Monday, October 18, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
24hr Fitness Update
So, much to my chagrin, I have discovered that the Active level of gyms offered by 24hr Fitness offer just about everything I need, and in a very straight-forward format. I have a Sport level membership, and I guess the Sport gyms are supposed to be a big time upgrade from the Active level facilities. As far as I can tell, the only major difference is that Sport facilities are two-story, and have a full pool, whereas the Active gyms are single floor, and don't necessarily have a pool (although the one near me has a steam room and a hot tub thing). The Sport gyms also have a lot more "office" space and bigger locker rooms, neither of which has any actual impact on my workout. I tend to like the super easy to use Active gym by my house, which utilizes the most common sense approach to gym layout, and which seems also to be populated by more "serious" gym goers. Though I don't really look like a "serious" gym goer these days, it helps me to feel like crap while I'm in there and to want to change my composition. Some people are intimidated by this environment, but it doesn't seem to bother me. The biggest down side for me is that I've actually been paying for a Sport level membership this whole time when an Active level would have been just fine.
I have been using it mostly for cardio (stair gauntlet), but I have also been using the hack squat and leg press while I'm preparing for the Grand Canyon trip. After I get back, I think that I should really focus on my squat form, since my legs are stronger than the numbers that my form allows. If I was more disciplined about my technique, I think that I could shoot up pretty fast to my former PRs without exacerbating some of the joint pains that I have been dealing with lately.
I have been using it mostly for cardio (stair gauntlet), but I have also been using the hack squat and leg press while I'm preparing for the Grand Canyon trip. After I get back, I think that I should really focus on my squat form, since my legs are stronger than the numbers that my form allows. If I was more disciplined about my technique, I think that I could shoot up pretty fast to my former PRs without exacerbating some of the joint pains that I have been dealing with lately.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Well damn
Alright, just forget it. I'm going to unfreeze my 24hr Fitness membership. I hate that gym, and it is not conveniently located at all for me, but I don't have any other usable option.
Triggers
-Being called "Big Man" when you walk in to a restaurant.
-Realizing that a contestant on The Biggest Loser is smaller than you, and they are still at the ranch.
-Having it dawn on you that you could lose 100 pounds, and not be dramatically malnourished or have to cut off a limb to do it.
-Reading a book about alcohol addiction, and thinking that it sure sounds familiar if you replace "alcohol" with "food"
-Co-workers pointing out that you've only gained weight since you started working there
-Seeing pictures of yourself on a friend's blog, and thinking, "Wait, seriously?"
-Being pretty damned sure that if you lost some weight, your friends actually would set you up with their girl-friends
-Experiencing all of these things, and just wanting to go eat something.
-Realizing that a contestant on The Biggest Loser is smaller than you, and they are still at the ranch.
-Having it dawn on you that you could lose 100 pounds, and not be dramatically malnourished or have to cut off a limb to do it.
-Reading a book about alcohol addiction, and thinking that it sure sounds familiar if you replace "alcohol" with "food"
-Co-workers pointing out that you've only gained weight since you started working there
-Seeing pictures of yourself on a friend's blog, and thinking, "Wait, seriously?"
-Being pretty damned sure that if you lost some weight, your friends actually would set you up with their girl-friends
-Experiencing all of these things, and just wanting to go eat something.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Preparedness
Preparedness is a concept that I have been thinking about a lot lately, especially with all of the recent uncontrollable natural disasters. The most important question is simply, "Are you prepared?" however the other side of that question is, "What is preparedness?"
I am attempting to separate out the various arenas of preparedness. I am not talking about being prepared for slight changes in the weather, or being prepared for a job interview. I am mostly talking about survivalism in the face of sudden catastrophic disaster. Something along the lines of a nuclear war, I suppose. In this instance, there are a few key areas that I think I should consider, and maybe try to improve on.
