T-Buck’s Blog I Rock

So 2009 has come and gone, which means I’m also turning another year old on January 3rd.  It seems that since I was 23 I have done some very memorable fitness things each year.  Usually dealing with running, first 5k, first 10k, first half marathon, and then first full marathon.  This year was a little different.  I have nothing to show for it, well sort of…

I didn’t really run this year, I did the Omaha 10k on a whim, but that was about it.  2009 was the year of me changing gears and trying to “look” like a fitness enthusiast.  I spent the last 3 years in the best shape of my life, but still looked anorexic, and not very fit.  Which at the end of the day just pissed me off.  How can one run 26 miles, but not look as good as the guys that lift weights 3 times a week.  So after my marathon, I decided I need a trainer.  Someone to tell me what to do, so I could build some muscle mass.  I did some checking around, and was pointed in the direction of Steve Auxier (www.fitnesslincoln.com).  I made my first appointment with him, mid January 2009.  After discussing with him, it became very apparent that doing cardio everyday of the week, and on the off day that I do lift weights, having the same weights routine for 3 years wasn’t going to cut it.  It doesn’t seem like rocket science to figure this out, but you have to remember I was a runner, that was all I knew.

So Steve met me at the YMCA, with a new weights program, and a limit to how much cardio I could do per week.  I was also heavily obsessed with spinning.  So if I wasn’t running, I was spinning.  Cardio, cardio, cardio…I was now limited to 120 minutes of cardio a week.  Or 2 hours.  At first it was very hard, very very hard.  Running was my go to exercise.  If I couldn’t run outside, I ran on the treadmill.  For 3 years, that’s all I did along with spinning.  In addition to my weights program Steve said he also had bootcamps he was conducting throughout the week, and I should come and check it out.  I can still remember the first saturday I went, and I wanted to die.  The warmup, was a 3 mile run.  This was usually my workout during the week.  3 miles and I was done.  After the 3 miles, we went right into a lot of plyometric work, situps, pushups, lunges, all of that stuff that looks easy but can bring a man to tears in minutes.  I loved it.  I remember calling my dad on my way home, and explaining how I have never felt so much pain in my life, but it was a different kind of pain.  I was used to the pain from running, and not only tolerated it, but began to like it.  This was a whole other pain.  And I quickly realized how weak I really was.

So thus began my year of circuit training, weight lifting and just general muscle building.  Steve would change up my weights routine frequently throughout the year, and I attended bootcamps regularly, as well as a Fusion class taught by one of his trainers, Marika.  My goal was to never get comfortable.  Whenever I felt something was easy, I switched.  I’d go back to spinning, or run, or do both.  Just trying to confuse the hell out of my body.  So in closing I don’t have any medals, or PR’s, or much to show for 2009, except I look the best that I ever have.  On a whim for Halloween, I decided to be a Chippendale’s stripper as kind of a joke.  But you can see the me as a runner, and then me now as I broaden my fitness horizons.

If you read any biographies about successful business people, there usually is a common theme: they’ve failed at some point in their rise to the top.  In terms of business success, failure comes with the territory.  It is only after you have experienced some sort of failure that you learn how to succeed.  The failures are what you learn from, help you grow, and guide you to where you want to be.

It occurred to me last night, when I was 2 hours into my workout, which was basically 2 bootcamps back to back, that failure is very important in exercise as well.  You need to be able to push yourself to your limits and beyond.  And the only way to find out your limit, is to fail.  Those that do fitness with themselves as a guide usually never get to their breaking point.  I mean lets face it, who is gonna do 40 minutes of ab work, most of us, if we were alone would do 5 minutes and as soon as it started to hurt, we’d quit.  Or doing as many pushups as you can, which for many might be already decided mentally as 20.  Well actually it probably is way more, and only at the point that you about face plant because you can’t hold your body weight, that is when you know your top.  But most stop well before that, because they don’t want to look stupid.

I think there is a real mental block to failure in exercise.  People don’t want to be that person, that can’t do it.  But THAT person is making strides, and bettering themselves more than the person that looks effortless doing it.  Our bodies are unbelievably efficient, and constantly are trying to figure out the most optimal way to do things.  So if you run 3 miles, 4 times a week, for a year, by month 5, your body has it pretty much figured it out, and you are no longer building muscle or burning fat.

So you have to get over the fact that going past your breaking point is bad, it is good.  It sets a new standard, something to constantly try to work towards, and to go beyond.  Exercise can be very complex, and if you are trying to get results, then you must train to fail.

I’ve seen a lot of movies lately, so here’s some quick and dirty reviews of each:

Bolt: Funny, but Miley Cyrus’ voice annoys me

The Reader: Very, very good. It started off a little too artsy for me, but got really interesting half way through.

Australia: Widely viewed as a horrible movie. I didn’t mind it. It was more of a western, than anything.

