marty01606’s BodyBlog

Beep Beep beep- 4:35 A.M. I apparently have hit the snooze on my alarm clock it is set for 4:30. Today is the day. I awaken to the alarm and begin to run before work.

I have surely gone Insane! I remeber a time not too long ago when I had the ability to scarf down giant heaping portions of food in a single bound. I, of course being bored with my mastery of power eating and the ability to drop thirty racks like they’re hot, have decided that within my quest to be lean and muscular, I need to run. I also was at one point a two pack a day smoker. Joe camel you old dog get over here let me taste your warm breath and feel you between my fingertips. Thats nice

No more dallying i have Goals! Feet to the hardwoods, the cat is instantly on me”meow meow meow I need food”. Out to the Pantry load a bowl with some nice food for the cat.  To the bathroom morning evacuation, accompanied by the customary man salute “like the trumpets of heaven”, Shorts off the hook on the bathroom door. T-shirt Slipped over head. Short socks applied with a groan, last night was back stil feeling the dead lifts. Sneakers on Hat on, I-pod locked and loaded. Ready for Battle!
Let’s limber up. First five minutes walking, briskly mind you, build up a little heat in the cold old muscles develop some respiratory action before the jogging can begin.

I am figuring this runnning won’t be a big deal after all I Can go a solid 35 minutes on the bike at the Gym what’s a little jogging right. How about frig&8n torture for someone who hasn’t been on a real run on the road in a very long time. We will get to that later.

Ok we are at the bottom of my street.  I feel heat beginning to develop in my legs and the breathing is going well. In through the nose out through the mouth.  Past d’angelos past Bob’s TV we are on our way. At At this point lets pick-up the pace a little. Slow jog, the Sun is beginning to peak out in the reflection of the thousands of windows across from me at Norton Company. On our way.

The I-pod is an amazing invention, the MP3 in general is an incredible way to enjoy music. Ten years ago when i should have been doing this i would have been lugging around a Walkman.  With a cassete how antiquated it seems at this point.  I can now set the rythymn of my workout to a beat with an actual tempo that can peak when correct. I can drop and drag the appropriate number songs for the time desired as well as the tempo. Before that would have taken hours dubbing cassettes making sure the order was appropriate. What a pain in the but. now it is a just drop drag and create a playlist. incredible.

I continue on a slow clip preparing to up it a notch. I pass the local bar to my right, cigarettes litter the ground i tread over. I pass the bank, now I step it up a hair. I am starting to move along at a fairly good clip(for me).  At 6-2 239lbs you can’t imagine me looking like one of the kenyans I see destroy 26 mile courses in little over two hours. Past the liquor store’s to my right. Carry on. I now am approaching a fellow excercise person she looks like she is dead to the world but we both smile and wave as if we know one another.
At this point in my run I am almost a third of the way to, my finish line, in the loop this equals roughly halfway. i have little more than a half mile to go and I will be turning around. I need to do a minimum of thirty minutes to burn off fat. i have been out here for ten.
The music starts to pick-up I do too. My music collection literally is more than I will ever listen to in my lifetime. I am sure I have enjoyed all the things i have in my collection at one point or another But it is literally ridiculous the amount of music I own.  I start the run with Crosby Stills and Nash, in the middle i am into Rage against the machine and primus. then i work my way back down to an extended version of The Grateful Deads “Eyes of the World”. the last song i picked because the beat is relatively stable and it makes me zone out of what i am doing a little.

I need to zone out by the end of my run. My body is having a hard time dealing with What i am throwing at it right now. I have to do it though to reach goals I have set for myself. By Summers End I will be 10% Body Fat or less. To accomplish this I need to really do cardio daily whether it be running before work or riding the bike after lifting.  I have taken the other steps this is the final hurdle to overcome

I begin to cross paths with all of the places i crossed on my straight line out earlier. Jerry is singing in m ear while I move along. My legs feel like concrete pilings at this point and it is all I can do to put one foot in front of the other and Keep moving forward.  I reach the corner of My street and slowly jog up the hill to the three decker I affectionatley call Shangri-la, at this point it looks like the Taj-Majal, Tommorow or even tongiht maybe will be easier and I will be one step closer to reaching My goal.

I don’t know what it is with mondays. Every person on the planet shows up at the gym on mondays. You never see anyone tuesday through Sunday and then monday rolls in, we are all gonna go get in shape. This is a funny story any one who is seriously trying to get lean and work hard in the gym should get a kick out of this.

" 5:30 P.M. - I walk in the door to the gym. It hits me pizza night. ( My gym, which I will be changing once my contract is up, on the first Monday of every month has pizza night where they bring in Pizza for all the members. This is exactly the demonic food that brought me to the gym in the first place. I scurry past the greasy delicious looking cheese pies in a hurry, so as not be distracted by their tasty, refined flour, red sauce and Mozzarella construction, on to the locker room, whew! temptation 354 of the day averted.

