21 Days to Grandma's Marathon

Today marks 21 days until Grandma's Marathon. I was inspired to attempt the 21 Day style training that Pangifone has been doing, quite successfully.

My goals are as follows:
Give up the drink.
Bike the 15 miles to and from work every day (30 miles of biking daily).
Stop eating meat.
Do yoga 3 times-a-day.
Gradually increase my running until I can comfortably run 20 miles a week and a half before the marathon.

So, today started it out. I have eaten no meat today. I haven't had anything to drink. I did yoga this morning. And I went for a 6 mile run.

Today seems like a success so far.

Bruce Lee

My gym membership is ending this weekend. This will provide me with more inspiration to run for my marathon in June. My neighbors, thankfully, have a barbell and a bench. I'll probably be utilizing that quite a bit over the next three months. So, I've been working on finding a good barbell workout. A comrade reminded me of a Bruce Lee weight session he used to do. After doing it a few times, my shoulders feel great. It feels like the first time they've ever been functional or strong at all. The following is the workout:

Clean and Press
Barbell Curl
Behind-the-Neck Press
Upright Row
Barbell Squat
Barbell Row
Barbell Bench
Barbell Pullover

It's listed as 2 sets of 8-12 reps, which is what I've been doing lately. However, I intend on doing 3 sets of 8-12 reps, since I won't have access to heavier weights. Also, it should be noted that the amount of reps for the squat is 20.

Fit Test Round 2

Body Composition
This is your body fat, and body mass index. I scored "excellent." My body fat was 7.3%. Of course, this was using the electronic method, which isn't that accurate.
Cardiovascular Fitness
This is the VO2 max test, or rather aerobic test. I scored "excellent." Walked at 5 mph on a treadmill for 5 minutes and monitored the heart rate. Mine was around 120 bpm.
Flexibility
I was at 17.75 inches.
Muscle Strength
This time, I got the chest press up to 210lbs.
Muscle Endurance
How many sit-ups can you do in a minute? 45 for me. This put me at a "fair" ranking. So, I guess in order to make it to "excellent," you must do more than 1 a second.
Measurements
Waist: 32"
Hips: 38"
Thigh: 20.25"
Arm: 11.75"
Calf: 14"
Chest: 38"

This time, my fit score rating was 34. That means, I improved 8 points, instead of my goal of six.

Yesterday's Fit Test

Yesterday I had a fit test. It was, admittedly, archaic. However, it still opens my eyes to a few different ideas. Here is a list of the tests, and my results.
Body Composition
This is your body fat, and body mass index. I scored "excellent." My body fat was 7%. Or rather, what I would like to call, "Dangerously Low for Winter in the Upper Midwest." Of course, this was using the electronic method, which isn't that accurate.
Cardiovascular Fitness
This is the VO2 max test, or rather aerobic test. I scored "excellent." Walked at 5 mph on a treadmill for 5 minutes and monitored the heart rate. Mine was around 120 bpm.
Flexibility
Your standard middle school phy-ed test. Ruler put at the end of your feet. Stretch forward as much as possible. I scored "fair." Meaning I need a lot to improve. Darn you tight hamstrings!
Muscle Strength
The chest press. This measures your maximum lift/your body's ability to give you a burst of energy to lift. I made it to 170lbs. That being more than I way, I'm slightly impressed. But, I suppose I need to give myself a goal of higher. I ranked "good" on this one.
Muscle Endurance
How many sit-ups can you do in a minute? 40 for me. This put me at a "fair" ranking. So, I guess in order to make it to "excellent," you must do more than 1 a second.
Measurements
Waist: 31"
Hips: 37"
Thigh: 19"
Arm: 11"
Calf: 14"
Chest: 35"
This, of course, brings me to the fact that my hips ARE the widest part of my body, as they are meant to be. Bonus.

So my overall score for the fit test was 26 points. That's "good." In order to be in the "excellent" category, I need to improve 6 points.

Return to What's Best

It is time for a return to being fit. Much yoga, weight-lifting, and rock climbing. Workouts without limitations. There is no reason why a man should be limited by his gym and the expectations there. The human body is capable of incredible things, and it is not time to let the unbelievers keep me down.

In honor of the new beginning and the new year (and the day of atonement), I present an actual greek god.

The goal is to start doing pull-ups 5 times a day on the pull-up bar in the kitchen.
By the end of August, I wanna be able to do 20 in a row with ease.
Start doing push-ups again.
Running every night and every morning.
Biking more.
Ab blasting constantly.

