Day 293 - They Said What?

Good Morning. Your snow storm (a.k.a. Snowmagator) update for today; our schools are closed again. Urgency is lacking in getting the roads back to normal. A bit surprising it is taking so long for me it is no big deal really, I can work from home easy enough.

Yesterday it took two of my teenage boys & I 1.5 hours to remove all the snow from our driveway & sidewalks. They say we had 20 inches of snow fall, I believe them.

There you see a picture before we got started. My daughters car had drifts around it that I took a tape measure to which were 35 inches deep. Bummer too as I really wanted go out and shoot some hoops!

Today seems like a great day to give some Shout-Outs to some bloggers and their posts which grabbed me good recently. Check them out, I think you'll be glad you did and follow on with these fine bloggers if you are not doing so already...

MARY from A Merry Life gave us this cool & very unique insight into what has been motivating her over he long journey. Literally long!

Do you have your own, "The Stack" story?

Myself, nothing as cool as Mary, but I have a bunch of T's I've received as gifts over the past decade that are 1x which I am determined to fit into this year.

DEB from Deb Shrinks got my attention quickly with the title of this post, Vaseline, frozen eyelashes, oh, and ONEDERLAND BABY!!! Actually when I saw it all I read was 'Vaseline' and I raced to click open the post; what does that say about me? It wasn't until I read onto the final paragraph that I noticed her HUGE NSV NEWS where she has arrived in ONEDERLAND.

Have you had an NSV recently you have yet to share?

Myself, well, I have a pre-NSV in that I am on the verge of taking hammer & punch to my old belt again. Maybe in a week or two; NO, definitely in a week or two!

BETHANY from Bethany's Journey is a new blogger. She is also the daughter of KAREN from Sunshine's Heart, so you can call this a Two'fer Shout Out entry. CAUTION, if you do not like cute pictures of infants & toddlers, don't go here. Bethany has begun her weight-loss journey, lets share our experiences with her to help get her off and moving here.

Remember when you started your weight-loss journey?

Myself, absolutely. The difference from then to now in my knowledge of the topic and understanding of my capabilities is as different as the taste of cow-pies and moon-pies (making an assumption here that cow-pies taste worse than bad).

Spread What Moves You & Shout Out Some Link Love This Week!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 292 - Come On, Out Plank Me Already!!

Snow, yes, we have allot of snow. Schools are closed, my wife & I are working from home, winter can kiss my round yet knavish hindquarters...

Moving on... last week I spread the news of Josie's (Yum Yucky) plank challenge known as The Planktastic Plankathon Challenge. Hit up her link there and check it our if you have not yet done so and enjoy the videos of the challengers taking on this tough yet fun exercise.

Myself, I made a go at it on Saturday and chose to do the Straight-arm plank hold, I did better than I expected by holding position for 90-seconds. Josie was cool enough to include my video on her page (link above). She surprised me when she noted that I was current male challenge champ for that hold.

Huh, over-weight / weak-core me is the champ? Never would have guessed that.

Pondering that I figured the male bloggers out there who follow Yum Yucky just haven't participated. Oh some have in different categories; Reinaldo of DarnFitness put up an insane 6 minute Forearm plank hold.

Quite a few female bloggers have taken up the challenge in various categories, again check out her blog to see them in action. There are even some doing slightly easier holds such as the knee plank or the assisted plank. My fave, 88-year-old MamaMcFoodie getting her forearm plank hold on! Her video alone is worth the visit!

But I am sure that is just a matter of time until other male bloggers play along with Josie. But until they do, I suppose I have to challenge myself to up the time in this grueling category.

And I did just that. Here is my effort Tuesday afternoon, I nudged the time up to 2 minutes!...


What it is about this challenge I like I am not sure. Perhaps because it is quick to do; a minute or two or a few is all it takes if you've got game. Perhaps it is because I realize my core is weak and this does wonders for addressing that. Perhaps it is because I like feeling my whole body quiver and quake and know it is not a bad thing. Perhaps because I find it FUN!

Now, ENOUGH about me. What about YOU?

I am CALLING out my fellow male bloggers, you got game?

No way 2 minutes should be the championship mark men!

Female bloggers, many of you inspire me to move, so I know you got game!

