Do the Shuffle.

I’ve never really done this because it’s sort of scary to not have control, but I’m going to let me iTunes shuffle itself along and pick all my songs for me. I’m going to post them no matter how boring or how embarrassing. Wow I am bored. And I feel the need for all two people who read my blog to know what I’m listening to right now. I suppose it’s better than anything I can do in a hotel room by myself.

I hope this machine can make the right choices. Here we go.

-Young Jeezy “Hypnotize” (just a good syrupy song. I used to hate Young Jeezy because he was a terrible rapper, but then I came around and now I love Jeezy for the same reason. I put this on my appropriately-titled “Get Money” playlist whenever I work per diem or for weekend bonus.)

-Gomez “Cry on Demand” (I’ve never heard this song before.  I have 8 Gomez songs in my library, none of which I had ever listened to before now.)

-Red Hot Chili Peppers “Tell Me Baby” (I don’t even like this song, nor do I like about 75% of RHCP’s catalog. This song is just lazy, like that whole Stadium Arcadium album [except for "Charlie"]. So that was a double album with a lazy name that wouldn’t even have been good if it was a single disc? Really, people like this band? I like Californication and that’s about it.)

-Staind “Fray” (I remember this was one of a couple songs I liked from 14 Shades of Gray, another lazy album that I’m sort of embarrassed to have taking up space on my hard drive. I love going back and pretending I didn’t like nu-metal in the early 2000s. This song is still pretty good.)

-David Bowie “Rock N’ Roll Suicide” (I have never heard this song before. Sounds like a little acoustic ditty, like something that could be off The Wall (not Off The Wall). I moderately enjoyed this.)

-Pearl Jam “Last Exit (live)” (Not even sure if I’ve heard this, at least this version. There are too many live PJ shows. I lose track of what albums I like. Not exactly a memorable song.)

-The Roots “Break You Off” (Now HERE we go. This was a jam sophomore year. I forgot about the weird outro that goes on for like 3 minutes.)

-DMX “Party Up” (One of my least-favorite DMX songs. I can’t get some “Get at Me Dog?” I’d even take some “Who We Be.”)

-Coldplay “Life in Technicolor” (Very happy here. Feels very Cape-y to me.)

-Rush “The Trees” (Another song I’ve never heard. I went through a brief [very brief] Rush phase several years ago, and I downloaded 2112 plus some other random songs. I can see why most people don’t like this band. Though, YYZ is frigging amazing. I think this song is literally about different kinds of trees.)

-Charles Hamilton “Ambitions of Musicians” (Another banger. Look out for CH. Good choice, computer.)

-Elliott Smith “Pretty Mary K” (I’m sure I’ve heard this at some point but I bet I’ve skipped over it since. Not crazy about it.)

-The Shins “Australia” (One of three Shins songs I like. I have three Shins albums on here. This song is pretty awesome, though.)

-The All-American Rejects “Time Stands Still” (Never heard this song either. There’s like 4 great songs on this album and this ain’t one of them.)

(So, thus far the shuffle experiment has shown us that a) I’ve never heard at least half of what is on my iPod, and b) I hate most of the rest of it. Let’s continue, because I don’t think anybody is going to get here any time soon.)

-Pearl Jam “Jeremy (live)” (Always a good song but it’s incredibly dated, plus a lot of their live songs are like 7 minutes long and I am in no mood for that. Good thing I have Tweets to read.)

-Jay-Z “Stick 2 The Script” (Great beat, great lyrics from Hov and Beanie Sigel. I had a brief Jay-Z-hating time in high school around the time this album came out, but it’s really underrated.)

-Aerosmith “Pink (South Beach Mix)” (Fuck, I hate this song. I don’t care, I’m skipping past it.)

-Charles Hamilton “November 10th” (This is great because it samples music from Sonic the Hedgehog, complete with the coin sounds and everything. I’m pretty sure this is from the underwater level. This takes me back, boy. CH can rap circles around most rappers out right now.)

-Elliott Smith “Easy Way Out” (I know I’ve heard this before, it’s a pretty little song.)

Okay, that’s enough of that.  I’m disappointed in my computer. Usually just hitting shuffle gives me a much better selection of songs to create a soundtrack for a couple of hours at a time, but aside from a few good picks, my shuffle got shelled. Stage fright.

Things just ain’t the same for gangstas, but I’m a little too famous to shoot these prankstas.

