Right, so I know everybody was just all out teetering on the edges of their seats waiting for me to put a new link on my blog here. So I did! Hahahahaaaa!
This is it, just in case some amongst you are not inclined to moving your cursor slightly north-east of this spot: http://rapidptprogram.blogspot.com/
Check it out, Bryan (the guy I mentioned quite a bit in previous posts, who is the guy who keeps me on track when I get lazy) has finally built his own website with nutrition/fitness information on it galore.
Also check this out: When Bryan first came to me with the knowledge he'd been researching, I listened and immediately lost thirty pounds. No kidding. That was a year ago, still haven't gained it back. Not planning to.
Also I can now do over a hundred pushups now in one tabata set and get MAD air when I jump (thanks to the jumping squats), which my jiggly, largely sedentary former self would have never been able to do.
Now whenever a burning bus needs to be lifted off of some unfortunate school children and I happen to pop by, I'll be able to handle that situation.
...whereas before I wouldn't have been able to. You probably got that without me having to explain it...
TSN
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Experiments With Nudity
Actually this is just a social experiment to see how many people click on a title including the word "nudity"
Me: "hehehe... and you thought this was a blog about food and stuff."
I must be bored. Maybe I should do some pushups or something.
TSN
Me: "hehehe... and you thought this was a blog about food and stuff."
I must be bored. Maybe I should do some pushups or something.
TSN
Is Our Timeline Too Microcosmic?
Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I think every culture that deals with a winter every year has some kind of fall festival/feast (we come up with various reasons to do it), which I imagine is because winters are tough and packing away a few pounds before it snows is a solid survival tactic.
It got me to thinking.
I always read about how people need so much of this and so much of that every day in order to maintain a certain level of healthiness.
The numbers are always conflicting and the general consensus is always "Get more exercise and eat better food and you should be alright"
It really makes me wonder... wouldn't it be better to NOT eat the same amount of everything every day? Does the body actually need a massive dose of (for example) vitamin E every single day?
As long as it gets enough every so often it should be okay, right? Aside from cutting out the obviously unhealthy stuff, why regulate the stuff you do need, like protein, carbs, iron, etc etc etc... to such specific amounts every day?
The body is a pretty amazing thing in its ability to survive and to adapt to challenges and changes. Knowing that really makes me doubt that I need to regulate the amount that I get of each and every dietary supplement every single day.
It seems to me that we should think about nutrition on a much longer timeline than "daily".
Naturally there's no science in what I'm saying, just a general feeling that the way we think about nutrition is still a little bit broken.
Any thoughts?
TSN
It got me to thinking.
I always read about how people need so much of this and so much of that every day in order to maintain a certain level of healthiness.
The numbers are always conflicting and the general consensus is always "Get more exercise and eat better food and you should be alright"
It really makes me wonder... wouldn't it be better to NOT eat the same amount of everything every day? Does the body actually need a massive dose of (for example) vitamin E every single day?
As long as it gets enough every so often it should be okay, right? Aside from cutting out the obviously unhealthy stuff, why regulate the stuff you do need, like protein, carbs, iron, etc etc etc... to such specific amounts every day?
The body is a pretty amazing thing in its ability to survive and to adapt to challenges and changes. Knowing that really makes me doubt that I need to regulate the amount that I get of each and every dietary supplement every single day.
It seems to me that we should think about nutrition on a much longer timeline than "daily".
Naturally there's no science in what I'm saying, just a general feeling that the way we think about nutrition is still a little bit broken.
Any thoughts?
TSN
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Plans vs Life
The plan: Eat a respectably Paleo breakfast, lunch and dinner, then dutifully power through a solid Tabata workout, run a quick mile on the treadmill, take a nice refreshing shower and then get to work on some other projects.
Life: Made it through breakfast and lunch, then got sidetracked into shopping for a laptop for hours, then came down with a serious case of the "Screw it, I'm hungries" and ate a gigantic bacon cheeseburger with onion rings. Finally I made it home, put on comfy pants and commenced loafing.
Damn! Got me again.
TSN
Life: Made it through breakfast and lunch, then got sidetracked into shopping for a laptop for hours, then came down with a serious case of the "Screw it, I'm hungries" and ate a gigantic bacon cheeseburger with onion rings. Finally I made it home, put on comfy pants and commenced loafing.
Damn! Got me again.
TSN
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
I Invented a New Tabata Exercise... Maybe!
I found a great way to really get at my abs (I should say "ab"). It's the first time I've really felt the exercise get in there and start working all the parts of my belly.
Anyway I thought I'd mention it in here and see if anybody already knew about it or if it was a bad idea for some mechanical reason that would eventually cause my spine to telescope or my toes to suddenly become inside-out or something.
