Tag Archives: blurb

Fitness, Personal

Downtime from the Gym, Devil is Due for Repairs.

Comments (1)

My car, Devil, is approaching it’s 60,000 mile service quickly so I have to minimize my driving until I get everything done…  This also hurts me from going to the gym on the other side of town. I would rather not chance my engine going at a bad time due a strained belt or anything of that sort. I will probably do a home regimen of sit-up, push-ups, and other things to keep me in good shape. Expect some logs of me doing those and tracking my progress until I can get Devil in proper shape.

What all is Devil going to need at 60,000 miles? Let’s see…

  • New AC condenser belt
  • New timing belt
  • New cam seals
  • New crank seal
  • New valve cover seal
  • New timing tensioner spring
  • New alternator/fan belt
  • New fuel filter
  • New air filter
  • New spark plugs
  • New spark plug wires
  • New hoses
  • Radiator flush and reload with Redline Oil’s Water Wetter for the coming summer season
  • New water pump
  • Oil change with Mobil 1 Synthetic 10W-30
  • Gear oil change to Mobil 1 Synthetic for even smoother gear changes

From there… that should keep me in good shape until I need a new clutch. I assume I will probably need one before I head out to Texas A&M Commerce… I will probably stick with a stock one, until I do some serious power modifications that warrant a heavier clutch. If Project Fireseal becomes a reality, I expect to hold off on power mods for a long while and focus on safety modifications for both Devil and Fireseal slowly. Devil is due for some new “shoes” and I have my eyes set on a nice set of flat black wheels with a wider contact patch for tires (15″ x 6″) which I hope to get before the move to Commerce.

Fitness

Workout Log 01/17/2008

Comments (0)

I took it easy on myself today. A short run on the stride machine, then a brisk set of strength training and that was it. I had did work on my arms, chest and lower back today to give my upper back and abs a break from Tuesday’s routine. Today wrung me out pretty good from the stride machine as my average heart rate is now about 165 beats a minute. It seems I am slowly strengthening my heart with my workouts and the higher rate of oxygen intake is definitely a big help. Proper breathing can do such wonders if used properly.

Stride Machine

  • Duration: 25 minutes + 5 minute cool down
  • Resistance Level 6
  • 321 Calories
  • 2.72 miles

Incline Press Machine

  • 35 lbs
  • 2 sets
  • 12 reps each

Arm Curls

  • 40 lbs
  • 2 sets
  • 11 reps each

Back Extensions

  • 2 sets
  • 5 reps each
Fitness

Workout Log 01/15/2008

Comments (0)

Total Body Crossramp

  • 30 minutes + 5 minute cool down
  • Crossramp Level 6
  • Resistance Level 8
  • Cool down resistance Level 6
  • 378 Calories
  • 3.19 miles

Ab Crunches

  • 3 sets
  • 15 reps a set
  • 45 total reps

Rowing Machine

  • 45 lbs resistance
  • 2 sets
  • 12 reps a set
  • 24 total rep

I am really impressed with tonight’s progress. It was a quick 1 hour session but it worked me through the ringer. I was glad to have taken in about 38 grams of protein from a Clif Builders Bar and a protein shake made with soy milk for snacks for today. Tore up my biceps, abs, and legs tonight so I feel great. Stretching before doing my routine has been great despite the “macho myth” that it does nothing… It just helps me unlock my blood flow and gets the blood a little warmed up before I do my run. My average heart rate is going up apparently… I was averaging at 170 beats per minute during my run after 5 minutes of warming up on the total body crossramp machine. That’s really amazing for me, considering that on the intense portions of my work out I was topping out at 177 beats per minute. I think I am finally reaching the stage of where I wish to be at and damn does it feel great!

Fitness, Personal

Change of Pace – Staggering my Workout until I am 100%

Comments (0)

My leg is still acting up, but it is recovering nicely. Today, I could feel some pain from walking or running, almost as if it felt like it was dislocated. So I just need to back off and let my body heal properly. My body is slowly returning to how I was at age 19, but with much more strength from properly feeding myself rather than the undernourishment business I was doing to myself. It’s amazing what proper eating and rest can do. Tomorrow, I should be hitting it the gym with another session. It should be more running for me, provided things go right with work at the office letting me out on a timely fashion.

