Three years ago, I took a tour of LifeTime Fitness because it has a climbing area, two large basketball courts, five raquetball courts, three pools, two hot tubs, cardio equipment, the all important weights, group fitness rooms, a pilates room, a spa, cafe, chiropractor, daycare, and towel service. The weights, climbing area, and hot tubs appealed to me. So anyway, I got walked around the gym by a mostly plastic chick who really didn't seem to give a shit about her job. She quickly rushed me around and didn't even show me the weights. We walked upstairs and very quickly back down to her office. I learned that this place, while posh, was out of my price range. So I left it alone and tried like hell to get a part time job there only to be ignored entirely.
So then I went down to Cardinal Fitness and signed up that day since they waived all the fees and I only have to pay twenty a month. Sure the place is only weights and cardio, but that place has put nearly thirty pounds of muscle on me. I seriously went from being one of the most normal sized people there to becoming one of the biggest. I love that place and its people.
And then I got hired at Lifestyle Family Fitness nearly a year ago. I have very slowly warmed up to this group of people and while I mostly work out at Cardinal Fitness, I enjoy workouts at Lifestyle. Lifestyle has a gym nearly three times the size of Cardinal Fitness and the group fitness classes and all that. All of their machines are great and a number of them work different angles than the machines at Cardinal. It is a nice addition to Cardinal so that I can put on more size.
So finally today, I decided to "mystery shop" LifeTime Fitness. I went in and got handed a sales rep that didn't even listen to a word I said, charged me thirty bucks for a day pass, and let me on my way. I was there nearly three hours today working out and farting around. Their weight area really did not impress me. Most of them are old machines that don't even max out at a good weight for me. The squat racks were just too short for me so I didn't even bother. So I maxxed out just about all the leg machines and then moved on to my chest. After a very mediocre leg workout I started my chest with many a pushup because I didn't even want that to go badly. I did chest for about an hour and then decided to go on and check out the rest of the facility. The climbing area was closed the entire time. I didn't want to play in the raquetball court by myself so I skipped it and I don't like basketball so I skipped it too. I donned some swim trunks and headed into the hot tub for a bit. It wasn't as hot as the hot tub at one of the Lifestyle Family Fitness gyms but whatever. I sat in for about fifteen minutes and then farted around in the outdoor pool for a little bit before heading back into a hot tub. After drying off and putting my shirt back on, I checked the climbing area one more time so see it was still closed. Sucks. Oh, and they do not allow gum chewing in the weights area, which is completely and totally stupid. In the end, I am left with neither a good or a bad opinion of that gym. I certainly would not be able to put on a lot more size, but the climbing area is pretty sweet, it it is ever open. I could easily see myself spending two-three hours a day there if I had a membership but at their prices it just wouldn't be worth it. Their sales reps outright suck. So in the end, I learned that I really am happy with my gyms and this "Cadillac" of a gym was just dressed up real pretty with not a lot to really help me reach my fitness goal. So I guess learning that the grass is always greener was my lesson for the day.
Now back to Cardinal and Lifestyle to focus of getting bigger.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
This chest is on fire
So once again I got turned down for a new job...
So I headed off to the gym after work and blasted out my chest in a way I have never done before. Climbing pushups with the Smith Machine at 12-20 reps at each notch; Dips 3 sets narrow grip 10 reps and 4 sets wide grip 10 reps each; Pec Deck at 3 sets 220 pounds with ten reps, Military Press 120 pounds with 3 sets and 10 reps; Incline press 145 pounds 3 sets 12 reps; Incline dumbell flyes 40 pound dumbells at 4 sets with 12 reps; Decline bench 135 pounds with 3 sets 10 reps; Flat bench 155 pounds at 3 sets 10-12 reps; Cable chest flyes 40 pounds in each hand with 4 sets 8 reps and finally decline pushups on a Bosu platform until failure which by that point it was about 15 reps. All of this took place in the span of 45 minutes.