Here's what I do: I lay flat on the floor on my back with legs straight out and my hands down at my sides. Wait, that's not it... there's more: I crunch up and to the side, reaching with my left hand for my left knee-cap without lifting my legs until I can tap it, then back down. Then I repeat for the right side and so on for the duration of the set. To reach each knee-cap I have to lift my shoulders up and squeeze down to the side.
It's the all-new, all-improved, all-untested-by-any-authority knee-cap-tap crunch!
*crowd roars*
Man it really got in there and let me know I was getting a workout. Tomorrow will be interesting since this is the first time I've really felt that deep burn on the ab workout.
Thoughts?
TSN
Anyway I thought I'd mention it in here and see if anybody already knew about it or if it was a bad idea for some mechanical reason that would eventually cause my spine to telescope or my toes to suddenly become inside-out or something.
Here's what I do: I lay flat on the floor on my back with legs straight out and my hands down at my sides. Wait, that's not it... there's more: I crunch up and to the side, reaching with my left hand for my left knee-cap without lifting my legs until I can tap it, then back down. Then I repeat for the right side and so on for the duration of the set. To reach each knee-cap I have to lift my shoulders up and squeeze down to the side.
It's the all-new, all-improved, all-untested-by-any-authority knee-cap-tap crunch!
*crowd roars*
Man it really got in there and let me know I was getting a workout. Tomorrow will be interesting since this is the first time I've really felt that deep burn on the ab workout.
Thoughts?
TSN
Monday, October 31, 2011
I Fished For My Dinner, and Caught a Cold
Leftovers from last night make an excellent lunch today: Pan-fried halibut and lemon rice. I know rice isn't really Paleo, it's one of the exceptions that I make... halibut is totally Paleo though, especially since I hauled it up myself from the bottom of the ocean a few miles from Homer AK.
It's always an adventure, which is a good thing because if I was just doing it for the fish by the time I got through paying for the air-fare, RV rental, gas, charter fees, camping fees and hospital fees from when I whittled the tip of my finger off while sitting around the campfire during all this, the halibut cost me about 40 bucks a pound.
Totally worth it.
Halibut are UGLY! Look:
It's always an adventure, which is a good thing because if I was just doing it for the fish by the time I got through paying for the air-fare, RV rental, gas, charter fees, camping fees and hospital fees from when I whittled the tip of my finger off while sitting around the campfire during all this, the halibut cost me about 40 bucks a pound.
Totally worth it.
Halibut are UGLY! Look:
Imagine if he was like "Good morning dear, how about a kiss?"
Who caught that and said "Hey that looks tasty!" Probably a very hungry dude indeed. He was right though, they are super tasty.
-TSN
Sunday, October 30, 2011
The New Standard is 100
When I started the Tabata workout several weeks back I would go on and on about how eventually I'd hit 100 push ups. Now I hit at least 100 every time, which seems insane to me!
I've been slacking on the sprints lately. I need to get back on track with those. Pretty soon it'll be too cold outside to run up and down the street, so I might replace them with treadmill grinding and work on my stamina.
For me, hands down the hardest part of any workout is getting around to doing it.
I have to keep it as part of my daily routine or it'll fizzle like so many new year resolutions. Can't have that!
A couple of weeks ago I started doing Tabata curls with my 35s that I always stub my toe on and I'm noticing marked improvement in how many reps I can do each set. The first time I did them my arms were sore for two days, now it's not even noticeable.
Gotta pump up the glamour muscles...
TSN
I've been slacking on the sprints lately. I need to get back on track with those. Pretty soon it'll be too cold outside to run up and down the street, so I might replace them with treadmill grinding and work on my stamina.
For me, hands down the hardest part of any workout is getting around to doing it.
I have to keep it as part of my daily routine or it'll fizzle like so many new year resolutions. Can't have that!
A couple of weeks ago I started doing Tabata curls with my 35s that I always stub my toe on and I'm noticing marked improvement in how many reps I can do each set. The first time I did them my arms were sore for two days, now it's not even noticeable.
Gotta pump up the glamour muscles...
TSN
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Bread and Ssambap
I'd be lying if I said I never eat bread, but I have cut back by some huge margin. I don't miss it, or crave it or anything like that, but the loss that the convenience of bread provides was devastating.
Sandwiches are so easy to make, they travel well and they're delicious. It's hard to eat sandwiches without eating bread, so that alone cut out a giant percentage of my meal options.
I mean, bread is just so dang easy to eat! And it's everywhere! Every meal comes with bread in some form or another. Sometimes the bread is the meal, sometimes it's just alongside the meal, sometimes it's in a basket in the middle of the table before and during the meal.
Restaurants love giving people bread. Maybe because it's a comfort food.
I've found that in lieu of bread, a big leaf of lettuce works pretty good as a wrap for lunch meat and cheese or whatever. I actually like that a lot, lettuce is awesome when it's all crunchy.
