Jettisoned Ponderings

Honestly, do some people have nothing better to do than rotate through their profile pics and change it every five minutes to try and keep it at the top of the list of "New" pics? C’mon, I change mine maybe once a week out of boredom. I suppose for some people it’s all about the visit count. Whatever.

…is tediously annoying. Building the templates was tolerable because I knew I only needed to do it once. Today I did my first workout… Why do I have to click "Edit", type in a number, tab over, type in another number, hit save, OH WAIT you did more than one set of that, so do it for every other set again. Har, har, har, you do more than one exercise, too. That’s peachy, so again repeat it all for the rest of those, too. You know, for someone who’s pretty static and never bumps weight up I could see it being useful, since it would never change. I typically have more changes in most of my workouts, so I’m not looking forward to this at all. Why couldn’t it be like the Body Stats or Lifting Stats and populate all the fields for you so it was just a quick tab over and put in the number? Honestly, I’m half tempted to stick to my Excel sheets versus all the time killing Edit/Save clicks. I know it’s new, and things always have room for improvement. But cripe, it should not take me that long to type in some numbers. Oh well. I suppose I’ll suck it up for a while and see if I just get used to it or something.

Downtown, I see some lettering on the door:

"DOOR BLOCKED. NOT AN EXIT"

Let me explain… I’m outside. So, wouldn’t it be an entrance from my perspective? There are also eight tables stacked up in front of the doors. Blocked? Meh, I suppose you could say that, but let’s just put a sign on the door just for good measure. Brilliant people. As I often say, "Common Sense does not mean Quality Sense"

Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Banana: $57.99 for 4.6lbs

Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Gainer Banana: $54.99 for 10.16lbs

Just me or does that severely not add up?

After having been out of the gym for a week and a half, between all the life issues that’ve been adding much undesired stress to my life lately, I’ve decided to just stay off the rest of this week and hit things back to usual starting Monday. For the last few months I’ve had a Mon-Fri 6:00-2:30 shift, so workouts have been limited to evenings that both Court and I have off. That’s assuming that we both haven’t been so run down from the day that we actually have enough energy to go and get a decent workout in. So due to some changes at work, I’ll now have a Mon, Thu-Sat shift from 10:30-9:15. Crappy hours, but on the upside it frees my mornings back up so that we can go back to having our workouts first thing in the morning. So it’ll be nice to have some consistency and just enjoy the weekends off for recovering. Being on a 4 day split workout it’ll allow the days off to be staggered between body parts since one muscle group will be worked twice a week. What’s more is that I planned to start cutting and leaning out in December for the wedding in 35 days. So a few changes in diet and supps will be in order, including a 30 day full body cleanse. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m a real fan of Renew Life’s "Power Cleanse for Athletes". So with that the 185lb weight goal is highly unlikely to happen. I have no weight goals for the cut, just as long as I get to 7% bodyfat or less and still retain all my current strength and lifting stats. End result should be a nice lean package to deliver to my baby for Christmas! ^_^

Haven’t made it to the gym this whole week. Work and life have seen quite fit to throw a bunch of things at me as well as Court recently. I think I’ve finally been able to curb it enough that I can start getting back into it and finish out the month. It’s just been a rough week and I know there’s still a lot to come. I can only imagine how run down I would be right now if I’d been hitting my usual workouts on top of it all. I suppose since rest is always necessary that it’s a good thing to take some extra time now and then, or at least I hope.

Last time I did this workout I got through 3 sets of two exercises and was done for. The whole "squat till you puke" thing. This week, only shot for 2 sets per exercise and got through 4 exercises. So a little more volume, not quite as much nausea, but enough to know better than to go on lest the morning’s supps, carbs, and protein go to waste. So the goal is to eventually be able to do this workout to completion and at full volume, so 18 total sets of 12. I know part of it is that I need to work legs more frequently, but all in due time. I’d rather build up to it than totally kill them and be too sore to do any good for a whole week.