Grey Gardens: Good flick. If you like history, I’ve always been a little intrigued by the Kennedy’s.

Slumdog Millionaire: Awesome. See it. Now.

Role Models: Horrible.

Yes Man: Not impressed, but they do travel to Lincoln, NE so I give it one star for that reason alone.

The Duchess: Another good historical drama.

Religulous: Not too bad. Obviously one sided, but still good.

Lakeview Terrace: The worst movie I’ve seen in a while.

Wall-E: Ridiculously long and drawn out. Not funny at all. Disney failed on this one.

Rachel Getting Married: Got about 5 minutes into it, quickly learned it was shot in that “artsy” “documentary” way, where the camera bounces a lot. Made me want to puke, so I didn’t get to finish it.

That’s about it.

This is a question I am asked a ton, because I tend to not lack motivation to go to the gym. I go there every day after work. There are some days I take a rest day, but only when I think my body needs a break.

So how have I stayed motivated to workout no less than 3 days a week for 3 years? I found something I enjoyed doing. Simple, right? But people don’t take the time to figure out what they REALLY like to do, and it ends in failure. I can’t take full credit for this revelation, because it actually came from my mom, when we were discussing fitness. She is a Jazzercise instructor and has been for 18 years. I began my fitness trek with running, and I asked her one time if she wanted to run and she responded very quickly with a no. And I was like, you have done Jazzercise for years, you can definitely run a couple miles. And she was like, but I don’t want to, I don’t like to run. She went on to explain that if she felt like she had to force herself to workout, she never would have kept doing it. That is why she does Jazzercise. Its enjoyable to her, and thus she is able to stick with it forever.

So how does this apply to everybody else. Fitness should be the core element to anybody’s life. So instead of getting down on yourself, and thinking, well a lot of people run, its cheap, I just need shoes and I’m ready, if you don’t like to do it, then maybe take the time to explore other options. There are tons of things that you can do to stay in shape. Including, but not limited to: running, lifting, spinning, biking, boot camps, kickboxing, Jazzercise, Yoga, Pilates, swimming, boxing.

So that’s it. Ask anybody that works out regularly how they stay motivated, and I’m sure they’ll tell you that it isn’t about the results, etc (results are nice though), they enjoy it. Its not something they have to force themselves to do every week.

It has been about 3 months that I’ve been doing my current weight routine. So yesterday I met with my trainer to get a new weights program. Before I was doing 2 days weights, 1 day cardio, 2 day weights, etc.

This new program has me going 3 days consecutively weight lifting, and then 1 day cardio. So 3 on, 1 cardio, etc. Another difference with this plan, is that between the 3rd and 4th reps there is no rest period. And the 4th rep is till failure.

Day #1
Incline Dumbell Press
Flat Dumbell Press
Chest Press
Cable Fly’s
Tricep Bar Dips
Tricep Cable Pressdown
Tricep Skullcrusher
Diamond Pushups

Day #2
Precor Squat
Leg Press
Smith Lunges
Leg Curl
Standing Calf Extension
Lat Pulldown
Precor Lat Pulldown
Low Cable Rows

Day #3
Shoulder Press
Rear Delt Machine
Dumbell Side Raises
Dumbell Front Raises
Standing Palmup Dumbell Curls
Seated Curl Machine
Bar 21’s
Low Back Extensions

So a typical week will look like this:
Monday: Lift
Tuesday: Lift/Spinning
Wednesday: Lift
Thursday: Spinning
Friday: Lift
Saturday: Lift/Bootcamp
Sunday: Lift

I recently began adding in one bootcamp class a week. A local trainer, Steve Auxier, has a crossfit inspired bootcamp class that is pretty intense. If you have never heard of crossfit, it is definitely something to check out.

Muscle confusion is a key to being in good shape. Your body naturally gravitates towards workouts that you feel comfortable doing. For instance, marathon training, is teaching your body how to optimally run 26 miles. Thus, why after you have ran a few marathons, it doesn’t hurt near as bad to run that many miles. Your body has figured out how to do it, and to do it well. This is bad if you trying to lose weight, gain muscle etc. You need to constantly change up the things you are doing, so your body doesn’t know what is going on.

If I had to recommend something to someone trying to lose weight, take this bootcamp class 3 times a week and you would be set. The exercises that you perform in an hour, will keep you feelin sore for days to come….

So anybody that runs regularly, knows how important good shoes are. And if you are anything like most runners, once you have found that pair, you always buy the same one each time yours wear out.

Well my shoe of choice is the Brooks Adrenaline, it is a motion control shoe, but isn’t too built up in the instep that it causes problems. I ran the KC Marathon in this shoe, and really liked it. So its time for new shoes, and this particular shoe runs anywhere from $105 to $120. Ouch. Especially when you buy shoes as often as I do.

