26 Wednesday Jun 2019
Posted in Workout Routine
Tags
Bodybuilding, Calves, Crunches, Discipline, Hamstrings, healthy living, Planet Fitness, Presses, Quadriceps
I’m finally back at it. It is so easy to blow off the gym and make excuses right?
Here you go:
Superset:
Leg Press 1×50; 1×40; 1×30; 1×20; 1×10; 1×10; 1×20; 1×30; 1×40; 1×50
Calf Press 1×40; 1×30; 1×20; 1×10; 1×10; 1×10; 1×10; 1×20; 1×30; 1×40
Ab Crunch 1×20; 1×30; 1×40; 1×40; 1×50;
10 Wednesday Apr 2019
Posted in Workout Routine
Tags
Ab Crunches, Cardio, Discipline, Leg Extension, Leg Press, Muscle Confusion, Seated Hamstring Curls, Treadmil, Workout Variety
AM:
Today, I mixed it up. I did 20 minutes of cardio on the treadmill, with leg and ab exercises.
Leg Press 3 x 20;
Leg Extension 3 x 20;
Seated Hamstring Curls 3 x 20;
Ab Crunches 3 x 20;
That’s it, folks! I’ll be in the gym tomorrow, bright and early.
See you at the finish line!
Dave
11 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in Motivation Monday
“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”―Ralph Waldo Emerson
Have you ever wondered about what you wanted to do? I remember when I was in high school and wondered about this very question. How did people end up where they are? Why did people choose a job of doing his or that? This question haunted me for a few years until I came across the idea of enlisting in the Army.
When I enlisted back in the 80s, my first few years weren’t that great. After a short while I began to doubt my decision. Then I had a revelation. I asked myself, “Why not put all you have into this?” From the moment I decided to put everything I had into being the best soldier I could be, my military career took off.
I knew in high school that I wanted to do something I liked. I learned in the Army that what I liked is what I chose to dedicate myself to. In other words, everything I thought had an order to it, was backward. Obviously, you need some driver to get you to act. For me, the Army represented a full-time job, benefits, and the ability to support myself.
After I had decided to join the Army, it was now up to me to embrace that decision. I could have just messed around during my first enlistment, doing the bare minimum, but my thinking at the time drove me to do something worthwhile. Why waste my time in the Army, when I was going to be there anyway? So that’s what I did.
Each of us comes to a crossroads in our lives. We know we want a certain end-state. We then began scanning our environment to find the means of alleviating the dissonance between where we are and where we want to be. Our ambitions drive this part of us.
Once we have decided what we want or where we want our lives to be, we must work. We take advantage of our opportunities and do the work. Doing the work, we slowly begin creating the future we have envisioned.
When do we win? We win when we have worked hard enough, chiseled away enough of our current situation to achieve the life we want. Imagine the life you want and begin scanning your environment for ways to get yourself to that point. What do you have to do? What actions do you need to take? Once you understand what your life will “look” like it is nothing more than working your butt off to get there.
Until next time…
Dave
13 Saturday Oct 2018
Posted in Spiritual Saturday
Tags
“Give your best effort each day, and leave the rest to Spirit.”—Harold Klemp The Language of Soul
All of us have an internal measure of what our best is. Do that. It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes or fail. Do your best.
When I was in the Army, my first few years were a little rough. I did what I could to get by. I didn’t really dedicate myself as much as I should have. Then, I got the idea that maybe, just maybe, I should give everything I had to be the best soldier I could be. The day I decided to do that was the day my career changed forever.
You see, I put everything I had to keep my uniform looking a little better than the next guy’s uniform. I took pride in what I was accomplishing. I kept my room and my equipment a little cleaner than the other guys. I began studying regulations, field manuals and reading military history. I began putting extra effort into the gym at night when the other guys were going out and chasing girls.
I gave it my all and it paid off. This is all this quote is talking about. You give everything you have, and God will step in and give some help. That’s the way it works.
If you think your job sucks, your relationships suck, your life sucks, give everything your all. You will slowly begin to see that your job improves, your relationships improve, and yes, your life will improve. You will be expressing your gratitude for this life by giving life everything you have. That’s exactly what God put you here to do.
Until next time…
Dave
23 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Accomplishment, Quotes, Success
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Jim Rohn
Dictionary.com defines discipline as an activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill. But I think it is so much more than this. Discipline is about doing what is necessary or needed, regardless of whether a person likes doing what is necessary or not. I think this definition is much more accurate.
Discipline is nothing more than the price that must be paid to attain something. Nothing in this world is free. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that believe they can “cheat” the system. Lie to a customer, lie to your wife or partner, lie to yourself. Of these three, the most insidious of these lies is oneself.