Mental Acuity
Strength
Endurance
Orienteering
General Usable Skills
Hunting/Trapping
Cooking
Water
So let's just start at the top, and try to describe each one. Then, I will try to come up with a series of questions that should give you an idea of where you fall in the spectrum of preparedness, as observed by myself. I am not talking about becoming the ultimate warrior, so most of the markers that I am creating are applicable to both men and women.
Mental Acuity
This is your ability to analyze a situation and come to a logical and rational conclusion. You don't need to be trained in most areas of survivalism if you are just a generally sharp person who can use rules of science and logic to figure out a problem. Additionally, this also encompasses your ability to keep a calm head during times of extreme distress. If you lose it, and start acting like a fool, you will certainly die.
Can you use science and rational thinking to examine a situation?
Strength
Quite frankly, strength will be extremely necessary if you find yourself suddenly thrust into the wilderness. There may be situations in which you have to be able to pull yourself up off of a cliff. Or maybe a boulder has rolled on to a companion, and you need to be able to move it. Now, some lack of strength can be offset by intelligence (lever and pulley systems), but there may still be situations in which you have to act immediately and with great strength.
Can you do 15 chin ups?
Can you lift a two foot diameter boulder off of the ground?
Can you press at least 135 pounds over head?
Endurance
This would be the other half of the athletic spectrum. All the strength in the world will prove itself quickly useless if you suddenly need to run far and fast. I think that this domain is obvious, as many natural predators may be willing to chase you for more than a mile. Additionally, in the event of something like an erupting volcano, you may just need to flee. I suppose it is true that if a predator that is wildly faster than you (think cheetah) is coming upon you, you're sort of screwed. But if you're being chased by a group of roving cannibals or something, you may stand a chance if you can respond affirmatively to the following questions.
Can you run 6 miles without stopping?
Can you run 6 miles without water?
Can you climb a 30 foot rock face?
bonus: Can you run 100 meters in under 15 seconds?
Orienteering
Orienteering is really the ability to use a map and a compass to determine your location and a route to get where you want to go. In the case of a sudden disaster though, I assume that you won't have a local map and a compass on you, so this is more about the ability to use geographic landmarks and astronomical figures to determine your bearing and present location.
Can you draw a rough topographical map of everything within sight?
General Usable Skills
This encompasses all areas of survivalism that you ought to know beforehand, instead of trying to figure out on the fly with your mental acuity. Things such as how to use available materials to braid a rope, how to create an arrow head, and how to carve a spear using rocks. In the event of complete societal collapse, this may expand to include simple things such as how to build a chair, or dig a latrine.
Can you braid a 15 foot rope using grass and plants?
Can you create a temporary shelter using found wood?
Hunting/Trapping
This one is pretty obvious. If you find yourself living in wilderness, you'll need to be able to acquire food. You can get by for a while by foraging berries and edible plants (although, if you don't know how to choose edible plants, you can get yourself in trouble quickly), but eventually you will need to hunt or trap some game. Some of the other areas come in to play here as well, as you will probably need a spear or boomerang type thing in order to hunt.
Can you track game?
Can you accurately throw a boomerang device?
Can you create a trap for small game?
Cooking
If you manage to capture yourself an animal, do you know how to make it ready to eat? Some of cooking will depend on the availability of water. In the greater Phoenix-Tucson area, you can mostly assume that you won't have a great supply of water, so you'll have to cook everything on fire (instead of boiling).
Can you gut and dress an animal?
Can you build a fire using natural materials?
Water
Without water, you will die. Relatively quickly, too. There is a certain art to finding water in the desert, or maybe even in a place like a tropical island. On an island that gets rain, but does not have any real lakes or rivers, you will have to look first for plants that are designed to capture rain water in their leaves. If you can't find that, then you better know how to convert salt water to fresh water without the benefit of fire (assuming you don't know how to make a fire, or don't have a vessel to boil water in). There is a cool distilling method that involves one large tub with salt water, a small cup standing up in the middle of that water, and then a plastic sheet over the top of all of that with a small rock directly over the cup. You end up creating a very humid type atmosphere inside, and fresh water will condense on the ceiling plastic. Then, it will congregate and roll in towards the middle (due to the weight of the rock), and ultimately will drip in to the cup in the middle. Additionally, if the island gets rain, you can use certain obvious capture methods (mental acuity comes into play again). In the desert, finding water is significantly more difficult, and requires some basic common sense. The only hint I'll give you is you find a wash. After that, you're either going to be hiking forever, or digging forever. Your choice. There are also a certain few plants that can save you from immediate lack of water death, but I wouldn't count on them as a major source of water supply.
