Red Flag

These firiggin' red flag entries are a bummer I'm sick of 'em but I gotta start passing so I can stop doin these things. So I'm gonna rip this mofo out real quick so I can go read some comic books.


How much time did you spend on your project this week?

This week I have spent eight hours on my project this week.

What did you do that was hands-on?

Pumping iron.

What research did you do?

I have been reading a lot like always. This week I have been reading some great inspirational articles on bb.com. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/trans.htm

Did you meet with your mentor?

Not yet but I am meeting with Indiana Jarret on Friday.

Do you have at least three journal entries?

Yup.

Were you in class this week?

I was in class on Monday and will be there on Thursday.

How do you think your fulfillment of the requirements were this week?



My fulfillment has been good. I have the hours and have been doing the research needed.



What are your plans for next week?

More of the same.

Powers's patented rules to prominence

Spelling that title gets harder every single week. These are the rules from last weeks meeting on Monday with Pistol Powers. We were supposed to meet on Friday but some how he came down with the plague, I know shocking right, but he stomped its nuts like a school yard snitch (See Gergstarr I'm getting better) and we will be meeting on Tuesday. But anyway I've got my Homework playlist pounding and I ready to rip out some rule, lets get it.

Rule #1 You have gotta live longer than everyone else.

 We started this meeting off like we typically do by talking about our investments and returns and this rule came up. I was intrigued so I put down my brandy and cigar to listen to my old mate explain why in fact you must live longer. He made it quite simple you see, if you live longer you can make more money and enjoy more things. I took this and held on to it and now I will force myself to live longer because my Associate Principle told me too.

Rule #2 The book of life is brief, write you own story.

This is my favorite rule for the week. I like the concept that every choice you make is your own and with every decision you make it molds who you are going to be. It gives you a sense of control over your life and if you want something you just have to go out there and do it because you are the one in charge of how the story goes.

Rule #3 "Life's a garden, eat it up."-Joe Dirte

This rule pretty much proves that downtown Powers is the best mentor out there, I mean who drops knowledge bombs from Joe Dirt? Jarret Bond that's who. 

Rule #4 Don't be a hatea be a particapata.

I don't really have much to say on this one, I was not a fan when he told me and still am not a fan. I told him he was grasping at straws but I was assured that these rules are conceived prior to our meeting. (They aren't he wings it when I show up)

Rule #5 Sing out loud it is good for the soul.

Show who you are, don't hold anything back. That is what this rule is implying, by doing those two thing you are opening yourself up to life and all that it has to offer. So go out there and sing unless you are bad at singing or if I don't like your taste in music then don't sing near me or I will hit you.

Update 3/27

It's not time for me to post more progress pictures yet but I figured that I should still give an update on my progress. I am still making good development but I am not seeing much in terms of poundage lost but that is okay because I am trying to drop fat not weight. Still though I would like to expedite the fat loss so I am going to be upping my cardio from now on but making the sessions ten minutes longer to 20 minutes. I don't want to be spending all day in the gym though seeing as how I am already staying there from 4 to 6 so I am going to try and speed up my getting into the gym. I typically like to hangout in the lobby for a while after school and hangout with my buds and bash nerds so I will have to leave them earlier to get there faster.

As for muscle develpment there has been a bitsince my last post, The main thing I have noticed is the development of my upper quad which has become more pronounced and taken on the U shape you see in bodybuilders. Also the quad hammy tie in (the place where your quads and hamstrings meet) has Started to pop out. Instead of just meeting and being roundish there is a bit of a divot where they meet making it possible to see where each muscle is. For the rest of my lower body my gastrocnemius (the outermost muscle in your calves) has become much harder and more W shaped But I give the credit to good genetics for that, huge calves run in the family.

For the my upper body the changes have be fewer but have still be coming. The best growth I have gotten recently has been from my obliques as they have been getting much better separation from my abdominals than previously. I noticed earlier this week that when I get a good pump going on in my biceps it looks like I have two Axillary arteries. I'm not sure why that is but I have never seen it before and it looks really cool. Also the veins crossing laterally on my biceps are coming out, same with the ones on the underside which also looks sweet.

That is it for the update and I will be back in one or two weeks with more pictures a wieght in and body fat measurement. Hopefully I can get a good camera this time and not have to use my crappy webcam so the pictures will be much higher quality.

Rice crispy treats

It has been a while since I did a regular post so figured I should probably do one of then because I would like to pass English and graduate high school, I know crazy right. I had my weekly red flag meeting today and the Gergarian Invasion wasn't to happy about all of the swears in my blog even thought I tried to explain to her that the language I was using was much more earthy and honest style of writing so that the readers could connect with the real Sam Donovan but she shot that down like Charlie Sheen in an F-18 bro. So from now on there will be minimal foul language even though it is an infringement on my first amendment rights, but that's cool. I have also decided that when I am writing these mother friendships I'm not really going to think about it too much, just let them words flow like a river, I find that it make these much more interesting to read because it makes them not suck.

