Jandro's inner thoughts

Cancelling Home Phone

2011-09-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

Intro:
I have come to realize that I no longer use my home phone for anything other than to deny offers to remortgage my house and people surveying me so I decided to get my home phone shut off. Everyone who I come in contact with via phone is usually through my personal cell phone and I no longer give anyone my home number anyways. The last straw was when I was filling out an application and I couldn't even remember my own home phone number. I had to look it up on my cell phone just to get it. Dealing with the phone company was just torturous though and a little time consuming.

The beginning:

Kind of what my phone actually looks like

To try to start this off right, I got all of my information in order: my last bill, my credit card to pay off the remaining balance, and had the number to call directly to customer service. I was only expecting a 20 minute conversation at max yet what I got was much different. I had to deal with a machine that only wanted voice commands or wait until the end to dial in with a number pad. Then once I got through that little "maze" I finally got told that wait time was approximately 10 minutes. As it turns out, 10 minutes really means 25 minutes before you get to speak to an actual person.

The Cancellation:
Well I thought I was fully prepared for this yet when I finally got to the point where I would cancel the service I had to answer a series of questions just to verify that I was who I was saying I was. I couldn't even remember some of the answers to these questions since they had to do with stuff from about 5 or 6 years ago. The questions consisted of asking me what my salary was in 2006, who my favorite super hero was, and about a dozen others. I should add that all of these questions were in fact multiple choice with the last choice being "none of the above". I missed about 6 of my own questions but for some reason or another the person dealing with me decided to move me along anyways.

THERE WAS A POP QUIZ?!?!?!

   Then there was the bombardment of offers from the company that I shot down. For each and every single offer I was thrown I would give them a stern no and provide reasons that they couldn't argue for to keep me around with them. No i didn't want a different plan, and no I didn't want to bundle up my internet, television and phone for a fantastically cheap price. Thankfully the person helping me understood what I was trying to do and just left it at "not interested" for everything without asking me why or bothering me. I know the only reason he asked me about changing plans and all that is because it is procedure so I was already anticipating them asking me all of that.

Conclusion:
      If you have come to the same realization I have, which is to cancel your phone, be prepared to wait to static music for a long time. Have all of your information ready to go so you do not end up taking up too long doing this or having to call back because you weren't ready with your information. I've learned that being patient isn't necessarily the hardest traits to master but it helps you in keeping a cool head while over the phone.

Comments:
     What are some of your stories about cancelling services or moving services? Are there any "horror" stories that some of you guys have that involve this? I personally had the hardest time when I moved a few years back transferring services. I got billed for cancelling satelite services when I really tried to just "move" them to a new location and then I kept getting over charged for other things such as installation, even though I did it myself" and activation fees.

Workout Wednesday #12

2011-08-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
There are many myths around exercise and diet that always circulate around the internet and around social circles that many have fallen into believing them to be true. When I first started exercising regularly, most of the time people would give me advice on things that they had heard before regarding exercise. The things I would hear were: doing crunches every day to get a six pack and loose weight, eating before exercise is the worst thing you can do and the more time that you exercise the more strength, and size you will gain. Things like this are always heard everywhere and every day by people who are trying to "help" you out. Whether it is family and friends or even that guy at the gym who looks like hes in shape, most of the time the things you hear just aren't fact.

Crunches to Kill the Fat:

     The fact that you can't really target one specific area of your body to loose fat from, pretty much just kills this myth yet I still hear this from people who are trying to get thin for the summer. On my facebook wall I would constantly see posts from people who would ask what they can do to thin out and get a six pack. The responses would be mainly ab exercises. "Do leg lifts" or "Crunches" are the usual responses. Sure it will help you attain a six pack but leaning out is going to take more than just ab exercises.
     The true way of leaning out and truly achieving a lean figure or even a six pack, is to focus on all exercise. Burning calories is important because that is really what is making you loose weight. The best way in my opinion is to burn calories with cardiovascular activities. I personally enjoy jogging outside for my cardio regularly but all exercise is good for loosing weight along with proper diet and nutrition.

Work Out Hard Everyday at the Gym:
     Some people think that every day you should go hard at the gym so you can feel the burn the next day. Sometimes working out hard at the gym to the point of hurting might be rewarding but if you keep on doing it every time you workout, injury WILL occur. Being in pain is not a requirement for workout to make it a good workout. Sometimes a good workout can be you nailing your workouts even if you don't hurt the next day or feel exhausted that same day.
     The problem with working out hard like that every day is injury will eventually occur and no one wants to be injured. Muscle tears or dislocating a bone can happen which can really set you back on your workouts. In the long run you can hinder whatever goals you are trying to achieve.

Eating Before you Workout is Bad:
     Eating at any time of the day isn't necessarily bad for you. Whether you eat at night before bed or before you go to the gym. Obviously what you eat is important so eating junk food right before you go to the gym isn't going to be the best thing to eat. Also portion control is important if you are going to eat at different times of the day such as eating at night
     At the same time, some seem to think eating more food might make them stronger and the same message will apply to them. Portion control and eating the right food will help you grow. Eating more protein or drinking more protein shakes will not help you grow if you aren't putting the effort in to grow.

Conclussion:
     Although people will give you advice all of the time it is obvious that you have to take time to research what you are planning to do. The more you research the more you will learn and this will help you accomplish your goals. Just because your buddy at the gym says something, it doesn't necessarily make it a fact, always research.

Workout Wednesday #11

2011-08-24T21:08:00.000-07:00

Intro:
Last week I wrote about a workout method where one would try to max out the amount of weight they can do for a certain exercise and this week I will go into more detail on what it is. Reverse pyramid training(RPT), which is also known as drop set workouts, is a different method to the conventional ways of weight training. Drop sets can be used for gaining mass, strength, and to shuffle up your workout routine if you have gotten bored of your current workout routine. This type of workout can also be effectively used to help one loose calories and loose weight as well.

Like I mentioned last week in my post about maxing at the gym, RPT is a method in which you will be working your way down in weight instead of up. There really is no warm up other than stretching before hand. To start out the workout, you pick a heavy weight you know you can do, and do that until failure(I usually aim for about 6 reps). The sets that follow that, will be you dropping a bit of weight on what you are doing and do the same amount of reps plus one or two more. You do this until you can't drop any more weight(out of weights) or you do more than a certain amount of sets you set out for yourself. The rest periods between each set isn't long and should really in my opinion be only as long as it takes you to remove the weight off of the machine/barbell or getting a different dumbbell. This is a fast pace exercise.

The reason this method of working out helps you loose weight is because of the amount of calories you burn while doing this type of workout. Even though the further down in weight you go with exercise the the lighter the weight gets, you still are doing a continuous exercise. And don't think that because you are lifting less weight, the intensity is going to get any lower. Remember that there is virtually no real rest time between each set so something that you could easily do before now is very strenuous and is giving you a good burn. So much intensity that is given and calories that are burned will add up at the end of your workout specially if you also do cardio after your workout. Once you are done with the workout is the first time you will get a good rest period before you move on to another workout.

I usually only do about 3 different exercises when I'm doing drop sets simply because of how damn tiring it is. Also when I do this kind of workout I tend to not focus solely on one body part for the day. For example I will start off by burning out on bench press(REMEMBER TO ALWAYS HAVE A SPOTTER!), which simply tires my chest and triceps out completely. After that I'll burn out doing something like seated cable rows which really work the back and biceps. Then finally I'll move on to doing burnouts on the leg press and call it a day. I am beat after that and will take a day or two off.

Final Thoughts:
Now if you are a beginner I would recommend you stay away from doing a full workout routine this way simply because it might scare you away from working out. If you want to give this workout a try just do it with an exercise you are confident in doing and see how it challenges you. I also wouldn't recommend doing this type of workout every day since it can quickly lead to over training and injuries. It is a great method of putting your body to the test and a way I use to check my progress on strength gains. One can also do this method to help burn a few more calories for the workout as well and giving your self a nice pump.

Online Classes

2011-08-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
Online classes, sometimes referred to as "E-Learning", is something more and more colleges and universities are starting to offer for students as an alternative to the traditional schooling methods. They are supposed to be the same thing as their counterparts which take place in a classroom but with the difference being that you can progress through lectures at your own leisure. Text books are still required as part of the classes and you still need to take midterms and final exams just in a different environment. The only other requirement other than that is you have to have access to a computer with internet to attend class.

My Reasoning:
I've always wanted to try taking an online class for my college but never really bit the bullet to do it until this semester. Many times I have heard that they are even easier to do than their in-classroom counterparts and some times they are equally as difficult if not more. I have talked to people who love these classes and all of the free time they have and at the same time I have talked to others who absolutely hate these classes for that same reason. The only reason I never really wanted to take an online class is because I have always felt that I spend enough time at the computer as it is and now that I have to do classes on it, I'll only spend more time on it. I finally did it though because I know I am going to need the extra time it offers.

Reasons Why People Love It:

One reason I've heard for people that love it is that it is just much easier to do than to take the physical version of that class. The teachers around in my school aren't all necessarily computer savvy and any and all shortcuts they can take to bypass the schools online systems are used by them. One teacher just can't wrap her mind around her school email address so instead she gives us her personal email address. So having these same teachers lead the online classes just makes it so the online experience is much easier for the students who are more savvy on the internet. I have heard stories of teachers accidentally sending out answer guides to students along with the exams and not even realizing it.

