Success Warrior: Alan B. Rowley II - Beachbody.com, P90X, Voluntaryism, Voluntarism

Paying for College

So,

I touched on this at the end of yesterday's post but I want to do at least one dedicated post that is centered on this subject.

When I start at Utah State University, I am going to have to get a student loan.  At this point, I don't see any way around this.  Those of you that read the original Success Warrior blog from 2006 no how much I really don't want to go this route.  Tia and I have talked about this for hours and just don't see any other way for the moment.

That's why most of my posts end with the blurb about BeachBody.  I thought about straight out begging (hell, dignity schmignity) but this way works out better.  The people that are helping me out are getting something of value in return.  Great value, in my opinion.  I have used many of the DVDs, supplements, and equipment and have loved them all.

Here's a quick rundown of two of my favorite DVD programs and one that I'm going to get next spring:

P90X.  The mother of effective workouts.  I have been around when people wonder out loud if P90X works.  Yes.  Yes, it does.  This is an intense full body blast over 90 days.  You have to come at this one with a kick-ass attitude or it'll be your ass that's kicked.  It's circuit training to the extreme plus cardio plus yoga plus stretching for a program that will have you shedding fat and building muscle from the first day.  It comes with a food guide that is broken into three phases to go with each phase of the workout part of the program.  If you're not afraid of a little bit of pain (okay, maybe A LOT the first couple of weeks), this program is for you.  In fact, that's what got me to try the dang thing.  They pretty much double-dog dare you to go for it by saying that most people can't.  Oh no you din't!  As soon as I read that, I ordered it and now I recommend it to anyone that wants maximum results and isn't afraid to go all out to get those results.

I also have P90X+ and I get a new DVD each month from the One-on-One with Tony Horton program.  My workouts will never get stale, ever.

We got Turbo Jam for Tia and she loves it and so do I.  It's got a bunch of cardio workouts in it and they vary in length so that you can always find one that fits your time schedule.  Ours came with the weighted gloves and I use those most of the time when I do these workouts.  You're going to be doing a bunch of punching and kicking and sweating.  Everyone in the program is just having a great time and the energy is infectious. 

Chalene has also come out with some other programs, one that uses weights.  We haven't tried that one but I'm sure that it's just a matter of time before we own it.

Turbo Jam is great if you're trying to get a bit of sweat going but from the looks of the next one, that's where you go if you're serious about sweating.

Insanity looks crazy (uh, you know, hence the name).  It's all body weight moves done at varying intensities so that you're getting some high intensity interval training, and it does look intense.  I can't wait to give it a try.

It's going to have to wait until I get some other things worked out in my schedule but then I'm totally going to give this one a try.  It comes at you with the same kind of "I'll bet you're too big of a wuss to even try" attitude.  I can't turn that down.  I may end up puking but I'm going to prove that I can at least try.

All the BeachBody DVDs are great quality.  They have a sliding timer at the bottom so you can see how much time is left, they also show you how much time is left per exercise, and they show you what the next exercise is going to be.  I love the timer bar at the bottom of the screen and I miss it when we do a DVD that isn't BeachBody. 

All the videos are filmed in one take (probably because there is no energy left for "do-overs").  They make some mistakes and they just keep on going.  The mistakes aren't so bad that they bring the quality of the program down.  To me, it shows that the people on the screen are real.  Sometimes they try lifting more weight than they can and they have to go switch to something lighter.  They towel off in the middle, get drinks of water, and essentially, it's like you have dropped in on a class.  The DVDs also have options so that you can turn off the talking and just have the music or you can turn off the music.  With the Turbo Jam DVDs, there is a setting to jam up the music in relation to the talking.  That's what I usually do.  Once you know the moves, you don't need to listen to the banter but I still like them to talk me through the moves.

Bottom line, I've tried a lot of workout DVDs and these are my faves and they just keep coming out with more.

Two more points that I want to make on this subject.  BeachBody has an affiliate program (obviously, can you say "college tuition" or at least enough to cover books?) and they are a high quality company.  Anyone looking to make a few extra dollars (and who isn't these days?) is invited to join the affiliate program.  You get a discount on the products for yourself so you'll be healthier and you get to promote health and fitness.  It's a worthy cause.

