The New Workout Routine

I’ve found that I always workout best when I have a routine. After completing two rounds of P90X and now half a round of Insanity I like them both in different ways but also have a problem with both of them.

P90X is awesome for weightlifting. The videos do an awesome job of targeting the groups they say they’re hitting and will help you build muscle. My problem was the ab workout basically ignores your obliques comparatively to the front. The cardio routines are just not hard enough and just generally doesn’t do enough for your core. I also didn’t love the leg routines for lifting though they were OK.

Insanity does an awesome job of building your cardio. It’s shorter and way more intense than the P90X routines with less rest which I liked. It does an amazing job for working your whole core and your legs get a fantastic workout without any weights (which is how I actually prefer to do my legs as it keeps them nice and trim but really defined rather than making them big. I’m a runner remember.)

I found myself thinking on Friday, “I wish someone would take the best of both routines and put them together!” at which point I realized, “Oh hey, I’m somebody!” so that’s what I’m doing. I’m going to call it PANDEMONIUM! (or Katie liked XSANITY, either works) I suspect this is going to be the most intense workout routine I’ve ever done and I’m going to try and post it online here for other people who want to try it with me and Katie (my workout buddy).

First a warning, if you’re thinking, “I totally want to do this!” Awesome. I’m psyched to have you along and I hope you tell me about it. If you are starting from scratch and have no current conditioning this probably isn’t a good idea. This is going to be really intense pretty much every day and I don’t want you to get discouraged or worse, injured. Maybe start with just P90X or Insanity. Then join up

Second, you’re going to need access to the following. P90X, P90X+, Insanity, free weights and a pull up bar. Oh, and a shitload of protein. Really, if you do this and are only taking in the protein from a “normal” diet you will not even be getting close to enough. You will feel likely feel shit all the time and probably get hurt as your body will not be able to keep up. Protein shakes and bars will straight up NEED to be a part of your diet. Not, maybe. Required.

Ok, so here’s week 1!

Monday – Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Tuesday – Plyometrics Cardio Circuit
Wednesday – Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Cardio Abs
Thursday – Pure Cardio
Friday – Total Body Plus, Abs Core Plus
Saturday – Cardio Power and Resistance
Sunday – Off Day

I have a feeling that off day will feel really nice.

Now, Katie and I will be working out at Pinkerton probably right around 5:15 pm every day but saturday so if you want to join us I’d love to see you there! Otherwise, if you need help getting access to the videos let me know and I’ll see if I can help you out! Good luck!

Find Your Own Way Home

I’ve read Postsecret for years and years. It’s always been a really interesting and full of secrets that didn’t really apply to me. There has always just been something oddly captivating about seeing the things that people felt they could only share anonymously. Not with the friends or family. Not even some stranger on the street. But instead, literally billions of people can see their innermost truths laid bare.

As I mentioned, the secrets on the website had never really pertained to me directly until I saw this one.

This was something I had actually thought about and felt a lot lately. What feels like a long time ago, I thought I knew what home meant. I could have defined it for you and I you might have even agreed. Growing up, home was a place which for me was a house in Hampstead, NH. That would be my definition of home from age 3 until about 26 when I moved into the condo. I thought the condo was going to be my home but it never really was and it was something I struggled to get my head around. It was definitely the place I lived. The house in Hampstead was gone. How was this not home? It just wasn’t.

It took me until fairly recently to really get it. Home is not a place. Hampstead had been my home because it was where my family was and it was a place that had been the location of most of my memories for most of my life. The building was only home by association with the other bigger and more important things that life is built around. When I left Albany and moved back to New Hampshire I thought I was coming home and it was going to have all the positive feelings and memories to go along with it. It didn’t really work that way though.