Free time is also one of the selling points for people when it comes to taking a class online. Homework is no longer due at the beginning of class but instead is due before midnight at the end of the day or even at the end of the week. I can see how putting off homework an extra day because you are busy can be beneficial. Lectures can be learned at your own pace and you don't have to deal with having to worry about missing a lecture. Having extra time or having your school fit around your schedule all the time can relieve a lot of the stress of some students.

Reasons Why People Hate It:

It is too easy to screw around now without having to sneak around and doing it. They also slack off because of the free time that is now allocated to their day. I find myself to automatically go to facebook every time I am near a computer as it is, now its just easier to loose track of time. And its not just facebook its almost any other website that takes someones interest away from work. You do not have to worry about getting caught going online and playing games or going online to go to facebook anymore.

Comments:
Did your high school, college, or university offer an online alternative for any of your classes? What was your experience with the classes if you did take any. What was the class you took online? My college offers a handful of major classes online at the moment and every semester they are adding more and more. The class I am taking is an excel class where I have to turn in weekly assignments.

Workout Wednesday #10

2011-08-17T23:18:00.000-07:00

Intro:
Maxing out at the gym and doing drop sets is one way to train your body for building size and for truly figuring out where you stand on strength. Maxing out simply means that you are giving your all on whatever workout you are doing and that is your maximum limit. Drop sets are incorporated within maxing out usually to help you build size by tearing more muscle. Maxing out at the gym can help you be more efficient as well if you do not have too much time during the week to workout but at the same time it is equally as difficult as any other training technique that gives you the same results.

My Methods of Maxing

Method 1:
I like to slowly build my way up towards my max set instead of going balls to the wall on my first try. For example: for bench press, I would usually do a light weight for ten to twelve reps *(something that I can easily do without much trouble or a spotter)*, then I would move on to heavier weight for eight to ten reps *(for this I would like to have the spotter behind me but not helping at this point)*, and then finally I'll add what I think my maximum amount of weight I can lift with an aim of doing six reps *(now I have the spotter holding the bar just in case of failure)*. If it turns out that I can do six reps, now I know that I can move up for next weeks workout.

Method 2:
For this method instead of doing only three sets with about twelve reps, I like to do many sets of about 3 reps and eventually I'll reach my max limit. The rule here for me is, if I can do 3 reps then I have to move up in weight. Once I can't do three reps I know that is my max limit. An example I can use that works perfect for this is dumbbell press. I will usually start at 50 pound dumbbells, and would either move up by 5 pounds or 10 pounds until I reach my max limit which last time I did this was 90 pounds. The reps early on will act as a warm up reps and the rest will act as prepping you for the max weight you can lift.

Method 3:
This last method is a bit more intense than the previous methods and incorporates drop sets which is the topic I will cover in more detail next week. This method is called Reverse Pyramid Training or RPT for short. Unlike the first two methods mentioned above, you will be working your way down in weight instead of up. There really is no warm up other than stretching before hand. To start out, you pick the max weight you know you can do, and do that until failure. The sets that follow that, will be you dropping a bit of weight on what you are doing and do the same amount of reps plus one or two more. You do this until your no longer able to do anything or until the weight becomes too easy to lift.

Conclusion
Maxing out at the gym is one way you can build up muscle mass and help you with strength gains. It is challenging even for those who are mid level and higher level weight lifters and if you find your workouts too easy to do, then try working out like this to give yourself a bit more of a challenge. One word of caution though, if you are planning on maxing out for your workouts and using any of these methods, then rest is the most important thing you have to follow. It is ok to workout two body parts during the week following these methods but since your pushing your muscles to their limits, then it is advisable to only workout those body parts one time a week for them to be able to recover or at the very least give them about 48 to 72 hours to allow them time to heal.

Identity Theft

2011-08-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
Identity theft is one of those things that one never thinks it is going to happen to them yet it can happen to anyone for the simplest of mistakes. With your log in information someone can access your facebook profile and mess with your account or with a lost or stolen credit card, someone can incur charges on your account and make you lose your savings in an instant. Losing your wallet or purse is also a way your identity can get stolen and this is the headache I've had to deal with in the past few days.

The Story:
Earlier in the week, my mother went out with a friend of hers to get something to eat after a day of shopping so they can unwind and relax. Soon after they left the restaurant, my mother realized that she had left her purse inside and went back to grab it. The purse at that point wasn't at the table and the table was being cleaned by one of the employees there. My mother asked if he had seen her purse behind and he said he hadn't seen it. She searched left and right for the purse inside the restaurant to no avail. It seemed strange because they had only been gone from the restaurant for about 3 minutes and the place seemed to be empty. The waiter did note however that there was a group of people who were sitting behind their booth and that they might have taken. Thats when it dawned on my mother that her purse was now in the hands of someone else.

In the purse she had her cell phone, car keys, credit cards, I.D. card, and cash and that was all gone now. For an hour and a half straight she called her cell phone in the hopes of someone picking up. She made me and my older brother do the same as well. We had to keep calling the restaurant back just in case they had found the purse but they never did find it. We called the cell phone in my moms purse and sent text messages asking for the return of the purse if it was found or at the very least some of the belongings but we never got any response from them either. At the end of the second hour we decided to quit attempting to retrieve it and just call it quits. At this point we were really dreading what was up ahead of us.

We had to call a lot of places in order to help protect ourselves from identity theft. First and foremost we had to call the bank to cancel the credit cards. Along with that we had to cancel all of her store credit cards like her Macy's card, Sears card, and JC Penny card as well. We had to call Kaiser permanente and tell them that her insurance card had been stolen land needed to get a new one reissued. The car insurance company also had to be called since her car keys were stolen and we had to get her locks and alarm changed. Since her house keys were stolen I also had to change the deadbolt and locks on the house. Lastly we had to file a police report for all that was stolen and to see if they can help us out with the stolen purse.

Conclusion:
This was all a headache and it took more than just one day to fix. My mother still has to go to the DMV to get a new license. The car also has to go to the dealership and have its locks changed and we still have to deal with the insurance company later on. A new cell phone has to also get ordered still as soon as her insurance goes through with it as well. Luckily for us no one used any of the credit cards that were in the purse or used the cell phone to make long distance calls. This has been a huge headache for my mom and for me as well and its something that could have been prevented. Always be cautious of your possessions when you are out and chances are this wont happen to you.

Comments:
Have you guys ever lost your wallets/purses before? Has something been stolen from you before? For example, my older brother once had his car broken into and they took the car stereo. We were in a fairly decent neighborhood as well so we didn't really expect it.

Workout Wednesday #9

2011-08-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

Introduction:
Whether you are trying to build muscle mass or you are short on time during the week for a workout or even just want to try something new, "supersets" work great for this. A superset is simply working out two different muscle groups during the same day which is similar to following a training split but with one difference. The way that this kind of workout actually does differ from the training splits that I have posted here before is by the fact that between each exercise or set there is virtually no resting time or at least there shouldn't be any resting time. Sometimes for this type of workout, you exercise two opposing muscles instead of two companion muscles but you can actually superset any two body parts or even the same muscle.

Time Savers:
sometimes the time for exercise isn't there for someone to fully take advantage of so this type of workout is perfect for those who can't find the time exercise but still want to see results. For starters, you are saving time during the week by working out two muscle groups instead of one if you choose to super set that way. This means you can have an extra day to catch up on your work, or homework or whatever it is that you do. If you are strained for time at the gym daily, then by reducing the amount of rest time you will be able to use the limited time you have at the gym to its full potential. By getting rid of the rest time you can actually finish much faster than you usually would or you can add even more workouts to the time you have at the gym.

Mass and Intensity:
When you are supersetting, you really do build up your intensity simply by not resting as much as you do regularly and at the same time, you tend to tear a bit more muscle than you do regularly which in the end means more mass. To accomplish these things, most people will usually force more reps by getting a spotter to help them out with the last few of them or think of other forms of training but this is simply just another method of achieving those goals. That isn't to say it is easier to do than those other methods just because it might take you less time to do. Shortening the amount of time that you rest really takes a toll on ones body and is very difficult to do at first if you are used to taking a longer break between your sets.

Types of Supersets:

Opposing Muscles: In this superset, you are working out two opposite muscles back to back. One example of this would be to work out your biceps and immediately afterwards working out your triceps with little or no rest between. You can do something like curling an easy or wavy bar and immediately switching to tricep extensions or skull crushers. Another good example of this is to workout your chest and your back. For this, you can do any form or variation of a row and then switch to any form of press. The downfall to this type of workout is that you have to have your equipment ready to use and have to be able to switch over fast. The benefit of this is that while you are working out one body part, the other is resting so you aren't tiring your self out too quickly and you'll be able to keep going.
Same Muscle Group: This is probably one of the more common ways to go about doing a superset and this is the way I learned about them at the gym I go to. This method has you supersetting the same muscle instead of switching between muscle groups. This of course is very tiring much more than the opposing muscles method simply because you aren't giving your muscles any real rest time. An example of this kind of method is something like working out your chest by doing a dumbbell press and switching immediately over to a dumbbell fly. The most common one I see at the gym is going from bicep curls and switching over to hammer curls. Immediately the disadvantage is clear. You simply will not be able to do the same amount of weight you usually can do. This turns a lot of people off when it comes to this workout simply because they believe they aren't really as strong as if they were at their optimal level but the point here is to gain mass not necessarily "power" and that is what the real advantage of this is. One can really gain mass by doing this type of workout.
Staggered Set: This is another common workout I see a lot of in my gym and not many people know that they are doing a super set. This method has you working out completely unrelated muscles back to back. Working out your abdominal muscles after working out something like chest or biceps works the same way really. Working out your calves as well after you did a squad set or even bench press works for this. People do this without realizing it and it is one of the few gym habits that isn't bad to do. You just rush in and do a quick ab set or any other set before you have to go and you did something productive.

