Busy day, big party

Saturday 1/30/10

Rainy day, spent all day with the wife cleaning the house and preparing the food for her father's birthday. We had close to 30 people over and both the company and the food were great. My wife's an excellent cook and host and everything went well. Good times!

Walked the dog for two hours later in the afternoon after the rain subsided.

Sunday 1/31/10

Woke up at 0500 and walked Yogi for 2 hours.

A ceremony, amazing words, and a good workout

Friday 1/29/10

... not necessarily in that order. We got up a couple of times last night again for calls, one at 0100 and one about 0330. These constant late night calls are going to be the death of me, I swear. Regardless, woke up at 0645, drank some coffee, turned over the keys to the truck and went and had a good workout.

Workout: One-arm/one leg dumbbell deadlifts: 1x5 at 80lbs., 1x5 at 90lbs., 1x5 at 95lbs., 1x5 at 100lbs., 1x5 at 110lbs.

Upon completion of a set of these (for both arms and both legs) I would "plank" for around a minute and then move on to superset with:

Dumbbell shoulder presses: 1x5 at 40lbs., 1x5 at 50lbs., 1x5 at 60lbs. 1x3 at 65lbs. 1x2 at 70lbs. (last set was a push-press/jerk) I would also plank again after this before going back to the deadlifts.

One-arm dumbbell snatches: 1x5 at 60lbs., 1x3 at 75lbs. 1x1 at 80lbs. (failed with left arm at 80lbs.)

I also intermittently played around with handstands; in all the workout took a little over 30 minutes. It was brief, intense, and fairly random as I have not had a structured workout in a while and had no clue what I was going to do when I walked in the county gym this morning. I just turned up the heat and went to it. Good sweat, good workout, good stuff. I went home and walked the dog afterward for about an hour.

Later in the day I attended an award ceremony for my fire/rescue department. The ceremony recognized the firefighter of the year and paramedic of the year (I was nominated for paramedic but, the individual who received the award was more than deserving), and unit accommodations for those who performed "above and beyond" on various calls. Great ceremony. Afterward..., what do a bunch of fireman do naturally after getting together for some kind of function? You guessed it, we hit the tavern! Drank some good beer (actually only two for me, mostly wine) and ate some good food and had some good conversation. My most stimulating conversation came from the fire chief..., THE fire chief. Working for a small department certainly has its advantages when it comes to being able to talk openly with the highest person in our chain of command. I cannot really express in words the passion that this man has for helping people, (first) whether they be members of his family, members of the department, or patients, and (second) his passion for building and growing our fire/rescue department. He has done an amazing job with all aspects and certainly has not received enough credit over the years. After speaking with him for damn near 2 hours, I admire and respect him even more now. Earlier this week I posted about how I was in a rut, lasting a little longer than usual, and how everyone is entitled to be in a rut every now and then. I think my chief definitely battles with "ruts" more often than I do and probably to a much greater degree. He has a lot more responsibility than I. Still though, a man of his experience (30+ years in EMS) and expertise, I found asking me for advice, giving me advice, and giving me accolades. I was honored and humbled all at once. I was sure to let him know my thoughts, beliefs, my intentions and what I though of him, as a person and a chief. Again, not many people (firefighters/medics, maybe even corporate office workers) ever get the opportunity to have such an in depth conversation with the head of upper level management. I was/am fortunate. Though I am only a firefighter/paramedic (lower ranks) and not an officer, I let him know that he may not value my opinion as strongly as if I were but, regardless, I think he needed to know that he's doing a great job and is well appreciated. He let me know my opinion was more than worth it. He gave out a tremendous amount of advice to me, more than I can write here today on this one page. The one thing that stuck however, that I know I need to be doing is having faith and believing in God. He told me that if I learned nothing else from him, that the one thing I should take would be to "devote one hour a week to God." He said that this is the ONLY reason why he has been able to continue to be chief and deal with not only the aspects of the profession, but of his whole life. I took this to heart because again, sometimes I feel an emptiness that simply cannot be filled by anything or anybody else and know deep down, what I'm missing. Why I continue to not acknowledge it and push it away, I don't know (or maybe I do now), but this is something that I will certainly implement into my life. Last night was a great night and much needed for me as I don't do it often anymore. I came home a little before 1100 p.m. thinking that my wife was going to be pissed..., she wasn't, quite the opposite actually. She's an amazing person, much like the chief and my fellow co-workers who were all recognized tonight for a job more than well done.

