Success Warrior: The Blog That Embraces ADHD

Get Ready for Summer (Part 2)

So,

There are about 90 days left until June, which gives people enough time to make some dramatic changes in their body composition or fitness levels before summer if they start now.  We have taken it up a notch here to get ready, individually and as a family.

We started doing something new a couple of weeks ago that has been fun and that we'll continue.  It stems from, in a way, from watching The Biggest Loser.  Quite some time back, as I was walking through the living room to get a drink before returning to homework, I noticed that Tia and Trey were watching some kind of fitness show.  This went on for a couple of weeks and I found that I would stop at watch a few seconds more each time to see what was going on.  One day, I just sat down and finished watching the rest of the episode they were watching.  They were watching episodes on Netflix and by the time that I finally decided it was interesting enough, they were halfway through Season 2.  I have a whole post of information in my head about The Biggest Loser but the important point for today's post is that many of the people on the show have been obese since childhood.

Trey is incredibly skinny and I think that Tia and I provide a good example for him already but we thought it would be fun to do some exercise together as a family a couple of afternoons a week.  When the weather is nicer, it will be less like "exercise" and more just "activity".  Last year, we would go for walks together, play basketball, and go do some batting practice.  Yesterday it was snowing so we stayed indoors and tried to do one of Bob Harper's kettlebell workouts.  Kicked my butt.

I haven't done much exercise in the last 3 weeks other than the family exercise time because I have had some kind of nagging illness that has just made things miserable.  I think I'm on the mend now and Monday I'll be getting back to my morning workouts.  I'm going to change them up a bit.  I usually change them every 4 to 6 weeks anyway but I'm going to increase the intensity a bit this time along with changing the exercises.  I'll still be using Tabata Intervals because they fit my personality so well at the moment and have proven to be effective for me. 

As a family, we have cleaned up our eating habits a bit more over the last month as well.  Tia has been reading various cookbooks on healthy eating and we've been trying several different dishes a week.  Some have been good and some not so good as far as taste goes but it has kept things interesting and we are seeing results, especially Tia. 

She also drinks a BeachBody Shakeology shake every morning because it's something healthy that she can blend up and take with her out the door, which is so handy because morning's can be a little chaotic around here (like most families, I suspect).  Shakeology is a meal replacement shake with lots of good stuff in it like protein, fiber, prebiotics, vitamins, minerals, and plenty of other stuff.  BeachBody just came out with Strawberry flavor too, which Tia is really happy about.  I changed our monthly order to strawberry and it should be arriving next week.

We have also decided to run a 5K this year as a family.  We haven't decided when yet.  We've glanced over some of the 5K's that are coming up but we either need to pin down a date or a particular race/location/cause that we want to take part in.  After Tia and I were done working out last night, Trey decided to do intervals on the treadmill.  He was doing minute intervals and I was watching because he wanted to see how fast he could go.  He did 7 mph, 5 mph, 8 mph, 5 mph, 9 mph, 5 mph, and then tried at 10 mph.  He did about 20 seconds before he looked like he was losing control and I pulled the plug.  Earlier, Tia and I were talking about who would hang back with Trey on the 5K.  Instead, we may have to see who can keep up with the kid.

***

Follow me on Twitter to get updates on when new posts show up on this blog (plus get random thoughts on the life of Success Warrior) and feel free to "friend" me on Facebook.

Success Warrior is an Independent BeachBody Coach for BeachBody.com, a company that offers fitness programs, supplements, and equipment that have absolutely changed my life.

Have you heard of P90X? That's BeachBody. They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more. They have some of the best exercise programs on the market. These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body. They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology. Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs. Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer.

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of. Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there. If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link. Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.

Get Ready for Summer

So,

This is your annual reminder that there are about 90 days left before June so if you have any fitness or self-image goals that you would like to accomplish by the beginning of summer, NOW is the time to start (if you haven't started already).

