Today was the final day of 15's, and I "cheated" by doing all the exercises on my list. What that means is that instead of doing only bench press today, which I do every other workout by alternating that exercise with a barbell bench press, I did both the regular bench press and the barbell bench press. Technically, you're not supposed to do that, as the point is progressive load with one set per workout, but I wanted by final day of 15 to be a blow-out, especially since I'm going to take two days off from lifting now before starting in on the 10's.
So this morning was a bit intense, especially when doing big full-body exercises like squats, lunges, clean and pushes and dead lifts on the same day. I also finally remembered to try and do front squats instead of my normal squats (I'm really trying to mix it up so that my body is forced to adjust in different ways), and I just couldn't do them. I've never really done them before, so when I walked up to the bar I had to try and figure them out, which I couldn't. As I mounted the bar on my chest, I think I had the right positioning and form, but it felt really weird and I didn't feel comfortable doing the exercise at the weight I was supposed to. I quickly realized that I should have tried front squats sooner when I was still at a lower weight, so perhaps after this current round of HST I will.
But, not one to give up, I decided to try doing squats with dumbbells instead, something I did when we were moving cross country and still living in hotels between apartments. The gyms only had dumbbells, so I made due with them, which resulted in something I had not expected: despite the dumbbells being significantly lighter than the amount I did with regular barbell squats, they were challenging. Something about having the weight further forward forced my muscles to work differently than with squats AND they definitely forced me to use my core muscles more, which was cool. Then, the big surprise came when I went back to doing regular squats in the gym and found that my max weight quickly went up. My theory is that the dumbbell squats were challenging my body differently, and that allowed me to break through my previous squat weight ceiling. Good stuff.
Anyway, so the problem with doing dumbbell squats right now is that it's difficult to hold the 55 lb. dumbbells at shoulder height while I'm doing them. My arms and shoulders get tired well before my legs do, so the dumbbells start to slip and fall off my shoulders, especially might left shoulder. In fact, I'd say that 55 lbs. is about the max I'm going to be able to do, as I barely pulled off 10 squats with them today before I had to stop, rest, and try again (I did 7 more on my second set). So, I'm not going to continue with dumbbell squats this round of HST, but next time around, I'm going to make them part of the 15's.
I'm trying to work abs into the HST thing too by doing more hanging straight leg lifts with each workout. I think I started HST doing like 4, while today I did eight straight leg lifts before my abs gave out and I wrapped up with 10 more bent leg lifts (basically, you hang by the straps, bringing your knees up to your chest rather than lifting your legs straight up and keeping them straight in front of you). That said, I barely did 8, so I probably won't be able to progressively load much more.
A note for future rounds of HST, my bench press weight of 105 lbs. was too easy - I could have done several more than 15 reps, while my incline bench of 75 was just about perfect. Dumbbell chest of 45 lbs. was not bad, while dumbbell incline of 40 lbs. was too much (I wasn't able to to 15 reps straight through - perhaps this was partly do to this being my last chest exercise though and I was simply tired). Clean and press at 65 was a bit easy, but man my heart and core were feeling it by the end. Dead lift of 95 was too easy too; I should increase these next time... perhaps I'll try dropping only 4% from my max each work out on the next round. Calves were too easy too, but I hit them in other ways (running and jump rope) on my cardio days, so I'm not worried about them.
Weight today wearing all nylon gear was just under 136 lbs.
Monday, January 26, 2009
RPG's and Fallout 3
I'm officially sick of Fallout 3, but I'm not going to stop playing until it is finished. So obviously, I still like it, but there are a couple of aspects that are starting to bum me out.
The first is that you stop gaining levels at 20, which we hit a week ago. I should have known there was a level cap, but for some reason I thought it was 30, so when I hit 20 and that was it, I was especially dissapointed. I suppose it would have been a little better if I had expected it to end at 20, but even if I had, I think I would have been disappointed because we were only about half way through the game when we hit that level. And we were just playing through normally, not trying especially hard to get extra experience points. Granted, we were trying to solve most of the quests, but even so, maxing out when you are only half way through the game seems broken.