Fire station work and diabetes

Thursday 1/28/10

At work at the fire station today. No walking the dog and no workout (attempted a workout with the guys but we caught a call). Today for training we watched a powerpoint/video on pediatric diabetes and as often does, the subject of diet and exercise vs. genetics came up. Now, through all of my years of self experimentation (n=1), and trial and error coupled with reading many of my favorite blogs and/or books about the effects of various diets and activity (or lack thereof) on such diseases as diabetes and others, I'd like to consider myself "somewhat" versed (by no means an expert) on such subject matter. So, the questions (and conventional wisdom) statements came and I responded, armed better than they with some of their claims which came from..., where else, yep, our friend conventional wisdom. Today however, I actually received accusations and question about where I get my information and what makes what I believe and me so knowledgeable. "I simply take what I learn and apply it. After a period of time it either works or doesn't." Does it get any simpler than that? I often quote names, books, blogs, etc. and then always try to end with a question of my own, simply asking, "Is what you are doing working or has it ever worked?" One only need to reflect on one's life, then struggle to simply get out of the recliner to go take a look in the mirror to find their answer. I am not a doctor and do not proclaim to know what is best for each individual's specific condition but I believe and continue to believe that if one is willing to self educate and then apply those self-taught principles to oneself, they may start to have the answers their looking for. I read the works of Arthur De Vany arthurdevany.com, Mark Sisson marksdailyapple.com and have read Loren Cordain's "The Paleo Diet," Gary Taubes's "Good Calories, Bad Calories, and the list goes on. The fact is that I can read all the material I want but not apply any of it and hence learn nothing. I have applied all of it at least one time or another and have kept what works for me and thrown out what hasn't. Notice I said for me, people are different (though recent research shows that 99.9% of share the same DNA, but that's for another discussion). The very people that I sometimes try to educate on the matter have never tried such things or made an attempt to make such changes in their lives or have chosen the wrong route all together and have fallen short... way short. This brings me back to the subject of diabetes. It is a disease that is becoming worse and worse and is only compounded by the problems of misleading information by conventional wisdom who use the media as their outlet, doctors who still are not properly schooled in diet and nutrition and the people not taking it upon themselves to self educate and hence continuing to choose low quality and the wrong foods and live sedentary lifestyles. I'm here to do my part to teach, show and demonstrate how people can take back control of their lives and stave off the major diseases that dominate our Western civilization by making strong, solid and sound choices when it comes to nutrition and activity. I love to talk and listen, especially to those who are open to learning how to lead a healthier lifestyle and live a long life without having to battle any disease.

Life can be complicated

Wednesday 1/27/10

I have it easy... compared to a lot of people (but sometimes not), I have it easy. I have a good, stable and secure job, a roof over my head, food, water and to top things off, a beautiful wife who loves me and puts up with a lot my BS. Still though, I find that just "having it easy," at times, isn't enough and, like many others, I start looking for something more; a better job, more money, a different place to live, etc, (all except a better woman, I've got that one nailed). I recently came across a statement/question by a friend on facebook that read: "where do I get these lemons?" Had to laugh, so true. Though most things in my life are taken care of, I feel as though I've been recently bombarded with negativity and "tests," if you will. Everybody's entitled to be in a rut or bad mood every now and then, the trick is coming out of it a better person. Usually, I do, but this time the "rut" is sticking around a little longer than normal and I find myself asking questions that I don't have the answers to right now. This is frustrating and preventing me from progressing forward. In short, I know the (my) answer lies somewhere, maybe not with me yet, maybe not so obvious even but, it's somewhere and I know it will present itself soon.

Activity: 2 hour broken up walk with the dog today.

Food: Breakfast: 1 cup of coffee with cream, one black, no sugar today.

