I have decided to do the workouts in the morning this week, and on Wednesday night I set my alarm clock for 5. The cat woke me up at 4:45, so I got up a little earlier than I would have liked. Did Pylo, had a shower and a massive breakfast (protein shake with banana, porridge, 2 x toast) and felt good. It's nice to think that I'm done for the day and have the whole evening without having to try and squeeze a workout in somewhere.
When I got to work the boss said another section is moving next to our section, so we have to move a shitload of cabinets and desks to make room. That took two hours, and I was stuffed. I nearly fell asleep before lunch.
I see it has been stinking hot in Melbourne. I don't really miss those 40 degree days. I do miss the big storms that would come after a week of hot weather and cool things down.
Friday morning, up at 5, did Core Cardio. Man. After the workout I just lay on the mat and watched the steam come off me. Monday is a public holiday, and next week at work we start the four day/three day week cycle, so I'm going to have more days off than I have at work. Then in March, every week is a three day week. Then the baby is due and I'll be taking some time off to take care of Will while Junko is in hospital. If I can somehow keep this job until the economy picks up again, I'll be very happy. I don't think that will happen for a few years though. Probably a good thing I'm not in the real world.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Week 2 done
I did the last workout of the week last night, Cardio Intervals. Almost one hour of jumping, running, kicking etc. Kicked my ass. The schedule for the following ten weeks is the same as the last, unless I change it, of course. I'm going to have to sort out the garage though. I should really set it up a little better. I should get a TV down there, and throw out the box of rotting mandarins that Junko's Father has left there. They are starting to stink. But I know what will happen if I move the TV down stairs. – "What are you doing?" "I'm moving the TV down stairs." "Why?" "You don't need to know why. I feel silly saying it. Just let it go." Actually, I think I'll buy some speakers for my iPod. In a week or two I won't need to look at the screen, just listen to get the timing.
I can't get up early in the mornings. It's too cold. Below freezing. It's cold enough at night when I usually do it, and the evenings are a pain. When I get home from work about 6, Junko is cooking, and Will is "genki" ( a great word meaning "energetic and enthusiastic"), so I can't do it then. Then we have dinner, so I can't do it for an hour after that, and then a bath, and then a story before bed. So if Will is still genki at 9 o'clock, I get impatient, because I know I won't be finished the workout and showered until about 10:30, which is getting too late, and I won't have any time to watch TV. A few times I've gotten upset and made him cry and I've gone downstairs and done my workout in a huff and I feel like an asshole afterwards. A morning workout would solve all that. Shut up and do it!
When I went to Hawaii, I saw two types of Americans. The first type was the kind who obviously took care of themselves. They went to the gym, watched what they ate, etc. They other type, the majority, were fat. There weren't a lot of people in between. Way different to here. If I lived in America, I would be fat, because I would eat more, and that would make me want to eat more. Here, I never get enough food to be full, and I have gotten used to it. The Okinawans, the longest living people in the world, have a thing called "腹八分目" "harahachibunme" which means "eighty percent full." That's when they stop eating. I try to stick to that. But in Hawaii I went hunting. Fucking Burger King! Love it. Pizza for less than $40. Food court food at the mall. It was great. In May I went to Seoul to visit a buddy and have a look, and while I was waiting for him to finish work, I went to a bar and bought a beer and ordered a plate of chips. I was used to thinking that a plate of chips was a small plate with about eight large chips and a small cup of sauce. That's what it is in Japan. Five dollars. When the bowl came, it was piled high with French fries, hundreds of them, and a bottle of sauce came with it. I couldn't eat them all, and felt a little sick all night. I couldn't eat dinner with my buddy because I was still full! Seoul is not America, but this bar catered for Americans. I get sick of the food here. Everyone likes Japanese food, but most of it is just slop. A ladle of slop on rice. Nothing chewy or crunchy, nothing spicy, just mush. Kind of like the people themselves. The food at work is ordinary. It's cheap, about $2 a day for a bowl of rice with slop (bits of chicken, egg, onion, for example), some pickles, and a "salad," strips of lettuce with maybe a slice of tomato. I would gladly pay another dollar a day for something a little more interesting. It's so cheap because the company subsidizes it, or else all of the single engineers here would be eating cup noodles every day and dying of malnutrition. They aren't doing that well as it is now. Lot's of sickness, disease, skin disorders, and coughing going on here. Japanese people might not be fat, but they sure aren't healthy. They insist on coming to work when they are sick, which is a huge problem. One guy in my department had the flu, stayed in the hospital overnight, checked himself out in the morning, and came to work. He looked terrible, and in the morning meeting he said "I won't be able to do anything today. I'm sorry," and slept at his desk all morning. Why the fuck did you come to work then? I do understand though, in a way. Why waste a paid day off when you are just going to lie in bed all day? When you think of it, being sick is exactly the time you should be going to work, because you are getting paid to get better. But here, there is also the concept of 過労死, karoushi, death from overwork. They always say please, don't work to hard, family is important, relieve stress with hobbies etc, but really they all want to die at their desks. It's a very romantic thing here. Maybe the Western equivalent would be being killed saving a child or old lady from a burning building or something. To be called a hard worker here is probably the best thing you could say about someone. Therefore, this is exactly what they say to each other all the time.