Conclusion:

Supersets are very helpful to those with time constraints simply because you get your workout done faster. They are helpful for those who are trying to gain mass because it helps increase your intensity at the gym and helps tear a bit more muscle than conventional ways of training. This kind of training however isn't a shortcut and it isn't easier than conventional training. The same results can be attained by training other ways this is simply another way of achieving those results. The last thing I want to get across is that this isn't the most effective way of gaining strength but it is a great way of gaining mass

Getting Rid of Furniture

2011-07-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
Whether you are a college student moving away from home for the first time or you are tired of your roommates and looking for somewhere else to live, it is always easy to say that one is going to move out and leave and everything is going to go by smoothly but without planning and anticipation moving can quickly turn into a nightmare. Things as simple as not having enough boxes to move your stuff in, to how your going to move everything. Friends always seem to be there for you when you ask them to help you but when it actually comes to moving time, excuses seem to come up which prevents them to help you out. Finally there always seems to be so much trash and excessive stuff that comes up that you wont know what to do with it.

Recently, my older brother got married and decided to move to an apartment in a different city but still close to the family. I myself had never had the need to really move out since the community college I go to is close by and the university I am transferring to is literally only 2 blocks away from my house. My older brother had planned the moving into the place part, but not the moving out part so much. He had looked up what necessities he would need, such as cable, phone, and internet and took care of that in advance. He had to get new furniture to fill his new house up, which he did as well on a timely manner as well. Finally, the last thing he had to do was move his stuff from his old place, to his new place. Well that is where he didn't really plan out or anticipate what was going to happen.
   Well since he got all new furniture including a bedroom set, he didn't need his old one. Well no one else wanted the old one either. We don't have a truck or a large vehicle to get rid of the stuff so we had to call in a few favors to get rid of it. A recliner chair who was originally agreed to get taken by one of his friends ended up being thrown out because his friend last minute decided he didn't want it anymore. So now his old room is filled with old furniture that no one wants and have no way to get rid of right away. What is going to end up happening is it is going to get donated later on the week to good will or something that way we don't have to toss it in the trash.
   Packing his old stuff was a hassle as well. Even though he only had one room in the house it seem like while we were clearing out the room the entire house got filled up with stuff and we had to go through everything to make sure we weren't throwing away important papers or stuff like that. I felt like we were in an episode of hoarders to be honest. Well at least without all of the dead cats and mice. We also didn't have enough boxes for his stuff so we had to go get more at his work. We worked for 2 days straight. This was supposed to be a process that was going to take "3 hours tops" according to him.

Conclusion:
     Well if you are nice enough to offer a hand in helping someone move out, then be prepared to be their a while. If you yourself are planning on moving out, make sure you have some reliable friends that will come through and help you out as well. Always plan out the entire process, including making sure you have enough boxes for your crap and know where all of your stuff is going to go. If you have to get rid of furniture make sure you also have a truck or know someone with one that you can count on otherwise its going to be a hassle moving it around.

Comments:
     Have you guys ever had to help someone move out? It can be friends, family, or even yourself that had to move out. How did the process go for you guys? I personally have had to help quite a few people move out since they had to go to college or university and were moving away. It always seems to end up the same way though which is very stressful.

Workout Wednesday #8

2011-07-27T03:56:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
Cardio activity is important for many health reasons, and at the same time, is something that is despised by nearly everyone who works out at any level. We have all heard the good things that come from jogging every day, such as strengthening your heart and reducing fat, which is something that most everyone wants to do, but most who you hear about doing cardio always say it is difficult for them to do. Because of this, even though it is good for ones health, you may not see the results of your hard work right away and fall back to thinking that it just isn't working out for you and end up leaving you frustrated. Some simply quit at what they are doing early on or just end up doing it every day but hating it every time they do it.

Even the celebs do it!

Some Benefits of Cardio:

Doing cardio, especially something like jogging or walking, is a way of reducing stress which can in turn help out those who have hectic work or school schedules and it will help prevent a meltdown of stress. Next time you are stressed from a heavy work load you have coming up and you need to clear your mind you can try taking a walk to just clear your head before you have to go at all of the work you have to do.
Cardio also helps with preventing heart disease in many ways and it helps you strengthen your lungs. Working out constantly with a higher heart rate helps strengthen your heart but to you do not have to really have to go too hard at your cardio for this. You could simply just walk around your neighborhood or a light jog will also do here. Strengthening your lungs is important since you will not be out of breathe as easy when working out intensely.
Another great benefit of doing cardio is weight control and weight loss. This is the main reason many folks begin to do cardio. For those training to maintain their weight, taking a jog or going for a run is something that is easy enough to do and beginning for them isn't too difficult. On the other hand, for those trying to loose weight this is one of the hardest things to do and keep at.

My Beginnings
   For me, jogging has always been a hassle just as much as my weight has been a hassle. Every time i attempted to begin exercising, I would do great for about a week or so but then I would gradually stop doing what I was doing because either it got too difficult or I simply lost motivation to keep going. Results never really came for me right away and even when I did see results I would stop once I saw them and immediately I would regain any weight I had lost.
      Cardio never really got incorporated into my workouts until I had been weight lifting for about a year. It never really became easier for me by having been working out before even after my weight lifting training it wasn't easy. I had started gaining weight and fat again even though I lifted weights for about an hour or so a day 6 days a week and I stopped making gains on my strength. The thing I was missing was having a regular cardio schedule to follow.
     When I began my cardio schedule I simply began by jogging on a treadmill but sadly I only was able to jog for about 4 minutes and then I walked for another 6 minutes before I was completely exhausted. This went on for about a week and then slowly but surely I was able to jog a bit more each day. Eventually I was able to jog for 10 full minutes and walk for another 10 but I started to loose interest in the cardio. It got to the point where I would start to skip a jog every other day and I almost stopped completely. But then I decided I had enough of giving up and wanted to finally have some real results and to this day I have managed to keep doing cardio on a regular basis.

My Secret to Succeeding:
     I finally realized what I had been doing wrong all along; I was setting myself up for failure but going into my workout dreading it before it even started. The first thing I started on, was switching up the cardio workout I do so I could try to prevent myself from dreading the workout. Each day instead of just running on a treadmill for 20 minutes each day I would try riding the bikes at the gym or would go on the elliptical. Eventually it became routine for me to try to find a new way for me to do cardio and now instead of simply running on an elliptical, I like to go jogging outside, taking my dog for walks up on the hillside around here, and other variations many workouts. If you find that cardio just is too repetitive, or you just dread doing it, find something you like doing and do it. It sounds corny but if you constantly keep trying new things for cardio you will realize that it is just getting more and more easy for you to do.

Weekend Mornings

2011-07-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
Everyone always remembers what Saturday mornings were like when we were younger but not too many people speak to fondly of Sunday's or even Sunday mornings. Most will remember Saturday mornings as always waking up nice and early, cereal bowl in hand and the TV on whatever you wanted to watch. Sunday mornings however for the people I have talked to usually ended up being dreaded because of having to wake up early and not having anything to really watch, some people hated Sunday school and dreaded having to go to church. The older I get however I realize how nice it is to have a Sunday morning off every once in a while.

Weekends Then:

One of my favorite shows to watch as a kid.

Sure nostalgia always gets to everyone when they think of Saturday mornings and the things we did as kids and teenagers and those memories will stay with us forever but things do have to change for better or for worse. I remember as a child I would wake up every Saturday morning just to watch cartoons for the entire block of new shows they always seemed to have up. I just remember going to watching WB and watch their new shows some of which I still remember very fondly. Of course Pokemon was in there I used to watch the original series on that channel. Another favorite of mine was batman beyond which is the batman series that took place in the future or something like that. Once I had gotten tired of TV I would go out and play with friends outside and during the summer, I would go to a lot of family gatherings and parties where I got to see cousins and hangout with them.

This is menudo along with all of the sides!

Sundays on the other hand were dreadful to wake up for me. It always felt like I had to savor the sleep time in the morning since it would be a whole five days until I got a weekend again. The television generally didn't have much in terms of cartoons to watch and even if it did, I would let my dad get to watch the TV instead. My mom would usually prepare "menudo" which is a Mexican stew that is rather spicy and is something I have grown to love but I didn't like it much as a kid. And then after breakfast and changing clothes it was off to church for the next two hours and waiting patiently to be over with. The occasional family gathering happened afterwards and then there went my day. Nothing but homework to look forward to after that.

