Jettisoned Ponderings

I took a look back at where I was a year ago to see whether I really made any progress since then. Weight wise, yes, I’m up about 10lbs or so, and given my bodyfat I’ve got roughly 6-7lbs of good lean mass. Pretty pathetic for a year’s time, but only physically. Mentally a lot has changed. Perhaps its being married and pushing GJ earlier this year during her contest prep. I’ve explored new training methods and especially tacked diets with a new determination to bring my body to where it needs to be in my eyes. While I may not have gained as much in terms of mass, I think that will change greatly in the coming months. I’ve learned to expany my mind to what I beleive I’m capable of. My mind’s eye has been refocussed and with that I’m running with a new goal. This last year I think was mostly spent psyching myself up for what is yet to come. Sure, I post progress pics now and then, but I forgot to look back beyond just one month’s changes. Seeing a year go by and the fluctuations, I know now the intensity that I need to adopt. This year I think I had a few things break the ice: I squatted 300lbs for a few reps, benched 275lbs for a new max, deadlifted 400lbs for a record max. These are numbers I never really saw myself doing until I decided to tackle them on a whim. They were not on the plan or agenda. I had a challenge that presented itself and I rose to that occasion. Now, I need to challenge myself on a daily basis, every workout, to exceed what I did before. It may only be a small amount, but nothing will change until I accomplish that. I have no right to say something cannot be done until I’ve attempted it at least once to know where I stand in relation to where I would then need to be in order to accomplishing the task. So, armed with new knowledge and determination, I hope to be able to look back next year, come 26, and be completely transformed from the person I am today, as much physically as mentally. Last year was one to become established and founded. This year will be one to grow.

Some old humor from back in ‘03, but its still amusingly relevant today! With all the changes lately in the economy and banks merging, I figured it’d be appropriate to re-post this as reminder of how a good bank should run. Enjoy!

This guy definitely has the right idea!

Subject: Letter to the bank. The guy who wrote this is a genius. The letter to the bank below is an actual letter sent to a bank in the United States. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the New York Times.

Dear Sir:
I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations some three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire salary, an arrangement which, I admit, has only been in place for eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account by $50 by way of penalty for the inconvenience I caused to your bank.

My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. You have set me on the path of fiscal righteousness. No more will our relationship be blighted by these unpleasant incidents, for I am restructuring my affairs in 2003, taking as my model the procedures, attitudes and conduct of your very bank.

I can think of no greater compliment and I know you will be excited and proud. I have noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, ever-changing, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.

From now on I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person.

My mortgage and loan repayments will, therefore and hereafter, no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your branch whom you must nominate. You will be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope.

Please find attached an Application Contact Status form which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.

Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.

In due course I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further by introducing you to my new telephone system, which you will notice, is very much like yours.

My Authorized Contact at your bank, the only person with whom I will have any dealings, may call me at any time and will be answered by an automated voice service:

Press buttons as follows:
1. To make an appointment to see me.
2. To query a missing payment.
3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated at a later date to the Authorized Contact
8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7.
9. To make a general complaint or inquiry.

The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service.

While this may on occasion involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call. This month I’ve chosen a refrain from "The Best of Woody Guthrie": "Oh, the banks are made of marble, With a guard at every door, And the vaults are filled with silver, That the miners sweated for."

On a more serious note, we come to the matter of cost. As your bank has often pointed out, the ongoing drive for greater efficiency comes at a cost which you have always been quick to pass on to me. Let me repay your kindness by passing some costs back.

First, there is a matter of advertising material you send me. This I will read for a fee of $20 per page. Inquiries from the Authorized Contact will be billed at $5 per minute of my time spent in response.

Any debits to my account, as, for example, in the matter of the penalty for the dishonored check, will be passed back to you. New phone service runs at 75 cents a minute. You will be well advised to keep your inquiries brief and to the point.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement. May I wish you a happy, if ever-so-slightly less prosperous, New Year.

Your Humble Client,

(Name Withheld)

Caffeine is my new best friend! Last week I avoided extra stimulants to see how the Methyl Ripped Hardcore would be tolerated. It really lit me up the first few days, but by the end of the week an additional couple cups of coffee throughout the day had no adverse effects. Well, today I got up on time, got breakfast (new portion size has 1/2c of oats instead of 1c, and 1 less egg. This amount was perfect!) but got distracted talking online with my mom. By the time the conversation was over I figured I’d wait and head out the same time GJ did for work, so roughly an hour and a half later than I’d typically go.

