Wegman's Vegetable Roll w/ Brown Rice - A Review (with 4-part harmony)

Yesterday was the last workout day, and I decided to get up early and bang it out before work.  I learned some things from it.

1. Warming up takes much longer.  Getting to where my muscles felt loose took 2 or 3 exercises.
2. I felt MUCH stronger doing Lean Circuit 3 in the morning than at my normal nighttime procedure.
3. You're hungry all day.  Like...yeah.  Hungry.

So, the main reason I decided to do the workout was last night.  Thursday night basketball with some coworkers.  We play on a court that's about 2/3 normal, and run full-court.  I had tried doing the workouts after basketball with varying degrees of success.  Yesterday, I wanted to get the workout done and out of the way, and it was a good trial run for when I restart the program in a couple weeks.

When I got home from work, I decided to skip dinner, as I didn't want to be puking all over the brand new facility.  I figured I could pick something up afterward.  So, after an hour and 45 minutes of basketball (I played terribly...just awful), I rolled into Wegman's about 8:45 pm.

I went right to the first thing I wanted, a nectarine.  I love me some nectarines, especially when they're a little under ripe and crunchy.  I wandered around for awhile looking for anything that piqued my interest.

I didn't find anything.

Not too long ago, the local Wegman's added a full-feature sushi bar with tons of different items.  Some of my friends (Steph, Mike, et all...) had given very good reviews of the options available.  With those in mind, I sauntered over to the sushi case.  I'm not a raw (or cooked) seafood fan, but there were many veggie choices available.  One of them was with brown rice!  So I grabbed a package labeled "Vegetable Roll with Brown Rice", a Dr. Pepper 10 (just terrible...really...I thought I had a Diet Dr. Pepper...dumbass), and my nectarine.  Paid for the lot, and headed home.

My dinner...

So this was my dinner last night.  Yes, that's a potty chair in the background.  Ignore it.

Now, I've tried sushi in the past, even the raw fish stuff, and haven't like it.  They do something to the rice, some kind of flavoring, that just does not taste good to me.  Or it's the nori stuff that's part of the wrapper.  Whatever it is, I haven't liked it.  So I was...hesitant, but eager to try.

I opened the package and inspected the contents.

Inside are 8 neatly packed little rolls of rice, nori (the seaweed wrapper thing) and vegetables.  Pretty sure there's some carrot, avocado, cucumber, and I believe I tasted some celery, but I'm not sure.  There were also some toasted sesame seeds on the outside.  Killer, I love toasted sesame seeds.  I took a closer look.

Yup.  Sesame seeds.  Inside the package is also this wasabi sauce stuff, and soy sauce.  I'd seen people mix the soy and wasabi stuff together in the past, so I decided to do the same.  After that, it was time to try the rolls themselves.

I picked up the first one.  It was sticky on the outside.  Strangely so.  Ok...full disclosure...sticky things FREAK ME RIGHT THE F*%K OUT.  Seriously.  Put a sticker on my skin and I'll have a complete mental breakdown.  So, yeah, I was unnerved.

Ok, hold on, the Smashing Pumpkins version of 'Landslide' just came on my pandora...talk amongst yourselves...




AND I SAW MY REFLECTIONNNN IN THE SNOW-COVERED HILLLLLLLLSS




Alright, back to the review.  So, the outside was sticky.  Not cool.  I tried the first bite without any of the sauce.  The vegetables were very crisp and fresh.  A nice light taste.  The texture as a whole was decent, perhaps a little mushy but not unpleasantly so.

But there was something there.  Some kind of taste that just...wasn't good.  I couldn't quite explain it.

My second bite was with the soy/wasabi concoction.  I dipped the entire bottom of the remaining roll and gave it a good dredge through the mixture.  It helped.  Wasabi and soy together are a strong, hot combination, which is how I like to think of myself.  Strong and hot.  And moist.  Just like the sauce.

But that background flavor was still there, and it was compounding.

I finished the bite, and ran out to the kitchen and grabbed a dampened washcloth for my fingers.  TO GET RID OF THAT NASTY STICKINESS.  Yuck.  I probably could have grabbed a fork or some chopsticks, but the sticky had made my brain a little addled.

I tried the next two rolls with the sauce.  The veggies again were very crisp and tasty, and would have been very good, but I was starting to figure out what that background flavor was.