Yesterday I stopped in at the Vitamin Shoppe I used to work at. Checking out I noticed a lady who was getting some Lipo6X and I just commented, "You’ll really like that, just make sure to take at least a week off after a month." Long story short, we ended up talking for a good 15 minutes along with two other employees. Found out she’s 46 (Cripe, she looked 33!), is a gymnast, her diet/lifestyle’s all in check, etc. She’s just stuck at 150lbs and shooting to lose another 12-20lbs by Feb. Already tried a full body cleanse, etc. and she’s at least smart enough to not go for those stupid "Hollywood 24 Hour Diets" and what not. I asked a few training questions and after a couple other suggestions she just smiled asking, "Who are you!?" at which point I clarified that I used to work there and such. She asked if I had a card and had to explain that unfortunately I wasn’t a certified trainer, but I’d be glad to help her out. We exchanged emails and I’ve been talking with her trying to setup a new program for her. It’s really reinforcing how badly I need to go back to school and get my certs. Courtney told me that where she’s going to school may be offering a Nutrition major next year instead of just a minor like they have now. I know I don’t need a degree to get my trainer certs, but a lot of employers prefer some sort of degree in nutrition, kinesiology, human performance/exercise, etc. and all I have right now is a technical diploma and certification for massage therapy. Not quite the same as an associate’s or bachelor’s. We’ll see… Bottom line is that it’s really livened up my week and making me that much more motivated to actually make it happen as one of my New Year’s resolutions. I say that because for now my only focus is on my own training and delivering a primo package to Court on Dec. 27th!

*Disclaimer* This is my mind’s rambling inner monologue for today’s gym fiasco. It’s not particularly nice at points as I was frustrated and had a bad day.
Dear self,

How about being proactive and getting in an earlier workout than usual so I can get it in before helping bring my dad home from the hospital instead of later tonight? Sure, sounds great! *gets in car, all chipper, drives to gym* Why are there no parking spaces? Wait, what time is it? Oh, lovely, the world has not deemed it time to consume meal #3 of the day with family yet and have all seen to attempt to burn as many calories as possible before loading up on crappy nutrients from the Taco Bell across the street. Oh look! One space behind the building. What’s a short brisk walk, eh? *checks in with new hire at front desk. I so don’t miss working for 24 Hour. Did you know Good Times Drive-Thru burgers feeds it’s employees and pays them $1.50/hr more starting than 24?* Dear members, please invest in a gym lock. I’m tired of having a jacket and needing a full size locker, but they’re all taken by people who have a small duffel bag. One of these days I’m going to supplant your belongings in one locker and bring a spare of my own to utilize and leave you unable to find your keys to drive home. Maybe I’ll be really mean and risk burning down the gym by putting your stupid trendy over priced apparel on the sauna heater? No, no, then I’m out a gym as well. (You’re lucky I like this place, even if it is old and run down a good deal…) Alas, I find suitable quarters for my belongings to reside! *dawns half-charged iPod and hopes will hold out* What’s this? The first two machines I want to use are idle and available!? Magnificent! Wait, no, this has to be too good to be true… Yeah, yeah, next stop is the free weights. Oh, fantastic. The bench I need is being used for step-ups (Cheerleader style with arms locked out above the head with wholesome 2lb tinker-toy dumbells). *wonders how this particular trainer retains clients when they never see results* You know, it would really help for this gym to invest in some pliometric boxes since there’s a class in session and no spare step boxes to steal. Ok, my bench has been liberated at long last, time to catch up as my rest time has now exceeded the desired window. *proceeds to execute needed sets and stand my ground between each one* Why is this woman doing dumbell deadlifts and then wandering over to stretch hanging back on the cross cable grip handle? You already have the dumbell, so why not stay in your place and just let gravity do it’s thing while you stretch? Really, your lateral thrust right now as you try to distract the guy on the smith machine with your mirror reflection obviously isn’t working. Maybe because you’ve got 20 years on his girlfriend and it shows because you’re a bit tardy finding fitness? I mean, props that you did, now, but c’mon, you’re only reinforcing the initial impression that you’re a wench now that I took over your precious machine to actually move some weights on the stack instead of just hanging off a fixed handle. Please, go right on ahead and tell me you were using it. Would you like me to show you how to be more efficient and not keep losing your spot? See, yeah, now smith machine guy’s girl is in your deadlift zone doing shrugs and standing calf raises. You’re wandering around confused what to do. Yes, the door. I couldn’t agree more with you. *Proceeds to continue being productive and actually working out and wondering if she’s going to try to reclaim the handle once I’m done with this last set* Hey kid, nice to see you doing reverse curls! Not too many 10 year olds do those. No, I’m not doing these now to up you and make you feel bad. I promise it’s on my workout sheet to do the exact same thing. Believe me, it doesn’t take much to out lift your valiant 20lb effort. *does one set as kid goes to do leg extensions* I really can’t wait for this day to be done… Just a couple more exercises. Now, where did that particular bar go for the seated row…? Lady, when did you sneak back in and start stretching on the cross cables again!? Ugh, whatever… *finally finds right bar* I’m just gonna sit and stare at the floor between sets now until I’m done. *finishes* Ok, time for abs… Back out to the machines for the weighted crunches. Oh, bliss, there are more people and my machine has now been jacked as I’m 5 feet from it. I give up, I want dead animal now… I think there’s some bovine in my fridge waiting to be grilled. *goes home*