This is my first week back to exercise after I took all of last week to rest up and I have to say I feel great. I'm not sure what it is but I just feel better about everything and myself when I have been doing physical activity within the rest couple days. Because of the upsetting snow day we had, I hate snow days, today was leg day and it was a slaughter. I had some restraint on quantity this time, I did a 5x5 pyramid of squat heavy. The total weight moved during squats today was 9505 lbs.(that took me like five minutes to do) which I have to say is not bad, I'm not sure if its a record but its the heaviest I've ever gone all the way through a set so I am happy about that. Tomorrow is weird seeing as how there is no school so I am going in in the morning around 8 to workout. I am not a huge fan of morning lifts but you gotta do what you gotta do.

JAMANJI!!!!!!!!

Red flag

How much time did you spend on your project this week?

This week I have spent about four and a half hours on my project. Three of those hours have been hands on work and the other hour and a half has been research.

What did you do that was hands-on?

Lifting and cooking.

What research did you do?

The research I did this week was continuing to read Bodybuilding 201 I have to return that and Natural bodybuilding soon because those things are really overdue. Also I have been reading a lot of nutrition articles online and been looking at transformation profiles of people who were uncomfortable with their bodies and changed their lives through exercise.

Did you meet with your mentor?

 Yes I met with SuperPowers on Monday because he had to cancel last Friday because he was doing big things. We are also meeting tomorrow second period because of the lack of school on Friday.

Do you have at least three journal entries?

I think so.

Were you in class this week?

I was in class on Monday and will be there on Thursday.

How do you think your fulfillment of the requirements were this week?

I feel like my fulfillment of the requirements this week has been good. I have spent more time this week on research than normal, which means I'm probably doing closer to the required amount than I usually am. Also because we had a bullshit snow day today I couldn't go in and lift which was a major bummer, also because of Friday I'm going to have to figure something else out then, so I need to get back into the gym soon. All this time away is not good for me my brain can't handle it.

What are your plans for next week?


SSDW

Happiness class entry

When do you feel most happy?

I would have to say I feel most happy after a great workout, or when I am going to sleep after a good day.

Reaction to article: The main point of the article is that outside factors do not determine whether or not we are happy but the way we interpret these factors is what truly defines our happiness. I like this idea because the exact same experiences can happen to two people but based on each persons interpretation of the events the resulting mood and memories can be hugely different.

Where are you on the chart?

I'm not super sure the chart is kinda confusing but if I had to pick somewhere I would probably say I'm in the Flow Channel somewhere in the middle.

How has this changed throughout the course of your project?

It has changed throughout my project by lowering the challenges and increasing the skills.

How can you achieve flow?

Stomp more a**.

Powers's patented rules to prominence

These are the rules from two weeks ago I'm apologize for keeping them from you and not letting everyone share in the vault of wealth that is professor Powers' mind. I know some people were truly devastated by my lack of promptness. So without further ado here are this weeks (two weeks ago) rules.

Rule #1 There is no limit to how far a man can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit.

Not everything has to be about you. If you are too stubborn to refuse to let someone to take credit for something you did or had a part in doing there will be an issue. However if you are selfless and look at the bigger picture you are winning. While it my irk you now to see some dick taking credit for your hard work if you let it happen and are willing to let them take the spotlight there is nothing stopping you from doing what you want. There is always a man behind the man. (Not a gay sex reference) And that man may just be you.

Rule #2 What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

I was asked this very question by JarJar Powers on Friday March the 11th and I can honestly say I don't know yet. I haven't found something in my life yet that if I knew failure was not an option I would pursue. I'm not sure why I can't answer this question but to me I cannot find anything that I would want to do. Just because I could become the head of a new computer company and become a famous millionaire I'm not sure I would want to. Hopefully I will be able to find an answer for this question by the end of the year.

Rule #3 A goal without a plan is a wish.

This quote is from Larry Elder. You can't wake up one morning and decide "I want to be rich" "I want to be lean and have a six pack" those are just wishes in order to turn them into a reality you must have a plan on how you want to do this. If you wake up one morning and say " I want to be lean and have a six pack and this is how I am going to do it..." that is a plan and that plan has a chance at working. Plans are the road we must travel to make our wishes come true.

Rule #4 Success is contingent more on attitude than aptitude.