Especially as we get closer to passing the Health Insurance bill.  When that goes through, health insurance premiums are going to go up, coverage is going to go down, and the overall health care system is going to get worse.  In fact, today my wife got a letter from her insurance company and two of those three things just happened (and the bill hasn't even passed yet).  Her premium was raised and the deductible was doubled.  In the old days, raising your deductible lowered your rates.  Those days are gone.  More cost, less coverage, worse care.  It's not just coming, it's here.  It is going to be even more vital that people take care of themselves and by being part of the BeachBody program, you can help spread the word with products that really do work.

So, again, thank you to everyone that has already been helping me.  It means so much to me, it really does.  I truly appreciate you all.  For those of you interested in the products or the affiliate program, visit my site and click on the sections that interest you.  I didn't cover all the DVD programs and didn't cover the supplements or equipment so feel free to browse around.  I'll quickly mention that their door-frame pull-up bar is the best one that I have ever used and it's the fourth one that I've owned.  So, visit the site, look around, and always, feel free to ask me any questions.

The Latest National Emergency

There always has to be one, doesn't there?  I don't know how it is where you are but no one here seems concerned with the Swing Flu "emergency".  People are aware, of course, but I don't see the panic that was readily apparent last year. 

This emergency is going to be used to lift a bunch of restrictions on how potentially dangerous medicine gets to the market.  Vaccine production was already dubious and now it's probably going to be just plain poisonous. 

The real emergency in this country is a lack of credible leadership and how hard it is to find the truth on matters.  *That* should receive the state of emergency call, not the flu. 

"This just in.  There has been a serious outbreak of untruth.  All 50 states have noticed an alarming increase in lies over the last several years.  The White House has issued a National Emergency for this grave situation and is encouraging anyone with the ability to stop believing the bullshit coming out of the White House and corporate media until the situation can be cleared up."

So, we in the northern hemisphere head into flu season with a new scare tactic facing us and with the answer being pimped on us that our government is generous and caring for getting rid of safety measures put in place to protect the people in the name of expediency and if we'll just pay the drug companies for their toxic product, we'll all be saved.  Huzzah!  All praise the government and the drug companies!  Our saviors!

Meanwhile, the actual precautions for the flu (any flu) haven't change:

• Don't get the vaccine
• Wash your hands
• Sleep
• Supplement with Vitamin D
• Reduce alcohol intake
• Reduce stress
• Take a probiotic
• And there are probably more, these are just off the top of my head.  Anything to strengthen or not weaken your immune system.

The problem with these answers, of course, is the lack of money they generate for corporations.  Vitamin D is cheap.  You could probably get a whole winter's worth for 20 bucks.  Drug companies aren't going to make billions on Vitamin D sales and share it with the politicians so all this free and cheap advice is skipped over.  It's all about the vaccine.

Business as usual in Washington D.C.  The People sold to the highest bidder.

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook 

Disc Golf Evolution and Life

My brother and I played the course near his home on Thursday.  A switch in plans made necessary by a babysitter glitch.  It turned out to be a very surprising day.  This is the only course we played last year and the first course that we played this year, near the end of June.  Now, near the end of August, we don't look like the same players from two months ago.  We don't keep actual score, which is unfortunate.  Instead we just keep track of where we are in relationship to the other guy.  If I had to take a guess, I would say that I have taken at least 9 strokes off my game for this course.  I'm going to tell you, as best as I can, how that happened and then, as a bonus, I'll relate it all to life for my readers that don't give a rat's ass about disc golf.

1.  I changed my discs.  I bought a bunch of different kinds of discs, took them to a football field, and chucked them over and over to see how they all flew.  If you have friends that are discers, you could borrow discs to reduce the price of the learning curve.  I just read about different discs and tried the ones that I thought would help me out.  Some did.  Some didn't.  Some are in my bag.  Some are collecting dust on my shelf.  If anyone wants a 175g Innova Champion Groove or a 171 g Innova Star Monster or Discraft Xpress (unknown weight), let me know and I'll send you the one you want.

2.  My favorite driving disc (a 166g Innova Viking), I ended up with on accident.  I threw my 175g Innova Star Destroyer on a really crappy drive.  I threw what I thought was the same disc for my second shot and it was a much better throw.  When I picked up the disc for the third shot, I realized that it wasn't mine.  I hiked back and found my disc to finish the basket.  When I started practicing on the football, I found that the Viking flew the best for my style of throwing.  And yes Mark, had the owner put his info on the Viking, I would have gotten it back to him.