Check it out: I got that "lettuce burrito" method from a Korean dish called "ssambap" (I had to look it up, and it's really spelled with the two s's like that) which is absolutely delicious. If you get a chance, find a good Korean restaurant and give it a shot. You get like thirty little dishes with different ingredients and you just mix and match what you want.
When the lettuce fails me, I just use a plate and a fork. Ol' standby. Pretty hard to mess that up...
TSN
Sandwiches are so easy to make, they travel well and they're delicious. It's hard to eat sandwiches without eating bread, so that alone cut out a giant percentage of my meal options.
I mean, bread is just so dang easy to eat! And it's everywhere! Every meal comes with bread in some form or another. Sometimes the bread is the meal, sometimes it's just alongside the meal, sometimes it's in a basket in the middle of the table before and during the meal.
Restaurants love giving people bread. Maybe because it's a comfort food.
I've found that in lieu of bread, a big leaf of lettuce works pretty good as a wrap for lunch meat and cheese or whatever. I actually like that a lot, lettuce is awesome when it's all crunchy.
Check it out: I got that "lettuce burrito" method from a Korean dish called "ssambap" (I had to look it up, and it's really spelled with the two s's like that) which is absolutely delicious. If you get a chance, find a good Korean restaurant and give it a shot. You get like thirty little dishes with different ingredients and you just mix and match what you want.
When the lettuce fails me, I just use a plate and a fork. Ol' standby. Pretty hard to mess that up...
TSN
Friday, October 28, 2011
Additional things related to steaming... sort of
Here's a terrible artist's depiction of what I'd look like while steaming vegetables for me and my family to eat.
Yeah that about sums it up. I get THAT excited about steamed vegetables, you know? How can you not?
TSN
Yeah that about sums it up. I get THAT excited about steamed vegetables, you know? How can you not?
TSN
Thursday, October 27, 2011
I Steam Because I'm Lazy
As a clueless bachelor, I wasted years of my life eating 7-11 speedy burritos until I could literally smell it coming out of my pores in the shower. My goal when I went into a grocery store was to get out as quickly as possible with as much cheap, fast and easy to make food as I could ram into a hand carried grocery basket. At no point would I enter the vegetable isle.
What an idiot I was! There's so much tasty food out there! Here's one thing I learned that has proven valuable time and time again: Almost all vegetables are good steamed, and steaming is super easy and even faster than an oven pizza. Can you believe it? I can.
We have a sweet steamer pan, it looks something like this.
Thanks Google image search. You saved me from walking all the way into my own kitchen to take a picture of my steamer pan.
Here's how it works: Wash the veggies, chop em up and throw em in the top part of the pan (I throw in some butter too). Put an inch or so of water in the bottom part of the pan, put the lid on and heat the whole mess on the stove until steam comes out of it for a few minutes.
The veggies get bright in color, it doesn't take very long. I never time it, I just wait a few minutes and poke em with a fork, and if they're not still crunchy that's good enough for me.
I won't be appearing on iron chef, copper chef... or even Play-Doh chef anytime soon. Whatever.
We steam all sorts of stuff... zucchini, peas, green beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus... whatever sounds good. The baby is all about some steamed veggies. She'll happily munch until she's got a broccoli stem poking out of each nostril and milk in her ear.
The moral: Steamed vegetables are easy, fast, tasty and a hell of a lot better for you than a box of preservatives. It's win/win/win/win.
TSN
What an idiot I was! There's so much tasty food out there! Here's one thing I learned that has proven valuable time and time again: Almost all vegetables are good steamed, and steaming is super easy and even faster than an oven pizza. Can you believe it? I can.
We have a sweet steamer pan, it looks something like this.
Here's how it works: Wash the veggies, chop em up and throw em in the top part of the pan (I throw in some butter too). Put an inch or so of water in the bottom part of the pan, put the lid on and heat the whole mess on the stove until steam comes out of it for a few minutes.
The veggies get bright in color, it doesn't take very long. I never time it, I just wait a few minutes and poke em with a fork, and if they're not still crunchy that's good enough for me.
I won't be appearing on iron chef, copper chef... or even Play-Doh chef anytime soon. Whatever.
We steam all sorts of stuff... zucchini, peas, green beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus... whatever sounds good. The baby is all about some steamed veggies. She'll happily munch until she's got a broccoli stem poking out of each nostril and milk in her ear.
The moral: Steamed vegetables are easy, fast, tasty and a hell of a lot better for you than a box of preservatives. It's win/win/win/win.
TSN
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Maple Syrup Fo Yo A$$
Grilled pineapple is wicked good. We got a grill pan so we can almost simulate the grill when it's crappy out, or when I don't feel like doing the coal dance. It works great for veggies.
Since I bought that natural hog we eat pork chops fairly regularly, those are great with a sweet glaze like pineapple, regular apple, or my personal favorite: Maple syrup. Trust me.