Do you remember that Seinfeld skit when he talks about how in the office it gets more and more awkward when you see the same person throughout the day because there is nothing to say to them? First, you start of with a "Good morning," then a "hey", then a nod, then nothing at all to the point where you are ignoring them at the end of the day? The Japanese have that solved. They say "Otsukaresamadesu," which literally means "you are a hard working person." No shit. You might here it a hundred times a day. And when you here it that often, you start to believe it. And the Japanese believe it, when in actual fact studies have shown that they are some of the least productive people on the earth. There are people in my department who nobody knows what their actual job is. The guy next to me makes CAD drawings all day, but none of them are used in any manuals or reports ever. The oldest guy in my department has been making a "moving manual" for the last six months, and has nothing to show for it. He keeps saying that it has problems he is working on. I guess they all work hard at these things, but they produce nothing. The inefficiency in Japan is astounding, but if it suddenly got efficient, tens of millions of people, all having made a nice, comfortable living until now, would be instantly out of a job.
Uh oh, I'm ranting. Nearly lunchtime. Today's lunch? Guess.
Slop
I can't get up early in the mornings. It's too cold. Below freezing. It's cold enough at night when I usually do it, and the evenings are a pain. When I get home from work about 6, Junko is cooking, and Will is "genki" ( a great word meaning "energetic and enthusiastic"), so I can't do it then. Then we have dinner, so I can't do it for an hour after that, and then a bath, and then a story before bed. So if Will is still genki at 9 o'clock, I get impatient, because I know I won't be finished the workout and showered until about 10:30, which is getting too late, and I won't have any time to watch TV. A few times I've gotten upset and made him cry and I've gone downstairs and done my workout in a huff and I feel like an asshole afterwards. A morning workout would solve all that. Shut up and do it!
When I went to Hawaii, I saw two types of Americans. The first type was the kind who obviously took care of themselves. They went to the gym, watched what they ate, etc. They other type, the majority, were fat. There weren't a lot of people in between. Way different to here. If I lived in America, I would be fat, because I would eat more, and that would make me want to eat more. Here, I never get enough food to be full, and I have gotten used to it. The Okinawans, the longest living people in the world, have a thing called "腹八分目" "harahachibunme" which means "eighty percent full." That's when they stop eating. I try to stick to that. But in Hawaii I went hunting. Fucking Burger King! Love it. Pizza for less than $40. Food court food at the mall. It was great. In May I went to Seoul to visit a buddy and have a look, and while I was waiting for him to finish work, I went to a bar and bought a beer and ordered a plate of chips. I was used to thinking that a plate of chips was a small plate with about eight large chips and a small cup of sauce. That's what it is in Japan. Five dollars. When the bowl came, it was piled high with French fries, hundreds of them, and a bottle of sauce came with it. I couldn't eat them all, and felt a little sick all night. I couldn't eat dinner with my buddy because I was still full! Seoul is not America, but this bar catered for Americans. I get sick of the food here. Everyone likes Japanese food, but most of it is just slop. A ladle of slop on rice. Nothing chewy or crunchy, nothing spicy, just mush. Kind of like the people themselves. The food at work is ordinary. It's cheap, about $2 a day for a bowl of rice with slop (bits of chicken, egg, onion, for example), some pickles, and a "salad," strips of lettuce with maybe a slice of tomato. I would gladly pay another dollar a day for something a little more interesting. It's so cheap because the company subsidizes it, or else all of the single engineers here would be eating cup noodles every day and dying of malnutrition. They aren't doing that well as it is now. Lot's of sickness, disease, skin disorders, and coughing going on here. Japanese people might not be fat, but they sure aren't healthy. They insist on coming to work when they are sick, which is a huge problem. One guy in my department had the flu, stayed in the hospital overnight, checked himself out in the morning, and came to work. He looked terrible, and in the morning meeting he said "I won't be able to do anything today. I'm sorry," and slept at his desk all morning. Why the fuck did you come to work then? I do understand though, in a way. Why waste a paid day off when you are just going to lie in bed all day? When you think of it, being sick is exactly the time you should be going to work, because you are getting paid to get better. But here, there is also the concept of 過労死, karoushi, death from overwork. They always say please, don't work to hard, family is important, relieve stress with hobbies etc, but really they all want to die at their desks. It's a very romantic thing here. Maybe the Western equivalent would be being killed saving a child or old lady from a burning building or something. To be called a hard worker here is probably the best thing you could say about someone. Therefore, this is exactly what they say to each other all the time.
