Diet and Exercise Start

Alright, a lot of people have been asking me lately about the exercise and diet plans that I’ve been on, so I figured that I would write a big post and outline exactly what I’m doing, in addition for some tips.

Disclaimer: Not a medical doctor. Don’t do these if you think you could get hurt/sick/whatever.

So a few months ago I finally kicked my ass into gear again and went back to the gym. At first I was just doing the old exercise routine that had done from before, using the stationary bike, the elliptical, walking on the treadmill, and then machines. Machines ruled my workout. It was wrong, but we’ll get to that in a second. I was also still on a pretty bad diet. I’d cut out cola and fast food, due to medical reasons and the fact that they both taste like horse piss, but was still eating a lot of bad crap.

So I was screwing around on the internet one day and stumbled on some research detailing the fitting workout models that someone should use to really build up/slim down their body. It gave some tremendous information on how not to do your workout. One of those things? Machines. Machines are the bane of a good body. Couple of reasons why this is:

1. Isolation – Machines isolate muscles groups, which doesn’t allow your body to grow naturally. Sure, you hit the big muscle, the bicep, the delt, the pec, whatever, but you’re leaving out the stabilizers of your body. Never heard of them? Feel under your arm at the back of your shoulder. Now move it around. Under the big fat delt are some smaller muscles that act as stabilizers for your shoulder (Think balance for muscles groups). These exist all over the body, and machines don’t target those at all. The provide stabilization so you don’t have to. Anyone else think that sounds wrong?

2. Weird strain - most machines are awkwardly built, so as to stabilize the body during the target exercise. Unfortunately, this often can put a worse strain on the muscle than if you were doing it with free weights. Think about the difference between a leg press and a squat. With the stabilization, you can press a whole lot more than what you could possibly squat.

So naturally, I wanted to get off the machines after doing the research for these exercise routines. Like so many others, I had decided that the free weights were too scary, and that it was safer with the machines. Plus, due to the fact my shoulder has problems sometimes didn’t give me any confidence. But I decided to man up and take on those free weights. And you know what? I didn’t have any trouble at all. None. I only had myself to blame for not improving over the years.
**this is not to say that machines are always bad. If used correctly with free weights, you can help certain muscles grow. But that’s for more advanced workouts.

My diet was usually consistent of what you would expect from a college kid, all meat and cheese and fat. Once I cut back on everything, and started eating more salad and fruit as well as meat and fat, I found I lost a ton of weight. There’s a weird thing out there, where people believe that all fat is bad. All fat is not bad, it’s only when you’re eating it exclusively that you’re doing it wrong. You need a balanced diet, one that is a good split between protein, carbs and fats. If you don’t have one, you won’t build a good body, no matter what you’re doing. Especially if you’re trying to lose weight, proper diet is a must.

But on to what I’m doing.

My Workout

A lot of people have asked me about my workout. I’ve been experimenting lately with circuit training (that is, exercise the whole body, and not focus on one part the whole workout switching up the workout ABAB style) I may go back to that method, but for now, I thought I’d outline my current workout.

Warning: Don’t try this workout unless you can push yourself mercilessly. I have friends who have puked halfway through this workout, so fair warning.

I start with half a round of HIIT, going 3 rounds.
1 min warm-up
1 min hard
2 min jogging
1 min hard
2 min jogging
1 min hard
2 min jogging

Makes for 10 minutes of cardio. Try to get your heart rate above 150 on average. I’ve hit 180+ before, but the average is about 150-160.

The rest of the workout is as follows:
2x10 Floor Wipes
5x5 Incline Bench Press
5x5 Squats
3x5 Deadlift
1x10 Power Cleans
2x10 Dumbbell Upright Rows
1x10 Dumbbell Curls
1x10 Rear Delt Raises
1x10 Lateral Raises
1x10 Front Raises
2x10 Bent Over Rows
2x10 External Shoulder Rotations – Standing (1 round per arm)
2x10 Tricep Pull-downs
2x10 Front Cable Raises for Shoulder Rotation
2x10 Oblique Extensions (per side)
2xF(failure) Pull-ups
2x10 Captain’s chair
1x10 Dips
1x10 Dumbbell OHP
2x10 Dumbbell Bench
2x10 Bent Over One Armed Rows (per side)
2x10 Tricep Press
3x10 Pushups
1x10 Lunges (one per side)
2x10 bodyweight squats

** When I wrote this, I was on the circuit. I have gone to a split of chest-tricep/back-bicep/legs now (It saves on time, 1-1.5 hours instead of 3). Though I may switch it up again. I’m thinking of doing a rotation of the two. Updated workout soon.