Is that overtraining? Oh very likely. But my chest can take quite the beating and come out larger so I am fine with that. I am very surprised I do not have more stretch marks from today and I wore a full shirt to work out in. I've gotten so used to sleeveless and slit shirts for working out which is much better for me once I get pumped up. An uncut shirt just gets real tight.
My chest is burning along with my lats. And I am so unbelievably sick of job searching so I sit here in a deep depression. I likely will not sleep tonight.
So I headed off to the gym after work and blasted out my chest in a way I have never done before. Climbing pushups with the Smith Machine at 12-20 reps at each notch; Dips 3 sets narrow grip 10 reps and 4 sets wide grip 10 reps each; Pec Deck at 3 sets 220 pounds with ten reps, Military Press 120 pounds with 3 sets and 10 reps; Incline press 145 pounds 3 sets 12 reps; Incline dumbell flyes 40 pound dumbells at 4 sets with 12 reps; Decline bench 135 pounds with 3 sets 10 reps; Flat bench 155 pounds at 3 sets 10-12 reps; Cable chest flyes 40 pounds in each hand with 4 sets 8 reps and finally decline pushups on a Bosu platform until failure which by that point it was about 15 reps. All of this took place in the span of 45 minutes.
Is that overtraining? Oh very likely. But my chest can take quite the beating and come out larger so I am fine with that. I am very surprised I do not have more stretch marks from today and I wore a full shirt to work out in. I've gotten so used to sleeveless and slit shirts for working out which is much better for me once I get pumped up. An uncut shirt just gets real tight.
My chest is burning along with my lats. And I am so unbelievably sick of job searching so I sit here in a deep depression. I likely will not sleep tonight.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Good or bad?
The following three songs have qualities about them that I like, but at the same time there are qualities I really dislike. With that in mind, here are songs that walk the line for me. Are they good? Are they bad? Or are they just part of the middle ground?
Monday, June 6, 2011
Rune Factory
Today's topic of conversation is a video game series. The game series "Harvest Moon" is definitely a Japanese outing in which you farm, raise animals, and pick yourself a wife from a small range of ladies living in the nearby town. Sounds boring? Oh hell yes. I will say that a good portion of the Harvest Moon games pretty much suck and that they are all largely the same game, but there are games in this series that are addictive and a good time.
But Harvest Moon is missing a major gameplay amenity that would send it up quite a bit higher on my list of great games. That thing would be adventuring in dungeons and fighting enemies. So the series "Rune Factory" sets out to fix that problem. Again, all the games are very similar - the hero wakes up with amnesia outside a town and is given a house and farmland and slowly becomes part of the town as he farms his way to their hearts and fights bosses in order to learn more of his past and save the town from eventual destruction. Now that's a game I can sink my teeth into!
I will say that the first Rune Factory is the weakest one. Everyone is very polygonal, in a bad way. You get some pretty nasty slowdown if there's too much going on the screen, which actually makes the last couple boss fights extremely easy. You can pick a wife but it has not a single bearing on what happens after and she has a baby down the line and that baby does not grow up at all. And you can absolutely break the game by mining rocks and selling all the expensive ores you get. I traded this one in for a different game after I beat it just because I knew I would never touch it again.
Rune Factory 2 starts out pretty weak like the first one, but once you get a wife and she has a kid, the game moves forward until the kid is around ten years old and the kid becomes the star of the game since the father has disappeared shortly after the wife gave birth. The kid can sit through classes and learn how to make things and he's small enough to get through all the barriers blocking off most of the dungeons from the father. The story gets pretty damned ludicrous in the final act where the kid learns his father went out to fight a dragon once he regained his memory only to be felled by said dragon. The dad's ghost helps the son fight the dragon at the end of the last main dungeon and you get the second round of end game credits. After that, there's a series of bonus dungeons that will allow the kid to revive his dad after all is said and done, thus leading to a third round of end game credits. This is a great game out of sheer length.
