Completed.

So a week late, but here we are. My musings on PcP.

Three months of intense workouts, harsh diet control, and constant reminders to do ALL of this have taught me one, somewhat unexpected thing. Weight loss is MUCH easier than I though it was. Thinking back through this project, there where only a handfull of days, at most, when I REALLY didn't want to do my workout/diet/whatever. Even though at times I felt I would collapse, or was unable to continue with my daily life due to all that I was doing, I still felt as though PcP was dragging me along by the nose. As pounds started to melt off and muscles became more and more apparent, I came upon a startling realization...that I had kind of always known but never really fully understood the gravity of.

Our bodies have momentum. LOTS of it.

Every time I did a pushup, every plank I barely eeked my way thru, I could feel them all pushing me to do another, and all the ones I had not yet done where calling me to do them. Now, a week after my last workout. I can FEEL my body yearning for me to start again, to get that feeling that I'd somehow defeated the whole world. The last 3 months of my life are sitting there, staring at me, daring me to start again, DEFYING me to stay in this great shape, to continue pushing myself. Everything I do reminds me that I'm better than I was, and that I can keep it this way as long as I want.

Even better than that is the fact that I now feel as though I have all the knowledge I could need to stay here, or even get better. Very early in the program I realized that I should treat this like a class. I'm doing this less so to get the results that I have attained and more to learn how to do it whenever I want. With Patrick's help I understand the processes of the body better, and can keep pushing myself. Before I started PcP the biggest barrier to me being in shape was a lack of that knowledge. I didn't know which workouts would work, how to really make the muscles burn right, and I didn't particularly want to learn through trial and error This short little class has taught me more about the human body, how it moves and reacts, the way it WANTS to be strong, to do these things which seem hard. Things which would have made no sense at all 90 days ago are obvious facts now, and I wonder about how I missed them before.

But looking at this as a purely physical phenomenon is incorrect. The ability to overcome the barriers that life may throw in my way is a wonderful feeling. Lifting things and only THEN realizing how heavy they are gives a MASSIVE ego boost, leading to me walking around feeling good, and like I can take on the whole world. Before I had to think hard to do things, because "the hard way" was the one that required a large amount of physical strength and dexterity, but now that is the easy way. Picking up the couch to reach that thing you dropped is now easier than searching for a stick to fish it out. Climbing 15 feet up the wall to get into the locked house is now easier/faster than finding someone to let me in.

The world is my oyster, and now I can pick the pearl whenever I want.

To those of you recently joining the project, I congratulate you. You've made a wonderful choice. The road ahead looks rocky and difficult, full of bumps, twists, turns and harsh uphills, but when you look back you will realize that it's not Everest, but the hill behind your house with that delicious apple tree growing at the top, and you can climb up and have one ANY TIME YOU WANT.

The strength you gain from this is strength for life. Not to mention that you are going thru this change!

Ok everyone. I want you to all go out and do better than me. I know you have it in you, and you know you have it in you, and Patrick will help you get it out of you. Push hard, and the incredible feeling of being a superhuman will just FLOW into you.

Hercules, over and out.

gonna be late.

Sorry all. My REAL real final post will be a bit late. This last week has been a special kind of hard, and I haven't gotten all the stuff I want together. Final pics are going up now, but my real final post will have to wait untill Monday. SOOOOON.

Wooo!

So guys and gals. I'm done! Just finished my last workout (day 3, the one I remember as making me the most sore the next day) and man was it easy.

My final post...well, it'll take a while, cuz I'm being lazy and just don't have all the pictures together.

BUT...

I have one photo for you. It may be awfully scary, cuz it's my Haloween costume, and since there was some wondering of what I'd be...well...

Here it is. Talk to you all later, kids!

Supersets and the nature of Pain.

Ok....yesterday was my birthday and introduction to the Superset. This is a simultanious awsome and horrible experience. Because I had the day off, I could really PUSH and put energy into the workout, like I haven't always been able to do. The whole time I thought about the pain I was feeling (and there was a lot of it), and pushed and kept on going. Until the end. The Abs superset quite simply destroyed me. After the first sets of failure (which was a LOT faster than I expected) I simply couldn't move fast enough between Vsit and Plank formation. It wasn't just "roll over and go" but more of an arduous shouting at my muscles to turn me over so I can keep going. My roommate actually walked in between 2 sets, and saw me basically staring at the ceiling unable to move, and I told him I simply couldn't push myself into the 15 second rests. First time yet that I've been completely and utterly destroyed. I had to just.....lay there when I was all done. I literally couldn't move a single muscle.

Now, that sounds perfectly horrible, BUT, the upside. Fer the next 6 hours of that day, I felt INCREDIBLY euphoric. I pushed incredibly hard, and the body feedback was "Awesome!"

The following day however, has been odd. I've maintained that euphoria, but also the feeling that all my muscles are made out of bricks. I haven't been this consistently sore since the start of the program. Kinda the best way to end it that I can think of.

Anyway, now that I scared the newbies and exited the midrange and made my team nod their heads and say "oh yeah" I can go away. Workout time!

laters all

Hercules out.

B day!

Hello All.

Today I am 27, and what'd I get fer my birthday? ABS! MUAHAHAHAAA! Those lazy buggers are FINALLY peeking out. Took them long enough. Biggest achievement of the day, deciding not to really celebrate until next week so I can REALLY power thru this.

Also, Patrick has recommended it, but I'm hesitant to really go fer it, so I shall put this to a vote.

