The Sexy 185

As we can all see, it’s been nearly a month since my last post….and hence a gym visit. The last month has been busy, though not busy enough to warrant “letting myself go.” The letting go is now on hiatus. I have to shape up. There is less than 3 weeks to my probable visit to Havelock, and about 5 weeks until I hope to literally live on the beach for a week (these trips are still pending certain results, but lets all hope it works out in my favour!).

It’s summer, it’s hot, and what’s hotter than a hot bod lounging on a dock or perusing the beach. I’m back on the gym wagon. Havelock deserves it, as I don’t want to break the patio chair I will probably steal from his neighbor, and then throw it in the lake to sit in and drink as I “peak”, in the words of one dearest Guy. The pic gives a good idea of what I’m referring to.

Following this weekend, I hope to spend a week in Dewey Beach, Delaware, where my family and extended family spends a week trying to devour as much Corona as possible and generally have a good time. It’s my favorite week of the year, hands down. I need to shape up. I need to curb the life of indulgence I’ve been leading, and “lean” it back a bit to more of a “beach bod” diet.

I weighed in at 196.9 today, which is slightly less from the last weigh in, but my new short term goal is 190 for Havelock, and if that goes well, a sexy 185 for Dewey. I know this post has more of a different tone than previous postings, but lets not forget the ultimate goal of the Ruhl Duel.

It’s still on!

J. Weak

It’s been over a week since I’ve posted…or gone to the gym for that matter. For various reasons consisting of being busy with a course I’m taking, working a fair bit and being a little lazy, I haven’t done any kind of working out until today. That said, I did weigh in today at 197.1 lbs. My minuscule weight loss can probably be attributed to two things. The first being that I have for all intents and purposes eliminated approximately 40 beers a week. Yes, I was drinking approximately a case and a half plus whatever I had at the bar. Doing the math…200 calories x 40ish beers = 8000 calories/7 days= 1142 Calories per day gone. That alone has have got to help a little. Also, I have stopped eating fast food except for a McGriddle breakfast from Mcd’s I had last week, and the odd slice of pizza. My diet is definitely better than it was before this all started.

Today’s gym visit was different from any other I’ve had thus far. I decided to join M. Bad today and mimic his routine. Doing intervals while spinning, then “working” on my chest in the weight room. I am definitely weaker than a 7-year-old girl. It was embarrassing. This will change as I like the feeing I have going right now. Complete and utter muscle exhaustion and the small sense of accomplishment that I went to the gym again, and I didn’t take my usual post work nap.

This was a relatively boring post, but I’m back. It’s on!

The beach is that way!!

As promised, here is a bit of an update thus far.

At the gym yesterday I stood on a scale for the first time in 6 days. 198.8 lbs. That's a full 0.9lbs of lost weight. HARDLY WORTH IT. I've revamped my diet, been doing at least 30 minutes of cardio a day, and am in pain. Lots of pain and no gain. After my Wednesday workout I had to take it easy. On Thursday I just rode the bike for what felt like all day and came home.

Yesterday was a great day on so many levels. Not at all related to my fitness goals at all, but I purchased a new Macbook. What a gem. I love it. Taking a while to get used to the Mac interface, but it's awesome. While I have been complaining about the pain, I know it is a good sign that I am actually doing something.

I am starting to enjoy working out, especially after yesterday when I tried using a spinning bike at the recommendation on several people. I threw on the ipod and started to pedal. It was great. All of a sudden 31 minutes had past, the heart was pumping and I was drenched in sweat. I did something right. During the last 30 seconds of the final Garbage song (at Taf’s recommendation), I decided to just giv’r. At the end of it when I went to stand up I definitely stumbled a bit before I got my balance. Was quite the rush. I will without question continue to use the spinners. They don’t kill my knees, I get my heart rate way up there, and maybe that girl across the track will be back again to abuse the elliptical! On my way home I decided I was going to forgo the elevator and take the stairs. 19 floors and 241 stairs later I was home….Huffing and puffing needless to say, but home

On a different note, it’s unfortunate that I work on the weekend because the gym is only open from 9-5. I’ll have to figure out other ways to make sure I don’t have 2 days off in a row.

PS. I ate a slice of forbidden pizza last night. It was the first cheese I had in a week. My body thanked me!

* Picture credits must be given to the isight camera. Genius!

The 3rd Degree

Posting is a responsibility...

More to follow tomorrow about my progress.

Terry Fox may have attempted crossing Canada...I took on crossing Harbord.