I'm from Vermont, you can't take maple syrup out of my diet or I'll die. I don't mean that garbage corn syrup that's served all over the country, I mean real maple syrup. It has no equal! If you look carefully at syrup containers in restaurants like Waffle House, Ihop, Bob Evans, Dennys... any number of places that serve breakfast, you'll find that the word "maple" never actually appears. It's all corn.
It doesn't even taste like maple, it's just a sweetener! For me, calling it maple syrup is along the same lines as blasphemy. I shudder at the thought.
I found myself in a breakfast joint in Virginia a few years back. I had bacon and an omelet with some toast (wheat toast, which I'd ordered thinking it was healthier...) and I asked for syrup. The lady looked at me like I'd just fallen off the wall.
Her: "Why?"
Me: "Whaddya mean why?"
Her: "You didn't get pancakes."
Me: "I know."
Her: "So what's the syrup for?"
Me: "Everything."
Her: "I've been working here for fifteen years and I ain't never seen nothin' like that."
I think I blew her fragile mind. I put it on everything. Toast, eggs, bacon, french fries, ice cream, peanut butter sandwiches... and of course it's an excellent glaze for pork ribs/chops/steaks/tenderloin/etc.
TSN
Since I bought that natural hog we eat pork chops fairly regularly, those are great with a sweet glaze like pineapple, regular apple, or my personal favorite: Maple syrup. Trust me.
I'm from Vermont, you can't take maple syrup out of my diet or I'll die. I don't mean that garbage corn syrup that's served all over the country, I mean real maple syrup. It has no equal! If you look carefully at syrup containers in restaurants like Waffle House, Ihop, Bob Evans, Dennys... any number of places that serve breakfast, you'll find that the word "maple" never actually appears. It's all corn.
It doesn't even taste like maple, it's just a sweetener! For me, calling it maple syrup is along the same lines as blasphemy. I shudder at the thought.
I found myself in a breakfast joint in Virginia a few years back. I had bacon and an omelet with some toast (wheat toast, which I'd ordered thinking it was healthier...) and I asked for syrup. The lady looked at me like I'd just fallen off the wall.
Her: "Why?"
Me: "Whaddya mean why?"
Her: "You didn't get pancakes."
Me: "I know."
Her: "So what's the syrup for?"
Me: "Everything."
Her: "I've been working here for fifteen years and I ain't never seen nothin' like that."
I think I blew her fragile mind. I put it on everything. Toast, eggs, bacon, french fries, ice cream, peanut butter sandwiches... and of course it's an excellent glaze for pork ribs/chops/steaks/tenderloin/etc.
TSN
Monday, October 24, 2011
I Should Get an Award For This One.
So I bought a hog that was raised organically and with healthy slop and all that. Since the Mrs. and I went in on a deep freezer big enough to train sled dogs in I went ahead and bought the whole hog. I had it butchered, processed and wrapped up ready for me to pick up without ever actually meeting the hog in person.
Part of me regrets not meeting the hog, and part of me is glad I didn't. The part that regrets is the part that understands and appreciates the ultimate sacrifice the hog has to make in order to feed me and my family. The part that's glad I didn't is the part that's perfectly happy being ignorant of that sacrifice.
Here I'm doing my very best not to make any references to the way our culture at large has perfected the art of turning an ignorant eye towards the real "how" of what's going on, be it our food supply or our government, our soldiers or our scholars, our farmers or our CEOs.
Well I failed to not mention it but there it is. We're so blind, so willing to take what we get and not think twice about where it came from or what it took to get it there. We put blind faith in a system we don't understand to protect us while we worry about the other little details of our lives.
Along with a lot of documentaries and notes from Bryan on various books and studies, TPT helped open my eyes to the darkness which looms over our food industry. It helped me recognize that we're all systematically poisoning ourselves and each other, all the while paying directly into the hands of people who are conscious of the issues and who manipulate the system to continue it on its course. We pour our dollars into the hands that manipulate entire societies with expert marionette finesse, marching us one step at a time toward our own doom.
Quit buying garbage food! Support local businesses that don't contribute to turning every town in America into identical interstate exits! Recognize the value of a family owned diner! Stop shopping at Walmart! It may save you a few bucks, but it costs you your soul and it's killing this country. Look around. I'm right. We are the problem, and it's because we've been conditioned to be mindless consumers.
Thank you, local farmer who sold me a naturally raised hog; I support you! Thank you small business owner who struggles to stay afloat next door to massive corporate chain stores. Thank you for providing me with the choice to be free.
TSN
Part of me regrets not meeting the hog, and part of me is glad I didn't. The part that regrets is the part that understands and appreciates the ultimate sacrifice the hog has to make in order to feed me and my family. The part that's glad I didn't is the part that's perfectly happy being ignorant of that sacrifice.