Should I shave my chest fer the last weeks of photos? Upside, you get to see better just how awesome my pecs are. Downside, I don't look like I have SUPERPECS when I have a shirt on, and I feel more of the breeze from the front.

anyway, besides birthday and being generally badass, there really isn't too much to report on. This last bit of workout IS a bit on the extreme side, but I've been enjoying the slight amp up on jumpropes and everything. SERIOUS burn in all bits that move, to the point where I really don't have the option to skip stretching. Feels teriffic tho.

Anyway, gonna bop on down the road. I'll get pics a goin'.

For Team Badass, Hercules signing out.

I am a ninja.

Ok.

I'm late in telling this story, but the wait is worth it. I locked myself out of my house yesterday when I went out to jumprope. I had nothing but shoes, shorts, and a jumprope on me, and I had to eat, shower, fix food and be at work in none too long. What'd I do? I though, and while I thought, I jumproped. I thought there where only 2 ways in, and both where thru a window in a second story house. I asked the neighbors who where a paint company if they would help, but they had no ladder, so I had to go fer plan B, which was stupid and....well, stupid. Plan B involved this corridor here, which is about 15 feet up in the air. I have to get into the clown house on the right, and the window is about 6 or 6 feet from the opening of the tunnel. I gotta spider climb between them allong these houses to my roommates window, pry it open with my fingers, and yank out the screen...then crawl into the window. This is why it was plan B. Cuz it's dumb. However, I did it. I channeled the spirit of spider man and successfully wall crawled.

I gotta say, this real world victory over the forces of unluck has made me even happier I did PcP. I can jump hurdles I would have fallen flat on before. OR...that could be the adrenaline rush from NOT DYING 15 feet in the air, tho. Either way, I feel good.

toodles all, go be ninjas! GO TEAM BADASS!
Hercules out.

...Mental Health

So...I kinda failed at yesterday's workout. There where special circumstances that I'm not exactly at liberty to talk about due to Hipaa law, but sufficed to say that it has me VERY down in the dumps. Enough so that I simply could not get myself into the mindset to do anything, much less a full on workout. I did some shoulder/abs stuff, but failed out quickly. I couldn't even get through 4 sets of situps. ugh.

Anyway, that said, I'm pushing myself hard now. This weekend I have off, and I'm gonna use it to get myself all set up. boil me up a couple dozen hard boil't eggs...cook up some foodstuffs. Have myself ready fer this last push. We're here folks. Push it hard! Let's show this new legion of PcP'ers how this is DONE! GO TEAM AWSOME!

Hercules signing out.

pictures ha ha ha

Here we go, pics AWAAAAAY. Also a video. HEAR MY MIGHTY VOICE!

low high low

So today was odd. Last night walking home from work, I felt sad, lonely, and generally down on myself. This morning, I felt the same, then I went out and did some stuff, and felt awesome and sexy. Following that, I went to DnD (dungeons and dragons, that's right, I'm a nerd) and had my indulgence, hand made Rubens. I love corned beef, sourkrout, and rye bread, and they where delicious, but something went awry. When I got home (right now) I started feeling like I overate (I didn't) and in fact felt quite nauseous. So much so that I hate to say it, but I don't think I could actually DO my workout just now. I feel as though if I exerted myself even a bit I'd throw up all over the place, and I REALLY don't wanna do that considering how many people are staying on the couches next to where I do my chest dips etc. Also it is 2 am...and I REALLY really really want to just crawl into bed. I'm still sore from yesterday, and I'm just too too tired.

I hate to say it, but I think I gotta skip my workout. This'll be the first time in the whole 75 days, but I think I gotta. I really don't want to miss out on the workout tho... Patrick... D'ya think I could skip today's workout and put it on wedsnesday, just so I can get 'em all in this week? Count today as the day of rest? In all my errands, I did about 3-4 times the normal ammount of walking/running (yeah, some running) today, so I got in that at least.

Ahh well.

Start the day on a low note, middle is a high note, evening is a low note. Weird day...gotta get back to it tomorrow.

ugh.

finally

So today I finally took Patrick's advice and bought new clothing. Pre-PcP I wore a large shirt bordering on extra large, and size 38 waist pants where comfortable, but getting snug. Today I went out and did some testing out. Right now I am wearing a small shirt (and it could go a little smaller) and size 34 waist pants.

That's right...I lost 4 shirt sizes and 4 pant sizes. HELLS TO THE YEAH.

I also purchased a shirt so tight you can see my abs, and a pair of REALLY small (32) jeans fer when I wanna go out and impress some people with how much of a douche I can be. MUAHAHAH!

Anyway, pics fer this week are delayed by schedules and batteries, and so I'll post some before/after clothing pics with them when they finally get posted.

So Patrik, yer scary. Your email today mirroed EXACTLY what I've been thinking...all day. The fact is that I look at myself, and my arms don't look all that big, my stomach still looks flabby, and my chest is FAR from even getting to where I want it, but looking at it from day one I'm doing AWESOME! On the way home I ran into some people I know who I hadn't seen since I started, and they where amazed at my arms, and general appearance. I dunno if I should indulge more in that push, to get that last bit of awesomness that I can eek out, or try not to give in to it so that I don't go full on powerbuilder. Honestly, knowing myself for the lazy bum I am, I'm not gonna go that much bigger than I am now.

No matter what tho, I'm definitely feeling that we're on the last stretch. I'm getting more and more definition in the abs, and all over. The bigger meals are rough to deal with, especially what with all the freakin' carbs at breakfast and lunch, and the dinners of non-fruit/milk are throwing me for a loop at night. Makes it much harder to get to workouts in the evening, and it may be time to switch back to mornings.