Rune Factory 3 streamlines a lot of things that needed to be streamlined. The hero moves a lot faster, and there are dual swords which are far more badass than the rest of the weapons. Farming goes a lot faster. So this hero is a half-monster and half-human and it's his job to ultimately bring together the people of the town and the nearby monster village. This is a fantastic game out of sheer gameplay.
The nice thing about this series is that there is not a single thing pushing you to get the story moved forward. You can fart around the farm all day, mine for ore, try to land a lady, whatever you want and there's no consequence for taking forever to do it. It is the best game for dicking around on a lazy day.
But Harvest Moon is missing a major gameplay amenity that would send it up quite a bit higher on my list of great games. That thing would be adventuring in dungeons and fighting enemies. So the series "Rune Factory" sets out to fix that problem. Again, all the games are very similar - the hero wakes up with amnesia outside a town and is given a house and farmland and slowly becomes part of the town as he farms his way to their hearts and fights bosses in order to learn more of his past and save the town from eventual destruction. Now that's a game I can sink my teeth into!
I will say that the first Rune Factory is the weakest one. Everyone is very polygonal, in a bad way. You get some pretty nasty slowdown if there's too much going on the screen, which actually makes the last couple boss fights extremely easy. You can pick a wife but it has not a single bearing on what happens after and she has a baby down the line and that baby does not grow up at all. And you can absolutely break the game by mining rocks and selling all the expensive ores you get. I traded this one in for a different game after I beat it just because I knew I would never touch it again.
Rune Factory 2 starts out pretty weak like the first one, but once you get a wife and she has a kid, the game moves forward until the kid is around ten years old and the kid becomes the star of the game since the father has disappeared shortly after the wife gave birth. The kid can sit through classes and learn how to make things and he's small enough to get through all the barriers blocking off most of the dungeons from the father. The story gets pretty damned ludicrous in the final act where the kid learns his father went out to fight a dragon once he regained his memory only to be felled by said dragon. The dad's ghost helps the son fight the dragon at the end of the last main dungeon and you get the second round of end game credits. After that, there's a series of bonus dungeons that will allow the kid to revive his dad after all is said and done, thus leading to a third round of end game credits. This is a great game out of sheer length.
Rune Factory 3 streamlines a lot of things that needed to be streamlined. The hero moves a lot faster, and there are dual swords which are far more badass than the rest of the weapons. Farming goes a lot faster. So this hero is a half-monster and half-human and it's his job to ultimately bring together the people of the town and the nearby monster village. This is a fantastic game out of sheer gameplay.
The nice thing about this series is that there is not a single thing pushing you to get the story moved forward. You can fart around the farm all day, mine for ore, try to land a lady, whatever you want and there's no consequence for taking forever to do it. It is the best game for dicking around on a lazy day.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Muscle
I've been reading the book Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder again and today I shall talk about it. Basically this is the story of a skinny college grad who's journey into bodybuilding takes him into bizarre and dizzying lows. The young lad graduated an Ivy League college and finds himself in New York scared of everything around him. He can not go a day without the fear of being attacked or mugged, so this fear led him into the YMCA where his plan is to get so grotesquely swole up that no one will ever mess with him. He takes up with the biggest guys there and very quickly rises among the gym's ranks. He turns his back on his job with a publishing company, his family, and his entire upbringing as he takes residence inside a tiny little basement in order to continue his quest for ludicrous size. After hitting a plateau, he decides to head to California to break the plateau and continue growing forever. While there, he moves in with three bodybuilders who all use steroids heavily and get him started on it. And finally comes the competitions, they being the bench press in addition to the tiny pants one. At that point, the realization that this is all been one long joke finally hits him backstage before a bodybuilding competition. After finishing on stage, he ultimately walked away from bodybuilding and back into the life he led back in the beginning of the story.
While this may or may not be partially fabricated doesn't really matter. I really enjoyed the read. This guy peppers his college learning and thus observations throughout his experiences. I really liked the blunt and pointed psychological observations as I tend to think a lot in that same fashion.
