New Leaf: Incremental Increase
July 13, 2008 Posted by Al Castle
2comments Categories: Castle, Fitness
Tags: 300, abs, bmi, fat, gym, happiness here i come, new leaf, the pain
One of my goals is to have abs like the ones painted on the Spartans in the movie 300. Then I can go around half naked on my segway wearing a red Spartan like cape and a bad ass helmet like King Leonidis. Oh yeah.
This last trip to the gym I upped the number of reps as well as adding a new set with more weight.
I did a total of 120 crunches.
4 sets of 20 - 80 lbs
2 sets of 15 - 100 lbs
1 set of 10 - 110 lbs
That last set of 10 at 110 lbs was tough, at first the thing didn’t move when I tried. Thankfully the gym was mostly empty because I’m pretty sure the sound I made was a grunting, growling, swamp-thing type scream as I willed my body to repeatedly lift the weights.
I also added a new machine that works my man boobs. I was feeling pretty weak from the ab cruncher so I only did - 1 set of 15 - 90 lbs
After taking a shower, I was too weak to dry off. So completely wet, I’m now weighing in at 181 lbs making my weight loss to about 24 lbs of fat. Which puts my BMI at 24.5, within the normal weight according to the body mass index calculator. I still have what looks like a deflated bicycle tire around my waist, but I’m getting there.
New Leaf: The Pain
June 18, 2008 Posted by Al Castle
add a comment Categories: Castle, Fitness
Tags: abs, fat, gym, new leaf, the pain
I’ve been hitting the gym about 4 days a week I think. Same routine, I hit the bike then the treadmill. The amount of time varies, but nothing any more exciting than what I’ve already posted about.
Yesterday I decided it was time to try another machine, something to work my abs. All the machines really look like medieval torture devices, but eventually I found one with pictures on it, that looked like it should work the abdominal muscles. Now someone left the machine on like 140lbs of weight. I climbed into this contraption and tried to do a crunch. It was a little much to start out on. I massaged my ego by recalling the phrase “low weight. high reps”.
So I put the unit on 80lbs and did four sets of 20 crunches. Then one set of 10 crunches at 100lbs. I think that was pretty good to start.
Next I moved back to the usual machines, 40 minutes on the bike of eternal uphillness and 10 more minutes on the treadmill.
This morning I was in for a surprise, as I woke up and tried to sit up I felt an unusual and confusing pain. My abs were on fire. Getting dressed this morning proved to be unpleasant. My shoulders and triceps are a little sore as well.
New Leaf: More Gym Time
June 11, 2008 Posted by Al Castle
4comments Categories: Castle, Fitness, gnash-teeth
Tags: alkins, angry monkey, fat, gym, happiness here i come
So yesterday I went back to the gym. Mainly to try to not think about everything that’s pissing me off. Blow off some steam and all that.
I tried that bike machine again and set it to a much higher resistance than last time. I told the machine to keep my heart rate at 156, which felt like it was going to explode. I have no idea if that’s safe for a out of shape, chain smoker, that hadn’t eat yet that day, but whatever. For 30 minutes I biked up what felt like the steepest hill on the planet.
Despite my legs shaking after the first 30 minutes I jumped on a treadmill because I still wasn’t exhausted. I set it to a steep incline and did that for another 15 minutes or so. I stopped after that because it was getting crowded in there, and that many stinky brethren along with music I did not want to listen to, was making me even more agitated.
Unfortunately this didn’t tire me out like it did the day before, so sleep did not come quickly. The upside of this? Genetics have given me fat free, muscular legs, which are now getting a nice tan. Despite not having been used more than to carry me over very short distances in the last 15 years, they don’t feel sore at all. I’ve also lost a little over 20 lbs and am now weighing in at 185 lbs. I eat one meal a day, because I have no appetite and force myself, chain smoking and exercise - this is a great diet. Better than the Atkins, it’s the Alkins.
Sign-up now and I’ll send you a weeks starter package. Includes: A carton of cigs, seven frozen pene-pasta dinners and a black rock that you can pretend is whatever pisses you off the most.