Anyway, continue on groups! Team Badass member Will the Olympian out!

Yer Blog

So Patric, this is a quick thing I want to throw out to the world of PcP is that Terry Pratchett is one of my favorite authors... Like...seriously. The description of Victor Turglebend is actually one of the things I thought most about when starting PcP. I don't exactly have the "thin little moustache" but I'm sort of there allready. Diggin' the truely lazy way of doing things. Stuff doesn't hurt, isn't hard...blah blah blah. All good stuff.

and I'm off again.

the Climb

So.

yeah.

Had a bad week this week, in and out of PcP. The out of, I'm just gonna say I've been stressed and tired. PcP wise...I tripped up a bit. I was at work and quite literally surrounded by sweets. There was quite literally no direction I could look without seeing candy or cookies, and it'd been a long week. I broke down and snagged couple of cookies with my coffee and...well...had a couple more after. The next day it was ridiculously hard to stay away from them, and I failed again. I gotta say, the weekend came at the perfect time because I could get away from all the freaking sweets. This weekend has been much better. I've stuck strictly to the diet, and took more time/energy into the workouts. Hope I can hold out over the coming week. I think so, there was a lot of stress last week, and hopefully I can avoid it better this coming one.

Besides that slip up and my climb back up from there, workouts are feeling harder and harder. The added 2 or 3 sets of each exercise has MORE than made up for reducing the number of exercises. I've been hitting failure on more workouts. Planks/bicycles of course, but bicep and shoulder workouts are reaching failure. While those are harder, I'm feeling more energy/strength in everyday life. Good stuff.

Anyway, gonna keep on keepin' on.

Laters

2/3

so with day 63 here, I am faced with some new stuff. My body is freaky, fer one thing. The back, the party I can't see, is apparently cut like a diamond, but my stomach, which I can see, is not cut at all. I fail at exercizes I used to excel at, and food that I used to be uninterested in is incredibly appealing (read: eggs). Biggest of all tho, is I seem to have kinda broken a barrier. Not in terms of physical stuff, but mental. There is no more "gotta keep pushing" to get myself to do everything. It's kinda like hitting the wall in a run, and then if you push thru, you can keep on going a long time. kinda odd feeling.

Other than that, stuff is really, really, REALLY boring. My life seems to be going thru a period when all my friend are doing other things, which is handy because it means I can focus on PcP, but it's kinda....boring, as I said. I hope this turns around a bit in about a month, cuz then I'm gonna wanna hang out ALL THE TIME! AAAALLLLL TTTTTHHHHHEEEE TTTTTIIIIIMMMMMEEEEE!

also pics are up. later.

ow...cont.

So my neck still hurts. It's a lot better, but it still hurts when I walk/run around...which I've ironically had to do a lot today. I locked myself out of my house about 45 minutes before work. "fine, ok, I'll just go." After getting a coffee, about 3/4 of the way to work, I realized that I did not have my food with me, so I thought, "Ok, I have enough time to get home, grab the thing, and get back to work if I really hustle, and I turned back towards my house to retrieve it. I did not realize until I was about 5 steps from the door that I did not have the keys to unlock it. So here I was with 15 minutes to work, and no food for the day. I hustled my butt to work, and hustled it to the supermarket in the 30 minute time I have to eat at work...all of this basically at a super fast walking pace. Sufficed to say, I am bushed. Especially cuz my neck hurt thru all of this, making it even less fun.

Anyway, now I gets to work out. Woo. Laters.

Somethin's up

Not 100% sure on the why, cuz there's a lot of factors, but I did something to my neck yesterday, and it's hurting like heck whenever I bend it in...most directions. This caused me to not sleep well last night, and concequently oversleep so I don't have time to jumprope and eat and still get to work on time. Gonna do jumprope when I get home, before I eat dinner. Hopefully by then my neck will be feeling better. Gonna see if I can take it easy today...something is obviously up with my upper back, and I'd prefer to not tweak a muscle. As of now, I'm the only one at work who has yet to do that, and I'd really like to keep that streak going.

Tonight is gonna be rough...gotta jumprope AND workout after work, which I don't usually do. Well, at least I have tomorrow off.

laters all. New pics will be up once I get the time.

plateau

So I've hit the plateau like a bug on a windshield. I feel like my whole body is heavier, and that everything is more difficult. I can complete the workouts, but I'm hitting failure on more than one exercise. Quite frankly, planks, pullups, and bicycles murder me. I'm REALLY hoping this passes soon, cuz it sucks.

Food wise, a-ok. Guacamole made, and it is delicious. I'm mostly just snarfing it with a spoon, but I used cucumber slices once, and it was awesome. I'm REALLY glad that we got the little bit of more food this week. Just one egg white and a bit of yogurt has made a massive difference in how hungry I feel throughout the day. Knowing now how my metabolism works, chances are I'm going to be hungry all the time again at the end of the week. Woo.

Just another 32 days to go. We can make it! Push thru team!

strange things and general dissmay

Ok....to start with, NEW PICS. Apparently I have more back than I deserve. Hells yeah to that.

Quick note...I can't wait until I get "before workout" and "after workout" snacks...cuz I'm STARVING thru my entire workout. I have to plan it out so I eat about a half hour to 45 minutes before I actually start so that I'm not too full, but have SOME food in there. Get on that, Patrick.

Now, down to the more meaty bits of what I wanna tell you, and the reason for the titling of this post.

