A Humbling Wednesday

Worked in Bourne 8-4:30, then Falmouth 5-7:30, then got a half-workout in at the gym. I’m tired and discouraged. I’ve always hated leg day, but today was sort of embarrassing in the sense that my legs have not gotten much stronger. I did some real squats today (with plates under my heels) and while that improved my form, I still had some trouble with 135 for 3-5 reps.  Granted this was after 4 sets of machine squats for 6-8 reps which tired me out pretty quick (I’d like to think I could do 185 for a couple), but it’s pretty terrible where I stand right now.

I didn’t follow through with the rest of the planned workout because my legs were so tired after 7 sets of squats of one form or another and 4 sets of stiff-legged deadlifts I gave up.

Nowhere to go but up.

A nice half-day in Andover tomorrow. I’m going to sleep in.

An unexpected night off…

This week could be monumental for bonus money. I’m picking up an ungodly amount of time available the rest of this week because of the need in the area right now, including the couple of hours I did tonight, a couple tomorrow, a couple Friday, a monster Saturday, and about 4 hours Sunday. Unfortunately this might limit what I can do at the gym. I didn’t get home until 8:30 tonight and I was beat. I nearly got myself to change and get going but of course right after I had a shake I bailed.  I did eat healthy today, so as long as I keep that up this week, the amount of money I can make in the next few days will be worth whatever I miss at the gym.

My ABSOLUTE favorite song right now is the leaked “Circulate” off of Young Jeezy’s The Recession. It has a real “Roc Boys” feel with the horns and everything. I can’t hold still when I put this song on. It’s a flat-out hit.

New Phase of PF and other stuff

Tonight started the next phase of the Physique Formula and the workout tonight was hard. Switched from incline chest exercises to flat and decline, the back exercises switched to pullup-focused instead of row-focused, and it was heavy on the triceps. Looking at it on paper I thought it would be much harder than it was, but I still felt like vomiting afterward. I got it done. Tomorrow is legs and as usual I am not looking forward to it. I can never get myself to do the final rep that really causes growth. Burning legs are so painful.

I’m getting even more calories immediately after lifting by almost doubling the amount of Gatorade powder in the shake. It’s getting incredibly sweet, but from all I’ve read about post-workout nutrition, it’s necessary. The strawberry protein and blue Gatorade is a pretty good flavor combo.

I simplified my gym playlist today and stuck with some good rap. Tonight I bumped:

• Lil Wayne “I’m Me” and “Best Rapper Alive”
• Young Jeezy “Put On” f. Kanye West
• 50 Cent “What Up Gangsta?”
• Eminem “Lose Yourself” and “Till I Collapse”

Definitely got me up for it tonight.

By the way, I started a Twitter account for some reason.  I know about 2 or 3 people who use it, so it’s not as practical as the Facebook status updates, but whatever (another BTW, if we aren’t Facebook friends, add me already). If there is a trend, I will be roughly 6 months late to the party.

Two Workouts

I did two workouts the past couple of days for the final week of the first phase of the Physique Formula.  Tuesday was chest/back/shoulders and yesterday was lower body/forearms. I can only get 3 workouts in again this week so I split up arm day and I’m doing one thing from that workout on each of the 3 days I have (shoulders on Tuesday and forearms yesterday). The Tuesday workout was very good, my incline bench went up to 195 x 4.  Yesterday my deadlifts went up to 295 x 4, but they are so tiring. Once again I was not able to finish the leg workout because I was so drained from those and I wanted to vomit. I threw on 8 sets of reverse forearm curls according to the plan and that was about it after an hour.

Buffy & eBay

I’m taking a night off from the gym because after two really hard workouts Saturday and yesterday, I’m sore all over and I wouldn’t be able to get much of anything meaningful accomplished other than going through a lot of unnecessary pain. The workouts on this program require a couple of rest days during the week and today is one of them. Back at it tomorrow.

I tried to record Land of the Dead last night but I came home to find it not on the DVR. Even though I’m guaranteed to not like the movie I still need to see it for zombie reasons, but I’ll have to get my undead fix by watching Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Molly brought home the DVDs she borrowed from a friend at work and we started watching them this weekend. I never watched this when it was on, but it’s a really good show. This season is pretty cartoonish, complete with amateurish monster costumes, ridiculous plots, and predictable characters, but it’s pretty compelling to watch (partially due to the undeniable presence of Sarah Michelle Gellar in her prime).  I throughly enjoy this show.