Do you remember that Seinfeld skit when he talks about how in the office it gets more and more awkward when you see the same person throughout the day because there is nothing to say to them? First, you start of with a "Good morning," then a "hey", then a nod, then nothing at all to the point where you are ignoring them at the end of the day? The Japanese have that solved. They say "Otsukaresamadesu," which literally means "you are a hard working person." No shit. You might here it a hundred times a day. And when you here it that often, you start to believe it. And the Japanese believe it, when in actual fact studies have shown that they are some of the least productive people on the earth. There are people in my department who nobody knows what their actual job is. The guy next to me makes CAD drawings all day, but none of them are used in any manuals or reports ever. The oldest guy in my department has been making a "moving manual" for the last six months, and has nothing to show for it. He keeps saying that it has problems he is working on. I guess they all work hard at these things, but they produce nothing. The inefficiency in Japan is astounding, but if it suddenly got efficient, tens of millions of people, all having made a nice, comfortable living until now, would be instantly out of a job.
Uh oh, I'm ranting. Nearly lunchtime. Today's lunch? Guess.
Slop
Monday, January 26, 2009
Nearly two weeks
Almost finished the second week. A couple of workouts to go. At first, P90 Master seems a little easier than P90, but maybe that's because my form is crap and I don't really know the exercises. They definitely go faster, that's for sure. I didn't do Sculpt 3-4 like I said I might. I'll stick to 5-6. After all those squats in Pylo, the squats in 3-4 would be too much for my left knee, which is aching a little.
There is definitely more emphasis on core strength in these videos. My gut is sore, but already feels stronger. I sweat more than I did in P90, even though it feels like I'm doing less. It feels like I will be ready for P90X when the time comes in April sometime. I do worry that when the baby comes I'm going to work myself into the ground, but then I can go to bed around 10 every night instead of spending an hour watching TV. I'll be busy, but I'll be fit and healthy. I'll try waking up early in the morning next week, I think.
Since the first week of September, I've done a workout 6 times a week, except for two weeks off around Christmas. That's a lot, especially when for years prior to this I could only do a week or so before getting the CBFs (Couldn't Be Fuckeds). It's obviously a reaction to my mother's death in August. It's weird how the mind works. I do not think "I have to do this or I will die like mum" or "I'm going to make mum proud" or use her death as a motivation to do an extra pushup. I haven't thought that once. But if I look at my behavior objectively, this is how I'm dealing with it (or not dealing with it). But I don't really like the idea of "dealing" with something, because it implies that by some magical process in the mind of thinking about something logically, rationally, by making a story of it, then it is dealt with and done, like a homework assignment or something. What I'm doing is a response to mum's death, and I have control over what that response is. That's it. Mum's death doesn't have to be any more than that to me. It doesn’t have to damage me for it to be real to me. I don't have to try to put myself through something as traumatic as what happened to her to feel like I understand what happened. I lost my mother. That's enough, I think. Anyway, I'm not going to stop my fitness campaign because it is an obvious psychological mechanism. Actually, I wish I could apply it to more areas of my life, like Japanese study, which sucks. But mum didn't die because she couldn't speak Japanese. She died because her body betrayed her.
Speaking of Japanese, I found a word the other day. "辻斬り" Can you read that? "Tsujigiri" which combines the characters for "crossroad" and "slash", and it describes the act of "killing a passerby in order to test a new sword," which was banned around 1600. They needed a word for that?
There is definitely more emphasis on core strength in these videos. My gut is sore, but already feels stronger. I sweat more than I did in P90, even though it feels like I'm doing less. It feels like I will be ready for P90X when the time comes in April sometime. I do worry that when the baby comes I'm going to work myself into the ground, but then I can go to bed around 10 every night instead of spending an hour watching TV. I'll be busy, but I'll be fit and healthy. I'll try waking up early in the morning next week, I think.