Well, I'm a sore and mangled mess. In all my ambition I got up early to run this morning...at the crack of 9:00. So I strap on the good ol' sneaks and start to jog...it lasted for about 15 seconds. My knees hate me. I landed weird yesterday when I was shooting around on the basketball court. After one of my Steve Kerr-esque 3 balls, I landed a bit awkwardly and my right knee hates me now. Instead of running, I decided to ride the bike for 40 mins today and followed it up with 2 sets of lat pull-downs and military presses. I have a blister on my foot, my knees don't work, and my chest is so sore from my bench pressing that it hurts to put on a shirt.

I need to ease into this fitness thing a little more gradually. Maybe I should try swimming.

On a different note, my new header is courtesy of one Ms. Peters. Isn't it a beaut!

While I have not subscribed to any particular diet as of yet, I am off beer, cheese, and pretty well everything that is bad for you. It'll be tough, but overall I think it will be worth it. I had lunch with my dad today after a Costco visit and he mentioned the GI diet. I was complaining about always being hungry and he said it worked for a good friend of his who had the same problem. I'll learn more about it soon and decide if it's for me.

Nipples

So I just got back from the Athletic Centre after being there for about 90 minutes. I learned several things while I was there. Number one is that I officially weighed in at 199.7 lbs. Number two is that it sucks to ride a bike that measures the amount of time you ride and how few calories are burned for that amount of pain received. Number three is that I shouldn't wear a white shirt with exerting myself.

The weigh-in has a more important purpose than just giving me a starting point as to measure whatever progress I intend to make. There will be more details to follow once they are ironed out. I have been running almost every other day for about 2 weeks now and I thought it would be getting a little easier. It hasn't. Since I was at the gym today to use the scale, I thought I would try another type of cardio activity: the bike. I warmed up by running on the track for 10 minutes then jumped onto the bike. Complicated machine. I decided to do a 20 minute hill climb. By the end of it I was soaked in sweat and a little dizzy, but felt accomplished. That feeling of accomplishment ended when I learned that I only burned 170 calories in the 20 minutes of riding up a non-existent hill. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME. While I never have used a machine that measures such things, it seems like a really low return on investment. However, I reached my goal of 30 minutes of cardio. 10+20=30

As I was walking towards the stairs I noticed the basketball court was wide open, so I signed out a ball and played 21, Around the World, and overall had a great time finding my shot again. I'm no basketball star, but I have a fairly decent perimeter shot. Once I got bored of that I returned the ball and decided to see how the weight room was. It was pretty empty so I did 2 sets of squats and bench presses and called it a day.

So here I am after a fairly decent gym visit and I'm starving. Do I go with the pizza and cheeseburger option I so dearly want, or do I hard boil an egg, eat some carrots, tuna and an apple? Only time will tell.

As for my post title...when I walked into the change room I noticed I had two distinct sweat patches on my chest, one over each teet. The cold air obviously caused a reaction. No pictures necessary. I really was a sight for sore eyes!

The Message

This is what started it all. It was about 11:30pm or so and after the second set at the Orbit Room. What that means is that there has been a considerable about of alcohol consumed at this point, so confidence and the level of belligerence is running higher than normal. Standing outside on the patio with Tafari, I begin to talk about getting in shape and Tafari suggests I should challenge Mike to create some healthy, or maybe not so healthy competition. I proceed to talk trash and decide it was a good idea to call Mike and propose the idea. It went something like....or exactly like this.

"I have a suggestion, first of all, don’t record your message while you’re driving your car, it’s way too much background noise. Second of all, you’re going down…ummm, I haven’t decided how I’m gonna spell it yet, but my blog is gonna be called theruhlduel.blogspot.com. Third of all, I will eat Big Macs and cheeseburgers and fries and maybe even drink beer and still put you down. We haven’t decided how the criteria for this challenge is gonna go, but you’re gonna lose, there’s no question you’re gonna lose, cause that’s just the way it is. I challenge you to transcript this message and put it out for all to see it, but, you’re going down, that’s all there is to it. That is it."

You see, this is what I do. I get myself in over my head and now there is no backing down. We have yet to set up the rules and such, but they are coming. I am sure that Mike will have a similar post with this same message, but I wanted to take ownership for it and make it clear that it was just not some drunken rant. To be fair, when Mike was here a few weeks ago, we threw around the idea of a challenge similar to that of last summer. So this wasn't completely out of the blue.

I'm now headed to the grocery store to undoubtedly embark on the first leg of this journey. Cut way back on this I love. Cheese, mayo, too much cereal, sugary juices, peanut butter. Life will be bland, but healthy. I owe it to my body. It's been through a lot, and it's time to give back. Finally, I will conclude with the transcript of another phone call I made to Mike last night at 2:52am.

"I just ate 2 hot dogs on one bun with ketchup and bacon bits and it was awful. And I didn’t drink anything af- anything that consisted of beer after I talked to you. I drank vodka sodas. I’m serious. I’m going for a run right now."

*transcript credits must be given to Mike. Thanks.