So yesterday, I’m walking around with my parents as they are shopping and they wanted to check out the Birkenstock store. So I go in, not really looking for anything, and surprisingly they have running shoes. But only 1 pair. The Brooks Adrenaline. And not only did they have this specific style, it was on sale for $59. Score!

I should have bought 2 pair. But, I should be set for 3-6 months with my new pair of shoes. Pretty happy with my bargain buy…

It really really annoys me when I’m in the parking lot of they YMCA, and you have those people that are circling the lot to find a parking spot close to the door. These are the same people that impede traffic when they see somebody getting ready to back out, and they sit there with their blinker on.

This isn’t fricken Wal-Mart, it’s the gym. Wouldn’t you think if you were driving someplace to work out, that parking a little further from the front door, might not be a bad thing?

How about next time you are circling the lot at the Y for a better parking spot, you just keep driving and head on over to Wal-Mart where its perfectly acceptable if not encouraged to drive around wasting gas. I know how important it is to limit the amount of physical exercise it takes to get from your car to the door.

I just returned from our yearly conference that we put on in San Francisco, called the Elite Retreat. I am biased, but I have to say that this was by far the best one yet. Last year went really well, but it was my first time running it, and there was a big learning curve. Just stupid things that make a world of difference once you have done it before.

I chose the Hotel Vitale this year, because I felt like we needed a smaller venue, one that would pay attention to us, and only us. And compared to the Intercontinental from last year, I don’t think I would ever go to a bigger hotel again. The staff was unbelievable, and they all knew we were there, because we were the only meeting going on. Anything, absolutely anything that we wanted, we got, and we got it immediately. I can’t tell you how much stress that relieves from doing a conference.

And just because it’s a smaller hotel doesn’t mean that it is any less fancy. The hotel was pretty sweet, and with the outdoor terraces that we used for the reception, it was perfect.

I started planning for this event in October, so it was about 4 and half months for it to come together. But I found that when you have a group of 55 people and are looking for the best restaurants in town, you have to give them plenty of notice to reserve the space. So we got both of my top choices for food, Boulevard Restaurant, and Waterbar. I think that Boulevard is one of, if not the highest rated restaurant in San Francisco. And lucky for us, it was across the street from the hotel. Waterbar was just a few blocks down the road on the Embarcadero, so easily within walking distance which makes it nice for everyone. Last year we ate at Aqua, and it was nice, but it was a little to pretentious for me, we want nice food, but someplace that we can be comfortable wearing jeans and cussing And both of these places were phenomenal. When I was closing out the bill at Waterbar, our waitress there knew we had ate at Boulevard the night before, and her words as I walked out the door, were “Boulevard, shit, they don’t have anything on us”. That made me laugh, and also made me realize that I made good choices for restaurants. They fit our personalities very well.

Another Elite Retreat is in the books, and hopefully all of the attendees enjoyed it. Till next time…

Well after spending the last 3 years running, I’ve shifted focus to more of a whole body routine.  So I went to a personal trainer and got a weights routine.  Here is what my new workout schedule looks like:

Saturday:  Weights/Run

Sunday:  Weights

Monday:  Run

Tuesday:  Weights/Spinning

Wednesday:  Weights

Thursday:  Spinning

Friday:  Weights

My new weights routine looks like this, and rotates 2 days on, 1 off.

Day 1: Chest/Back

20 Degree Incline Dumbbell ( Tension)

20 Degree Decline Dumbbell (Tension)

30 Degree Incline Dumbbell ( Tension)

Flat Dumbbell Press ( Power)

Bilateral Lat Pulldown ( standard)

Triangle grip low cable row (standard)

Bilateral Low rows ( standard)

Wide grip overhand barbell row (power)

Day 2: Quadriceps/Hamstrings/Abdominals

Precor hack squat machine (power)

Leg Press feet close ( power)

Leg Press feet wide ( standard)

Squat shoulder width (power)

Lying hamstring curl (standard)

Standing Calf Extension (tension)

Reverse abdominal crunch ( tension)

Physio Ball crunch ( standard)

Day 3: Shoulders/trapezius/forearms

65 degree dumbbell shoulder press (power)

65 degree dumbbell Arnold shoulder press (standard)

Cable side deltoid raise (standard)

Wide grip upright rows (standard)

Smith machine upright rows (standard)

Dumbbell flexion wrist curls ( tension)

Dumbbell extension wrist curls ( tension)

Day 4: Biceps/triceps/abdominals

Standing ez bar bicep curl (tension)

Dumbbell concentration curl (tension)

Standing barbell curl (tension)

Dumbbell hammer bicep curl ( tension)

Cable V handle tricep pressdown (power)

Ez bar tricep skull crushers ( power)

Overhead tricep cable bar extension (tension)

Overhead tricep extension (tension)

Medicine ball Russian twists

Physio ball knees into chest