Daily Ramblings – Thank You!!

This is beyond awesome. Thank you readers!!!

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote

Tags

Arnold Glasow, family, Friendship

“A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.” – Arnold H. Glasow

This quote is about friendship. I don’t know about you, but friends are hard to come by, particularly friends like the one Glasow discusses. If you have a great friend, someone you can count on for anything—you are truly blessed.

I have a few friends. One friend is my brother. Whenever I’ve hit a rough patch, he’s been there. When he’s hit one, I’m there for him. The same goes for my Mom and Dad. They are always there, rooting for me. Fortunately, I was in a position in December to retire early and now can spend time with them in their “Golden Years”. It is a true privilege to help your Mom and Dad and spend time with them before they leave this Earth. My sister is also a great friend. She’s helped me out a few times over the years, and I have tried to reciprocate when she’s had a downturn.

If you have a friend outside of your family, cherish them. These people are gold.

I hope all of you are having a terrific Monday!

See you tomorrow…

Daily Ramblings – Thank you!!!

Thanks for all of the likes readers!! I really appreciate the attention and hope you continue to enjoy my blog. More categories and writing projects are coming. You have all made my day!

Thank you very much! ~ Dave

Daily Rambling – Daily Quote – Bullying

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” – Winston Churchill

Have you ever run into someone who was just an outright bully? If so, this is a great quote. If you’ve ever investigated or read about WWII, this statement is all about Neville Chamberlain and his dealings with Adolph Hitler. This quote also applies to us.

Ignoring or trying to please someone who is bullying, attacking, or trying to undermine you in any way, only strengthens their position. If you think you’ll make them go away because you try to win them over by letting them step all over you, you are making a huge mistake. This will only encourage the bully more.

When dealing with a bully, you have two choices: 1) Get away from them and leave the situation where you and they have to interact (place of work, etc.); 2) Stand up to them.

Getting away from a bully will work because you diffuse the bully’s ability to continue doing what they are doing because you are no longer in their proximity. You quit the job you have with them, quit the group you are involved with or move out of your apartment complex. Unfortunately, this only inconveniences you and perpetuates that person’s behavior toward other victims.

Standing up to a bully is your better bet. If you’re in a workplace, you can report them to your human resources department, particularly if your boss is the bully. You can also try to work this out by explaining to them that their actions are offensive to you.

Bullying can occur anywhere. It can be in a line at the market, at your gym, or even at the local park where you are walking your pet. Bullying occurs everywhere, even online. I’m not advocating picking a fight with someone, but I am advocating standing up for yourself, even if that requires you to solicit help from your friends or another person who has the authority to make the bullying stop.

Do not let a bully ruin your life. They are normally operating on fear and anger (both are the same) level. Stand up to them and don’t let them ruin your life. If you do, they win and will continue this behavior against other people, including your friends and loved ones if you are in the same circle.

If you’re in the United States, here’s a great website that can offer you professional advice and tools to handle this type of thing: https://www.stopbullying.gov/

I highly recommend you talk to someone if this is occurring in your life. There is help available. No one should have to put up with this.

Until tomorrow…

Daily Ramblings – Thank you!!

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log

Tags

Bodybuilding, Calves, chest, triceps, workout

Today’s Exercises

Chest

• Bench Press 4 x 15 (135lbs)
• Reverse Grip Incline Dumbbell Press 4 x 15 (25lbs)
• Incline Dumbbell Fly 4 x 12 (30lbs)
• Cable Crossover High Pulley 4 x 15 (10lbs)

Triceps

• Triceps Pushdown 3 x 15 (60lbs)
• One-Arm Overhead Triceps Extension Cable (low pulley) 3 x 15 (15lbs)
• Close Grip Bench Press 3 x 15 (105lbs)

Calves

• Seated Calf Raise 4 x 15 (168lbs)
• Standing Calf Raise 4 x 15 (168lbs)

Workout Overview

Today’s workout is Day 19 Week 1 Phase 3 of Jim Stoppani’s Shortcut to Size (www.jimstoppani.com). This workout works in three 4-week cycles starting on week 1 with rep ranges of 12-15.

Today’s workout hits the Chest, Triceps, and Calves.

Current Bodyweight

My current weight is 240lbs and I am 6’ tall. The goal is to be around 245-250 by the end of this 12-week workout and maintaining my body fat percentage, which is around 20%. This is higher than I’d like, but during any bulking phase, it is quite common to gain some body fat or stay where you started because of a large amount of food a mass building program requires.

Yesterday’s macros

Carbohydrates 169g; Fat 89g; Protein 164g

I use my MyFitnessPal (I the iTunes App Store) to track my macros each day.

Supplements and Water intake

Water

Water intake is more than a gallon a day. I drink a 1/2 gallon of water just with my pre-workout, during, and post-workout drinks. The rest of my water intake is around my meals (six in total each day). I currently feed every two hours.

Morning

• AlphaJym
• ShredJym
• PreJym combined with flavorless Whey Protein (25g)

During Workout

• BCAA drink during workouts with flavorless Whey Protein (24g)

Post Workout

• PostJym Dextrose and BCAA Matrix combined with flavorless Whey Protein (24g)
• OmegaJym
• VitaJym

Evening

• ZMAJym

See you tomorrow!!