I’d already taken my Nitro EXT, and I didn’t want to take more of that. It had been long enough that the methyl ripped was starting to lose its initial kick. It also was too early to try and eat more. So, I went ahead, initially against my better judgement, to take a serving of Full Blown Extreme instead to get the carbs (trade out worked by halving the oats and dropping the extra carbs from the PWO shake) from it and some other pump promoting goodies. Within 10 minutes, I was hyped, but not jittery. Hmmm… This could be good… I got to the gym and every single lift went up more than I expected. For the 7s I didn’t need to drop the weights nearly as frequently. Pretty surprised by this since I changed out a couple exercise variations to make the workout more challenging. Multiple exercises were finishing roughly 10-20% heavier than last week on the final sets.

I’m still quite energized and haven’t crashed at all. The rest of the day should be interesting to see how my energy levels change. I can definitely say though that given the pacing of the morning I think I’ll stick with timing things like I did today. No harm letting breakfast digest a little longer.

So here are today’s numbers:
Cross-Body Hammer Curls    3-4×8-12    35    40    40    45
Machine Bicep Curl    3×8-12    90    100    120
V-Bar Cable Curls    7×8-12    80    90    90    90    85    80    60×22
Close Grip Bench Press    3-4×8-12    115    120    125    130
Parallel Bar Machine Dips    3×8-12    225    240    255
Reverse Cable Pushdown w/V-Bar    7×8-12    110    110    110    110    100    100    75×22
Standing Calf Raises    4×10-12    160    170    180    190
Seated Calf Raises    4×15-20    95    100    105    110
Calf Sled Press    7×10-12    180    180    180    180    170    170    170

For those who haven’t seen my recently updated signature, I feel its worth sharing it here. I like finding good quotes and sharing them. Internalizing the words of another is a main driver for me because it comes with the added credibility of third party validation. I was browsing different authors on T-Nation and came across this one that I absolutely agree with because I’ve experienced it! At one point I thought I was overtraining. Now I look back and realize my diet was not where it needed to be, hence my low energy. These days I’m more dialed in and workout harder than ever before and recover faster! This first quote is the one that prompted this entry. Though, I figure since I’m already posting this I may as well throw in some additional ones while I’m at it. I’d love to hear what you guys think of them!
"Given that manual labor plays such a minimal role in most peoples’ lives, it’s laughable that the idea of overtraining even comes up. Also, many confuse fatigue with overtraining or undernourishment. Don’t confuse ‘overtraining’ with fatigue brought on by poor diet, poor sleep habits, or even the psychological process of not being comfortable with working hard." - John Davies, T-Nation

"Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself. I mean, do not be disheartened by your imperfections, but always rise up with fresh courage. How are we to be patient in dealing with our neighbor’s faults if we are impatient in dealing with our own? He who is fretted by his own failings will not correct them. All profitable correction comes from a calm, peaceful mind." - St. Francis de Sales

"The person who criticizes others all the time is, in reality, unhappy with oneself. He or she concentrates on what’s wrong with everything instead of what’s right with it … This person concentrates on the specks of dust that may be found on any masterpiece and, as a result, goes through life missing the beauty and the wonders of life." - Earl Nightingale

"We lift ourselves by our thought. We climb upon our vision of ourselves. If you want to enlarge your life, you must first enlarge your thought of it and of yourself. Hold the ideal of yourself as you long to be, always everywhere." - Orison Swett Marden

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." - Carl Jung
"Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance." - Bruce Barton

"Men in general judge more by the sense of sight than by the sense of touch, because everyone can see, but only a few can test by feeling. Everyone sees what you seem to be, few know what you really are, and those few do not dare take a stand against the general opinion." - Niccolo Machiavelli

"I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself." - Walter Anderson

"My belief is that personal freedom cannot grow beyond personal responsibility. The more people that learn to be fully accountable for their lives, the more freedom each of us can enjoy and the more fulfilling all of our lives will be." - Reed Konsler

"Things may come to those who wait, but only things left by those who hustle." - attributed to Abraham Lincoln

"Even if you’re on the right track you’ll get run over if you just sit there." - Will Rogers

"You don’t drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there." - Edwin Louis Cole

"You have to recognize that every ‘out front’ maneuver you make is going to be lonely, but if you feel entirely comfortable, then you’re not far enough ahead to do any good. That warm sense of everything going well is usually the body temperature at the center of the herd." - John Masters

