Paradise

Paradise - Coldplay

What an amazing song. When I listen to this specific playlist, I always start off with this song; very relaxing. And so I start off this blog post whilst listening to Paradise and eating a few tortilla chips with salsa. Not the healthiest of snacks, but one of my guilty pleasures with food. But I limit myself by only serving myself a limited amount of salsa. Nonetheless, a bit of a relaxing moment right now.

You know, it wasn't until Friday that I realized it had been a little while since I had posted to the blog, and every time I was thinking of writing something up, I got busy with something, whether it be sporting events, working out, or reading (yes, reading). So here I am, writing this up just before heading to bed.

Nothing too special recently, UNLESS YOU WERE TO BRING UP THE FACT THAT I OWN MODERN WARFARE 3 AND THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE ERAGON SERIES, INHERITANCE. No big deal. The game is pretty awesome, and have spent around 12 hours on it or so. And I've actually spent more time reading my book than playing the game, surprisingly.  Over halfway through, actually about 5/8 through it right now. It's a pretty awesome book, and I love the whole series. But I will be a bit disappointed when it's all done. Oh well.

Still doing well with sweets and sugar. I still have the carton of OJ, meaning I haven't drank it all, and haven't had any sweets this month, so the juice has probably been the worst so far. I realized today, as I was craving a mocha from Dutch Bros, that alas, I couldn't get it. I could have gotten other coffee, without sugar, but come on, the only coffee I ever get are like mochas, which have chocolate in them, meaning sugar. Oh well. I feel better that I didn't end up getting one, as I wasn't even thinking about it having sugar in it prior to my realization. I will be glad when I can have the occasional sweet though, like dessert every so often, or a few M&Ms here and there, etc.

I got a bit behind in my workouts as well, just a couple of days, so I'm going to try to catch up, but I won't stress about it. Will only catch up on days that I have plenty of energy on. For instance, today should have been my rest day, but since I skipped a couple days, I ended up doing my 5th day of the week (Legs/Back) today. Tomorrow I'll do my Kenpo which would be my last workout of week 6, but I'll probably just go straight into week 7 - day 1 on Wednesday. And eventually, I might do a double workout, but like I said, only if I have the energy. Maybe combining my yoga with another workout for instance. Whatever I do, I plan on completing the end of my second month before November is over, just to make sure I'm not losing too much ground.

Time is flying by! Specifically about my workouts, but also the year in general. I can't believe I'm finishing up week 6 already, felt like just a few days ago I was in my recovery week (week 4). I'm about halfway done with the complete program! Now, I'm not stopping after the 90 days (13 weeks), but I will definitely feel accomplished after this first bit is done. I'm re-evaluating some of the workouts, and want to see what the 'Cardio video' is like. I may replace my Plyometrics with it, as I really need to work on getting my knee in better condition, and the constant jumping/squats/lunges in Plyo is getting hard on it. My legs workout is alright, because I need some work on legs, not getting bulkier, but specifically leaner. Hell, I can leg press around 800 pounds or so (I forget what I maxed at, I want to say 790 (just in added weights, the actual platform you push is about 45 pounds I think, pushing it over 800), because I think I added 16 - 45 pound weights and 2 - 35 pound weights), I have the power, but need endurance there still. Plus you can't neglect your legs.

And of course in general, Thanksgiving is coming up! I can't wait. I'm not sure why, as I usually don't get so giddy about Thanksgiving. But this year seems different. I miss Portland and home, more so than usual, which is odd. I think I'm mainly missing family and friends that aren't here at OSU. Oh well, will be soon enough. Lots of fooooood with family, my first dessert like food that I'll be able to have as well. Plus of course, good ol' Portland. I think a trip to Killer Burger is in order. Just because I'm trying to eat better doesn't mean I can't spoil myself every so often.

By the way, I want to formally advertise Killer Burger. By far, the best burgers I've ever eaten, and at a good price. And that's saying something, since I freaking love burgers. My favorites are the Epic and the Jose Mendoza. The Fatty Barnyard (double patty) is fantastic as well, if you're really hungry (we're talking about a couple pounds of food on that one though), and the Peanut Butter Pickle Bacon Burger is amazing as well. All burgers come with bacon too, so what's not to like? Well, sorry if you can't eat meat... But nonetheless!

God I want Killer Burger. When I go to Portland I either have to get Killer Burger, Du's Grill (awesome teriyaki place, hole in the wall kind of restaurant, ask me if you haven't heard of it), or sometimes, both.

