Another Potter Podcast & NerdStrong Movie Night

I got home from the gym and had just a half hour to get ready to record another podcast for Treks in Sci Fi. Rico and I continue looking at the Harry Potter book and movie series. Today's podcast covered Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This is probably my favorite of the books and I really enjoyed this movie as this is when the look of the films took a much darker and more realistic take. Rico and I recorded for just over two hours and had a great time discuss this book/film. I'll have it all edited up and it should be posted towards the end of April and as you all know I'll mentioned it again on my blog when it's released.

During the evening I headed back to NerdStrong Gym, not to work out but for movie night. Tonight we are watching my favorite of the Alien movies... Aliens. This is my first movie night at NerdStrong as the last movie night when they watched The Last Starfighter landed on my D&D night so I couldn't go. So I was looking forward to this. I brought my comfy chair (which everyone commented on), some snacks to share as well as a whole cooked chicken (it was my dinner). Around 20 people showed up, found a place to cope a squat and the movie began. We watched the directors cut of the movie, which I've only seen once. The biggest difference that I noticed was the entire "colony" scene where we are introduced to Newt and her family and the beginning of the outbreak on the planet.

I wasn't sure if this was going to be in the style of Mystery Science 3000 with folks chatting and commenting to what is happening on screen, but for the most part it was silent and everyone was focused on the movie. Of course all of Hudsons one liners got a huge laughs, as they always do. It was an enjoyable evening of snacks, aliens & friends. Now I get to look forward to tomorrows workout which will be Aliens themed... can't wait!!

Oh and I want to mention my friend Erin wore this amazing Ahsoka Tano outfit to the screening.. she looked great. We're both HUGE fans and enjoy talking Ahsoka when we can.

NerdStrong Gym - Rowing & Thrusters

Saturday NerdStrong class was a good one, another CON session. We started with a warm up of rowing and PVC Pass Thrus. We did 100 meters of rowing then did 10x PVC Pass Thrus and repeated it three times.

We then went over techniques for Rowing and Thrusters. For Rowing they showed us how to do a quick release from the foot bands, luckily it was something that I was already doing. And for Thrusters we went over form to ensure that we were all doing it properly.

The workout was done in heats. Since there were nine of us we were broken down into three heats. I was part of heat 3, which meant I went last. This was a consistent 8 minute workout which involved funny enough Rowing and Thrusters. We first did a 15 Calorie Row (depending on your reach that can take two to three rows per calorie), and then we had to grab either a barbell or some dumbbells (my choice) and do 15x Thrusters.

For the first round, Heat 3 were just cheerleaders, cheering on Heat 1. When Heat 2 started we became coaches and counted their reps while encouraging them. And finally it was Heat 3's turn. I actually got the furthest in my heat, I did 3 complete rounds of rowing and thrusters and then got in 8 more rows before my eight minutes was up.

I definitely pushed myself to my limit and just beyond but I felt great just a few minutes later.  Another successful and fun workout at NerdStrong gym.. Thanks Andrew

SDCC Hotel Issues

So I have a secure hotel room and I was happy but then my buddy Steven informed me that he had an extra room at the some hotel and wanted to offer it to me. It was cheaper then the one Robert got but it was also only a "twin" room, Roberts was a Quad. But my brother and I have talked about getting a room just for the two of us, I've always shared with three other people... so I told Steve I would take it. I went online and tried to modify the info and put the hotel room in my name, well that didn't go well. The page has broken and now I can't add my credit card or make any modifications. So instead I called their 800 number and was on hold for over 45 minutes before finally getting a hold of them. I explained the situation to the woman on the other end and she tried to add my credit card info but she was unable to do it as well. There seems to be a glitch in their system effecting my reservation. She "supposedly" reported it to the their IT department. 

I then asked to change the hotel room reservation name to mine and gave her my information but like with the glitch with the credit card, she wasn't able to change anything on my reservation. She said the IT people should have it fixed within 24 hours and to try again tomorrow.. fingers crossed all goes well.

NerdStrong Gym - Open Gym

Today is my first Friday workout at NerdStrong Gym, it's an open gym session and I want to start working on building up my chest and back. Being short and stocky has some benefits, like a "barrel" chest. My chest has always been large and I also have a somewhat "V" shape to my body. I just want to enhance what I already have and really define the "V".

I spoke with coach Blair and he created a personal workout routine for me.  It started with 5 Reps for 5 Rounds of Dumbbell Rows, but unlike the other dumbbell rows that I have done for previous classes he had me do these from a bench instead of on the floor.

I then moved on to Bar Pull Ups and again I did 5 Reps for 5 Rounds. These were tough but man do you feel them working the back muscles.

I then did 10 Reps for 5 Rounds of something called Supermanz. And they pretty much are what they sound like. You lay on the ground and lift your head and shoulder off up while simultaneously lifting your legs and feet off the ground. This seems easy at first but when your on round 4 you really start to feel it.

And the final thing I did was Bench Press, these I did will fellow workout buddy Josh, we did 8 reps at a light weight, then 5, then 3, then 2 and finally 1 at our heaviest weight. I set a new record for me for Bench Press. I managed to do a press at 175 lbs.

Overall I was very happy with this workout.. Thanks coach Blair for creating it and I look forward to continuing my Friday Open Gym Workouts.

NerdStrong Six Days A Week!!!

Downton To End, Alien Nation Reboot & Con Crazies

So I've been hearing rumors the past few weeks that season/series six of Downton Abbey will be the last season/series. I kept saying that I won't believe it until it's official.. well it's official. Season/Series 6 will be the final visit with the Crawleys. I am extremely disappointed that they have decided to end the series. It's one of my favorites and a series I can watch over and over again, in fact I have watched the first five seasons over and over again. I know they are currently filming season/series six so hopefully will get some closure with these characters. I expect several weddings or at least engagements. I guess I should be thankful that we got / will get six amazing seasons. It will be sad saying goodbye to this family.

There have been rumors of Fox resurrecting Alien Nation, as a movie or as a new TV series. Well it looks like rumors are abound once again and Fox is looking into rebooting the movie. Only time will tell if it actually happens or not. If it does it will be interesting to see how they go about rebooting it.

So we got the results of the SDCC hotel lottery and I didn't get anything. So I had to wait and see if any of my friends got anything. And luckily they did.. my buddy Robert got a room and not only a room but it's at a hotel that is only 3 blocks from the convention center (it's the closest that I have ever stayed), so as of right now things are looking up for SDCC hotel rooms.