"Give me a fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections.  You can keep your sterile truth for yourself." - Vilfredo Pareto

"I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught." - Winston Churchill

"I am defeated, and know it, if I meet any human being from whom I find myself unable to learn anything." - George Herbert Palmer

"Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem.  That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily." - Thomas Szasz

"There is no squabbling so violent as that between people who accepted an idea yesterday and those who will accept the same idea tomorrow." - Christopher Morley

"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life." - Immanuel Kant

"Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportioned to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more, I recall that piece of knowledge and use it better." - Mark van Doren

"The first step towards knowledge is to know that we are ignorant." - Richard Cecil

"Hell begins on the day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have achieved, of all the gifts which we have wasted, of all that we might have done which we did not do" - Gian Carlo Menotti

And this last one is a personal favorite…

"Of course there’s a lot of knowledge in universities:  the freshmen bring a little in; the seniors don’t take much away, so knowledge sort of accumulates." - Abbott Lawrence Lowell

Enjoy the videos! These are just a few examples of the sort of stuff I listen to during cardio sessions (totally different than what I lift to). Good steady BPMs and pacing for the rates I go at.

Or, for a trip down memory lane, here’s a favorite from back when I was in grade school. Ahh, the days of early 90’s dance music! (This came out in ‘93, so I was in 4th grade I think… Funny this is that in 15 years not a whole lot has really changed, at least in terms of bad choreography…)

Monday: Biceps and triceps, calves
Cross-Body Hammer Curls    3-4×8-12
Machine Bicep Curl    3×8-12
EZ-Bar Curls    7×8-12
Close Grip Bench Press    3-4×8-12
Parallel Bar Machine Dips    3×8-12
Cable Tricep Pushdown w/V-Bar    7×8-12
Standing Calf Raises    4×10-12
Seated Calf Raises    4×15-20
Calf Sled Press    7×10-12

Tuesday: Legs
Warm Ups: Deep V Leg Press    3-4×8-15
Barbell Power Squats    4×8-12
Neutral Stance Hack Squats    3×8-15
Leg Extensions    7×8-15
Warm Ups: Prone Leg Curls    3-4×10-12
Stiff Leg Romanian Deadlifts    3-4×10-15
Standing 1 Leg Curls    3-4×10-15
Seated Leg Curls    7×10-15

Thursday: Chest and Triceps
Wide Grip Incline Smith Press    3-4×8-12
Hammer Strength Incline Press    3×8-12
Hammer Grip Vertical Chest Press Machine    3×8-12
Hammer Strength Iso Wide Chest    7×8-12
Close Grip Bench Press    3-4×8-12
Parallel Bar Machine Dips    3×8-12
Cable Pushdown w/V-Bar    7×8-12

Friday: Back and Calves
Warm-up: Close Grip Front Pulldowns    3×8-12
Wide Parallel Grip Lat Pulldowns    3×8-12
Underhand Seated Rows    3×8-12
Prone Low Incline Dumbell Rows    3×8-12
Straight Arm Lat Pulldowns    7×8-15
Dumbbell Shrugs (1 Sec Squeeze)    3-4×8-12
Smith Machine Shrugs (1 Sec Squeeze)    7×8-12
Standing Calf Raises    4×10-12
Seated Calf Raises    4×10-12
Leg Press Calf Raises    7×12-15

Saturday: Shoulders and Biceps
Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press    4×8-12
Seated Dumbbell Front Raises    3×8-12
Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raises    3×8-12
Machine Lateral Raises    7×8-12
Pec Deck Rear Delts (Prone Grip)    3-4×12-15
Pec Deck Rear Laterals (Inverted Grip)    7×12-15
Cross-Body Hammer Curls    3-4×8-12
Machine Bicep Curl    3×8-12
EZ-Bar Curls    7×8-12

Yet another new training method, but its proving to be one of the best I’ve tried out. The principle incorporates both moderate strength training (8-12 reps, mostly) for 2-3 exercises per body part, and then a final exercise for each body part which consists of 7 sets of 8-12 reps with only 30-45 seconds of rest between sets (I stick to only 30 seconds. Also, reducing the weight a couple times is ok). The idea is to stimulate size from strength initially through CNS training and micro trauma, but the "7s" are to pump the muscle as much as possible internally to stretch out the fascia and allow the muscle fibers more space to grow.