I’m sitting in a hotel room in Falmouth waiting for my wife and her parents to get here. I’ve been here for about 3 hours, took a 20-minute walk downtown to White Hen and bought some Muscle Milk, an apple, and a low-carb Monster. I’m listening to Bill Simmons, I have Sports Center on in the background, and I’m enjoying sitting in the air conditioning. It’s nice to actually have warm weather after weeks of rain. Yesterday at work the storm was so strong that part of the ceiling collapsed and water poured into the building, soaking the place. I’m glad I don’t work for maintenance.  The next two days at the beach should be most enjoyable.

My neck and shoulders are killing me and I don’t know why. I’ve never experienced stress manifesting as a neck pain, so I’m not sure how that feels, but considering I’m not stressed out right now it wouldn’t make sense anyway. I must have just laid on the hotel bed awkwardly.

I still don’t think this weekend is going to be good food-wise, even though I’ve taken some good steps to minimize the damage.  Normally I would have gone out for Subway or gotten some slices of pizza for a lonesome dinner, but I convinced myself to have a protein shake and an apple instead, plus another shake potentially for breakfast if everybody wants Dunkin Donuts.  I would really like an omelet tomorrow but I don’t think we’ll have time.  I packed some beef jerky, almonds and cashews, almond butter, plus protein powder in bottles that I can have at the beach. While I’d like to think I’ll have healthy meals most of the time if we go out, I don’t know. I never know how I’m going to react in the moment.

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Now playing: The-Dream – Walkin’ On The Moon f. Kanye West
via FoxyTunes

Turn and face the strain

The Bowie lyric is actually very relevant right now.

The rest of the workout went pretty well, but I’m not sure how I’m going to continue doing the workouts with 30 seconds of rest. They are so hard and it’s hard to really go all out on the first group of exercises if I’m going to be too beat to finish. I guess I’ll figure it out. The 45-second and 1-minute rest periods are much easier. I did the B group plus 10 rounds of intervals, lasting about 10 minutes. Chicken and broccoli tonight, and now enjoying a delicious Guinness and doing mobility stuff. The tennis ball is a bitch.

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Now playing: David Bowie – Changes
via FoxyTunes

I’m not gonna hold your hand here when you walk

(I’ve given up on titles for these things, and “Monday = Legs” is just boring, so I’m just going to use lyrics from whatever music is currently on.)

But speaking of legs, mine are pretty sore today, even from the half-workout yesterday. I was originally planning on finishing up the second half of Workout A this afternoon, and I would still like to do that, but I’m pretty beat as of now and might only do some light cardio and some foam rolling/stretching to start out, then play it by ear.  Foam rolling and hip flexor stretching is going to be a big part of my life if I’m going to get better at squating and deadlifting, so I’m working overtime on that.  Using a tennis ball is another thing I need to learn. I’m pounding a Spike at the moment so hopefully that gets my mind in the game.

One of the other books I bought recently (along with Built for Show) is Maximum Strength by Eric Cressey, which is really good from what I’ve read so far. It’s not a program that I want to do for summer (fat-loss is the main goal right now), but for autumn and winter it looks like a great idea to get stronger. Eric is really big into mobility and foam rolling, and since he deadlifts 600 pounds, I’ll take his word that it’s effective. In fact, Eric has his own facility, Cressey Performance, in Hudson, which is like 5 minutes from Berlin. I emailed the place asking about prices for coaching (it’s not a gym that you can join, you have to be coached specifically) and while it’s definitely out of my price range, they do offer an eval plus 4 training sessions for a month for under $300. I’d put that ahead of a GPS (even the Beats by Dre, though I’m crying right now just thinking about passing those up) for a Christmas or birthday present. Considering I’d be living right there, it would be stupid not to learn from the best.

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My last ten iTunes songs on shuffle included six songs from WWF: The Music Volume 4.  I wish I could say that was the most embarrassing album on my iPod, but it is not.

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Now playing: Coheed & Cambria – The Willing Well II: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness
via FoxyTunes

Supernova

Since I’m basically following the TNT Diet again without really calling it that, I’ve been very low on carbohydrates for the past couple of weeks, and while for the most part I’ve been okay with that, this coming weekend is going to be tough. We’re going to stay in Falmouth for a few days and I’m pretty sure it’s going to involve going out to eat more than a couple times, as well as going out for ice cream at least once or twice. This is going to be a major test. I want to enjoy myself, and I will, but I also don’t want to ruin what I’ve done the past couple weeks. For TNT Plan A, you have to go low-carb for 4 weeks and try not to cheat at all, if possible. Unless I want to be an outcast, I’m going to have to have some ice cream.