In theory, I should have been able to come to this place and make it my home by building new memories with my family. Well, my family had changed since I had gotten older. When you’re little, your family is your direct relatives. The people who help build the first part of your life. Once you “grow up” and head off on your own you have to build your own family. I had the person I wanted to be my family and when I got this place it was against her will. That alone made it so this would never be our home and made it impossible for us to ever properly be a family. The right kind of memories can never be built if one of the people doesn’t want it to be their home. Instead of getting to build happy memories you end up with frustration and animosity.You’re essentially forcing someone to do something when they don’t want to. Who does that to their family? It cracks the foundation and breaks everything down. This place can never be my home.

Home isn’t a place, no matter how much you want it to be. It’s those bigger things and since the day the one I wanted to be my family left, this place has felt cold and empty to me.

As it turns out, I do know what home is now. I just don’t have it. All I know is, I really want my family back and she basically doesn’t want anything to do with me. That is a way worse feeling than not knowing where home is.

The Slumpbuster

No, this isn’t a post about nailing some random girl to break “the slump” as the name would imply. I just find the term to be hilarious.

This is about the fact that we all go into slumps from time to time. Those stretches where everything seems to piss us off or make us sad and it seems like everything is sort of out of control. Half the time I think we don’t even realize we’re in them until something happens and we realize what a douche we’ve been being.

The other night I went to go see “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” with my friend Calee. I loved the hell out of the movie and on the way home I cranked up some tunes and Calee and I sung along quite loudly and just basically had a great time. It was one of those moments where you think, “I haven’t had fun like this in a while” then you realize “Son of a bitch! I’ve been in a slump!”

There isn’t really a slumpbuster for those situations. You just kind of come out on the other side and start feeling better. Life picks up and you start laughing more again. I’m just glad I noticed so I can try to be less douchey.

A little change could do you good

Sometimes, I get the feeling that all human beings are, by nature, at least a little conservative. I think everyone has at least one thing that if people tried to change it we’d be more than a little put out. Whether it’s just that we like things the way the are or have a vested interest (financially, emotionally or “other”) there are things we just simply don’t want changed. It’s funny because often things change for the better but it’s hard to see that when it’s way off in the distance.

Today, John Cougar Mellencamp stated that the internet is the most dangerous invention since the atomic bomb AND that is has destroyed the music industry and IS destroying the movie industry. I will shortly say I disagree. I think the internet is the best thing to ever happen to either of those industries from a creative standpoint. There is more music and movies available to the public now than at any other point in history. That is a great thing. Financially, it has changed both of these industries. The sources of revenue have changed and, for the moment, decreased. Perhaps permanently. What was destroyed by the internet was the music and movie industry as we knew them but they are both a long way from destroyed. They’re just different. They changed and maybe it’s unfair to criticize a guy that is very used to and very vested in the industry being the way it once was.

The point of this post isn’t to bash the music or movie industry. It’s to look at change in our owns lives. I think we get comfortable in our lives and occasionally resist change without even realizing it. Hell, I’ve seen people who were totally unhappy with something in their lives but won’t change anything and they have no idea why. It goes like this…

“Are you unhappy with situation X?” (with situation X representing anything in life from jobs to living place to love life)
“Yes”
“OK, make this change.”
“Maybe I will! Yeah! I’m going to fix situation X!”

Then, nothing ever happens. There’s always of list of excuses but what it really comes down to is shaking your own boat can be pretty damn scary. The status quo feels safe and easy and even if things aren’t perfect  or even good we usually feel like they COULD GET WORSE.

“Yes, I’m unhappy now but there’s always the potential to downgrade to straight up miserable! At least now I have __________________!”

All I’m saying is, don’t be afraid to make a change. If you don’t like something in your life, do something about it. Big or small. Just try it.

A witness

I think the hardest thing is to be a witness of your own mistakes. Not murder or rape or anything so tragic but those daily mistakes we make of hurt feelings and missed opportunities at redemption. Those that come along so often but we stare at blindly as they slide past our vision. Posthumously, the most important of all. A mistake of love or like that ultimately only we can understand. These are the mistakes that we remain most fearful. Most unable to understand.

To say I find myself lost in understanding these feelings would be an incredible understatement. To say that it’s impossible to understand these feelings would be an understatement.