The villains on Season 1 Buffy are hilarious. Between the She-Mantis, Robot Gremlin, demon hyenas, and the collection of ever-present clay-faced vampires, it’s pretty hysterical. I also find it funny and kind of disturbing that before Buffy arrived at Sunnydale High, all these supernatural happenings and dead students were going on unchecked. Every episode a student or teacher is murdered by a ghoul of some sort. After watching enough of these episodes, I cannot help but be grateful that Plymouth North evaded all this mayhem.

I spent the day on eBay yesterday gauging the XBox 360 market. After trying to buy Madden 09 for my poor little GameCube yesterday only to discover that they don’t even make it for the Cube anymore, I’ve come to the realization that my system is obsolete and it’s time to upgrade. That meddlesome girl I’m marrying told me to wait until the wedding before making any major purchases, but she’s not the boss of me. I looked on eBay to find a used or wholesale 360 and determined that $150 is what I’ll have to spend to acquire this beautiful piece of machinery. I decided to place a couple of bids at $100, not thinking I would either one. I went to the gym and came home to find that I had in fact won the first XBox, only to read the fine print and see “for parts or repair.” I wrote the guy asking to get out of the sale and he angrily obliged. The second system came down to the wire as I was less than 1 minute from winning it for $108. Since I never intended to actually buy anything, I’m glad those close calls went the other way. I’ll get one in a couple months, unless I become an eBay loose cannon again.

Saturday Workout

Did about 80% of the normal Tuesday Lower Body workout today along with some forearms meant for the Thursday session. Pretty good with deadlifts today, up to 315 x 2. It’s very hard to tell if I’m doing the form correctly (I can’t tell if my back is rounding) but I’m not in any pain. Always room to improve form so I’ll keep working on that.

I feel better than I did last night. I’ve got quite a bit accomplished in terms of organizing work stuff and I’ve eaten well so far today. I am incredibly sleepy, though, so I might listen to some Wu-Tang and take a nap.

TGIF

A long day at work. Donna’s last day so I run the yard again. I’m back with the full caseload and I had over 7 hours of evals/treatments today. I did not take a lunch or eat a damn thing all day until I grabbed a protein bar (again) on the way home. Not exactly great nutritional advice.

When I look the tiger in the eye, my diet is atrocious. I eat enough calories and protein to gain muscle, I’ve learned more about post-workout nutrition that I’ve seen some good gains there, but overall I do not eat very healthy when I’m trying to get bigger.  I rationalize almost anything including junk. I eat so few fruits and vegetables and so much of what I have is processed. Sure I’m not eating ring dings and drinking soda all day, but microwaving frozen meatballs for protein every night and drinking coffee and Lo-Carb Monster drinks isn’t much better. Ironically I found it easier to be compliant with a less-enjoyable restrictive low-carb diet than what I’m doing now. I got into a good routine of cottage cheese/spinach/almonds/turkey/ommelette in the fall and I had great success with that. Right now I’m just eating like shit and I haven’t been able to bring myself to buckle down. Mom brought home pizza Wednesday night and Jaylynn suggested The 99 last night when I/we could have chose better options.  I’ve bitched about this before but my insistence on eating these things more than I should is what will keep me from my goals.

Money hasn’t quite been hemhorraging lately (though it’s about to once some of the wedding/apartment stuff needs to be paid for) but it has bleeding slowly from my wallet the past couple of weeks. I keep stopping at the convenience store or coffee shop during these big travel days and paying 5 or 6 bucks repeatedly. I’m not going to go broke over two weeks of little purchases, but I was doing so well with not spending any money on the little stuff during the week. Hopefully being in a set schedule for a while will help plug that hole.  I really hope (there’s that word again) that once Jaylynn and I get married, move in, and don’t have to travel all the time that these little annoyances will go away or at least be cut down.

I’m not going to the gym tonight (not eating being the biggest excuse) but I am going to use this time to organize my work stuff. I am supposed to have 3 workouts left this week, but what I might do is divide up the fourth one and add it to the second and third.