Number 1: My indulgence was to go to a friends going away party. I had a slice of pizza, a bit of a cupcake, and a few drinks (not weak ones, either. This party was not the place fer mimosas.) To preface this, my brother was there, and a number of other people at least my size. I had as much as they did. Now, the weird part is that I didn't get drunk at all. I stayed sober thruout this party...but everyone else was shitfaced drunk, staggering and some of them falling down. It was a very odd experience, because I've always been a lightweight, and haven't actually had anything to drink in a LONG time. I do beleive that my body quite simply killed the alcohol. It was actually intensely disappointing, kinda like getting an ice cream for yer indulgence, and then discovering that it evaporates about 1/2 of an inch from yer tongue. Major disappointment. However, I wasn't hung over either.

Number 2: This is more of an uncertain dread thing. I may have scabies. Tiny mites that burrow under your skin, and live there, laying eggs and making homes INSIDE YOU! ugh. I don't have any of the signs yet, and I'm no more itchy than normal, but still. Just the thought that I may have it is enough to make me analyze every tiny bump on my skin and every little itch I feel so that they seem ENORMOUS and HORRIBLE. Ugh. At least it's easy to treat, if it turns out I do get it.

Anyway, those are the big things I have to report about. No fun fer me, it seems. Workouts/diet continue unabated. I'm not NEARLY as motivated to do anything as I used to be, and I REALLY want to sit down with some kind of junk food. Really...something like chips/salas, or quacamole. The truth is that if I really really wanted to, I could, but it'd take SO VERY MUCH work to make PcP acceptable chips/salsa...but it may be worth it. hmmmm.....

Also pullups suck.

That is all.

I'm bad at this.

So blogging. I suck at it. I seriously have no idea what to write. It's not that nothing is happening, or that I don't feel this that or the other thing that people usually feel on PcP. It's more that I tend towards privacy. If I don't talk about something within about 30 seconds of it actually happening, I don't care to tell anyone about it. This is true of conversation or blogging. Either way, I just don't really wanna write all that much these days. Which is probly because of the PcP.

I'm currently at a point where workouts are simply destroying my will to live and the diet feels like I'm being fenced in. It's not that either feels bad, or that they're too hard, it's just that I don't want to HAVE to do something any more. I feel as though if I had a little more freedom in the diet, I'd be able to keep up AND be happier. I realize this as being false, mostly cuz I don't really LIKE watching what I eat. I have a bad tendency of going for the quickest food. This being Burlington, it is a lot healthier than, say, mcdonalds, but it isn't exactly what I need now. And therein lies the problem. My desire to simply do what I want is in conflict with my intellect, which is saying "do what you should." Annoying.

anyway, other than that, not much to report. 60 second planks are officially made of poo. I fail mizerably at pullups. Can barely get thru 3 sets, let alone 4. Oh, and I couldn't jumprope that well this morning. woo woo the rest is boring. G'night.

1/2!

half way. HALF WAY!

I'd be jumping up and down but I only just finished my workout, so that'll be real hard.

Ok, I admit it. I'm officially getting sick of some stuff. Muscular soreness in the mornings are horrible. This is new, cuz I recently switched my workouts to the evenings, cuz waking up at 9 for me is similar to anyone else waking up at 4 am. So now I wake up achey and cranky and generally in a foul mood.

Top off waking up sore and add on being tired of simultaneously burning thru food AND being massively hungry. I'm kind of frustrated by all this, and the wonderfulness of not really having a social life, or much of a social outlet is getting me a little on edge. No big anger bursts, but I find myself having a harder time dealing with difficult social situations. Work, namely, where I have to talk to people who have a hard time keeping a single conversation in a single decade. When you have to generally start any conversation in the middle, it gets hard if yer already rather peeved at the world in general.

I blame planks. I quite literally was unable to complete them the first day they hit 50 seconds. My arms, legs, back, and stomach all gave way in a slow, unhaltable slide to prone. I didn't fall...I didn't give up, but my body quite literally was unable to hold itself up no matter how I pushed. Seriously tired of planks. Don't even wanna think about the higher times. ugh.

Anyway. Continue. Cuz there's nothing else to it but to do it.

musings continued

The musings continued, and reached and end. RESULTS!

Musings on a beard

So...I've been growing my beard since about a week before I starded PcP, and now I'm tempted shave it down... This is a connundrum now because I want to save it for haloween, but now that I've lost so much weight and look awsome, I want to show it off even more. And then to add to that...I have lost my shaver chord and no longer have the power to shave m'face. SHOCK AND DISMAY!

In more serious news, I recently switched up my workout time to after work. I gotta say, so much easier. I stay up later, but I wake up later too, so that works out, and I don't have to rush nearly as much in the mornings. Also a bonus because recently workouts have been turning my legs into tubes of jelly, and my arms into weak rubber bands. It feels great, but when I have to physically move things at work, it becomes a hassle. After work leaves me strong for most of the day when I need to be, and then I get to go home and work out, which the anticipation of doing has made it all the better. Plus I can take time and really concentrate on it better, which is good because as it gets harder I need to concentrate more to keep it actually working out the muscles.

Diet wise....doin' ok. I'm starting to feel what Haley was posting about, with just being sick of dealing with it all the time. It's like a constant nag in the back of my head "do I have enough food? Do I? DO I?" It can get pretty awful on the way home from work at 11 pm if yer not sure you have enough eggs. I stick to it, but I get sick of the time it takes. In fact now I must cut this blog a little short, because I have to go and buy more meat/veggies/fruit/etc. etc. etc.

laters

whew

Ok...so

since Thursday I've been at home for....a lot of stuff. A quick summary has me partying hard for the past 3 nights, and now I'm exhausted.