Okay, I need to stop thinking about food.

Ladies and gentlemen - stay fancy.

Remember Remember the Fifth of November...

Woops, a little late on the title.

So I've been wanting to type up this blog post all weekend, but honestly, have had no idea what to talk about. Guess I'm just going to cover what's been happening. I guess there is one thing I'll talk about though, so that's good.

Been working out as planned, never got around to doing my yoga on Friday night, so I did that yesterday morning, and then did my legs/back workout in the evening. Was a bit tired, but I managed to finish it all. Although I had to cut some of the difficult yoga out as I wasn't feeling well yesterday. Going to basically finish up my 5th week tonight with some Kenpo. Would have done it earlier, but I got pretty hungry and I'm now just waiting for the food to settle after replenishing my food supply. Tomorrow will be my rest day, which is technically the last of week 5, but tonight is my last workout of week 5. I have to say that I kind of like the change in weights this past week, just rearranging on which days I do which weights. Day 1 - Chest/Shoulders/Triceps and Day 3 - Back/Biceps. The C/S/T is a pretty hard workout, and the B/B workout definitely makes me push myself a lot from how I experienced things this week. Was a nice change from the usual stuff though.

I am proud to say that I've been pretty sugar free so far in the last week. Now, I have to confess I've had a little bit of Orange Juice, which I just realized is pretty damn sugary, but as long as I drink it in moderation, I'm okay with it. It's mainly sweets that I'm preventing, and just a general cut down and moderation of sugar. I really need to cut down on my late night snacking still, I've only down it a couple nights, but it's mainly because I end up doing a late workout, and need a few calories/carbs in my body, but then I start snacking, and I stay up because of it, making me go to sleep late. So, I'm going to try to limit what I eat after dinner. If it's a post-workout snack, but before bed, I'll just try to have a glass of chocolate milk, or maybe like, half a PB&J sandwich or something. Other than that, all I can say is that I've been getting plenty of cravings for fudge, peanut M&Ms, and strangely some pie today. Oh well, no problem, I can make it 24 more days...

Oh right, so what I was going to discuss. I'm going to be getting into a bit of isometric exercise on top of my pre-existing workouts. For those who don't know, isometric exercise is working your muscles, without any motion. Such as pushing against a wall for 5-10 seconds. Pros are that this type of exercise can greatly increase body strength and can help improve your weight lifting. It's also a bit easier in the sense that you aren't trying to match a certain weight for a certain number of repetitions, and it's also easy to simply put less effort into it (less strength or for a shorter period of time) if you don't have the energy/strength. Cons are that it doesn't work your muscles the way that lifting does. The isometric exercise only works the muscles in that particular position that you're in. And it can also increase blood pressure, but as long as you're not at risk of that, you're fine. I'm using the isometric exercise to help enhance my lifting, as well as general body strength. I came across a very cheap product that supports this type of exercise ($13 in total), very similar to the bull worker if you're at all familiar with it. I could do this type of exercise on my own with my weights, or the wall and tables, etc. But with this device I got (it's another infomercial thing, the Iso7x), there are a lot more ways to work your muslces, so it's mainly being used to give a variety of different isometric exercises that I can do for each muscle. Another good thing is that this is something I can do after a workout as I'm bringing my heart rate down. I can say, watch Youtube videos while doing this. Isometrics will NEVER take over my workout routines, but I'm wanting to use a variety of different exercises in my workout routine. It's kind of like aerobic and anaerobic exercise, you could do either, they have their different benefits, or you use a combination of the two for better results and a better workout program.

By the way, oh god does that commercial make me laugh. It's so stupid. Glad I got mine for only $13.

Ah finally, I'm excited about this week. November 8th, TWO amazing things come out in stores. Obviously, Modern Warfare 3 comes out, and I'll be buying it asap. I have a $50 giftcard for Target, so $10 for basically the game of the year? Hell yes. Secondly, something not many people would anticipate me being excited about it, is the FOURTH BOOK OF THE INHERITANCE CYCLE. Oh god yes, the 4th and final book. Background on this: The Inheritance Cycle is the name of the 4 part Eragon series. I've loved the series, and am very glad that after 8 or 9 years, I'm finally going to complete this. I anticipate that I know most of what will happen in the book, but oh well. And yes, a book that I actually will read, considering I don't read much for fun. November 8th will be a great day, although I probably won't get either on the 8th... But who cares! I will also get the Iso7x bar by the 8th (should at least), so I will start doing some Isometric exercises starting Tuesday.

