Sometimes it can be hard to track progress yourself. Especially if you aren't into writing everything down every day. I am of course talking about the gym.
I've been going to the gym for years now, but really slacked off for the past year and a half. I went from being unemployed and having way too much free time on my hands, which equated to hitting the gym 4-5 times a week, to the polar opposite of that now. At that time, I was probably in the best shape physically of my life. I had put on a solid 50-60 lbs. of muscle and felt pretty good. I had peaked out and hit some of my basic goals at the time as well, so I felt like I had really achieved something. For the first time in my life, I wasn't a string-bean, and could bench more than my Dad, which was a major accomplishment for me.....ha ha.
Previously, the most I had ever weighed was around 170 lbs, which was my pre-marriage weight when I was about 21 or so. I dropped back down to between 140-150 lbs for the majority of my married life, but kept on going to the gym when I could find the time. About 2 1/2 years ago, I decided to push myself a little harder at the gym since I had so much free time, and then see what I could do. In about 6-8 months, I had finally hit my goal of weighing 200 lbs, and could bench about 310 lbs. I was pretty proud of myself! Problem was, it wasn't a realistic goal to maintain. I started going to school at night, found a job, and then went through a messy divorce. I was lucky if I made it to the gym once a week or even once every other week at that point.
I imagined that I would get skinny again, and lose a bunch of weight like before, but that was not the case this time around. Imagine that?! I maintained roughly the same weight, but got much softer. At the time, I didn't care too much, because I was miserable and had more important things to worry about.
Things have changed now. I'm done with school for the time being. Divorce is final and things have mellowed out a lot between the Ex and I. I've been at the same job for nearly 2 years now, and absolutely love it! Life is much better and I am genuinely happier now than I've been in a long time. One thing has been lacking though, and that has been my level of fitness. I work with my head now, and sitting at a desk in front of a computer can be a bit of an adjustment.
Right here I will have to interject, because I am not under the misconception that I am fat or anything silly like that. You should just understand that for my entire life until now, I have been very underweight and skinny. I would much prefer to look the way I look now as opposed to how I looked 4 or five years ago. Hands down. I do have to admit though, that it is kinda weird when I see pictures of myself now and then pictures from before, I almost don't even recognize myself. It looks like 2 completely different people. So I suppose it has just been a bit of an adjustment for me to get comfortable in my new skin, so to speak.
Recently, I decided to make a serious effort at getting back into shape. This time around though, my goal isn't to see how much I can bench or how big I can get. Just a general improvement to my overall level of fitness. I wanted to start doing more cardio, and by more cardio, I mean ANY at all. I also wanted to work on getting my core in better shape, and more toned. When you are going to the gym regularly, you tend to just feel healthier and better in general. You have more energy, sleep better, and simply just FEEL better. At least I do anyways.
So far, it has been slow progress. I have only been running for about 15 minutes at a time with each workout, but considering that I never did any cardio before, this is a big improvement. My goal has been to go to the gym about 3 times a week, because I have a life and other things to do outside of the gym. :) So far for the past month and a half, I have made it. When I first started running on the treadmill, I barely lasted 15 minutes before I felt like I couldn't breathe and was going to pass out. Now I can hit my 15 minutes without hardly breaking a sweat, and feel great. It's kinda nice being able to take a deep breathe, and really feeling like your filling your lungs.
Today, I went to the gym, and ran for the usual 15 minutes, and then went on to working my chest and arms. Kinda fun. I typically do about the same weight with all of my exercises, and tend to stick to a normal routine or sorts. Again, my goal has just been to improve my fitness level and feel healthier. I noticed a significant difference today though, as I was feeling the need to add weight and reps to all of my exercises, and still felt great at the end of each set. Sounds a little silly, but it was significant enough that I noticed and recognized the change.
Point of story: Get active and get healthy. You'll feel better. One way or another...
Monday, January 30, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Gym, Douche Bags, and other awkward moments.
If you live in Utah and are between the ages of 18-35, then chances are you are a Gold's Gym member. At least that is my observation. I remember when I first started going a few years ago, there was always plenty of parking spaces and I had free reign to use whatever machine I wanted. It was kinda nice.
Times have changed.
Now, it takes me a good 10 minutes of aimless driving in the parking lot to find a place to park, regardless of which location I go to. There are 5 locations in Utah Valley alone. By this fact alone, you would think that the vast majority of the people alone in Utah Valley are in great shape, and somewhat attractive. Also not the case. All this seems to have done is manufacture a large population of douche bags.