My Diet

Honestly, my diet consists of clean eating. I don’t eat anything special, no “low-fat” magic, no ‘100-calorie’ products. Just clean eating. Think of it this way. If it’s not natural, you shouldn’t be eating it. That’s not to say organic. Some things are better organic, but it’s also more expensive. Here’s the way I think of it. Would my grandfather recognize what I’m eating as food? It’s a good rule. Most food fall under this, chicken, fish, fruits, bread, vegetables. A few exceptions, like the packaging I’ll overlook. (Tuna in bags, some of the frozen vegetables/ready-made salads, etc.). Not everything has to be all natural or homemade, though it does help.

Cooking is always a plus, so if you make the time to cook even simple meals you can eat a whole lot more healthy. Cooking is always cheaper than eating out as well, so for all of you who struggle monetarily, it’s a good tactic. Beside this, I just make sure that I’m eating my maintenance calorie rate, and just keep eating healthy. For me, that means I eat around 2400 calories a day, but it’s different for everyone. I’ll post some links later to give you guys some info on all that, but I thought I should start out by outlining what I do.

For me, it’s about willpower. Pushing myself until I can’t go on, and when I can’t, I move on past it. If you can do that, then you’ll achieve whatever you really want to.

So far, I’ve lost a lot of weight, and my lifts have all gone up. I’ll go into what I know later.

More to come. Hope that answers some of the questions.

Packing for an Apartment

It’s a tough thing, the packing of things for my first apartment. My whole life is in my room, things from 20 years ago are still lurking in the corners. There are boxes of knick-knacks that mash together the past and present, and they overflow from the closet. Choosing the things to take is difficult, since I don’t know how much my apartment can hold.

I eventually decided that the best thing to do is take all the books for adults. Two years is a long time for me in books, so I’ll need as many as I can take. There’s the spices, the kitchen tools, the furniture, the clothes, the electronics, and the various amounts of junk that I need to take.

Leaving the children’s books and the extra junk in boxes is an easy choice, and I can always come back for things I leave behind. But it is better to decide things up front, and take as much as I can while I have help in moving things. Three flights of stairs is not easy to take heavy things up, so getting the big stuff out of the way is something I settled on right away. I just hope that everyone who volunteered to help me actually comes through. The more help, the better.

We shall have to see.

Packing and Writing, an All Consuming Force

I don’t know why I keep taking impromptu breaks from writing here, but I keep getting distracted by whatever it is that has my attention. A couple updates. Packing up for Grad school, if you want to find me you’ll have to find me up in Indiana University this fall. I’m having a crazy time trying to pack everything up.

I’m up to writing 1000 words a day minimum on the novel, which is good. Broke 200 pages a few days ago, though that’s only around 60,000 words. Due to planning issues, I’m not sure what the end length is going to be, though I’m willing to bet it will be around 150-200K words before I’m done with the first draft. I’m finally getting started writing longer stories, so I’m hoping that I’ll piece together a decent enough tale. Honestly I don’t know what the end goal word count wise is, since I will probably be deleting and adding a few things to the story when I go back in and edit the second and third drafts.

That’s really all that’s been going on, those two issues are consuming most of my time. I’m hoping that I’ll be updating the blog a little more often now.

Racial Profiling in Arizona

I have to weigh in on this. This new Arizona law requiring police to check papers of “anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant” is plain wrong. I don’t know which side of the issue anyone stands on in regards to immigration reform, but the fact that anyone can be stopped if they look suspicious looks to me like racial profiling.

I hate to sound melodramatic, but because of this law, Arizona’s going to be labeled a racist police state. It’s a sad state of affairs when the U.S. goes to a point where they can stop any American citizen and demand to see the birth certificate to prove they’re a citizen. It’s wrong. There is no real other side to this issue. Whatever your opinions on illegal immigrants, being required by law to stop anyone who looks like they might be illegal is not a way to solve this issue. I don’t know why anyone who believes in any type of freedom or equality would allow this bill to become law.

I’m glad I’ve been there, the Grand Canyon was beautiful. As were the deserts, the Indian Reservations, the Craters, and other wonders of nature. But I’m not going back. I’m a white male, so I’m in no danger of this new law, but I refuse to participate in this blatant disregard for equality. Just because someone looks Latino does not give anyone the right to demand papers. If you have reasonable evidence that someone might be illegal, then, and only then, should you be allowed to check. Saying that someone looks Latino does not give anyone the right to accuse them of not being American.

The people of Arizona need to figure out where they stand. This new law is despicable.