That needs some explanation.

I went home for my mother's birthday, where there was a rotating set of about 15-20 musicians who just took up instruments in our back yard, and got everyone dancing. The next day my aunt, uncle and cousin show up, and they always bring a party. The following day we all went together to the Barnard Street Dance, which is a big dance where my step dads band plays every year, and everyone dances their respective asses off. Good times.

Anyway, with that said, I'll now break down the pluses and minuses of this trip.

Positives first!
-Food. Everything was fresh. I do mean that. "want a cucumber? GO PICK IT! want some eggs? GO HUNT FOR THEM!" all that fun stuff. Delicious. Now see the overpowering, overflowing life of the garden of which I speak. From these pics you can see Dill, Blueberries, Corn, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Peppers, Green Beans, Carrots, Hops (yey beer) and other stuff I can't remember.


-Dancing. If anyone ever asks me about the most intense aerobic workout I can think of, it's dancing. And I must have put in about 6-10 hours of it over this weekend, and I don't mean just bopping a bit, I'm talkin' full swing blues rock dance band and just letting go. Woo. My whole body is sore in new and interesting ways.

-Seasonal stuff. Pictures are worth a thousand words.















SEE NOW THE GLORIOUSLY DELICIOUS AWSOMENESS OF MY FRUIT SNACKS! MUAHAHA!

ahem.

Ok.

There we have the biggest good PcP portions of this little trip. In addition to that, there is seeing a LOT of family, wonderfulness of weather/terrain, doing awesome fun stuff (mushroom picking!) and a generally terrific air to the entire time.

Now for the less good part, at lest from the PcP standpoint. Namely, the incredible cornucopia of awesome (but salted) food that was laid out before me from the point when I arrived until the moment I left. In the interest of transparency, I admit I partook of the food. I tried to be sparing (very hard to do) and succeeded a little. I didn't go for any of the obvious packaged dips, and aimed more for the home made items, and I really couldn't stop myself from having a glass of Apple Wine that an old friend makes. DEEEELicious. I felt bad about it afterward tho, in spite of the fact that I probably burned more calories than I ate from the dancing.

The only other time I cheated was to have a small glass of champagne and some (quite pricy) caviar that my aunt brought from New York as a sort of goodbye to the weekend. I was honestly not going to refuse an opportunity to eat something so rare and delicious. And, immediately following that we all went and hayed a field, thus probably burning 3 to 4 hundred times the actual calories that we had consumed.

The only REAL problem I had was with salt. Since nobody else was paying attention to this, I lacked my usual array of non-salt spices and interesting taste methods to get around wanting salt, and it was EVERYWHERE... I didn't use any tho. I stayed true. I found a small bottle of horseradish who's ingredients where 3 words long. "Horseradish (of course)." just a bit of that stuff got me thru some dry meals. I didn't realize how big a part of my diet salt was untill I made this trip back to the land I lived in.

Now, the biggest thing that I want to take away from this was people's reactions to seeing me. I got a HUGE number of complements on slimming down and muscling up. The BIGGEST thing tho was the dancing. Allow me to add a little backstory here fer full effect. This dance happens once every 3 years. In past years I have done the same thing I did this weekend, but with less dancing. I cut a rug occasionally, and really pushed myself at the actual dance, but needed breaks and slower songs. This time was different. I stepped up at every song and just shook my booty till there was no more music left. I was dancing at top capacity for about 3 hours a night for 3 nights in a row. Hell Yeah jump ropes giving me crazy ability to jump around like a maniac for a long time! I doubt I'll ever give those things up.

And that concludes my story of simultaneous shame and glory.
g'night.

Long Week

So, this week has felt like it lasted a month. I put in extra time at work, AND work was especially difficult over the past few days. To top this off, I've been in a workout slump, hitting failure earlier than I feel I should. Having real trouble getting my upper body to lift the rest of me. Ahh well, according to everything I hear, this means I'll get better soon. lookin' forward to that.

On the big plus side, I now have Ramiro (a co-worker) and Nathaly on PcP, and we all live within a block or two of each other. Can't wait to have people to swap PcP stories about, and possibly have a workout partner occasionally.

As a final, happy note, I bought a whole chicken at the farmers market on Saturday, and am now roasting it covered in onions. This should probably set me for a week or two, and I'm REALLY looking forward to that first meal...mmm.

anyway, laters all!

Pullups!

So, today was the first day using my new pullup bar, which is infinitely better than my old one, especially seeing as the old one could only be used for incline pullups. This does mean, however, that I had a MUCH more difficult time with them. Barely made it thru the first 2 sets, and definitely hit failure in the second 2.

In fact, that was the theme for my whole workout. Everything seems much harder today. I woke up sore, so that may have something to do with it, but there seems to be more to it than that. even my jumproping was bad. I could barely make it 50 jumps without tripping up. Overall, a frustrating workout, but I feel great now that it's over and all my muscles are twanging away.

Other than that...kinda boring on my front. Putting in some extra time at work, and just been tired. Blah blah blah, you know the rest. Talk to ya all later!

bleh

Hokay, so I had my indulgence last night. Went out and had about a beer and a half, and watched Mikhael eat a hamburger (vengeance, on his part). It was fun, it tasted nice...but today I woke up and spent 5 or 10 minutes just dry heaving and getting nothing up but snot. I have this impression that it is not entirely the booz's fault, but that it was a bit of that last straw thing, because I haven't been feeling sick, but also haven't been feeling at the top of my game.