Have you ever met someone who is really smart, knows a lot about everything, but constantly bitches about everyone around them and how they could be doing such a better job than everyone else. That person is a cancer. While they may very well be right that they could do better than the other people they aren't doing it so they need to shut the eff up. Now have you ever met a person who is kinda bright but is also a bit goofy but really nice and always in a good mood. Everyone loves this guy. They can hold intelligent conversations but can also get lowbrow stuff, they are always happy and making jokes, this guy is number one he will always be the more successful than the guy before him and thats because success is based on aptitude more than aptitude.

Rule #5 Invest for the future.

At this point in our conversation the Power grid and I were arguing about his retirement fund, his salary and all of his investments. He pause said his next rule was going to be about snow and then dropped this dank nugget of knowledge on me. I was confused at first because this has nothing to do with snow. but he had to go and deal with an AP issue because he runs this school so I was left to interpret it on my own. I was sitting by myself chewing this statement over, just thinking about what it meant. I get the obvious connotations between this and saving/investing but I wanted to find out the bigger meaning, what it meant to do this in other real life situations. As I entered my seventh consecutive hour of deep though it came to me, Just because you are living in the now doesn't mean you should stop thinking about the future. Go out and life your life to the fullest but while you are doing it make sure to think about when you are 80 and what you will be doing and how you might be effected. Now this doesn't mean you should stop bungee jumping or using heroin even though not doing that last one might just be a good thing to stop doing in general. But think about about if you really need that new big posterior tv, if you really want to see Carrot Top in concert, you don't no matter how high you are, or if you want to buy a huge amount of coke and strippers because unless you are Charlie Sheen you probably don't need it. You have to invest in your future and invest in yourself.

Physical activity

This counts for last week because I meant to post in yesterday but didn't.

What role does cardio play in your project and how is it most beneficial?

Cardiovascular exercise commonly referred to as cardio is all the rage with people trying to lose weight, but why is that? There are tons of different ways to do cardio you can run, bike, climb stairs, play basketball, ect. they all have one thing in  common you body is burning its stored energy to provide you with the necessary fuel to do the activity at hand. Your muscles have an immediate source of energy just waiting to be broken down into ATP and used to fuel you through out your exercises session. The key to cardio is to burn that stored glucose and force your body to tap into its energy reserves. For prolonged exercise sessions your body will be burning stored fat and you will be losing weight but depending on the type of exercise and the intensity it is done under the amount of energy burned will vary greatly. Say you are walking on a treadmill at four miles an hour for 30 minutes you will burn about 200 calories, but now say you walk on a treadmill at 5 miles an hour at 10% incline for 30 minutes you will burn about 350 calories. The reason there is such a great difference is because the intensity of the exercise is much greater and your body requires more energy in order to be able complete the task. Also when you do your cardio can make a huge difference on the progress you see. There are two best times for aerobic exercise, in the morning before you eat breakfast and as soon as you are done with your weight training. In the morning your body is in a fasting state because you have not eaten for hours so your insulin levels and other chemicals that help keep excess weight on and at their lowest point of the day so you will get thee best benefit for cardio first thing in the morning. After you finish your weight training is also one of the best times in the day to do your cardio. The reason for this is because you have already taxed your body heavily from the weights so your glycogen storage are depleted so in order to provide the necessary energy your body has to uses your excess body fat.

Can you lose fat while putting on muscle or does it have to be one or the other?

The main issue with this commonly asked question is that losing fat and gaining muscles happen in the exact opposite way. To lose fat you need to burn more calories than you take in but to gain muscle you have to take in more calories than you are expending in order to feed the muscle. Losing fat while gaining muscle is like trying to have your cake (hopefully not cake) and eating it too. The best bet for people that are trying to do this is to focus on each goal one at a time. If you are trying to lose weight the most efficient option is to first off focus on losing fat. Once you are happy with your fat loss then you can start with the fun part, putting on muscle. This will make it so that you are only focusing on one goal at a time and can be more productive and effective at each one.

Red flag

How much time did you spend on your project this week?

This week I have spent about an hour on my project. It is a rest week for me so I'm not going to be spending as much time as normal on it this week.

What did you do that was hands-on?

I haven't done much hands on work this week unless you count eating as hands on.

What research did you do?

The research I did this week was continuing to read Bodybuilding 201. ALso I have been reading lots of articals on bodybuilding.com

Did you meet with your mentor?

Not yet but I am meeting with Austin Powers on Friday.

Do you have at least three journal entries?

No this will be my second for the week and I will have one or two more planned.

Were you in class this week?

I was in class on Monday and will be there on Thursday.

How do you think your fulfillment of the requirements were this week?

I feel like my fulfillment of the requirements this week has been adequate. I haven't spent as much time on my project as normal this week but what I am doing is important in order for me to have the best possible results and achieve what I want. Rest time is often categorized as laziness when in reality is it critical for long term success.
What are your plans for next week?

