Summer sports

Today I was outside playing basketball, even though I might be the worst basketball player in the world seriously sometimes I still dribble with two hands, but it got me thinking about summer activitys. While lifting is my favorite sport, if you can really call it a sport, but isn't the only thing to do during summer that is good exercise so here re some fun activities I can supplement my lifting with. Most of these are good cardiovascular workouts so they will help with fat loss. Also here is the calorie calculator that I used to find out how many calories are burned in a specific amount of time.

Basketball - As I mentioned earlier I'm not very good so I don't play very often but today I was just shooting around for a little and burned around 185 calories in about a half hour. So while it's not my favorite sport it is still a very good option if other people are in the mood.

Biking - This is more as a mode of transportation but is still a good workout. As a kid I would bike everywhere to get around in the summer so biking is lot's of fun and a great way to get from point A to point B if they aren't too far away. A half hour of moderate intensity biking at 12-14 MPH will burn about 340 calories.

Volleyball - Is another really fun game to play over the summer. My good friend Sarah has a net up at her house so over summer we play quite a bit. A half hour of volleyball burns 140 calories, not bad for punching a ball over a net.

Swimming - Swimming is my favorite summer activity because it is so much fun and I live in a place with a bunch of really nice public places to go, and I'm always at Sarah's house and she has a pool so we all awim up there also. A half hour of moderate swimming burns about 250 calories.

Also over summer I plan on working at Brooktondale summer camp which means I have to chase kids around all day and not make too many of them cry (I made one kid cry twice last year. He though I would just sit back and let him hurl insults at me, oh no I went right back at him.) but that takes a lot of energy and is a mini workout. So this summer is shaping up to be great with lots of good times and lots of working out.

End of it all

So there is only one week of English left and I am kinda sad about it. High school is coming to a close and that is a bummer. Most people complain about Ithaca and how there is nothing to do here and they can't wait to leave, I'm kind of the opposite. I love Ithaca and think it is a great city and there is lots to do if you know what you are looking for. Outdoors activity's are amazing here because we live in such a beautiful area.

Anyway since WISE will be ending that means the official end of my project is happening soon but my lifestyle will not change. I have enjoyed my project and the results of it so in my mind there is no reason to stop it. Summer is going to make it a little harder to get in everyday and lift but I am still planning on being there Monday through Friday up until I leave for boot camp on August 23rd. In order to keep up muscle gains and continue losing fat is going to take more planning. I'm going to have to make more of my food and stay strict on my diet meaning I need to keep the carbs and fat low and protein high. Also since it is summer that means that swimming, running, walking, and bike riding are all healthy ways to get around and good exercise options. Another obstical for the summer is that since the construction is going on in the high school the weight room is being moved to Boynton which is a huge pain in the ass. But I will carry on through this hardship and continue apon my quest to get huge.

Natural vs. Anabolic

So I was on the internet tonight just stumbling around when I came across a website called True Natural Bodybuilding. I have spent the last half hour or so going through the site and reading what the guy has to say about natural bodybuilding and steroids in bodybuilding and it got me thinking, why do some people choose to stay natural and others decide to go the way of steroids, growth hormone, and insulin like growth factor?

For some people there is a mental block where they consider drugs cheating and they won't do that. Or they think of steroids as what they are, illegal drugs, and won't take something illegal. I myself have no problem with steroids and if someone wants to take them that's their own choice and I have no problem with that. But to me I think that instead of going for the mutant look that most of today's top bodybuilders have a natural physique is much more attractive and impressive.

Steroids aren't a magic pill, shot, or cream they require tons of hard work for the user to achieve the maximum results from them. All of the top bodybuilders bust their asses day in and day out to get to where they are the steroids are just a means to get them past their genetic potential and into adventured territory. However the steroids change the human body to something that is a tool into a massive, lumbering, wad of muscle, bone, and tendons. It takes away the functionality of being big. I don't understand how people like Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler get around day to day it's as if they are morbidly obese but they replaced the fat with muscle. The adventure size of the Mr. Olympia (the premier bodybuilding competition in the world) has ballooned about 60-80 pounds in about 30 years. This isn't from taller contestants this is from 5'8" guys weighing a very lean 285 but are simply freaks.

Here is Frank Zane he is considered one of the best bodybuilders of all time. He won 3 Olympias all around 185 pounds in the late '70's.

Now here is a picture of Ronnie Coleman considered along with Arnold as the best of all time. Ronnie stands 5' 9" and would enter contests at around 300 pounds of solid muscle.

Now can you tell me which you think is more attractive? Nine times out of ten Frank Zane is going to win that. This is what most bodybuilders look like and it why the sport is immediately dismissed as full of steroids.

To me natural bodybuilding is more, I don't want to say impressive, but it is more interesting to me because the main thing that influences it is natural ability. Without all of the drugs the thing limiting you is your genetic potential and what you can do with your body. To me seeing the best condition you can get yourself into drug free is so cool because you are realizing your version of perfection and not many people can say they made themselves perfect. That is why I wouldn't take steroids, not because of the health risks the side effects or the fact that they are illegal, but that I want to see how great I can make myself with no outside factors.