Weekends Now:

Now instead of waking up early, I wake up late because I was out the night before either partying or hanging out with friends. No more Saturday morning cartoons, and no more bowl of cereal for breakfast. Instead, I now wake up at noon, eat a power bar, and get some chores done. Instead of going outside and playing with friends, I go to the gym and workout with them. Well I do go out and play some soccer but it is definitely not like when I was younger. Then later on the night, its party and go out again. It always has to be something out late where I end up getting drunk.

The Sunday morning is even worse for me to wake up since I'll be waking up with a massive hangover from the past two days of having been drinking. Now this is where I learned to love the Mexican stew. Over the years I slowly learned that it worked wonderfully as a good hangover remedy. Thankfully my mom has kept up the tradition of preparing it for us over the years. Also, work isn't too bad either since I would much rather spend the rest of the day doing homework for school than to go out again a third night in a row.

Conclusion:

Things change, and we have to grow up and let things go. Sadly, the transition between these things is slow so you never really notice what you had until one has time to reflect on the past. I would like to think that this is how I will be for the rest of my life but I wont and again I'll be looking back later and see how much things have changed yet again. Things I hate now could possibly be things I like later on and things I like now I could even grow to hate. Time just has to keep moving forward for people to grow.

Comments:

What are some of your old favorite Saturday morning cartoons or other rituals? I for one liked the pokemon series and the batman beyond series that was played on Saturday mornings on the WB channel. I know my older brother enjoyed watching two stupid dogs when we were kids and that was on The Cartoon Network. Now my younger brother hardly watches TV and instead opts to play Call of Duty online and chats with friends.

Expenses That Creep

2011-07-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
      Sometimes you think you are finally getting ahead into your savings account and finally saving up cash for that "thing" you really wanted to get but you don't really need. It will generally start off slow, such as having to get your oil changed, then maybe an appliance breaks down in your house and you need to pay someone to actually fix it. Or an accident happened where someone such as a friend was hurt and they need some cash to help them out with their bills. It could even be someone you forgot that you owed money to and they finally came asking for it back. All of this usually happens to me right when I finally start getting ahead on my savings and it sets me back down to almost square one again.

     Recently I have been saving up some money from working with my uncle during the weekends so I can buy myself a new computer monitor. Right now I'm running a dual monitor setup one of which is 19 inches and the other is 17 inches. I honestly do not need a new monitor since these are pretty nice monitors but it would be nice to have a really big widescreen monitor to really tie my room together. The monitor I want isn't cheap and with some of the bills I have to pay around here, it makes it difficult but not impossible to save money up for something like this. I had really made some headway into this when all of a sudden things started going a bit south for me financially.

     The first thing that happened was that my uncle went off to Mexico earlier this past month and the month before that to see my grandfather, his father, because he was very ill. Now I don't have a problem with him seeing his father, but the thing is, is that if he isn't around, then work isn't around for me either. So a few weeks without pay for me wasn't the end of my world since I had savings and could keep food on the table for myself. Also going out costs money which I didn't really stop doing until I realized how much I was dipping into my savings account. The thing is, is that I didn't really notice that I wasn't going to get paid until it was the end of the week when I usually go to get my check and then it dawned on me that I wasn't going to get paid until at least a week or two after he had gotten back and gotten his business going again.

     Then during all of this, on the car my mom had given me when I donated my other car, the oil light came up. I checked the oil level and sure enough the stick was bone dry. Turns out my mom never once thought about changing the oil in the car or checking the levels of oil in it unless I did it or my older brother did. I looked at the corner of the windshield and the last time she had gotten an oil change was nearly half a year ago from the chevrolet oil stop station. This basic oil change ran me 45 dollars because the coupon I had, expired a month before I used it.

     A few weeks back my bathroom sink was changed by me and it was much more complicated that I had originally thought but I still managed to get it installed and looking nice. Well I felt great that I didn't even have to pay anyone to install it for me but a few days back I realized that I was standing in a large puddle of water that was under one of my bathroom mats. I checked under the sink in the cabinet and sure enough, there was just a small drop of water dripping just about every second or so that had accumulated into a larger puddle that then went on to leak onto my floor. Even though I had done everything right when it came to installing the sink, the pipes that connected and went to the cold water were leaking because of age. Now I'm just waiting on a price estimate from someone who has to come in to fix it but I can already tell you that this isn't going to be a quick cheap fix.

     Now even though I have enough money to buy a monitor, I have to save that money in order to buy text books at the beginning of next semester which is coming up faster than I had expected. This is the part that is actually an easy decision to make yet tempting. I want to keep making excuses for why i NEED this monitor yet at the end of the day, I know that I don't need it whereas i do actually need the text books. Now this is just another patience game for me to wait and get the monitors but I'll just have to keep it out of my mind until I finally do end up getting it. Now reflecting back on this, I am just glad I even had savings to begin with to help me out when things like this happen.

Comments:
     Have any of you guys ever experienced anything like this before? Whether your saving up to get a brand new car or finally taking that step to buy that house or move out, these problems always arise during the most inopportune times.

Workout Wednesday #7(Late)

2011-07-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

Intro:
When doing exercise intensely, protein intake is important for your body for many reasons. Protein can help your body grow when taking the right amount and I believe it helps out with repairing the body as well. This can be found in all of the foods we eat today but not everything we eat that contains protein is going to help you gain strength and increase size. Every person is different so everyone's protein intake should be different. Also everyone may not like simply taking a "protein powder" in following traditional methods of taking in your protein each day.

Importance:
A simple search on any search engine will give you many links and journals stating the reasons why protein is important and everyone seems to have their own opinions as to why it is important as well. Most of the answers one will see is that protein is simply important for human survival. It provides energy to carry you out during the day and even help you out with your immune system. Other answers that are common among the body building communities, is that it "builds muscle" which is true in that it "helps" build muscle but it should be clarified that just simple intake of even more protein in your diet isn't going to make you stronger and isn't going to make you look bigger. One still has to do the hard work to have those gains and develop their bodies with what they have envisioned their bodies looking like. The reasons I think that protein is truly important is that it acts like fuel for when you are going to go to the gym and workout and so you can have the energy to push yourself as hard as possible.

Methods of Intake:

The first and most popular method, in my opinion, of taking protein is by taking a few scoops of protein powder. Whey protein powder is a good way of quickly taking your protein and is perfect for those who do not have the time to cook and prepare a high protein meal during the day. This could be any one from a busy student skipping breakfast or a person who has a hectic work schedule who cannot make lunch from working too much. Another similar favorite method of taking in protein is with eating a protein "bar" as a snack during the day. These bars come in a variety of amounts of protein and some even contain more protein than a protein shake. The problem with most people though when eating these bars is that they do not like the taste. I personally do not mind the taste so much and I consider them much better to eat than a candy bar else such as a snickers or something similar to that. Other forms of intake are through preparing food such as chicken/turkey breasts or including avocados in their meals or eating a large number of hard boiled eggs during all times of the day.

My personal method of protein intake is through eating about four to five eggs every morning and I eat those scrambled since I can't really stomach eating hard boiled eggs. each egg contains about 6 grams of protein and eggs are cheap enough for me to buy on my tight budget. I stay away from whey protein simply because of its price point so I tend to look for cheaper alternatives for my protein intake. Other favorites of mine are eating cans of tuna with some mayonnaise which will give someone about 22 grams of protein in one can. I just like eating it in a sandwich since it is easier to prepare for me and it is so cheap to buy. One can will run you about 50 to 60 cents. You of course do not want to eat too much of anything so changing up your diet is always good to do as well so you do not get bored of eating the same foods over and over. You do not want to go off of your diet simply because you ever got bored from it.

Another thing to look at always is the nutritional facts and ingredients of foods you eat. When you see commercials for things like snicker bars and things like to cure your hunger you might think that since it has peanuts it should be ok for you to eat. Going to a fast food place and eating a "protein burger" isn't necessarily going to be a "protein" burger but just something they use to sell you on something to make them more money. Check for protein recipes online to look up what to cook and eat to get a higher protein intake.

When to Take Protein:
Everyone you talk to about will probably tell you something different about when to "take your protein". This is a question I have had since I started exercising and working out regularly and this is something that people do differently. Some will tell you to take protein right before you go to the gym while others will tell you to take it afterwards. I have talked to people who like to take their protein early in the morning when they wake up and that is it. I have found out what works for me is that I take my protein all throughout the day. Since I workout during the late afternoon or night sometimes, I get all of my protein early on the day, and then after my workout I tend to really stay away from proteins and generally go for something that will fill me up such as carbohydrates and things like that. I have tried many methods when it comes to getting my protein up and what I do now is what works out best for me and gives me the best results. I have also heard of some people who take protein during the night but I believe at that point your just wasting your money at that point. When you take it at night your not doing anything besides sleeping or resting so all of that potential energy just gets washed up in your toilet bowl when you get up and use the rest room later on the night. I just do not see the point on doing that to be honest.