Can you find or make water?
More later...
I am attempting to separate out the various arenas of preparedness. I am not talking about being prepared for slight changes in the weather, or being prepared for a job interview. I am mostly talking about survivalism in the face of sudden catastrophic disaster. Something along the lines of a nuclear war, I suppose. In this instance, there are a few key areas that I think I should consider, and maybe try to improve on.
Mental Acuity
Strength
Endurance
Orienteering
General Usable Skills
Hunting/Trapping
Cooking
Water
So let's just start at the top, and try to describe each one. Then, I will try to come up with a series of questions that should give you an idea of where you fall in the spectrum of preparedness, as observed by myself. I am not talking about becoming the ultimate warrior, so most of the markers that I am creating are applicable to both men and women.
Mental Acuity
This is your ability to analyze a situation and come to a logical and rational conclusion. You don't need to be trained in most areas of survivalism if you are just a generally sharp person who can use rules of science and logic to figure out a problem. Additionally, this also encompasses your ability to keep a calm head during times of extreme distress. If you lose it, and start acting like a fool, you will certainly die.
Can you use science and rational thinking to examine a situation?
Strength
Quite frankly, strength will be extremely necessary if you find yourself suddenly thrust into the wilderness. There may be situations in which you have to be able to pull yourself up off of a cliff. Or maybe a boulder has rolled on to a companion, and you need to be able to move it. Now, some lack of strength can be offset by intelligence (lever and pulley systems), but there may still be situations in which you have to act immediately and with great strength.
Can you do 15 chin ups?
Can you lift a two foot diameter boulder off of the ground?
Can you press at least 135 pounds over head?
Endurance
This would be the other half of the athletic spectrum. All the strength in the world will prove itself quickly useless if you suddenly need to run far and fast. I think that this domain is obvious, as many natural predators may be willing to chase you for more than a mile. Additionally, in the event of something like an erupting volcano, you may just need to flee. I suppose it is true that if a predator that is wildly faster than you (think cheetah) is coming upon you, you're sort of screwed. But if you're being chased by a group of roving cannibals or something, you may stand a chance if you can respond affirmatively to the following questions.
Can you run 6 miles without stopping?
Can you run 6 miles without water?
Can you climb a 30 foot rock face?
bonus: Can you run 100 meters in under 15 seconds?
Orienteering
Orienteering is really the ability to use a map and a compass to determine your location and a route to get where you want to go. In the case of a sudden disaster though, I assume that you won't have a local map and a compass on you, so this is more about the ability to use geographic landmarks and astronomical figures to determine your bearing and present location.
Can you draw a rough topographical map of everything within sight?
General Usable Skills
This encompasses all areas of survivalism that you ought to know beforehand, instead of trying to figure out on the fly with your mental acuity. Things such as how to use available materials to braid a rope, how to create an arrow head, and how to carve a spear using rocks. In the event of complete societal collapse, this may expand to include simple things such as how to build a chair, or dig a latrine.
Can you braid a 15 foot rope using grass and plants?
Can you create a temporary shelter using found wood?
Hunting/Trapping
This one is pretty obvious. If you find yourself living in wilderness, you'll need to be able to acquire food. You can get by for a while by foraging berries and edible plants (although, if you don't know how to choose edible plants, you can get yourself in trouble quickly), but eventually you will need to hunt or trap some game. Some of the other areas come in to play here as well, as you will probably need a spear or boomerang type thing in order to hunt.