3.  I changed my grip.  I didn't want to change my grip but if I was going to compete with my brother, I had to give up the familiar and try a disc golf grip.  I tried several and ended up with a two finger grip.  I still use my fan grip when I'm closer and want to take better aim but my driving is all done with my new grip and it has probably added a minimum of 50 feet to my drives and sometimes a lot more (usually when I don't want a lot more).

4.  I played several different course this summer.  New courses, new looks, new challenges.  Trees, elevation, water, 100 degree weather, blisters, and lots of very nice people.  By playing different courses, I was forced to try different kinds of shots.  I've thrown hyzers, anhyzers, tomahawks, skip shots, forehands (some that were incredibly crappy), and whole bunch of weird positions like kneeling, splits, and just about facing the wrong direction.  Most of the weird shots weren't very good but some were surprising and all of them were a great experience.

5.  I played against my brother, which was equal parts fun and challenging.  This last time out, he still won 2 out of 3 rounds but they are always close.  If he wasn't better at driving than I was at the beginning of this season, I wouldn't have felt compelled to get better.  Now we are talking about entering tournaments so we can find people better than us to play against, while still having fun.

6.  Having nothing to do with the game itself but just a bit of trivia for you that I found out after our last series.  If you drink copious amounts of Blueberry-Pomegranate G2 Gatorade, the next day your poop will be an alien-esqe neon green that pretty much glows in the dark.  Try it and see.

All of these things added up to a much improved game and provide lessons that can be used in any area in life:

1.  Try different tools.  Read different books.  Get a different perspective.  Find objects that truly make you better and more efficient and get rid of the rest.  It's not about having the most discs in your bag, it's about having the right discs in your bag.  Don't be afraid to try something new and give it away if it doesn't work out for you. 

2.  Some of the best things that happen in life happen by "accident".  I don't believe in accidents but some great things can happen without conscious planning.  Be aware of those opportunities and don't be afraid to try something new that happens across your path.  It may be just what you needed.

3.  Try different approaches.  Read books, watch videos, read magazines, talk to people.  Learn different ways of doing what you're doing and see if a new way feels more right for you.  Don't get locked into a pattern out of ego or complacency.  You lose nothing by giving a new approach a shot.  The old way will still be there to fall back on if nothing works out but my guess is that you'll find something that at least tweaks the old way to be a little bit better.

4.  Go to new places.  Get out of your comfort zone once in a while.  New experiences create more experience.  You don't have to do great at it.  You just have to try something new.  It's about fun, learning, adventure, and breaking out of patterns.  You may find that your comfort zone is more interesting when you return and you may find yourself returning there less often.

5.  Travel the path with people that will make the journey fun and watch for people that will challenge you to be a better person.  Fill your life with both kinds.  In some things, they may be the same people.  In other things, you may have fun people for some activities and challenging people for others.  They make the journey worthwhile.

6.  You're bound to see some weird shit from time to time.

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook

Charlie Brown's Kite Eating Tree . . .

is omnivorous.

Can you see the bit of blue glinting in the son about 12 feet up in this disk golf eating tree?  Bastard!  Got my disk on 2 out of 3 rounds but I'm getting ahead of myself on this story.

The story starts at six in the morning when I did my killer intense ab workout.  What does that have to do with my disk golf story?  Nothing really but how many people can say that they did 60 minutes of super intense ab work at six in the freaking morning.  I'm still going to try and tie this back into the story, if for nothing else but for the chance to say that I worked my abs like crazy (at 6 in the morning, you know).

Anyway, after a shower and breakfast I was on the road to Solitude, which sounds like a slow, boring movie about some guy who loses his family to tragedy and has to find a new life for himself.  Road to Solitude starring Tom Hanks.  Look for it this Christmas.  Warning, it's a chick flick.

I arrived at Solitude only to find out that they are having a disk golf tournament that will span 3 days and there isn't any open play until about 3:30.  I have to be on the road by then so Solitude is out.  Damn you Tom Hanks!

Speaking of which, Tom Hanks ran out of gas about 20 miles out of Wendover last week.  It made the local paper.  The local tow truck fixed the problem, free of charge.

When my brother showed up, we made the command decision to try the course at the University of Utah.

"You know where that is?" I asked.

"Nope."

"I was hoping to follow you."

"Guess I'm following you," he said.