Conclusion:
Protein is important for everyone in order to help you out with your growth and to help you out with your health. It can help you with your health and immune system and at the same time provides a means for energy for throughout the day. There are various methods of taking in protein during the day and everyone can choose their methods of doing it. If you have the funds to by a whey protein powder than that as in option as well as getting protein bars if you can stomach them. If you cannot really afford those things and your short on cash you can simply buy yourself some eggs and some tuna and get a large amount of protein that way. When it comes time to take in your protein, you can be the judge of when to take your protein. There are many factors of when to take your protein. You just have to take in consideration of when your workouts are, and when you sleep.

Again, all of this information is easily and readily available on the internet. I just make it simple for those who read this blog by sharing my personal examples of the research I have done and the things that I currently do. If I'm ever doing something wrong or if you have tips for me feel free to let me know in the comments. I take most suggestions and look into things. One thing I always like to bring up is to always research what you put in to your body and that is the perfect example for this. Always get more knowledgeable on everything you do to your body whether it is workouts or whether it is dietary changes. Never go into something blindly and expect to get good results.

River House Weekend

2011-07-18T22:02:00.000-07:00

Today's post:
This past weekend was one of my best friends birthday and to celebrate he and his family invited a bunch of friends out to a river house that they rented out for the weekend. Drinking was an all day event throughout the weekend as well as heading down for the river to swim and drink there as well. This weekend vacation was one of the most memorable weekends I have had in a while and I don't remember a small portion of it due to drinking which means "mission accomplished" in my book.

On the first day there, we spent the majority of the day lounging outside on the deck with some beers while we waited for everyone to make it out. We did watch some television as well since one of the gifts my friend recieved was season three of "30 Rock" but then things started getting hectic since more and more people started showing up. The games of choice on this first day was of course the favorite game of many college students; beer pong. We played beer pong for a few hours which really didn't put that much of a dent on the beer that we took out there (which goes to show how much beer was actually brought out). Towards the end of the night we also played a few games of flip cup which helped more people to get involved with the drinking games and get more intoxicated. once most people were pretty drunk, the hot tub was finally put into use and it was just about the last thing most of us ended up doing that night. It was a good way to end a night of heavy drinking

The second day a few people had to leave but another good friend of us made it out there to join us for another day of crazy activities. For starters, we made it out to the river that day to drink and swim. A floating beer pong table was brought out so we could try to play out in the river which was a bit more troubling than we thought it would be since we didn't take into account the current of the river water and and the depth of the water as well. We found the right spot to play though and a few hand made weights solved the problem of the table being dragged down because of the current. Another game we ended up play was a game that was introduced to us by a friend called "cornhole". Here is the wikipedia description of what the game is like:

Cornhole is a lawn game in which players take turns throwing cornhole bags (cotton duck bags filled with feed corn) at a raised platform with a hole in the far end. These platforms are usually made with plywood or plastic and are often decorated. A corn bag in the hole scores 3 points, while one on the platform scores 1 point. Play continues until a player reaches the score of 21.

This game was a good way to spend the afternoon since we got to just relax and drink beer and eat. This night was also filled with drinking games just like the first one except people did end up getting more wild. Handles of vodka got finished, the beer was run through also this same night and people stayed up even more late than the previous night. This made the next day much more rough to pack and to get u and leave.

Final thoughts :
This is why there has been a large period of time since my last post to this one. I didn't really have this mini vacation planned out for me so I didn't have much of a warning to go out and post about it. Usually I would like to let you guys know if I will have posts stop or if something came up. Thankfully it gave me something to write about as well.

Comments:
What are some other drinking games you guys like to play when you are at parties? I know a few games but overall my favorite game to play is obviously beer pong. Just because it is my favorite game to play doesn't mean I'm necessarily good at it though so don't go out of your way to make me your partner. Another all time favorite of mine is a more sociable game which is Kings Cup and I like that because more people can get involved and you get to meet more people that way.

Workout Wednesday #6(LATE)

2011-07-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

Intro:
Rest is a major part of being healthy and it provides many benefits to everyone regardless if you are working out or not. Everyone's body needs some sort of recovery time so you can avoid getting any injuries in the long run. Resting your body will also help your body grow in strength and it will help you perform better when you go back to working out after taking days off. The rest will help you out in your other parts of your day as well since you will not feel burnt out and too tired to do anything. This is important for those who have 9-5 jobs or are students.

Over-Training:

When working out intensely over a long period of time might feel rewarding in the short run, but in the long run, this could possibly lead to over-training your body which in turn can lead to some injuries in the long run. Over training means that you just aren't giving your muscles enough time to recover between your workouts and thus they will stay in a state of damage. Since your muscles are in a state of damage, they will not grow and you will soon plateau. That means you won't see any performance increase or physical growth in your muscles. Continuing on that route can potentially lead to some injuries which will MAKE you take time off. Some common injuries I have seen and heard of around my gym are generally shoulder injuries since most people around here are mainly concerned with their upper bodies. Over training can easily be avoided though and if you read up on your information you won't be as injury prone as those who don't.

How to avoid it:
My favorite suggestion to you guys is to follow a weekly training split when working out since you can assign what days you workout, what muscle groups you are going to train, and the frequency of those workouts. If you need suggestions on training splits you can check out past Workout Wednesdays. I personally follow a four day split and tend to give myself 2 days off completely. If you are more of a runner whether it is on a treadmill or out in the street, always check your shoes to see if they are worn out since shoes tend to lose how much of the shock they take away from your feet after a certain amount of miles of running in them. My overall favorite suggestion is simply to GET MORE SLEEP. Sleep is so important for you even if you aren't working out intensely so you should always at the very least aim for EIGHT hours of sleep.

Personal Story:
One of my personal over training stories involves me injuring my wrist from working out too much. A few months before I had started lifting weights I had slipped while playing a game of tennis which injured my wrist but by this point my wrist felt like it was fine. I didn't know why my wrist was starting to hurt again since the workouts I was doing didn't involve that much wrist activity I thought. Well after working out for a long time I attempted to do some dumbbell bench press with heavy weights and eventually after moving up in weight, my wrist starting hurting in the middle of a set and my entire hand gave out. The weight ended up dropping and hitting me in the chest but luckily for me though, I was fine and decided to call it a day after that. Ever since then, I have been much more careful about how intensely I workout.

Conclusion:
Get your rest and avoid any injuries in the long run. Don't be an idiot like me and keep training even though you feel an injury coming through. Always remember to get some actual sleep time in, at the very least eight hours a night/day. And finally, structure your workouts to accommodate rest throughout the week and avoid over training certain muscle groups. If you need a weekly workout or a training split you can check out the past Workout Wednesdays and find one that fits your schedule or your fitness level.

Links:
Remember that this information is always readily available throughout the internet I just make it easier for you guys by telling you my personal stories and condensing the information into one post. If you guys are interested in some more information regarding the importance of rest and information regarding over training, you can check these links out and learn more:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/the-importance-of-rest.html

http://www.shawnlebrunfitness.com/rest-for-building-muscle.html

http://www.helium.com/items/1210485-importance-of-rest-for-muscles

http://www.squidoo.com/rest-and-recovery

Remodeling and Renewing

2011-07-10T23:30:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
Everyone has to go through renovating or remodeling their home since things, specially home appliances, do not last forever. This can make almost any sane person loose their heads if things start getting too out of control for them. Things may seem to running perfectly in the home and all of a sudden something you took for granted for working will all of a sudden stop working and this will leave you feeling hopeless or add some unneeded stress to your life. The problem can be anything such as a light bulb going out at night or your refrigerator can stop working causing your food to go bad within hours. This could also cause a major unexpected financial problem depending on what home appliance has failed on you and could drain a person's savings account rapidly if the problem is not easily repairable.

The past few days have been pretty hectic for me with installing new appliances at my house and dealing with problems that arise from doing that. A few days back, my bathroom faucet would work without leaking everywhere so I had to turn off the cold water valve. The bad part was, that even if we didn't use the faucet, the pipes under the sink would leak in the cabinet below it causing some water damage to the things we kept under there. luckily nothing we cared about besides some toilet paper rolls.. Only hot water would come out of the faucet without causing any leaks so pretty much I had to replace the faucet. This wasn't as easy as I expected it to be.

One would think that a one size fits all sink would be made but much like the toilet seats people have to buy, they come in two very distinctive fittings which you won't realize there are until you are staring at them at the hardware store. There are some that are just one main piece faucet with the handles attached to its base or there are 3 piece faucets which I have pictured here to the left. I had the misfortune of not remembering which one I had installed in my bathroom so I had to make a run back home and then back to the hardware store. Then I realized the huge price difference between the two. It was just not my lucky day since the three piece faucet I needed, was $120 whereas the one piece was only $20. And the faucet I bought wasn't anything fancy really, it was the one I have pictured. No Ikea style faucet.

I also had to change the toilet seat and much like the faucet, I never thought about it coming in more than one size besides choosing between a circular toilet seat and a round toilet seat. Well they do come in different sizes and even if you take a guess-timation of the seat you already have, it wouldn't mean a damn thing since the variation is only about 2 centimeters for each different type of seat. It was almost nerve wrecking having to just choose one without any proper measurements seeing as to how one can be wrong by only a few centimeters. Well I guessed at the size, picked out my toilet seat and thankfully it was just the right size for my toilet. Installing the seat was very easy to do seeing as to how this one only required a wrench to install it. The faucet on the other hand, wasn't as easy to install or as quick to do it either.