Here I'm doing my very best not to make any references to the way our culture at large has perfected the art of turning an ignorant eye towards the real "how" of what's going on, be it our food supply or our government, our soldiers or our scholars, our farmers or our CEOs.
Well I failed to not mention it but there it is. We're so blind, so willing to take what we get and not think twice about where it came from or what it took to get it there. We put blind faith in a system we don't understand to protect us while we worry about the other little details of our lives.
Along with a lot of documentaries and notes from Bryan on various books and studies, TPT helped open my eyes to the darkness which looms over our food industry. It helped me recognize that we're all systematically poisoning ourselves and each other, all the while paying directly into the hands of people who are conscious of the issues and who manipulate the system to continue it on its course. We pour our dollars into the hands that manipulate entire societies with expert marionette finesse, marching us one step at a time toward our own doom.
Quit buying garbage food! Support local businesses that don't contribute to turning every town in America into identical interstate exits! Recognize the value of a family owned diner! Stop shopping at Walmart! It may save you a few bucks, but it costs you your soul and it's killing this country. Look around. I'm right. We are the problem, and it's because we've been conditioned to be mindless consumers.
Thank you, local farmer who sold me a naturally raised hog; I support you! Thank you small business owner who struggles to stay afloat next door to massive corporate chain stores. Thank you for providing me with the choice to be free.
TSN
Friday, October 21, 2011
Despite all This...
Well Peanut came down with a good quality case of hand, foot and mouth disease, despite every advantage we've tried to give her with her nutrition. It happens, her peer group is seven or eight other kids her age in a daycare environment and if I were a betting man (which I am) I'd wager she'll get worse before it's all said and done. Poor little nugget. She's handling it like a champ though.
Being sick blows. I remember getting chicken pox. That was a huge drag and I remember all my friends having it here and there as well. I got it twice, which is not supposed to happen. I was also in the .3% of people who suffer nerve damage when they have their wisdom teeth out... I should have known!
A girl I had a crush on in fifth grade had a bad case of chicken pox, and asked me out while she still had it all over her face. I told her I didn't think it was a good idea. Why? I imagine it was some built-in defense mechanism to not attempt to mate with people with a visible pox, even from the perspective of a 5th grader.
"It's a pox! A POX! No I will not go out with you! Are you gonna eat that fruit roll-up?"
TSN
Being sick blows. I remember getting chicken pox. That was a huge drag and I remember all my friends having it here and there as well. I got it twice, which is not supposed to happen. I was also in the .3% of people who suffer nerve damage when they have their wisdom teeth out... I should have known!
A girl I had a crush on in fifth grade had a bad case of chicken pox, and asked me out while she still had it all over her face. I told her I didn't think it was a good idea. Why? I imagine it was some built-in defense mechanism to not attempt to mate with people with a visible pox, even from the perspective of a 5th grader.
"It's a pox! A POX! No I will not go out with you! Are you gonna eat that fruit roll-up?"
TSN
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Something Weird Happened
Further evidence that my exercise paradigm has finally shifted: I had an excellent excuse for skipping the Tabata workout today, and didn't take it. What?!
I have a man-cold. It's the worst thing ever naturally, and I'm as pathetic looking as the next man with a cold when I want to be, and boy do I want to be.
"You should just take it easy tonight." said my wife, who generally makes smarter decisions than I do.
"But I gotta do something " I reply, in my infinite wisdom. "What are you gonna do?"
"Take it easy tonight."
Old me would run a mile just to get out of running half a mile. So what did new me do? Two sets of Tabata curls, and then could barely lift the shampoo when I took a shower. Smart? We'll see.
Not too much jumping around, nice little compromise there I thought... but it occurs to me that I'm the one with the head cold and she's the one who took it easy tonight. That doesn't make any sense! Ah, whatever.
Alaskan halibut (I pulled it up from the ocean floor myself! Damn they're ugly!) and buttery brussel sprouts with lemon rice for dinner last night and lunch today, pretty hard to beat that.
TSN
I have a man-cold. It's the worst thing ever naturally, and I'm as pathetic looking as the next man with a cold when I want to be, and boy do I want to be.
"You should just take it easy tonight." said my wife, who generally makes smarter decisions than I do.
"But I gotta do something " I reply, in my infinite wisdom. "What are you gonna do?"
"Take it easy tonight."
Old me would run a mile just to get out of running half a mile. So what did new me do? Two sets of Tabata curls, and then could barely lift the shampoo when I took a shower. Smart? We'll see.
Not too much jumping around, nice little compromise there I thought... but it occurs to me that I'm the one with the head cold and she's the one who took it easy tonight. That doesn't make any sense! Ah, whatever.
Alaskan halibut (I pulled it up from the ocean floor myself! Damn they're ugly!) and buttery brussel sprouts with lemon rice for dinner last night and lunch today, pretty hard to beat that.
TSN
Monday, October 17, 2011
New Personal Best... Again!