Boiled Farts.  Pretty sure.

I decided to eat at least half of the offering, which meant one more roll.  But damn.  I didn't want to eat any more boiled fart.  If this stuff was a rock band, it'd be Nickelback.  For whatever god-damn reason, people love it, but it makes NO sense to me.  Just like this sushi-type shit.  But I ate the fourth one.  It was finally too much.  I HAD STICKY FINGERS AND WAS EATING BOILED FART.  IT NEEDED TO STOP.  NO MAS.

So anyway, I would have to say that I did not enjoy it.  No sir, I didn't like it.  So on the 'Old Fat Jason Scale of Respectability', these get:

1 Old Fat Jason Face out of 5.  Only because the veggies on the inside were very fresh and tasty.

Also, my nectarine was killer.

This is All the Motivation I Need

Seriously.  I am unbelievably happy about this.  Thanks to Mike for the heads up.

Head on Things...3 For 1

Idle hands are the devil's playthings...or something...

I Think I Might Have a Plan, Maybe.

With one weight workout to go in the Chalean Extreme program, I'm almost complete.  90 days of working out.  Let's see where I'm at.

I started about 371 pounds back in August.  When I began this workout program in January, I was 340.  Today I was 286 on the scale.  So that's 54 pounds in 90 days, and 85 pounds overall.  Since the beginning of the workout, I've gone from a 46 waist to a 40 waist in pant size.  I'm also not terribly far from 38, there.  If they had 39's, I'd probably be wearing those.  I'm also down from 4xl/3xl shirts to 2xl.  So, I would say resounding success there.

There are some issues, too, though.  All the way through the Burn and Push circuits, I was able to crank up the weight every week, sometimes significantly so.  In the Lean Circuit, I've only been able to do it with 3 exercises.  Also, this phase is supposedly the major 'results' phase, and my results have actually tapered off significantly.

So here's the plan.

I'm going to take the next two weeks off.  No training program, other than my running.  I'll keep playing basketball.  In those two weeks, however, I'm going to condition myself to working out in the mornings.  I'm going to get up early (which I already do, but just kinda loaf around for a while) and get to working out, using a placeholder for the weight training that will take place on those days.  I'll probably do stretching type stuff and simple body-resistance type stuff like push-ups and sit-ups.  That way, I can leave my evenings open for runs/basketball, which is when I like to do those.  I'm also going to finally giving up the smoking, which I've tapered off considerably the last several weeks, but it needs to stop once and for all.  These two weeks should give me the opportunity to do that.

Once those two weeks are up, I'm going to restart the Chalean Extreme program for another run.  This time starting each phase with the weights that I ended them with in the previous run.  I kept all my log pages, so I'll have them to go off of.

Hopefully, after another run of the the program, I'll be in the 245-250 range, and can look into seriously doing a p90x or p90x2 type program, and be able to do it the right way.

Also, would anyone be interested in scans of my log pages?  They're kind of interesting, to me anyway, as I took pretty decent notes about the workouts.

Yeah, I Like to Shoot Waterfalls...

I got out of work last night, and did something right after work.  I don't remember exactly what it was.  Then I got some dinner, did some grocery shopping, and knocked out a run.  Note for the future, don't run so close to dinner.  I felt very heavy and slow.  Heavier and slower than normal.

I took a shower, got dressed quickly, and headed over to Suzy's, a local bar that has live bands playing every weekend.  Last night was Joey Belladonna with Chief Bigway.  Belladonna plays with Anthrax, and with this Chief Bigway band, he sings, plays drums, and juliennes fries.  I've seen them three or four times.  Mike came over after a bit, and his friend Sally-Joe came along a little after that.

After Belladonna there were three bands on the docket.  First was some band with two chick singers.  That sang at the same time.  All the time.  It was impossible to understand either of them.  You could have told me that we were hearing recordings of seal clubbing.  I would have never known the difference.

The band after that I lasted about 20 seconds for.  I like metal.  But this...this...was...uncomfortable.  I think they knew that perhaps they weren't the best musicians, so they would overcome that BY TURNING THE VOLUME UP SO THAT THE ONLY THING YOU COULD DISTINGUISH WAS THE KICK DRUM PLAYING SIXTEENTHS.  Seriously.  I said goodbye to Mike and Sally-Joe, and headed home.