I need to motivate myself. I wanna rock the Rough Rider Marathon.

More to come soon.

Fresh Love for Rotten Fruit

Created by Mingle2.com (Dating for non-zombies)

I haven't been the best at updating this lately.
I went backpacking in Montana. Photos to come. Three miles a day with 35 pounds on my back. It was great. Now I'm back in Dinkytown. I need to start running every day. I need to fix my bike tire. I need to get new rollerblades.

But I am happy. Life is good. It's time to start weight-lifting again and conforming my body into the solid steel god statue it is meant to be.

A new life

So I have now moved into Dinkytown. Now is the time to start working out again. I need to go crazy with workouts again. Push-ups, yoga, abs, back, and I need to find a set of weights. I'm hoping to get some climbing equipment back from Bismarck in order to start climbing again. Then some weight-lifting afterwards. So, expect some actual updates again. I'm gonna go for a good old fashion run tomorrow.

Still Recall My Name

Tiny blue lobsters compose what is the color in my eyes. They are surrounded entirely by the white-sandy beach that they live on. Every momeny of their existance is spent avoiding the red rivers that flow into the black bed of cavier on which they reside. Day and night they stir the cavier to prevent the red rivers from filling the great gourd of darkness and dying their azure shells to a bloody red that would end their distingueshed royalty that is the blue shell. Despite their unity in purpose, the lobsters are not without their factions. There are the pirates, the poets, the demons, the dreamers, and so many more. The tiny blue lobsters that crawl through the air ducts and ventilation shafts that are filled with hidden cheeseburgers and boxes of candy which are focused completely on illness and nothingness. There are the tiny blue lobsters that are choreograohed within the confines of January and those dark fantasies of little voices that speak those rhythms and specialties of doorslamming in the cinemas and radio transmissions. No one can ignore the tiny little lobsters wrapped within afgan buttons of juicy vinyl drippings of quirky kisses and leather bootstraps. These young Heidi proteges color their eyes with a different blue granola than the other composite crawfathers. These dark blotters of ambient pain reside on a cavier that churns all the faster than the Hessean mobiles that have been within my pupils before the days when the red rivers began to flow. It is these pro-active gunthic deligations on which the future of the nurturing neon laughter resides. These rook-shanked mirrors of bent-over curliness clearly know not to pass the buck from dancer-to-dancer in this wolfy foreverness of death-to-death loneliness and abandonment. Despite the tiny blue cannon crestacian's cranium, their bulbous brains are feeding footsteps on steel staircases that hypnotize the hip-hop legends from their thrones on top of Blues Mountain. These legends send forth their crowns made of sweet antelope jaws unto the new millenium. The souls of the next generation are seduced into a cyclic effort of churning cavier and fresh flannel flowing freely within the red rivers. These Bohemian promises of times-yet-to-come tread their way into the perfect probiscus of the tiny blue lobster's spleens. Time means nothing to these tiny blue lobsters; they die before they are born and are canned or jarred before fear has ever entered the formation of dark, juicy cavier. Ah, but what is fear to those creatures which know no time? They fear others which do not reside in Chronos's Kingdom of Clicking and Clocks and Ticking and Tocks. They fear the mighty roar of the green lion whose mane is made of a fierce fire that burns brightly in my hollow heart. It is these creatures that make the red rivers flow. It is this rampous roaring that makes the dye flow to the royalty of the tiny blue lobster. It is this beast that fills the royal lobsters with a damned dread; it is this beast which also proposes the purpose to these lordly lobsters. The never-ending dance of these princes of ports is to avoid the wicked waters of the red rivers.

New Places

Ah, Rock Springs, Wyoming. A desolate wasteland of pure beauty is laid out in front of me.

This is going to be a challenge. I'll be back in a January to a level of sanity for which I am only hoping currently.

Ignorance

Ah, let me ignore the rest of my workout. Or rather, let me not post it here because I don't feel like it. It's time to be in Texas. It's nice to be here. It's warm.

It's okay, I was just talking in my sleep.

Eggplant and Hippo

There is a title link to a delicious eggplant lasagna recipe. It's amazing and delicious. You don't need as much oil as suggested, so there are quite a few adaptions you can make with this recipe.