Since the first week of September, I've done a workout 6 times a week, except for two weeks off around Christmas. That's a lot, especially when for years prior to this I could only do a week or so before getting the CBFs (Couldn't Be Fuckeds). It's obviously a reaction to my mother's death in August. It's weird how the mind works. I do not think "I have to do this or I will die like mum" or "I'm going to make mum proud" or use her death as a motivation to do an extra pushup. I haven't thought that once. But if I look at my behavior objectively, this is how I'm dealing with it (or not dealing with it). But I don't really like the idea of "dealing" with something, because it implies that by some magical process in the mind of thinking about something logically, rationally, by making a story of it, then it is dealt with and done, like a homework assignment or something. What I'm doing is a response to mum's death, and I have control over what that response is. That's it. Mum's death doesn't have to be any more than that to me. It doesn’t have to damage me for it to be real to me. I don't have to try to put myself through something as traumatic as what happened to her to feel like I understand what happened. I lost my mother. That's enough, I think. Anyway, I'm not going to stop my fitness campaign because it is an obvious psychological mechanism. Actually, I wish I could apply it to more areas of my life, like Japanese study, which sucks. But mum didn't die because she couldn't speak Japanese. She died because her body betrayed her.
Speaking of Japanese, I found a word the other day. "辻斬り" Can you read that? "Tsujigiri" which combines the characters for "crossroad" and "slash", and it describes the act of "killing a passerby in order to test a new sword," which was banned around 1600. They needed a word for that?
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Let us Roll
I start Power 90 Master for real today. I kick off with Plyo Legs. I had a look at it yesterday – looks pretty hard on the knees. Lots of jumping and squats. Looks ok. I also looked at the Sculpt 5-6 and decided to scrap it in favour of the ol' 3-4. My friend said 3-4 was better, and looking at 5-6 yesterday, and there weren't a lot of weights in it like 3-4. I like 3-4, so I'll keep doing that. I'll try 5-6 one day.
The diet is going ok, but like I said, it's not really a diet, just an attempt to stop eating chocolate and chips and drinking coffee. Happy to report that the levels are way down, but intake is persisting. Junko's mum and dad brought home a big bag of chocolates from a hot springs resort they went to on the weekend. It's hard to resist. I'll probably have to buy some more to replace the ones I ate in case they get pissed off. A coffee a day, and a bag of chips once every two or three days. Room for improvement.
The layoffs have started at my company, so the pressure's on. I'm glad I'm feeling healthy and up to it, and if it happens I'm fucked professionally, but I'll worry about it if and when it happens. I'm all in favour of a slowing-down of society and the defeat of globalism, but not if it means I can't afford a big-screen TV.
Until then, later.
The diet is going ok, but like I said, it's not really a diet, just an attempt to stop eating chocolate and chips and drinking coffee. Happy to report that the levels are way down, but intake is persisting. Junko's mum and dad brought home a big bag of chocolates from a hot springs resort they went to on the weekend. It's hard to resist. I'll probably have to buy some more to replace the ones I ate in case they get pissed off. A coffee a day, and a bag of chips once every two or three days. Room for improvement.
The layoffs have started at my company, so the pressure's on. I'm glad I'm feeling healthy and up to it, and if it happens I'm fucked professionally, but I'll worry about it if and when it happens. I'm all in favour of a slowing-down of society and the defeat of globalism, but not if it means I can't afford a big-screen TV.
Until then, later.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
First week
First week almost over. The first day went well. I did it in the lounge room, and it was fun because Will laughed and laughed and tried to copy me all the time. He has a good jab-cross. The 200 sit-ups were as hard as ever but I did them. Form could be better. I'm going shopping tonight and buying some bread flour and protein among other things. That should tide me over for the weekend. Instead of coffee, which will probably be the hardest thing to quit, I'm going to have Milo, without sugar. I need to cut down on the milk, too. I'm really motivated, much more than I was when I started Power 90 almost four months ago. I guess I've had a taste of the health.
The other day I was doing maximum push-ups, and after thirty I was ready to quit, and then I thought, fuck it, do thirty-five you pussy. On the thirty-fifth push-up I pulled a muscle in my neck. At least I hope that's what happened, and it wasn't a burst blood vessel or anything like that. I thought I was having a stroke for a moment. I feel okay today but I have a headache. I'm sure it's a combination of the pulled muscle and the lack of caffeine, or at least the drastic drop in intake. I have had a coffee a day since I said I would stop drinking it. I just read an article about coffee headaches, and it mentioned something called weekend headaches. I get them, and apparently it's because my coffee intake and routine is different than on weekdays when I am at work. I am constipated too, if you're interested. I felt heavy yesterday, and I thought, that's because you haven't had a shit for three days. That's why. You're carrying. Let's hope I lose that excess today. The tragedy is that on the weekend I went into the city to buy oats for my porridge (there are no oats where I live) and I bought the extra bran type. Dissapointing.