I keep slaying my old personal push-up best. Tonight I did my best to celebrate passing 100 by saying "Yeah! 100! Sweet!" but all that came out was "Pant! Wheeze! Gasp!" because I was still in the middle of the last set. I then managed to crank out four more.
104, holy crap-filled gumball machine Batman!
People who work out a lot always say the same thing "Once you get into it, you start to look forward to it!" and I always said "Yeah whatever!" because I couldn't imagine ever actually looking forward to putting myself into painful situations.
It's true, sometimes I need a little nudge to motivate me after a particularly weary day but it's far less of a nudge I needed at the onset of this endeavor. It's part of the routine now so it doesn't even seem like a chore. Now that I'm really beginning to see results I look forward to it more and more.
I coudn't even believe it, I reached my goal and still had six or seven seconds on the clock!
So I busted out a few more. I think it helped that today is Monday and I had all weekend to rest and watch episodes of "Red Dwarf" on Netflix instant que in full loaf-mode.
Between TPT and Tabatas, the Viking approacheth ever faster and he is more determined than ever!
TSN
-- Alias Bjorn The Viking
- Roaster of the Mighty Cornish Hen
- Grinder of a thousand battle-hardened peppercorns
104, holy crap-filled gumball machine Batman!
People who work out a lot always say the same thing "Once you get into it, you start to look forward to it!" and I always said "Yeah whatever!" because I couldn't imagine ever actually looking forward to putting myself into painful situations.
It's true, sometimes I need a little nudge to motivate me after a particularly weary day but it's far less of a nudge I needed at the onset of this endeavor. It's part of the routine now so it doesn't even seem like a chore. Now that I'm really beginning to see results I look forward to it more and more.
I coudn't even believe it, I reached my goal and still had six or seven seconds on the clock!
So I busted out a few more. I think it helped that today is Monday and I had all weekend to rest and watch episodes of "Red Dwarf" on Netflix instant que in full loaf-mode.
Between TPT and Tabatas, the Viking approacheth ever faster and he is more determined than ever!
TSN
-- Alias Bjorn The Viking
- Roaster of the Mighty Cornish Hen
- Grinder of a thousand battle-hardened peppercorns
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Things Parents Have to Figure Out For Themselves
I have just one quick tip tonight: Peas.
Whenever peas are on the menu, I keep a bowl of them covered up in the fridge for leftovers. Inevitably sometime in the next few days a time comes when the Mrs. and I have to scramble for something to make for dinner, and the baby will commence to wailing.
Feeding her good food means we can't throw her some pre-packaged, sugary, processed junk.
The food has to be real... and as much as she'd love it we can't just feed her bananas all the time. Heres the magic: It takes her quite a while to manipulate a plateful of individual peas into her little mouth one at a time. On days when she's particularly grumpy, this is a handy thing to know!
High-chair, handful of peas. Bam. She even likes them cold. This buys us ample time to prepare actual dinner, and she gets to hang out with us in the kitchen and not be underfoot.
Brilliant!
TSN
Whenever peas are on the menu, I keep a bowl of them covered up in the fridge for leftovers. Inevitably sometime in the next few days a time comes when the Mrs. and I have to scramble for something to make for dinner, and the baby will commence to wailing.
Feeding her good food means we can't throw her some pre-packaged, sugary, processed junk.
The food has to be real... and as much as she'd love it we can't just feed her bananas all the time. Heres the magic: It takes her quite a while to manipulate a plateful of individual peas into her little mouth one at a time. On days when she's particularly grumpy, this is a handy thing to know!
High-chair, handful of peas. Bam. She even likes them cold. This buys us ample time to prepare actual dinner, and she gets to hang out with us in the kitchen and not be underfoot.
Brilliant!
TSN
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Busted Posing in the Mirror
93 Push ups... the number creepeth ever upward! I can tell these are working when I secretly flex in the mirror while nobody is looking.
One time in the not too distant past (probably eight months ago now, actually... wow it went fast!) the door to the bathroom was cracked open and my wife was peeking in at me. She'd been there for a little while, watching me pinch various areas and looking disappointed, but she couldn't stop herself from laughing when I shook my head and said (out loud) "You're $!#^%@ fat dude."
Laughs were had. Lessons were learned. Namely: Don't leave the bathroom door cracked.
Since I spent the better part of my life (all of it) with a good layer of pudge to keep me warm through those chilly New England winters, actually seeing some muscle definition is kind of a big deal but I'm still a long way from being a guy at the gym who stares at himself in the mirror for an hour after every workout.
Honestly I'm still a long way from even being a guy at the gym.
I like the home workout. It's cozy and I can use my own shower without having to wear flip flops.
I never liked flip flops, the thing between my toes bugs the crap out of me. Somehow the individual toes on the Vibram shoes don't, which is odd. Speaking of those: I discovered while doing Tabata sprints on blacktop that it's hard to stop, and I think it's wearing out the soles of my shoes more rapidly than normal.