Next week I plan on going back to my regular workout routine. Hopefully the week off will give me more energy for my lifts and help with enthusiasm.

...And on the sixth week he rested.

This has been a long week. On Monday I went to English class like a good boy but as soon as that was over I headed up to Syracuse in order to go through MEPS (Military Enlistment Processing Station) and become eligible to enlist in the Coast Guard. I stayed over in Syracuse because on Tuesday I had to go through the medical part of MEPS very early in the morning, four AM in fact and spent the next nine hours filling out paper work explaining my medical history to doctors and other miscellaneous things. But it was worth it because I found out I am eligible and able to enlist as soon as I want. I got done around 1:30 and headed back, I stop in at the high school around 3 because I thought it would be a good idea to lift. No just no. I was at the high school until I started zoning out and just slowly drifting farther and farther away from being able to function. So I decided to head home and relax. I wound up sleeping for something like 14 hours and when I woke up I realized I was starting to get a cold so I decided I would take a week off for rest. I was planning on doing it eventually in order to avoid over training and stunting progress but I wasn't sure when I was going to do it so I figured now is as good a time as any. Instead of working out this week I guess I will have to do some research so I will be posting another one of those entries tomorrow.

The basics

Mr. Nuclear Powers and the Gergster have been getting on my case lately because of my "lack of research" and my "not doing work" so this is here to prove them wrong for a little bit.

So first off lets start with the basics because you can say what you want to do but without knowing what happens and how it happens you are just kind of guessing at what will work.

What is fat?

When you eat food you are providing calories to your body that are necessary for your everyday activities from walking and talking to breathing and your heart beating. Your body needs a certain amount of calories to function, this varies from person to person and is based on several factors including but not limited to height, weight, build, activity level, and metabolism. In order to get these calories that are needed you must eat food that contain among other things calories. The body will ingest this break it down into much smaller useable chains of energy  then transport it to your cells which in turn will use them as the coal in their furnace of energy. Eating lots of food is all well and good but if you eat too much your body can't use all of it at once so it will store the excess energy together in the form of body fat. It is here that the body keeps it as a reserve so that if it needs energy and there is nothing immediately available they can tap into these fat storages and use them for energy. Essentially fat is like a back up gas tank. If your original gas tank runs dry the car can tap into this back up reserve tank for power.

How do you burn fat?

Burning fat is complicated but it can be boiled down into two easy points, eat less and move more.

If you are eating less food throughout the day your body has less energy to run on so it has to tap into the extra energy it has stored in case of emergency which will burn fat. When you exercise you are using much more energy  than when you are sedentary which means you will more calories than if you were, say, sitting on the couch watching tv. If you add these two components up you get the answer to the question of how to lose fat.

How do you build muscle?

Muscle is one of the four types of tissue muscle however is the only one of the four that you can grow more of on purpose. There are many different ways of going about building muscle mass but they are all essentially doing the exact same thing, tearing the microscopic fibers in the tissue and through recovery becoming larger and stronger. These tears that occur aren't the large tears you typically think of when you think of someone tearing a muscle. These are tiny rips, like the fraying of an old rope, are caused by stress put on the muscle so the body recognizes that this may happen again and becomes stronger in order to avoid it. This is very noticeable because say you do 5 reps of 135 pound on flat bench press and the next time you do bench you can get 6 or 7 reps. This is from your body realizing the stress being put on your body and adapting to it by building muscle.

Hopefully this was a little helpful to anyone reading or confused about how my project was going on down on a much smaller scale. These are only a few things I have learned so far and I will try and make it a point of having a post like this at least once a week for now on in order to show the research I have been doing.

Red Flag #3

How much time did you spend on your project this week?

This week I have spent about four and a half hours on my project.

What did you do that was hands-on?

What didn't I do that was hand on this week. I spent three and a half hours working out this week, down from what it usually is because of the snow day on Monday. I have spent an hour doing research this week.

What research did you do?


The research I did this week was reading Bodybuilding 201. that book is amazing. It is a step up from the basics so there is a lot more new information that I am able to find.

Did you meet with your mentor?

Not yet but I am meeting with JJ Pow Pow and Friday.

Do you have at least three journal entries?

No this will be my second for the week and I will have one or two more planned.

Were you in class this week?

I was in class on Thursday but was not there on Tuesday.

How do you think your fufilment of the requirements were this week?

I feel like my fufilment of the requirements this week has been adequate. I haven't spent as much time on my project as normal this week but the time I have spent on iot has been very productive.

What are your plans for next week?

