretty much all it is today - a "weigh in" - since I’m on vacation and though the hotel has a scale, granted an "old fashioned" non-digital one, and I oddly enough didn’t bring a tape measure with me (what was I thinking?). But if the scale is to be believed I’ve made good progress with my weight loss this week and am below 230 and close to 225. The dial isn’t very accurate and I can’t quite make out the actual point the line lands on. But, given that I’ve actually been able to eat fairly healthy here and how I feel and look I’m sure that I’ve lost a little weight.

Today will be something of a rest day for me.  A little sightseeing around Honolulu, a little beach, maybe a light workout later. Ahhh, vacation time!

Okay, hit the gym again this morning. Not crowded at 6:30 am despite the activity already on the beach at that hour. That’s okay with me of course. Did more walking today and unfortunately, my ankles are actually hurting. Could it be that the strain of lugging all that weight (me) is having a negative effect on my joints? At my tender young age? Naaaww…but to be safe I think I’ll take a break from hiking and lay on the beach a while tomorrow. After all I have to be ready for hiking over the volcanoes on Sunday!

Oh, a neat thing that I hadn’t noticed at home - due to the lack of mirrors - but I have a vein that’s starting to show up nicely on my right bicep when curling. Granted it’s not the long one that runs lengthwise that so many other people seem to have, but it’s a vein nonetheless. Also, the elevators have mirrors all around them giving the effect of a clothing store mirror when riding on it. Anyway, I was actually shocked to see just how big and defined my triceps are after a workout. I’ve been worried that I’ve lost all definition and shape to my tris, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  So, there’s good news to go along with the aching ankles at least!

Okay, I did hit the so-called "gym" at the hotel this morning - and I could not believe how tight I felt! I guess the legs being a little sore wouldn’t surprise me because of the walking I did, but my arms and chest? I guess I got more of a full-body workout yesterday than I thought scrambling over the rocks and beach.

So, today I followed my "outdoor" workout plan with the climb up Diamond Head - the climb is made more difficult by a series of steps, 74 first, then another 99, then a spiral staircase (three flights).  Trust me, the stair climber at the gym just doesn’t compare to the real thing. Add a hot, tropical sun (83 degrees in the shade) a relatively high humidity and you’ve got quite an effort just to keep going. Then I also hiked to some falls through what I can best describe as a "jungle" path. Overgrown with vines and roots everywhere - more steps, but not the nice neat preformed concrete kind. The kind that you find on trails everywhere which appear to be there as much for erosion control as everything. No uniformity to the height. Anyway, I was in some actual pain on the way back - I hadn’t lifted my thighs that high and that regularly since my college marching band days (this was before the corp style so popular today. We actually lifted our legs so that the thigh was parallel with the ground).

My sunburn doesn’t hurt too badly though. Well, I’m going for two days in a row in the "gym" tomorrow! Maybe I’ll be looser this time!

So, I’m on vacation in Hawaii, and what’s my biggest challenge? That’s right, finding a decent weight room. I’m in a beautiful hotel but I have to tell you as usual the "fitness center" is extremely lightweight. It’s nice, but when the dumbells only go up to 50 lbs, your workout is kind of limited. However, I am taking advantage of the 6 hour time difference and getting up in the morning and hitting the weights before the rest of Honolulu awakens. I’m also a little sore this morning, I took a nice hike of about 5 miles round trip over a sandy and rocky beach (yeah, it can be both here) and used some stabilizing muscles I hadn’t used in a while. The sunburn’s not too bad, but even with SPF 50 you can only stay out so long before you feel the effect.

Today, I climb Diamond Head and hike to some waterfalls. Another glorious day in Paradise!

Just an update, of sorts, on my vacation in Hawaii. So far I, like so many others, am enchanted with the beauty and the culture of the islands. My hotel room overlooks Waikki beach and the ocean so I can sit on my balcony and wonder what I did in my life to deserve this kind of view as I enjoy the cooling breezes.

But on a more sombering note, I went to Pearl Harbor yesterday and the USS Arizona Memorial in particular. In addition to being educational, I think that this memorial stirred up more emotions in me than I thought I was capable of - and I’ve been to plenty of memorials, monuments, and historical sites. But somehow, when looking through the water at the hulk of a once powerful and active ship, brought down in moments with most of the crew on board…shivers went up and down my spine. This stark reminder is evidence of what our men and women in uniform have a stake every day. No one anticipated an attack of this magnitude, after all, even though tensions where high between the US and Japan, we were supposedly at peace with one another. Danger can come at any moment, any time, suddenly and deadly.

A bigger realization came as I toured the USS Missouri, or the "Mighty Mo," a ship that was also attacked on December 7, 1941 (seven battleships in all were damaged or sunk that day). But after repairs, additional tours of duty during the war, it was the site of Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allied Forces. The realization came when I saw how many died during WWII. Over 19 million armed forces during the course of the war, but wait, there’s more, and over 50 million civilians! We tend to think of war in terms of the effect on the military, but clearly the price of society as a whole is almost unfathomable.

Anyway, not much to report in the way of training, I’ll do that in another entry. But, I just felt I needed to share this…not sure why, and not sure why here. I think I’m just trying to get my head around it all.

Take time to learn history folks any way you can. I don’t remember who said it but there’s a quote I like very much, "those who do not remember history, are condemed to repeat it."

The big news today is my waist - down to 40 inch and about ready to slip below at long last! And this while my chest and arms are at least maintaining size.

The real surprising thing about this weeks loss is that I really fell off the diet wagon earlier this week including scarfing down a half doze of Tim Horton’s finest doughnuts in one afternoon/evening! I just don’t know what came over me - as I’m sure other folks who struggle with overeating have found, sometimes is almost as if you are in a trance - outside your body watching as you approach your forbidden goal, helpless to do anything as you make the purchase of the "goods" and then take your stash to a secret place and begin to inhale (eating is too slow a term in this case). I know it’s a matter of will power, dedication, etc. But sometimes….

I’m not a believer of outright forbidding any type of food - so for example I usually limit myself to two doughnuts on Sunday morning after church to try and keep the cravings in check. But this week something inside of me snapped. I know there are those who won’t understand it - but I also know there are a lot of you who do…

But, progress this week is greater than my setbacks so I’m not going to dwell on what was, but look towards what will be. Hang in there everyone.

My current bench routine is going great and I’m right on track - even after moving up to the next heavier weights ahead of schedule. My brother-in-law, who is my training partner, is gaining even faster than me in both strength and size (grrrr…). It’s good to know that even after 10 years this program, "Add 50 Pounds to Your Bench in 50 Days" as once published in "Muscle Media" magazine, still works so well for a couple "old" guys.

I still have time for one more good bench workout before I leave on vacation (Hawaii). I won’t be in top beach shape, but I think I’ll hold my own in terms of hiking and other activities. And I bet I can find a couple gyms on the islands to get in some decent workouts while gone.

Keep lifting hard everyone.