Every Day is a New Day

Too much time is spent worrying about what could have been, or what should have been. If just a fraction of the time we as a society spent lamenting was put toward accomplishment there would be some absolutely incredible things accomplished.

Just take a serious look at how you spend your days, make a note every time you have a conversation about not having any time to do the things that you want to do and while you're at it take a note as to how much time a day you spend watching TV and how much time you spend complaining about your job, the traffic and the weather. When you see just how much time you are wasting, maybe you'll begin to realize that you actually have plenty of time if you would just focus your energy on the appropriate activities.

If you can find 90 minutes a night to watch TV, an hour a day to surf the web and an hour on the phone talking to/texting your friends its probably pretty safe to assume that you could find a measly thirty minutes 3-4 times a week to get yourself in better shape.

All of us are only given the very same 24 hours in any given day, some of us are just more adept in focusing and using our time properly - once you get that focus and begin to make use of the ample time you have, you'll begin to see the results that you've been complaining were out of your reach.

So when tomorrow begins, make a concerted effort to save the time you would have otherwise used futilely and use it to start getting your butt in shape.

Bodyweight, Mobility and Packing on Pounds

Yesterday's workout consisted of a lot of bodyweight movements performed in circuits: push ups (in varying hand positions), squats, lunges, rows and pull ups. I performed three full circuits to near failure on every movement.

I finished up the workout with about twenty-five minutes of mobility work including some traditional stretches like forward bends, etc. and some poses taken from Scott Sonnen's Prasara yoga book. I'm glad I added the mobility work to the workout, after finishing I felt more loose and limber and more focused than usual following a workout.

When you deal with people in any facet of fitness there are two sides to a broad spectrum, those who feel that they are too heavy and desperate to lose weight and those who feel that no matter how hard they hit the iron that they'll never pack on any bulk. This "best of" list goes out the the latter...

Best Weight Gainer

Conditioning - Two Ways

Well we weren't hit quite as hard by Mother Nature this go round as we were a few short days ago, but another 17" of the white stuff (and heavy this time), made for some more outdoor conditioning work. I was on top of it this time at my place, hitting the shovel on three separate occasions so I wasn't overwhelmed once the storm had finally stopped.

We've been on the topic of conditioning for a few days in a row thanks to the frequent and overwhelming snow, but say you live where it doesn't snow very often, or if you just want a good alternative to it up here in the Northeast, what would you do?

How 'bout the old boxer's standby for conditioning - the jump rope. Skipping rope is an incredible tool for melting fat, getting in better cardio vascular shape and developing your coordination. Want to give it a shot? Look here for the best of the best:

Best Jump Rope Overall

More Snow Coming and Thoughts of a Literary Kind

Mother Nature apparently isn't through with us yet, as I type this more snow is starting to fall on our already covered community. The predictions range from 12-24 more inches, this being in addition to the already 24+ that currently sits on the ground from this past weekend's storm. Now I don't really mind the shoveling part, as I just equate it to an extra workout, but if we do get another two feet I honestly don't know where I'm going to put what I'm shoveling. Guess we'll just have to wait until morning to see what happens in this round of wacky Winter weather.

On a completely different note, something occurred to me today as my wife asked me what I wanted for my slightly belated birthday gift. I responded by requesting a book, that simple request triggered an unusual thought in my mind - when I dreamed of nothing more than to be able to make my living as a writer, I was what I'd consider to be an abundantly avid reader. I devoured sometimes two+ novels a week while working a full time job and handling all the other daily activities that life threw upon me. When I started actually making some money writing, the reading began to slow - now that I'm actually making a large portion of my living writing, I can't even exactly remember the last time I completed a full length book that wasn't some sort of training manual.

I had always looked to reading for mental stimulation, did I stop reading other people's work because I find myself so immersed in reading/re-reading my own prior to submission that I no longer really need that form of stimulation? I'm not exactly sure of the reason, but I do know that I've missed reading things written by others, things that are longer than a magazine article - so in addition to: keeping up with my study of the human body, finding the time to fine tune my own body, writing with enough passion to turn it into my full time career and spending as much time as humanly possible enjoying my family, I plan to read at least one full length novel a month (for starters)... I guess it's gonna be a busy year.

Outdoor Conditioning

Well, as many of you have probably heard, the Mid-Atlantic region was pounded with another huge Winter storm. Mother Nature hit us with somewhere in the neighborhood of 25" inches of snow between Friday and Saturday.

We had the kids out Saturday for some playing around and I got in two long sessions of "conditioning work" with my trusty snow shovel. May be subject to a few more rounds of clean-up today and the fine meteorologists have said that we can expect another four to eight inches on Tuesday.

Grippers and V-bar

Last night I attacked the grippers, I pretty much worked my way through the entire extensive collection warming up with an HG150 for reps and working through: the HG200, BBSA, HG250, COC #2, HG 300 and finishing off with some negs on the COC #3. It was pretty long and painfully pleasurable for a gripper workout - been too long since I hit grippers like that.

Tonight I had a one track mind again - the one inch V-bar. I started off for 106 lbs for reps and worked my way up to the 180's for singles with a hold at the top. My hands were not in the best shape from last nights gripper work, but it didn't seem to have any kind of negative effect.

What You Talkin' 'Bout Phil?

Happy Groundhog Day, I suppose - seriously though, six more freakin' weeks of Winter?

The weatherfolk in our area are already frothing at the mouth with stories of severe Winter weather pounding us in the Philadelphia area, but I gotta tell you I was more than ready to wrap this whole Arctic weather thing up and get on to some warmer weather.

Last night's workout consisted of some active recovery from Sunday's heavy session, along with some core and mobility work. On the agenda tonight - Grip!