And in other Convention news I finally got my Star Wars Celebration badges. This has been an ordeal as I changed my address on their website but it didn't seem to work as they sent the badges to my old home address. Luckily I'm still in contact with the owners of my former house so I was able to email him and ask him to keep an eye out for it. I also contacted SW Celebration and they said there wasn't much they could do since the badges were already sent out. They did say that if I didn't get them a week before the con to contact them. Well a few days ago I got an email informing me that the badges could not be delivered and returned. They asked for my new address, which I gave them and today they arrived in my mail box.

I don't know what it is but I seem to have a "con" curse this year. Everything seems to workout in the end man is it a roller coaster of a ride to get to it.

NerdStrong Gym - Barbell Rows and Deadlifts

Strength day at NerdStrong Gym. Coach Andrew was running this one. And actually only two people showed up for the 7am class.. me and my buddy Derek. So it was more like a one on one session with the coach (which is awesome).

It was a good warm up, Butt Kickers, 5x Squats, 5x V Ups, then High Kicks and again 5x Squats, 5x V Ups, Toy Soliders, 5x Squats, 5x V Ups, Lunges, then 5x Squats, 5x V Ups, 10x PVC Good Mornings and finally our final 5x Squats, 5x V Ups.

Now for the workout we were doing Barbell Rows and Deadlifts.

First were Barbells and we were doing 5 sets of 5 reps and then 1 set for 10 reps. This was more about form and less about weight. We weren't doing our one rep max to see how much we could do. And since it was just Derek and I, Andrew got to spend plenty of time correcting our form.  I would get the form and then lose it as there is a lot of remember when lifting.

We then did Deadlifts and again like with the Barbell Rows it was all about form and less about strength though we did do 5 sets and decreased the reps and increased the weight as we went... 8 / 6 / 4 / 3 / 2. Again like with any of the barbell work there is alot to remember when lifting and though I try and do my best some of them just don't stick in my brain.

Another good workout day at NerdStrong Gym. Thanks Coach Andrew for your patience, with yours and the other coaches continued guidance I'm sure I'll get the correct forms down in time. NerdStrong Gym is the best!!

NerdStrong Gym - Sorting Hat Gone Wrong

Today's "CON" workout was a Harry Potter themed workout and I just happen to be wearing my Hufflepuff shirt to workout.. woot!!!

This one was titled The Sorting Hat Is Having A Bad Day and was created by Coach Blair the night before.

It was all about randomness. Like with the Skittle workout we used a D8 and D20 to determine how many reps you had to do during that set.

We made two groups of three. I was teamed up with the ladies that I worked out with yesterday, Lauren and Bailey. We then pulled one random piece of paper from the four different hats (groups). Each piece of paper had a workout on it from the four different categories. We then rolled a dice to see how many we were doing of that workout.

We did five rounds and each round was 4 minutes long, so if you finished you just repeated the set again and again until 4 minutes was up.  Here is how our workout turned out. First round we did 13x Russian Twists, 100 Meter Row, 7x Dumbbell Rows & 8x Wall Balls. Not a bad first round, we got lucky with some rolls.

Our second round was 13x Sit Ups, 2x Dumbbell Thrusters, 50x Mountain Climbers and 1x Ring Row. Again not bad and we really got lucky with the 1 and 2 rolls. But with less reps just means you do more sets to fill up that 4 minutes. So by the end you really aren't doing any less.

For our third round Blair let us pick one from each category and how many times we wanted to do it. I didn't feel comfortable picking how many times and so my team agreed that we'd roll the dice and see what fate would give us. We started with the 100 Meter Row, then 11x Bananas, 5x Bicep Curls and finally 5x Push Ups.

Round four we went back to randomness, we got 5x Dumbbell Thrusts,  12x Bananas (which we were not happy with as they are horrible), 50x Mountain Climbers and then 8x Dumbbell Rows. Now you've been doing this a while and you're starting to feel it.

For our fifth and final round once again Blair let us pick a workout from each category but he specified that we had to choose something that we had not done yet. So we wound up with 8x Burpees, 8x Slam Balls, 17 Sit Ups and 140 Meter Run. I'm the one who rolled for this set and got the highest numbers possible for Burpees and Slam Balls and almost got the max of 20 for Sit Ups. This was probably the hardest workout set of all the rounds and it was also partly due to the fact that it was our last set and we were exhausted.

Overall it was an amazing workout. I may have rolled my eyes a few times at Coach Blair when he asked us to continue to finish off a set though time had ran out.. but he knows I appreciate him and all the coaches at NerdStrong. And I have to say I love these "random" workouts. I hope we get more of them in the future (hint hint).

Afterwards Coach Andrew and Coach Blair retooled the workout a bit so the evening classes got a bit of a different workout then the morning classes.

Am I Ashamed of Being Gay?

Of course my answer would be no. I'm happy with who I am as a human being, I like me and my life. I think I'm a fairly good person and try and treat everyone I meet the same. But there are those times when I do question that.. and I don't know if ashamed is the correct word.. maybe it's embarrassed, disappointed or insecure.. what ever term you use it's not good and I hate feeling this way.

Example... when I wear this t-shirt (in photo). It states that Some Dudes Marry Dudes, Get Over It. Now I guess the person wearing this doesn't necessarily need to be gay, they could be a support of LGBT community. But when I wear this shirt I make sure I wear it in appropriate places and I hate that I think like that. When I put this shirt on today I thought to myself. Okay I'm bringing lunch to work so I won't have to go outside for any reason, I'll just remain in my office all day.. yeah it's okay to wear it then. When I'm at work and I leave my office to go to the bathroom (which is down the hall from the our offices) and there are other people walking in the opposite direction I tend to turn my body or fold my arms over the chest so you can't really read the words on the shirt. It's stupid and I hate that I do that but for whatever reason I do.

I don't know if it's because I don't want to make the other person uncomfortable, or the fact that I don't like conflict and this is a way to avoid it, or maybe I care what this complete stranger thinks about me (which is totally stupid). But I think the main reason has to do with fear.. I been called faggot a few times, given the evil eye and threatened with bodily harm. It's hard to predict how a person (a complete stranger) will react when they find out your gay... in a worse case scenario you are beaten to a pulp, strapped to a fence and left for dead. 

I know the feeling is irrational and luckily I don't feel that way 95% of the time but I guess it's just part of being a gay man in a world where 50% of the people hate you, 25% tolerate you and only 25% accept you for who you are.

