Fit for Freedom

Well pushing iron plates around was never my idea of a good time when I was younger.  At about 145 lbs in highschool I opted to throw discus which I was terrible and because  I hated to run.  My how things have changed.  Today will make my 4th day in a row at the gym and I AM looking forward to taking Saturday off.   After lifting 38 tons of weight in 4 days and cycling 3 hours and 40 miles I am about spent at my tender age.  I do know however my tolerance will increase.  If those little old men and women can be tri-atheletes I do not know whether I have a leg to stand on and "bitch".  So, one more day at the gym and then it is back to "work" on Sunday.  I have noticed that the intensity is rapidly trimming off this fat pad on my abs.  Who knows, maybe one day I will actually see a six pack.  Although at this point it remains only a fable, myth, legend, etc. 

My friend the 5×5 has me in its death grip.  Or it could have been a tribe of Amazon pygmies that raided my bedroom and clubbed my body multiple times.  I do not remember being this sore before.  But I like going to fatigue without the burning from the lactic acid buildup.  The cardio has been helpful but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced more soreness from the muscle group worked when you added alot more cardio.  After work and then working out I pretty much enter a veggitative stupor and hit the couch.  Act of Congress or the call of food is about the only thing that will force me out of my "recumbancy." But, no more whining-today is leg day.  Argh…my least favorite but I don’t want to look like 7/8ths of the guys at the gym, meat on a stick.

In order to form a more perfect cleft in the pecs I continue on in the pursuit of happiness.  Lift and seperate but without help from Playtex mind you.  The Chest wall continues to lift off via growth and seperate via wide ranging exercises   Do they make a bench station that goes incline, flat decline so I don’t have to wander anywhere and save my precious resources for lifting?  Probably not as a platform like that with concommitant hydraulics would cost a fortune.  Plus you would not leave the bench for 45 min to an hour.  Oh well.  So, pec day and cardio.  I look forward to the challenge.  I mean really, how stressed out can you get from an exercise, sweating and breathing heavily while you are still on your back? A that sounds like….ah…well… you get the picture.  Maybe that’s why I like it so much.

We have all been victims and hopefully not perps of the notorious lip lifter.  They do frequent the gym-sometimes.  They do lift weights-sometimes.  They seem like experts but not much sweat ever rolls from their temples or soaks their shirts.  Grunting is something usually relegated to the morning sit on the porcelain throne.  In fear of this dreaded nemesis I have started the next level in training 45 mins of cardio after the 45 min- 1 hour lifting phase.  Conscious, all out warfare on inenertia.  To break the muscle barrier and progress to wherever my body takes me.  I believe once I have those mechanics imbeded the war that is left is  a mop event.  Mopping out the fat and pushing high quality, expensive sups.  Yes, I know expense is realitive.  But 1/2 of my salary goes to child support.  Fortunately I know how to eat well and be selective.  So off to war I go to create WMDs.  I am not looking for them.  I know where they are…I am creating them.

When doing DB curls do y’all stick with the same wieght on the "weaker" arm until it catches up or do you one up the other side anyway.  More reps or more weight until the "other" catches up.  I know there is always side to side disparity.  I think I may need to get some glutamine though.  It feels like my biceps went through the ringer since Staurday after the arm workout.

My training is progressing.  As Gulia would have wanted it to continue…methodical, straight forward, calculated and simple.  But the most important aspect is longevity.  Just keep doing it, turtle style.  Sort of like the University of Maryland’s slogan.."Fear the Turtle/Terrapin."  Now I must confess I have never been in the least bit afraid of a turtle but they can be dangerous and perverted.  Perverted you say?  Well, when I was four  I was holding one against my chest.  I guess s/he thought my nipple was some sort of tasty morsel and clamped down.  It hurt like Hell and I still cringe at the thought.  Then of course there is the Gallapagos Tortoise.  Weighing 100-200 lbs they could conceivably hurt you if they laid on you for a significant amount of time…who knows?  But the point is constant consitent training and know when to switch routines.  Supersizing takes time and the gains that come with it stay.  So racing off to the gym is not my answer.  Crawling through my routine with slow deliberate determination and awareness of each rep will allow me to look back over the years when I bark out the cry once again…"Fear the turtle!"