So I lead and quickly got on the phone with Tia.  It reminded me of a scene out of Criminal Minds where they call the computer geek, "Baby Girl", on the phone while they are desperately trying to find the serial killer before he kills again.  Coming out of the canyon even added to the suspense as I lost cell coverage and the phone went dead.

"Nooooooooooooo!" I screamed picturing the poor girl being buried alive while I drove aimlessly around cursing my luck.  Then I remembered that I was just trying to find a disk golf course on a college campus and that I knew where the campus was so all was not lost.

"If you can hear me, I'll call you when I'm out of the canyon."

Tia did her best to guide me in despite the fact that Salt Lake city has made the street signs small enough that you can't actually read them until you are right under them, going straight, while Baby Girl is saying, "That's the street that you want to take a right on."

Damn you Tom Hanks!

A little zig through construction and a zag back up the hill put us in the area.

"You should be there," she said.

I pulled into a parking lot and we looked around.  We were, in fact, as close as we could be since the road that went to the course was also under construction.  You know the joke right?  The two seasons in Utah?  Winter and Construction.

It was near 100 degrees so my disk bag actually had more Gatorade in it than disks.  I would end up drinking all of them plus a couple more that I had in the cooler in the car when I got back.

Let me tell you the cool part of the day.  I was actually out-driving my brother.  There were several factors why this might have happened:

1. I changed my grip, dropping my long-beloved Ultimate fan grip and going with a two-finger grip that gives the disk much more speed leaving my hand.
2. I changed my main driving disk.  I was using a Destroyer and I changed to a Viking.  I still like the Destroyer for shots that I need to keep near the ground but my Viking just absolutely sails.
3. My brother seemed to be struggling from basket to basket.  Something in his game has changed and he wasn't sure what it was (not that it stopped him from beating me 2 to 1, in a best of 3 rounds day).
4. I did 60 minutes of killer ab work at six in the morning, giving me that much more power on my throw.  Hulk Smash!

So, it was about 100 degrees and we started playing around 11:30 and played for 3 hours. 

"Okay, here's the plan.  Let's wait until the hottest part of the day in the middle of August and then go throw Frisbees around on the dead grass that has been burned away from the blistering heat for three hours.  Ready?  Break!"

The good part about the plan was that we were the only fools out on the course.  Not that there were lots of people out there, all of whom were smarter than us, looking at us saying, "Look at those two fools."  Nope, other than the construction guys taking break under one of the few trees that offered shade, we were the only two people out there at all.  If you're willing to risk 3rd degree burns to your forehead, you can have the course all to yourself.

My brother won the first round and I played a really amazing second round, which included an ace (a hole in one) and my longest putt success ever.  I was on, despite the fact that I had a blister on my foot and my forehead was about to spontaneously ignite.  My brother wore a hat to protect his head.  Down to one fool on the course.

Like our other long days, the third round came down to stamina.  Who could be the least sloppy after playing for a couple of hours in 100 degree weather?  This is the round that you see in the picture at the top of this post.  Following this shot, I tried a forehand shot to finish getting to the basket.  I tried 3 forehand shots for the day and I'm usually pretty good at them for short to medium distance.  Today, I was as good at my forehand shot as the president is at bowling (except that I'm not going to mock the Special Olympians).  I threw my shot from this tree so that it landed under the next tree.  Under!  Under an evergreen.  I was able to throw a recovery shot from there that gave me an easy shot to the basket but all the baskets are Par 3 so it put me down one. 

By the end of the front 9, we were tied.  It stayed that way all the way to hole number 17, which is a basket with a slight right turn to it.  I put my drive into a tree.  Not the same tree but just as sadistic and did it such a way that my next shot was going to be a forehand shot.  Lovely.  That shot hit another tree.  It didn't go under the tree but it cost me a stroke and the game.

Up for next week are a couple of 9 basket courses: Utah State University in Logan and John Adams in Brigham. 

Is La Beau's still in business? 

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook

 

Catch 44 of Statins

Statins are the number one drug sold in the world.  Statins are used to lower cholesterol. 

The first Catch 22 is something that I've already covered.  Cholesterol is the bodies healing response to inflammation in the body.  It's a good thing.  It's the inflammation that's the bad thing.