Resisting Fast Food

Today I struggled with eating out food. I've only eaten out food one time the past few weeks and I have my good and bad days when it comes to temptation. If you know me you know I use to eat fast food three to four times a week, but I've been trying hard to cut back. But today was a particular bad day. I had made me some chicken breast for lunch but it wasn't enough so I had a few bags of chips (Sun chips and Baked chips) but chips non-the-less. Around 5pm I was extremely hungry and didn't want to eat more chips so I tried to drink water to fill up my stomach but it didn't work and I was starting to feel sick to my stomach.

I decided that I'd run down to McDonalds (it's close to my job) and grab some french fries, I've been craving them the past few days. So I made my way to the elevator debating this decision over and over in my head, and when I got to the elevator I opted that it wasn't a good idea so I headed back to my office and was determined to wait until I got home at 7:30 and eat dinner. A few minutes passed and my stomach wasn't doing well so I said screw it.. I'm going to get some french fries. I once again got up and made my way to the elevator debating weather I should or should not do this and once again I opted not to go and headed back to the office. I must have looked funny to my co-workers walking back and forth a few times for no apparent reason. I even did the two steps forwards, then a few steps back and so on a couple of time. It was a huge struggle but I'm happy to say that I did not get the fries. I actually found some snacks in the kitchen that weren't to bad for me.

When I got off work at 7pm the same dilemma happened. I was so hungry that I figured I'd stop by Fat Burger and get me a turkey burger, but of course if I get a turkey burger I'll probably grab some fat fries to go with it, so I resisted and immediately got on the freeway but with every exit I kept thinking, oh I can pick up some El Pollo at this exit, and oh I can get some Taco Bell at that exit but I'm happy to say that I resisted and wound up making dinner at home.

I know dealing with my fast food addiction is going to be tough, I mean it is an addiction after all.  And I won't get over it in a matter of months but I am hoping that after a while it won't be such a struggle

SDCC Hotel Lottery, Cosplay Body Types & New X-Files

When I got home from the gym it was time to sign up for the Hotel Lottery for San Diego Comic Con. I have tried every year since going to SDCC and have had no luck with it. But I have had friends get great hotels this way so I always give it a try. In the past if you didn't fill out the form and send it within two minutes you didn't get the hotels you wanted.. it took me 2 1/2 minutes to complete the form so I'm more then likely out.. but you never know.

I came across this picture and it really struck a cord with me. I have always felt that anyone should be able to cosplay anyone they wish to and this pictures represent that feeling. For me personally I try and cosplay people that I feel fit my body type. I'm short and stocky so I don't feel I can pull off someone like Superman but I'm happy to be a Dwarf or a Hobbit.

News broke today that Fox is bringing back The X-Files for a six episode limited run. Both of the main stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny will be reprising their roles of the F.B.I. agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Also the creator Chris Carter will be back as well. This is fantastic news, I've been a huge fan of this series since it premiered back in 1993, I've seen every episode of the nine seasons and watched the two tie in movies. I'm super excited to see what they come up with for the storyline. I hope it's something special. 

NerdStrong Gym - Just The Three Of Us

It's so funny to me that I miss going to NerdStrong Gym on the days I don't go, which is Monday's and Friday's (this will be changing soon), but I never thought in a million years I'd anticipate going to the gym with such excitement.

When I woke up today I was super excited that today was Tuesday because that means NerdStrong Gym day!!!

When I arrived I noticed that coach Blair was teaching class today. I also noticed that I was the only person there for the 7am class. Luckily just before 7 two more people arrived so we were a team of three.

We started with a Jump Rope warm up. We did 10 jumps, then 20, then 30 and so on up to 50 jumps and then we made our way back down to 10. It wasn't timed, we just have to complete it. By the end of the warm up we jumped rope 250 times.

Now for the workout, this was broken down into four different things and from the looks of it we weren't going to get everything done. The 6am class only got through the first two things and I figured we'd probably do the same. We started with 5 rounds of 6x Weighted Box Step-Overs followed by 1x Wall Walk. Before we started these we went over both things.. the Box Step Overs are pretty self explanatory. You hold kettle bells in your hands and then step up on to the box and step down on the other side of the box, we had to do this three times for a total of six step ups. The Wall Walks is exactly what you expect with a name like Wall Walk. You start by lying on the floor with your feet up against the wall, you then literally walk yourself up the wall and start to climb until you are doing a handstand against the wall. I actually took to these extremely fast. I got up with no assistance the first time. I think it helps that I have a bit of upper body strength.

Once we were done with our 5 rounds we moved on to our next set of workouts. Since there were only three of us Blair gave us the option of which set we wanted to do. The consensus was the third workout which consisted of 12x Sit Ups, 10x Push Ups and 8x Dumbbell Thrusters. We had to do four rounds of each. These are basic moves but after a while it get's tough and I was super happy when we finished.

As predicted we didn't have time for any more workout, our hour had concluded. It was nice having a smaller class as it felt like we were getting a one on one session with the coach. We took our time to learn each move and coach Blair made sure we were doing it properly. It was also fun to see coach Blair so excited when we accomplished a task that we had never done before for the first time. His enthusiasm transferred into us and made us feel great.  Thanks coach Blair for all your awesomeness and encouragement... it's much appreciated.

New Agents of SHIELD

I skipped my run this morning as I picked up my friends Robert and Cait last night. They were due to fly into LAX at 11:45 but instead didn't get in until 12:45am and weren't off the plane until 1am. Needless to say when I got home and in bed it was 2am and there was no way I was going to get up at 7am and go for a jog. So I took the day off.

When I got home from work I watched a few TV shows that I had put off watching as I usual watch them with my buddy Erik. He has been in Florida the past few weeks so we have a build up of shows to watch. Tonight we watched the last two episode of Agents of SHIELD. 

We started with S2 Ep 12 "Who You Really Are" Coulson and the team help Lady Sif, who lost her memory after a fight with a mysterious warrior.

It was great to see Lady Sif again, she's always a favorite of mine and I'm happy to get a bit more information about the Kree and Inhumans. I love that they didn't keep the "will the team find out about Skye" storyline going for more then an episode. And I really enjoyed how everyone reacted to the news.. especially May. She's very protective of Skye and she was about to take on an Asgardian to protect her. I'm happy to see that Simmons is softening a bit towards the "them" and "us" mentality. I want a resolution to this Mack and Bobbi storyline. We learned they most certainly were not Hydra, even as their secrecy and intensity, and belief that whatever they’re doing will likely turn everyone against them, raised lots of intriguing questions. I can't wait to see what that is all about and hopefully that will be soon.

Overall it was an enjoyable episode, we got lots of information about who and what these inhumans are and why they were created. We got a few twists and turns and I'm very happy that the core group of characters are sticking together.