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quotes

Each of us has encountered times of trouble. We have health problems, we lose our loved ones, we get hit with financial issues and all the rest. Sometimes you just have to let go, laugh, and enjoy the ride. The bad times will pass, just like the good ones do. In the end, it’s all about learning detachment and remaining centered, realizing that we are with God right now and all of these experiences here are one grand illusion, created mostly by ourselves.

Stay happy readers. Laugh, enjoy the richness of your day-to-day life, and remember that all of your experiences, good or bad, are lessons to teach you how to better serve and assist others.

Until tomorrow…

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quotes

“Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.” – Charles F. Kettering

“The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbor.” – Horace

“Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.” – Horace

Today’s contributors to my Daily Quotes are Charles Kettering and Horace. Kettering offers advice about success. He explains that success is the result of failure. I’ve read this multiple times in the self-improvement literature and it’s true. You cannot be afraid to fail in order to achieve success.

Our second quote discusses jealousy. The reason jealousy, anger, lust, attachment, and fear are such horrific emotions is because they tend to focus our attention outside of us. Whenever we believe our problems are the result of someone or something else we give up our ability to fix them. We blame everything outside of us for our difficulties and refuse to take responsibility for anything–a horrible state to be in.

The final quote is about work ethic. One of the foundations of a satisfying life is hard work. Not work for the sake of it, but concentrated, goal-driven, determined work. This is one of the things I love about weight lifting. You only get results when you work hard, focus on the exercises, eat right, use proper supplementation, get proper rest, and drink plenty of water.

What do these quotes mean to you? Do you have any quotes you’d like to contribute? Do you have an example of how these quotes may apply to a past situation in your life? Please share here.

See you tomorrow…

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log

Today’s workout was a non-template workout, but a good one. Since I’ve completed Week 1, Phase 2 of the Shortcut to Size Workout, I decided to do some weight-lifting, but for cardio purposes on Saturday and Sunday. Today’s target was lower body, Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Abdominals, Obliques, and Lumbar muscles.

Today’s workout:

• Squats 4 x 30
• Leg Press 4 x 30
• Leg Extension 4 x 30
• One-leg Hamstring curls 4 x 30
• Romanian Deadlift 4 x 30
• Machine Crunches 4 x 30
• Wood Cutter 4 x 30
• Machine Back Extensions 4 x 30

Macros from yesterday:

Carbs 254g; Protein 216g; Fat 98g A little over on carbs.

Enjoy your Sunday. Week 2, Day 1, Shortcut to Size commences tomorrow.

Until tomorrow!!

Daily Ramblings – Planning

Over the last few weeks, we’ve looked at the 4 dimensions of life. Now, it’s time to discuss how to organize our lives around these 4 dimensions to ensure we stay balanced and improve our effectiveness by addressing each one of these dimensions on a weekly basis. Planning is something that can always be improved and if done correctly, will save you a lot of time and worry in the future, in relation to any activity you do.

Tools

First, let’s discuss the tools that we need before we begin. Obviously, you’ll need a calendar. You’ll also need a pen or pencil. Finally, a paper journal broke out by day or an electronic journal. Here’s what I use:

• I use Google Calendar for my calendar tool
• I use Todoist as my cloud-based to do list
• I use a journal called the Productivity Planner produced by Intelligent Change
• I use a blank composition book for brainstorming

Reviewing the Previous Week

This is something I learned from the author David Allen who wrote the book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. This practice is also provided in the Productivity Planner. It is literally a section in each week of your planner pages. Anyways, to begin, examine anything you’ve received in the last week that you have not processed. This could email you’ve received, voicemails you’ve received, missed calls, social networking responses, any mail you’ve received you haven’t opened or processed, etc. Literally, any input you have not looked at and made a decision about should be the first thing we tackle.

Next, you’ll want to look at your goals and see what steps you’ve completed and what steps are left. Typically, these are multi-step projects that we all track in our heads or on paper. Anyway, you’ll want to look at all the projects you have and what you are doing to move them forward.

Questions to ask during your review:

• What did I get done last week (wins)?
• What did I not get done last week?
• Did I learn anything new last week?
• What will I commit to this week that will allow me to finish my top 5 tasks?

Planning the upcoming Week

Now that you know what you have to do, it’s time to determine what is really important out of all the things on your to-do list, project list, and goals list. Now that you have determined what your top 5 things are, we next move to our dimensions.

• How will you schedule learning something new (Intellectual Dimension)?
• How will you schedule spending some time with your friends and loved ones (Social Dimension)?
• How will you schedule some time for exercise (physical dimension)?
• How will you schedule some time for your spiritual activities (spiritual dimension)?
• These should all be scheduled on your calendar.

Here’s how I’ll tackle my week:

Physical Dimension:

Weight Lifting Mon-Tue; Thu-Fri

Cardio Wed – Sat – Sunday

Social Dimension:

Dinner with Mom and Dad each night; Chatting with my Sister and Brother at least 1 day this week

Intellectual Dimension:

Continue to watch Game Theory on The Great Courses Website; continue reading Kissinger book; continue reading Brooks book

Spiritual Dimension:

Meditate am 10 minutes; 20 minutes pm

Read my Bible morning and evening in conjunction with meditation

Character building – Courage is the character trait I want to work on this week (physical and moral)

Web sites referred to in this posting:

https://www.intelligentchange.com/ This website is the company that sells the Productivity Planner I referred to

www.todoist.com This is the cloud-based to do list I use. I can access on my PC or phone.

http://gettingthingsdone.com/ David Allen’s website for the GTD methodology.

Until next time…