Anyway, so one important aspect of RPG's your character growing more powerful, mostly went away about a week ago. Yes, we can still find bobble heads and books that give some bonuses, but we also didn't realize that skills maxed out at 100 either, so many of ours have already been at 100 for over a week too. I think they should have balanced this better as maxing out has taken a big chunk of fun out of the game. The same thing happened to me when I played Baldur's Gate years ago; I was really enjoying the game, so much so that I was trying to get the most out of it by doing all the side quests and dungeon crawls, but then I hit the level cap right before entering the final city area (forget what it was called). I tried to keep playing to finish the game, but I just lost interest and never wrapped it up. Kinda sad.
The second aspect of the game that is bumming me out is the amount of time it is taking to finish the quests, largely because they have a lot of back and forth elements to them, where you travel to this location, then back, then back to that last location, then back. This is a problem with a lot of RPG's for me, and comparably Fallout 3 does a good job of keeping the quests interesting, with lots of story threads going at once which give the world a feeling of depth, but I guess I'm just looking at the amount of time spent on the game so far and feeling like it's too much. Honestly, I would have been happier if the game was about half as long.
Combine the time sink aspect with the level cap, and it feels like I'm putting a lot of time into the game still, but no longer progressing, which takes much of the fun out of it. At this point, I'm playing simply to finish the game and get the remaining achievements. That said, it's still a VERY good game that I would strongly recommend to anyone who is a fan of RPG's or who has wondered what it might be like to live in a post nuclear holocaust Washingon D.C.
The first is that you stop gaining levels at 20, which we hit a week ago. I should have known there was a level cap, but for some reason I thought it was 30, so when I hit 20 and that was it, I was especially dissapointed. I suppose it would have been a little better if I had expected it to end at 20, but even if I had, I think I would have been disappointed because we were only about half way through the game when we hit that level. And we were just playing through normally, not trying especially hard to get extra experience points. Granted, we were trying to solve most of the quests, but even so, maxing out when you are only half way through the game seems broken.
Anyway, so one important aspect of RPG's your character growing more powerful, mostly went away about a week ago. Yes, we can still find bobble heads and books that give some bonuses, but we also didn't realize that skills maxed out at 100 either, so many of ours have already been at 100 for over a week too. I think they should have balanced this better as maxing out has taken a big chunk of fun out of the game. The same thing happened to me when I played Baldur's Gate years ago; I was really enjoying the game, so much so that I was trying to get the most out of it by doing all the side quests and dungeon crawls, but then I hit the level cap right before entering the final city area (forget what it was called). I tried to keep playing to finish the game, but I just lost interest and never wrapped it up. Kinda sad.
The second aspect of the game that is bumming me out is the amount of time it is taking to finish the quests, largely because they have a lot of back and forth elements to them, where you travel to this location, then back, then back to that last location, then back. This is a problem with a lot of RPG's for me, and comparably Fallout 3 does a good job of keeping the quests interesting, with lots of story threads going at once which give the world a feeling of depth, but I guess I'm just looking at the amount of time spent on the game so far and feeling like it's too much. Honestly, I would have been happier if the game was about half as long.
Combine the time sink aspect with the level cap, and it feels like I'm putting a lot of time into the game still, but no longer progressing, which takes much of the fun out of it. At this point, I'm playing simply to finish the game and get the remaining achievements. That said, it's still a VERY good game that I would strongly recommend to anyone who is a fan of RPG's or who has wondered what it might be like to live in a post nuclear holocaust Washingon D.C.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Fatigued
I read it over and over, and I know it from lots of personal experience, you have to give your body time to rest, period. Today was one of those days where I could really feel that truism becuase I barely pulled off 10 minutes of level 14 elliptical before my legs were done. So I switched over to the rowing machine, which I haven't done in years, and after 5 minutes of that my legs and arms were done. Then I wandered over to the seated stationary bike and did five minutes before I finally got it through my thick head that I was done. None of my muscles are really sore, they are working fine, and my overall energy level is high (thus the strong desire to work out), but my muscles are simply fatigued. I just can't get a lot out of them, and I swear I can almost feel them breaking down as I push them to keep going (which is probably what's happening).
So, I had to make due with a crappy 20 minutes cardio work-out today. I probably should have just skipped the gym all together and given my body a break. Oh well. I have day six of HST lifting tomorrow, so I'll skip working out on Tuesday and give my body the break it needs.
Weighed in wearing a sweating cotton tshirt and was 237.