I have to say from a DOMS standpoint, I haven’t been this sore from a routine in many months. I’ve had legs DOMS going on 5 days now and its finally starting to ease up after a lot of maintenence work on them. I did have a couple workouts that ran nearly 2 hours, however, I blame that more on having to take extra time to gauge the appropriate weights to use for the volume. A couple times I could tell I went too heavy and had to rest longer than usual. Most of the workouts could easily be completed in under 90 minutes (working 3 body parts), some in roughly an hour (working 2 body parts).

Initially I tried the workouts based on the sample ones provided and after doing so to give it a fair shot made changes to tailor it more toward my liking, or make it more challenging in some cases. For example, I prefer straight arm lat pulldowns instead of machine pullovers. Or, I get fuller pumps doing tricep pushdowns on a cable machine instead of doing skull crushers. There’s really no set program you have to follow, just some basic principles.

You can read up more on FST-7 here if it interests you. If you need something to give your muscles a good shock and you’re not afraid of pushing yourself to a painfully blissful intense pump, then I highly suggest trying it! (This means you, BryanGee!)

Had a brainstorming moment. Whenever I get around to training and hopefully having my own gym or business somday, I’m gonna have to offer a package and call it the "MILFormation"! There’s definitely something to be said for muscle maturity and the attitude and drive of a mom who’s not on the free ride of good genetics. Its not just in the gym, but my massage clients, and even some peers in that niche. They all seem to be some of the most dedicated and determined for the results.

Ok, that’s my epiphany of future business plans for today. Off to get my own workout done now…

Finally got around to reading a book I got for Christmas a couple years ago, "Arnold: The Education Of A Bodybuilder". Decent book, but doubt I’ll read it twice. The first part is his story and the second his training and nutrition principles. Looking over his diet, one thing is for sure… The man loved his Moo Juice!

Breakfast: 7:30am
3 eggs; 1/4- to 1/2-pound beef patty; 2 pieces buttered toast; 2 glasses of milk

Midmorning: 10:00am
Half sandwich, meat; 1 hard-boiled egg; 1 glass milk

Lunch: 1 meat sandwich; 1 cheese sandwich; 2 glasses milk; fruit

Midafternoon: 3:00pm
1 hard-boiled egg; 3 slices cheese; 2 glasses milk

Dinner:
1/2 to 3/4 pound ground beef; baked potato w/butter; salad; vegetable (corn, beans, peas, etc.); 2 glasses milk

Bedtime:
Protein drink: 2 glasses milk, 1/2 cup nonfat milk solids, 1 egg, 1/2 cup ice cream. Mix in blender

Small businesses, the backbone of our economy, right? Unfortunately it looks like the owner of the Max Muscle I work at is going to have to file bankruptcy come January. He’s been open for 19 months and sales have never been good enough to make full rent payments. The landlord, up until yesterday, has been understanding, and my boss has emails documenting him saying, "That’s ok, just pay what you can." Geographically this strip of shops has had it rougher getting traffic and being noticed. So he’s not the only one who’s been hurting. Throw in construction and other factors (like the fact that the area does not permit any banners or a sign on the corner to indicate what shops are there) and it only makes matters worse. The landlord has one space that’s been available as long as I’ve worked there and no one to occupy it. My boss certainly doesn’t avoid paying anything, but he keeps just enough to pay us (there are only 3 part time guys and he’s in the shop well over half the hours we’re open during the week), keep the shelves conservatively stocked, and pay his utilities. The economy right now isn’t good for anyone, and unfortunately that’s hitting us hard. The company is a franchise, so he’s on his own now. The landlord sent him a letter yesterday that he needs to be squared up by the end of the year (which means coming up with roughly $35k) or, in so many words, he’ll be evicted.

This is where I’m confused… While I certainly understand wanting to get full rent (which is about $4300/mo), even if you can get part of that it beats getting nothing at all. Obviously he does not have people knocking down the door trying to get into this building as evidenced by the vacant space still available. What benefit is there to kicking someone out in this situation? It really sucks because it certainly has not been a lack of effort. The other Max Muscle in the area is run by the son of a former Denver Bronco, so he has plenty of referral volume and does very well. Unfortunately he sees fit to talk down our shop and the district manager babies him instead because of course he gets a bonus based on their sales. Just a crappy situation. My boss is a good guy and a great friend to both myself and GJ. Once again, the little guy gets screwed.