Fitness

Workout Log 01/12/2008

Comments (1)

Crossramp Machine

  • Duration: 30 minutes + 5 minute cool down
  • Crossramp Level 6
  • Resistance Level 8
  • Cool down resistance – Level 6
  • 358 calories
  • 3.05 miles

Today’s regimen was more of a recovery set as my leg has not felt well for the past few days. It felt like I had dislocated my leg and it made the one essential maneuver for driving a painful experience. This session was brisk but powering to boot. Though the good bit of progress is that my body fat percentage is going down, meaning that there is muscle growth happening. I imagine that the majority of my muscular growth is from my legs due to how cardio centric my workout is. My heart rate is averaging at 160 beats per minute after the warm up phase of my running. That’s a good sign as the workouts are putting me at my ideal heart rate to strengthen the heart muscle tissue.

Fitness

Recovery – I think I tore something…

Comments (1)

So my hard session of cardio was great! I just didn’t feel the repercussions until now… My leg muscles are in a bit of uncomfortable pain. Tasks like doing pedal work to throw gears in my car or simply walking just felt a bit agonizing. I haven’t pin-pointed the pain, but my money is on probably my quads or hamstrings. I just need to let my body heal with proper nutrition that’s high in protein and also more sleep. I may just take a break and resume on Monday for the sake of taking care of my body.

UPDATE @ 9:47am: So sleep really revealed that I am actually a little banged up. My legs feel like they did a marathon run and would like not to do any more walking for the next few days. I can say I’ll definitely be taking a break until Monday to facilitate recovery and healing procedures. I haven’t felt this sort of “burn” for a while, it almost takes me back to my old marching band days when my director would say “Feel the burn and love the burn!!!” during our training. I am thankful for the support you all have given me, because it keeps me smiling even if I am a tad banged up.

Fitness

Christmas – At Ease

Comments (0)

Sunday, Monday, and today I am unable to go to the gym due to the holiday and my holiday shifts. It works out, because I tore a lot of leg muscle from Saturday with my cross step session. Family has been cheering me on for my progress and many of my clients from the office have taken notice about me “rapidly” losing weight. This has kept my spirits high and I am glad to see the fruits of my progress. I have been grateful for the whey protein that I have supplemented into my diet as a booster to my body’s healing needs, as my downtime for muscle recovery has gotten shorter from it. I am looking forward to returning to my routine by Wednesday and pushing forward with my training.

I have been a little more calorie conscious as far as food goes and I have been watching my intake. I do enjoy eating, but I don’t eat until I pass out… I have learned better portion control and the work outs have seems to make me want smaller meals at more often intervals. I don’t hunger as badly as I did before but I have been learning to eat before I am totally famished. My “caloric burn” calculation has kept me on par or with me going a wee bit over… hopefully I can get it to 80% of my daily requirements. Here are rough approximations of my “requirements” for calories:

  • Base calories: 2000 (for basic body functions)
  • 200 calories for bodily healing
  • 200 calories during work
  • 100 calories for driving (add an extra 50 – 75 depending on duration of drive time)
  • 350 average work-out calories
  • Total: 2850 calories required daily

Dietary changes have been at work so my intake has consisted of more grains and clean proteins. I am trying to increase dairy into my diet, because I have a feeling that it does help from memories of when I was working out and eating yogurt. I have minimized takeout to a last resort issue when possible. If I have a desire for take out, I try to stick to sandwich shop with minimal meat and dressing to keep clean. I have learned that “cheat days” are not bad, because they keep my morale up… I am happy with losing 5 lbs so far and hopefully I can be down in 140 to really make things count.