So, I had to make due with a crappy 20 minutes cardio work-out today. I probably should have just skipped the gym all together and given my body a break. Oh well. I have day six of HST lifting tomorrow, so I'll skip working out on Tuesday and give my body the break it needs.
Weighed in wearing a sweating cotton tshirt and was 237.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
VERY Boring: HST Day 5
Had dinner and drinks with C and J, joined by N later just for drinks, two nights ago, and consumed some carbs in beer and Chinese Food form, but I was pretty good. Drank a bit more than I should of for a work-out day, but didn't go overboard, and felt fine enough yesterday to hit the gym hard for some cardio, 10 minutes on the elliptical at level 15 (yes, I dropped down a level), then three sprints on the treadmill at 14 angle and 3.2 mph walking and 9.0 mph sprinting. I actually did the sprints sooner than usual, starting at 4 minutes, then doing the next at 8 and the next at 12... I almost decided to do another sprint at 15 or 16 minutes, but figured I shouldn't push it; there is a fine line between pushing it and going overboard so that you can't work-out the next day.
Finally, I finished off my workout with a couple minutes of jump-roping and jumping-jacks (100 of the later - not sure how many minutes of the first because the class-room was full and I had to do these in a corner without a clock). I'm still having a hard time doing the single leg jumping-jacks, but I'll get there.
Oh, I called in sick yesterday, as I really was bleah in the morning, but my work-out cleared the cobwebs out and I felt good afterwards... at least until we spent four hours at the DMV getting our licenses and attempting to get the car registered. Since she'd only been out of California for a couple of years, she was able to renew her license, but I've been gone longer, so I had to retake the driving exam, which I am happy to report I got a perfect on. Unlike most places, they don't make your license then and there, so I have a print-out temp. license and the real one is supposed to come in the mail at some point. I say we attempted to register the car because after two hours waiting in line and doing paper-work, it turns out it financially makes more sense to just sell the damn thing with out-of-states plates still on it. Waste of time.
Afterward, we ran by the Apple Store to see if they would replace my iPhone with a cracked screen, and they won't. I'm going to try asking an old friend who apparently works at an Apple Store in Palo Alto if he can do anything, but I'll probably have to live with it or find another route to get it repaired.
Last night we went over to T and L's place for dinner and drinks. P and R met us there too, and we had a... well, lovely time. Fun conversation, not entirely about video games either, good food, the girls got along great and we took a look at their rooftop deck which was awesome. Hopefully, we'll be hanging out with them more.
Of course, I again ate carbs, in fact I positively splurged when they served a fudge cake with ice cream on top. Definitely a cheat day. So I made sure to really hit the gym hard this morning on my 5th HST workout day.
It was crowded at the gym again, but I managed to work all the exercises in. Only did 5 minutes at level 15 on the elliptical, as my legs were still feeling yesterday's sprints. The assisted pull-up was perfect, where I"m just starting to find the last couple hard, the clean and push was great in that my core was really feeling it, and the squats felt very nice. I'd meant to do front squats today, but I plumb forgot. Maybe next time.
I wrapped up with 10 minutes waling at 14 angle and 3.2 on the treadmill, doing a minute of really long strides at the end, and this really go my heart rate up. Then I got on a bike to wait for E to finish her Yoga class. On the way back to the apartment we ran into a girl that lives on our floor, and we introduced ourselves to Kate.
The big bummer is that my wireless headphones seem to be dying. I can't get the base unit to charge anymore :(. I need to figure out if I can mix and match one of the other pairs I have in because I really don't like having wired headphones on at the gym (they get caught up on everything).
Weight today 236 (down two pounds... felt a bit dehydrated today, so I'm guess this is a combination of water-weight lost and the fact that I was wearing all nylon, which is lighter than the sweaty cotton shirts and underwear I often have on when I weigh in). We'll see if this weight lasts for a few days.
Finally, I finished off my workout with a couple minutes of jump-roping and jumping-jacks (100 of the later - not sure how many minutes of the first because the class-room was full and I had to do these in a corner without a clock). I'm still having a hard time doing the single leg jumping-jacks, but I'll get there.
