New photo...in case you aren't on Facebook...

March 24, 2009

October 17, 2008

Blogging again...

Hi everyone, I haven't blogged for a while. No real reason, I just got bored saying the same things over and over. I feel like I am in a weird transition period...I am still working out, just cranking away getting stronger and getting smaller.

I need to think more about what the heck I want to say on this blog. Recapping my workouts every entry is no fun...anyway here I am...blogging...kind of...

I had a great workout today. Brandon is pushing me...I am still digging the training...I have a 5K in April, so I am starting to seriously prepare...so, maybe I'll find something to say as I hit the roads and try to improve my speed.

Most of you see me/talk to me on Facebook, so I am still around.

Catching up...feeling good, feeling sore...

Hey everyone...I am home from the gym tonight and it was a great workout. Chest, back and arms with a little abs thrown in for good measure...

I should have blogged after my Saturday workout so that my complaining about my legs would seem more dramatic, but trust me...on Saturday I did 30 minutes on the treadmill,  six sets of squats, four sets of leg presses, 5 minutes on the stair master (doing high intensity intervals), four sets of lat pull downs, and three sets of dumb bell shoulder raises and presses and 10 minutes on the life fitness upper and lower body resistance cardio training...it resulted in me feeling and looking like an old man climbing up and down the stairs...I have been nearly so unbelievably sore the last three days...

SO SORE I BROKE MY VOW TO NEVER TELL BRANDON I AM SORE!

Yeah...THAT sore...

When I got to the gym tonight I wanted to see how my legs would do on the resistance cardio trainer and believe it or not, I felt pretty good. The training was focused on the upper body tonight, but by the end of our hour, my legs felt really good. I think the resistance cardio machine is pretty good for working these sore muscles...

Besides the workouts life has been somewhat less hectic the last few days. SOMEWHAT...

I need to get on with my 5K training for the next one I am doing on April 26th. 

My legs are sore...

Today I was feeling great, no residual pain in my legs from Monday's workout...that is until I got to the gym today and hopped on the elliptical machine...

If you have been reading my blog from the early days...you will remember my first experience with the elliptical machine in the gym was an unpleasant one...I bit off more than I could chew...I tried using the machine without really learning it and I could barely stay on...CLASSIC NEW GUY IN THE GYM MOVE...

So, I pretty much avoided any consistent or prolonged contact with the elliptical machine out of fear and respect for its power over me...

When I arrived at the gym tonight, I was pretty stressed out from another typical day at work...I really needed the workout to get the stress out and it always works...this is one of my favorite things about working out by the way...

Anyway, I arrived and knew I had a few minutes to warm up before Muffy arrived and we started our training session with Brandon, so I figured today is a good day to try the elliptical again...

I immediately felt soreness in my quads once I started using the elliptical...the pain I was missing rushed in...I felt the deep muscle soreness and for a few moments felt the struggle with the elliptical was actually making my legs feel better...

Brandon sees me wrangling the elliptical and says do ten minutes then we can start training and honestly, by the time I got to the fourth minute I was feeling very sore and a little like I did the first time I was on the machine...not exactly the same because I could feel my muscles were stronger and I am definitely not as heavy...the feeling was the same but the pace was at least double the first time where I looked more like a city slicker following a sherpa up the north face of Everest...

The training with Brandon was intense...lots of chest, back and some shoulders...I have noticed the last few training sessions I have either been sleep deprived or nutrition deprived and the loss of strength is noticeable to me...I never really thought I would be one of those guys who "needed" to eat before a workout...I always thought my thick rolls of blubber would be enough stored energy for me to get going but I am feeling differently now...

I will bring a light snack to munch on it 30-45 minutes before I workout next time and see if I feel better...

We also did a grueling session of abs work that left me feeling cramps, but in a good way...we wrapped up the session with a few extra minutes working on a stair master type machine that has a lot of resistance in the upper body too, and that really made my legs feel torched...

I drag myself into the house and my legs feel like I did a leg session tonight...weird...I am supposed to do legs tomorrow as part of the SHOCK MY BODY routine this week, I am not sure how that is going to work...

Why do you do that?

Yes, this was the question I got at the gym tonight...

I was there to work my legs and had just completed some monster sets of leg presses and was one set into...WAIT FOR IT...

GUESS?

Ok, it was STEP UPS. I was doing them and was one set in and someone asked me why I do them...before I could get my answer out (I was winded)...my questioner says "I would never do those"...

I said if you had a belly like this one (POINTS TO BELLY) you probably would...which at this point my trainer Brandon walks up and says, "ten more pounds and you'll be doing these with a bar on your shoulders"...uhhh I don't like that idea...

I am ten pounds away from the century mark...I am kicking up the effort in hopes of dropping these pounds in the next couple of weeks...I'd love to start March where I hoped to be at the end of May...

Oh, for some insane reason I chose the tallest bench available to use for the STEP UPS...why? Because they are harder and that must mean they are more effective...right? I hope so...

I did the stair machine tonight as well. That is pure evil...it is tough and I try alternating speeds every 90 seconds...it makes me want to run away...but I can't because my legs are too sore...

Down 90 lbs...

Almost to the century mark...this week I am kicking up the frequency and intensity to see if I can hit 100 in the next week or two...

Here are a couple of new photos...down a few sizes in the pants and shirts...

Fat buster...memory lane...

Today I had a great workout. It qualifies as a "fat buster"...lots of chest, shoulders, back and abs...I am beat...as usual...I got some solid treadmill time in before and that felt good...

I don't really know why I am about to write about my high school band director, but I think once I have it all out, it may make sense...

Aaron Robin made me believe in myself...

I played an instrument in band since 5th grade. I started on the trombone...why?...because they had trombones at the band sign up class and me, being me, I wanted an instrument that night...instant gratification (a trait that would prove to be a problem later in life)...