Can you track game?
Can you accurately throw a boomerang device?
Can you create a trap for small game?
Cooking
If you manage to capture yourself an animal, do you know how to make it ready to eat? Some of cooking will depend on the availability of water. In the greater Phoenix-Tucson area, you can mostly assume that you won't have a great supply of water, so you'll have to cook everything on fire (instead of boiling).
Can you gut and dress an animal?
Can you build a fire using natural materials?
Water
Without water, you will die. Relatively quickly, too. There is a certain art to finding water in the desert, or maybe even in a place like a tropical island. On an island that gets rain, but does not have any real lakes or rivers, you will have to look first for plants that are designed to capture rain water in their leaves. If you can't find that, then you better know how to convert salt water to fresh water without the benefit of fire (assuming you don't know how to make a fire, or don't have a vessel to boil water in). There is a cool distilling method that involves one large tub with salt water, a small cup standing up in the middle of that water, and then a plastic sheet over the top of all of that with a small rock directly over the cup. You end up creating a very humid type atmosphere inside, and fresh water will condense on the ceiling plastic. Then, it will congregate and roll in towards the middle (due to the weight of the rock), and ultimately will drip in to the cup in the middle. Additionally, if the island gets rain, you can use certain obvious capture methods (mental acuity comes into play again). In the desert, finding water is significantly more difficult, and requires some basic common sense. The only hint I'll give you is you find a wash. After that, you're either going to be hiking forever, or digging forever. Your choice. There are also a certain few plants that can save you from immediate lack of water death, but I wouldn't count on them as a major source of water supply.
Can you find or make water?
More later...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Crossfit?
So it looks pretty promising that in about 6 months I'll be able to move in to a nice little house in the Coronado neighborhood. Just down the street is Core CrossFit, and lately, I have to admit that I have considered joining up.
CrossFit is sort of hard to explain, I think, and their website is not really much help either. The main page says the following things under the heading of "What Is CrossFit?"
I may swing by Core tomorrow and check out the facility. I am really only using the power rack at 24hr Fitness anyways, and that seems like a kind of silly way to spend $25 a month.
CrossFit is sort of hard to explain, I think, and their website is not really much help either. The main page says the following things under the heading of "What Is CrossFit?"
Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.
The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience.
The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind.
Basically, it appears to be a fairly high intensity program that utilizes some group work, and focuses on a lot of very interesting lifts. For instance, the core of the program seems to be Olympic style lifting, and they use the gymnast rings a lot (once you get really fit you can even progress to ring maneuvers, not just pullups and stuff).
I've been reading Strive to be Fergilicious lately, which is a blog apparently written by the daughter of the dude who started CrossFit or something. Anyways, that is largely inconsequential, the blog is hilarious and she is super cute, so I recommend it.
What was I saying? Ah yes, CrossFit. So they use Olympic movements (clean, jerk, snatch, squat, et al), gymnastic rings, and then some other old school "real world" strength moves (sledgehammer, high intensity plyometric moves, etc whatever. I can't tell if it is cheesy or not, because every website about it is super secretive and contains exactly 1 iota of information. I mean, if I could get like 11 or 12 iotas, I think that I'd be set. I have so far gotten most of my CrossFit information from people who HATE CrossFit, and I don't think that is a good marketing strategy.
Also, CrossFit chicks are totally hot:
Monday, February 15, 2010
Checking In
This weekend was my 25th birthday. Unfortunately, I was sick (and still sort of am now), so I did not get really to do very much. I did drink a little on Saturday night.
Anyways, my back also has been in quite a bit of pain. I am not entirely sure where this started, but it is deep of my right shoulder blade, and seems to exist anywhere underneath any part of the shoulder blade. Now, last Tuesday I did deadlifts, push press, and rows. I wonder if I started the issue at that time with a little muscle pull or something, and then exacerbated it later in the week with my coughing and sneezing (it hurts in a particular way whenever I sneeze). In any case, I feel like shit, and I'm obviously falling apart. I though that I was going to pass out a couple of times on Saturday when I moved wrong and my body throbbed. So I'm going to take it easy this week. It may also be due to stress, as work has been certifiably crazy lately, and I did not get that house that I really wanted.