I find that I'm getting up earlier and earlier now. The kitten wakes me up, I get up, and don't check the clock until I'm scraping the cat food into his bowl in the kitchen. This morning it was 5:40. And you know what I think? Aaaah, one whole hour to myself.
A type of show that is popular here is home renovation shows, only it's not so much renovation as tearing down the old house and building a new one. Reform, they call it. A family hire an architect and he designs a house, and they build it. It's not like Backyard Blitz with presenters or anything, more like a reality show. The houses are usually nice, but always, always, half way through the show, when they've got the frame of the house up, the narrator will say, oh, what's this? Is it a mistake? There seems to be a little room here. I wonder what it could be? This little room would be the size of a walk-in closet, and it will be next to the kitchen or tucked in a corner somewhere, hidden away. It's the husband's room. Not his bedroom, but just a room where he can go and hide, and it will have a bean bag, a desk with a computer, and a small bookshelf. The husband can go in there and shut the door, and no-one will know that there's even a room there, let alone that anyone's in it. Here he is, signing his life away on a half a million dollar architect-designed house, and he gets a room the size of a toilet. But I always think, man, I would love one of those rooms, and if I was designing a house, I would definitely want one of those rooms in it.
Anyway, maybe I'll do the exercises in the morning, but then I'll lose that hour a day of my time. And I'm not sure if it's any good to get up and do exercise in the freezing cold. But it must be better than doing it an hour after dinner, or having a protein shake half an hour before bed. I'll try it out next week.
Later.
The other day I was doing maximum push-ups, and after thirty I was ready to quit, and then I thought, fuck it, do thirty-five you pussy. On the thirty-fifth push-up I pulled a muscle in my neck. At least I hope that's what happened, and it wasn't a burst blood vessel or anything like that. I thought I was having a stroke for a moment. I feel okay today but I have a headache. I'm sure it's a combination of the pulled muscle and the lack of caffeine, or at least the drastic drop in intake. I have had a coffee a day since I said I would stop drinking it. I just read an article about coffee headaches, and it mentioned something called weekend headaches. I get them, and apparently it's because my coffee intake and routine is different than on weekdays when I am at work. I am constipated too, if you're interested. I felt heavy yesterday, and I thought, that's because you haven't had a shit for three days. That's why. You're carrying. Let's hope I lose that excess today. The tragedy is that on the weekend I went into the city to buy oats for my porridge (there are no oats where I live) and I bought the extra bran type. Dissapointing.
I find that I'm getting up earlier and earlier now. The kitten wakes me up, I get up, and don't check the clock until I'm scraping the cat food into his bowl in the kitchen. This morning it was 5:40. And you know what I think? Aaaah, one whole hour to myself.
A type of show that is popular here is home renovation shows, only it's not so much renovation as tearing down the old house and building a new one. Reform, they call it. A family hire an architect and he designs a house, and they build it. It's not like Backyard Blitz with presenters or anything, more like a reality show. The houses are usually nice, but always, always, half way through the show, when they've got the frame of the house up, the narrator will say, oh, what's this? Is it a mistake? There seems to be a little room here. I wonder what it could be? This little room would be the size of a walk-in closet, and it will be next to the kitchen or tucked in a corner somewhere, hidden away. It's the husband's room. Not his bedroom, but just a room where he can go and hide, and it will have a bean bag, a desk with a computer, and a small bookshelf. The husband can go in there and shut the door, and no-one will know that there's even a room there, let alone that anyone's in it. Here he is, signing his life away on a half a million dollar architect-designed house, and he gets a room the size of a toilet. But I always think, man, I would love one of those rooms, and if I was designing a house, I would definitely want one of those rooms in it.
Anyway, maybe I'll do the exercises in the morning, but then I'll lose that hour a day of my time. And I'm not sure if it's any good to get up and do exercise in the freezing cold. But it must be better than doing it an hour after dinner, or having a protein shake half an hour before bed. I'll try it out next week.
Later.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Some photos
Just some photos today. First few days going well, really pushing it. Felt nauseous after the Sculpt the other day. Good stuff.
Here's the photo that stopped me smoking.
The guy was 34, same as me. Does it ever worry you that the only reason for your existence is to serve as an example for everyone else?
Here's a photo of me when I stopped smoking, before I started Power 90.
Check out the curvature of the spine. That raised left shoulder. Perfect for right-handed golfer. Note the mo'. And the navel fluff. What a fucking loser.
