Charles M

I sit here writing this post, exhausted, but not having yet trained today. Two of my best friends just had their baby, he’s strong, mostly healthy, and it looks like going to be doing well! Beyond that I have been run run run running from point A to point B and adding that to having threw some kicks on a wave rider I have a very SORE foot. Now its not so sore I can’t walk on it, nor is it so sore I can’t stand, but shadow boxing and sword work are out AT THE MOMENT. So I’m going to refocus on strength training in the meantime. I won’t be at the gym (1.5mile walk to and 1.5mile walk back) but I have sufficient free weights to challenge myself and I should still be able to use the peddle machine at the house (not much foot impact on that and the increased blood flow may help with the pain). Icing my foot down, resting as needed, not even beat or nearly defeated.

The timing for this blog entry comes uniquely as another one of my best friends has self imposed exile upon himself from the community. His reasons are his own and he knows I stand by him always.

Beyond that, I hone my mind and thoughts toward the upcoming Labyrinth Episode. Today has been a busy day and it is not nearly close to being done with yet. With that in mind I’m going to get a small snack and then lift some weights.

Been hitting the gym regularly, yesterday became a gym day as I switched with someone for today (a latter shift) and I did mostly curl and pull back exercises. I then went up and hit on the heavy bag. I’ve reached a point where the lighter of the two bags flys around too much when I hit it. The progression of this should be mentioned. I began with my 80lb heavy bag on a frame at home. 2 1/2 years ago before hurting my foot I graduated to the gyms heavy bag which hurt like hell to punch. I hurt my foot, was out of training for about a year, and this is about a year after that. I moved up to the gyms first heavy bag and it now moves too much to be an effective conditioning tool and now hit on their second, canvas, bag for it is the only one that can resist my punches sufficiently to act as a heavy bag instead of an 80lb speed bag. That is to say my punching power has increased exponentially and in a recordable way.

But Chuck!! What about your weight loss!!??!!

That has been a slow process, but not so slow as you may suspect. I weighed this morning and came in at 293lbs. That is 2lbs under my last weigh in and 1lb under my lowest (294) since I started hitting the gym. This indicates the intense cardio and weight lifting regimen intermixed with break period of up to, but not more, than 4 days has become not only effective, but most importantly DOABLE.

So, on the workout side of this I did have a day at the gym 4 days off to recuperate, and then another good 1hr gym session. That gets the obligatory “Remember to write about your workouts” out of the way, well that and the fact I have been suffering bag fatigue and arm fatigue pretty regularly from all the heavy bag, weight lifting, and other such stuff. All that being said (and done). Now onto the real interesting stuff.

First you gotta get a little back story on this. One of my best friend’s girlfriend (soon to be wife and also one of my other best friends) is pregnant. We are at the 7th month stretch and after numerous miscarriages it looks like little baby Mason is going to live. However, problems arose and I was the only person around who had both resources (cab fare to the hospital). I took this in, tried to get a ride there, and at 1.25 miles distance from here to there I made a decision. It takes about 20 minutes for a cab to arrive  and in that time I CAN run that distance. Further if they are running behind or if the cab driver is being a total….. ahem it may take less time for me to just run the distance. I took a quick inventory, coat on, good it’s chilly out. Pants, socks, shoes, MP3 player (I’m running and I need something to keep me distracted from the pain I am about to endure), money for a cab, money to get back, extra cash in case of further emergencies, the emergency cell phone we keep a few minutes on.

Time to see how fast a 295lb man can run.

Diving head first out the door I broke the first rule of running, I took off like a bat out of hell. I intermixed running and walking as the asthma and poor running conditions kicked in. During one of my “sprints” as that is more accurate for the motion I was doing in-between the fast walks I had people diving off the side walk into their front lawns to avoid what surely was discussed in private after my passing as “That stampeding elephant headed this way”

At the half way point my muscles sent the signal to STOP RUNNING DUMBASS to which I replied that if all this spiritual training and all this hard work couldn’t help me save one pregnant woman and her unborn child when they two of the most important people in my life then what good was it. I drew in a deep breath of air and drew on my soul sword, chi, and raw gods damned determination also known as “Stubborn Pride”.

When I arrived (she seen me turning the corner and after assuring herself the large balled thing barreling toward the house was not in fact The Juggernaut called for a cab) in time and contractions were slowed at the hospital. We stayed 6 hours there till she was released. I was told by the nurses that with my sense of humor I should be there for the birth as I’d ease tensions.