In any case, I’m going to throw on some music and start sorting before I get any lazier.

Best Rapper Alive

With the announcment of Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 album that should be out by the winter, I’ve been going through a mean HOV phase lately.  Despite what Lil Wayne claims, Jay-Z is the best rapper alive and my all-time favorite. I absolutely cannot wait for BP3, I think it’s going to be a classic. I’ve been listening to the new song “Jockin’ Jay-Z” basically on repeat. I know if it’s being produced almost entirely by Kanye this album is going to be an event.  Here’s a list of all Jay’s studio releases from best to worst:

1) The Blueprint, 2001: This is a masterpiece. This is what happens when one producer (in this case, a young Kanye West) takes over most of an album. This is one of the most cohesive albums ever made and my favorite rap album of all time.

Bangers: “Renegade” “All I Need” “The Ruler’s Back” “Jigga That N***a” “Izzo” “Girls, Girls, Girls” “Song Cry” “Takeover”

Clunkers: “The Blueprint” (though I don’t even mind that song at this point)

2) Reasonable Doubt, 1996: Another great one, though I’m not totally in love with it. It’s called one of the best debuts in rap history and it’s certainly very good, but I wouldn’t put it next to Illmatic or anything. A good 90s smooth gangster album. The album cover fits it perfectly. While I honestly think American Gangster has better songs, this gets bonus points for being the original.

Bangers: “Politics as Usual” “Brooklyn’s Finest” “Can I Live?” “Cashmere Thoughts”

Clunkers: “Ain’t No N***a”

3) American Gangster, 2007: Definitely a banger. It feels like a rejuvenated Reasonable Doubt with a lot of old soul samples by Puffy and a straight gangster theme overall (obviously made to go along with the AG movie). Despite it’s greatness I do get a little tired of it now and then because I played it out last winter.

Bangers: “Roc Boys (And The Winner Is…)” “Blue Magic” “Say Hello” “Success” “Ignorant Shit” “No Hook”

Clunkers: none, though “Sweet” is the only filler song and anybody but Bilal would have been a better hook singer on “Fallin’”

4) The Black Album, 2003: While it was his retirement album, it became the birth of the grown, modern Jay-Z. He raps on this album like he raps today, which is drastically different than early- or mid-period Shawn.  I get sick of this album at times for the same reasons as AG, but overall it’s a great one.

Bangers: “Encore” “December 4th” “What More Can I Say?” “Public Service Announcment” “99 Problems”

Clunkers: “Lucifer” That song sucks.

5) The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, 2000: Okay, here’s when it gets sticky. I hated this one when it came out. I hated the do-rag and the bragging and the pop songs like “I Just Wanna Love U.” Right before the Jay-Z/NaS fued I was completely on God Son’s side. I burned this CD in 2002 and never really listened to it until I got to grad school, and I ended up really liking it. It heavily features Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleek, and for Beanie that’s a good thing. It has some great beats and there’s really only one pop song on it.

Bangers: “Dynasty Intro” “Parking Lot Pimpin’” “1-900-Hustler” “Stick 2 The Script” “Get Your Mind Right” “You, Me, Him, & Her” “This Can’t Be Life”

Clunkers: “The R.O.C.” “Holla” “Squeeze 1st” and almost anything involving Memphis Bleek

6) Volume 2: Hard Knock Life, 1998: The first Jay-Z album I bought way back when I first started listening to rap. I think it’s his biggest-selling album to date (5 milli at the time)This one has some really good songs and a little bit I don’t really care for. This is probably the end of the fast-rapping Jay era.

Bangers: “Jigga What, Jigga Who?” “Hard Knock Life” “If I Should Do” “Money Ain’t A Thang” “Coming of Age, Part 2″ “Can I Get A…”

Clunkers: “Paper Chase”

7) The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse, 2002: This is a difficult one to rate because it could have been much better. It’s not comparable to the originial Blueprint at all in style or cohesiveness. Where as the orginial is tight and compact with a common theme, this one is a double album with a lot of filler and a million different styles of music.  At 24 songs, there are at least 12-15 good- to very-good ones that would have made a great single album.  All in all, it’s a little too Neptunes-heavy for me.