Oh, I called in sick yesterday, as I really was bleah in the morning, but my work-out cleared the cobwebs out and I felt good afterwards... at least until we spent four hours at the DMV getting our licenses and attempting to get the car registered. Since she'd only been out of California for a couple of years, she was able to renew her license, but I've been gone longer, so I had to retake the driving exam, which I am happy to report I got a perfect on. Unlike most places, they don't make your license then and there, so I have a print-out temp. license and the real one is supposed to come in the mail at some point. I say we attempted to register the car because after two hours waiting in line and doing paper-work, it turns out it financially makes more sense to just sell the damn thing with out-of-states plates still on it. Waste of time.
Afterward, we ran by the Apple Store to see if they would replace my iPhone with a cracked screen, and they won't. I'm going to try asking an old friend who apparently works at an Apple Store in Palo Alto if he can do anything, but I'll probably have to live with it or find another route to get it repaired.
Last night we went over to T and L's place for dinner and drinks. P and R met us there too, and we had a... well, lovely time. Fun conversation, not entirely about video games either, good food, the girls got along great and we took a look at their rooftop deck which was awesome. Hopefully, we'll be hanging out with them more.
Of course, I again ate carbs, in fact I positively splurged when they served a fudge cake with ice cream on top. Definitely a cheat day. So I made sure to really hit the gym hard this morning on my 5th HST workout day.
It was crowded at the gym again, but I managed to work all the exercises in. Only did 5 minutes at level 15 on the elliptical, as my legs were still feeling yesterday's sprints. The assisted pull-up was perfect, where I"m just starting to find the last couple hard, the clean and push was great in that my core was really feeling it, and the squats felt very nice. I'd meant to do front squats today, but I plumb forgot. Maybe next time.
I wrapped up with 10 minutes waling at 14 angle and 3.2 on the treadmill, doing a minute of really long strides at the end, and this really go my heart rate up. Then I got on a bike to wait for E to finish her Yoga class. On the way back to the apartment we ran into a girl that lives on our floor, and we introduced ourselves to Kate.
The big bummer is that my wireless headphones seem to be dying. I can't get the base unit to charge anymore :(. I need to figure out if I can mix and match one of the other pairs I have in because I really don't like having wired headphones on at the gym (they get caught up on everything).
Weight today 236 (down two pounds... felt a bit dehydrated today, so I'm guess this is a combination of water-weight lost and the fact that I was wearing all nylon, which is lighter than the sweaty cotton shirts and underwear I often have on when I weigh in). We'll see if this weight lasts for a few days.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
HST Day 4
This morning's work-out went great! I think my body has mostly adjusted to low-carb now and not using the NO-Xplode feels much MUCH better. About half an hour before going to the gym I had lots of water (need to rehydrate after a good night's sleep), a cup of green tea (two bags), and a small serving of Wheat Germ mixed with one scoop of vanilla whey protein (about 20 grams of protein). Then, I took 8 BCAA capsules (4.4 grams of BCAA and 200 milligrams of caffeine) right before walking out the door.
Started this morning with a 5 minutes warm-up on the elliptical machine at level 16, and then after putting on my work-out gloves, walked over to the main free weight room where I realized that there were a LOT more people working out than usual, like probably twice what you would see on a normal day. I looked at my lifting chart, saw I was starting off with barbell bench presses at 40, looked up to find those weights and a bench to do them on, and found that they were already taken. This was my story for the entire work-out today; check chart for weight, and then wander around trying to find it or a machine that was not already taken. For most of the lifts I was able to improvise, like I used 25 lbs plates to do my Arnold Dumbbell Press , but in a few cases I just had to wait for people to finish, which was annoying.
Hopefully, today was a fluke and there won't be this many people at the gym in the mornings in the future. It will also help as I get to the second half of my HST lifting plan, as the weights I use will go up and therefore not be the ones EVERYONE else also wants to use too.
Anyway, no problems today with my lifting plan except for two exercises:
1. 15 Lunges (which I did with 25 lb. plates in each hand rather than dumbbells) was fucking hard! Not looking forward to my next lunge working.
2. Palms Down Wrist Curls hurt a little so I stopped at 13 reps. I hurt my right wrist a few weeks back while trying to put spin on a bowling ball using muscle rather than leverage, and it hasn't quite healed yet. It's mostly doesn't bother me, but when I started to feel it towards the end of this exercise, I figured I'd listen to my body and hopefully avoid an injury.
Beyond that, everything went very well. I left the gym almost wanting more, but I know better than to push it. And hopefully my legs won't be destroyed again from the lunges and I'll be able to do some cardio tomorrow.