Here's a photo of me a couple of days ago.
Not much difference really. A little bit of tone. Still got the curvature of the spine. No mo' though, but still a fucking lo- No!
Lesson to self: You have to "bring it" to get results.
Later
Here's the photo that stopped me smoking.
The guy was 34, same as me. Does it ever worry you that the only reason for your existence is to serve as an example for everyone else?
Here's a photo of me when I stopped smoking, before I started Power 90.
Check out the curvature of the spine. That raised left shoulder. Perfect for right-handed golfer. Note the mo'. And the navel fluff. What a fucking loser.
Here's a photo of me a couple of days ago.
Not much difference really. A little bit of tone. Still got the curvature of the spine. No mo' though, but still a fucking lo- No!
Lesson to self: You have to "bring it" to get results.
Later
Friday, January 16, 2009
Introduction
My name is Jim. I am 34 years old.
This time last year I was noticing some things were happening. I could feel myself getting old. My left shoulder often ached really bad, and it always felt restless – a terrible feeling. Right hip, left knee, and lower back were suspect too. I would pull muscles taking a jumper off. I was smoking and drinking too much. All I wanted to do in my spare time was watch TV. Getting old was really going to suck, I thought, but what can you do?
I was losing weight. I don't think it's healthy to weigh less than you did when you were sixteen, but I did. I got down to 75 kilograms, and I'm six feet tall. Basically I was turning into a weakling. Yea, ok, even more of a weakling. I got a job sitting in an office all day, waiting for smoke breaks. Habits formed. Can of coffee on the way to work. Smoke. Work. Lunch, coffee, smoke, 3 kit kats, work. Coffee, smoke on the way home, better get some chips for watching TV after my son goes to bed. Every day. Summer, add beer. Winter, add more coffee. No hamburgers or fish n' chips or pizza, but that's because they are hard to get here. Chips, coffee, smokes and beer's all I needed.
Then I started waking up in the middle of the night, sweating, with the thought in my head "I am going to die of lung cancer." Jesus. Try going back to sleep after that happens. Eventually I would go back to sleep, and the next day I would have a smoke on the way to work and forget about the dream, but then a few nights later it would happen again. "I am going to die of lung cancer." Fuck off!
One day I would go to the doctor's and he would tell me I had lung cancer. I thought about what I would do if that happened, and read about other peoples stories on the internet, and saw a photo of a man my age, skeletal, on his deathbed, with his wife and little son sitting next to him crying. I can barely bring myself to think about that photo now. It was too easy to put myself in that photo. I stopped smoking. I quit on September 13, and now I look at people who are smoking like I look at people waiting for a bus. No interest, envy, pity, nothing. They are just waiting for a bus. Nothing to do with me. It's weird.
I put a bit of weight on, felt better immediately, and wanted to do more to feel better. A guy I work with is into weights. He would shake his head when I whinged about my shoulder, and he would laugh at my arms. He recommended Power 90, a DVD fitness program. And I did it, even if it meant finishing a workout at eleven at night, or doing two in one day because I missed one the day before. I finished on Christmas day. I weigh 81 kilos. Healthy, toned, energy to burn, Felt awesome. Best I've felt in ten years.
But I could have done better. I still eat chips, drink coffee. Not as much, but it's still there. My workouts could have been more intense. Much more intense. When it got easy after a couple of months, I was happy because it was easy, and a lot of the time I just went through the motions. I trailed off in the last two weeks when I should have been busting it and really reaping the benefits. My 90th day was actually a little disappointing when it should have been awesome because I knew I could have done better. That's going to be my goal this time. To really sweat. To push my muscles until failure instead of just doing the usual number of reps.
Since I finished Power 90 I've had Christmas, New Years, and a trip to Hawaii. I reckon those five days in Hawaii almost wiped out any gains I had made with the workout. Lots of food, lots of beer (Bud). A great time. So today I'm going to start Power 90 Master, which is the next step up in the series. And in three months when I finish that I'm going to start Power 90X (eXtreme), which just looks mental. So six months from now I am going to be in the best shape of my life, and I'm going to know that it very easily could have gone the other way. I could have been a fat desk jockey too buggered after a hard day of typing to kick a ball with my kid. Being a shit because I feel like shit and look like shit. Showing my son that daddy doesn't really care if he lives or dies. I want my boys to see that their dad enjoys life and takes care of himself and values his health.
This time I'm going to keep a blog, because it does get dull sometimes, and the motivation can slide, and one month in, two months in, I know I will need whatever I can use to get me up for it, to get that intensity to make it worth while and not a waste of time like it was towards the end of my Power 90. Ten minutes before work finishes I want to look at something on the computer to fire me up and keep in my head until I get home, get changed and put the DVD in.