This is a much more smoother version of how things ended up going with me. I watched the video first and checked manuals and everything beforehand just so I could do this as painless as possible. Unlike the video and most manuals I checked, my faucet and all thats connected to it, isn't shiny, new, or easily removable. It took me quite a while to get it removed. Installing I guess wasn't as difficult but still having to lay down in my uncomfortably small bathroom ad me being huge definitely took a toll on my back.

Comments:
What are some of the home appliances that have failed on you in the past? have any home appliances ever failed on you when you actually needed them the most? One case for me would be when my high ceiling light bulb died and I was having guests over. We had to take our dinner over to the kitchen and eat it standing up on the counter since I had no candles and I didn't have a 15 foot latter to reach the light.

Party Wreckage

2011-07-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
It seems that when you go to a larger party, one where EVERYONE is getting drunk and wild, the hosts house ends up getting destroyed in some sort of way and the hosts themselves end up not caring. The party can start off innocently enough, with great intentions but things eventually will start going south. Usually, what ends up causing this spiral down south is the alcohol consumption which in turn leads to bad judgment. What could seem like a good idea at the time, can end up being a horrible idea with bad consequences.

This past Thursday, we celebrated a friends 22nd birthday at his house and as you can tell by the introduction, things got pretty messy by the end of the night. Luckily for him, it was a lower level party and the mess just happened in his garage yet it is still something he had to deal with the next day. The problem is that he currently lives back at home for the summer so this complicates things a bit more as well. The game of choice for the night was every college students favorite: Beer Pong

A few problems with this definitely caused the mess we made at the end of the night. The first problem of the night was that it was a very small table so cups easily got knocked over and most of the liquid ended up getting dropped on the garage floor rather than staying on the table. The second problem, was that some cups were not quite empty so if any ever got tossed around or dropped, even more liquid would end up getting on the floor. The last problem has to do with the previous two problems since the table ended up getting flipped over by someone and that really caused the floor to be completely covered in beer. There was no getting around it at this point and you can tell simply by looking at the hosts face since he was laughing himself.

I can only imagine how bad the cleanup must have been the next morning. As I mentioned, this was his parents house so I'm almost sure he got some sort of scolding for the mess that was there waiting for him to clean the next morning. I could have helped clean up if it wasn't for the fact that I was too hungover to even do much the next day. The only good thing I can say about this whole thing, is that at the very least, people were only confined to staying in his garage and not all over the house or his backyard. The damage could have been much worse than what actually ended up happening such as carpet stains and dry wall damage.

Right now, the thing that I asking myself is at what point does the host, and not just this host of the party, but any host of a party, at what point does that person just cave in and let the party go out of hand? I personally never throw any parties at my house just for the simple reason that I don't want my house getting ruined. My friend ended up not really caring at one point of the shenanigans that were going on at his house and even joined in by slapping all of the wet cups of the table just so he could get cheered on. I'm just not sure if I could ever really allow myself to start messing my own house up. I guess if I was as drunk as he was I would have ended up doing that same thing too. I'll just leave this here:

Comments:
What are some of the craziest things you guys have seen at the parties you have ever been to? Have you ever seen houses get completely trashed? Have you ever partaken in the damage yourself? The craziest thing I think I have ever witnessed at a party was when someone just started kicking in the dry wall in someones apartment for no apparent reason and people started cheering him on all while there was a fight going on in the kitchen. Needless to say, the police ended up getting involved.

Workout Wednesday #5

2011-07-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

Intro:
Many people always wonder why people even bother working out their legs at all when they go to the gym but by not working legs out, your body will really not grow in proportion. For most people, working out your their legs seems to be the worst workout day they have. Most people who I have talked to at the gym who start working out, don't even throw legs into their workouts at all or don't bother ever looking up any leg workouts and others just don't see the importance of having to workout their legs. I was one of those people as well up until not too long ago and I personally went through the consequences of not really having had work them out.

I personally never really liked working out legs so I would constantly skip working out that day and take a day off or go workout some other body part instead. The first thing I started noticing after a while is that I felt more and more tired each day and would have to take more days off from working out to be able to come back to the gym and workout the same way. The problem was that because I skipped my leg workouts often, I would instead go to the gym anyways, and I would workout some other body part again. Then after I noticed that, I noticed the fact that I had developed chicken legs! My upper body was huge when compared to my legs and that made me look really disproportional.

My Leg Workout: (Aim for 4 sets of 12 repetitions on each of these workouts)

Quadriceps:

Hamstrings

Calves

Leg Press Calf Raise

You can click on the name of the exercise to get an example of what it looks like.

Once I started doing the above workout and added it to my four day workout split, I have been able to increase my strength in other exercises. I have also noticed an increase in my overall stamina for other things such as sports. When doing cardiovascular activities, such as running on a treadmill, I can now run longer without my legs getting tired or I can bike longer as well. I can play soccer with my friends at a much higher pace then when I used to play with them and have more power when it comes to free kicks.

Conclusion:

Never underestimate the importance of a body part or groups of muscle that need to get a good workout. You do not have to challenge your legs to get growth but having some sort of exercise for your legs is important to help build strength. Also, cosmetically you will look better by not having chicken legs while having a huge upper body.

The Weekend

2011-07-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
Well this past weekend was 4th of July weekend or independence day here in the states. I decided to spend my time going out and having some fun. No time was really spent doing chores at all except mowing my lawn which isn't even considered a chore. I got to see some friends I don't get to really see that often since they came to town to visit with their families and got to catch up with some other people I don't usually get to see that often.

Patriotic Can

Monday:
Monday itself was the 4th so I spent that day hanging out with my friends. We drank alot of beer as you would expect to do on the 4th and ran through a thirty pack of beer pretty quick. We also had some Jack Daniels to drink throughout the day which we mixed in with sweetened ice tea. That didn't turn out to be the best of our ideas throughout the day though. The beer of choice for Monday was definitely Budweiser though since they had some patriotic cans. Its not really my beer of choice but you can't really go wrong with those cans right? The design of course is inspired by the American flag and at the same time doesn't look too far off from their own colors. Throughout that day we also got to watch the baseball game (SF vs SD) which turned out bad for us since we lost. Some grilling was done as well which mainly consisted of grilling chicken and making hot dogs to eat while we watched the game. The chicken skin itself got a bit crispy but it still turned out to be really good and having food throughout that day really helped out with the drinking we did.

fireworks in Sonoma County

The fireworks were really cool this year for us here in Sonoma County. We were able to see some of the bigger fireworks all the way from my friends house. At the same time though my friends had some fireworks that they had bought for themselves when they went to Reno which weren't sold here in California. It was a good time for most people here in Rohnert Park up until some bad things started to happen. The worst of this was the fact that an entire apartment complex to burned down due to a bottle rocket apparently. This caused about 10 families to be displaced but I could be wrong on that one. My prayers go out to those families and hopefully no one got injured in that incident.

Today:

Today I woke up with a bit of a hangover from drinking all of that beer and whiskey yesterday. I'll be staying in bed for a bit more than I usually do because of that. On my agenda all I have planned is to go play some soccer with my friends. I have yet to actually get to have a good game of soccer with my friends since the sunny weather started out. Today should be pretty good though since it isn't too hot but still pretty warm and it should be manageable. Not much else is happening today though beside me going to the gym and working on tomorrow's "Workout Wednesday". Hopefully this hangover will wear off soon though and let me go do stuff outside of the house.

Comments:

So what did you guys get to do this past weekend? If you are in the United States, how did you celebrate your 4th of July weekend? If you aren't in the United States, what did you do this past weekend that was fun?

Bars and Neck Pains

2011-07-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

Today's Post:
Every once and a while I like getting out of hand and going out with some of my friends. The only thing to really do around here is to go out and have a few drinks with a few friends at the bars once you reach the drinking age. You can go to parties during the weekends but nothing really compares to going out with friends and meeting new people at the bars. They just have that atmosphere where you see people who can handle their drinking and know when to stop and at the same time they have the people who are new to the bar scene and don't know when to stop drinking.
Thursday:
On Thursday nights here in this small city is what we call the "Cotati Crawl"(Cotati is the name of the city). You basically just "crawl" through to the line of bars that are all on the same street. You go from bar to bar, since each one has its own atmosphere and generally has a different crowd. You have the bar that is known for making strong drinks, then you have your bar that you go to because it is faster to use their bathroom, and you also have the bars that you go for dancing. The last type of bar you have around here is the bar where you see "everyone" in.

Pictured here is probably the more popular bar that is part of the crawl and is the bar where you get to see everyone go through. This bar is one of my favorite bars because everywhere you try to walk through or move around you end up seeing friends from all over the place. On any Thursday night you can run into people you met at school or people from high school. You will see coworkers and you will end up seeing people you don't like running into as well.

I'm more of a beer person than I am a hard alcohol person. One of my favorite beers to drink when I go out to the bars is Blue Moon. A pint of beer when you get it at a bar usually comes with an orange wedge on the pint glass but I generally do not go for the orange myself. If I do end up having something else besides a beer I'll either go for a few shots of tequila or if I'm going to be dancing then I am probably going to get a vodka redbull which is exactly what it sounds like. Going to the bars does actually end up being pretty expensive when you go all out so I tend to not want to go tot he bars too often and save my money instead.