I know I got a bit off topic but I don't care.

Let's duet in ways that make us feel good

The other day I was making breakfast at my moms house and was making eggs. I was having my usual meal of 3/4 a cup of oat meal and 2 or 3 whole eggs with 2 or 3 egg whites when she got on my case for having my eating habits being to expensive. I told her it was because she was buying food that I liked but didn't really want so she said that I should do the shopping next time so I can buy what I want. I really enjoy shopping in general and shopping for food is no different so on Sunday she said we were running low on food and I should go to the store. I was all excited and headed out with my list and some food in me. Never shop while you are hungry it is so hard to do all you want is the worst food because it tastes so good. I got to the P&C or Tops or what ever its called and after a brief encounter with fellow Wise mate Miriam Bernstein I got down to business. I won't bore you with the details of my shopping trip but I'll just say it was lots of fun and I am looking forward to doing it again next time we need groceries.

The big race

Today was the day where I found out just how fat and out of shape triple extra large is and boy was I in for a shock. We didn't get started until 4:21 because there was a race riot fter school and the man with a student disciplinary plan had to take care of that. So once we finally got running everything was going well, until three minutes in. We got a quarter mile in and Swiss Miss needed to take a break. "Alright it's just because he didn't warm up" I'm thinking. Wrong. He was KOed. The man ran a quarter mile and was exhausted, is this was our nation is coming to because (Sorry Ms. Gergely) holy shit that is embarrassing. I wasn't expecting much from reasons I have already listed but boil down to he is fat and out of shape but I am still shocked as to how fat and out of shape the man really is. It's like the Stay-Puff marshmallow from Ghostbusters had a baby with Jabba the Hut, it wasn't pretty. However I would like to give him credit because I doubt many other people would be willing to do something like this knowing they are going to fail and get laughed at so for that I applaud him. But Mr. Powers if you stay on the path you are on this will be you in five years.













So there is that to look forward to. Also he now owes me 20 dollars so I am looking forward to collecting that.

Progress update

This is going to be the last progress update I post because I am going to wait until my presentation to show the most recent one.

Previous body fat : 10%
Current body fat: 9%

Previous weight: 182
Current weight: 181

I am happy with the progress that has been going on in the last month. I have been working hard and eating smart and have seen results. However there is still a ways to go until I am where I want to be so I just need to keep putting in the work and the results will follow.

Gay guys love me

Unfortunately this is the beginning of the end of WISE, sad I know, and that means it's time to start getting ready for my impending presentation and all of the jazz that goes with that. Ja Rule and I were able to meet up albeit briefly during lunch today and get some ideas flowing for work I need to start doing. Sidenote I had two cans of tuna and a piece of bread with peanut butter on it while he was eating stuffed crust pizza, snapple, and other high carb food, I just wanted to point out that he is not a healthy person. He wants me to start working on my paper that I have to write, I didn't even know I had to write a paper I really should start paying attention in class. Also I gotta work on some slides, which I might start after this, for my presentation so I can pass English and graduate from high school. Once the meeting of the brains was adjourned we carried on our separate paths for the rest of the day.

Other than the final project work I'm doing Snoop Doggergley dropped some homework on us earlier this we so I need to do that. She gave us a creative project and one of the options was make a playlist with a minimum of 10 songs, so I'm going to make a mix of some songs I like to lift to. I don't think she will enjoy it because my musical tastes are as I have been told by some of my peers, scary. But I have very electic tastes so there has to be at least one song she'll like right? Once I take that list to pound town I'll try and remember to post it on here so everyone can enjoy some of the music I enjoy.

I was in the locker room 8th period today changing for gym, hangin' with my buds when I was told I have a hot body by a gay kid. It made my day.

Tunes

I'm in the gym on Friday getting ready for my lift, I had just finished my preworkout protein, creatine, and caffeine slurry, I had my water bottle filled up and had walked in felling good. One thing I always make sure to bring with me every time I lift is my Ipod. To me that is just as important as my shorts or my water bottle if I'm in the gym. I had just finished up a good heavy set of T-bar rows when I started to feel a little flat. I try and push past it but I just felt flat, like I had nothing pushing me to keep going. I finished my rows and took a quick break from my lift. I went to a corner to try and regroup myself and get back into my normal state of mind that I need to be productive when I decided I didn't like the song playing on the stereo. I went over to my ipod and skipped past the song that was currently playing until I found something I liked and as soon as I found it I flipped back into an energenic mood and finished the rest of my workout with no problem but that got me thinking, can music really make you stronger or faster, or is it all in your head and it's just a placebo effect? Me being the studious student I am decided to see if the every reaching internet had anything on the subject and headed on over to google to look it up. The first link I came across was pretty much all I was looking for. It is an essay written looking over all of the recentish studies done on this topic and summing all of them up in a quick read. The author came to the conclusion that yes indeed music does increase physical performance but the type of music playing makes a difference. Slower seditive music can actually decrease performance and silence is better for activity.

I wasn't very suprised by the results of these experaments and it just reinforced my belief that music is a key component of any workout.

Here is the article I read for this.