This week I was suppossed to go to Syracuse to offically join the Coast guard but because of the snow storm I couldn't make it up so next week on Monday and Tuesday next week I will be up there to do that so obviously I will not be doing any work on my project those days. But after that I will be back to my normal schedule and routine.

Powers's patented rules to prominence

Welcome back to the land mine of success that is Mr. Powers's rules for prominence it has been a little over two weeks since my last update but thats because boom boom Powers was globetrotting last week and we weren't able to meet.

Rule #1 Always leave a situation better than you found it.

This right here is a great rule and my personal favorite for the week. JJ was actually kind enough to demonstrate this rule to me in a real life situation and I sure can tell you it works. This rule goes under the life rules section that a lot of these rules go into. This one is helpful because if you can always leave a situation better than you found it the person will always walk away with a good memory of you and that is always helpful. This rule has also been used by George Costanza in real life with great success.

Rule #2 "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift, that why they call it the present."

I know that this quote blew most of your minds what with the rhyming and all but it is a good way to look at difficult situations. You can fix history you don't know what the mystery is you can only focus on your present. You need to unwrap the present to discover your mystery.

Rule #3a. Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.
3b. Life is a menu be sure to order all of the courses.

Yeah it's a two parter. I swear to god the Powers plant has tiger blood running through his veins when he comes up with these rules. This rule is saying that life has such a wide variety of dishes and opportunities yet most people are sitting in their chair with cheese pizza. Most people aren't taking advantage of life and all of the amazing things it has to offer they are just doing the same thing every day until they die. That sounds shitty to me so I'm going to make sure I try as many courses  as possible before I die and live a rich and fufilling life.

Rule #4 Do what you love and the money will follow.

Don't worry about getting a job that will start you off at 45k a year in exchange for your soul, do something that you truly love to do, don't worry about the money, and just do it. If you love what you are doing the money will come naturally. You can't be afraid of what might happen you have to open your present.

Rule #5 Have you ever tried to keep lightening in a bottle?

Have you? That shit is impossible, you just can't do it. I won't lie I had this meeting last Friday didn't know what it went then it's now Wednesday I still have no clue what it means. I asked WWJPD when I was writing this, still nothing.So I'm just going to post a sweet ass picture of Goku from DBZ instead.

AWWWWWWWW YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Update

Finally I got proactive and took my first progress pictures, body fat measurements and weigh in.
 I never took my baseline pictures at the start of the project which I'm upset about but I did take a pre project bodyfat measurement and weight in.

Baseline body fat: 14%
Current body fat: 12%

Baseline weight: 185 lbs.
Current weight: 182 lbs.

Noted physical changes: Over the last 4-5 weeks I have noticed lots of changes in my body. The biggest change I have noticed is I am much more vascular (veiny). I have been seeing new veins pop out what seems like every time I look in the mirror and it is something that inspires me to keep going. The first place I noticed them was on my calves, the artery running down the inside of my calve has been getting much more pronounced and visible. After that I saw my forearms starting to pump out and pop out. After that I started seeing them more and more on my waistline. Soon after this the veins on the insides of my thighs and on my knees started to appear more and more this happened around the same time as the arteries on my biceps started to show. Lastly sometime last week Wednesday maybe I had just gotten out of the shower and I noticed that the veins on the front of my shoulder were coming out. Other than the vascularity I have seen a little more definition in my abdominal area and in the front of my thighs. The peak of my bicep has grown a little bit and there seems to be more striation in my triceps.

I am very happy with my progress so far but there is still a long way to go for me to get where I want to be but this helps me know that every day I am making progress toward my goals.

Red Flag #2

How much time have you spent on your project this week?

This week I have spent about six and a half hours on my project so far with another five or six hours planned.

Have you had your mentor meeting yet?

No not yet but I have it set up for seventh period tomorrow.

Have you been keeping up with your journal entries?

Yes I have I think this will be either my third or fourth entry this week and I have one or two more planned.

Were you in class this week, did you have your journal, and have you been using it?

I didn't know we had class first period Monday but I talked to Ms. Lord about it and was able to sit in on her seventh period class and make it up. Yes I did, and Yes.

How do you think your fufillment of the requirments has been this week?

My fulfillment this week have been good on the hands on part but a little lacking on the research part. I have been studying for my ASVAB this week so that has been taking priority over my research. 

What are your plans for the next week?

Next week I will be going to syracuse all day Monday and Tuesday for processing and entry into the Coast Guard so that will affect my plans but once I get back I will continue to follow my current schedule.