Now there comes the conundrum.

I don't feel great, but I still feel that I could do the workout if I pushed myself. Just now I'm tempted to opt for an evening workout, see if I feel better after work... But I've done that before and the whole day I feel as tho I'm completely out of sorts, as tho I just had a vital brain chemical removed for about 8 hours. Tough question.

Well, that's my current predicament. We shall see what the day brings.

Pics!

Pics! I have pics! oh my goodness!

If my lazyness about putting up pictures has anything to do with anything it's that I just don't like pictures. Never really have. It's kinda beyond really how I look in one, I just don't like photos of people fer some reason. Strange thing, the mind.

Anyway, since I have pics now I'm gonna show ya something!















This little fuzzy thing is my kitty, who spends the majority of her time terrorizing me and being a cute little bullet around the house.

There, with all the frivolity out of the way, here we go on what's up PcP wise. Workouts are fine, altho I gotta say double katana's after pushups absolutely killed my triceps. Couldn't even make it all the way thru the last 2 sets. Diet is fine, just keep on keepin' on. Got chicken cooking now in fact.

Anyway, gonna go get my food ready fer tomorrow, so talk to ya all later!

Graah!

So

I figured out why I'm failing so miserably at posting my pictures, and that is that I usually read this site at work. I tend to check it breifly after or before a workout, but just kinda look in like "Hmmm...reading for later" and then I skip on out the door for coffe or sunshine. Or I switch to a movie or something if it's rainy. This, however, leads to me not really posting pics on the site. I gotta work on that more. I really should post the ones I go, as the next set is approaching, and I've improved nicely. It's not that I'm scared to post 'em, but that I'm a lazy bum when it comes to computers.

I'm rather less lazy about the workouts. Since I talked to Patrick about when to do the workout I've been feeling a lot better about them. Less of the day long "ouch" and more of the burn while actually working out. The problem now is that some old aches and pains are starting to act up. I'm planning on giving them a couple days to go away, but if they don't I'll have to be very annoyed, and make my annoyed face.

On the subject of annoying, there is the Indulgences to consider. I have NO clue what to get. Well, that's not right, I have like...3 or 4 clues. It's gonna be one of the following :
-have a drink or two with friends
-Hongs Dumplings (the only street food I really like in Burlington, and EVERYONE likes them)
-Ben and Jerry's (that's right, they're from here. Muahaha)
-sweets at work (just so I don't want 'em any more)
I gotta say tho, what I want to do is save it up. My mom is having a birthday party in August, and if I could go home to that and have a beer and a small slice of cake, that'd be awsome. There is a very good chance that most of the food, and possibly even the cake will be PcP friendly (my family and friends tend to grow stuff and eat healthy, and man can my mom make a mean strawberry/maple upside down cake.) So...I'd like to save my indulgence, tho I doubt they're supposed to work like that. Ahh well.

And now, the last portion. Work is gettin' harder by the day, but I'm gettin' stronger by the day! I'm having to lift and move more old folks, but they feel lighter. The ones I strained with or needed help with I'm able to do more easily or by myself. This is a big bonus, as I am so far the only one at work who has not hurt their back while lifting (woo construction experience and learning to lift with the legs) and now that I'm stronger I suspect that I'll continue to not hurt my back. Celebrations all around!

Les'se now...what else to write about? Things continue. There's more that's going on, but it's largely unimportant or even possibly boring. So... I bid you adieu.

today

Hmmm.

Blogging is hard.

I run out of thoughts just as I hit this screen...ahh well, blather on.

The workouts have been fun recently, especially since the heatwave is over. I can get thru all the sets of any one exercize and not have to stop to wipe my head/hands free of sweat before the next. Awsome. And along with exercize being easier, I've felt my muscles growing and getting stronger. After a workout they're all soft and weak feeling, but after an hour or two it gets better.

I've been waking up sore these days. Kinda odd, especially since I started doing that on thursday, the day after my day of rest. So...after having not worked out, and gotten extra rest, I wake up sore...methinks I may be growing.

Diet wise, it's allright. I'm not that tempted by a lot of things, but I'm also not that tempted by a lot of the food I'm cooking. I'm kinda over food temptation alltogether. I'm just not feeling the draw to eat as much any more. This is not to say I'm not hungry, because I'm hungry from 5 minutes after I eat untill I start eating again, but I just don't have as much of a temptaion to eat as I used to. I guess I'm just getting used to this.

On other fronts, I got 4 days off around my mothers birthday, and I'm gonna be at a party for that (here's hoping those indulgences I've heard about fall on that day). Lookin' forward to that. The party is always fun. Good fresh home grown food, everyone playing music, and all set outside with bonfires and fireflies. Think full on "good old days" happening.

I shall keep you all appraised of what goes down.

week four (day 22)

Now we start week 4.

So far this week is perty good. I've been VERY tired all week, and today I woke up sore, which is odd becuase I didn't do a workout yesterday. I've noticed muscles growing tho, so I'm just keepin' up with the workouts. It's habitual now, and I actually have to try not to do them on my rest days.

The biggest problem I'm having now is sleepyness. I get VERY tired at about midday. Even having gotten 9 hours of sleep, I'm tired, and probly will be. I'm gonna aim for 10 hours next.

here we go.

20!

day 20! I've officially made it further into an exercise project than I have in the past 8 years. THREE CHEERS!