Fitness

Workout Log 12/22/2007

Comments (0)

Crossramp Machine

  • 60 minutes with 5 minutes of cooldown
  • Crossramp level 6
  • Resistance level 8, level 6 on cooldown
  • 585 calories
  • 5.27 miles

Torso Rotation Machine

  • 40 lbs resistance
  • 2 sets
  • 8 reps a set

Overhead Press Machine

  • 40 lbs
  • 2 sets
  • 9 reps a set

Rowing Machine

  • 40 lbs
  • 2 sets
  • 12 reps a set

Today’s session was rather impressive on the cardio end. The caloric burn off today was amazing and that was a pure hour of feeling and loving the burn. It was great to accomplish that much work from just 1 hour. On weigh-in before starting my session, I was at 150 lbs. That was exciting to see me lose 3 lbs from proper diet and exercise. Who’d have thought that adding something as simple as yogurt, more grains, and eating more often with smaller portions could achieve that end… I took it easy on the weights as I was just beat after that hard session of cardio.

Tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday I am out of action due to work and the gym’s holiday hours. Expect me to resume on Wednesday and carry onwards! Happy holidays to those who are fans of my progress!

Fitness

Workout Gap – 12/19 and 12/20

Comments (0)

Work has scheduled me early and doing the closer, so I lost out on 2 days: today and tomorrow. This works out great though, ’cause I am low on petrol until 12am Friday. Boo to random bills.

This, in turn, has become a mixed blessing. At the office, I have been watching the number of clients increase, but this in turn has caused an increase of my exposure to the illnesses of others. From some Chinese medicine enthusiasts, to exert excess energy while the risk of illness is high is not a good thing as it weakens the immunity. I have taken my 1,000mg of Vitamin C and a shot of Airborne in addition to my daily vitamin regimen. I hope that things will be well and I don’t catch anything from my clients.

Rant

Random Blurb and Ranting on a Cold, Rainy Day

Comments (1)

I have lived in a small suburb for damn near all my life, so I have seen some interesting things with my 23 years of living… One thing that amuses me about the majority of DFW area drivers is that rainy roads and rain instantly sets off the “panic mode” on many people’s minds and their driving gets offensive rather than defensive. Naturally, rain or adverse weather conditions makes drivers learn to bide their time and take a slower pace to avoid any additional delays from getting into an accident. I see the following annoyances with the drivers in my city panicking:

  • Failure to go below the speed limit
  • Reckless lane switching
  • Heedless stomping on the brakes at the absolute last second
  • Hydroplaning

Unfortunately for me being a roadster (tiny) manual transmission driver, this puts me and other fellow drivers at risk for some careless person to suddenly panic or behave poorly on the road. I know on my way to the gym at 8:00 that there were 2 multi-car pile-ups from some clown losing control of their vehicle. Here’s the irony of it all: it took place in a SCHOOL ZONE! A twenty mile-per-hour school zone. I can only imagine that the reactions of the asinine drivers must have been embarrassing to hold up school traffic from their short witted thoughts.

The last exam of the semester was today for me, boy… was it a doozy. The questions blitzed my mind and ransacked my memory banks to thoroughly exhaust me completely. I mean, the class was great but for some reason… that exam “kicked my ass”. I know that I actually enjoyed my classes this semester, but I wish I could have dumped more time on them… It sucks having to work and go to school, but that is the price to pay for freedom. With the holiday season here and the office spitting out more and more paperwork, I hope to increase my intake of hours to pay off things and maybe have a little money to spend on myself. I am not sure if I can afford to attend school next semester, but I may ask family if they are willing to make a plea bargain with me… I just don’t think it will bode well though, unfortunately… I pray that ’round tax time… I should be seeing a bigger return for working a whole year with a company that does not use shady methods to write off taxation.

For those wondering when the next “serious” reviews are coming… I will say that they will be hitting home soon. The next review will be over my feelings over the wildly popular Nintendo DS  game: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I will give Nintendo credit for making a wonderfully refreshing game that makes even the most casual fan feel at home. Keep watching the blog, I will have the review up once I get through the game or even beat it.