My Workout

I've completed the first week of the break in workout I have been doing. I have learned a lot about myself actually. The first is that there are parts of my body that I thought were in shape when in all honesty they are not.

What I have been doing is a 12 exercise full body circuit. The goal is to get my body reacuainted with the weights and allow my ligaments and tendons to prepare for the next phase. This part of my workout is supposed to take two weeks and I am supposed to perform the circuit three times and work out three days a week.

I would like to extend the workout to three weeks. The reason for this is that I have found out that there are certain parts of my body that I feel need more preparation for the next phase. The two major muscle groups I'm worried about are my abdominals and my legs. My abdominals are out of shape so bad that when I finish the second circuit, I want to throw up. My legs are very important and if I'm going to reach my strength goals, I must have them prepared for what lies ahead.

I enjoy my workouts and like the fact that I feel like I'm making progress and that I'm exherting myself. I am especially proud of my mental disipline in not trying to load up on wieght and keeping in mind that I'm breaking myself into weights all over again. It's a humbling experience because I used to spend anywhere from 3 to 5 hours in the gym. Now I have to start all over again. That was the problem before when I would work out. I took for granted that my body may not be ready for resuming the weight I used to do before.

As far as running is conserned, I have decided to lay off any type of hard spring workouts. The reason for this is that I want to focus on strength of my muscles and maybe accumulate a little bit of mass. I am at 160 lbs right now and I think that is an ideal weight to keep for the time being.

Goals
My short term goals are to lose some weight and get into a position where I can do what I enjoy doing and that is sprint. I'm not an olympic athelete or anything, I just love the feel of sprinting at full strength. It's a joy in life that I miss and it has been frustrating in the past knowing that I can do it but my body or life is just not on the same page. I would compete in races right now but I would get upset because I know I can do better. I'm not looking to make it to any championships or anything, I just want to be able to sprint my best and be proud that I accomplished my goals. Run the race as the Apostle Paul says.
My long term goal is to put on some weight and fill out the body parts that need work. Those parts are my arms, shoulders and legs. I have a decent torso, chest and back but I would like to fill out the other areas. I must be patient and I look foreward the focused muscle group part of my workouts that I will be doing sometime in the coming weeks. Probably around summer. My long term goal is to look like a healthy and complete 30 yearl old.

The coinciding Goal.
I am a believer that the physical body and the spiritual body are complimentary. If a person is disiplined in the physical they should be disiplined in the spiritual. The Bible says that the body is a Holy Temple. With this in mind I would like to make sure that my temple is complete both physically and spiritually. I look foreward to the challenge of incorporating both into my lifestyle in a way that will let me grow and be a better all around person.

Bob Blog Renovations

I've been learning how this whole blog thing works. As you have noticed I have experimented with picures (for example the Duran Duran post). I am thinking of incorporating more media and possibly using the blog as more a personal ministry outlet. I've been coming up with some ideas and one of them is actually starting another blog. I'll keep all of you posted.

I went into the gym today. It was a leg intensive and aerobic circuit workout. I threw up when I was done with the second set. I haven't had a workout like that since two-a-days during football preseason. It felt good to feel the burn and get a full body workout though. I just wonder what I'll feel like tomorrow. I should get a good amount of sleep tonight.

Gotta go to work!

Feeling Better...

I must say that I'm feeling a bit better today. The only thing left of my head cold is an occasional blowing of the nose and a bad case of what I like to call "Movie trailer" voice. MTV is that raspy I've smoked cigarettes for to many years voice you hear doing voice overs in movie trailers. I had that today. I was waiting tables and it felt like I was plugging movies instead of food.

My health is much better but my spiritual state is status quo. I've been reading some books that are challenging me to be more that what I am and I think I'm just frustrated at the realization of wanting more and not achieving it in a timely manner. There's just so much going on in my head right now. I will continue to improve on my prayer life. I am up to the challenge and look foreward to drawing closer to the cross.

I'm still taking baby steps in the gym. I'll be doing that for a few weeks. I must let my tendons and ligaments get used to the rigors of lifting again. Then I will be ready for heavy lifting. Wish me luck.

Valentine's Day

I'm gonna do something that I don't normally do in this blog, which is that I'm going to get a little personal. I just feel the need to vent some. I don't even know if anyone reads this, but here goes.

I worked today at Cracker Barrel and it was horrible. Cracker Barrell is a restaurant where the food is cheap. So what kind of man takes his significant other to Cracker Barrell....a cheap one!!!! I have never worked so hard for so little in my life. I haven't felt this horrible towards people since I left Outback in South Carolina. Half way through my shift I just wanted to stop. Having a head cold doesn't help either. But I got through it. I just feel exhausted both emotionally and physically.

A bittersweet spot today was that I got to chat online with a friend of mine. She's doing missionary work right now and it's very rare that I see her on yahoo. But it was Valentine's Day and I wished her a happy V-Day. We chatted for a few minutes and then she had to go. She will be home in August.

Tomorrow I start back on a training schedule for the gym. I was goin to go this morning but I still wasn't healthy enough. So tomorrow is a good day. I'll be starting from scratch. I take for granted that my body isn't fully prepared for the lifting load I begin at. So when I start over I get sore and tired and then I slack off from soreness. This time I plan to take it slow and prepare my body for the heavy lifting in weeks to come. The feeling of starting over for me is troubling. I guess I don't like to admit that I'm just out of shape and I need to begin again.