I woke up this morning around 5:30 and had a full day with nothing planned in front of me.  So I decided I would head to Cascadilla Falls and Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca.  I hopped in the car and headed south, getting to Ithaca as the sun was coming up.  I decided to hit Buttermilk Falls first, perhaps saving Cascadilla for another time, once more things are in bloom.

I was the only one there when I arrived.  I threw a coat on, grabbed my Canon 7D, the 28-135 IS, a circular polarizer, and a beat up old tripod.

First, I took a few shots of the falls visible from the entrance.

Those shots sucked.  

Then, I went and checked out the gorge trail.  Except, at the bottom of the trail, the gate was closed.  'Closed due to Winter Conditions'.  Shit.  I decided to hit the Rim Trail (heheh...rim trail...), which was open.

Ok...I've been working out for 3 months now.  Running for 2 weeks, playing basketball...but THAT GODDAMN RIM TRAIL (heh) WAS A COMPLETE AND TOTAL MOTHERF**CKER.  By the time I got to the top of the damn hill, I thought I was going to die.  The first third of the trail is all uphill...sometimes switchback...calf-destroying evil.

AND THERE'S NOTHING TO FREAKING SEE ON THAT TRAIL.  I WALKED ALL THE WAY UP THERE FOR NOTHING.  ARE YOU SHITTING ME?

Severely daunted, I went on ahead anyway.  A little ways up the Rim Trail (giggle), there was a spur that headed down towards the stream, into the gorge.  Kick Ass!  Except...

WHAT THE SHIT?  Maybe...I can climb around...and get off the Rim Trail (heh).

YEAH!!!  F**K DA POLICE!!!

So, anyway, once down to the gorge proper, I was able to take some good pics.  Here they are:

I call this one..."Stairway To Rock Penis" or "Come on, Baby, Just the Tip..."

You didn't think I was going without some lens flare somewhere, did you?

Strange Rock Stacking...Must be Aliens.  From the Rim Trail (heh), probably.

Also...Rim Trail (baaahahahhaa).

One Week Left...

After today's workouts, there will be one week left of the Chalean Extreme program for me.  I'm ready to be done with it for awhile, honestly.  As amazing as that woman's tits are, I'm getting kind of tired of her voice.  I couldn't imagine living with her, honestly.

Lean Circuit hasn't really given me the kind of results I was expecting.  After the Burn and Push circuits, and with all the reviews saying Lean Circuit is where it really pays off, I haven't noticed that.  I lost a bunch more weight and shaped my body better during the first two circuits than during this one.

So next week is it.  Then I'll take a week off or so from weights.  Keep with my running, maybe do the yoga workout a couple times, or just lift some weights on my own.  Nothing crazy.

After that, I'm not sure.  I could just continue with Chalean Extreme's Lean For Life phase, which just mixes up the workouts from the various circuits.  I don't think I want to do that, though.  I could move on to P90X, but I'm not sure I can give that the kind of time it needs.

Anyway, not a decision I need to make today.

Get Out of Your Head, Meat

So, I've been stuck on 292-293 for almost three weeks now.  EXTREMELY frustrating.  I had done so well, and lost quite a bit in relatively short order, that I expected that rate to at least continue, or at the worst, slow down.  Not to stop completely.  It made me angry.  Going from losing a routine 3-4 pounds per week to completely plateauing for so long did not keep me in my happy place.

JASON SMASH!!

Even with last week's cardio explosion (3 runs, 2 nights of 2-hour basketball sessions) on top of the workouts, I had actually gained after the Train Wreck Weekend (detailed previously in this blog).  Monday morning I was around 295-296.

This week started pretty well, actually.  My eating was more or less back to normal, although I've been EXTREMELY hungry this week.  I've curbed it mostly, but nonetheless, I've felt extremely hungry.  Sunday's workout was great.  My run Monday night was spectacular.  I really felt great, and was able to keep a better pace for myself than I had the last time I did couch to 5k.  I'm over 2 miles much quicker than I was before.