I'm not usually this cynical, but seriously people. If you are not going to actually work out and be productive at the gym, please don't go to the gym and take up space that other people could do something productive with. It's like the gym has become the new breeding grounds for jocks and cheerleaders post high school. Meat market. Dudes walking around puffing out their chests looking at girls puffing out their chests. I can't believe that some of these girls get this dressed up just to come to the gym. Makeup fully done, and color coordinated matching outfits. And the best part is the glass walls outside of the "Dance class" room so that all the D-bag pervs can stare at the girls stretching, bouncing and bending over. You're not fooling anybody dudes. Walk away and try to calm yourselves down.
When I go to the gym, I try to keep to myself and focus on why I'm there. To work out. I do not go there to socialize. Typically, I have my headphones on and music blaring loud to drown out any other noise, which helps me stay somewhat amped and focused on what I'm doing. I am not going to pretend that I don't notice the plethora of hotness around me at nearly all times. It's quite distracting to be honest. But I do not go to the gym to meet girls, and don't think that I could ever bring myself to even hit on a girl that I saw at the gym. It's just too cliche. I don't want to be that guy. I refuse to be one of those douche bags.
And this brings me to an awkward moment that I experienced yesterday at the gym in American Fork. It was chest and arms day for me, and I was at the tail end of my workout. I walked up to the fly deck station to the end unit, and it looked like the girl who was currently doing a triceps push down was finishing up her set. I walked up and as she finished her set, I asked her if she was done. She replied, "I still have 2 more sets, but you can work in with me if you want.." So I did. I put my earbud back in my ear and adjusted the weight from where she had it to where I wanted it. As I started my set, I couldn't help but notice that she was standing rather uncomfortably close and watching me. I instantly felt myself turning red and could feel my face getting hotter. How retarded. I hurried through my set, and then went to adjust the weight back down to where she had it set previously and stepped back. She smiled, and then went on to do her set as I walked over to get a quick drink of water. I walked back up just as she was finishing her set, and she asked me what I had the weight set to. I told her 160, and she gave me a funny look. Then she laughed and said that was 4 times as much as she was doing. I gave kind of a half laugh and awkward smile, and then said "Thanks."
Thanks for what? I don't know.
Now here is where the awkward moment happens. Just as I was about 4-5 reps into my set, I feel something touch my arm. I quickly looked up and this girl is touching the backside of my arm with the back of her hand. She says, "You've got pretty big arms..." and then smiles and walks away.
For a minute or two, I stood there thinking to myself. Was she just making a friendly observation? Was she trying to flirt with me? Was she being sarcastic? I was completely caught off guard and confused. I finished my last set just in time to see that she had walked up to some dude that was sitting at a chest station. She smiled and faced him as she reached him, then picked up his shaker cup and took a big drink of some funky red drink. This dude has to be her boyfriend. Further bewildered, I did my last set and then walked away.
Today, I was at the gym again after work. Thought I would make it a quick workout, and hit the 8th North gym instead. I decided to skip the cardio and just go straight to the weights to work my back, shoulders, and core. My plan was to stick to 2 sets of 15 reps for each exercise and keep moving. This way I would keep up my cardio and hopefully finish up quicker as well. Just as I was especially out of breath and winded, I looked up and saw a friend from high school. She's pretty cute.....and tall. I felt especially awkward as she gave me a hug and then I realized how tall she is. Holy cow. All I could think of was how not toned my core is. Kind of retarded.
I think I'm done going to the gym this week. ha ha
Times have changed.
Now, it takes me a good 10 minutes of aimless driving in the parking lot to find a place to park, regardless of which location I go to. There are 5 locations in Utah Valley alone. By this fact alone, you would think that the vast majority of the people alone in Utah Valley are in great shape, and somewhat attractive. Also not the case. All this seems to have done is manufacture a large population of douche bags.
I'm not usually this cynical, but seriously people. If you are not going to actually work out and be productive at the gym, please don't go to the gym and take up space that other people could do something productive with. It's like the gym has become the new breeding grounds for jocks and cheerleaders post high school. Meat market. Dudes walking around puffing out their chests looking at girls puffing out their chests. I can't believe that some of these girls get this dressed up just to come to the gym. Makeup fully done, and color coordinated matching outfits. And the best part is the glass walls outside of the "Dance class" room so that all the D-bag pervs can stare at the girls stretching, bouncing and bending over. You're not fooling anybody dudes. Walk away and try to calm yourselves down.
When I go to the gym, I try to keep to myself and focus on why I'm there. To work out. I do not go there to socialize. Typically, I have my headphones on and music blaring loud to drown out any other noise, which helps me stay somewhat amped and focused on what I'm doing. I am not going to pretend that I don't notice the plethora of hotness around me at nearly all times. It's quite distracting to be honest. But I do not go to the gym to meet girls, and don't think that I could ever bring myself to even hit on a girl that I saw at the gym. It's just too cliche. I don't want to be that guy. I refuse to be one of those douche bags.