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

Remember remember, to stay fancy.

Challenge... Accepted

What a fun weekend. Two winning volleyball matches, hanging out with friends at a Halloween get-together, chillaxing on Halloween night, lots of Call of Duty (yup, that's my life). Other than that, nothing too exciting. Although I'm going to make a trip to Local Boyz, which has some of the best food I have ever eaten, and that's coming from a food fanatic. Catherine from Penguin Camp at the Zoo attends OSU as well, so we decided to meet up for some delicious grub and catch up. Oh, and I went as a scientist for Halloween, which helps explain this random picture with my friends.

I've been meaning to update this since Friday, and just haven't gotten around to it. Always either too tired or busy to deal with it, when I remember. So here I am, typing this up on Tuesday afternoon on November 1st. Today, is the beginning of it all to me. The month of October was mainly just to lay out my goals, start working out, and get an idea of what I'll be doing to lead a healthier lifestyle, mainly, getting in shape. But now, my first monthly challenge has begun!

I've already told a few people, but never mentioned my specific plan in the blog yet. My challenge or the month of November is to not eat sweets. But time for the terms: Thanksgiving is an exception, but I will limit myself (such as on pie or any other desserts). Other than that, I may not buy any sweets (candy, cookies, or anything with a lot of sugar in it) and really the only other exception for this sort of thing is if someone, such as family, makes me baked goods. Then I will considering having a moderate amount of said baked goods. For example, on Saturday I received cupcakes from my family, so that would be okay with me, as long as I ate them in moderation. The only other exception that I can think of is chocolate milk, as it is a great recovery drink after a workout. It has about a 4:1 carb to protein ratio, which is ideal for replenishing your energy after a workout, plus it tastes delicious. Now, I'm not eliminating sugar, however, I am cutting out and reducing lots of unnecessary simple carbs/sugars as well as empty calories. I'm hoping that this month will help create a healthier eating habit for me, to avoid all those sugars. Another thing, is I will be trying to avoid fake sugars as well, basically, a lack of sweets, real or fake.

One problem, is that over the weekend, I was given a bunch of cupcakes, as I mentioned, and Ryan's mom gave us some Safeway cookies (which I find extremely addicting), so I definitely got my fair share of those, plus more than my fair share. Oh well, it was like a last meal type of thing; I just can't resist those damned cookies.

Now regarding my workouts, I ended up taking a 3 day break, once I finished my recovery week, finishing up my first 4 weeks, or month, of the program. I'm starting fresh today on the second month, conveniently on the first of the month. My workouts will be slightly different. I'll be focusing on creating leaner muscle mass for this month, so basically, I will be giving the same amount of effort into a workout, but with weights, I will be doing a slightly lower weight and more repetitions, as my main goal is to be leaner overall. Another reason for doing this is because I injured my right elbow somehow. I noticed it doing yoga last week, that I tweaked my elbow somehow, so I've been icing it since, and it feels better so far. So I will be using lighter weights, so that way if I need to stop on my right arm, I will just do less repetitions until it heals properly. Another reason for taking the 3 day break is I ended up completely exhausted by Friday of last week, and I just had little to no energy to workout again right away. This way, I'm well rested, and have given my elbow some time to relax and heal. My first workout will involve moving my elbows a lot, so I was afraid I'd re-injure it if I worked out right away as well.

This month is all about kicking butt. I'll be pushing myself harder in workouts, now that I've gotten used to it all. However, I will not be worrying about doing double workouts in a day, or making up for them. If I really need a rest, then I'll take it, if I need to do half a workout, then I'll do that. I'll push myself to make sure I don't wimp out, but if I truly need a break, then I'll do it. No need to completely strain my body and hurt myself. But I do want to see some definite results by the end of this month. Not necessarily weight loss, but I want to be lifting more (either weights, repetitions, or both) and notice an increase of energy for my workouts. I'll also be more careful about my eating, obviously with my challenge, but also preventing midnight snacks (one of my worst enemies, I'll eat a little snack, then realize I'm hungrier, and eat even more, and by then, I'm wide awake and end up falling asleep really late into the night). I also really want to get on a sleeping schedule, as I've had some serious problems with this in the last two weeks.

Well I guess that ends this post. Going to my Genetics class here very soon, and then going to Local Boyz as I mentioned (oh, it's Hawaiian food, by the way). And this evening will be my Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps workout, and hopefully my elbow manages it pretty well. Until next time, stay fancy.