Last night was another 2 hours of basketball.  The gym was very hot last night, and by the time we finished, I was very tired.  I went home with the intentions of doing Lean Circuit 2, but 2 reps into the first exercise and my form was COMPLETELY fucked.  I decided to call it a night.  I will do that workout at lunch today.  Then a run tonight.  I believe I will continue running after the sun goes down in the evenings.  That worked out well for me.  I will skip the cardio and abs workout on the chalean extreme program for today, as between the running and the basketball (I am a post player, which is, actually, an amazing workout when playing full court), I'm sure I'm fine there.  I have another run tonight, and I'm really looking forward to it.

So...my weight.  I know it's not the most conducive thing to tie one's progress to the scale, but it's easy.  And from my basketball nights, I know that I have made some real gains in stamina and physical ability.  The people I play with have even noticed and remarked on it.  But that scale still calls to me.

I got on it before my shower (and after peeing...always after peeing, and sometimes after a good dookie too) and was expecting to see anywhere from 294-297.

It read 289.  I laughed and thought to myself "Yeah, ok...let's recalibrate this sucker", so I did.  Got back on.  289.  One more time, with feeling...289.

So, after train wreck weekend, and 2 days after seeing 296-ish...I was at 289.  I have no idea the science behind this.  Maybe my body has adjusted, my metabolism has increased.  Maybe I had cut back too far on the eating and my body was in starvation mode, although I never really felt hungry.  I wish I knew what the difference was so I could build on it.  Either way, I'm happy with it.  290 had turned into a real mental barrier for me.

My Head on Things #...whatever...I forget...

(This is originally a promotional still from the movie Bruno, I think)

Oh man...

Train Wreck Weekend

DISCLAIMER:  Mom, before you get all weird, we all had a very good time.  This weekend had a little bit of everything; basketball, playgrounds, moons, snakes, smoke bombs, and sparkler nipples.

I call this Train Wreck Weekend because of how I ate.  I don't know what came over me, but I ate this weekend.  Tons.  Plenty of healthy choices were made available to me, and no one forced the food into my mouth, but I ate pizza and cookies and chicken wings and taco dip and tortilla chips and pizza rolls and more taco dip and english muffins and omelets...it was a train wreck, health wise.

I also had to unfortunately leave my nephew's birthday party early after my older son had an UTTER AND COMPLETE MENTAL BREAKDOWN.  It was extremely frustrating.  I had to leave, on the spot, with the boys.  And I wasn't happy.  I'm still pretty good and pissed off about it.  Not nearly as much as I was.  And I'll tell you why.

Once we got home, I worked out.  Lean Circuit 1.  And I hit it hard.  So much of the stress just melted away.  I can honestly say it is probably the first time that a workout has reduced my stress so noticeably.  It was relaxing and refreshing.  My daughter made us dinner while I worked out (the culinary student learned something tonight too...follow the MICROWAVE directions when using the MICROWAVE...ten minutes was WAY TOO LONG for turkey meatballs...but, I have plenty of practice golf balls for this summer now), and I was able to relax considerably.  After dinner we hung out for a bit, I got the boys in the tub and in bed, and was able to work on some of the sunrise pictures I took this morning.  I'll include them at the bottom of this post.

To get back to the stress thing, I have been able to get very relaxed during a run before.  At some point you just seem to hit a certain level of zen.  When I was running and training for the 5k I was supposed to do in October 2010, once I got into minute 15 or so of constant running, things would just become automatic.  Your body would run itself, to an extent.  It was, honestly, a spectacular feeling.  I'm looking forward to having that again in my runs.

Anyway, it was nice to have Saturday off from any kind of workout after such a packed week.  I did Lean Circuit 1 today, I will do week 2 day 1 of couch to 5k tomorrow, and maybe try out my foam roller.

Now for the pictures:

Got Out for Some Pictures Tonight

After realizing I had done 4 workout sessions of at least 45 minutes apiece in under 36 hours (including nearly 2 hours straight of full-court basketball), I decided I had done enough cardio in the last 2 days that I could skip tonight's cardio and abs workout.

So I got out and took some sunset pictures.  I might make that a theme until we start seeing some nice springtime blooms.

Here they are:

OK...Maybe I Overdid It a Little

My body is destroyed right now.

I was too sore and tired to finish breakfast this morning.

I have to go poop, but I'm currently worried that straining too hard on it would cause a myocardial infarction right now.

Seriously.

This is how I got here.