I don't do blog posts on fitness very often anymore because I found it hard to keep coming up with new thoughts on the subject but I am just as committed to fitness as ever and I'm still a BeachBody coach (I should go back to putting the links at the bottom of my posts so people don't think I've quit because, you know, Look!  Something shiny!).  I still field questions on fitness by email and in person and, in fact, I did both this last week.  Some questions are specific to BeachBody and some are general fitness questions.  I do not consider myself to be an expert but I do know a thing or two and if I don't know the answer, I will go look it up so that I can help someone and so I know the answer for myself.

This week's email question was about recovery drinks following an intense workout.  There are lots of them to choose from and BeachBody has the P90X Recovery formula which tastes like an Orange Julius, which I found to be very yummy.  However, when it comes to basics, chocolate milk can be used as a recovery drink, oddly enough.  It has the 4:1 quick carb to protein ratio that is the current advice for recovery drinks.  The P90X recovery drink has that and also has glutamine and creatine, which are both great if you are exercising intensely.  You should drink your recovery drink within 45 minutes of exercise.  If you are going to put sugar in your diet, this is the time to sneak it in because it can actually help speed up recovery and replace glycogen levels.

My wife started on her goals far earlier than today because her goal date is prior to June.  When I told her what the theme of today's post was though, she loved it.  She thought it was a great reminder for people because summer tends to sneak up on them.  By the time the weather starts turning warmer, a lot of people give up before they start because there doesn't seem like there is enough time to make a change.  It snowed here today and it's really easy to forget that summer is on the way.  90 days is enough time to make a huge difference in your body composition or fitness level.  P90X has proven that over and over.  Check out these before and after photos:

This post was twice as long as what you see here but when I hit save, Typepad logged me out instead of saving and I lost the second half of this post.  I don't have the energy to type it all back in at the moment so I'll try to recreate the thoughts tomorrow.

Good night.

***

Follow me on Twitter to get updates on when new posts show up on this blog (plus get random thoughts on the life of Success Warrior) and feel free to "friend" me on Facebook.

Success Warrior is an Independent BeachBody Coach for BeachBody.com, a company that offers fitness programs, supplements, and equipment that have absolutely changed my life.

Have you heard of P90X? That's BeachBody. They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more. They have some of the best exercise programs on the market. These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body. They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology. Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs. Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer.

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of. Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there. If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link. Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.

Navel Gazing

 
So,

This is what happens when you don't wear shoes when you're driving.  I've always wondered.

I should clarify Monday's post . . .

You call that a post?

I've seen more writing on a fence post.

I actually have a lot of things going on right now but none of them seem like they would be interesting to anyone but me . . .

And this is different, how?

What he said.

All those thoughts, which would probably be even more boring than normal (better?), have crowded out blogging thoughts.  I am attempting to accomplish several things all at once.  I have college assignments to complete, a couple of projects for work, and the house, well, actually, other than upkeep, the house has been put pretty much on hold.  I have a list of things to do during the school break.

One of the things that I'm going to be doing during the school break is taking a vacation AND getting away from the house for a few days.  I'm going to ditch it all for a few days and get away.  Pack a couple of books, my VFFs (so I can avoid the effects of barefoot driving - VFFs are the most comfortable driving shoes ever made), and go spend a few days without a to-do list.  Do a bit of 4-wheeling, some jet-skiing, some napping, reading for fun, and generally, do some major unwinding. 

We interrupt this blog for this special announcement:

While I was searching for the pic that you will see below, I ran across an article stating that 13 California counties want to secede from California but not from the Union.  What do you think?  South California as the 51st state?

I think it will throw off the star configuration of the flag.

How about North Mexico instead?

Anyway, for it to happen, the current California legislators would have to say "yes" and that's about as likely to happen as Michele Bachmann becoming a rational and functional human being.

With enough meds, she could be rational and functional.

Yes, but would she be a human being?

Anywhore, where was I?

Off gallivanting around the Internets when you're supposed to be blogging.

Actually, he's supposed to be doing homework.

He's right.  I should be doing homework so let me just say a couple of things quick before I get back to what I'm supposed to do.  My life has changed over the last year and I don't have time to go into any details now but here's the gist of it all.  I'm trying to make up for lost time and I have so many projects going on that's it can be a bit overwhelming if I think about it.