Note:”I do not live in constant temptation, it just makes for more interesting writing. Although Pizza is one of my favorite all time foods there was a time in high school when I sat down and ate Two large pies to my head, grant you this was not an every day occurence just something that happened once. Stay tuned maybe if you’re lucky, I will one day telll you of the dim-sum challenge”

I now remove my work clothes. Work boots in the bottom of the locker, jeans hung on one of the wire hooks, polo shirt following: I am now ready to transform into Cardio man, a semi lean being whose uniform consists of a navy blue “Phil and Friends” Concert T-Shirt and Adidas track pants also navy blue. I now remove the water bottle from the top of my locker and install the cardio man helmet, ( Boston Red sox World Series Champions Baseball hat 2004 Rabid sox fan). I now prepare to remove my Electrical music decoder (i-POD)from its sheath so I can zone out the rest of the Gym. I place the electronic listening devices in my ears, I am ready to roll, I press play oh yeah here comes the good stuff. Wait there is nothing coming. I look down and what is this battery on the front of my I-pod. Cardio man has lost his secret weapon. What can he do? He can suck it up put away the secret weapon and enjoy the smooth sounds of the overhead muzak system, at the time Terence Trent D’arby “Wishing Well”. Not so bad I can get into that, right? That is going to get me pumped. Not!

I now walk from the locker room out to the Cardio area. Wow the entire row of recumbent bikes is open. Things are looking up for “cardio man”.

Generally at my gym the recumbent bike is the weapon of choice for Cardio man as well as, most moday gym rats(those who think showing up on Monday absolves them from diet indiscretions through out the rest of the week and then complain that they arent losing any weight “I’m going to the Gym” I just don’t get it, thats right you don’t)

I then sit down on the lifefitness machine and set-up my work out.  On strict cardio days I usually set-up for a random hill climb level 11 and work up to about 90 RPMs. It kicks my but for now. I set up the machine to run for 35 minutes which is a step up for me previously I had been riding for thirty miinutes.

I am now into my workout I am into one steep climb, burn, burn, burn back down the hill reief. The sweet sounds of muzak pumping every-ones favorites, (”Cut The Cake” Average White Band, An endless list of one hit wonders and smooth classics). I read the news on the screen above me, this isn’t so bad. Mondayers are coming and going on the Bikes aside me, 5 minutes here, 7 minutes there, according to TV that is all you need.

I had been on this stupid machine for roughly twenty minutes, the pizza was a distant memory, the I-Pod was no longer an issue, “Cardio Man” was operating at full efficiency.  Then it happens, as I am climbing the final big hill of my work-out and here she comes.  Its “Pizza Woman”

“Pizza Woman” walks over to the machine next to me carrying a stack of Refined flour tomato sauce and mozzarella, three deep. She sits down artfully utilizing the Water tray and heart rate monitor to balance her Treat. “Pizza Woman” Then sits down and begins pedaling. Mind You I have Five minutes left plus cool down, 3 minutes or so. She chomps away at her power food and pedals along as if in a race to the front door. Then before i enter my cool down, she is gone. All three slices included. Wiping at her face and not wiping down the equipment not that any sweating occured however there was some grease left on the heart rate monitor from the slices of pizza that were devoured in under five minutes.

That is my monday Rant thanks for reading.

Hi all,

 First of all I must say this is the most informative site for training i have ever seen. I now go to the gym with the knoweldge and tools i need to affectively train my body to be better, than it ever has been. I have never trained prior to this year and I love it. My family my girlfriend all think I have lost my mind! I have been working out almost every day for the past 3 months and I do not see any slow down up ahead.  I have always been a big guy and I always knew i had the potential for better things. I just never cared to work at it. Man did I miss out.

I went to high school in central mass. When i graduated I was over 280 pounds, not lean either. Through my twenties my weight Fluctuated up and down and never really went too high. I was fairly happy with the way I looked. Then came the thirties. I went on vacation this past year to the Dominican republic. I saw a picture my girlfriend had taken of me at the beach. I looked like an accountant who had planted his butt to a chair for forty years. Something had to Change.  I was saggin and weak, gross. That is all changing.

My work out presently consists of 2 on 1 off 2 on. I do Cardio on the off days and mix another cardio or two so I can get 4 cardio work-outs a week. All at 30minutes, high intensity.

Day1 Chest -Abs  Cardio

Day2 Back - BI’s

Day3 Cardio

Day4 Legs Tris and Traps

Day5 Delts Abs Cardio

Day6 Cardio  

i have Changed my diet (0 fried food, more veggies more lean meat Good carbs low sodium) I eat six meals a day now. I have begun to buy brown rice like it is the end of the world.

Any one have any comments input so on feel free all advice is noted.