If we go out for breakfast, I can have an omelet with no toast, and soup or salad for lunch. If we eat dinner at seafood restaurants, I’m going to try to order baked or pan-seared scallops and avoid fries. No pasta, try to avoid anything fried. I’m wondering how the day at the beach is going to go, I might pack a couple travel bottles of protein powder and almonds, but this is not going to be easy.

I almost had a Guinness tonight, but I’m trying to surpress the urge.  I wish this stuff were easier.
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Now playing: Mr Hudson – Supernova f. Kanye West
via FoxyTunes

Lifeline

Wow, that workout was really tough. Couldn’t quite make it through that one, and my hands are shaking as I type this. BFS Workout A again, this time 3 sets of 15:

A1) Goblet squats 3 x 15
A2) db rows 3 x 15
A3) side planks 3 x 35s

B1) bulgarian split squats 3 x 15
B2) incline db bench 3 x 15
B3) swiss ball crunches 3 x15

I only got through one group during the B group then started to feel dizzy and called it quits after 10 minutes of cool-down cardio. The 30 seconds of rest in between sets is killer, and I wasn’t conditioned to go through all of it with those weights. Either that or I wasn’t willing to puke all over the Planet Fitness floor to make it happen. Maybe if I join a more puke-friendly power lifting gym when we move I’ll feel more determined.

I am seriously looking into better gyms when we move in with the Laverdures. I need to do some research. I should get away from the commercial gym atmosphere, it’s terrible. Planet Fitness has two flat benches and zero squat racks, and the dumbbells only go up to 75 pounds, and that’s one of the good franchises (the ones that used to be World Gyms). The new ones are even worse. The whole “judgement-free zone” concept is such bullshit. It conditions people to not make progress and in turn judges those who care about achieving something worthwhile with their bodies. It’s an embarrassing mindset in my opinion. But, it’s 5 minutes away and $10 per month. It will suffice for now.

I love the Papa Roach song “Lifeline,” even if nobody has cared about those guys for 8 years.  It’s getting added to the gym playlist.
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Now playing: Papa Roach – Lifeline
via FoxyTunes

There Was a Time

Workout B from yesterday:

warm-up:
-T-pushups x 8
-leg swings x 20

A1) hip extensions 2 x 25
A2) step ups 2 x 25
A3) reverse crunches 2 x 15

B1) wide grip lat pull downs 2 x 25
B2) db push press 2 x 25
B3) planks 2 x 75s

intervals: 5 min warm up + 1 min ON/2 min OFF x 5

The workout felt good, though I was afraid of how 25 reps would feel on my legs so I went pretty light. Not too much soreness today. I didn’t quit on these intervals like I did the other day, so I feel good about that. Today I walked with a backpack for 45 minutes.

The 7-Day One-Cup Black Coffee Challenge is complete and I’ve decided to extend it a bit to try to really get myself off the cream, though this morning I really had the urge for some half-n-half, and still do. Eating has been pretty good. The compliance chart I put on the fridge has helped with motivation, but after a very unsatisfying dinner of leftover chicken and asparagus, I’m feeling tempted. Tempted by what, I don’t know, because we don’t have many bad things in our place, but for the first time in over a week I’m feeling pretty run down. I’ll have to have a chocolate/peanut butter shake before bed.

Yesterday I made myself a mocha drink using espresso, cocoa powder, half-n-half, and a tablespoon of sugar (!). I know what you’re thinking, drinking another coffee drink breaks my rule. Technically it probably does, but the whole point of my challenge is to decondition myself from drinking coffee non-stop from 5 to 9 AM. I’ve read in a few sources that 2 cups of coffee per day is perfectly healthy, so a second cup every now and then is fine by me. Plus, my delicious mocha had probably 100 calories in the cup and was totally worth it.

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My gym playlist has been pretty solid lately, though it’s getting close to a change:

Breaking Benjamin “Blow Me Away” “Diary of Jane”
Tool “Forty-Six and Two”
Chevelle “Well Enough Alone”
Coheed & Cambria “No World for Tomorrow”
Guns N’ Roses “There Was a Time”
Smashing Pumpkins “Bodies”

Steak Tips

The soup-and-wings plan didn’t really happen last night as planned. We split the Gold Fever wings and I had steak tips and two sides of broccoli. The total calories according to the nutrition facts is 750 (plus whatever for broccoli), but I only ate half of it. Plus a 65-calorie Miller Lite, that’s about 650 calories for dinner. Not terrible for a cheat meal. We agreed that either we split an appetizer or order a meal, not both. Back on it this morning with 2 eggs and 2 pieces of turkey bacon, water and black coffee. The coffee tasted good.