Today:
I felt like I had been sleeping well and yet when I got up this morning I immediately felt a pain in my neck. Its something people call having a "crick" in their necks. It feels like I couldn't even function at all. I couldn't turn my head to the left and every time I tried I looked pathetic because I just slowly did it and very painfully. I couldn't even decipher what had caused me to be in so much pain that morning since I have always slept well on my bed.

Basically how I felt this morning. Well, except not as femanine.

Going to the gym was out of the picture for me today. I know better than to go to the gym when I have an injury even if it is a small injury like having a crick in my neck. I hate not going to the gym on a day that I plan on going but I'm not risking my overall health just so I can get some lifting in and make myself feel better. Instead of going to the gym, all I did was get some light stretching in on my shoulders and neck to loosen it up. The best thing to do when you have a pain in your neck is to just let it be and heal up on its own. Most of the time if it is a crick then it will go away within one or two days so I would much rather just wait.

Comments:
What are some of yoru favorite beverages to consume when going out with friends? The beverage doesn't have to be alcoholic since I know not all enjoy the taste of alcohol. Like I said in my post my favorite beverage is a pint of Blue Moon whenever I go for drinks at the bars. If you don't like drinking alcohol then what are some of your reasons? Some friends of mine who don't drink, chose not to drink because they don't like the taste of it at all or can't really handle their alcohol well at all.

Workout Wednesday #4

2011-06-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Intro:
     Pre-Workout supplements are supplements you take before your workout which will give you more energy and a much better pump giving you a better workout. Having a better workout could be doing more repetitions or even moving up in weight on what you are working out. Moving up the latter for weights would mean you are getting stronger and size will increase. Other pre-workout supplements aim at weight loss rather than focusing on your muscle gain and will cause your body to heat up and make you sweat more than you usually do and are usually called thermogenic fat burners. Some use these to help define their bodies or for competitions. Whatever your goals are, with the supplements your taking, you are hoping to get the most out of your workout and you hope to have your workout time be more effective.

     Most pre-workout supplements have some sort of stimulant in it which is usually what people who take them "feel" when they consume them. The problem with that is that your body will eventually build up a tolerance for those ingredients and the product will seem to have become less effective. One of the biggest ingredients in these products is caffeine and that name alone will have some people not wanting to take supplements or comparing pre workout supplements to generic store energy drinks. Most products will tell you on the label itself to "cycle off" for a week after you run out of the product before you go back and use it again until you run out. Some people do not like the idea of having to take supplements to workout and do not need it since they can find the drive to workout on their own while others need that extra push to workout hard.
     I personally use the supplements to help me out with getting more repetitions at the end of the day each day or to allow me to move up in the amount of weight I am doing or have been stuck in or if I have "plateaued". Many times in the past I have found myself to be stuck at a certain amount of weight for a long time with myself not being able to move up and do more weight which is what was holding me back. I would try many of the tricks people around me told me to try. For example, some would tell me to take some time off, and then go back at my workout. I did see a bit of an improvement since I gave my muscles time to repair themselves, yet it wasn't much of an improvement and eventually and quickly I seemed to have plateaued again. I started taking a product called Jack3d and after that I literally broke the plateau I was at and kept climbing.
     Whenever I do take a new product or am considering it though I will usually look it up extensively until I know whether to take it or not. I don't only look up reviews of the product but I will try to look up other articles written about them or the ingredients in the product. Being well informed on what you put in to your body is always going to be the biggest part of being healthy. Its always better to be informed on ingredients too so that way when you look out for new products, you will see ingredients you already recognize and you will now how the product works.
     I also recommend following what the labels say when it tells you how much to take maximum. I have read many articles about people complaining that they don't feel the effects of their products so they simply up the dosage of the products they take or will mix their products and take them with other products. That could be hazardous and problematic to your kidneys due to the ingredients being in the products.

Products I have taken:

White flood was one of the products I first started using. It is pretty effective and I would recommend others to take it. Serving size however is much lower than other products I have taken when you compare the price of it. It is around 35 to 40 dollars and comes with something like 30 servings. Taste wasn't the best flavor out there but definitely tolerable.

Jack3d is the other pre workout I took when I started taking supplements and to date, remains as my favorite supplement. It suggest you take 1 to 3 scoops for your workout but I recommend that you don't take more than 2 scoops so you can save the powder and save some money. Cost wise, it is one of the cheaper products available and effective too. It only cost around 25 dollars but you can find it for a cheaper price and comes with 45 servings(one scoop per serving). I like the taste of this product too and it comes in many flavors(my favorite being grape bubblegum)

Animal Rage is my product of choice right now and so far has been super effective at getting me to workout even harder. This product is fairly new out there and many people are starting to follow this product a bit more. Animal has a history of making great products (mainly vitamins and weight loss supplements) and I have been a customer of theirs in the past. This product comes in both capsule form(a small baggy of pills) or powder form for those who can't take pills. I actually prefer the capsule form because the taste of the powder isn't good at all. they suggest you only take it with 4ml of water which makes it out to be a shot of this product basically. It works great but I found myself to build a tolerance after the first tube of this stuff.

Conclusion:
If you are trying to take your workouts to the next level then I suggest you look into getting a pre-workout supplement. Do your research on the products, the companies, and the ingredients in it and choose the product you think will work out great for you. Do not always listen to the commercials on television when they tell you about rapid weight loss and do the research first. These products may contain ingredients such as caffeine which some people just out right refuse to take or are allergic to so looking into the product is very important. I like to suggest www.bodybuilding.com for information and articles written by users their on the ingredients and products too.

Interview and Life Hacks

2011-06-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today:
I had an interview today with a local business who was looking for a bookkeeper. Turns out, I'm not what they are looking for since I heard that they hired someone else after I had left. Thats just my luck though. I'm just glad I had an interview. I must say though the interview did seem to go well throughout the whole process. The interviewer asked me the standard questions and she asked me about my past experience which I think was what took me down since I don't have any REAL experience in bookkeeping. I've had jobs before most of which was me handling money though and making sure accounts balance out.

Even though I failed at getting this job, something good did seem to come out of it, since I remembered an old "life hack" that my older sister taught me years ago when she started going through job searches. If you didn't get your dress shirt (or any clothes i think) to the dry cleaners to iron out or you don't have enough time to iron the clothes yourself, simply enough just toss the shirt into the dryer for about 5 minutes. When you take the shirt out, you can do a quick "ironing" with your hands and wear the shirt immediately before you leave. I have many dress shirts that I wear out when I go dancing and to clubs but I never bother really ironing them or taking them to the cry cleaners for a professional job. This, however was for a job interview and when I pulled out the dress shirt I wanted to wear, I realized how wrinkled it was. Thankfully my sister showed me that "life hack" that comes in handy.

*Picture for last years event*

Also, today and yesterday, a bunch of my friends came back from Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegans which I was supposed to go to but with this whole situation with my grandfather and having to take care of the house, I couldn't make it this year. Last year's EDC was one of the best experiences I had ever had especially since I got to meet new people and bonded with my closest friends even more. I wanted the same thing to happen this year and meet even more people, and share the experience but I had to change my plans for my family. I would give up many things for my family, just so I could be there to support them.

Beyond:
     Gonna be working on Workout Wednesday for tomorrow later on tonight and will be different than the past weeks workouts. I'm going to write a little something about pre workout supplements and a bit about nutrition. Instead of throwing out full workouts I will probably focus mainly on just a few workouts and talk about muscle groups from now on making it easier for a broader audience to get something out of the blog.
     Now that my friends are back from their trip and I don't have to watch the house anymore as closely as I had to back then I'll be going out a bit more and having some more content for you guys to read. Nothing has been planned for this week but with most of my friends I never really end up planning anything out. Stuff just happens with us and ends up being fun for all of us.

Comments:
     What are some of the "life hacks" that you guys know of? It could be anything from a shortcut to doing your ironing like me or something like folding a shirt like I've seen in videos on youtube. There has got to be some interesting stories or tricks out there that people put into use each and every day. They are good for saving time and keeping stress free during important situations like job interviews or presentations.

Soccer, Family, and Pets

2011-06-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

This Weekend:
My family returned back from their trip to Mexico yesterday and my younger brother couldn't wait to get on to xbox live and play some video games which he missed for a week. The news that I got back regarding my grandfather though was good news. He was back in good condition and out of the hospital resting at home. I guess seeing his large family there visiting him made him feel better and helped him recover a bit in the end. I did get some souvenirs from my mom who never fails to bring stuff back when she travels. She brought some alcohol which everyone seems to look forward to including some in town made tequila, she brought different kinds of cheeses and breads and my younger brother got me some candy and a t shirt.