Random thoughts:
I love Wheat Germ. On a low carb diet, this stuff does a great job of not only giving you a good amount of protein and a feeling of fullness, but it also helps keep you regular. I highly recommend mixing Wheat Germ in with your morning protein shake.
I really like having some carbs in the form of fruits right after my work-outs. I generally eat a banana and some handfulls of blueberries. This much fruit does not knock me out of ketosis and I think it helps my muscles recover faster than they would without any carbs. And in general I recommend eating blueberries, as they may not only help you physically, but they may also help you mentally too! Check this blueberry article out.
I forgot to check my weight this morning. I'm such a dumbkoff.
Started this morning with a 5 minutes warm-up on the elliptical machine at level 16, and then after putting on my work-out gloves, walked over to the main free weight room where I realized that there were a LOT more people working out than usual, like probably twice what you would see on a normal day. I looked at my lifting chart, saw I was starting off with barbell bench presses at 40, looked up to find those weights and a bench to do them on, and found that they were already taken. This was my story for the entire work-out today; check chart for weight, and then wander around trying to find it or a machine that was not already taken. For most of the lifts I was able to improvise, like I used 25 lbs plates to do my Arnold Dumbbell Press , but in a few cases I just had to wait for people to finish, which was annoying.
Hopefully, today was a fluke and there won't be this many people at the gym in the mornings in the future. It will also help as I get to the second half of my HST lifting plan, as the weights I use will go up and therefore not be the ones EVERYONE else also wants to use too.
Anyway, no problems today with my lifting plan except for two exercises:
1. 15 Lunges (which I did with 25 lb. plates in each hand rather than dumbbells) was fucking hard! Not looking forward to my next lunge working.
2. Palms Down Wrist Curls hurt a little so I stopped at 13 reps. I hurt my right wrist a few weeks back while trying to put spin on a bowling ball using muscle rather than leverage, and it hasn't quite healed yet. It's mostly doesn't bother me, but when I started to feel it towards the end of this exercise, I figured I'd listen to my body and hopefully avoid an injury.
Beyond that, everything went very well. I left the gym almost wanting more, but I know better than to push it. And hopefully my legs won't be destroyed again from the lunges and I'll be able to do some cardio tomorrow.
Random thoughts:
I love Wheat Germ. On a low carb diet, this stuff does a great job of not only giving you a good amount of protein and a feeling of fullness, but it also helps keep you regular. I highly recommend mixing Wheat Germ in with your morning protein shake.
I really like having some carbs in the form of fruits right after my work-outs. I generally eat a banana and some handfulls of blueberries. This much fruit does not knock me out of ketosis and I think it helps my muscles recover faster than they would without any carbs. And in general I recommend eating blueberries, as they may not only help you physically, but they may also help you mentally too! Check this blueberry article out.
I forgot to check my weight this morning. I'm such a dumbkoff.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Supplement mixing
I've been taking No-Xplode as a supplement on an empty stomach about 30 minutes before my workouts for over a week, but today I decided to skip this stuff to see if I noticed any change, and I found that my work-out went a little better. It's hard to describe, but I just felt more connected to my body and less head-rushy when my heartrate went up. I originally thought the problem was my switch to low carb, but thinking back, I'd couldn't recall feeling quite this way ever before, and after reading an article on how you shouldn't mix NO-Xplode with caffeine, I decided to try skipping it today. My work-out, even though I was a bit tired, felt a lot better. I'm not sure why that is (could be a one time fluke - I'll know for sure after a couple more work-outs), but I'm guessing that it is in part due to the amount of caffeine in No-Xplode, an amount which the manufacturer won't disclose. Yes, you read that right, they actually refuse to say. This is actually what their website's FAQ says:
"Q: How much caffeine is in N.O.-XPLODE™?
A: The amount of caffeine in N.O.-XPLODE™ cannot be disclosed due to the fact that it’s part of one of the proprietary complexes that make up the complete N.O.-XPLODE™ formula, namely the Ener-Tropic Xplosion complex, which contains methylxanthine, a specific form of caffeine."
Seriously?!? You won't say how much caffeine you put in your supplement which I'm taking in the hopes of improving my work-outs and ultimately my health? Wow, well fuck you then!
