Success Warrior: The Blog That Embraces ADHD

Meet My New Training Partner

So,

Apparently I was a good boy this year because Santa Claus brought me a new training partner.  Meet Bob:

Bob, or B.O.B. (Body Opponent Bag), is made to be punched and kicked like a heavy bag except with real parts to aim for.  Bailey, the foster dog, has made it clear that she does not like Bob.  Maybe it's the scowl on his face.  Not that you would expect him to be smiling since everyone he meets punches him.  Even Tia punched him.  For rude.

I've been going back and forth in trying to decide if I really wanted a punching bag.  Recently, I finally made the decision that I did want a punching bag but not any ol' punching bag.  An anatomically correct punching bag (except that he has no arms and no legs past his shorts). 

I will have more on this later but since it's after 2am, I think I'll call it a night.  The hecklers have even gone to sleep already.

From Success Warrior's Inbox

So,

This blog does fairly well with search engines, or at least it did a couple of years ago when I actually cared about such things.  I don't do anything "special" to get these results.  I think it's just a natural result of writing nearly 1,000 posts (plus another 600 on Chronicles) where the normal word count is about 1,000 words when I'm not buried in school work. 

Blah, blah, blah.

Do you think he'll even get to the point in a thousand words?

All of this really means nothing except in the context of today's post.

920 words left to get to a thousand.

Shoot me now.

From time to time, I get requests from people who would like to do guest articles on my blog so that they can put their link here, in the hopes of generating traffic to their site and/or increasing their page ranking.  To date, I haven't charged anything to people who make these requests.  I didn't even charge the one that was trying to generate traffic for online college classes for my services in correcting the spelling and grammar of the submitted article.  Ironically, in each of their requests, they always say that they won't charge me for the honor of having them write a guest article for my blog.

Shah, as if!

Ballzy, doncha think?

Thank you so much for not charging me to let you put an article on my website, that even if you wrote it, it took you no more than 20 minutes to lash together, and that's if you're not just recycling an article that you've submitted elsewhere.  I can truly see why you would think I might be inclined to pay for the honor of having your article on my blog post, which you are doing because I have spent 5 years and about a million words creating and you want to tap into that.

Ohhh, speaking of tapping that . . .

I knew I could talk him into posting it.

I told him not to.

I read a funny caption under a picture of some hottie that said, "I'd hit that so hard that anyone that was able to free me would instantly become the rightful king of England."

Excaliber!  What a great nickname for my . . .

Can we get back to the story, please?

One thing that I do when I get these requests is check out the link they want included.  I haven't had anyone asking to post a link to anything too bizarre until this latest request, which is only bizarre in the context it was presented.  This last request didn't actually have the link they wanted to link to, which is odd, but I just looked at the domain name for the email.  Then I looked again.

You ever see something that seems obvious but you know that it can't really be true?

Like a theme for this blog?

I think the theme is "Themeless".

The domain was for an aggregate site that brought together the best Christian Dating websites for one stop shopping convenience.  It also has dating tips and ideas for Christians to have fun first dates.

Did you say Christian Dating site?

Yes, please clarify what you mean by this term.

I surfed around a couple pages looking for the prank or spoof or whatever because this can't be true.  It was though and I went back to the email, which stated in the final paragraph, "Anyways, you are doing a great job with your blog. I've had a chance to look through a few of your posts and they are good. They are pretty fun to read.  I look forward to hearing from you."

Did he say, "Anyways"?

Maybe Christian Dating sites have teenage authors?

Since dude was looking forward to hearing from me, I promptly responded with:

Have you actually read my blog?

Dude responded that he had indeed visited my blog and asked if I had any preference in topics.

"Believable Lying"?

"Due Diligence"?

I shrugged.  Well, okay then.  I suppose it would be funny to have a Christian Dating author posting an article on my blog.

Since he was lying though, I spelled it out more clearly before giving him the green light.  I let him know that Christians who know me and who really enjoy my writing do not read my blog because of the nudity and the anti-Christian comments that pop up here and there so I was skeptical that my blog was going to drive any traffic to his site but he was certainly welcome to write up a post and submit it.  Potential topics included fitness, martial arts, VFFs, atheism (pro), anarchy (pro), ethics, and pretty much anything else.

Ethics?  You tryin' to scare the guy?

See?  The Themeless Theme.  Look at that list!

Anywayz, dude must be writing up one hell of a post because it's been several days since I sent the "okee dokee" to him. 

He's probably actually going through old posts now, for realz, checking out the pics.

Yeah, while shining the Pope's mitre.

As soon as he sends in his article, I'll post it for you guys.

Body Blows

 
So,

Have you ever worked out to the point where your armpit muscles hurt?

Armpit muscles?

The house wasn't properly ventilated when he was painting, was it?

This morning, instead of that pain, it was more down the sides of my rib cages, like the pain was sliding down the inside of my body.

Did the paint have LSD in it?

Apparently.