The workout for today wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I had a belief that after yesterday's run, I wouldn't even be able to get out of my bed. Today's regiment was as follows:
Abs: superset of normal abs and leg raises.
Seated Cable Row
Seated Row Machine
Lat Pulldown
Lower back (reverse sit-ups)
Standing dumbbell curls

After this I did a few square jumps and high kicks. Felt pretty good and energetic. However, when I went for a run with my sister, my stomach was killing me. I'm not sure why yet, but it's happening. It's a bit frustrating. Maybe I'm too dehydrated.

I'm excited for climbing tonight. My arms are already sore and my back is a bit tight, but I'm gonna rockit anyway. Tomorrow I will work mainly on legs and take a day off of running.

In my head, I know I'm not running the Fargo Marathon, but JUST IN CASE, I want to be ready for any random marathon that comes along. I want to run another marathon this year. I just don't know when, so I need to always be prepared. What goals do I need to set for myself?

Off the Charts - Joshua Bell Article

I don't really agree with some of the ideas in this article (click title), but it's hilarious none-the-less. I've always wondered what it would be like to have somebody truly famous playing in a subway to see if anyone would care. Somebody beat me to it. I was born too young.

Today's workout was absolute madness. It was hardcore. I have a bad feeling that tomorrow I will be useless. I just hope I have enough strength to climb the wall tomorrow night.

Monday, Week 3

First, I began with my normal ab routine, back sit-ups, and leg raises.
Decline Bar Bench
Lying Dumbbell Bench
Incline Flye
Shoulder Press
Reverse Flye
Tricep Pulldown with Rope
Dips

After a brief interim, my sister and I went for an hour run by the river. We did all the hills trails. It was great, but it's absolutely going to screw me tomorrow. Oh well. Just in case that marathon comes along, I will be prepared.

Flower Pots Made of Iron

Nothing much to speak of today. Good fun last night listening to blues and telling stories. I believe I'm becoming more and more disjointed from reality and it's beginning to trouble me less and less. I had a dream (a nightmare really) about the end of civilization as we know it. I've never been so convinced something was real. I can't remember the last time I had a nightmare, but I wouldn't even call this that, it seemed more like living the future. But enough about that, since I think it's a bit redunkulous anyway.

Here's a poem I wrote today. It's not good and it has no purpose. Just blathering.
Follow God and follow through,
Loving Him in all you do.
Care for others no matter what.
Give to others what you've got.
Pray for others all the time.
Let God's love take your mind,
Then let it flow out to the earth,
That all mankind may know its worth.

Nothing much to say on that. Just felt like getting some writing done again. It's like starting over.

Voice Calling Me Back Home

A special treat for you all today. Here is a picture of me rock climbing in Norway. Yes, I most definitely made the climb. It was a struggle at first, and I was a bit nervous not being tied in anywhere, but I pulled through with my amazing climbing ability.
For anyone that doesn't know anything about my home state of Nodak, I highly suggest clicking on the title link. It will bring you to the most reliable and comprehensive guide to the state. It also features a good history of the state.

Today was a blustery day. Despite the wind of death, my sister and I decided to run a fast 6 miles along the river. We averaged 8 minute miles, which was quite surprising, but also reassuring. After the other 6 mile runs we've been doing, I knew that it had to happen sometime, it just required a change of scenery.

Then we stopped by Optimum Fitness and did some Tibetan yoga. Then a shortened workout since I'm not meant to be doing anything today but recovering. Today's routine was:
Pull-ups: 3 sets of 10. It felt good to get that energy out.
Dumbbell bench: 3 sets of 15, increasing 5lbs per hand each set.
Lunges: Just 2 sets of 8 per leg. I figured I needed to give my legs a break since their workout was yesterday anyway.
Forearms: 3 sets of 35. It was good to work this a lot. Get those climbing muscles ready for next tuesday.
Ab routine/back sit-ups. Always a good idea.

I've started to get a little angry with this 3 week routine that I started. I don't feel as though it focuses on the core as much as it should. In my opinion, there are 4 excercises that should be done everyday. Push-ups, pull-ups, abs, and back sit-ups. The core needs to be strong and ready for anything. Doing these four every day is a great way to success. I can't imagine many other excercises that can be done anywhere (provided you have something on which to pull-up) and produce such amazing results. You can even toss in a few other excercises and get a full body workout, but I believe these 4 to be critical to anyone and everyone.