Monday night, as I mentioned in this space before, I started my running routine back up.  I felt really good after it, very encouraged.  Monday was normally a rest day, so running was a good fit for it.

Last night was supposed to be Lean Circuit 2, which I think is probably the hardest of the Lean Circuits.  Tons of shoulders.  But, a friend of mine at work has access now to a really nice gym, and asked if I wanted to play some full court basketball last night.

I love basketball.  One of my favorites things in the world to play.  Also, I was very interested to see if physically I was better at playing now.  We played 4 on 4 full-court, with the winning team staying on.  My team won almost every game.  I played much better than I used to, much more active.  It actually took some time for me to adjust my shots in the post, as I was too strong on almost everything.  I guess I have to adjust to not having to shoot around my titties anymore.

But...my outside shot was falling.  I might have had one of the most effective three point shooting nights I've ever had.  Every one I made just amped up my confidence even more.

So I ended up playing for almost 2 straight hours, full court.  I got winded at times, but was able to hang back on defense from time to time to recoup some energy.  By the time I was done, though, I was WRECKED.

I got home around 9:20 and got to working out.  Lean Circuit 2.  It was easily the hardest workout I had done yet.  With the basketball plus the previous day's running, I was spent.  I made it through the workout, although I skipped the ending stretching (I just couldn't do it.  I tried, but kept falling over) and shortened the last exercise, only being able to do 7 reps as opposed to the 10-12 I should have.

I finished up my taxes after that and went to bed.  I was so exhausted, but I didn't sleep well at all.  I was up probably every hour or two.  My plan was to get up at 5:30 and do the next running workout.  There was no way I was going to miss it.

So I finally got up and moving around 5:40 and started my run.  (Note:  It's still a little too cold in the morning for running in shorts and a t-shirt)  I powered through it, although my pace was probably a slight slower than Monday's.  I did the same route that I did Monday.

But I'm paying for it right now.  I'm so sore and tired.  It hurts to move.  At all.  Tonight is Burn Intervals and Ab Burner, and I just don't know how I'm going to get through it, but I will.  It would feel really good to take a day off, but I haven't done that yet, and I don't want to start now.

Although, if I don't blog anything tomorrow, send help.  I'm probably dead on my living room floor laying in a pool of sweat with a pair of dumbbells on my chest.

To See if Steph is Still Reading...

Finally Adding in a Run

I had a very hard day today.  Actually, yesterday and today were very difficult for me.  Lots of things going on. I'm trying to feel better about myself, but every time I start to, another slap hits me in the face, to remind me of who I really am.  It's very hard.  I think it affected my workout last night, as I just didn't have the energy for it that I should have.

Anyway, with some nice weather today, I was able to add a run back in.  I started back into the couch to 5k program, starting with week 1, day 1.  After picking up Seth and giving Arienne instructions for making dinner (which she did very well), I set out.

The run went extremely well.  I could have started at week 2, day 1, actually, I think.  It felt good.  Something I need to build on.  Anyway, here's the map of the run I did.




1.77 miles.  Probably one of the longest of the week 1 day 1 runs I've done.  Day 2 is Wednesday.  I'll probably to week 2 day 2.

Not Sure Where I'm Going With This...

So, since the last post I've done Lean Circuit 3 and the Burn It Off and Recharge workouts.  I've talked about the last two before, so let's look at Lean Circuit 3 really quickly.

Lean Circuit 3 is a little more of an all over workout than LC1 or LC2.  It's easily my favorite of the three Lean Circuits.  The one exercise I had the most problems with didn't even include any weights.  She called it the Army Crawl.

You get down in the plank, or push-up position.  From that position, you alternate legs.  You bring each leg up like you're going to crawl with it.  You need to bring it up as high as you can and bring it back, then repeat  on the opposite leg.  Twelve times for each leg.

It sounds pretty straightforward, but by the time I was at 10, I was struggling.  It was VERY intense.  Lean Circuit 3, as a whole, kept my heart rate pretty high throughout, even with the measured slow reps.

So, a week into Lean Circuit 3 and I'm seeing the changes more throughout my body.  I'm getting some real definition in my legs, specifically in my calves.  My quadriceps muscle stands out on my thigh now.  My arms are getting larger, not really much more defined yet, but as the fat decreases, that will stick out more, I think.  Anyway, three weeks left on this program.  Then on to the next after a week off.