The best analogy that I have been able to think of to demonstrate what Big Pharma and doctors are trying to do is this: 

Say you went into the doctor's office with a sore throat, aches, pains, a fever, and lethargy.  The doctor returns and says, "Whew boy, your white count is off the charts!  I'm going to give you a prescription that will bring your white count back down into the normal range."

That's not what happens though.  Instead, they give you antibiotics to deal with the disease that is triggering the body's white count reaction.  48 hours later, you feel better.  10 days later and you're pretty much good to go (but you should start a round of probiotics to build your immune system back up).

The cool thing is that high cholesterol is usually caused by lifestyle so you don't even have to go to a doctor to fix it.  And you don't need to take statins for the rest of your life.

The second part of the Catch 22 is that CoQ10 has been proven to help prevent heart problems.  This is a good thing. 

The bad thing is that statins inhibit the body's ability to use CoQ10.  Research has shown that statins don't help people over the age of 65 (if I remember correctly) prevent heart attacks.  The drug that is supposed to help stop heart problems is actually part of the problem.  No surprise there.  Big Pharma runs such a huge con game that I'm no longer surprised when the truth comes out.

It will probably take years and years for the truth to get out to the masses.  There is so much misinformation to undo and the "live how you want -take a pill for the side effects" attitude of so many people to change.  You can drink Coke and eat Cheezy Puffs while watching Dancing with the Stars if you follow it up with a Lipitor. 

Or you could drink water and eat an apple and go dancing yourself and skip the Lipitor.

Tomorrow, I'll be doing a follow up post on my Vibram Five Fingers.  I've worn them for the last 3 days and need to report on how they feel now.

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook

More Amazing Stuff

It's been a while since I've posted a video of the amazing things that people can do.  So check this out:

I just can't even imagine doing the beam stuff.  Not that I can really imagine doing any of the other stuff but doing those complete change of direction flips while trying to balance on a piece of wood seems insane.

Recovery Week, My Ass!

P90X has really changed how I work out.  As long time readers know, I did P90X a couple of years ago.  It worked and worked well.  Many people do a round 2 and round 3 if needed but I'm not wired that way.  Instead, I have created my own workouts over the last year.  At the end of this month, it will have been a year anyway.

I work out with weights for 3 to 4 weeks and then I take a "recovery week".  This past week was a recovery week and I have to tell you that it has been anything but recovery for my hams and glutes. 

Monday we did a fitness test, which is made up of only 3 exercises done for a 1 minute each.  Body weight squats, push ups, and sit ups.  We warm up and warm down as usual but the *exercise* portion is just those 3 minutes. 

Each month, I create a new variation for the recovery week and a new lesson plan for the weight lifting circuits that we'll be doing.

Tuesday went fairly well, I thought.  Lots of punches and kicks and sweat.  The concept (which I failed at this month) is to do a lot of cardio and let the muscles heal up. 

Something went wrong on Wednesday.  Don't get me wrong, the cardio was great.  We were panting and the sweat was literally dripping off of me.  It looked like it was raining on my section of the mat.  But we also managed to work the hams and glutes *hard*.  It hurt to sit down on Thursday and Friday. 

Thursday and Friday, I repeated the Tuesday and Wednesday workouts except that I took out the hardest moves of Tuesday and cut the times in half for the second part of the Wednesday workout.  Tonight, I can feel that I'm healing up.  That's a good thing since we starting *working out* on Monday.  This was supposed to be recovery week.

Last month during recovery week, I threw out an experimental workout using some wooden boxes that I had made for the class.  I was sore for several days after that experiment. 

Saturday would normally be my sprint or hill-sprint day but I am having breakfast with my brother who is visiting from Omaha and then I have to go to work early to be the radio liaison for a helicopter that will be filming for TV ads.  That's okay.  My legs can use the break. 

Each month is a bit of experiment but one thing is certain.  There is no plateau caused by doing the same thing over and over.  Every 3 to 4 weeks, I completely change up the workouts so that the body can't adapt.  My ass can attest to that this month.

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook

How Much Vitamin D Should You Take?

The National Institute of (un)Health recommends somewhere around 400 IUs, depending on your age (you need more as you age).  With that recommendation, is it any surprise (or is it shocking?) that the population is high in vitamin D deficiency? 

If you're getting 15 minutes of overhead sunshine on your skin (without interference from windows that block UVB), you don't need any extra vitamin D.  So, *most* people should be set in the summer time. 