And then we watched S2 Ep 13 "One of Us" Cal assembles a team of gifted individuals from SHIELD's Index that include Angar the Screamer and KF Gideon, to get revenge on Coulson. Meanwhile, May calls on her SHIELD ex-husband Dr. Garners - a therapist who may be able to help Skye understand and control her gift.

This was a wild episode, Cal is so crazy and he gather some crazy people to hang with. Those this storyline was the main one I was happy with the b-story with Mack and Bobbi and us finally finding out who they are working for, though this brought up more questions then answers. Who is this "Real" SHIELD. An interesting turn for Skye and controlling her powers. I like that we get a little bit more info about Agent May and her personal life. I liked how Fitts and Simmons slipped back into their fun banter like it was before his accident.

Another enjoyable episode, I can't wait to find out more about these "mysterious" other "inhumans". I love the effects used for the teleporter.  I look forward to seeing the growth of Skye and her powers. And of course who these "real" SHIELD people are.

D&D / Pathfinder - Trapped in a Room

After my workout I had a few hours to watch some TV and eat some lunch before heading to D&D / Pathfinder. Several of the players were not joining us today and that always makes it more difficult when it comes to battles. We ended our last session entering a room that had the two men that we were looking for but they erected a wall of zombies and were using magic to protect themselves.

As this session started the door closed behind us, locked and a force field of sorts went up around the room making sure we couldn't get out. One of their first spells was a silencing spell, so none of us could talk which meant none of the spell casters (including me, DASH) could cast spells rendered us pretty much useless. We then spent the next five hours in that room, knocking down zombies, doing a bit a damage to the two main guys but then they would just heal each other and revive the zombies again and again and again.

Finally with just a few minutes left in the session and on round 8 the silence spell went down. I was able to cast one spell that didn't seem to do much damage. We managed to blow up a zombie orge and our leader (Ginnon) and second in command (Phlige) managed to switch bodies. And the session was over.

This session was different then all the other sessions that came before it as this is the first time that we never made it out of the room that we started in. The entire session took place in that room and will continue at the beginning of our next session. It was a frustrating for Dash as he couldn't really do much, since he couldn't cast any spells and his dagger (at most causes 6 hp of damage), it was also difficult to move around in that room as it was small and there were a ton of people/zombies in there.

Hopefully we can finish off this battle early on during our next session so we can move on and get out of this room.

I want to thank Dallas, our DM who always does an amazing  job with every session.

NerdStrong Gym - Pillage and Plunder, Viking Workout

I love Sundays at NerdStrong Gym

Today's themed workout is titled "Viking"

This is an older workout so some folks have done this workout before, though I did hear this one was modified and is not as crazy as the last Viking workout.

The warm up was a workout unto itself. We had to do 7 Wall Squats, Run a 140 meters, 7 Sit Ups, 7 Lunges and then 7 PVC Dislocates. We had to do this as many times in 8 minutes. I manged to do it almost four times.

Now that we were thoroughly exhausted the actual workout could begin. Coach David was teaching the class with help from coach Christy. David is awesome and really gets into the themed workouts.

He explained that we are Viking about to pillage a village. We first have to row 500 meters to the shoreline, then we had to grab a weapon (clubs or maces) and then run 500 meters (two laps around the parking lot) to get to the village. Once there you took a mace and started attacking people, 50 to be exact. This was taking a mace and slamming it down on a large tire. We then grabbed a boulder  (Slamball) and for good measures smashed their heads in. This was taking a Slamball and doing 50 Slamball drops. We then had to grab a fallen comrade (weighted Sandbag) and run those 500 meters back to the boat and drop the body in the waiting Funeral Pyre (large tire).

We did it in waves of three people and I was part of wave two with Derek and Miles. I'm happy to say that I finished pretty strong. It was tough but once you find your grove you just do it and try not to let the pain get to you. Afterwards it only took me a few minutes to recover and I was good to go.

Themed workouts are my favorite of all the workouts. Yes they are usually harder but also alot of fun as well. I want to Thank David and Christy for the awesome coaching job and congrats Lauren for completing her first Sunday themed workout. Next Sunday we do an Aliens themed workout.. can't wait to see what that entails.

BBQ with Family and Friends

After my workout I headed to my brothers for a friends & family BBQ.  They have these from time to time and they are always fun. I haven't seen my family in over three weeks (which is a long time since I try and see them every other week) but with the new job and workouts it's been keeping me busy. So I was really looking forward to seeing them today.

When I got there, Lora and the kids were out at a birthday party and it was just Michael with a few of his friends so I helped set up the food before the bulk of the people started coming and soon there were a good 30 to 40 people there.

The weather was great and Michael got a new waterslide for his kids so he asked if I could help set it up. I went to the garage and had to use a dolly to bring out the "wrapped" up slide, it weight a ton. Luckily a few of Michael's friends come over to help out and drag it to the other side of the back yard. It was a monster of a slide but after a good half hour we were finally able to set it and start to fill it up with water. The kids didn't even wait for it to be full they started sliding down and landing in a few inches of water. Once it was full more kids joined in as well as a few adults. And of course me being a big kid, I had to partake in the fun as well. They got some video and some great shots of my flying through the air. It was a lot of fun but extremely trying and I knew I would be sore afterwards.

I always enjoying hanging out with Michael and Lora's friends. I've known quite a few of them for over 10 years. I got to hang with my Dad for a bit when I took a break from the party and took him grocery shopping. I also got to see some cousins that I hadn't seen in a long while. It was nice catching up... I actually stayed quite a bit longer then I usual do when visiting my family.

As predicted I was exhausted when I got home around 9pm, I went to bed shortly after as I have a workout tomorrow at NerdStrong scheduled for 10am.

NerdStrong Gym - 4 Minute Workout, 1 Minute Rest

It's Saturday so that means CON class at NerdStrong Gym and this workout was grueling.

It was your typical warm up, run and crazy stretches.

Andrew D was teaching this class so he went through each of the items that we'd be doing. First was Squat and Plank. Second Lunge and Overhead Hold with a Dumbbell. Third was KettleBell and KettleBell Squeeze. Fourth was V-Up and Bottom of Squat Hold. And finally Tricep Dips and Wall Sits.

We were doing a four minute workout of each set, broken down into a two :60 second round, then two :40 seconds and then two :20 seconds. So for example with the Squat/Plank... we did :60 seconds of Squats and then right into :60 seconds of Planking, then right into :40 seconds of Squats and then right into :40 seconds of Planking and then right into :20 seconds of Squats and finally :20 seconds of Planking.. there was no stopping in between.