Lying to yourself will bring you a lot of pain and suffering. You will succeed at everything in your mind, but in reality, fail in everything. What satisfaction is there in achieving something that is easy to attain? Nothing. There is no victory when there is no challenge, no risk, and no possibility of failure. The victory in these circumstances is empty–meaningless.
When we embark on working toward a goal or establishing a new habit we have to make a decision. Do I want to pay that price? If you are comfortable with doing that, then go for it. If you are not willing to pay the price your goal or new habit requires, drop it and do something else. If you are not willing to pay the price you will NEVER attain the goal or establish the habit you are shooting for. There are no shortcuts to meaning.
I like using exercise as a metaphor to explain myself. Exercise is the one area you cannot cheat. The gym, the equipment, and the weights do not lie. You can either curl a 25lb dumbbell or you cannot. You can run on the treadmill at 10 miles an hour or you cannot. You can squat 200lbs or you cannot. The gym will not let you cheat, nor will the scale when you weigh yourself.
If you want to lose weight, it’s simple. Eat less of what you are currently eating and eat nutritious and dense foods that are NOT processed. I don’t care what label you find on that cereal box or dinner. I don’t care if the meal is labeled low-fat, low-carb, or organic. Processed food is processed food. It is horrible for you. It will put chemicals into your body you can’t even pronounce and labeling today is such that most companies aren’t even truthful about what they are putting in your meals. That is one price you must pay. Eat healthy food. In other words, food that is not in a box.
If you want to be healthy, drink water, eat unprocessed foods, take your vitamins and other supplements, get enough sleep, and make sure you align your diet with the appropriate protein, carbohydrate, and fat levels. Is it easy to measure out your food? No. But it’s another price you must pay on the road to health.
Do you drink? Do you do drugs? Do you smoke? Again, all this needs to go away. You won’t be healthy doing any of these things. Your body will take it and one day you’ll wake up with heart disease, cancer, or maybe even a stroke. You drop these things and your road to health and weight loss are yours.
You want to make gains in the gym, track what you do. If you do not document what you are doing you have no idea where you are and where to push to. It’s like traveling in a foreign land without a map. You will not gain as much as you would have had you documented what you did.
These are just some of the prices a healthy body and decent weight cost. Are you willing to pay this price? If so, bravo. If not, do something else and save your time.
This may be harsh, but it is the reality of the situation. If you want something, look at what other people have done to achieve it. Follow in their footsteps. They have shown you how to do it, how much it costs in coin, sweat, and tears. You have all the information you need. Then it’s up to you. Do you really want to pay that price? If so, it’s yours. If not, don’t lie to yourself. You won’t achieve the same results. Find something else to pursue.
Discipline is truly the bridge between goals and accomplishment.
Until next time…
Dave
04 Wednesday Oct 2017
Posted in Quotes
Today’s Quote:
“Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dreams closer.” – Marcia Wieder
I have found that the goals I can commit to are always achieved. Commitment to me is composed of a few things: discipline, desire, and persistence. It takes discipline to accomplish anything. I like using weightlifting and exercise as an example because it is so hard. Writing down a routine and a schedule for your exercise is one thing–getting to the gym and grinding it out despite work, family commitments, and all the rest is quite another. To succeed at weightlifting you really have to want it. Once you know you want it, then it’s a matter of getting to the gym and executing. You’ll see gains, you’ll see losses, somedays you’ll feel like: “What in the hell am I doing this for?” This is where persistence really counts.
Persistence is a necessary component of commitment because you have to be committed to be persistent. You really have to just stick to the discipline of working out and keep going until you achieve what you are looking for. Then, you’ll want to do more and more because you’ve cracked the code and can achieve what you want your body to look like, your health to feel like, and all the rest.
I’m going to be 54 years old on the 15th of this month. I want to be healthy, I want to be flexible, and I want to live a long time with a good quality of life. That is my motivation for working out. Yeah, there are some side benefits like looking good, getting bulked up and cut, etc., but I’m in this for me and my loved ones. I just want to feel good and be able to get around as I get older.
I hope all of you had a great Tuesday!
See you tomorrow.
Dave
23 Wednesday Aug 2017
Posted in Quotes
Tags
Today’s Quote:
” Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.” – Abraham Lincoln
So true folks. Whether you are trying to lose weight, learn a new language, earn a promotion, or whatever, the process does take hard work and sacrifice. So many folks are fooled by “get-rich quick” schemes or “lose weight now” scams.
These are hard things to do because they take a certain amount of discipline to do them. These things also take time.
One of the bodybuilders I worked out with in the Army (name withheld for his privacy) said, “Bodybuilding is a way of life. It is not a race, but a marathon–one that will last your entire life.” This is what I’m talking about. You can’t achieve meaningful change over night. It takes time.
Until next time…
Dave