I understood being skinny and wanting to overcome that and thankfully I have the mind to know that there will be a stopping point for me. I have no desire to morph into a muscle balloon like the author, and is largely due to the fact that I am not doing it out of fear. I also have no desire to walk across a stage mostly naked showing off my body and have no idea why that seems to be the end all of muscle building. You can be built up and not have to have your body judged while you flex for an audience.
Anyway, I recommend the read if you are into fitness and are a total nerd, like myself.
While this may or may not be partially fabricated doesn't really matter. I really enjoyed the read. This guy peppers his college learning and thus observations throughout his experiences. I really liked the blunt and pointed psychological observations as I tend to think a lot in that same fashion.
I understood being skinny and wanting to overcome that and thankfully I have the mind to know that there will be a stopping point for me. I have no desire to morph into a muscle balloon like the author, and is largely due to the fact that I am not doing it out of fear. I also have no desire to walk across a stage mostly naked showing off my body and have no idea why that seems to be the end all of muscle building. You can be built up and not have to have your body judged while you flex for an audience.
Anyway, I recommend the read if you are into fitness and are a total nerd, like myself.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Ramblin' man
Wednesday, I finally managed to bring my chest to failure during a workout. It was pretty cool even though it took nearly an hour to get there. I really could not pick up another weight to use on my chest. I was pumped so damned hard.
So after that, I took Thursday off in order to rest and not work out six days this week. I've been back on that schedule though it was kind of by accident. There's a new sales guy at the gym and he needs to bulk it up a bit. He's short and very skinny and he wants about 40 pounds of mass put on him. Since I passed up the 40 pounds gained marked a long time ago, I feel like the best man for the job. Or at least the free man for the job. So after work on Sundays, he and I go through the exercises that will quickly put on size. He's very weak as well so he does his weight and I do my normal weight which doesn't help his self-esteem. I try to do a short round of exercises with him knowing that he's not going to last an hour and a half and still be able to finish his shift at work, but I still go pretty intense for myself. Anyway, why not take Friday and Saturday off instead? Fridays are the days I really are stoked on chest exercises and can't wait to hammer until I'm pumped up big.
So today, I went in for a workout after an interview that I feel went mostly well. Again, I will have to hear from them and I know how well that's gone lately so why would this go any different? And today I took my legs to failure for the first time. Again, I took a hell of a lot to get there and my thighs were rubbing together by the time I was done. I'm sure that's going to be permanent soon. After I could not move another weight with my legs I moved on to chest and obviously went a bit lighter than I did on Wednesday. I noticed my left shoulder was extremely tight near the end of my workout when I was doing flat bench presses. So after that, I donned my swim trunks and headed into the pool to relax my shoulder muscles. I spent a good deal of time on shoulder stretches underwater and attempts at swim strokes. After that I sat in the hot tub with a jet shooting right into my left shoulder. It loosened up quite a bit and I definitely need to give it a rest.
Obviously I am under a hell of a lot of stress which makes me work out a lot more. And every time I work out six days a week I gain a pound a week versus 1.5 - 2 pounds gained a month working out five days a week. Yes it will get me to my goal that much faster but there's only so long I can do that before I injure myself. I'm 216 pounds now and I definitely look different. Also working out six days a week increases my appetite tenfold. Where I will drink a cup of milk with whey protein after a workout under normal circumstances, I drink damn near half a gallon of chocolate milk, eat two no-bake cookies (my favorite cookies) and a handful of peanuts before going on to make dinner. It's impossible for me to regulate eating when I work out six days a week. And today I took in about 1200 calories for lunch. I was nervous before the interview so I stopped at McDonald's for sweet tea and ended up with a sweet tea, ten nuggets, fries, two apple pies, and a small caramel coffee that one of the ladies made for some reason. I got the coffee for free. The lady claimed she made it when she didn't need to and needed to get rid of it. I know that's code for "I want your body." So I drank her coffee.