When done we would get a one minute rest (which always felt like 10 seconds) and then we'd continue with the next set of workouts for four minutes and then get a one minute rest and so on. And though it was a total of 20 minutes of actually workout it felt like hours, especially towards the end when your arms and legs are numb but you continue to push yourself to finish.

What was great about this workout is there were not rep limits. You had :60, :40 or :20 seconds to do as many of the things as you could. If that meant you just did 5 squats in the :60 seconds then that's all your did. There is never any pressure from the coaches to push you over your limit. They definitely try and encourage you to continue but you never feel pressure... that is of course unless it's self induced pressure, which I tend to do. I want to get everything I can out of the workouts so I will push myself to my limit and just a step beyond.

I have pushed myself a bit to much, especially on these "CON" days and I have been effected by low blood sugar and fell ill for a bit. But this time around I took the advice of coach Andrew who suggested that I eat a good bowl of oatmeal before the workout and that that should sustain me through the constant workout and I'm happy to say it did. I was exhausted and tired but I never felt dizzy or sick.

I'm also realizing that these workouts look daunting on the board but when you finish them you feel great, you've accomplished something that looked impossible before you started and now you just finished it... it's a great feeling.

Thanks to Andrew D and all the coaches at NerdStrong Gym

Fast Food Abstinence & Game Night at NerdStrong

Yesterday marked my fifth day of eating no fast food, or any out food for that matter. If you know me you know this is a HUGE deal as I normally eat "out" three to four times a week. It was a struggle at first as I'd drive home from work I would be tired and it would be so easy to just stop by a fast food joint and pick up some dinner but I resisted. The first few days were tough but on the third I no longer thought about stopping. Instead I'd be thinking about what I was going to make for dinner when I got home. I know it's going to take work and I don't plan on giving up fast food for good but I do intent to cut back to once a week and make it more of a treat for workout so hard and eating properly all week.

Case in point, after work today I did break that fast food fast and went to El Pollo Loco for dinner and grabbed some chicken before heading to NerdStrong Gym.. not to workout but for another Game Night. This is the second NerdStrong Game Night that I have attended, actually third if you include the "Magic"session I went to a few weeks ago.

The last two I attended were a blast and this one was no different. I got there early so I helped Derek set the place after the Yogo class. People soon arrived and within a half hour we had three tables of games going. I was at a table with Lauren, Jamie and Justin. We started the night with Castle Panic, at first we were doing great and felt as though we could win this... well that didn't last long. Soon we were being bombared by trolls and they started knocking down our castle until there was only one wall left... we lost. But we did have fun defending it.

The next game the four of us played was something special, Justin actually created the game. This was a prototype and we got to test it out. The game is called Wu Wei and is very Asian centric. It involves Masters and Apprentices, the four seasons and chi. We played just the "beginner" version of the game. It looked complicated at first and takes awhile to set everything up but really once it was explained on how to play, it was very easy. I lost badly as I just couldn't catch a break but it was still a blast. Justin will be putting up a campaign on Kickstarter soon and I can't wait as I'll definitely help out anyway I can to get this game made.

After Wu Wei our little group split up and I joined a table with Or, Anne and Andrew and we were playing Love Letters. This was a lot like Coup that I played at the last game night. It was really fun but again like with the other games tonight I did horribly but had fun.

Game play ended around Midnight and we helped clean up the gym before calling it night. Another fun and successful Game Night at NerdStrong... can't wait for the next one.

More Avengers, New Computer & Hitting My Food Goals

Today Marvel released a second TV spot for Avengers: Age of Ultron and I have to say the more I see of this the more excited I get. There are several OMG moments in this new commercial. First one is when Thor hits Captain's Shield into some of the bad guys and then the shot that made me squee a little.. when Captain America flips over his motorcycle handles while driving and then throws his motorcycle at the bad guys, such a comic book moment and it was AWESOME!!! Check out the spot above

Today I got a new computer here at work. I have been using an older laptop but it's very outdated and the processor was slow so I asked my boss if I could use one of the faster MAC desk tops and he gave me his approval.

It's like night and day compared to my tiny laptop. I mean laptops are great for mobility but give me a desktop any day.

Today's food intact is as close to my "goal" that I have gotten since I started a week and a half ago. My goal is to reach 35% Protein, 40% Fat & 25% Carbs. My problem is eating enough Protein and trying to keep my Carbs low. But today I did manage to eat 33% Carbs, which is only 2% away from my goal and that was tough. I didn't quite hit my Fat intake and only got 34 of 40% and as usual I went over with my Carbs intake but not as bad as I have done in the past, 33 of 25%. I know it will never be perfect and I'll have to continue to work on my numbers but I'm pretty happy with today's totals.

I only plan do this configuration of food intake for the five week period and see what kind of results I get. I can't count calories the rest of my life but I do hope by doing this I understand the portions of foods I need to eat to be health.. that is my ultimate goal for this "diet". 

NerdStrong Gym - Looks Can Be Deceiving

Up early and at NerdStrong Gym. Today's workout didn't look like much but man did it kick my butt. We started with warm ups and this involved running and stretching.

Once again it was a small class with just three guys and a coach working out.  We teamed up and I got to team up with my buddy Dereck. We started with Strict Press'. This is using a barball and resting it on your should blades just under your neck and then press straight up with it. You're suppose to use nothing but your arms. We were doing five sets of five so we didn't use a lot of weight. I started with just the bar which is 45lbs, then added 10lbs to each side to make 65lbs and then added another 5lbs to each side making it 75lbs and that was a struggle so I went back down to 65lbs and finished off my sets. So you'd do a set and then your partner would do a set and while they were doing their set you had to go to a L-Sit Hold for fifteen to thirty seconds. Yeah that doesn't sound like a long time but man it was tough. I don't think I made it past 20 seconds and that was a challenge. I was going to try and explain what an L-Sit Hold is but it's difficult.. just the the actual workout.

After this workout we actually moved on to the "real" workout which consisted of 3 rounds of Hammer Curls, Brainz' and Sit Ups. As with most of our workouts this too was timed. We had an option to do Hard (Black), Medium (Blud) and Easy (Green). I opted for Blue and used 20lbs dumbbells. The Hammer Curls were fairly easy, but the Brainz on the other hand weren't so. Brainz are pretty much The Hammer Curls but lying on your back. So you have the weight coming at your face and it's your job to not smash your nose in. Getting the form down was a bit harder and my 20lbs weight was a bit to much for me so I dropped down to 15lbs for those. The Sit Ups are great and I'm happy to say that I finally have to form down perfectly. Of course on my third round all three of these activities were tough but I had Derek next to me encouraging me all the way.

