Don’t Have a Keg…

So, do you ever get occasional comments which help to remind you why you workout? I got a couple yesterday and today…

First, the costumer needed a couple measurements for my costume (I did mention that play I’m in, right?) and upon putting the tape around my chest - double checking the number - she said "wow, a manly man chest." Which did make me blush a little and then I wondered why she hadn’t noticed before - as only two members of the cast even come close to my "diameter" and one of those guys is about half a foot taller than me so his proportions make him look thinner.

Then tonight while moving some furniture around at my theatre’s "clubhouse" for a party this weekend - we are hosting the state theatre competition this weekend - I was moving a fairly large buffet (look it up if you don’t know what it is - they tend to be heavy) and one of the women said "I didn’t know David was so strong."

Not much in the way of compliments I know, but encouraging to see that people do notice! I hope all of you get all the comments you deserve too - even the positive ones (haha).

Okay so I’m watching the History channel and one of my favorite mindless diversions is on, "Monster Quest" and showing one of their many episodes about our favorite monster - Bigfoot. Anyway, I’m watching the simulations, etc. and all I could think was "geesh, that Bigfoot is pretty well built" and that I wouldn’t mind having the same kind of muscle and strength (I’ve already got the body hair - and I wish I were kidding…).

I guess any show can somehow relate back to bodybuilding and weightlifting if you look hard enough. Later in the day a rerun of "Two and a Half Men" was on and one of the main characters Charlie Harper, played by Charlie Sheen - who was once himself fairly buff - was shown working out. Now of course when he works out he keeps bourbon in his water bottle - I’m not ready for that kind of "intensity" yet.

Oh, and if you wonder why I’m watching so much television, stay calm. I also keep it on while doing my cardio on the exercise bike. Fortunately, the one I have is pretty quiet!

Hmmm…my weight is virtually unchanged this week, not too surprising as my cardio is somewhat limited right now in favor of lifting, but my bodyfat % is up just a little again. In and of itself not alarming, but the trend over the past month has been upward. This coming week I think I’ll focus on cardio vs weights (only because of my schedule - my time in the gym has been "compressed" for about three more weeks) to see if I can jump start the fat loss again. I’ve been making a very concious effort to add more fruits and vegetables into the diet. Maybe I’ve added too much on the fruit side and not enough on the vegetable side? I’m not sure - but I’ll go "green" as well as orange (carrots) more often and see what happens next week!

And not that way - just seemed to drag along today. Couldn’t wake up, got through work though and I seemed to be somewhat re-energized at rehearsal (a little singing and dancing goes a long way). Hopefully, I’m back to my usual perky self after a shower and a good night’s sleep tonight!

Nothing dramatic, but I’m noticing a slight change in the make up of those who participate on Bodyspace. From my purely unscientific observation it occurs to me that:

1. Unlike most "social" sites there are a large number of older participants here. In fact, I’d venture to say that over 40 year old men are the single fastest growing membership group. Though it could just be that because I’m in this group I notice these members more.

2. The next quickly growing group are those in the military. It seems that our men in uniform are more interested in bodybuilding than ever before (I haven’t noticed any military women - but I’m sure they are here somewhere).

3. The number of what may have at one time been called the "soft core" group of admittedly sexy women seems to be starting to become replaced by women actually interested in fitness and not just attention.

4. Lots of younger teens just starting out. What I think is good about this group is that they now can interact in a relatively safe web environment with older bodybuilders who can provide good, solid advice as opposed to what they would probably usually hear from their peers. At least I seem to recall from my teen years that a lot of guys in the gym would just make something up if they didn’t know the answer - and usually what was made up had no bearing in actual sound training philosophy.

Hmmm, given the concept of generations interacting here about fitness - could we start seeing a reversal in the alarming rate of obesity among our young people? When I was a teen it seemed that the "husky" kids were an oddity and now they appear to be the norm - at least based on what I see at high school sporting events these days.

Not a terribly amusing or intersting post, I know, but I felt like blogging and had to write something (ha!).

Keep pumping hard everyone!

Ahh Valentine’s Day - and how will I spend it? Weighing myself, rehearsing a show and doing a workout and time left over for some laundry. But enough about my love life or lack there of…

Last night when I went to bed it was spring. I woke up to the dead of winter - now there’s a mood breaker. All the snow that melted this past week seems to have returned Okay, there’s only 2 inches on the ground now as opposed to the 4 or 5 inches that melted, but still…kind of reminds me of that joke about sex - told from the woman’s perspective "Why is snow fall like sex with your boyfriend for the first time? Because you don’t know how many inches you’ll  get or how long it will last!" but seriously folks….