Yeah, the way it was making me feel was a little like when I've had too much caffeine, which is possible given that I often drink green tea to wake up before my work-outs and take a BCAA supplement that also has caffeine added, which definitely give me a nice pump, a pump people also describe getting with NO-Xplode. But yeah, perhaps twice the pump is not a good thing! Still, I'm not sure it was that exactly. But I do know that whatever it was that was making me feel kinda funky during my workouts, I definitely wasn't enjoying it, and it definitely went away when I didn't take NO-Xpode. And given the totally unhelpful data on the manufacturer's web-site, I'm probably never going to know if it was the caffeine or not, but I do know that I'm never buying this stuff, or any other BSN product, again!
Boring work-out-log-stuff: This morning I did 10 minutes, five forward and five reverse, on the elliptical machine at level 16, then about 2 minutes at 3.4 mph and 14 angle on the treadmill, but I got off the treadmill when I could feel my leg muscles were still tired from yesterday's sprints. I wanted them to be somewhat rested for lunges on day 4 of HST tomorrow, so, I moved over to the stationary bike and did 10 minutes at level 9 to 11 on that instead (which brought my heart rate up to the mid 130's, perfect!), followed by two minutes of jump-rope, two minutes of high intensity jumping-jacks and 20 straight front leg-kicks (the sort of sprinting exercise to top everything off, but which you want to do in a room by yourself because you look silly doing them).
Today I was exactly 238 (down a little from the 238 1/2 or so on the previous days).
"Q: How much caffeine is in N.O.-XPLODE™?
A: The amount of caffeine in N.O.-XPLODE™ cannot be disclosed due to the fact that it’s part of one of the proprietary complexes that make up the complete N.O.-XPLODE™ formula, namely the Ener-Tropic Xplosion complex, which contains methylxanthine, a specific form of caffeine."
Seriously?!? You won't say how much caffeine you put in your supplement which I'm taking in the hopes of improving my work-outs and ultimately my health? Wow, well fuck you then!
Yeah, the way it was making me feel was a little like when I've had too much caffeine, which is possible given that I often drink green tea to wake up before my work-outs and take a BCAA supplement that also has caffeine added, which definitely give me a nice pump, a pump people also describe getting with NO-Xplode. But yeah, perhaps twice the pump is not a good thing! Still, I'm not sure it was that exactly. But I do know that whatever it was that was making me feel kinda funky during my workouts, I definitely wasn't enjoying it, and it definitely went away when I didn't take NO-Xpode. And given the totally unhelpful data on the manufacturer's web-site, I'm probably never going to know if it was the caffeine or not, but I do know that I'm never buying this stuff, or any other BSN product, again!
Boring work-out-log-stuff: This morning I did 10 minutes, five forward and five reverse, on the elliptical machine at level 16, then about 2 minutes at 3.4 mph and 14 angle on the treadmill, but I got off the treadmill when I could feel my leg muscles were still tired from yesterday's sprints. I wanted them to be somewhat rested for lunges on day 4 of HST tomorrow, so, I moved over to the stationary bike and did 10 minutes at level 9 to 11 on that instead (which brought my heart rate up to the mid 130's, perfect!), followed by two minutes of jump-rope, two minutes of high intensity jumping-jacks and 20 straight front leg-kicks (the sort of sprinting exercise to top everything off, but which you want to do in a room by yourself because you look silly doing them).
Today I was exactly 238 (down a little from the 238 1/2 or so on the previous days).
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Stuff, Day 3 HST and Low Carb
Turned out that the lunges I complained about on Day 2 really kicked my ass, as in made my ass hurt like it had been kicked over and over and over by some sort of sadistic soccer player. When I woke up the next day I was definitely hurting like I had not hurt for awhile, so I decided to take the day off from the gym to let my body heal. Days where you don't go to the gym are a bit odd because without aerobic rush you get from a workout, you don't quite wake up completely until much later in the day.
And on the day I took off I very rarely left the couch because I was busy playing Fallout 3 with the little woman, who has really gotten into it since my last mention of it. Yes, we pretty much played games ALL day! We only got up for a little while to shower, do some cleaning, go down to the store to grab food for dinner and to cook. I think she also got up to do some laundry. I'm actually a bit disgusted by spending so much time in front of a game, but it was pretty fun and holy crap the cost vs. entertainment time is crazy good. We haven't spent this little money on a weekend... well, probably ever! Even so, I don't want to spend all our time playing games, even if we are enjoying them together. We live in a vibrant city now, with tons to do, so we need to make sure we take advantage of that.