And this brings me to an awkward moment that I experienced yesterday at the gym in American Fork. It was chest and arms day for me, and I was at the tail end of my workout. I walked up to the fly deck station to the end unit, and it looked like the girl who was currently doing a triceps push down was finishing up her set. I walked up and as she finished her set, I asked her if she was done. She replied, "I still have 2 more sets, but you can work in with me if you want.." So I did. I put my earbud back in my ear and adjusted the weight from where she had it to where I wanted it. As I started my set, I couldn't help but notice that she was standing rather uncomfortably close and watching me. I instantly felt myself turning red and could feel my face getting hotter. How retarded. I hurried through my set, and then went to adjust the weight back down to where she had it set previously and stepped back. She smiled, and then went on to do her set as I walked over to get a quick drink of water. I walked back up just as she was finishing her set, and she asked me what I had the weight set to. I told her 160, and she gave me a funny look. Then she laughed and said that was 4 times as much as she was doing. I gave kind of a half laugh and awkward smile, and then said "Thanks."
Thanks for what? I don't know.
Now here is where the awkward moment happens. Just as I was about 4-5 reps into my set, I feel something touch my arm. I quickly looked up and this girl is touching the backside of my arm with the back of her hand. She says, "You've got pretty big arms..." and then smiles and walks away.
For a minute or two, I stood there thinking to myself. Was she just making a friendly observation? Was she trying to flirt with me? Was she being sarcastic? I was completely caught off guard and confused. I finished my last set just in time to see that she had walked up to some dude that was sitting at a chest station. She smiled and faced him as she reached him, then picked up his shaker cup and took a big drink of some funky red drink. This dude has to be her boyfriend. Further bewildered, I did my last set and then walked away.
Today, I was at the gym again after work. Thought I would make it a quick workout, and hit the 8th North gym instead. I decided to skip the cardio and just go straight to the weights to work my back, shoulders, and core. My plan was to stick to 2 sets of 15 reps for each exercise and keep moving. This way I would keep up my cardio and hopefully finish up quicker as well. Just as I was especially out of breath and winded, I looked up and saw a friend from high school. She's pretty cute.....and tall. I felt especially awkward as she gave me a hug and then I realized how tall she is. Holy cow. All I could think of was how not toned my core is. Kind of retarded.
I think I'm done going to the gym this week. ha ha
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Seattle
Today was a fairly long day at work. Long in the sense that I don't usually work on the weekends and also because I was the only one on that side of the building for the majority of the day. I'm lucky enough to sit right next to the window, so I had a nice view of Mt. Timpanogas all day long, and lots of rain. Rain isn't usually all that special, except that it is fairly uncommon to be getting a nice rain storm all day long in the middle of January in Utah. Usually we have quite a bit of snow by now, but it has been a relatively dry winter thus far.
As I watched the rain throughout the day as it seemed to pick up and come down in random torrents, I was reminded of my year in Seattle. I managed a store up there for just over a year, in Kent actually, which is just about a 15 minute drive south of Seattle. It was a tough year to say the least. I worked a lot. In fact, it's a pretty fair statement to say that is how I spent the majority of my time. Inside a store working. I don't remember too much else from living there other than the rain. It seemed constant. We only had about 2 1/2 months of sunshine while I lived there. The rest of the year was spent in a constant drizzle or mist. It's kind of funny because, after a while, you totally get used to it and almost don't even notice it anymore. Everything was so different up there. I remember that the sidewalks were different and almost didn't even have the appearance of being wet when it rained.
Another really neat thing about living in North Western Washington, was all the green. Everything there is so vividly green all year long! There were so many amazing trees and plants everywhere you went. It was truly beautiful. I loved taking the kids for drives into the numerous forest areas to see all the cool trees covered in moss.
One of our favorite places to go, was actually this little forested area by our house in Kent, which was right behind this elementary school. We called it "The Secret Forrest". As you walked towards the back of the far field and playground of this school, there was a small break / corridor in the fence that led to a paved trail through this very thick Forested area. Often times we would see Deer, Squirrels, Beavers, and other small animals running around in there. But it was so quiet and peaceful. The only sounds were the faint rustlings of the trees in the cool breeze, crickets, and the occasional bird. The trail appeared to be some sort of jogging / walking trail to a nearby country club, but I always told the kids that it was so that the trolls didn't get lost. It was great, they were always a little bit scared, but would always ask to go there again and again to look for the trolls or fairies that lived in "The Secret Forrest".