I'm spiritually frustrated too. I just feel like I'm not getting enough out of my scripture readings. My prayer life is almost non-existant. I just want to pull away from the world and curl up into a little ball right now. I guess this is the time to start praying a lot. This sounds horrible but I may just have to make myself. I don't feel lost. I just feel disconnected from everything around me. I have to get reconnected somehow.

That's what's going on with Bob right now. A lot of inner termoil. Some can be cured with a good night's rest, others are deeper. I'm relatively an optimistic person. I'm sure that I will be chipper again soon. Just right now there is a dark cloud over my head. But again, what's life without a little bit of drama?

I'm Sick

Oh my! I seem to have come down with the common cold. I have that clogged head feeling and my nose runs like a faucet. I don't have a lot to talk about right now because all I did today was sleep. It was quite an uneventful day and I feel like I wasted it.

I did go to church though. I was freezing yet again. I don't know what it is but I can never get warm. Pastor Seth gave a great message bout how we all (himself included) get caught up in the rules and regulations of our lives and faith and how it takes away from the fullness of God's grace. His message reminded me of a question an author brought in a book I read some time ago. His question was "Who won, Jesus or Paul?" He phrased the question in that manner to illustrate the point that we as humans tend to take Paul's letters and make rules and guidelines to run our lives. Ironically that wasn't what Paul was about and today's lesson emphasizes that. The point I'm trying to make is that it's easy as humans to make rules out of Paul's epistles instead of living by the teachings of Jesus Christ and God's grace.

I also e-filed today. I need to get my refund back so I can pay off a few bills. cool.

Duran Duran Returns

Duran Duran 2005

Duran Duran Returns!!!!!!

After 20 years the original fab five are together again. Simon, Nick, Roger, Andy and John are making music. There seems to be three types of 80's groups. First are the ones that never went away (U2, Beastie Boys, Bon Jovi). Then there are the ones that went away and never made it back (Pat Benatar, Loverboy, Huey Lewis and about 90% of other 80's bands). The last are the bands that came back and were better than they were in the 80's (Duran Duran).
For many years I have wondered what Duran Duran would have sounded like if they never broke up. After hearing their new album "Astronaut" I must say that it was a blessing in disguise. I believe that while each member went their separate ways, it allowed them to hone their musical talents and grow as artists individually. When it came time to join together as Duran Duran, all the wisdom and musical talent produced a great reunion album.
I'm sure the Duran Duran fan will be ectatic over the new album. For the person looking for some good music to listen to then I suggest this album from track 6 to the end of the CD. Those are the songs that aren't really airplay friendly, but display their talents as musicians and as artists.
Welcome back Duran Duran. It's about time you redeemed yourself from "Wild Boys".

Life, Death and Lumber

Life and Death

We have two floppy eared bunnies on the farm and apparently sometime today the female had babies. Unfortunately I was not home all day due to work and the babies died from exposure. That's sad. But now we know that the bunnies we have can mate and have baby bunnies. Our plan is to repopulate the farm with rabbits so the predators will stay away from the ducks. So in a word we are breeding rabbits to be food. Oh the circle of life...

Lumber

The timbering company is almost done. Today they moved their largest machinery and it took forever for them to do it. I'm glad I got home from work when I did or I would have been unable to return home for till after dark. I would not have been happy.

Other than spending my day at work, nothing of note happened today. I'm going to wind down with a book and head back to work at 11am tomorrow.

One Of Those Days

I had one of those days where you wish you never got out of bed. In my case it's that I should have gotten out of bed earlier.

I woke up late for work and missed going into the gym. I had to let the dogs out to use the bathroom so that took time. They just gotta find that special spot!!!!
The I did the usual washing up and shaving for work. When I looked at the clock I saw I wasn't going to have time to eat breakfast. For those that know me they know that when I don't eat breakfast I get very very very very very grumpy!!!!

Have you noticed I like to use exclamation points?

Finally I got dressed and warmed my car up (it's forever cold here) and was ready to leave for work only to be blocked by the lumber truck on our one lane road. We have a logging company doing some timbering and they block the road whenever they get the chance. They're not she brightest crayons in the box but I guess you don't need to be if you're cutting wood. So that took ten minutes off my time to get to work.
By the time I got off my little drive I had 20 minutes to get to work. That is if I went the speed limit. Sadly, I was unable to go the speed limit to work. My journey consists of winding and turning country roads that are unpassable. I was first behind an elderly couple who should not have driver liscences. They were going 20 in a 45. I turned the road on my route and they went straight thank goodness. I went the speed limit for about 45 seconds only to be slowed down by a full lumbe truck. I was at 20 again. They turned off to a dirt road and I was free again only to get behind a COAL TRUCK!!!! I JUST COULD'T WIN!!!!

I got to work 5 minutes late. Fortunately the computer clocks are 5 minutes slow and I clocked in on time. But my day was still bad. I was constantly taking food out to the wrong tables or breaking dishes. I haven't broken a dish in months. It was just one of those days.

I started yet another book. It's called "Dont' Waste Your Life" by John Piper. So far I've only read to page 16. I hope on my day off I'll get to read more of the books I've started. I can't sit and read one book at a time. I have to read multiple books because my mind needs the different topics to stimulate it.

Time for me to go to sleep. I work from 9am to 4pm. I hope tomorrow is better than today was. I'm sure it will be.