Good thing you don't think.

Too right.

I haven't taken a break in quite some time and I'm starting to feel the effects.  Next month, I'm going to take a few days to relax, mentally and physically, and also get back to one of my formerly annual routines of not working on Tia's birthday (August 5th) and the anniversary of my shooting (August 6th).  The brass ring will still be there when I get back.

 

New Year's Resolution?

 
And the effect on blogging?

I don't really do new year's resolutions but it seems impossible to come to the end of the year and not look back, at least a bit.  There are few things that I'm hoping to change going forward but the topic of this post is martial arts. 

Bottom line?

My skills did not progress anywhere near the level that I hoped. 

The reason?

Time. 

Plain and simple.  I did not put enough time into practicing to move forward like I wanted.  I didn't put the work in that was needed to get the results.  There's only one person to blame for that but the good news is that it's something that can be fixed.  Simply but not necessarily easily.  It's going to mean moving things around in my list of priorities.

Family stays at the top of course but other things are going to have to drop down a couple notches.

One of those things is going to be blogging.  I'm not going to quit because I find that blogging is beneficial to my mental well-being but there won't be any posts on Mondays or Tuesdays unless they are super-short (Supposedly, I can do microposts from my Droid - I'll be trying that out at some point).  Between family, work (which I consider a sub-heading under "family"), martial arts, and exercise on Mondays and Tuesdays, there won't be time left for much more than eating and sleeping.

Speaking of exercise, Nick's saying came to mind this morning while I was working out.  "Are you going t' cry?"  Nevermind that you don't know who Nick is or the proper tone of voice in which he says it.  You get the idea.  I didn't say it out loud and Drill Sergeant, at one point, said, "Two more sets of those and I would have been crying."  It was a tough, muscle-quivering, upper body workout, hitting everything from the waist up except the arms.  Abs (upper, lower, obliques), chest, back, and shoulders (oh man, were my shoulders burning at the end).  I am going to be feeling that workout for the next couple of days, I promise.

At the end of this week, it'll be time to come up with a new plan for the next month or two.  Actually, I'm going to keep the same plan as I'm doing but I need to plug new exercises into the plan.  I have been changing exercises every single workout.  I'm likin' it.  It's very me.  So, I'll keep the pattern the same for another couple of months but substitute different exercises in and keep on going.

I was at a point where I was almost practicing enough to maintain my skilz but nowhere near enough to advance them.  Currently, I'm not interested in mere maintenance.  Truthfully, I wasn't interested in it last year but I was just unwilling to move things around to give it an honest effort.

That changed today, as I just got done with 2.5 hours of practice.  I have a lot of things that I need to clean up and quite a few things that I want to change.  I'm looking forward to it all though.

Another factor that is going to be helpful is that I have found a training partner that usually has available training time when I do and that's going to be extremely beneficial.  He gets free training sessions and I get a body to work on.  Win-win.

Are you the kind of person that reflects on the previous year?  Are you making any changes this year?

***

Follow me on Twitter to get updates on when new posts show up on this blog (plus get random thoughts on the life of Success Warrior) and feel free to "friend" me on Facebook.

Success Warrior is an Independent BeachBody Coach for BeachBody.com, a company that offers fitness programs, supplements, and equipment that have absolutely changed my life. 

Have you heard of P90X?  That's BeachBody.  They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more.  They have some of the best exercise programs on the market.  These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body.  They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology.  Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs.  Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer. 

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of.  Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there.  If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link.  Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.

I Own a Fisher Space Pen

Taking PTE Rick's suggestion, I purchased a Space Pen as part of his high-tech dayplanner.  Did I need a space pen?  Not really.  I usually wear shirts to work that have pockets and so my G2's fit nicely and do a wonderful job.  There are some days that I wear a polo though or days like yesterday where the uniform of the day was a t-shirt. 