I weighed in at 194 this morning and feeling good about it. Before Ireland I was 196 and purposely didn’t weigh myself until now so I wouldn’t get discouraged. Good job by me.

We also saw “Up” at the movies last night, and it was awesome. Very cute.

Going for a walk in the nice weather, then Workout B later on.

Off The Wall

Another great workout last night. I did Workout A again, completely this time, with intervals at the end. Once again I felt exhausted but not really sick. If I did feel sick it was because of the horrible-tasting BCAAs I put in my protein-only shake (really hate those, which is why I rarely even take them). The workout was the same as Saturday’s but with a different set/rep scheme and with 45 seconds of rest instead of last week’s whole minute:

WORKOUT A

A1) db squats 2 x 25
A2) db rows 2 x 25
A3) side planks 2 x 40s

B1) bulgarian split squats 2 x 25
B2) pushups 2 x 25
B3) swiss ball crunches 2 x 25

Intervals: 5 min warm up, 10s ON/20 s OFF x 9

The 25-rep sets were horribly tiring, and I didn’t reach the number on a couple of them. Plus I only did six intervals instead of the nine as planned, but I was very tired. Still, I’m really happy with how I’m doing right now. With this program I’m definitely pushing myself harder than I was previous to vacation, and being on a fat-loss program has helped me keep motivation to eat well. I actually took steps this morning to count calories rather than just “eat healthy” so for once in my life I have a good idea of exactly what is going in. On a typical day this week I’m at about 1500-1600 calories with a little bit less on my off-days. Depending on how I progress I may have to increase/decrease a little but I like how this is going so far. Granted, it’s been a week, but with the week before vacation being so good, plus the amount of physical activity in Ireland, plus not totally pigging out while we were there, it’s been a couple good weeks now where I’m mentally prepared to work really hard at this. I have more knowledge now and a better plan than I ever did in college, so it’s time to recapture some of the motivation I used to have.

Coffee-wise, I’m still digging in. One cup of black (oh and another Spike yesterday before the gym). I read the article that my commenter made a couple of posts ago, and it’s pretty interesting. It’s Day 5 in the afternoon and I haven’t had cream in my coffee since Sunday. This morning from the French press it wasn’t bad at all, and maybe like the commenter says I’m a couple weeks away from being able to legitimately enjoy it. I’m not sure if I’d willing to go that far, but we’ll see. As bizzare as this sounds I would almost feel guilty about totally giving up cream, but I probably need to see a psychiatrist.

It’s Friday, I’m going to go out to eat later tonight with the wife to The 99 for the first real diet test of the week. After looking up some nutrition facts on my usual 99 choices, I was ecstatic to find out that their Gold Fever wings only have 320 calories for a regular order and 440 for the XL (blue cheese not included). I think I’ll have a French onion soup for an appetizer (with no bread, like 80 calories) and a regular order of the wings for the meal while trying to skimp on the blue cheese as best I can. That should keep me mentally and physically satisfied for the night. I haven’t decided on whether or not to have a drink. A light beer wouldn’t hurt but I don’t really have to have it.

Still feeling great. Tomorrow is a walk and Workout B with those awful 25-rep sets.

…While I’m here. I’m too young to remember Michael Jackson in his prime (Thriller came out the year before I was born), but from what I gather he was a GIGANTIC star, the likes of which we have not had since. Who has come the closest? Eminem?

BCC Day 3

Last night’s workout was fantastic. I’m not sure if I have ever paced myself correctly to the point where I was able to complete an entire fat-loss workout with tri-sets and then do 20 minutes of intervals without puking, but last night I did everything I planned on. Some guy even asked what program I was on because it looked like I was working so hard.

Workout B:

A1) ham curls on ball 4 x 8
A2) step-ups 4 x 8
A3) reverse crunches 4 x 8

B1) wide grip pull downs 4 x 8
B2) db push press 4 x 8
B3) planks 4 x 45s

Intervals on elliptical: 5 min warm up/1 min ON/ 2 min OFF x 5 rounds

The black coffee went down a little smoother today, though still not enjoying it. My head does not hurt for the first time all week, so maybe the detox is kicking in. Right now after a day of work I’m headed to the gym to do some incline walking for about an hour to help recover from yesterday. Definitely going to foam roll when I get back.