The New Leaf
June 9, 2008 Posted by Al Castle
add a comment Categories: Castle, Fitness, Puter Stuff
Tags: fat, fire, gym, happiness here i come, sleepless & worrying, tanning
So this morning I did something really different. I actually got up. As in out of bed. Then it was into the shower, got dressed, then got my coffee. I haven’t done that in a loooong time. And I actually sat at my desk today instead of geeking from my bed. I also refrained from answering emails from my iPhone while still under the covers. My morning emails tend to be more incoherent than normal when I only have one eye open. I can’t say I was anymore productive, but the shower definitely woke me up.
Around 1pm today a small “mall” (a large building with shops, bank & a restaurant) in downtown Lynden caught fire (pictures are here). Several blocks were cordoned off, at least six different fire departments were on hand, it was pretty intense. So much so that the power was cut off for the surrounding blocks, including mine. Which meant no Internet.
I took this opportunity to head to the gym. I threw myself in the microwave for another 7 minutes and got all toasty. Then it was off to this peddle machine-thingy. I worked out on the machine for 60 minutes and went an estimated 20+ miles. I burned 266 calories and it kept my heart rate above 121, according to the built in monitor. My legs were shaking after that. The first thing I wanted afterward was a McDonalds cheeseburger. Instead I headed to the deli and had them make me a healthier sandwich with some water.
It’s now about 8:40pm and I’m completely exhausted, hopefully I’ll crash soon and get an early start on my morning. It’s been pouring rain, a gray sky eyes kinda day. But I’ve managed to stay positive despite this and one way or another I’m going to stay this way.
Update 4am: Going to bed at 9pm with worries on your mind makes sleeping pretty hard. I passed out for a few hours, but had weird dreams that kept waking me up. Life at 4am sucks. I don’t think I’ve ever had a good time at this hour. When I used to stay up till this time, I was always feeling exhausted and sick from drinking too much. Or getting up this early to make it to the airport to catch a flight was never fun either. I don’t think my ability to pretend everything is alright in the world starts until much later in the day. Of course that’s many a sleepless hour from now. 
Need More Sunlight
June 2, 2008 Posted by Al Castle
3comments Categories: Castle, Squirrels
Tags: fat, gym, tanning
Back story: A few months ago I headed to my drive-thru medical practitioner to talk about my lethargy and mood. At the time the weather was dreary, but even when it’s not I tend to spend my time on the computer, in the basement, with the shades down. My sun light in-take is near mole people levels. So she had me goto the lab, where the technicians take turns trying to find a vein. (This usually takes 3-5 stabbings as my veins are oh so wily. One tech actually said that the vein “moved out of the way” just as she was about to stab it. Uh huh.) They ended up taking several tubes of my precious juice and on my next visit I was informed that I’m so vitamin D deficient I had to take prescription vitamin D. I didn’t know you could even get prescriptions for vitamins. One bloated, Nyquil looking pill a week, would give me some 50,000 units of vitamin D. In addition it was recommended I start using a tanning bed.
And that brings us to todays post. I have a gym membership that I’ve used only a couple times, but one of the benefits they have there are tanning facilities. So I headed on down for my first tanning session today, where they showed me how the thing works. All the beds were in use so I had to use the stand up unit, something that looked like a coffin/transporter/microwave all in one. I had to figure out how the stupid welding goggle things worked, then willfully stand buck naked in - The Device. There was a fear of pubes bursting into flames or burns on tender anatomy, but I figured I’d give it a go - besides running screaming naked through the gym with smoldering pubes sounded ridiculously fun.
They only let me nuke for about 4 minutes since it was my first time and afterwards I marveled at my growing bulk in the full length mirror. I don’t feel any more vitamin D-y, and I certainly don’t look any more tan.
As I headed out (clothed), past the mostly empty machines and pool I realized that I could have also worked out. I had only worn flipflops though, so lucky me I had an excellent excuse. Methinks that next time I’ll try to convince myself to do both while I’m there.