Fried brains

Today was another grueling leg day even though I kept the volume low and went heavier with the weight. I did my favorite exercise squat like always and they pretty much destroyed my brain. I did a pyramid set of 10-8-6-4 going progressively heavier each time. I started off light with 315 jumped up to 385 for my 8 set, hit 405 for my 6 set then finished up with 425 or for our foreign readers 193.2 kilos for my 4 set. I was f***ing out of it after this I mean barely functioning, for some reason I was just wiped out. Still though my lift wasn't done so I had to keep going so I loaded up the bar for four sets of straight legged deadlifts and repped those bad boys out. After this I finished up some shoulder stuff I had forgotten to do at the start of my workout and hopped on the elliptical for 18 minutes to finish up. I went back to the locker room mixed up a whey and creatine shake pounded it down and headed home. Its about 8:15 right now and holy mother of god I am exhausted I think I'm going to go to bed soon because I'm just kind of sitting here fried so I might as well get some extra rest to help heal my body up.

Tomorrow I've got my red flag meeting with Ms Amodeo set up for second period and have my mentor meeting going on seventh period on Friday.Yeah I'm on top of things.

Progresss and school

Fisrt off I have been meaning to get up my baseline pictures for about two weeks now and everytime I try and do it something goes wrong. First at my moms house I got everything set up, found the camera then found out the battery was dead and the charger for it has been lost. I was a little upset but decided to do it next week when I go to my dads house. Last week while I was there he doesn't have the camrea, I have no idea where it is. So this weekend I will get those pictures up no more excuses, along with body fat measurements and a weigh in, both of those I have already done but will redo soon.

This week is also another odd one in terms of class. Mrs. Gergleys father passed away and she is in Vermont with her family in this difficult time, but that means there is no formal WISE class this week. Today we had a class with Mrs. Lord but I didn't find out about that until third period and the class was first period. No worries though because I talked to Mrs. Lord before seventh and was able to sit in with her seventh period class and make up what I missed. Also I need to meet with Ms. Amadeo for my red flag meeting so I have to set that up tomorrow.

Snowed In

As you have probably noticed today there has been a massive snow storm. At my house out in Brooktondale we have probably gotten a good six inches which is making travel very difficult so  have decided to take the day off from weight training. I am still ridiculously sore from my leg day two days ago, to the point where getting up and walking feels like death. So it is probably for the best I don't do to much today although I did go in yesterday and workout and that wasn't to bad after I got my blood going and muscles a little looser I felt a lot better. It was when I got off the treadmill and sat down in front of the locker that I really started to feel it. Yesterday I did all arms, biceps, triceps, deltoids, and abs and I have to say I am surprisingly sore from that also. I rarely get sore arms but today is an exception but I'm not upset with the soreness in fact I kind of like it because it lets me know that I tore the muscle fibers and have started new growth in the areas. So today to get some exercise and boost up my metabolism I will do some shoveling, I have to go to a neighbors house to get lids for our maple syrup buckets, and I might go sledding with Marcel if he ever gets any of his work done.

Leg day

Today was my favorite day of the week leg day. I started out with some light cardio on the elliptical to warm up then hit the weights hard. for squats I did five sets of 10 all at 315, those were a lot harder than a thought they were going to be and after I was done my legs were already turning to jelly and I knew the rest of the workout would be loads of fun. After squats I did lunges 4x6 with 70s in each hand. These absolutely killed my quads I had just finished my second set and just sitting down was painful so I decided to get a drink. I jumped off the top step from the weight floor to the hall way the different is only about two feet but I landed and just kind of collapsed. I didn't fall down but if there wasn't a wall in front of me I probably would have. I got myself together got my drink then came back and started with roman deadlifts. I did 4x15 at light weight but still got a good pump. Once I was done I went upstairs and did 20 minutes of light cardio walking on the treadmill and was done. I'm  sitting at home right now and I can just tell that tomorrow is going to suck. A lot. It's going to be hard to walk and move around but its all worth it because the soreness lets me know I'm doing something right. Last week after my leg workout I was sore for the next three days and had to take Friday off because it was hard to move. It was awesome.

Change up

This week is going to be a little funny in regards to working out because we are on break and the high school is closed I'm going to have to find out a different place to workout for the week. What I typically do when I can go the the school is I will go in with my dad to Island Health and Fitness where he goes and workout there. Also he has a very erratic work schedule so its hard for him to go at a consistent time although he still manages to go about four or five times a week. Working out at Island is nice there is tons of room lots of weights and plenty of cardio machines so I never have to wait. The thing I like most about it there though is the sauna and steam rooms they are great places to sit and unwind after a good lift. My schedule this week is going to be a bit different than normal but if I can't get into a gym I can always find something physical to do around the house or outside such as shoveling running or body weight exercises

Powers's patented rules for prominence

I had my second meeting with the Great One on Friday and he dished out some knowledge like always. However next week we will be unable to meet because he is in France right now with the French Club and won't be getting back until next Sunday.