It felt like I had stepped in the boxing ring, covered my face with my gloves and let the dude unload body shots into my ribcage.  I know how the beef in the Rocky movies felt except that I'm alive to actually feel it, lucky bastids.

Summer is here and I think I lost 5 pounds in sweat in karate today.  I tried to drink 5 pounds of water to make up for it. 

The dehydration must be causing the hallucinations.

That's probably it.

My Vibram Five Fingers Komodo Sports did great for karate.  Much better than the Classics and Bikilas.  They have a snug fit and good traction and just felt natural.  You know, if feet had 4mm of space-age rubber on the soles.  That kind of natural feeling.

Maybe he got kicked in the head too many times?

Is there a right amount of times to get kicked in the head?

Well, I better get busy with studying before the voices in my head completely take over my blog and I end up being the side commentary.

We were so close.

Next time . . .

***

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.

Video Saturday

So,

I've learned how to add speech bubbles to my videos.  This is going to add a new dimension for me.

I really don't instruct anywhere near as serious as these videos have been and now I can go back and add some thoughts for fun.

I also have a couple of other ideas that I'll have to check into during the break between classes.

If you're in favor of talking body parts, hit the "Like" button.  =) 

Working on Video

 
So,

I have been knocked so far out of my groove this week that I'm not even sure that I can my groove from here.

That does not sound right.

No, it doesn't.

Today, I did finally video some more martial arts moves for one of my Utah students.  It's something that I probably promised late last year but things have gotten in the way.  Now, I have done them but I need to edit them.  So instead of this blog's usual wit . . .

Hahahahahahahaha!

Shut it!

Instead of this blog's random thoughts on the world, I'm going to work on editing and uploading videos.

Have a good night.

It's Taco Tuesday! Know What That Means?

 
So,

It's Taco Tuesday!

Do yo know what that means?

More pictures of Ben Bernanke as a mangina?

You can go to Reuters for that since that's pretty much every picture of Ben Bernanke.

This morning was the punching cardio workout.  You know, with my attention span, I thought I would be tired of it by now but I'm still enjoying it.  I have changed a couple of the moves but it is, for the most part, the same workout.  I just like it.  I've tried to explain it before and failed (but not failed as bad as Mubarak's attempts to throw the people a bone) so I'm not even going to try today.  I'll just say that it was a great way to start the day.

Here's some good news that I'm sure most, if not all, of you will appreciate.  Supposedly, in the near future, cell phone companies are going to stop the ridonculousness of changing cell phone charger designs every 6 months.  As cool as phones are getting, this practice was getting on everyone's last nerve and putting much more garbage into the garbage then was needed.  Landfills are filled with millions of phone chargers from year old phones.  Phones will be set up with the mini-USB chargers so people can just keep their chargers until they break or get lost or are thrown into a lake to destroy the evidence after a politician strangles an underage hooker.

You would think the EPA would step in with that many cell phone chargers being thrown in lakes.

You would think.

I mentioned Mubarak so I thought I would check in on the story.  It appears that he has given his 8-MONTH notice. 

You would think two weeks would be sufficient.

They must have different customs in Egypt.

I'm thinking that Mubarak is going senile.  Who's going to believe him?

"I promise, I'll quit in September."

"Good enough for me.  Let's all go home."

Right?

He also promised that he would not flee the country and that he will die there.  Most likely and probably not too far in the future. 

Do they make tacos in Egypt?

Not that I know of.  Why?

What does Taco Tuesday mean?

It means that I started the day with my punching cardio workout and I'm about to do another 90 minutes of martial arts cardio.

So, those are the sides of the shell and everything in between was 35% fulfilling but mostly fillers and binders?

No, but unfortunately, I am now out of time to explain it.  Maybe next Tuesday.

You're a bastard!

***

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.

It Only Hurts When I Breathe

 
And cough.

Today, was kicking day.

Which was fine other than the extra breathing needed to get out as many kicks possible in the time allotted.

I am feeling yesterday's ab workout.

It hurts more when I cough.  Unfortunately, I have this little lingering cough from last week.  Nothing too terrible.  It really only effects me if I'm out in the cold (like it is now) or when I'm panting for air (like I was this morning).

Drill Sergeant dropped the F-bomb today, while doing the warm-down stretching, no less. 

This afternoon, I did a couple of hours of martial arts practice, which involved getting kicked in the ribs 20 or 30 times.  Yeah, that was fun.

I retired my original Blue Tiger gi top last night.  I put it up on the wall in my karate/exercise room.  It was starting to get holes worn into it so I decided to let it rest after working for so many years.  It will still have the honor of being in my videos though.

Now I have just a plain ole black gi top.  I'll have to fix that somehow. 

Tomorrow I'm going to be working arms and shoulders and trying to figure out how to do that without using any ab muscles at all.

Wish me luck.

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.

Kicking: The Habit

 

My armpits hurt.

I didn't even know that was possible until this morning.  I don't remember what I was doing this morning when I noticed it but it was very noticeable.  Not just the pits either.  My chest hurts from my armpits to my cleavage, but mostly my armpits. 