My equipment is a set of 5 kg dumbbells, a set of 10 kg dumbbells, and a yoga mat. I work out in the garage. I have the DVDs on my iPod, which I plug into the car and listen to it through the car stereo and watch it on my iPod screen. What? Yea. I'm going to have to work on that. I will need music to pump me up, and a bigger screen to see what to do, because Power 90 Master is pretty varied. I might move the spare TV from upstairs down into the garage. I will buy some speakers for my iPod too.
I'm not going to go on a diet. My weight isn't the issue for me. It's cardio-vascular, and toning up. I don't want to lose weight. I gained 5 kilos doing Power 90. I will stop eating shit, like chips and chocolate, and stop drinking coffee, and not drink beer in the Summer. Other than that, I don't really eat anything that you could classify as junk, though there is a lot of processed food here. I will have to watch that. The chips, coffee, and chocolate can definitely go, though. Breakfast will be two slices of home-made bread with jam, a protein shake (200 ml milk, couple of ice cubes, a banana, and two scoops of protein powder), and some porridge if I have time. Lunch is whatever they serve up here at work. If I'm home, I'll try to make a sandwich. Dinner is whatever Junko cooks. Snacks are home-made popcorn, nuts, sultanas, health bars, fruit. At the end of Power 90, I would get really hungry around 10 am and 5 pm. I'll have to keep the snacks going so that doesn't happen.
In the next week I'll put a photo of me before I started Power 90, and one of me now. I will also post photos at 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days. Hopefully the improvements will be apparent. Today I weigh 80 kg.
And look, maybe Power 90 Master doesn't deliver the goods. It doesn't seem very popular, and at first glance, it seems a little all over the place. I might want to do more weights than what appears to be in Master. After a month of it, if I feel as though I want more, I will look at starting Power 90X early. That I know will kick my ass, for sure. We'll see how we go. On the other hand, what's the rush?
So, this is my schedule for this week
15 January 2009 Sweat Cardio 3-4 + CH200
16 January 2009 Sculpt Circuit 3-4
17 January 2009 Sweat Cardio 3-4 + CH200
18 January 2009 Sculpt Circuit 3-4
19 January 2009 Sweat Cardio 3-4 + CH200
20 January 2009 Sculpt Circuit 3-4
And next week I'll start Power 90 Master for real
22 January 2009 Plyo Legs
23 January 2009 Core Cardio
24 January 2009 Sculpt Circuit 5-6
25 January 2009 Sweat Cardio 5-6
26 January 2009 Upper Middle Lower
27 January 2009 Cardio Intervals
I'll report back soon.
-Jim.
This time last year I was noticing some things were happening. I could feel myself getting old. My left shoulder often ached really bad, and it always felt restless – a terrible feeling. Right hip, left knee, and lower back were suspect too. I would pull muscles taking a jumper off. I was smoking and drinking too much. All I wanted to do in my spare time was watch TV. Getting old was really going to suck, I thought, but what can you do?
I was losing weight. I don't think it's healthy to weigh less than you did when you were sixteen, but I did. I got down to 75 kilograms, and I'm six feet tall. Basically I was turning into a weakling. Yea, ok, even more of a weakling. I got a job sitting in an office all day, waiting for smoke breaks. Habits formed. Can of coffee on the way to work. Smoke. Work. Lunch, coffee, smoke, 3 kit kats, work. Coffee, smoke on the way home, better get some chips for watching TV after my son goes to bed. Every day. Summer, add beer. Winter, add more coffee. No hamburgers or fish n' chips or pizza, but that's because they are hard to get here. Chips, coffee, smokes and beer's all I needed.
Then I started waking up in the middle of the night, sweating, with the thought in my head "I am going to die of lung cancer." Jesus. Try going back to sleep after that happens. Eventually I would go back to sleep, and the next day I would have a smoke on the way to work and forget about the dream, but then a few nights later it would happen again. "I am going to die of lung cancer." Fuck off!
One day I would go to the doctor's and he would tell me I had lung cancer. I thought about what I would do if that happened, and read about other peoples stories on the internet, and saw a photo of a man my age, skeletal, on his deathbed, with his wife and little son sitting next to him crying. I can barely bring myself to think about that photo now. It was too easy to put myself in that photo. I stopped smoking. I quit on September 13, and now I look at people who are smoking like I look at people waiting for a bus. No interest, envy, pity, nothing. They are just waiting for a bus. Nothing to do with me. It's weird.