Rule #1 There are three stages to a mans life, he believes in Santa Claus, he doesn't believe in Santa Claus, he becomes Santa Claus.

Mr. Powers put it perfectly after he told me this rule "when you believe in Santa you are dependent on others and their help, when you don't believe in Santa you can take care of yourself  and are able to be on your own, and when you become Santa you are in the stage of your life when you just want to help others and their development in life"

Whiles its a very odd analogy it splits life up into three very distinct and very true stages that hopefully everyone goes through.

Rule #2 All things are ready if the mind is so.

This is my favorite rule this week because it is so true. If you are truly willing to set your mind to something and work as hard as you can to achieve it then there is nothing that can stop you but yourself. Another reason I like this really so much is because it rings true for my project. If I'm mentally ready to do it than it will happen and my end result will be what I want but if I'm not completely ready than my results will show it.

Rule #3 They conquer who they think they can. If you believe you can achieve you can achieve.

For some reason when ever I read this rule I think of Vikings. This is another rule that is about attitude more than anything else. The mind is an extremely powerful force and if you can convince it to do something there are potentially no limits.

Rule #4 You must learn how to learn and you must do it well because in life this is what you must know to excel.

I really like this rule. you have to know what works for you because everyone is different. For example if military presses work great for developing big deltoids for a friend of mine but don't work that great for me that doesn't mean I should stop doing my own shoulder exercises in favor or military presses because he had great results. You need to know what works for you might not work for someone else and vica versa because its different strokes for different folks.

Rule #5 Sometimes in life it may feel as though you are running in place. When this happens there are two possibility, you are either going to look around and discover you are in training, you are getting stronger, you are getting smarter you're getting more skills, getting ready for your big break or you will look around and discover you are where you want to be.

I view this a great advice when I reach a plateau. If i am stuck at the same weight or I am not feeling like I am making progress I will need to look around and see where I am and discover where I am.

Red Flaggggggg Entry

This week starting on Sunday I have spent about nine and a half hours on my project if you add up class meetings, hands on work, and research. The hands on work I have done this week has been working out and eating lots of food. The research I did this week was reading, lots of reading. I kept reading Natural Bodybuilding and spent lots of time on the internet reading, mostly on bodybuilding.com.

I have yet to meet with the amazing Mr. Powers but my meeting is set for Tomorrow 7th period.

I now have three journal entries. My entries so far include planning and reflecting but no recording activity.  I will soon have a new entry up sometime tomorrow with more of recording activity and reelecting.

Yes I was in class this week. yes I have had my journal and yes I have been using it.

I think my fulfillment of the requirements have been good this week. I am already over the mimimum hour requirement and will be adding lots more and I have been doing plenty of research so far.

My plans for next week are to keep the same workout schedule and get my interview done with someone and do my first recording of my progress and post that.

Slow going

I can admit that the magnitude of this project is a lot bigger than I was expecting. Not only do I need to workout but I need to get research materials, schedule interviews, and come up with ways to make my project easier and more efficient. I have gotten a couple new books from the library Natural Bodybuilding by John Hanson and Bodybuilding 201: Everything you need to take your body to the next level by Robert Wolff Ph. D. and started reading them. So far I am about halfway through Natural Bodybuilding and it is very interesting. I have gotten a couple new techniques and ideas that I have started to implement. For example on Friday I did a new squat workout that I got from the book that was 10 sets of 5 reps all at 365 pounds and it was not easy thats for sure. It's hard to keep making process but I think the key is to just try and get a little done each day so I won't be backed up and have to get everything done all at once. My next project step has to be to get possible interviewees and start asking if the can help. There aren't many people that I know that would be very helpful for this but right now I'm thinking Mr,. Asklar is my best bet so I will have to ask him as soon as possible. The good thing about this project is that I am enjoying it so it doesn't really feel like work which is very helpful to me actually doing it.

Powers's patented rules for prominence

I had my first meeting with the Powers the Hun on Friday and he gave me the first five rules to success as written by Jarett Powers himself.

#1: Good is the enemy of great. If you settle for good you will never be great.

This is a great rule and really rings true. You can put in the work to be good and stop once you have gotten there and never try and achieve more or you can put everything you have into what you want to do and become great producing things even you never thought you could.

#2: Excellence is achieved only when you work to your maximum potential to do any less is to allow mediocrity to take place.

This is very true for my project. I can get what I want if I put in maximum effort if I don't put in maximum effort then I am concisely choosing to be mediocre.

#3: Somewhere out there he is training and when you meet he will win and you will lose.

This one doesn't really relate to my project because mine is only reliant on me but it is a good life lesson because it tells you that no matter how hard you work there will always be someone who is better than you so you can't expect to be the best unless you dedicate your entire existence to one thing.