Deadlifted 315, failed on 335 (I need to reduce my gut, as it very negatively affects my breathing during the setup for Deadlift).
Push Pressed 185 (went 115, 135, 155, 185), actually went up pretty easily, which felt great. I am going to start doing these more.
Anyways, my back also has been in quite a bit of pain. I am not entirely sure where this started, but it is deep of my right shoulder blade, and seems to exist anywhere underneath any part of the shoulder blade. Now, last Tuesday I did deadlifts, push press, and rows. I wonder if I started the issue at that time with a little muscle pull or something, and then exacerbated it later in the week with my coughing and sneezing (it hurts in a particular way whenever I sneeze). In any case, I feel like shit, and I'm obviously falling apart. I though that I was going to pass out a couple of times on Saturday when I moved wrong and my body throbbed. So I'm going to take it easy this week. It may also be due to stress, as work has been certifiably crazy lately, and I did not get that house that I really wanted.
Deadlifted 315, failed on 335 (I need to reduce my gut, as it very negatively affects my breathing during the setup for Deadlift).
Push Pressed 185 (went 115, 135, 155, 185), actually went up pretty easily, which felt great. I am going to start doing these more.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Goals Re-Stated
Goals, stated more appropriately:
Deadlift twice my bodyweight.
Squat twice my bodyweight.
Overhead Press 1.25 times my bodyweight.
To make the math simple, let's say that I weigh 200 pounds. This would be a 400 lb deadlift, 400 lb squat, and a 250 lb overhead press. That last one will be the hardest for me, even though it's the lowest goal of them all. I'm within 85 lbs of the deadlift goal. I am probably about 175 lbs from the squat. I think that I will be able to move that squat up significantly in about three months when I am hopefully more comfortable in my technique. The overhead press will be hard because I've always been lacking in shoulder strength, and I used to avoid doing shoulder stuff. The deadlift is pretty much a foregone conclusion in my mind, frankly.
Deadlift twice my bodyweight.
Squat twice my bodyweight.
Overhead Press 1.25 times my bodyweight.
To make the math simple, let's say that I weigh 200 pounds. This would be a 400 lb deadlift, 400 lb squat, and a 250 lb overhead press. That last one will be the hardest for me, even though it's the lowest goal of them all. I'm within 85 lbs of the deadlift goal. I am probably about 175 lbs from the squat. I think that I will be able to move that squat up significantly in about three months when I am hopefully more comfortable in my technique. The overhead press will be hard because I've always been lacking in shoulder strength, and I used to avoid doing shoulder stuff. The deadlift is pretty much a foregone conclusion in my mind, frankly.
Monday, Deadlift
Deadlift
135 X 5
185 X 3
225 X 3
245 X 1
275 X 1
295 X 1
305 X 1
315 X 1
275 X 1
275 X 1
225 X 1
Shrugs
135 X 5
185 X 3
225 X 3
225 X 3
225 X 3
Bent Rows
135 X 5
185 X 3
225 X 3
225 X 3
Felt really good today. Back was not a limiting factor until 305 pounds. I noticed that even with straps, my grip is a weak point, as is my lower half form (probably because I've been doing top partials for a long time, but not full deads). Also, I'm fat, so my big fat stomach gets in the way and makes my form kind of awkward. I think that after I got over my fear of deadlifting with a rounded back (watch ANY video of top deadlifters, they all use a round back), my strength sort of jumped a bit and my back actually hurt less the next day. Let's see how I feel tomorrow.