-4 hard boiled eggs with one avocado mixed with chives, parsley, basil leaves, oregano and hot sauce.

-A LOT of mixed nuts and seeds

Skipped lunch

Dinner: some sliced cheese and mixed nuts. Wings and blue cheese with friends.

Tuesday 1/26/10

Walked the dog for an hour.

Workout: Kick-boxed: 12x3 minute rounds with one minute rest between rounds. Today's workout was good. I took the down the full length 100lb. heavy bag and put up the shorter 80lb. bag. I like the way it feels when I hit the shorter bag as opposed the longer bag.

Walked the dog for another hour.

Sunday 1/24/10

Wife and I walked the dog for about an hour out at Anastasia National Park. Beautiful day!

Monday 1/25/10

Walked the dog for two hours in the morning and then again for an hour in the evening. Yogi still had energy after all of that. He's a monster!

Friday 1/22/10

Intermittent fasting for most of the day. At work and no exercise or walking; mainly just busy work. Ran calls steadily throughout the day and got annihilated at night. Lack of sleep is not a good thing.

Saturday 1/23/10

Walked the dog for two hours and then did a boxing workout (6x5 minute rounds) later in the day. I broke two of my rules of exercise: 1. worked out when not wanting to AND 2. it was not enjoyable. I basically did this to try and counter the sleepless night and give myself some energy. I couldn't (can't) sleep at all during the day (in sunny Florida). Workout really did not do any good. Eating today was a little haphazard and good but, my wife and I went to a party and I drank WAY too much wine. Feeling it this early Sunday morning.

Going to post more often...

I've cut way back on the working out..., way back. Truth be told, I feel so much better. I'm certain that I was most definitely suffering from overuse injuries; tendinitis in both medial epicondyles (or inner elbows), and generally overtrained. As I believe I have mentioned in previous posts, I've adopted walking and have engaged in it more frequently. Various research suggests, http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2010/01/walking.html, that walking most if not all days of week greatly reduces systemic inflammation. Contrary to popular belief, walking is not just beneficial for the stay-at-home mom or the non-athletic. Athletes, whether elite, weekend warrior and the like can benefit as well. Studies show that intense exercise of any kind, that it be resistance or "cardio" in nature promotes inflammation. Walking can help to counteract this. Arthur De Vany states that he sometimes takes a slow, relaxing walk just after a brief intense exercise session to help keep inflammation at bay and to raise growth hormone (GH) levels. That being said, walking has found a solid role in my lifestyle, almost daily. On that note, below is what I've been doing for the past week and half. I cannot remember workouts further back than this but they are about the same. There is no pattern, uniformity or consistency. Everything is fast, hard and brief and the exercises and days that they fall on are completely random and chaotic. Very evolutionary.

Monday 1/11/10

Walked and ran the trails at UNF with some bodyweight work intermittently for roughly one hour.

Kickboxed 12 - 3 minute rounds with one minute rest between rounds.

Tuesday 1/12/10

Walked the dog for two hours.

Wednesday 1/13/10

Walked the dog for one hour.

Thursday 1/14/10

Walked the dog for two hours.

Friday 1/15/10

Walked the dog for one hour.

Sprinted barefoot in grass: 10 sprints at approximately 12-15 seconds each with about 3 minutes rest between sprints. In between sprints, I worked pull-ups, dips, push-ups, handstands, etc. I got a one-arm pull-up (OAP) with the right hand fairly easy today. I attribute this to not working out as much and allowing my body more rest and a decrease in bodyweight (about 155lb.s now).

Saturday 1/16/10 - Wednesday 1/20/10

Walking various times, some days only 30 minutes, some an hour, some two hours.

Thursday 1/21/10

Walked for an hour.

Worked on OAP/OAC: 3x2 each arm and one arm push-ups: 3x5 each arm. I also easily did superman fingertip push-ups (Jack Lalane style) and played around with various other bodyweight movements; lots of muscle ups (fat bar and regular) back levers, handstands, semi planches and dips.

Sprinted various distances/times (lost count how many sprints I did) and threw around some kettlebells, 17lb. and 35lb. Great workout.