I can’t say for sure that my actions saved a life, but I can say I did all in my power that day. Further yesterday the “danger sense” went wild. I spent the night over at my friends house as he works the graveyard shift to make sure his family would have someone there in case of emergency. Another friend who was staying there tripped and fell, I found it strikingly odd that since the pregnant friend was talking to me she was further forward in her stride than usual and as a result was not fallen upon. I can’t say events would have played out to disaster without me being there and if all I did was be there at the right time and the right place and it had some positive impact then that is all I needed to do.

I don’t know what to call myself some days. Names are bad things for describing an entity with many facets. However if I can say at the end of my days “I made a difference” that will be good enough for me. I’m glad I was able to do what I could this time.

I made a difference.

Used the weight machines at the gym primarily today. Exercise lists with estimates

Angular Pull downs (chest expanders) Roughly 6 sets at around 50 – 70lbs

Tricep Extenders Roughly 6 Sets at around 50 – 70lbs

Curls Roughly 5 set with around 50 – 70lbs

Hip/Waist Rotations around 5 sets with rouglhy 40 -60lbs

Pull Backs/Downs Roughly 5 sets with somewhere between 70 and 100lbs depending on the set

Flywheel Press Machine: Set to 60 – 70lbs 5 sets of 5

Overhead Flywheel Press Machine: Set to 70 – 80lbs 4 sets of 5

Heavy Bag 40min

4-14

Curls

40lbs 5,5

45lbs 5,5,5

4-15

SLEEP, I just didn’t manage to get any the day before and I devoted the day to actually getting my eyes closed and being unconscious

4-16

A little more rest

4-17

Presses on a machine, at least 5 sets of 5, weight was around 200lbs or more for most lifts + 2 1min rounds of sparring. Stamina needs work or I need a mouth-guard with an air passage haha.

4-18

HELL DAY AT THE GYM

Preacher Curls, something like 10 sets of both normal and hammer curls with weights between 25 and 30lbs.

Pull backs both close in and spread wide, something like 5 sets of each with weights between 80 and 105 lbs total

Presses at a meager 170lbs

Heavy Bag for about 40 minutes.

20Minute walk to the gym.

4-19

There are parts of my body that don’t hurt  not sure what part of the body it is that doesn’t hurt, I think its my hair but I don’t have any on my head, must train harder  after rest.

4-12-2012

Butter Fly Presses

35lbs 10

45lbs 8,8

50lbs 5

60lbs 5

65lbs 5

Shadow Boxing (Small Area): 3, 3min rounds, 1min rests.

3-25-2012

Cycle 5,10,10,10

3-27-2012

Curls

35lbs 8,8

40lbs 5,5

40lbs 5,5

45lbs 5 [4L, 5R], 3

30lbs 10, 6

3-28-2012

Curls and Triceps

30 8,8,8,8

35 6,6,5,5

3-29-2012

Head Cold From Hell off 1 Week from working out

4-7-2012

35lbs

Curls and Triceps 7 sets of 5

4-8-2012 Sparring!!

4-11-2012

All Exercises 35lbs

curls 5 sets 6

Triceps 5 sets 6

Pull backs 5 sets 10

Overhead Presses 5 sets 10

Walk 2+ miles

3-22 Day off

3-23

Tricep Extensions

30lbs 8,8,8,8,8

25lbs 10,10,10,10,10

20lbs 12,15,20,20,12,12

3-19

Floor Presses

60lbs 8

70lbs 8

85lbs 5,5,5

70lbs 5,5,5,5,5

Free Form Qi Gong 5min

3-20 Off Day

3-21

Curls (30sec to 1min breaks depending)

30lbs 8,8,8,8,6

25lbs 8,8,8,8,8

20lbs 8,8,8,8,8

15lbs 10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10

Cycle 4 sets 5min, 1min rests

Drag body to shower, shave, shower, come back and write post HAHA

Comments: Ok ok that last little bit wasn’t training but I was worn out enough by then to feel like it was. I wound up having a very tiny breakfast, no lunch, and a ginormous dinner leaving me at a round… err around 1300 calories before I started this workout so this workout was done with somewhere near 80% of my calories taken in just before doing it. Was it a good workout? Well my left leg is kinda sore still from something pulling a few days back but all in all it was a beneficial workout and I feel like I got something out of the effort.

Arm Curls

35lbs 8,8,8

45lbs 5, [4L,5R], [3,4]

40lbs 5

Thoughts: My base lift has increased by 5lbs for warmups and I’m able to move 45lbs with a lot less difficulty. Still finding I max out after several reps. Perhaps I need to increase the amount of reps at 35lbs and not worry about going higher for now. Gonna give it another week or so and see what progress I make in that respect before switching things up any.