I put a bit of weight on, felt better immediately, and wanted to do more to feel better. A guy I work with is into weights. He would shake his head when I whinged about my shoulder, and he would laugh at my arms. He recommended Power 90, a DVD fitness program. And I did it, even if it meant finishing a workout at eleven at night, or doing two in one day because I missed one the day before. I finished on Christmas day. I weigh 81 kilos. Healthy, toned, energy to burn, Felt awesome. Best I've felt in ten years.
But I could have done better. I still eat chips, drink coffee. Not as much, but it's still there. My workouts could have been more intense. Much more intense. When it got easy after a couple of months, I was happy because it was easy, and a lot of the time I just went through the motions. I trailed off in the last two weeks when I should have been busting it and really reaping the benefits. My 90th day was actually a little disappointing when it should have been awesome because I knew I could have done better. That's going to be my goal this time. To really sweat. To push my muscles until failure instead of just doing the usual number of reps.
Since I finished Power 90 I've had Christmas, New Years, and a trip to Hawaii. I reckon those five days in Hawaii almost wiped out any gains I had made with the workout. Lots of food, lots of beer (Bud). A great time. So today I'm going to start Power 90 Master, which is the next step up in the series. And in three months when I finish that I'm going to start Power 90X (eXtreme), which just looks mental. So six months from now I am going to be in the best shape of my life, and I'm going to know that it very easily could have gone the other way. I could have been a fat desk jockey too buggered after a hard day of typing to kick a ball with my kid. Being a shit because I feel like shit and look like shit. Showing my son that daddy doesn't really care if he lives or dies. I want my boys to see that their dad enjoys life and takes care of himself and values his health.
This time I'm going to keep a blog, because it does get dull sometimes, and the motivation can slide, and one month in, two months in, I know I will need whatever I can use to get me up for it, to get that intensity to make it worth while and not a waste of time like it was towards the end of my Power 90. Ten minutes before work finishes I want to look at something on the computer to fire me up and keep in my head until I get home, get changed and put the DVD in.
My equipment is a set of 5 kg dumbbells, a set of 10 kg dumbbells, and a yoga mat. I work out in the garage. I have the DVDs on my iPod, which I plug into the car and listen to it through the car stereo and watch it on my iPod screen. What? Yea. I'm going to have to work on that. I will need music to pump me up, and a bigger screen to see what to do, because Power 90 Master is pretty varied. I might move the spare TV from upstairs down into the garage. I will buy some speakers for my iPod too.
I'm not going to go on a diet. My weight isn't the issue for me. It's cardio-vascular, and toning up. I don't want to lose weight. I gained 5 kilos doing Power 90. I will stop eating shit, like chips and chocolate, and stop drinking coffee, and not drink beer in the Summer. Other than that, I don't really eat anything that you could classify as junk, though there is a lot of processed food here. I will have to watch that. The chips, coffee, and chocolate can definitely go, though. Breakfast will be two slices of home-made bread with jam, a protein shake (200 ml milk, couple of ice cubes, a banana, and two scoops of protein powder), and some porridge if I have time. Lunch is whatever they serve up here at work. If I'm home, I'll try to make a sandwich. Dinner is whatever Junko cooks. Snacks are home-made popcorn, nuts, sultanas, health bars, fruit. At the end of Power 90, I would get really hungry around 10 am and 5 pm. I'll have to keep the snacks going so that doesn't happen.
In the next week I'll put a photo of me before I started Power 90, and one of me now. I will also post photos at 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days. Hopefully the improvements will be apparent. Today I weigh 80 kg.
And look, maybe Power 90 Master doesn't deliver the goods. It doesn't seem very popular, and at first glance, it seems a little all over the place. I might want to do more weights than what appears to be in Master. After a month of it, if I feel as though I want more, I will look at starting Power 90X early. That I know will kick my ass, for sure. We'll see how we go. On the other hand, what's the rush?
So, this is my schedule for this week
15 January 2009 Sweat Cardio 3-4 + CH200
16 January 2009 Sculpt Circuit 3-4
17 January 2009 Sweat Cardio 3-4 + CH200
18 January 2009 Sculpt Circuit 3-4
19 January 2009 Sweat Cardio 3-4 + CH200
20 January 2009 Sculpt Circuit 3-4
And next week I'll start Power 90 Master for real
22 January 2009 Plyo Legs
23 January 2009 Core Cardio
24 January 2009 Sculpt Circuit 5-6
25 January 2009 Sweat Cardio 5-6
26 January 2009 Upper Middle Lower
27 January 2009 Cardio Intervals
I'll report back soon.
-Jim.
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