Huzzah
Huzzah
Huzzah

Ok...With that bit of hullabaloo calmed down, I can get down to more of what's actually up. Food/exercise going well.

I cheated (very very slightly) last night and had a piece of Gorgonzola cheese about the size of my pinky fingernail. Delicious, but I think I can make it without it.

Work is kinda stressful, but that's sort of expected. Some changes are happening, and some people are resisting, so it makes it rough. I think it'll smooth out after a while, but for now it's just kinda annoying. Handy that I get out most of that annoyance in the workouts.

Third note: My cat, who is usually very aloof and only really hangs out when she wants something, has decided that I'm awesome, and has been cuddling with me nightly and generally being very sweet. WOO!

I know I haven't posted photos yet this week. They've been delayed by me not budgeting time -quite- right and by conflicting schedules. I may just have to post them with the next week's photos....yeah. 6 pics instead of just 3 going up on Wednesday.

Temptation

Ok...so...

I'm feelin' a LOT of temptation all around me. Today at work, I had to serve fried peanut butter and bananna sandwiches. Sounds like an overabundence of sweet grease....but the temptation to just reach over and grab one was overwhelming. It's not stuff that I want (altho That is a temptation too) but man I want to eat it, and I think more for the freedom of eating anything more than actually wanting to eat it. Altho, I have to say anything with cheese on it is looking like a shining grail that I should quest for.

And then to add to all that, my friends from the bars are calling me up and asking me to go out. I did so last night, and resisted the temptation to drink, but I was also only there for about 15 minutes. I think it'll be easier to hold off on beer than I thought it would be...but still. Temptations seem to be coming out of the woodwork. Other people who brought pizza for lunch have (accidentially) waved it under my nose, places where I work seem covered in greasy food. I feel as tho I am being chased by the stuff.

Ahh well...temptation can be delt with. I'm good at self-deprevation...so I should be able to keep the food away, and workouts continue without a hitch. Muscles are building, and fat is burning. I'm noticing my arms/chest growing slightly...and generally being stronger/faster. After all, in a mere 73 days I'll look like Hercules! MUAHAHA!

Day 15

So.

Day 15.

What to say... What to say... What to say.

I'm honestly at a loss for what to talk about. Workouts continue...I'm making Sun Tea...I moved into the biggest room of the appartement...Stuff has happened, but I just don't feel like writing about it. Well, I'll push myself

Workouts: I reached failure on pushups today! And very nearly so on the resistance bands (went up by a couple extra, and didn't reach it...so I stopped. It's now 10 and a half hours later and my arms still feel a little jello-ish. Feels great. I also worked more on my jumproping. I've had a lot of trouble with stepping on/tripping up on/not clearing the rope, but today I tried jumping higher and slower and it worked out quite well. The height I thought was good was apparently insufficient to clear my GINORMOUS feet, and now that I'm jumping higher, it works better. Getting 2-3 hundred before I trip up instead of 50-100.

Food: The world is trying to kill me. Potato chips everywhere, friends calling me out to drink, sweets waved under my nose 5 times a day, having to serve high calorie food to people and not being allowed to eat any. Yeah...rough. Temptation is definitely there, but I'm not fallin' yet. The massive food quantities I'm eating are enough to keep me from eating the stupid sweets, and I recently started an online game to take the place of bartime socializing. Not a real solution, but still better than just sitting at home thinkin' about it.

Other: New room! Our appartement has 3 rooms, a small, medium and large. Mike had the large room for the past 3 months or so, and now that he has completed PcP I'm moving in there. Full rotation! Who knows...when I'm done with PcP perhaps Seabass will start it again...we'll have a household that can move yer car without using the wheels!

And now....I bid you a scatterbrained goodbye. Talk to you all on the flip side.

Cooling down

The temperature here seems to be cooling down...especially since today was cloudy and windy. The workouts are doing fine. I still have trouble with the pushups, but I think that'll change as my arms have started to grow. Not a lot yet, but enough to notice. The whole package seems to be growing, and I'm perty happy about it!

Workouts these days are a highlight of the day. I love the endorphin rush when you finish, and the way my muscles feel afterwards. I continue to do it in the morning, mostly because I get home at 11pm, and I'm usually very tired and hungry. Plus...it's a great way to wake up in the morning.

The diet is going well, but I gotta say I'm more and more hungry. I'm hoping the next week sees slightly larger portions...particularly the snack. The meals have me full fer about 45 minutes to an hour after, but the snacks are barely noticeable. 160 grams of fruit seems to dissappear in 5 seconds and last in my stomach fer even less time. Sticking to it tho...No extras even tho today I walked a tray of Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treets over 3 floors asking 50 people if they wanted any. If that isn't a test of a diet, I dunno what is.

Anyway...lookin' forward to week 3, and all the changes it may bring!

Day 12

Been a while since I posted...but all is well. Keeping up with the exercises and diet still. In fact, if I wait even a half hour after waking up before I do my workout my muscles start crying. The diet is rough, but I gotta say that I feel great. I feel myself moving faster and more easily, and I friends are noticing that I've gotten in better shape.

All in all, real happy about doing this, and exited for what's to come!

week two here we gooooo

So the start of the second week, and the actual diet and REAL workouts. The morning workout was hard, but I feel less thoroughly exhausted than I did on the first/second days. I think my body is getting used to being worked a bit more...probly for the best. The heat was atrocious tho. The pads on the pullup bar kept dripping my own sweat on me when I squeezed them. Awful.