Yesterday was my first trial run with the space pen and it worked just like he said (like he was going to lie).  I slipped the pen into the pocket of my jeans and it fit very nicely at the bottom.  It was comfortable and there was no chance of it breaking.

Breakage was something that I worried about with my G2s on training day.  That blue gel ink would most assuredly destroy any clothing that it came into contact with, especially if it was the whole pen worth of ink.  Now I'll take my space pen with me on training days.

I'm using the 3X5 cards too.

Have I mentioned what a good sport my wife is to put up with a husband who tries all kinds of different (different sounds better than weird) stuff?

Missed it by that much

I took a look at our numbers for April this morning.  We didn't do as well as we hoped.  Not even close.  Not that we did badly.  We just were hoping to do better.

We paid off .11% of the mortgage again this month.  At this rate, it's going to take us something like 30 years to get the dang thing paid off.  =)

We paid off 4.73% of the car loan.  I am looking forward to working on paying this off.  5% isn't terrible but when you see how fast you can pay things off, it's easy to get impatient.  We are going to take care of a couple of things after we pay off the student loan before we start on the car but we should be started on it by the end of June or beginning of July.  We are still hoping to have the car paid off this year.  If we succeed, we wil have paid it off in about half the time it was supposed to take.

The student loan was where the disappointment comes in.  Last month we paid off 30.07% of the balance.  This month we were hoping to pay off about 50% and we missed by a long way.  We paid off 34.97% of the balance in April.  We were hoping for 50% in April and 100% in May.

We had some things come up that took some of our money to take care of.  My wife said something last week that is so important in this plan.  She was really disappointed that we weren't going to be able to put more money toward the student loan but she was happy that we had the cash to take care of things that came up.  So many people turn to credit cards to deal with surprise expenditures. 

So it will take us a couple extra weeks to get rid of this debt.  That's pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.

Taking a look at our goals

Last night my wife and I had our weekly meeting.  We take a good look at our financial plan each week to make sure we are on course.  I haven't posted much about it here because after doing it for a little more than a year, there usually isn't much to report.  It's just more of the same as far as reporting it to outsiders.  "We are still doing great and still putting most of our money toward our debts," would be about the extent of a weekly post. 

When things do happen that seem a little bit different, then I post about it.  Last night was a little bit different in that we decided to change some of our financial priorities.  We have target dates set for most of our financial goals.  We have done this since the beginning of the program.  We review those goals each week to see if we are on track, what we need to do to get on track if we aren't, or revise the goals if things have changed.

It looks like it might take a week longer than we hoped to pay off the student loan.  We were hoping to have it paid off by May 31st but we have some things coming up in May that will probably delay it.  It will be nice when it's gone and we can't really complain if it takes us 14 months and 1 week to pay off a 20 year loan.  Well, we did complain a little bit but we shouldn't.  =)   

An improptu finance meeting

My wife and I decided to suspend our weekly finance meetings for November and December and just kind of go with the flow.  We've been following the plan long enough that "going with the flow" doesn't pose much of a threat to our plan.  We just want to enjoy the holidays and not stress much about the money.  We talk about it, and read articles about it still.  She is still doing her research paper on personal finance and I am still writing this blog so it's not as if we have completely banished all thoughts of the plan from our thoughts.

She was in the mood to look over our finances for this month so we sat down and did it.  We didn't follow our normal pattern but just sat down with paper and a pen and looked at how the month is going to play out.  We were a little surprised by what we saw and in a good way.

So we projected it out for the next few months to see what it would look like when there were no holiday expenditures.  It looks very promising.

When we started our plan in April, we set some goals that seemed nearly impossible.  Our thinking went like this. 

This is what we would really like to see happen.  We set our goals as a best case scenario even though it didn't look possible.  And if we missed a little bit, we would still be so much further along that it would end up being a good thing anyway. 

If our goal was to pay off a $30,000 loan in one year and we only paid off $27,000 of it, we just can't feel too bad about that.

Looking at it last night, we might achieve our first *impossible* goal on time and our second one ahead of schedule.

And from there . . . Wow!