Ketchup, Mushrooms, and Artichoke Hearts

No link for this post. Nothing much going on. Just want to catch up on my routine. Today was a good day. I got to walk for a few miles outside with the bright sun shining on my back. My goal is to be tan before anyone else (<-sometimes I lie).

Today's routine:
Abs: superset of routine and leg raises
Donkey calf raises <-One warm-up set of 40, then 3 sets of 50.
Leg extensions
Leg curls
Lying lateral flye

It was all good. The lying lateral flye helped me to open up my chest a little more. I could feel the tightness on my right arm. I kept it at a lower weight so that I could loosen up a little.

The following is one of my favorite recipes given to me by my friend Pangifone:
1½ cups broccoli, chopped
1½ cups cauliflower, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cups vegetable stock or water
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
5 tbsp of natural peanut butter
Directions:
In a large soup pot, sauté the broccoli, cauliflower, onions, ginger, garlic, cayenne, salt, and pepper in oil on medium heat until vegetables are tender. Add the stock, tomatoes, and nut butter. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
I like to use crushed red pepper also. It's a bit spicy, cause I also add a little extra ginger and more garlic. The natural peanut butter isn't necessary, it's just to help to make it vegan-friendly. A conveinant trick shown to me by Pangifone is to buy a stir fry mix, which eliminates doing the first three ingredients. It also adds a bit more to it. There's a lot of room for changes and adaptions to this recipe, and it's delicious and filling! Not to mention it is a tremendously healthy meal.

How Can You Leave Me Now?

For some redunkulous reason, I've been a bit pre-occupied with Ursa Major. I thin I called on it in my sleep for power the other night. Sometimes the strangest things enter my head when I'm in The Land of Beyond.

Obviously I'm still a day behind on my workout posts. So here is yesterday's routine:
Supersets: wide grip pulldownwithincline bench press. This was great, and I can feel my incline press really improving.
Shoulder press
Dumbbell lateral raise
Lying tricep extension
Barbell curl.

In the evening I did some climbing. It was great. I had 4 really good climbs. Well, okay, one of the climbs was not so good. It's that stupid dog bowl hold that always messes me up. I feel like I use all my strength on that one hold. It frustrates me to no end. But the climbing was glorious otherwise. I was full of energy and having a great time.

Red Fish, Blue Fish

My apologies for missing yesterday's post and work out. I was a bit distracted by the delicious red fish meal I had at the Pirogue Grille (click the title). Oh, it was amazing. After dinner my family and I sauntered over to Mr. Delicious for some aptly named delicious cheesecake. The warmth of the sun shone upon us and delivered good moods and spirits to everyone.

So here was my routine for yesterday:
Abs: superset of normal routine with leg raises
Leg curls
Leg extensions
Lunge with dumbbells
Seated Calf Raises

The lunge just about killed me. After the six mile run that my sister and I did the day before, my legs were not feeling too hot. I didn't stretch out after the run, and then made the same blunder on Wednesday. We went out just for twenty minutes, since we were short on time before our reservation at the Pirogue.

Living Vicariously Through my Father

Ah, April Fool's Day. Always a good time. Who knows what kind of madness can be done on this day with full justification. For the first year in a long time (as long as I can remember), I've got nothing planned. I haven't even really thought about anything particularly destructive I want to do. Pathetic. Loki and Winneboujou are weakening and crying over my lack of dedication. I can only hope that somebody else is paying them homage today.

Today's Workout
First was a superset with abs and leg raises.
Wide-grip pulldown
T-bar row
Back Hyperextension
Seated Dumbbell Curl

Next time, I will hurt you all. No, that's really not true at all. I want to create something great. I believe that I am destined for great things.

I Could Lift These

Seriously? Digging parts of it up? Doesn't make much sense. Oh well. They do their own thing over on that little island.

Today's lifting regiment was fun-filled. I added my usual ab workout and back excercise to the list. I don't like that this program doesn't have ab and back work everyday. I suppose I have a bit of a different idea of what needs more focus. As per usual, I did 3 sets of each excercise. This time I decided to push my body to make sure that I did at least up to 12. I pushed myself way too hard on some of them, but they were mostly all machines, so the chance of injuring myself wasn't too great.
Dumbbell Inclined Bench
Chest Press
Pec Deck
Shoulder Press
Rear Deltoid Flye
Overhead Tricep Extensions


The overhead tricep extensions nearly broke me. Luckily it was the last thing to do.