Anyway, so yesterday was MLK day, and after spending part of the morning playing Fallout 3, I went to the gym and then later we drove down the Peninsula to have lunch with my grandmother and father. I was a bit worried that we would end up going somewhere I'd have to special order some low carb version of a plate, like a burger but with no bun, and that my grandmother would inquire as to why I was doing that, which would lead to me having to justify a low-carb diet to her, which wouldn't work and I'd be left feeling guilty because she would be left worrying about my health, but happily that didn't happen because we ended up in Max's, where they have a huge menu that includes a dish that is literally a one pound beef burger with brie cheese and no bun on a bed of greens (and potatoes, which I didn't eat). Wow, that was a long sentence, and wow, that was a perfect dish for my diet! Max's also had some non-sugar deserts, which tempted me, but I kept strong and didn't have any because I figured they were probably still high in carbs (like the sugar-free brownie... duh!). I was very close to getting some ice cream though...
After lunch, we hung out with my grandmother for a couple of hours before we hit the grocery store down there. Now we are lucky to have a good grocery store in our building, but it doesn't have quite the same selection as you find in the larger stores out in the suburbs, so we were able to pick up a few items we have been missing. For me, it was low carb ice cream and wheat germ. For her, it was pizza crust mix. We also hit Target for a few things we needed too. You know, after remembering that, I'm no longer sure we actually spent our least ever this weekend, but I could claim that since we went on Monday, it wasn't technically the weekend anymore. Whatever, even with the Monday expenditures, we've been good about spending this past couple weeks.
So, back to the boring part of this post, the day 3 of HST. Thanks to low-carb, yesterday morning was one of the hardest work-outs I can remember having. I started out with five minutes on the elliptical machine at level 16 to warm up, and already feeling low on energy. I felt fine through the chest and back lifts, but when I topped those off with pullups on the assisted lift machine, I found myself winded and struggling to find the energy to keep going. I literally felt levels of exhaustion like I usually only feel towards the end of a overly long work-out. Even my brain was struggling with what felt like extremely low blood sugar levels. But I pushed on, found enough Go to get me the next couple big muscle group/body exercises, squats and clean & presses, but man it was really hard. The end of my lifting consists of small muscle groups, like biceps, forearms and triceps, which didn't tax me too much, so I found enough energy to get on a stationary bike for five minutes at the end, but that was it. Working out while doing low-carb just sucks!
That general trend continued into this morning, in that I just don't have near the energy levels I have during my work-outs when I'm eating carbs. I woke up this morning and found that I felt great, as in no soreness left over from my lunges three days ago, nor the squats I did yesterday. So I went to the gym to do some cardio, starting with 10 minutes at level 16 on the elliptical machine (16 felt harder today than it ever has) and finishing with 15 minutes uphill (level 14) walking on the treadmill with two 15 second sprints at 9 mph. The lack of energy sucked, but there were two bright spots this morning:
The 1st is that Obama's inauguration was on TV, which was awesome. I didn't actually watch his swearing in there and then, I did that later at home with the woman, but watching the setup to it, with various leaders walking out on their way to the event, was a positive reminder that not only did our guy win, but that his win and his campaign are already historically significant events. I was reminded of my hope, or perhaps it's better to say that the hope I've had the audacity to feel again was stoked by what I saw, a record number of people out in the cold to see Obama sworn in as the President of the United States.
We watched the actual swearing in together, my arms around her, she holding her laptop on her lap (we watched in streamed live over the internet, as I couldn't get the TV to receive a clear broadcast signal - going to have to look into why that is) and crying. At one point, with Diane Finstein making the introductions at the podium, I looked out of our big windows at a beautiful day in the city and was very happy to be there, in that moment, in a city full of other Left-Coast San Francisco Democrats. Fuck Yeah!
Weight yesterday and today was 238.
Final Word: I've been taking fish oil supplements. I don't suggest taking them on an empty stomach before your workout as the burbs are horrible!