Bangers: “Some People Hate” “Diamond is Forever” “Meet The Parents” “Blueprint 2″ “2 Many Hoes” “The Bounce” “The Watcher, Part 2″ “A Dream” “I Did It My Way” “Show You How” “Excuse Me Miss”

Clunkers: “Fuck All Night” “Poppin’ Tags” and a bunch of other mediocre filler tracks

8 ) Kingdom Come, 2006: Ah, the much-maligned comeback album. I think despite a major league bad songs and some middle-of-the-road stuff, there is enough on here to enjoy. People said Jay-Z was too detached from his fanbase and started rapping too rich. I actually prefer him that way and I think his rhyming is as good as ever. The problem was hype and bad beat selection. I can’t quite figure out how it turned out the way it did, but I still like it overall.

Bangers: “The Prelude” “Kingdom Come” “Show Me What You Got” “Do U Wanna Ride?” “30 Something” and I can’t decide if “Beach Chair” is great or terrible, but for now I’ll say it’s great

Clunkers: “Lost One” “Anything” “Hollywood”

9) In My Lifetime, Volume 1, 1997: I’ll be honest, this is down on the list only because I don’t know it that well. I’ve only listened to it a few times and while I don’t really like it, I haven’t really sat down with it to give it a fair chance. It feels very weird to me that this followed Reasonable Doubt. I like a lot of the songs on it, though, so maybe I’ll like it more over time.

Bangers: “Intro-A Million and One Questions-Rhyme No More” “Sunshine” “The City is Mine” “Imaginary Player”

Clunkers: “Face Off” “Real N****as” “You Must Love Me”

10) Volume 3: The Life and Times of S. Carter, 1999: This album stinks. Other than a couple good songs, it’s basically terrible and I never listen to it more than once and a while. That’s about all I have to say about it.

Bangers: “Hova Song” “Dope Man” “Watch Me” and I suppose “Big Pimpin’” even though I never really liked it

Clunkers: “Do It Again” “Things That U Do” “S. Carter”

So excluding that R. Kelly bullshit, his live album that I haven’t heard in years, any of the remix albums, and his Streets Is Watching soundtrack that I’ve never heard, that’s all of Jay’s albums from top to bottom. I clearly put way too much thought into this, but Mom brought home pizza and I skipped the gym (I’ll get workouts done Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) so I figured I’d put some time in for this.

Tuesday: Chest/Back

Back on the gym track this week with a really good workout tonight. I realized I have a free weekend coming up so I can get all four workouts in this week, just not on their regular days. I did the normal Monday routine tonight with incline bench (up to 200 x 3), supersets of barbell rows/dumbbell flyes, incline skullcrushers/cable rows, and Swiss ball crunches/twists, I went up in all my weights despite having a rough weekend of eating. I could have had another rep on a few of those exercises but given my current state, I’m happy.

I’m going to commit to eating more real foods in the future as opposed to protein bars and powders. I’ve been relying on those too much lately, and granted I’ve been driving all over creation and not preparing anything ahead of time, I’ve been going to Tedeschi’s too much to buy a Big 100 bar.  They are certainly better than fast food but a man cannot live on MetRx alone.  I’ve already prepped a bunch of smoothies and I’m currently cooking a ton of chicken as I write this. Combined with some almonds/apples as snacks, I’ll be much better off and more energized.

Another Big Weekend

After another long weekend, I’m still tired. I got 3 workouts in last week (nothing happened Saturday, we were too busy and I didn’t have it in me to make something work), drove to CT, went to a wedding (with an open bar), and ate at a diner this morning. Not a good weekend for food or exercise, but not much I was going to do about that. This coming week isn’t going to be much easier on the gym as I have to drive BACK to Worcester tomorrow night for MORE dance lessons (and they are getting expensive), so I’ll miss tomorrow’s workout. I’ll have to go Tuesday and do whatever. Maybe I’ll hold the Physique Formula stuff until next week and just get something intense in during the couple days I have.

I realize the rest of my life is going to be full of events and the further I make it the more hectic it will be, but I’m tired and I feel like I have no time. I have zero coping ability.