Weird...

Yesterday was the Burn Intervals and Ab Burner workouts.  Burn Intervals is 47 minutes long.  It's 2-3 minutes of light weights, then 2 minutes or so of plyometrics.  It's a damn buzzsaw, honestly.  For most of the plyo stuff, by the time I'm nearing the end I sound like a cat in heat.  It's not pretty.

They way it's gone in the past, is that as I'm nearing the spot with 25 minutes left or so, I'm spent.  I struggle through the next couple minutes.  I always have seemed to regain some level of energy, like a second wind.  Here's a graph to help illustrate:

Last night was quite different.  I was able to push harder through all the exercises, doing more reps, harder reps, faster reps.  The plyometrics came much easier to me.  My energy expenditure seemed much smoother, as well.  There was no dropoff at 25 minutes to go.  I was able to keep a pace that had I already established.  Again, a graph to help:

It must mean that the workouts are working.  I can't wait to play some basketball and see if my stamina is improved.  I'm pretty excited about it.

One final thing.  Scales are the de-facto measure of accomplishment in this or really any program similar to this one.  They are cruel masters.  For almost two weeks now, I've waffled between 296 and 298 on the scale, ringing up at 297 yesterday morning.  This morning...291-292.  That's 5-6 pounds in a day.  Don't trust it wholly.  I'm sure I wasn't actually 297 yesterday, or may not actually be 291 today, but I am still steadily losing, and that's the goal.

Lean Circuit 2

Firstly, the Solid Gold dancers were back for Lean Circuit 2, but this time in silver.  At least the Matrix chicks were dressed normally.

But that's not what I came here to talk about.  I came here to talk about the draft.  (Dammit, Arlo, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!)

Ok...tangent averted.  Lean Circuit 2 is a heavy dose of shoulders/back.  I mean heavy.  Every one of these exercises was extremely difficult.  And every one of them targted your shoulders/back in some manner.  Lots of deltoid fly, rows, and stuff like that.  Honestly, some muscles that haven't really been hit in this manner before.  It's a good workout.

I've done some thinking about what comes after Chalean Extreme.  I think my plan is this:  I'm going to take a week semi-off.  I going to find some cardio workouts to do in that time, but no weightlifting stuff.  After that week, I think it'll be time to dive into p90x.

I have some worries there.  First, I probably still won't be in good enough shape to do all the exercises.  I can live with that.  But secondly, I'm having a hard enough time fitting in these 35-45 minute workouts.  The p90x ones are all almost an hour in length.  That's going to be tough.  I'll figure it out though.

Anyway, cardio/abs tonight.  I'm stoked.

Lean Circuit 1: The Game has Changed

So, yeah.  Lean Circuit 1.  Or as I like to call it, Fart Circuit 1.

Lean Circuit 1 is back to more combos.  Where the Push Circuits targeted one muscle group per exercise, Lean Circuit one is back to combos, like the Burn Circuits.

The difference is, these are a ton harder.  In the Lean Circuit exercises, well, in the first one so far, almost your entire body is engaged in EACH exercise.  When I finished, I felt like previously enjoyed dog food.  My entire body was wrecked.

But there's another side-effect from this exertion.  If you had any gas in your body, it's going to escape.  When you are tensed up such, it gets expelled.  Forcefully.  It's safe to say I farted my way through Lean Circuit 1.  It was like a butt symphony.  Everybody loves the cymbal crashes and cannon blasts in the 1812 Overture.  Not sure anybody would appreciate me recreating that with my ass cannon.  I'd do a bicep curl combined with a squat...fart.  Triceps extension combined with a leg curl...fart.  Hammer curl combined with a sumo squat...fart. It was pretty epic.  If I didn't feel like I was near death, I would have been laughing all the way through it.

There were 2 exercises in particular that were just excruciatingly painful for me.  The second, a row in the plank position, I'll cover next week, but the first, a bicep curl with a calf raise I'll cover here.

With your hand against a chair for balance, and a weight in the other hand, you lift one leg up behind you.  As you curl the weight, you lift, using your calf, up onto your toes.  Without bringing the weight all the way to your shoulder, you hold in this position for two counts.  Then, as you lower the weight SLOWLY, you lower your calf at the same pace, so the weight and your heel reach bottom position at the same time.