As I said it was a good workout and didn't look like much on the board but looks can be deceiving.. I was exhausted after this workout.. but I'm usually exhausted after most workouts, but luckily I recoup in just a ten to fifteen minutes these days. Thanks Andrew for another amazing workout.

My NerdStrong Gym Adventure Continues...

Today I got an email from my buddy Andrew Seely informing me that the group of friends who pooled their money together and got me my 2 months membership to NerdStrong Gym actually got me three months; February, March and April.

I couldn't believe it, it actually made me tear up. My friends are amazing and have been so supportive in this new endeavor, I couldn't ask for anything more and here they go giving me another month.

If you're a regular reader of my blog you know that I've been enjoying my time at NerdStrong Gym and have been worried about what would happen when this month was up and my membership ended. I was trying to figure out where I could cut stuff in my budget to make room for this "necessary" expense. My first through was to get rid of cable which would free up some money. I also plan on selling a third of my toy collection to free up some funds. But with this additional month pre-paid it gives me a bit more time to figure out what my next move is.

I also got a call from my brother last week who said that he's been reading my blogs about NerdStrong and wants to help, so he and Lora (sister-in-law) would purchase me two more months as a birthday and Christmas present this year. So now it looks like I'm good thru June.

I'm a lucky guy.. I not only have amazing friends but my family is the best. Everyone wants me to succeed and they can see that going to NerdStrong Gym will be part of that success.

Once again I want to thank my amazing group of friends who made this possible.

Thanks to: Aaron Trahan, Robert F. Ludwick,  Dallas Bloom, Erik Nelson, Matthew Kuhns, Thomas Needham, Hayley Smith, Will Gatlin, Adam Levermore, Brett Trusler, Elea Freidman, Jes Reaves, Scott Meisner, Steven Bustamante, Tamar Curry, Jennifer & Matt Luchsinger, and Andrew Seely.  

I also want to Thank my wondering brother Michael and fantastic sister-in-law Lora

Feeling Your Age

I'll be 45 years old this year (September 23rd to be exact) but I've never felt my age. I think being a geek and loving science fiction and fantasy has kept me young at heart. I collect action figures, toys and comic books. I watch alot of genre TV and I'm very active on social media and keep up on all the latest gadgets. I also tend to have friends who are younger then me. So to me age is just a number and I don't really give it much thought... well that was until recently. The past six months or so my health hasn't been 100%. My poor eating and lack of exercise has finally caught up with me and there are times I'm feeling my age.

Most notably are my current NerdStrong workouts. 95% of the workouts are great. I push myself just enough and feel the burn and recover in ten to fifteen minutes.  But then there are those workouts where I push myself a bit to far and suddenly my blood sugar drops and I'm incapacitated for a few minutes and it takes a few hours to recover. It's extremely frustrating as my mind knows I can do the workout but my body isn't allowing me. Now I know that my age is only a factor in this equation and that my weight does play a big part.. and I know in time things will get better as I continue to get healthier but it doesn't stop me from feeling frustrated at myself for failing and feeling my age.

NerdStrong Gym - The McFly

Today is Wednesday that means torture with Blair at NerdStrong Gym... I mean "CON" day, yay!! This workout is titled "Mcfly" it's an oldie but goody. Created by the master himself Andrew, which Blair kept reminding us among our grunts and groans.

I'm getting ahead of myself, we started with one of the most unusual warm ups that I have done so far. We did the typical butt kickers, legs stretches and such but the runs were different. Instead of doing a lap or two Blair had us skip a lap.. yep we skipped 250 meters around the parking lot. He then had us run backwards for 125 meters. Needless to say I was tired before the workout even began.

Now for the workout.. as I mentioned it's called "McFly" which of course is a Back to the Future reference. So everything is associated with 1955 & 1985. We first teamed up with a partner (mine was Jim) and then we started at 1985 meter row. The two of us could break it down how ever wanted as along as our combined meters hit 1985. We decided to do 150 meters at a time. Well towards the end Jim and I just wanted to finish so we tried to do as many as we could but we eventually got to 1985 meters.

Next we had to do 85 Front Squats.. we had many squat options but Jim and I decided on Goblet Squats. So we both grabbed a 15 lbs Kettle bell and got to work. Jim started and did 10 squats and then I did the next ten and so on until we hit 80 and then Jim did 3 and I did the last 2.

Next was the box jumps but both of us were already exhausted so we opted to hold weights and do Step Ups instead. We had to do 19 each and in my head I thought it meant 19 with both legs and got to six before I realized that it was one count per leg so I already did 12 and only had 7 more to do.

We then had to do 85 Push Ups, we opted to do five each and go back and forth until we hit 85. This is where I started to hit the wall. On my 30th or so push up my arms were starting to feel like jelly so I downgraded to "knee" push ups and finished that way.

Next were Pull Ups or Ring Rows. Jim opted for Pull Ups/Legs Ups and I did Ring Rows. We had to do 55 of these. I wound up doing 30 ring rows and Jim did 25 Pull Ups/Legs Ups.

We then had to do 19 Burpees each. Jim started doing his and I started mine and was doing pretty good until I got to about 10 and then I stood and started to feel dizzy. I took a minute, drank some water and rested. Blair was great as he said I could just give him 9 more regular push ups or even just skip the rest. I wanted to finish so after a few minutes I was feeling okay and did 9 more step out Burpees to finish the 19.

The final thing we had to do was complete a 1985 meter run (that's about eight laps around the parking lot). Jim started first and I wasn't feeling so hot so I sat down. Jim came back and I wasn't ready to take my lap so he rested for a few minutes and then did another lap. I went to my car and grabbed a Mandarin Orange and quickly consumed it. The sugar in the orange quickly got into my blood stream and after about five minutes, I was feeling better.. so much so that I did my four laps around the parking lot as Jim finished his two.

This was 50 minutes of straight workout and it was a hard work but we finished it. I can now say that I conquered "The McFly". Thanks to coach Blair for another exhausting workout.. I pushed myself to my limit and survived.... What's next!!!

Shaved Head & St. Patrick's Day

After my NerdStrong workout I decided that I wanted to change things up so I shaved my head and face. I didn't go completely bald but I used a number 1 guard which is almost skin. I like the look, some say that they can see the weight lose starting to show in my face but I still don't see it. I think when I lose my second chin then I'll know that it's working :)

Today is Saint Patrick's Day, I made sure I wore a green (lantern) shirt to work. I don't have any plans to go out as when I get off work I'm normally exhausted and I already celebrated the day on Saturday with a bunch of friends. Though today really got me thinking about Dublin, Ireland with Robert and Thomas last year during Saint Partick's Day. It was a lot fun and I really can't wait until I can get back there to visit or live.