Drill Sergeant came in today and I told her about it and she laughed at me.  Apparently, this was a freak accident that just happened to me even though we were doing the same exercises.

But then, we did Seal Jacks:

 Her tune quickly changed and so did her technique.  She changed from Seal Jacks to the arms crossed tightly across the body so that armpit muscles aren't being used and nothing up front is bouncing that might put added stress on the pec muscles.

It's funny until it's you.

As the day has gone on, I've noticed that the underside of arms are sore too, in a place where I didn't even know there were muscles.  My theory on this is that because that part of my arm rests against the side of my chest, the pain molecules seeped out of the pores on my chest and were absorbed intradermally on the underside of my arm.  That's my best guess anyway.

While I'm whining, I would just like to point out that my calves still hurt.  Must have been from running on the treadmill before they had completely healed from Monday.  One thing that I didn't mention about the treadmill yesterday was that I was messing around with the incline settings while I was running.  I didn't do it for that long so I don't think it had any effect but my sore calves reminded me of running hills. 

And now, as I glance over at the treadmill, I see that I did leave it on a bit of an incline for the remainder of yesterday's run and for today's run.  Hmmmm.

Today was my kicking cardio workout.  Lots and lots of kicks.  Frontward, backward, sideward, and then combinations of all of those.  Even some jumping kicks.  Guaranteed to get the heart rate up.  It felt good but I need to take it up a notch on the intensity level for myself.  Go a bit faster and jump a bit higher.  I think I could have done more today so that will be my goal for next week.

That was the start of calorie burning for me, a great start mind you but it didn't end there.

After Tia and Trey went to work and school, I went out and did about 90 minutes of yardwork.  It's something that should have been done before now but it seems like there are always other things to do (like trying to find the source of burning electrical wires).  Trey and I had started on it yesterday putting in about an hour and I was able to almost finish it up this morning.  After I get this post out, I'll put the finishing touches on it and the yard will be ready for winter.

I came in and gave the treadmill a try.  After doing the kicking cardio and the yardwork (and not realizing that someone had left the dang thing on an incline), there wasn't much fuel left for running.  I put in 12 minutes at 5 mph (and an incline) and then walked for 3 minutes to warm down for an even 15 minutes (Again with the "even"?).  I was a sweaty mess but I felt robbed because I just ran out of steam.

The Injinjisocks in my Vibram Classics seemed to do the trick.  I need to test them out with more distance but they felt good for what I did today.

Then I took a break.  I deserved it, after all.

Then I did 2 hours of martial arts training.  It must be calorie burn day or something. 

Martial arts training today was of the humbling kind.  Have you ever tried something that you can normally do but you just feel a half step out of sync?  That's how I felt today.  I just couldn't find my rhythm.  I really need to step up my game in the next couple of weeks.

Martial arts training brings us to today's bit of random news (which wasn't a planned feature of this blog and don't expect it to last).  Ever since I started to seriously study martial arts, I've been saying "Bring it!" and teaching my students to do the same when they are the defender.  It's something that I've done to change their mindset and I can go into that in more detail later, if anyone is interested.  Anyway, Tony Horton (the P90X guy) has a book coming this month - Bring It!.

I'll probably have to add it to my library, just because. 

Now I need to finish up a blog post for tomorrow because we are leaving here at 3:30 am for a trip into town.  Crazy stuff.

Then I can try to finish the yard before it gets dark because there won't be time again to do it until next Wednesday.

After that, maybe I can catch my breath.

***

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.

Quit Hitting Yourself

 
It had been two weeks since I had done any martial arts and I was sure ready last night.  We went full speed for the entire time other than the last 15 minutes where I actually did a little teaching.  We are pretty much in practice mode for the rest of the month but if someone asks a question, I feel kind of obligated to answer it.

The only not-so-good part about practice was when I jammed my own thumb going for a sleeper hold.  That stung a little bit.  Not that I stopped playing of course.  I popped it back out and we kept on going.  It was really tender this morning and numb.  I was kind of thinking, "hmmm, numb, that can't be good."  Not that I did anything about it other than yank on it some more and wiggle it around hoping to get it back to where it was supposed to be.

I think I may have succeeded because the numbness has gone and it doesn't even hurt that much now.

This morning, for my workout, was punches, some more punches, and then a few hundred more punches.  And smack talk.  I think everyone was concentrating too hard to laugh at my smack talk.  Some of the punch combinations take a bit of concentration and practice to master.  Meanwhile, I was punching the shit out of my invisible opponent and letting him know it.

Remember all the way back to yesterday when I mentioned that it gets a little cool in my exercise/martial arts room (you know, the padded garage)?  This morning, when I got into the second half of my workout, there was steam coming off my body.  I was a steaming, trash talking, punching, fury.

It was great.

Tonight is a dad and Trey night.  Tia is out doing a fundraiser to help families in need for Christmas.  Trey and I will be eating sammiches and watching Monday Night Football.

Time for me to go fix up the guy grub.

Have a great 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.