I had my six-month checkup with my doctor this morning. It went really well. My blood pressure was 110/72. For those of you who know me or have read my blog, before treating my blood pressure it was consistently 145/90 or higher. It’s been that way my whole life because my high blood pressure is hereditary. Thanks, mom! I’m on a couple medications and an exercise program. I guess the proof is in the reading that it’s working.
I’ve spent the last three days working out at least an hour a day. I had signed up at a local gym last Wednesday, had an evaluation on Thursday, and hit the elliptical and weights with a vengeance on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Today is a day of rest. But, I have dropped 2 pounds. Weighed myself this morning and rang in at 258. Just 23 more to go to reach my goal of 235.
This morning I also scheduled my first round of sessions with a trainer. We tentatively start on Oct. 21. Not sure that will work because Tuesdays are the only days Julia has off for awhile. But I will meet with Nick for four sessions…two times a week for the first two weeks. After that, we can meet once a week or every other week. We’ll see how it plays out.
What else is there to do on a Friday night than go workout at 11 p.m.? I know, play WAR. But I was antsy.
Tonight was date night for me and Muze. We went out for dinner at a local Italian eatery, Vullo’s. I had the veal parm. I know, baby cow killer. However, I only ate half of it. Portion control and everything, you know? Muze had a very garlic-laden ravioli dish. The sauce was very good. Then we just headed home to spend some time together. Lately, that has been a luxury, not a commodity.
For instance, Muze had to go to a fund-raiser for the local non-profit radio station where she does the news on a voluntary basis. She left at 10 p.m. After spending some time with the dogs, Zak and Buddy, I started to feel the Friday nights. You know what the Friday nights are. Where you want to go out for some beers or something. Instead, I went to the gym where I recently signed up.
I need to work on endurance, so I decided to do circuits on these state-of-the-art elipticle machines they have. I was told that “those things will kick your ass”. So, I went in with some trepidation. My circuits were basically four 5-minute sprints with a few minutes of a break in between. They definitely work you differently. They are a cross between a treadmill, Stairmaster and stationary bike. I could get to target heart rate in less than a minute, so the circuits were pretty good.
Fair. That was the bottom line. On a national average, my fitness level is fair. The only thing worse is poor. Here is how I rated:
- Weight to height = 265 lbs. to 6′5″ (Poor…my weight should be 208 lbs. But that is bunk, and the trainer thinks so, too. BMI is not the best measure of health.)
- Flexibility = 4 inches (That’s how far I can reach past my toes while sitting. The average is 14 inches.)
- % of body fat = 27.3 (Poor…but better than where I was a year ago.)
- Upper body strength = 180 lb. bench press (Poor…this should be at least my body weight.)
- Situps = 27 in 60 seconds (Poor…average is 45. My score is half of my high school total.)
- Oxygen satiation = Excellent! (This is how well your body takes in and uses oxygen. My rate is well above average, meaning I will be able to build my endurance quicker and recover quicker than the typical person.)
That final “excellent” is what pushed my score up from a poor to fair overall.
Goals. We settled on a target weight of 235 lbs. As Nick puts it, “If you’re serious about this, I can have you there by Christmas.” I am serious, but after the evaluation today, I’m also discouraged. But there are two things to keep beating into my head. 235 lbs., which I haven’t weighed in more than 8 years. And I want to look good in all those Christmas pictures.
I will be doing a lot of cardio mixed with high repetition weight training. The routine will be to do a couple sets on weights or machines, then hit the bike or treadmill for 5 or so minutes…rinse and repeat.
Another challenge is that Nick will cost $120 for four sessions. He wants to meet four times in the first two weeks. So. I think what I am going to do is work the next two weeks on some endurance. Then start with Nick after that. It will give me some time to save up a few bucks and also get into some shape before Nick starts kicking my ass.
I took the first step toward the more improved, more fit me today. I enrolled in a gym for the winter. And I also booked an appointment with a personal trainer for tomorrow afternoon.
I’m not a jock. Being a jock is a frame of mind. It’s a frame of mind I’ve never been in. Sure, I took part in sports in high school and intramural sports in college. Playing basketball, baseball and football is fun. But there is that next level of seriousness I never got to. The next level of working out four to five days a week on top of the sport you were playing. Eating, drinking, reading, puking your sport. Nope, not me.
It’s why I turned to skating when I was around 15. No coaches to tell you what to do. No routines to follow. You just grabbed your board and you skated. I stayed in better shape when I skated then when I was in organized sports.