However, if your days look like this, you might want to look into vitamin D supplementation, even in the summer:

• You go out to your car, which is parked in the garage
• Drive to work (remember windows don't count)
• Park in the shade or close enough that you don't have to spend time outside
• Work indoors
• Drive home
• Stay in the house all night

If that's you, you live in perpetual winter and should probably supplement with Vitamin D or face the consequences (which are finally getting some attention).

In the winter (since I play outside all summer), I take 2,000 IUs per 100 pounds of body weight.  For me, that's 4,000 IUs a day.  You can see how meaningless the NIH recommendation is.  10% of what I need.  They probably get kickbacks from Big Pharma for making recommendations that are worthless.

A few months, I was at lunch with a bunch of people and the subject of arthritis came up.  I mentioned that vitamin D supplementation could help with arthritis.  This always brings out the comment, "I take a daily multi-vitamin."  Yes, and how much vitamin D do you suppose is in a multi-vitamin (hint - look at the NIH recommended daily allowance).  If you weigh 150 pounds, you should be taking 3,000 IUs.  Centrum has 400 IUs (oh, I just gave away the answer) and Centrum's Ultra Women's Tablets has 800 IUs.  I threw out my recommendations, which was noted and then discarded.

I was talking to the person with the arthritis some time later and she had been to see a specialist.  The specialist tested her vitamin D levels.  Deficient (not surprised are you?).  The specialist broke out the script pad and wrote out a prescription for vitamin D.  The patient went to fill the prescription but when she found out the price, she looked at the vitamins on display at the pharmacy counter and found it was much cheaper to just buy over-the-counter vitamin D (and even cheaper to just go out in the sun for 15 minutes if you have that option).

I've been asked what I take in the winter.  I take NOW Vitamin D-3, 2000 IU/120 Softgels.  Now makes vitamin D in all sorts of doses.  2000 IUs makes it easy for me since my weight falls on an even hundred. 

Humans were meant to be in the sun.  All the paranoia created about sunlight is ruining the health of a lot of people.  If you still refuse to get some sun or use a UVB tanning bed, you *have* to supplement with vitamin D and take enough to actually make a difference in your health.

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook

Beachbody Coach

I am returning to college (with a vengeance!) with the goal of coming out on the other side with a teaching degree in Social Studies.  People absolutely fascinate me so it will be fun to make the study of people (current and past) my job.  I'm going to be carrying 15 credits a semester (I know - crazy, but I'm on mission now).  I can't afford *all* those credits out of pocket so I will be making a deal with the devil and getting a student loan.

To get my soul back, I am going to be funding as much of my college tuition as possible by being an affiliate of Beachbody.com.  Beachbody has great DVD fitness programs like P90X, Turbo Jam, and Insanity.  They have a bunch more programs, something for everyone really, plus fitness equipment and nutritional supplements.  If you have a fitness goal and a DVD player, Beachbody can help you get there.

I can't even put into words how happy I would be to help you achieve your fitness goals while I work to get the bloodsucking student loan company off of me.  If you have any doubt about how much this route pains me, read back through old posts on this blog.  Please, visit my Beachbody site and make a purchase, no matter how small. 

For those of you listening to WII FM (What's in it for me?), you can take the route of being a Beachbody Coach yourself.  Work on your fitness goals with these wonderful products, share your experience and enthusiasm with others, and use your commissions to vanquish your own financial demon (or use it for fun - what a novel idea!).  Just visit the Beachbody site and click on "Become a Coach".

Disk Golf: Solitude and Creekside in Holladay

What a day!

This is a picture of the first tee.  For the rest of the pictures, visit my Facebook page.

Damage report Scotty!

• Sore quads
• Really sore calves
• Lots of scrapes and scratches (but none picture-worthy)
• One head over heels fall (but aikido training is great at injury avoidance)
• Left ankle really sore
• Right hip even more sore
• Blister on right big toe
• Sunburn on neck and shoulders

All of it totally worth it.

Here's a rundown of the day:

0430 - Check email and Facebook.

0500 - Load car.

0520 - Hit the road.

0730 - Arrive at Creekside.  My brother was already there.  He said he wasn't going to be there until 8.  I thought I would have some time to practice with my new disks.  He did offer to play a round there while we were the only ones there but I thought we should head up the mountain.   It turned out to be the right choice.

0830 - Arrived at Snowbird ski resort.  Too bad we were trying to Solitude ski resort.  We missed a key sign and drove up the wrong canyon.