And on the day I took off I very rarely left the couch because I was busy playing Fallout 3 with the little woman, who has really gotten into it since my last mention of it. Yes, we pretty much played games ALL day! We only got up for a little while to shower, do some cleaning, go down to the store to grab food for dinner and to cook. I think she also got up to do some laundry. I'm actually a bit disgusted by spending so much time in front of a game, but it was pretty fun and holy crap the cost vs. entertainment time is crazy good. We haven't spent this little money on a weekend... well, probably ever! Even so, I don't want to spend all our time playing games, even if we are enjoying them together. We live in a vibrant city now, with tons to do, so we need to make sure we take advantage of that.
Anyway, so yesterday was MLK day, and after spending part of the morning playing Fallout 3, I went to the gym and then later we drove down the Peninsula to have lunch with my grandmother and father. I was a bit worried that we would end up going somewhere I'd have to special order some low carb version of a plate, like a burger but with no bun, and that my grandmother would inquire as to why I was doing that, which would lead to me having to justify a low-carb diet to her, which wouldn't work and I'd be left feeling guilty because she would be left worrying about my health, but happily that didn't happen because we ended up in Max's, where they have a huge menu that includes a dish that is literally a one pound beef burger with brie cheese and no bun on a bed of greens (and potatoes, which I didn't eat). Wow, that was a long sentence, and wow, that was a perfect dish for my diet! Max's also had some non-sugar deserts, which tempted me, but I kept strong and didn't have any because I figured they were probably still high in carbs (like the sugar-free brownie... duh!). I was very close to getting some ice cream though...
After lunch, we hung out with my grandmother for a couple of hours before we hit the grocery store down there. Now we are lucky to have a good grocery store in our building, but it doesn't have quite the same selection as you find in the larger stores out in the suburbs, so we were able to pick up a few items we have been missing. For me, it was low carb ice cream and wheat germ. For her, it was pizza crust mix. We also hit Target for a few things we needed too. You know, after remembering that, I'm no longer sure we actually spent our least ever this weekend, but I could claim that since we went on Monday, it wasn't technically the weekend anymore. Whatever, even with the Monday expenditures, we've been good about spending this past couple weeks.
So, back to the boring part of this post, the day 3 of HST. Thanks to low-carb, yesterday morning was one of the hardest work-outs I can remember having. I started out with five minutes on the elliptical machine at level 16 to warm up, and already feeling low on energy. I felt fine through the chest and back lifts, but when I topped those off with pullups on the assisted lift machine, I found myself winded and struggling to find the energy to keep going. I literally felt levels of exhaustion like I usually only feel towards the end of a overly long work-out. Even my brain was struggling with what felt like extremely low blood sugar levels. But I pushed on, found enough Go to get me the next couple big muscle group/body exercises, squats and clean & presses, but man it was really hard. The end of my lifting consists of small muscle groups, like biceps, forearms and triceps, which didn't tax me too much, so I found enough energy to get on a stationary bike for five minutes at the end, but that was it. Working out while doing low-carb just sucks!
That general trend continued into this morning, in that I just don't have near the energy levels I have during my work-outs when I'm eating carbs. I woke up this morning and found that I felt great, as in no soreness left over from my lunges three days ago, nor the squats I did yesterday. So I went to the gym to do some cardio, starting with 10 minutes at level 16 on the elliptical machine (16 felt harder today than it ever has) and finishing with 15 minutes uphill (level 14) walking on the treadmill with two 15 second sprints at 9 mph. The lack of energy sucked, but there were two bright spots this morning:
The 1st is that Obama's inauguration was on TV, which was awesome. I didn't actually watch his swearing in there and then, I did that later at home with the woman, but watching the setup to it, with various leaders walking out on their way to the event, was a positive reminder that not only did our guy win, but that his win and his campaign are already historically significant events. I was reminded of my hope, or perhaps it's better to say that the hope I've had the audacity to feel again was stoked by what I saw, a record number of people out in the cold to see Obama sworn in as the President of the United States.
We watched the actual swearing in together, my arms around her, she holding her laptop on her lap (we watched in streamed live over the internet, as I couldn't get the TV to receive a clear broadcast signal - going to have to look into why that is) and crying. At one point, with Diane Finstein making the introductions at the podium, I looked out of our big windows at a beautiful day in the city and was very happy to be there, in that moment, in a city full of other Left-Coast San Francisco Democrats. Fuck Yeah!
Weight yesterday and today was 238.
Final Word: I've been taking fish oil supplements. I don't suggest taking them on an empty stomach before your workout as the burbs are horrible!
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