I was a horrible trombone player, I didn't like to practice, I really couldn't count or read music and I never really put in the effort to get better, I just hid...but I did like being part of the band...

So, fast forward through middle school, I was still a bad player, barely staying in the band, and finally in my 8th grade year of band I switched to the Baritone (not to be mistaken with the Euphonium)...I was still really bad, but now I was bad playing valves not a slide...

Every kid in band where I grew up knew that it would be the honor of honors to play in Aaron Robin's Spectacular Band from Spartanland at Comeaux High. Every kid also knew Mr. Robin was a relentless perfectionist and anyone with half a brain was afraid of him....even the middle school band directors...Comeaux Band was the real deal, they won everything they entered and accepted nothing less than perfection from the band members...

I decided that my football career was over and I would stick with band in high school. I was actually worse at football than I was at music -- I was weak and fat and I didn't want to put the work in to get better...SEEING SOME RECURRING THEMES YET????

So, I signed up for band and immediately was told that I would be a better Sousaphone/Tuba player at Comeaux and I should switch instruments again...I don't know who tipped off Mr. Robin...maybe it was the fact that I could barely walk in step much less play and march and hiding under a Sousaphone probably was a safe place for a loser with a mullet like me...

The humiliation is only beginning...

My freshman year I was SO BAD at reading music, counting music, playing the Tuba, etc that during freshman band class, I was banished to a supply closet where I struggled to learn my music to the marching band show...a senior horn player was given the unkind duty to "work with Aaron to learn his part"...it was horrible...I was not getting any better, I felt pretty dumb and I definitely knew all the other freshmen were laughing at the pitiful sounding Tuba player who was so bad he had to practice in a closet...

My marching improved to where I could at least march in step and when it was time for me to stop in a spot, I could kind of fake it through my part of the music...assuming I wasn't too scared about missing the next move...I still practiced in the closet through the first semester of 9th grade...

FINALLY, in December Mr. Robin allowed me to rejoin the freshman band class and it was announced that "Aaron will play his part for the first act of the show"...my moment of glory...there was another senior there tapping my shoulder to help me march in place and fumble through the tuba part to the first act of the Gershwin show...I kind of made it and I got a mercy applause...

FAST FORWARD through Spring and Summer...I borrowed a Sousaphone and I practiced every day for hours over the summer...I had to get better...I reported back to band camp with a fresh haircut and another 4-5 inches in height...I also could play the Tuba...I was excited to be a part of the band, I belonged...

In my sophomore year, I started to pick up on little things Mr. Robin would do that seemed odd and frankly just seemed to be lies...at first...

When Mr. Robin would talk to other teachers or other band directors he'd point to someone and say something like, "that kid is first-chair all-state and is getting a full ride to LSU"...at first I didn't really notice anything...the person he'd refer to was a great player and for all I knew was first chair all-state...

The auditions for district honor band were coming up and it was a given that anyone with any real skill and any plans of being a section leader one day would need to audition...there were scales to be played, and excerpts to learn and worst of all...an audition where kids from all the local high schools would compete...

I wasn't really thinking I would try, but Mr. Robin said, "hey pal, are you going to try out?"...it was really more of a challenge than a question, and I was so afraid of him and I so badly wanted his approval, I told him I would try out...

The day came, I auditioned, and made it through the scales and music as best I could...at the end of the day, names were posted on a cafeteria window, and I saw my name in the second band, bottom of the Tuba section...but I made it!

I had barely made it in, but for me it was like climbing Everest...everyone who knew me knew I was a lousy player and the fact that I could make it probably concerned other more talented musicians...

I still struggled with my Tuba playing, but I was getting better. My junior year came along and I was now the 2nd chair Tuba player in the band. I was starting to get confidence. I was comfortable playing our music and I started really thinking I might be good at this one day...

I again faced auditions, and I made the honor band. I still drew the ire of Mr. Robin when I did screw up but I was no different than any other band member, we all hid as best we could...there were the select few (usually seniors) who could cover for the rest of us and these lucky few were often humiliated for something one of us did...it was a real lesson in discipline and fear...

FAST FORWARD TO MY SENIOR YEAR...

It is becoming pretty obvious to me that I would pursue music opportunities in college. Band was the one thing I was good at and it seemed right...now I start to hear Mr. Robin refer to me when talking to others..."that guy is the best high school tuba player in the state, he's first chair all-state and he'll get a full ride to college"...

Huh? Me? I wasn't those things. Mr. Robin was exaggerating...

I didn't realize that what Mr. Robin was doing was telling me what he saw as my potential. He was telling me this stuff by talking about me in front of me to others. He wasn't a teacher who handed out praise directly, you had to earn it, and usually you were not present to hear him speak kindly of you...I was lucky...

I think about what Mr. Robin was doing for me when I see myself in the gym mirrors working out. I tell myself, "that guy is losing weight, he is doing what everyone says they will do and nobody ever does, he is going to be unrecognizable in a few months"...

Projecting...it works...

So, my senior year I made it into the honor bands, even into a tri-state honor band. I was lucky enough to have a teacher and mentor who saw in me what I couldn't see in myself. He was right about all those things...partly because he believed in me and partly because I believed him. I knew I could do anything Mr. Robin said about me...I can't imagine not having been his student, he was instrumental in the formation of my work ethic and he taught me that you can be excellent at something and not be satisfied with it...

I think about this now when I don't want to workout, or when I just get sick of doing everything I am doing...it is a little way I can see where I struggled with something and overcame it...

I made it to LSU on a full scholarship, I even made it into the highly selective wind ensemble my freshman year where I met Muffy and fell in love with her instantly...

I hope that this wasn't too boring, I just felt like talking about it...tomorrow I run...