NerdStrong Gym - Medballs, Dumbbells & Rowing.. Oh My!!

Today's workout was a rough one, but I think I say that about all of them as they all have there challenges. There were only 4 people (including me) at the 7am class (which is worrisome because if they do away with this class I'll have to come at 6am which I don't think my body could do... okay I know if can do it but I just don't wanna).

We started with this crazy agility warm up.  They had a twenty or so foot ladder on the ground and we had to do various jumps in and out of the ladder. We started with Bunny Hops, which were a piece of cake but then we started to do In/Out Hops, which was a bit more difficult. We then did Toe Touches on the Right and then Left, which weren't that bad. Then we did High Knees which were pretty easy once you got he rhythm down and then Marla showed us this two feet in, one foot out thing and I just couldn't get it, I felt very uncoordinated. That was until Marla put a beat to the steps and in the last five feet I was able to do the correct hop. Oh and I forgot to mention at the end of every hop we had to run around four cones. So that meant we ran seven times around those cones. It was a very tiring warm up.

Now it was time for the workout, there were four stations, station one was Medball Throw x10 (each side). Station two was 10x Dumbbell Toe Touch and then 7X Push Ups. Station three we had to so 10 - 15x Hang Clean with the sandbags. And finally the fourth station was Rowing.

We were doing each station for two minutes so if you finished the reps at one station you just did them again until the two minutes were up. Two minutes doesn't sound like alot but man when you're tossing a heavy ball against the wall or lifting a 40lbs sandbag you get tired quick.

We did two rounds of each, I started with station two, Dumbells & Push up, then moved on to station three Hang Clean, then station four Rowing (now with rowing you were watching your calories burned and trying to match it on your second row). My last station was one and Medball Throws, which weren't bad the first twenty times but after a while your arms start to tire. Once we were done we did all the stations for a second time. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the same calorie burns with my rows.. first one I had 27 and the second I had 22. There was actually a second half to this workout planned (you can see it on the board) but we ran out of time  so we couldn't do it... thankfully,

After the workout I think I laid on the gym floor for about ten minutes trying to recoup. But overall I'm very happy with my performance today. I'm looking forward to tomorrows "CON" workout, I know it's going to be a good one.

Jogging, Crazy Smoothie & Good Posture

Today there was no NerdStrong for me so instead I did a few laps around the NoHo park. It was a beautiful day and I was feeling great. I was jogging everyday since October and when I start NerdStrong I'd still jog in the morning and then do the workouts at night but since I got the job that has made it difficult for me to do the night classes so I've moved to the 7am classes which means I'd have to either get up super early 5am and jog before workout or come home after work around 8pm and run the park in the dark. I haven't done neither of those yet. But I do jog on the days that I don't workout so Mondays and Fridays. I enjoy the jogs, maybe not when I first wake up but once I'm out there and listening to my music, all is well.

When I got home I made this crazy smoothie concoction which included broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, almonds, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, fiber powder, protein powder (vanilla) & spinach. It looked alot better then the last one I made which looked like sick green, this one looked more berry and it didn't taste that bad either. The protein powder was a bit over powering. It says it's suppose to taste like vanilla and it kind of did in an artificial kind of way. But I still drank the entire thing and I'm going to try and do one of these every morning after my workouts.Since I'm not a big veggie eater this is the best way for me to get my daily intake of veggies.

Oh and one last thing.. I found an interesting by product of my recent workouts at NerdStrong, my posture. I never really knew how much I hunch my shoulders until I started working out. Coach Andrew is always having to ask me to pull my shoulders back, chest out.  I'm now conscious of when I'm slouching and try and correct it when I can. It's funny when you walk with your shoulders back and chest out it feels like you're walking taller, and I guess I can use all the height I can get :)

One Year Ago....

I can't believe it's been a year since my trip to Ireland/UK. Today one year ago I was on a plane heading to the Emerald Isle. I would spend the next 34 amazing days exploring not only Ireland and Northern Ireland but also Scotland, England and Wales. I got to meet "online" friends who I had known for years. I got to become part of their families and part of their lives for a short time while staying with them. I saw so many amazing beautiful sites and places. I got to drive for 17 days on the wrong side of the road. Eat foods that I had only heard about on TV Shows and Movies. It truly was my dream vacation.

For the past five years or so I have been wanting to move to England, not permanently but for a year or so. I have nothing really tying me down here, other then my friends and family and that's the reason it would be only for a year. So this trip was not only a chance to see a place that I've dreamt about for years but it was to see if I could actually live there. Well I know I can now and since I visited last year I'm not only thinking about living in the UK but Ireland as well. Both would be amazing and I could have so much fun in either country. Of course this requires money and unless I win the lottery I won't be doing this anytime soon, but never say never, who knows what the future holds.

Thanks again to all the amazing people that supported me through my travels. My traveling buddies in Ireland and Northern Ireland, Thomas and Robert, Friends I got to meet along the way, Daniel and his family, Matt, Erlend, Russel & Em, Markus and his father & Simon and his family. This trip wouldn't have been half the fun without sharing it with you guys.. Thank you

Magic The Gathering at NerdStrong Gym

Back at NerdStrong but not for a workout, NerdStrong Gym have "special" game and movie nights among other events. Today was a Magic The Gathering get together. They were having a their "draft" and then playing some games but they also opened up the event to noobs who had never played Magic but wanted to. I fell into that category. Though I had played a few games of Magic back when it first came out in early 90's, I don't recall any game play.

There were four of us who were the noobs and Jason forfeited his game play so he could teach us... Thanks Jason. We had to choose a color of deck that we wanted to play with. We had a starter deck of only 30 cards. Jason explained the pros and cons of each color and I decided to go with my favorite color Green.

We started our first game and it was a slow process as we were new but eventually Jason was able to leave us and check out other game play and the four of use started to get the hang of it. I won my first game with my green cards and then I won my second game with my green cards, I was really loving my green deck. We switched players so all four of us got to play against each other, some several times. I really liked my green deck but wanted to check out other colors so I played with the blue deck and lost, then I played with the white deck and lost before finally playing with the red deck and barely winning... Green is definitely my color deck.

The Noobs :)

Overall it was a fun day, I was there from 1pm to 6ish and could have stayed longer but was getting hungry. I can see myself playing Magic again. I know we played a "dumbed" down version but once you get the rules down it's a pretty easy game to play. It really is just the luck of the draw and how you play the cards you are dealt.