While I understand that some people have a hard time with the lack of sunshine there, I didn't seem to have a problem with it. I kind of enjoyed the constant fresh smell of rain in the air, and complete lack of snow.....ha ha. It did snow a few inches there 2 or three times while we were there, but it typically didn't stick or last for more than a few hours. While living there with 9 out of 12 months a year with rain and overcast skies can be somewhat daunting, the several months of sunshine during the summer definitely made up for it. You get perfect, clear blue skies with the temps pretty much consistently in the mid 70's. It was absolutely beautiful.
I also great pretty fond of Mt. Rainier while we were there as well. It is such an amazing and humbling site to see in person. In Utah, I think we take the Mountains for granted because we are surrounded by them on all sides. In Seattle, Mt. Rainier stands as this vast and ominous mountain all alone to the south horizon. You gain a lot of respect for it as you are flying into Seatac International Airport and see the top of it poking through the clouds just as the plane is starting to descend. Especially when you think about the fact that it is technically still an active volcano, and is about overdue for an eruption.
Pretty amazing view if you ask me. :)
There were lots of things that I really enjoyed about living in Seattle. I loved our quiet little neighborhood. I loved our awesome neighbors and friends that we made there. I loved the random food joints I could find everywhere. I loved the scenery, and I loved the atmosphere that is Seattle. My only regrets were that I worked too much and wasn't able to enjoy as much of the area as I would have liked. I still want to kayak through the Puget Sound. I still want to hike Mt. Rainier. I still want to go to Forks, just so that I can flip it off for it's contribution to the Twilight series. Alas, someday I still just might.
:)
As I watched the rain throughout the day as it seemed to pick up and come down in random torrents, I was reminded of my year in Seattle. I managed a store up there for just over a year, in Kent actually, which is just about a 15 minute drive south of Seattle. It was a tough year to say the least. I worked a lot. In fact, it's a pretty fair statement to say that is how I spent the majority of my time. Inside a store working. I don't remember too much else from living there other than the rain. It seemed constant. We only had about 2 1/2 months of sunshine while I lived there. The rest of the year was spent in a constant drizzle or mist. It's kind of funny because, after a while, you totally get used to it and almost don't even notice it anymore. Everything was so different up there. I remember that the sidewalks were different and almost didn't even have the appearance of being wet when it rained.
Another really neat thing about living in North Western Washington, was all the green. Everything there is so vividly green all year long! There were so many amazing trees and plants everywhere you went. It was truly beautiful. I loved taking the kids for drives into the numerous forest areas to see all the cool trees covered in moss.
One of our favorite places to go, was actually this little forested area by our house in Kent, which was right behind this elementary school. We called it "The Secret Forrest". As you walked towards the back of the far field and playground of this school, there was a small break / corridor in the fence that led to a paved trail through this very thick Forested area. Often times we would see Deer, Squirrels, Beavers, and other small animals running around in there. But it was so quiet and peaceful. The only sounds were the faint rustlings of the trees in the cool breeze, crickets, and the occasional bird. The trail appeared to be some sort of jogging / walking trail to a nearby country club, but I always told the kids that it was so that the trolls didn't get lost. It was great, they were always a little bit scared, but would always ask to go there again and again to look for the trolls or fairies that lived in "The Secret Forrest".
While I understand that some people have a hard time with the lack of sunshine there, I didn't seem to have a problem with it. I kind of enjoyed the constant fresh smell of rain in the air, and complete lack of snow.....ha ha. It did snow a few inches there 2 or three times while we were there, but it typically didn't stick or last for more than a few hours. While living there with 9 out of 12 months a year with rain and overcast skies can be somewhat daunting, the several months of sunshine during the summer definitely made up for it. You get perfect, clear blue skies with the temps pretty much consistently in the mid 70's. It was absolutely beautiful.
I also great pretty fond of Mt. Rainier while we were there as well. It is such an amazing and humbling site to see in person. In Utah, I think we take the Mountains for granted because we are surrounded by them on all sides. In Seattle, Mt. Rainier stands as this vast and ominous mountain all alone to the south horizon. You gain a lot of respect for it as you are flying into Seatac International Airport and see the top of it poking through the clouds just as the plane is starting to descend. Especially when you think about the fact that it is technically still an active volcano, and is about overdue for an eruption.
Pretty amazing view if you ask me. :)
There were lots of things that I really enjoyed about living in Seattle. I loved our quiet little neighborhood. I loved our awesome neighbors and friends that we made there. I loved the random food joints I could find everywhere. I loved the scenery, and I loved the atmosphere that is Seattle. My only regrets were that I worked too much and wasn't able to enjoy as much of the area as I would have liked. I still want to kayak through the Puget Sound. I still want to hike Mt. Rainier. I still want to go to Forks, just so that I can flip it off for it's contribution to the Twilight series. Alas, someday I still just might.
:)
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