Where was I going with all this? Yes, I'm still getting big and it's still very cool. Once again, I might have a new job. And yes, I have come to love sitting in the hot tub.
So after that, I took Thursday off in order to rest and not work out six days this week. I've been back on that schedule though it was kind of by accident. There's a new sales guy at the gym and he needs to bulk it up a bit. He's short and very skinny and he wants about 40 pounds of mass put on him. Since I passed up the 40 pounds gained marked a long time ago, I feel like the best man for the job. Or at least the free man for the job. So after work on Sundays, he and I go through the exercises that will quickly put on size. He's very weak as well so he does his weight and I do my normal weight which doesn't help his self-esteem. I try to do a short round of exercises with him knowing that he's not going to last an hour and a half and still be able to finish his shift at work, but I still go pretty intense for myself. Anyway, why not take Friday and Saturday off instead? Fridays are the days I really are stoked on chest exercises and can't wait to hammer until I'm pumped up big.
So today, I went in for a workout after an interview that I feel went mostly well. Again, I will have to hear from them and I know how well that's gone lately so why would this go any different? And today I took my legs to failure for the first time. Again, I took a hell of a lot to get there and my thighs were rubbing together by the time I was done. I'm sure that's going to be permanent soon. After I could not move another weight with my legs I moved on to chest and obviously went a bit lighter than I did on Wednesday. I noticed my left shoulder was extremely tight near the end of my workout when I was doing flat bench presses. So after that, I donned my swim trunks and headed into the pool to relax my shoulder muscles. I spent a good deal of time on shoulder stretches underwater and attempts at swim strokes. After that I sat in the hot tub with a jet shooting right into my left shoulder. It loosened up quite a bit and I definitely need to give it a rest.
Obviously I am under a hell of a lot of stress which makes me work out a lot more. And every time I work out six days a week I gain a pound a week versus 1.5 - 2 pounds gained a month working out five days a week. Yes it will get me to my goal that much faster but there's only so long I can do that before I injure myself. I'm 216 pounds now and I definitely look different. Also working out six days a week increases my appetite tenfold. Where I will drink a cup of milk with whey protein after a workout under normal circumstances, I drink damn near half a gallon of chocolate milk, eat two no-bake cookies (my favorite cookies) and a handful of peanuts before going on to make dinner. It's impossible for me to regulate eating when I work out six days a week. And today I took in about 1200 calories for lunch. I was nervous before the interview so I stopped at McDonald's for sweet tea and ended up with a sweet tea, ten nuggets, fries, two apple pies, and a small caramel coffee that one of the ladies made for some reason. I got the coffee for free. The lady claimed she made it when she didn't need to and needed to get rid of it. I know that's code for "I want your body." So I drank her coffee.
Where was I going with all this? Yes, I'm still getting big and it's still very cool. Once again, I might have a new job. And yes, I have come to love sitting in the hot tub.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Gimmick shoes
Since I will eventually be buying shoes for running, I have been thinking about getting "performance" style shoes that will aid more in my quest for the last few pounds of muscle I want to put on. With that said, I went over to Dick's to check their selection. These shoes should offer at least at much support as running shoes. I found a pair of Reeboks that I liked but the tops were made of this cheap ass looking canvas I'm sure I will tear through in a week. So no I'm not buying. But what brings me to this blog are the sheer amount of shoes claiming to help you with support, toning your ass and all manner of things. I get a laugh at the ridiculousness as my cynical side can't seem to buy into it. The big one right now are the Reebok Zig Zags and they have this silly looking soles that claim to take the shock out of your legs during a workout, run, tennis, skydiving, whatever. The tops are also that cheap canvas, by the way. So I tried them on just to see how they felt and I must say it was a good feel walking around in them, which kind of surprised me. But they added about two inches of height on me and being a very tall man already this wouldn't seem to help matters in the gym. Would these shoes do what they claim? I'll never know.
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