It's no small task; halting my considerable momentum once I'm careening forward at full tilt. My poor shoes have to deal with that. To be honest, I cheat and start slowing down a couple of seconds before I should. I'm completely worn out when I'm done so I don't feel at all guilty.
Like I used to tell my rugby coach: "It's easy to go around me, but it's hard to get in my way!"
TSN
One time in the not too distant past (probably eight months ago now, actually... wow it went fast!) the door to the bathroom was cracked open and my wife was peeking in at me. She'd been there for a little while, watching me pinch various areas and looking disappointed, but she couldn't stop herself from laughing when I shook my head and said (out loud) "You're $!#^%@ fat dude."
Laughs were had. Lessons were learned. Namely: Don't leave the bathroom door cracked.
Since I spent the better part of my life (all of it) with a good layer of pudge to keep me warm through those chilly New England winters, actually seeing some muscle definition is kind of a big deal but I'm still a long way from being a guy at the gym who stares at himself in the mirror for an hour after every workout.
Honestly I'm still a long way from even being a guy at the gym.
I like the home workout. It's cozy and I can use my own shower without having to wear flip flops.
I never liked flip flops, the thing between my toes bugs the crap out of me. Somehow the individual toes on the Vibram shoes don't, which is odd. Speaking of those: I discovered while doing Tabata sprints on blacktop that it's hard to stop, and I think it's wearing out the soles of my shoes more rapidly than normal.
It's no small task; halting my considerable momentum once I'm careening forward at full tilt. My poor shoes have to deal with that. To be honest, I cheat and start slowing down a couple of seconds before I should. I'm completely worn out when I'm done so I don't feel at all guilty.
Like I used to tell my rugby coach: "It's easy to go around me, but it's hard to get in my way!"
TSN
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
The Baby is Smarter Than Me.
After all that complaining I did about 15/15 Tabatas, I wasn't even sore. Amazing how rapidly I can bounce back now after a good workout!
Tonight was supposed to be sprints, but things being what they are I ordered a pizza instead. I think it pretty well evens out...
No it doesn't, I'll have heartburn all night and it cost me twenty bucks. Life is tricky. Sometimes the justification powers of my brain deserve more credit than I give it. Here's how that went:
Me: Tabata sprints tonight! Oh yeah!
Me: Yeah but what's for dinner?
Me: I don't know, whatever.
Me: Crap, lots of other stuff is going on. I don't really feel like cooking.
Me: Me either.
Me: Well we gotta eat something. Gotta feed the baby or she'll get right grumpy on us.
Me: Peanut, are you hungry?
Peanut: Manamanah?
Me: Good idea!
I give her a banana, and some grapes as garnish.
Mrs. Me: Order a pizza.
Me: Done.
The delivery guy smells like weed. We all eat pizza, except the delivery guy who is probably sick of it by now. Peanut throws hers on the floor one tiny handful at a time because she's not hungry anymore because she already ate a banana and a bunch of grapes.
I'm surprisingly comfortable with that. I'd rather poison me than her, at least I'm aware of what I'm doing.
Moral? Nah... just life, man. Just life.
TSN
Tonight was supposed to be sprints, but things being what they are I ordered a pizza instead. I think it pretty well evens out...
No it doesn't, I'll have heartburn all night and it cost me twenty bucks. Life is tricky. Sometimes the justification powers of my brain deserve more credit than I give it. Here's how that went:
Me: Tabata sprints tonight! Oh yeah!
Me: Yeah but what's for dinner?
Me: I don't know, whatever.
Me: Crap, lots of other stuff is going on. I don't really feel like cooking.
Me: Me either.
Me: Well we gotta eat something. Gotta feed the baby or she'll get right grumpy on us.
Me: Peanut, are you hungry?
Peanut: Manamanah?
Me: Good idea!
I give her a banana, and some grapes as garnish.
Mrs. Me: Order a pizza.
Me: Done.
The delivery guy smells like weed. We all eat pizza, except the delivery guy who is probably sick of it by now. Peanut throws hers on the floor one tiny handful at a time because she's not hungry anymore because she already ate a banana and a bunch of grapes.
I'm surprisingly comfortable with that. I'd rather poison me than her, at least I'm aware of what I'm doing.
Moral? Nah... just life, man. Just life.
TSN
Monday, October 10, 2011
Phase II Tabatas
I completed my first round of 15/15 Tabatas tonight, and let me be the first to admit that I can barely move right now. The wife and I both powered through them, and the difference between these and the 10/20s is immediately noticeable! Tomorrow should be interesting; hopefully I bounce back quickly.
As soon as we finished, I immediately sent Bryan a text message saying this: "Holy @#$% dude."