135 X 5
185 X 3
225 X 3
245 X 1
275 X 1
295 X 1
305 X 1
315 X 1
275 X 1
275 X 1
225 X 1
Shrugs
135 X 5
185 X 3
225 X 3
225 X 3
225 X 3
Bent Rows
135 X 5
185 X 3
225 X 3
225 X 3
Felt really good today. Back was not a limiting factor until 305 pounds. I noticed that even with straps, my grip is a weak point, as is my lower half form (probably because I've been doing top partials for a long time, but not full deads). Also, I'm fat, so my big fat stomach gets in the way and makes my form kind of awkward. I think that after I got over my fear of deadlifting with a rounded back (watch ANY video of top deadlifters, they all use a round back), my strength sort of jumped a bit and my back actually hurt less the next day. Let's see how I feel tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Wednesday, a lil of everything
What DIDN'T I do tonight?
BTN Presses
Front Squats
Back Squats
Hanging Cleans
BTN Presses
Front Squats
Back Squats
Hanging Cleans
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Sunday - Partial Deadlift
Got the itch, but was running short on time as I needed to get to my brother's house for dinner. Decided to do partial deadlifts.
115 X 5
135 X 7
185 X 3
205 X 1
225 X 2
245 X 1 (began wearing wrist straps, wore them for the rest of the sets)
255 X 1
265 X 1
275 X 1
285 X 1
295 X 1
Felt great. Sort of started to feel the strain in my lower back at 275, but took an extra minute of rest time and stretched out a little. Felt like new! I was worried because my back started to feel really engorged and mildly painful after the set with 135, but that went away after about 245, and it just started feeling tight and powerful, which was good for my psyche. Someone had left a resistance band on the rack, so I stood on it and did some mock deads to try to remind myself of good form. This actually helped quite a bit.
After the partial deads, I left my straps on, stripped the bar down to 225 and did triples of shrugs. Basically, I completed a partial dead to standing position, then did three shrugs. I did this three times, for 9 total shrugs.
225 X 3
225 X 3
225 X 3
At this point, I was about 15 minutes behind schedule, so I called it a night. Didn't have the pump that I'm used to from my past work with bodybuilding style training. I am okay with this though, because I felt much more satisfied, like I had actually accomplished something with my time this night. Also, it is nice to be so close to 300 on something, even if it is just partial deads. I will try to do full deads next week and see if I can break 275. 300 would be fantastic.
Ate poorly. Or rather, I did okay until dinner at my brother's. Had some steak fajitas with four taco sized tortillas, some chips and salsa, some guacamole, and then a small piece of pie and a scoop of ice cream for dessert. Also had one small piece of peanut brittle.
115 X 5
135 X 7
185 X 3
205 X 1
225 X 2
245 X 1 (began wearing wrist straps, wore them for the rest of the sets)
255 X 1
265 X 1
275 X 1
285 X 1
295 X 1
Felt great. Sort of started to feel the strain in my lower back at 275, but took an extra minute of rest time and stretched out a little. Felt like new! I was worried because my back started to feel really engorged and mildly painful after the set with 135, but that went away after about 245, and it just started feeling tight and powerful, which was good for my psyche. Someone had left a resistance band on the rack, so I stood on it and did some mock deads to try to remind myself of good form. This actually helped quite a bit.
After the partial deads, I left my straps on, stripped the bar down to 225 and did triples of shrugs. Basically, I completed a partial dead to standing position, then did three shrugs. I did this three times, for 9 total shrugs.
225 X 3
225 X 3
225 X 3
At this point, I was about 15 minutes behind schedule, so I called it a night. Didn't have the pump that I'm used to from my past work with bodybuilding style training. I am okay with this though, because I felt much more satisfied, like I had actually accomplished something with my time this night. Also, it is nice to be so close to 300 on something, even if it is just partial deads. I will try to do full deads next week and see if I can break 275. 300 would be fantastic.
Ate poorly. Or rather, I did okay until dinner at my brother's. Had some steak fajitas with four taco sized tortillas, some chips and salsa, some guacamole, and then a small piece of pie and a scoop of ice cream for dessert. Also had one small piece of peanut brittle.
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