(I'm either working out or being faaaaabulous here...not sure which)

Yeah.  It looks kinda like that.  You do that twelve times ON EACH SIDE.  Holy crap.  The reps themselves aren't the killers.  It's the speed.  You have to do it so deliberately.  By the time you're done, you are destroyed.  AND THEN YOU HAVE TO DO THREE MORE EXTRA EXTRA SLOW.

If the other Lean Circuits are like this...I'm stoked.  They're going to be a huge difference for me, I think.  I only lost about 2 pounds this week, definitely off the pace I had been keeping so far.  I'd like to get that back up to 3-4 pounds per week.  The lean circuits plus the running (if the weather ever comes back) should really get that going.

One final thing...Chalene...what's with the outfits?  Seriously.  Previously, in the other circuits, the only person in the video that might be a little whacky with the outfit was Chalene herself.  Especially in one of the Burn Circuits, she wore this pair of hooker boots that had to be godawful to work out in.

But yesterday's video really kicked it up a notch.  Chalene and the older chick looked like rejects from the Solid Gold Dancers.  Like...shiny gold tops and shit.  Weird.  The other chicks looked like extras from The Matrix.  Faux leather outfits.  Unless they were ACTUAL leather, which, good lord, how bad must those chicks have smelled afterwards?  At least the guy was dressed in something that a NORMAL HUMAN BEING would workout in, a sleeveless tee and shorts, I think (I didn't pay much attention).

Push Circuit Done, on to Lean Circuit

Yesterday was the last workout of the Push Circuit.  That means I've done the program for 60 days now.  I haven't missed a workout (other than the short yoga one once, which isn't really a workout, more of a stretching session) or pushed one off until the next day.

I feel pretty good.  I've got some nagging aches and pains that aren't really going away, especially with my lower back.  I might look into one of the foam rollers today though, see if that helps with the pain.  It might also be good for my left arm, which still bothers me from time to time.

Hopefully we can start putting together a stretch of good weather.  I've set a goal of participating as a runner in the Katie Socci 5k on May 12th, which means I need to get my ass out running.  I can't use my treadmill, as I almost killed myself when the motor stopped last time I used it.

Lean Circuit starts tomorrow.  That's back to a more medium weight, with 10-12 reps, but it's also more combinations.  Where Push Circuit really targeted one muscle group per exercise, Lean Circuit really combines them.  I'm hoping moving into this circuit and adding the running in really kick-starts the weight loss into overdrive.

Which is another thing.  Last week I finally made it under 300.  Today I'm at 297-298.  I haven't lost a lick this week.  Definitely well-timed to change up the workout.

Going to do some work on the arcade cabinet today, I think.

Until next time,

Jason

The Punctuation at the End of The Day

Ok...just so you know...this is probably going to go off the rails more than once...be warned.

I fart.  Quite a bit.  I think they're hilarious.  I used to consider myself as one of the pre-eminent flatu-artists (yes, I just made that word up) in the world.  I like to pose for them, to increase timbre and depth.  My favorite pose is one I call The Kerrigan.

Now, as impressive as I can be with my feats of anal gas legerdemain, I know now I am not the best in the world.  For all my poses, and situational awareness (if I'm ever near my dog or cats...or sometimes one of my kids, and I feel one coming, they're getting cropdusted ), I was bested yesterday at work.

A gentleman that I work with (who is definitely not MIKE) and I will sometimes try to squeak out little butt reports to each other while at our desks.  There's a subtlety to it, one that he is actually considerably better at than I am.  His control is remarkable, and dwarfs my own.

Yesterday, however, this person WHO IS NOT MIKE, raised the bar.

Just as everyone was getting up to leave for the day...it arrived.  I say arrived, because the grandeur of NOT MIKE's masterpiece cannot be overstated.  It was loud.  And deep.  Soulful.

Normally only NOT MIKE and I are aware of these little blasts.  Everyone heard this one.  I'm pretty sure people in the next room could have heard it.

It must have been like Caesar returning to Rome after defeating Pompey and his legions.  If the Beastie Boys had heard it, they would probably sample it for use on their next album.  Just...one of the most impressive single farts I have ever heard, especially given the situation.