I want to thank Andrew S & Derick for hosting this event, Jason for teaching me how to play and Andrew D & Marla for letting us use NerdStrong Gym to play in.

Next week is another game night (board games this time) and I'm really looking forward to it as the last one was a blast.

NerdStrong Gym - Defeating the DeathStar

It's Sunday that means Themed workout and today is all about Star Wars.

We were broken up into two teams.. Rebels and Imperials, I was a Rebel. The Rebel's job was to blow up the DeathStar and the Imperials job was to stop us.

We were working in teams of two.. my partner and fellow Rebel was Erin. She's a fellow Ahsoka lover.

Anyways there were six teams of two (3 rebels and 3 imperials). Which ever team finished first would win. So if a Rebels team won we blew up the DeathStar, if an Imperial team won they would have defeated the Rebels and prevented the destruction of the DeathStar.

The workout today was a tough one, we (my partner and I) had to do 200 WallBalls combined. We would switch out every minute. Now the person who was not doing the WallBalls didn't get to rest and wait.. no we had to work with SlamBalls. First was SlamBall Sit Ups, once the WallBall person hit 50 WallBalls we moved on to SlamBall Push Ups. When we hit 100 WallBalls, we moved on to SlamBall Twists until we hit 150 and then we did just regular SlamBalls until we hit 200 WallBalls.

I was a bit confused at first but quickly figured out what was going on. Erin started and did something like 18 WallBalls in a minute, while she was doing those I was doing SlamBalls Sit Ups. After a minute we switched and I continued the WallBalls 19 to 45 while Erin worked on her SlamBalls Sit Ups. Then after a minute we'd switch again and Erin did WallBalls and I did SlamBalls Sit Ups, but when Erin hit 50 she yelled out "50" and I would change from SlamBall Sit Ups to SlamBall Push Ups until one of us hit 100 WallBalls and so on. It was a gruelling workout as there really is never a time to stop and rest. You went from WallBalls to SlamBalls and back again.

The Rebels were in the lead for the majority of the workout but the Imperials sneaked ahead at the end and finished first ensuring that the DeathStar lived to see another day. But us Rebels may have been defeated but we will just re-group and launch an even better attack in the near future.

Though the Imperials won this battle, everyone was given the opportunity to blow up the DeathStar. They set up a large tire as the exhaust port and we had to stand about 20 or so feet back and toss a SlamBall into the tire. It's a lot harder then it sounds and only a few us were successful in getting the SlamBall in the tire.. I was not one of them :(

Overall it was an extremely fun though very hard workout. And just on a side note, Andrew almost had his own rebellion to deal with... when he picked teams he just numbered us 1's and 2's and then said all 1's are Rebels and all 2's are Imperials.. well several folks were not happy with their lot,  so instead we just said Rebels over here and Imperials over there and it just so happen that 6 went to Rebels and 6 went to Imperials. :)

Pi, Cell Block Tango & St. Patrick's Celebration

Today is a very special day.. not only is it Pi Day but it's the Ultimate Pi Day as this day only happens once in lifetime (well unless you live over 100 years old). Today is 3/14/15 and at 9:26:53am the number is 3.141592653... Of course this only works in the US and they way we format our time and date, but it's pretty cool.

Came across this and thought it was pretty great. It's the "Cell Block Tango" number from the musical Chicago but it's done by an all male cast. Check it out..

During the evening I went to my buddy Will's annual Saint Patrick's Day celebration. He goes all out and makes corned beef and cabbage and serves it with soda bread. Last year I missed it as I was actually in Dublin on Saint Patrick's Day. The hat I'm wearing in the picture I purchased in Dublin to wear around that city on that day.

The Party was great, lots of people, most I didn't know but a few of my friends showed up later in the night. I did get to catch up with my buddy Alex who I haven't seen in over five years. I got to catch up with my friends Marissa, Gabe and Jen. I enjoyed come corned beef (which was amazing) and I ate a limit amount of soda bread, which was difficult as I could have eaten the entire loaf. I was a good boy and only stayed til about 12:30am as I had to be up early for the gym.

It was a fun night of great music, fun friends, delicious foods and all things Irish!!

NerdStrong Gym - Life Challenge

Today was the final workout in an eight week Life Challenge that was happening at NerdStrong Gym. I wasn't a member of the gym then so I didn't do the first one so for me and others who had not done this before it was just a really tough workout.

Last Saturday we did the half Life Challenge and if you remember from my blog I almost died, not really I had a really bad low blood sugar attack. So I was a bit cautious about doing this workout and of course the coaches were looking out for me as well.

We did a good warm up and stretch as we do with every workout. We then partnered up. One person would do the workout while the other "coached" and counted. My partner was Jim and we decided that I would do the workout first.

We had 11 minutes to get as far down the list we could. First up was 150 meter run, then into the gym and start with 30x Air Squats. These weren't a problem, I have air squats down pretty good. I then moved on to Sit Ups.. now these are my Kryptonite, so I was worried but I did a fairly good job getting through those. Afterwards we did Plank Ups. I usually don't mind these but after 30 air squats & 30 sits ups I was getting tired. I stopped a few times but got through it fairly quick. I then moved on to Lunges which were a piece of cake. Next up was Bicycles, these are tough for me because of my stomach. But I do them the best I can. With time running out it was time for Push Ups, like with Sit Ups these are tough for me. I can do a good amount of them but after a while my arms start to die and after all that I had done before I could barely do them. I attacked them five at a time and was at number 35 or 40 when time ran out and the test was over... In all I did 185 reps.

I was hoping to get to the Lunges but surprised myself and I actually almost got through Push Ups. Not bad for my first Life Challenge.

Afterwards I was tired, my arms were dead and I wasn't feeling quite right. I was dizzy when I stood so I sat down and drank some water. The dizziness wasn't going away so I made my way to my car to grab a butterscotch hard candy. I was hoping sugar would help out and it did. Only a few minutes later I was feeling better and just in time as my workout partner Jim returned from his run and was ready to start his workout.

It was a tough workout but a good one. It was a crazy challenge and only a few of the coaches got to a few of the Burpees. If we do it again I hope to do better.. maybe we to Flutter kicks or beyond. 

Payday & Cool VFX Video

Woot!!! Today is payday, I haven't gotten a check in a while so it's nice to finally see my checking account increase and not decrease as it has the past few years. This gig pays every two weeks, which is unusual but I'll learn to adjust. On the upside they offer direct deposit so I get my check a day early.

I came across this video of visual effects. It's amazing how far visual effects have come. Some of these shots I would have never guess they were visual shots and not real. Check out the video below.