The diet...now this is odd. I feel as tho I am eating a massive ammount, but within a half hour to 45 minutes I am hungry all over again, and have to hold off on eating the snack so I don't just blow thru all my meals over a few hours. As of now, I've had breakfast, snack, dinner, and am about to go have tea...and I still have 2 hours left of work. Let's see if I can make it (I think I can I think I can I think I can) without giving in and eating some of the absurd number of cookies/puddings that are sitting within 15 feet of me. Thank god the pudding is chocolate...I hate chocolate.

week one done

So, week one is done. Thank goodness. Food is the main problem, cuz I've been hungry this whole week. Altho, the heat will make it hard to eat all that I may have to eat tomorrow...

Anyway, a day of only jump rope...felt....odd. My arms/chest in particular felt cheated. My brain was happy to not have to sweat thru the exercises again, but my muscles had a different idea. At this point, my brain is still smarter than my brawn, but I dunno how long that'll last. It is rather handy scheduling tho, the day of rest being an actual day off... I think I like it.

Anyway, lookin' forward to the next week. Food and MORE WORKOUTS! YARRR!

day 6

Day 6 workout done! The heat became an actual factor in the exercises. I was nearly at failure on the push ups and the jump rope was excruciating. The thermostat in our house can't measure the heat, and the humidity is horrible. I still got them done, and a cold shower solved a lot of the heat problems.

Food wise, last night I went to a bi-weekly game night me and my friends have. I stuck to the 1/2 of what I would normally eat, but man was I incredibly full. It could have been the heat, but I also realize we always eat a lot at those gatherings. Gonna be good when I bring my own food.

Anyway, off to the rest of the day

there had better be a storm coming.

Day 5 done and done.

So, the biggest reason I like Vermont and most of the northern climates is winter. I have trouble with heat, and up north there's less of that...but oh man is that not true today. It's 81 degrees in the shade, and the humidity is off the charts, somewhere around 99% I think. Also, no breeze. There had better be a stormfront coming to blow this hot air away.

The heat made the exercises hard, especially the push ups (I couldn't keep my hands in place because of the sweat, even with padded handles). I still got it all done, and now I'm gonna shower and have myself a little treat. I found Lychee nuts at the local co-op today, and I have a small jar of Kim chi that my co-worker (who makes sushi around town) made for me. CRAZY exited about that. I also have some of her sushi sitting in my fridge fer later. mmmm....sushi with kimchi...and Lychee nuts as desert...

So happy.

day 4

Day for done and down. Slightly less sore, but extremely sweaty. I've literally soaked my yoga mat, and I dunno how long it'll take ME to dry off. This is a flood of biblical proportions, prepare yer arks.

On the food front, still starving, still not eating, and definitely tempted. I work in an Alzheimer ward, and one of the big things that the elders do is not eat, so we have to feed them high sugar/fat foods... so there are sweets and baked goods galore ALL AROUND ME! ARRG. Also...Patric....you NEED to stop mentioning cookies in yer emails, cuz every time you do they literally appear under my face. SO much temptation. Ahh well...just gotta stick with 1/2 a banana instead.

day 3

Ok...day 3. More resistance to waking up, and by resistance I mean "Oh lord my body feels like a plank of wood." This was made worse because yesterday was a horrible day. Work and co-workers getting me down, and my desire to do anything productive dropped considerably. However, I continue on with the workouts. Day 3 done and put to bed.

On the not eating portion...I appear to have lost about 10 pounds in the past 3 days (really only 2 cuz I woke up and weighed myself this morning). This is somewhat worrying, but I'm running with it, seeing as I started at 210 and am kinda aiming fer 180. We'll see.

Anyway, power thru everyone!

Day 2!

Hokay... day 2 workout done and put to bed. Had some trouble with the pushups, but that's to be expected what with doing them 2 days in a row after having not done them in a long long time.

What's more interesting is the 1/2 diet seems to have given me an almost manic energy level. I have trouble sitting down, and just wanna rush around and do EVERYTHING. Dunno why, and I suspect this will subside, but fer now it means I'm getting some brownie points at work fer doing...pretty much everything.

And now...I'm off to do that again! WOO!

Ok! Day one exercises done and put to bed. Now I just gotta get thru the day without eating much at all. I think I can do it.

Anyway, realizing that my first post told just about nothing about me, seeing as I kinda wrote it at around 1am...lemme lay down some knowledge.

I'm a 26 year old who works at an old folks home as an aide, which translates loosely to I do some of the normal work and ALL of the lifting, which is a part of why I'm doing this whole program. This job is also going to be the biggest problem with the program, as I occasionally have days that quite simply destroy my will to do anything. It's hard to be motivated when you get hit and bit by an Alzheimer patient that reminds you of yer grandfather.

Putting that aside, the REAL reason I want to do this is to get back to how I used to be, which was very strong. I grew up on a farm in rural Vermont. I stacked about 5 chords of wood every summer, along with haying, sugaring, farming, cows....etc. etc. etc. All that plus walking up a mountain every day and walking home from school (about 3.5 miles) had me perty strong. I moved to Burlington (one of the only real cities in VT) about 7 years ago for college, and kinda stopped having all those nice muscle building activities I used to have. And now...well, I feel weak and want to get strong again.

Now...let's get this program a-rollin'!

Here We GO!

Hiyas all, just a few short hours of sleep then I start. This is all rather exiting, as up to this point I haven't been particularly active in blogging (read: not at all) so it'll be a test of getting myself used to that as well as the exercise. Did my last blowout meal of absolutely disgusting fried chicken... and man oh man do I wanna not eat that again. Anyway... pumped and ready, here we go!