#4: Crap is crap

"You can't take a turd roll it in powered sugar and call it a jelly doughnut" Jarett Danger Powers

#5: There are two types of people in the world people that do and people who spend all of their time saying why they can't.

This one is my favorite of the five. You can achieve what you want through hard work and determination or you can sit around saying how much you want to but there isn't enough time or coming up with excuses. If this kind of person put this much effort into their goals they would be done in no time.


This is the first set of rules given to me so every week after my meetings I will post the five newest rules.

Hardest Part

Over the last few days I have realized what the hardest part of this project will be, its not working out five or six times a week and its not running which I hate but it will be eating healthy. I woke up this morning out of eggs and milk which are two of the biggest staples in my breakfast diet, they are great sources of protein and I just love both. I had to improvise and have some oatmeal, two leftover eggs, and a can of tuna but  I realized that healthy food may not always be easy to find or that if I am hungry and there is junky food around that I shouldn't eat it just for the sake of filling up. If i wait a half an hour until I get home or somewhere I can get better food it will be better for me and I won't feel bad about it later.Another thing that makes this hard is that I am a broke high school student so when I am out with friends and they are hungry and want to stop at Mcdonalds sometimes I can't afford to go to a better place like subway to get a good meal in.Ultimately though it is up to me and the choices I make, I will start having to  have more willpower and a better understanding of food and how the body processes it in order to make the best possible choices if I am indeed forced to go to a place like Mcdonalds for a meal.

Two week plan

This is the plan for my first two weeks.

Monday 2/7- I needed to find a mentor. BLAM done. The great Jarett Powers is my mentor for the semester. Set up mentor meetings. POW got it. Thursdays second period. Workout. SHAKARAMA did it.

Tuesday 2/8- I need to find an outside source to interview that is not J.Pow, right now i'm thinking about Mr. Asklar or Norm Dessua. Gotta lift also.

Wednesday 2/9- 1. Lift 2. Find research resource thats not in my bib, library possibly?

Thursday 2/10- Need to lift Chest and tri day also first mentor meeting with the sultan of AP's Mr Powers

Friday 2/11- Big lift Fridays are always marathon sessions because I really have nothing better to do on Fridays other than lift for 2 and a half hours.

Saturday 2/12- Lift or day off not sure yet gotta figure that out. If meeting is not already set up make sure I do that

Sunday 2/12- Day off have to stay away from junk food more than usual because I'm not lifting. First weekly weigh in body fat measurement and first before pictures.

Monday 2/13- Chest day. Gotta start the week of right with a good lift. I have to start doing cardio the fats not going to come of just by lifting alone.

Tuesday 2/14 second favorite day of the week back day. Cardio. Possible interview day

Wednesday 2/15-  Lift. Cardio. Read. Possible interview day

Thursday 2/16- Need to have my interview done by today. Lift/cardio read when I get home. Another meeting with the kingpin of the school Mr. Powers

Friday 2/17- Best day of the week all night lift then home to eat and read. Hopefully I will get a new book

Saturday 2/18- Again possible lift if not gotta clean up the diet even more. Run at home.

Sunday 2/18- Weigh in and BF measurement. Short run.

First entry 2/7/11

Today was the official first day of my Wise project. While this was the first official day I continued to follow the workout plan I designed for myself a little over a month ago. Today after school I went in to the gym, Monday is chest and tri's, and put in the work necessary for success. My lift today looked like this. Flat barbell bench press 3 sets of 8 reps, decline dumbbell press 4x12, 4 or 5 different styles of push ups all of 25 reps. For triceps I started off with skull crushers for 3 of 8 then I did 2 sets of 21's, the three exercises I did were overhead extensions, narrow grip press and half narrow press, after that I did two sets of seated behind the head extensions using a ladder of 20-30-40 reps. After chest and tri's were done I did some light abs and was finished I went back into the locker room had my usual 50 gram protein shake and headed home. Today was an alright lift nothing special, it was just kind of lacking that X factor that a really great lift has and makes you feel like the king of the world. But today was solid and I should get some gains from it. Tomorrow is back and biceps or legs and shoulders. I typically go Monday and Thursday chest and tri's, Tuesday Friday back and Bi's, Wednesday Saturday Legs and shoulders but I'm thinking about switching that up so that I can get my leg days all done during the week so I wouldn't have to train legs at a gym that's not the high school. I want to do that because leg day is my favorite day and I like to go all out and its a little weird screaming YEAH BUDDY LIGHT WEIGHT at the top of my lungs at the Y. If i did switch it up I think I would go Mon Thurs Chest, Tues Fri legs, and Wed Sat back or combine legs and back to Friday and just have a really long lift Fridays.