Pick a category, get your video going and get in the fun being had here if you deem yourself healthy enough to take this challenge.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 291 - January GTD Challenge Fades to FebGTD

Snow, all around the Chicagoland area are bracing for the storm being called Snowmaggedon. I am calling it Snowmagator, because I like alligators. What, do I need a better reason than that? As I said on Twitter this morning, "Hello snow, I've been working out so I'm ready for u."

January Go The Distance is now complete and February Go The Distance has begun. For January I only got in 30 of my 40 goal miles. So 75% is not immediately anything to be proud about. Consideration could be given to the fact that my elliptical does not display miles. Early in the month I tried to calculate it but there were too many variables for me to do so accurately. So I defaulted to simple math, 20 minutes equals a mile; although I'd bet money I am moving more than a mile in 20 minutes. But I chose to error on a conservative calculation.

So in January I did 600 minutes on the elliptical which I am scoring as 30 miles, 75% of my goal for 40 miles. In the spirit of building upon past performance I am keeping my goal at 40 miles in February. I'll calculate the miles the same way which means I am aiming for 800 minutes on that creaky old elliptical in my bedroom.

JanGTD also had goals for strength training. I set a goal of 12 sessions, I did 7... hhhmmm, I have to wonder if I failed to record a session or two early in the month. I started the month targeting twice a week with a  stretch goal of three times a week; hence the 12 mark was set. Looking back I thought I at least had the twice a week nailed and I know last couple weeks I have hit three... you know what. I am claiming victory as I know January saw my best strength training month in 15 years. February will be better than January, I promise!

JanGTD also had goals for water, fruit & veg consumption, I knocked all of those out of the park!

FebGTD has dropped the fruit & veg tracking and added a stretching goal to go alongside the cardio & strength goals. CHECK IT OUR HERE!

I am stoked for February, the last full month of winter. No more hibernating going to be had by this healthy-fitness-wanna-be-blogger-dude. NONE! I am awake, and I am moving!...

You awake?

You need help getting up & getting moving?? 

HEY, are you involved in February Go The Distance? If not & in need of a challenge, join us!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 277 - Who Knows Why I Did...

First, many know Dawn, some may not. Dawn has just underwent surgery to lift / re-do herself after losing 200 pounds in recent years. Her long anticipated journey to this day has arrived and last word received is she is back in her room and presumably fine. Hit her up with a kind word in your travels through the blogs today.

In search for an old photo of me I randomly went to a year in out digital library, chose 2004. I found this beauty of me receiving an early Christmas gift. Wow, that is one big dude there. Somewhere in the 320's I am guessing. Ugh, Double Ugh!

Yesterday I came home a tad early to beat winter traffic during a sleet & snow downfall. Not a storm, just a steady all day drone of the stuff; enough to double my usual 40 minute commute.

So being home early what do I do? Well I workout of course. Did cardio the past two days, thus today is weight training day. So I changed from my business casual garb & jumped into a mix-match of sweat pants & a tshirt and head into the basement.

A good 15 minutes of stretching and then a round of core specific exercises I do from time to time; meaning I am not as consistent with core exercises as I ought to be. From there on to the upper body workout. Not 10 minutes goes by and I get bored. Oh the workout was going fine, I just had a wandering mind. Probably because I was alone in the basement minus a cat chasing who knows what over yonder.

My anti-boredom solution? Who knows why I did this but I grabbed my iTouch & made a video...

Ok if you watched that perhaps you have validation as to my boredom. When the idea to do this hit me I had ideas of making a few more. But after viewing this take I figured not a good idea; how exciting is watching someone bench press? Instead of deleting it as my intuition suggested, I am not one to keep a chuckle to myself, hope you enjoyed.

Couple of clarifications from the video...

• In it I said I had 45 plates on to get started, I did have 45s on but it wasn't my first set; this was my 3rd. I meant get 'started' on the video.
• The bright light, it is what it is; a light bulb. Hope it wasn't too annoying.
• This was actually the 2nd take of this video, the first was about 11 seconds long. That's when I remembered the shirt I was wearing. I turned it inside out for take-two; it is a very politically-sharp shirt and I really don't like to mix my politics in with this blog.
• I pointed out the "Fitness Warrior" towel I have hastily hung on the background for motivation; if you aren't familiar with Bobbie's goods check her out.
• Finally, I really chose not to make another video because messing around with setting if up was interrupting my workout too much. Oh I'll fiddle with it again someday just for fun, maybe you can watch me do sit ups soon!