I’ve dabbled here and there in skating again, but at my current weight it is just tough. Would I like to skate again with some level of aptitude? Sure. But I know I’m not going to get there by just skating. I know I’m not going to get where I want to be unless I get a little more serious.
So…I will meet with Nick tomorrow. Nick is a former military guy who trained other military guys. And the woman that ran me through orientation today at the gym said, “He even trained guys who came out of West Point.” Great. I was never in the military. But I think I’m about to get a taste. Nick sounds like a guy I’m going to love to hate. Can’t wait to get started!
Will you defeat them
Your demons and all the non-believers
The plans that they have made?
- Welcome to the Black Parade
My Chemical Romance
A couple of days ago, Jeff “Dundee” Freeman, formerly a developer and ultimately lead designer of Star Wars Galaxies reportedly took his own life. In some respects, a little innovation dies with him.
This is going to seem out of the blue, but it really isn’t. As I’ve chronicled the past couple years, I’ve been working on my health. It’s been a rollercoaster ride. Pretty even with the peaks and dips.
While my general health is a lot better than it was a few years ago, I seem stuck in a rut. I started out weighing 280. I lost 30 pounds to get down to 250 pounds. I gained weight back this past winter and got back up to 270 pounds. A lot of that gain was from weight training and packing on muscle. Over the summer, I’ve lost 12 pounds to get down to 258.
My health is always in the back of my mind. But a busy schedule and a healthy dose of procrastination have me at a standstill.
It’s time to shake things up a little bit.
I’ve decided to join the local Snap Fitness gym and hire a personal trainer for the winter. I’ve had to do some finagling with the home budget - psssht…like there is one - but I’ve freed up some money to join up.
I’m hoping the trainer will be that person who pushes me that little bit more when I think about letting up on my workout. I’m also hoping to hit my goal of 240 pounds or lower, as well. I’m hoping to have a more productive winter this year than I had last year.
The guild I play with in Warhammer Online is called Casualties of WAR. The acronym…CoW. So we’ve adopted a bovine pasture theme for the guild. Just one of my contributions:
If you’ve played any MMO over the last two decades, you know that one of the biggest pains in the ass is trying to get a pick up group (PUG) together. Depending on the goal of the group, this task can take more than an hour in some cases. It really depends on the popularity of the task at hand.
Most of the time, the goal is to simply gain experience to level your character. Even then, organizing six people to band together and figure out where you want to go can be taxing and a deterrent from even playing.
Enter Warhammer Online Open Groups. Here is how they work. You enter an adventure area. If you are not grouped, a list of open groups drops down under your character status bar. If you want to group up with one of them, you simply type /join (group member name goes here). Since only groups in your immediate area are in the list, it won’t be a long way to meet up with them. Chances are, they will also be working on some of the same things as you.
But what if they don’t want you to join them? Then they wouldn’t have labeled their group as “open”. There are options for making groups private or open.
Need that certain mob to complete a quest but there is an open group camping it? Join the group. No waiting around for an invitation. Jump in…get your mob…jump out. Simple.
There are potential downsides, but I can’t confirm them as I haven’t tested them or sought out answers. One downside would be if two or three small groups were in the same area and they were all open. Those three groups do not know the others are in the area and open. They could have potentially formed a full party.
It also opens your group up to loot ninjas and such. But those are the breaks. Luckily, quest rewards are more valuable than other rewards from lower end mobs.
So, if you’re adventuring in WAR and want to team up on the fly, open groups may not be the ultimate solution, but they do solve some issues.
…because I’m a fanboy. Oooopse…sorry. It’s actually because I hate the game? Wait. That’s not right either. It’s actually because it is a bunch of games all rolled into one? Hmmmmm…that could be it.
First…it’s a traditional MMO. You kill stuff and do quests for experience. You level up according to that concept. That’s like every other MMO. You don’t like it? It’s not going to change. Experience and leveling is pretty much the only way to measure progress.
You play mini-games. That’s pretty common. You do a capture the flag instance. In WAR, they call that a scenario. You win, you gain bonuses and prizes. In other games, they just call that a mini-game…no bonuses.
In WAR, you jump into an area of other players killing mobs or NPCs in order to complete a certain goal. In other games, you call that kill stealing. In WAR, you call that a player quest. You build influence and you gain rewards based on your influence. Instant groups are good, even if they are flawed.
On top of it, your actual quest book, called the Tome of Knowledge, gives you quests and rewards all on its own. Holy crap! Reasons to finish your quests and move on!
I do have some downsides. They do not even come close to the pluses.
I have given four reasons I love WAR. You give four reason why I should not.