My younger brother has a cat which he made me take care of while he was gone to Mexico and let me tell you that the cat really must have missed my younger brother a lot! I know this because the cat would keep bringing in "presents" for my younger brother when he was gone after the second day. These presents were birds that the cat managed to kill and he always left them in the same spot which is the spot where my younger brother plays video games. The first day I saw the birds I was freaked out by it and thought the dog had done it but then the next day I saw the cat literally take down a bird from a tree and bring it into the house and left it on the same spot as he left the other bird. Max(my dog) actually tried to clean up the mess this time seeing how upset I had been the time before and took it to the backyard next to the trash can. Here is a picture of the cat:

Pictured: a look a like of my brothers cat

Were not quite sure what breed mixes he is in but we do know that the mother was a tuxedo patterned cat and he seems to have a siamese color pattern. Some have told me he is a "Thai" cat. The cat's name is Cuauhtemoc Blanco, named after the famous soccer player who played on the Mexican national squad. Most people around here can't really say his name so we just call him Captain Blanco for short. The reason we called him "Blanco" (which means white in Spanish) is because as a kitten, he and about half of the other kittens were incredibly white. Eventually they all developed different looking patterns and this one turned out to be brownish. The cat is friendly yet remains aggressive and always comes on command when you call his name.

*Pictured: the actual Cuauhtemoc Blanco(not the cat)*

     Also during this weekend I got to watch the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2011 final featuring Mexico and the United States. Mexico ended up winning the cup which means they will now be a part of the confederations cup a year before the world cup in Brazil. The game was a good one to watch too since it had many great plays in it. In the end the score was 4-2 with Mexico winning the match. No bets were placed this time for the soccer game but I still got to rub it in some of my friends faces.

Movies:
     During the weekend I watched "La Mano Di Dio" which is about soccer player Diego Maradona. The movie shows the wrong paths that Diego kept going through after he became famous and eventually ended up hitting rock bottom on more than one occasion. The film shows the injustices that Maradona went through through on the hands of Fifa and what he ended up looking like years after his major success took place. I recommend soccer fans to see the film since it shows many strips of film from when Maradona was in FC Barcelona in Spain and when he was playing for Napoli in Italy.
     Another film I got to watch again was Zoolander which is one of my favorite films. It always makes me laugh regardless of how many times I've watched it even though some of the cultural references are dated. The film has aged well though and is one of the funnier films in which Owen Wilson is in. Also, I've always been a fan of Will Ferrell and he doesn't disappoint in this movie with his character. If you haven't watched it before I suggest you give it a watch on netflix or something.

Comments:
     Today I would like to know why you guys named your pets what you named them. If you do not have a pet, then what type of pet would you like to have? The two pets we have in the house right now is Max, who is a maltese poodle, and Blanco our cat, which we don't know what breeds he is. Before I had them I never really was a pet person but I couldn't picture our house without them now anymore since they have become a part of this family.

Down and Out

2011-06-26T02:33:00.000-07:00

Friday/Saturday Update
     I was sick starting on Thursday night and carrying well over on to Saturday morning with what I think was the flu. This, teamed up with my allergies, really had me taken down in a way that something hadn't done to me in years. I was miserable to the point of not even being able to sleep at night with the combination of both. The day was basically lost with me not being able to leave the house and sitting or lying down.

     This is reason no update was given up on those days but I will have a bigger post come Monday morning. I will write about some of the stuff that happened to me starting on Saturday and today. I tried to make it eventful but this will be a short blog considering I'm saving it all for the next post coming up tomorrow.

Comments:
     Today's question is what you guys do when you are sick at home. I don't like doing anything except for staring at the television without even paying attention to it. I can't even make myself out to play video games or listen to music I just like sitting down or laying down.

Roses and the Beach

2011-06-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

Today:
Since my mother left for Mexico last weekend, I have been taking care of her garden for the past few days. I mean when she told me how to care for the plants I didn't really pay too much attention to be honest since I thought, hey I'll just spray them with water for a little bit once a day and forget about them until the next day. Turns out, she has such a different variety of flowers, that doing what I was doing for the rest of the time she is going could have potentially killed off her garden. I got schooled by a neighbor of mine when she saw me poorly watering the plants and frankly, I should know better than to do what I do since my father was a gardener and worked at a nursery and studied plants. I guess non of that ever rubbed off on me so I bet hes looking down at me laughing at my poor attempts of taking care of the plants.

My mother planted a bunch of roses throughout the yard and each one needs watering only every other day and only during the mornings. I learned that I shouldn't even spray them with water but rather get the hose right down on its trunks and make sure it gets plenty of water that way. If you spray the flowers and leaves, the sun will burn right through them especially right here in Northern California where the weather is so hot. Its actually 94 degrees outside today and I would have killed those plants had I actually done that. Other plants do need similar care but overall I am glad I didn't kill of my moms garden before she came back from Mexico.

On Tuesday:
Last Tuesday I finally got to go to the beach for the first time this summer. I went out to Stinson Beach which is close to San Francisco. Its a quick drive to the city from their to go get food too which is what we ended up doing since traffic was horrible going away from the city and would have taken us two hours to get home when the drive is usually only 45 mins. The beach was packed with people enjoying the sun and going in the water and there was even a bit of the surf.

We were out there for most of the day, and took a bit of food and a cooler full of beer. Just sitting on the beach with my friends and sipping on beer made for a great day outdoors. The girls are gorgeous there and all were enjoying the sun as well. We had a football but it was flat so that didn't really workout for us and we left a soccer ball behind at the house.
To end the night, instead of heading back home we went to the city to have dinner at Pho Garden which is home of the famous "Pho Challenge". Here is the explanation they give on the website as to what the challenge actually is:

2 pounds of noodles. 2 pounds of meat. We seek true competetitors.
Finish the bowl and win a FREE MEAL. Pho Garden challenges anyone with a big appetite.

Non of us were actually man enough to do it since the memories of a friend failing miserably not so long ago still was fresh in our minds. The challenge actually cost 20 dollars to attempt and if you manage to eat all of it, you will get your money back. The even make you sign a waiver telling you of the potential dangers of the challenge!

*Here I included an image off of their website showing you just how big the bowl is compared to a person*

Beyond:

I finally added pages to the blog to give it a less clustered look and going forward with my planned "simplistic" theme. Instead of always having the "about me" info on every post you guys read, it is now a page of its own including a picture of me. I will be adding another page for Workout Wednesday soon, perhaps when I add more articles to it. I'll be doing more outside activities too so I can keep you guys posted on that as well.

Comments:

What do you guys like doing when you go to the beach? And if you don't like going to the beach, why not? I like to go to the beach to just lay around and watch the waves. Its probably the most relaxing thing I can do outside while technically doing something outside. If someone brings a soccer ball I'm always down to play around and pass the ball at the beach it usually attracts more people to do it too.

Workout Wednesday #3

2011-06-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

Intro:

Now it is time for the 3 day split! This isn't so much of a drastic change from the 2 day split from last week where instead of focusing solely on upper body one day to lower body the next day, here you are focusing on different muscle groups each day. With the three day split it seems like you are doing less work than the 2 day split but that is because you are adding an extra day to split up the workouts throughout the week. This way, even though you are doing less exercises in any given workout day, you should be adding even more intensity to your workouts each time you go to the gym. Also by doing this split unlike most other splits, it allows you to recover the other days muscle groups without really using that muscle group.

Personally, I don't use this three day split but I know many people who prefer this split to any other split. The people who like this split better are usually athletes who already have to go to training for their given sport and want to add more weight training to their day. The reason people generally like this one more than most other workout splits is because of the rest periods between each workout. When you do a push workout one day, the next few days you might be hurting but that is no reason to not go to the gym to do a pull workout. When you do the pull workout, you don't use the same muscles at all that you used when you did your push workout so it is much easier to go to the gym and workout.

*You should aim to do 3 sets of 8-10 reps on all of these workouts*

Push Workout

Chest:

Bench Press

Incline Bench Press

Cable Crosses

Shoulders:

Barbell Shoulder Press

Front Raises

Lateral Raises

Triceps:

Triceps Extension (also known as seated skull crushers)

Triceps Press Down (can be done with either a rope or a triangle)

Dips

Abs:

Crunches

Leg Lifts

Pull Workout

Back:

Lat Pulldown

Seated Cable Row

Straight Arm Pulldown

Traps:

Shrugs (You should aim for 4 sets here of 16 reps)

Biceps:

Inclined Dumbbell Curls (instead of standing because it prevents you from cheating)

Concentration Curls

Forearms:

Barbell Wrist Curls (You should aim for 2 sets of 20 reps here)

Leg Workout

Quadriceps:

Leg Extension

Leg Press

Squats

Hamstrings:

Leg Curls

Calves:

Standing Calf Raises

Seated Calf Raises

*You can click on each exercise and it will take you to an instructional video of the exercise so you know how to do it*

Conclusion:
This workout should only be done once a week and it is important to do all three days. I know some people who simply do just the push and the pull workouts and skip on doing leg workouts. This will slow down your growth and it will end up making you look like you have chicken legs. Also do not try to do this more than once a week since it will lead to over training and over working out. This will slow down and even take away from your progress. As long as you workout with increasing intensity each week, you should really start to see results and should start getting stronger faster. And resting between is always important which is why so many people like this workout split over most others.
This workout split was posted in a magazine titled "Muscle and Performance" in an article written by Mike Martinotti. I have made some tweaks to it and added visual aids for it by including the links. All of the information in his article though is always readily available on the internet so anyone who is interested can look up the workouts like I did.

Make sure to check out the other Workout Wednesday posts for the one day split and the two day split:

Workout Wednesday #1

Workout Wednesday #2