0900 - Arrived at Solitude.  We picked up a scorecard and asked for direction to tee #1.  We were told that the lift wasn't running today so we would have to hike up.  The first choice was to hike in the wrong direction until we reached a mountain bike trail and then follow the bike trail up (being careful to watch for speeding mountain bikes coming down the trail).  The second choice, if we were adventurous, was to just hike up under the ski lift where there was no trail.  We chose adventurous (and burning calves - go see the pics).  We were sweating like banshees and our calves were screaming like pigs by the time we got to the top.  I'm so glad that we did the climb first thing in the morning when it was cooler.

0930ish - We started our round of disk golf.  The course is 8,000 feet long from tee to basket to the next tee.  We figured it was probably closer to 10,000 feet when you added in all the searching for disks.  The trees and foliage were *thick*.  Even on a good shot, it took a bit of looking around to find your disk and we threw a lot of terrible shots.  On one hole, we probably spent about 20 minutes looking for disks.  As tough as the Solitude course was, we didn't lose a single disk.  In fact, I found one on hole #18, which was kind of a weird story.

Hole 18 of Solitude is over 1,200 feet long with a 400 foot drop.  It's amazing.  I can't throw that far but my brother can.  We decided to each throw two disks just because we wanted to watch them fly.  My brothers first disk hooked to the right and didn't even make it halfway.  My first disk, a neon orange Destroyer, went down the middle about halfway.  My brother took his second attempt and threw his disk about 1,000 feet down the hill.  It was off to the left a few hundred feet but it was dang impressive none-the-less.  I threw my second throw (a neon green Groove) and it was pure crap.

We hiked down and found my Groove and his hooked disk.   We hiked over to the middle and searched around for about 5 minutes until we found a neon orange disk.  I threw that further down the hill.  It still wasn't as far as his so we hike down to it.  When I picked it up, I realized it wasn't mine.  I hiked back up the hill and after another 5 minutes, I found mine.  What are the odds that someone lost a neon orange disk in the same area where I threw my neon orange disk?

That last hike really worked the front of my toes as they jammed into the front of my brand new boots and gave my quads a killer workout.  I skipped my morning workout so that I could get an early jump on the day.  This month, Thursdays have been leg day so I don't feel like I actually skipped my workout.

All of the baskets at Solitude were long distance, which gave my brother the distinct advantage, since he can throw farther than me.  He beat me by 7 throws.

1230 - We stopped at Porcupine Pub & Grill for a snack.  Cory (my brother) had a friend tell him that we should stop in for nachos at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon.  When we came out of the canyon, we stopped.  The nachos are *supposed* to be an appetizer.  We had just hiked up to 9,000 feet and walked 2 miles coming down and were hungry and we couldn't finish the *appetizer*.   I can't imagine eating the nachos and then eating a meal.  My brother said that maybe it was an appetizer for 8 people.  All the tables are set up for 4 people. 

We didn't stay long because the place was so noisy.  We couldn't visit because of the noise so we just ate.  It probably took us about 10 - 15 minutes to be full and we were out of there.  Our whole conversation was a couple of yelled sentences about how crazy it would be to come here and try to visit with people at your table.  Everyone was yelling like they were in a rock concert.

1300 - We arrived at Creekside and played a couple of rounds.  We were tired after doing Solitude but I just feel like I need to play 3 rounds when I come in from BFE.

To fill you in on how distance is a factor, most of the Holladay baskets were about 300 feet.  On Solitude they were 500+, where I lost by 7 throws.  I lost the first round of Holladay by only 1 throw and won the second round by 1 throw.

I changed up my grip in Holladay to see if that helped but I still was 25 - 50 feet short of what my brother can do.  He was also spot on with his putts in the front nine of the last round.  My putts got better and better as the day went on as I found a style that fit my way of playing. 

1700 - Finished the last round and headed home.  8 hours of disk golf.  What a day!

Consumed for the day:

• One protein bar
• 125 ounces of G2 Gatorade (each)
• Half an order of nachos
• Lots of water

I'm hoping we can do something similar in a couple weeks.  I'd like to get in a couple more disk golf days before summer ends.  One up at Solitude when the lift is running and one at another course.  The next one will probably have to be a week from Sunday and the next one two weeks after that.

Summer is going to be over way too soon.

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