More info on this ongoing issue:

NY Times

Man Racially Targeted

Breathing While Undocumented

And last but not least:

Back

I'm back to the sole blog again, because two blogs that mirror each other just seem to get redundant. So I'm back now.

Recommendations

I think I’ll wrap up this semester by giving out a few recommendations. I read an awful lot of books, manga and comics, so for a nice bookend, I’m recommending some of my favorite series. As a side note, I’ll probably be more on my main blog from now on, though I’m not shutting OB down just yet.
So without further ado, here are some comic series and manga series to get a reader started. Remember, almost all these series contain mature subject matter, so be cautious if you are easily offended.

In alphabetical order would be the easiest I suppose, so that's what I'll do.

100 Bullets
Azzarello, Brian

A Contract with God Trilogy
Eisner, Will

Transmetropolitan
Ellis, Warren

Preacher
Ennis, Garth

Great Teacher Onizuka
Fujisawa, Tohru

1602
Gaiman, Neil

The Eternals
Gaiman, Neil

The Sandman
Gaiman, Neil

Uzumaki
Ito, Junji

Black and White
Matsumoto, Taiyo

300
Miller, Frank

Sin City
Miller, Frank

Berserk
Miura, Kentaro

Nausicaa of the Valley Wind
Mizaki, Hayao

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Moore, Alan

V for Vendetta
Moore, Alan

Watchmen
Moore, Alan

Strangers in Paradise
Moore, Terry

Akira
Otomo, Katsuhiro

Bone
Smith, Jeff

Saikano
Takahashi, Shin

Welcome to the NHK
Takimoto, Tasuhiko

Phoenix
Tezuka, Osamu

Blankets
Thomson, Craig

Y the Last Man
Vaughn, Brian


Remember, most of these can be found at either Amazon.com or your local library.

Happy Reading!

Manga Lecture #7

There is also a sub genre known as hentai. This is quite literally translated as pervert, and it is the label for what you can probably guess. I don’t really want to focus on this genre, as it’s pretty much one of the major reasons manga is frowned upon in other countries. People believe manga is either all for children, or all pornography. (don’t ask me to explain the gap, it’s just there). But it is worth mentioning, simply because it is how many artist make their start.

It’s a bit odd, so let me explain. There is a huge fan base for series in Japan, of which many young artists and writers produce fan-comics, or dojinshi. These fan-comics use established storylines and characters to tell their story, in the way they think the story should go. And while it is nowhere near 100%, many of these “directions” involve sexual relationships, usually in graphic detail. It actually makes a lot of sense. Just look at the fan base for shows here. Lost has multiple characters that fans wish to see hook up, the same can be said for most series produced the world over. The difference is that Japanese fans took matters into their own hands and produced the results they wished for, and sold it as a profit. Dojinshi is actually a lucrative business for some, with many fans following certain doujin artists for their latest release.

I mentioned that many manga-ka (artists and writers) get their start producing these, of which there are many famous examples. Kouta Hirano, the manga-ka of Hellsing fame (one of the more influential series being produced right now) actually got his start producing hentai dojinshis. In terms of how that relates to our culture, imagine if someone like J.K. Rowling or Michal Crichton got their start by writing Harlequin Romance Novels.

Freaky, isn’t it?

But this is the norm inside Japan’s culture. The adult industry, while heavily restricted, is not frowned upon as it is here. This is not to say that normal people like or support it, but they are more tolerant toward the producers of it.

But enough about that.

Manga Lecture #6

I’m going to tackle seinen and jousei together, as while they tend to be large and important in their own right, they tend to discuss the same subjects.
These are the two mature manga sections, where much of the best material (in my own opinion) is created and located. While these often have subject matter meant for mature audiences (sex, violence, gore, cursing, drug use, and a whole host of other crazy stuff), this is also the place where authors tend to discuss religion, philosophy, world views, politics, and other issues that would not be appealing to young boys or girls. The way that seinen and jousei differ is slight, usually resulting in a difference of focus. Both are character and thematically driven, unlike their action counterparts, and both tend to focus more on the grey areas of choice and decision, as aside to the black and white world view presented in shonen or shojo.

There are also several sub genres within the two mature genres as well. Gekiga is a subgenre that can best be described as Japanese style noir and more grounded pieces as well. Detective stories, gangster tales, and common everyday occurrences would fit into these categories, These are almost without fail a serious telling of a story, with little to no humor, and a darker tone. It usually encompassed only what could be found realistically, not the fanciful tales of the other genres.

Shonen and Jousei Manga

Phoenix*

20th Century Boys*

Hellsing*

Nodame Cantabile*

Honey and Clover*