 What do you do when in the middle of a workout and boredom hits?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 271 - Stylish Blogger Award

Good Morning one and all! Hope all are enjoying the whether it has been filled with snow and hot chocolate, or, sun and chocolate milk.

We received about six inches over a days time here in the Chicago area. Which is akin to a fly buzzing about for a few seconds; easy stuff for the hearty folks here. Nothing was shut down, the roads moved with minimal slow down due to conditions; it was a tame dose of fluffy light harmless snow. Those of you that endured the not so nice dose of sloppy heavy nasty snow, bummer;it'll melt soon enough.

Yesterday I was graced with the honor of receiving a blog award. Thank you to Michele and Josh @ Healthy Cultivations for honoring me with this Stylish Blogger Award. Check them out if you have not yet done so; great site for awesome food pics and thoughts on being mindful in eating and life.

Ok, some business for me in accepting this award:

1. Post and link back to the person who awarded you this award;
2. Share 7 things about yourself;
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers (or as many as you can); and
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them they’ve won!

I can do that, here we go...1. Did that above.

2. Seven Things, whew, see if I can come up with some winners
--1-- I do not have a myspace account, perhaps I should apologize to the 500 people that they just laid off.
--2-- Rye bread is my favorite, if it is not rye bread it really is just a sponge made out of food
--3-- I do NOT get what folks get all excited for Shark Week on television; that is cool why?
--4-- I have used the snow blower only once this winter; I now shovel by choice!
--5-- Watching the news on TV to be so 1992 and thus rarely do; by the time the news comes on TV I already know it all thanks to my blackberry or laptop.
--6-- I truly believe that Rachael Ray wants me; don't tell my wife please.
--7-- I'd run for President but I have a moral issue with being paid for doing nothing; but if I change my mind and win you better believe I am serving venison at the inauguration luncheon.

3. Hmmm, 15 recently discovered great bloggers, not all are recent but let me recognize...
Zineb @ Losing My Baby Weight
Carrie @ Family Fitness Food
Rinn @ Ring Around Rinn
Chubby McGee @ A Mom On A Journey To get Fit Forever!
Suzanne @ Scared Of Wearing A Bathing Suit
Darla @ My Winning Year 2011
Stephanie @ She's In There Somewhere
John @ Prior Fat Guy
C. @ The Evolution of Me
Mrs. D @ In Pursuit
Kelly @ KellyisLosingWeight - I am a Future Thin Girl!
Michele @ Ruminations and Uncovering: Toward a New ME!
Anne @ How I am Losing It
Cinner @ ME, MY FOUR CHINS AND I
andi @ My Quest for a Yummy Life!

4. Done

Have a Great Day!


Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 231 - Snow For Sale

Yeah, snowed last night & it is still snowing. Pic there is just the 2 inches that greeted me when I opened the garage at 7a.m. this morning. Up early to drop one son to take the SAT and another for a wrestling tourney.

My wife & I are at the tourney now and we'll be here all day. So putting together a quick post from my blackscarry... Water bottles are for sale here & the bathrooms are clean.

Enjoy your Saturday, keep it healthy!

Responsibility199, Gotta Do It!!

Day 230 - Riddle, Tuna, Snow, Fitness Warrior & Meow

December is off and running and we need a picture riddle to keep it going properly, don't you agree? What oh what could that picture above be? Have an idea; then tell us what you think it is. Have no idea; then take a guess anyhow. Have fun and I'll get you the answer tomorrow.

Let us see here, I think I will keep things on the lighter side today just because I can.

Speaking of lite, here is a picture of my lunch from yesterday; tuna steak over sauteed veg & brown rice. Oh and a huge dollop of cucumber sauce which I punted. Amazing how the cafeteria can put out some really great dishes on some days and them some horrific messes on others...

This was taken earlier this week from one of our office building cat-walks. Snow flurries teasing and taunting us. This Saturday the weather folks are calling for 2-4 inches; I've procrastinated long enough in cranking over the snow blower and be sure it is ready for the season...

 

THANK YOU Bobbie!

Recently I was one of the lucky ones whose name came up as winners of a give-away Bobbie was having. And here it it, my very own Fitness Warrior towel from her recently launched line of Fitness Warrior gear. If you are not familiar with Bobbie of her line of goods, check out those links!

And we will wrap up the post with a gratuitous cat picture. Zinger & Nacho here, can you tell that they want the cat nip I have in hand...

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!