That extra five seconds is a heck of a long time come rounds three through eight. And then it's double whammy on the flip-side when you lose the five seconds of rest in between sets.
The bicycles/Russian twists got in deep and I really felt them this time. I think I should have started with 15s on those, I wasn't feeling the burn as much as I'd have liked before. I felt it tonight though! Holy crap!
92 push ups, new personal best! I'll hit 100 before too long, and on that day I'll be... wicked stoked.
I'm getting stronger every day. Weight is still steady, it hovers between 265 and 270, but there is absolutely some fat being exchanged for muscle. I'm really pleased with my results so far, and it occurs to me that I've already been doing these for over a month and a half... that's probably longer than any phase of working out I've ever gone through in my life.
Usually I get all excited, work out all serious like, give myself pep talks and whatnot... then ultimately it peters out and I'm back to looking like a lava lamp when I jump up and down. Nothing fun about that!
This is a good thing. TPT has definitely helped me develop healthier eating habits too. Power combination, TPT and Tabatas. I'm leaning towards buying a home gym type thing, that seems like the next logical step. Get some heavy weights going.
Soon I will become a huge ripped Viking! Yes!
TSN
As soon as we finished, I immediately sent Bryan a text message saying this: "Holy @#$% dude."
That extra five seconds is a heck of a long time come rounds three through eight. And then it's double whammy on the flip-side when you lose the five seconds of rest in between sets.
The bicycles/Russian twists got in deep and I really felt them this time. I think I should have started with 15s on those, I wasn't feeling the burn as much as I'd have liked before. I felt it tonight though! Holy crap!
92 push ups, new personal best! I'll hit 100 before too long, and on that day I'll be... wicked stoked.
I'm getting stronger every day. Weight is still steady, it hovers between 265 and 270, but there is absolutely some fat being exchanged for muscle. I'm really pleased with my results so far, and it occurs to me that I've already been doing these for over a month and a half... that's probably longer than any phase of working out I've ever gone through in my life.
Usually I get all excited, work out all serious like, give myself pep talks and whatnot... then ultimately it peters out and I'm back to looking like a lava lamp when I jump up and down. Nothing fun about that!
This is a good thing. TPT has definitely helped me develop healthier eating habits too. Power combination, TPT and Tabatas. I'm leaning towards buying a home gym type thing, that seems like the next logical step. Get some heavy weights going.
Soon I will become a huge ripped Viking! Yes!
TSN
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Gas Station Oasis of Death
Road trips can be a real pain in the butt. Literally and figuratively. I crunched some numbers the other day and determined that on the average I spend 2 hours and 50 minutes in a vehicle every single work day. That's a rough average, but if the number is off it's off on the low side. Some days it's less and some days significantly more.
Whatever. That's 14 hours and 10 minutes or so a week. 736 and 1/2 hours a year. That's 30.7 24-hour days (an entire month), sitting on my butt in a vehicle. It becomes fairly impossible for me to always have a healthy snack on my person during all this windshield-time.
The scope of my life encompasses a heck of a lot of stops at gas stations. Go figure.
Have you ever stalked the isles of a gas station desperately searching for something to eat that wasn't poisonous? I have. I do. Several times a week.
I usually wind up with beef jerky, and even that is highly questionable. Sound familiar?
It's got all the salt content and whatnot. Who knows where the meat came from.
I did find something encouraging the other day, a fruit/nut bar called a "Kind" bar. It seemed like the lesser of a thousand evils, so I snagged one. Okay, two. They were pretty good! I did a bit of research on them when I got home and wasn't disappointed by what I found... as far as gas station food goes I have to admit I'm leaning toward buying them again.
Maybe I'll order a case of them and stick em in the work truck, save myself a bundle of money while I'm at it. It just makes good economic sense, see... myeah see... myeah.
Good hunting.
TSN
Whatever. That's 14 hours and 10 minutes or so a week. 736 and 1/2 hours a year. That's 30.7 24-hour days (an entire month), sitting on my butt in a vehicle. It becomes fairly impossible for me to always have a healthy snack on my person during all this windshield-time.
The scope of my life encompasses a heck of a lot of stops at gas stations. Go figure.
Have you ever stalked the isles of a gas station desperately searching for something to eat that wasn't poisonous? I have. I do. Several times a week.
I usually wind up with beef jerky, and even that is highly questionable. Sound familiar?
It's got all the salt content and whatnot. Who knows where the meat came from.
I did find something encouraging the other day, a fruit/nut bar called a "Kind" bar. It seemed like the lesser of a thousand evils, so I snagged one. Okay, two. They were pretty good! I did a bit of research on them when I got home and wasn't disappointed by what I found... as far as gas station food goes I have to admit I'm leaning toward buying them again.
Maybe I'll order a case of them and stick em in the work truck, save myself a bundle of money while I'm at it. It just makes good economic sense, see... myeah see... myeah.
Good hunting.
TSN
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