Well I have put my body to the test and will see who comes out on top.  Above the desk is a saying by Thomas Jefferson that says you should get 2 hours of exercise everyday!  Did he do that I wonder?  Well, so in order to get that I have to ramp up the cardio although I will ramp up the fat burning instead.  After not smoking for 2 weeks I have only killed one person.  But the list of those I have maimed is practically endless.  I think adding the extra cardio will definitely help burn off some of the excess energy.  Maybe if I just push hard I will collapse into bed asleep not offending anyone except my wife…"Get off the covers with that sweaty body."  But hopefully I will be in la-la land when that happens.  So, off to the gym today for leg day and then lots of cardio.  I need to build up slowly so as not to kill my 47 yo body in a 18 yo mindset!

Shame and guilt are heaped upon me as I now confess a horrible problem.  I am/was a closet smoker.  Fortunately this is day 3 of no smoking.  It has been tough and there have been deaths from my irritability.  BUT, I have read more, eaten more and picked the guitar back up.  Fortunately the bodybuilding and cardio have kept me going too and I expect to have greater success now that I am not intoxicating myself with nicotine, tar and the myriad of additives in a cigarette.  It is all part of New Years.  The toxin cleaning is going well.  Day 3 of that as well.  In retrospect I should have crawled into a cave somewhere as not to punish those around me.  Sunday I return to the gym in full force.  The cardio should actually be easier now but it was never hard.  I guess the genetics saved me from total destruction.  It still boggles my mind that being a nurse I know all this and with fitness goals it has taken alot of time to come around to giving it up.  It should be good for the bulking part of the diet as I am certainly eating more.  I realized I would make any excuse to smoke.  The last week I doubled my cigarette consumption so I would be really disgusted.  It seems to have worked.  BUT the weekend is coming and there will be challenges ahead.  Wish me luck.

Well hitting the gene wall is like hitting the bottom and concrete end wall of the kiddie pool.  Hoping for an olympian size only to realize otherwise. BUT, time is on our side.  With perseverance and skill the genes can be bloated.  I will fail to believe that my muscles came from the shallow end of the gene pool.  Therefor it is time to excavate and expand the recepticle.  Constant, vigilant training is the only key.  Your body seems to know better than I do of where the protein needs to be going.  Too many of my friends here acheived results with persistent determined effort over the years.  Now I do not have the drive that Fern/MsFitness does but I do have it.  The tortise and Hare approach.  Not to dis the Hare because the point that most people forget is the Hare did finish the race and is now relaxing, while not pumping iron at Hugh Hefner’s Mansion.  The turtle and the Hare both won in their own ways.  Persistence whether fast or slow sends you to the finish line…but that is just one stage of a lifelong race.

Currently it is time to go out with the old and in with the new.  So, in that regard I am going through a 2 week body detox system and purging my body of toxins. No heavy lifting.  Maybe I need a brain enema for some of my crappy attitudes.  Oh, wait, that’s an attitude adjustment administered by someone else.  Oh, there is a problem there.  I have never been beat-up or lost a fight.  That won’t change anytime soon.  See as dogs get older we get wiser.  After adding the bodybuilding to the Wushu (Kung Fu) and grappling I seem pretty formidable.  But just the same I like Mr. Miaggi-  "Rule number 1-Karate for defense only.  Rule number 2 first go back and learn rule number 1."  Power is knowing others, true strength is knowing the self.  So-maintenance weight for the next 2 weeks then it is off to the races.  I scared myself in the mirror the other day though, not from massive gains-I am not shaving during the cold season.  At first I thought a Yeti strolled into the bathroom!