Weigh in was a little surprising as I thought I would show some progress since I was able to up my cardio this week. But for all intents and purposes my weight and bodyfat % are essentially the same and well within my body’s normal daily fluctuations. Perhaps not surprising given my indescretion earlier this week (see my previous blog). I do feel thinner though and am pulling up my pants more often so it’s probably time to take some body measurements again and, dare I say it, some new photos too.

Happy VD everyone!

Crap, how quickly we can fall into old habits…stressed at work, missed breakfast to get to an early meeting (which I was lucky to make do to a power outage at my house this morning), missed lunch preparing for a meeting, vending machine trip - poor choice of snack - dinner late, over ate…the usual excuses.

Don’t make my mistakes! Prepare your food ahead of time so it’s ready to go. If I had been better prepared I wouldn’t have been tempted and wouldn’t have given in.

I’m not complaining, mind you, I’m a fully functioning adult and capable of making good choices even in stressful situations. Just using my day to hopefully help someone else make the right choices during his or hers.

Plus, I haven’t blogged in like forever (okay a few days).

Peace!

Some good news this week, though my bodyfat change was nominal my weight dropped outside what I consider the normal daily fluctuation. It looks like a little singing and dancing during rehearsals for the play I’m in is helping with my fat loss. And I know that I’m better because of my cardio work - for those who have never had the lead in a musical it really is more demanding than it looks. I did mention in an earlier blog that I’m now in a play again didn’t I? It’s "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and I play the role of Psuedolous (perhaps the late great Zero Mostel’s greatest role, btw. Don’t know who Zero Mostel is - shame on you, get to Wikipedia!).

For those who may still somehow be holding on to the idea that musical theatre is somehow "sissy" (there’s a word I haven’t used in a long time) take a real look at some of those dance moves and the length of most the dances. It may not be the "World’s Strongest Man" competiton, but it can be grueling none the less. Granted the show I’m in isn’t known for it’s elaborate dance numbers, but in addition to being one of the funniest shows out there it has a heck of a chase sequence!

Keep pumping hard!

(check out Str8flex’s blog to see why I’m closing with that phrase)

So, I’ve been going through my old bodybuilding books looking for some routines to help out a fellow Bodyspacer and it occurred to me how many books on bodybuilding I actually have. I wonder if these types of books are as popular as they used to be given the easy access of all sorts of routines and such from the web.

I notice that I tended to pick up books by the same author when I was buying them. Robert Kennedy being at the top of the list, but I got most of Ellington Darden’s books - favorite is still "Big Arms in Six Weeks" not so much for the workout but for the inspirational full size picture of Ed Robinson’s 20 inch arm. It’s not very defined but that sucker is HUGE (7 3/8s of inch high). Of course I have the usual books, too: Arnold’s Encyclopeida of Bodybuilding and Education of a Bodybuilder, several of the Weider books, a Gold’s Gym book of bodybuilding, plus books on Static Contraction training, lesser known bodybuilders (Peter Nielsen), famous bodybuilders (Bob Paris), heck I even have one of Jose Canseco’s books - granted he’s not a bodybuilder but a baseball player who could have been a bodybuilder. And this doesn’t include the various books on diet and nutrition, calorie/nutritional guides, and magazines (Muscle and Fitness, Musclmag International, Iron Man, among others here and there).

I don’t even want to guess how much money I’ve invested over the years in looking for the magic trick that would transform me from skinny geek to buff, muscular geek (geekdom is forever no matter how big your biceps - sorry guys).

The point of this particular rant? Nothing much, just a suggestion to everyone else who may be heading down the same path. Research is great - but time in the gym and watching the diet will serve you better than any amount of reading! There are no magic techniques and pretty much anything you do which involves actually lifting a weight - in a safe, controlled manner of course - is better than sitting in front of your tv or computer screen.

Anyone else have a bunch of favorite books or a library of them?

By the way, to be fair, I have a lot of books in general. I’m an avid reader, mysteries and horror seem to be my main themes in general. Scifi is good, comics, humor, okay just about anything!

I’ve been feeling very stressed lately. Partly because of my workload, partly because I have too many friends sick and ailing requiring hospitalizations, partly becuase I’ve over committed myself in my so-called "personal" life, and partly because - oh I just don’t know why…

Workouts should help relieve my stress but right now they feel like an additional burden. Have you ever felt like that? My usual motivation helpers are helping (cruising Bodyspace, watching "The Biggest Loser") and even stepping on the scales tonight when I knew my bodyfat would be low as it is when I’m properly hydrated, but my weight would be a little high, because I’m well fed as opposed to being dehydrated and empty in the morning hasn’t helped me. So I thought I’d try a little blogging just to vent, sputter, and otherwise let off steam. And what do you know? It helps some!

I’d love to hear about everyone elses stress relievers - other than the obvious one of working out, of course, and how you motivate yourself when motivation is lacking.