Category Archives: Health

Cheap Workout Sunday Report 1

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My health hasn’t been in tip-top shape for years…  Ironically, I wrote an article a few years back called “Becoming Super” and of course the opposite happened, I’ve been practically anti-super ever since.  Not by own choice, mind you but instead I was hit by a number of illnesses that has had me on the decline ever since.  I’ve been hoping I could overcome the illness be myself, but I haven’t and I’m tired of waiting for my body to defeat my problems naturally.  So, I’ve decided to start to get back into shape, but in a slow and cheap manner.  So, thus the creation of this article.  I’m going to track my repeating fitness efforts in this Sunday post.  My equipment considers of a cheap bench and an Olympic bar and weights.  Both of these could be bought together second hand for less than two hundred dollars.

smallhulk

I use to be pretty strong, so coming back after years off, I’m a little disappointed in the weight I’m working with.  Versus the average male, I still did pretty well.  In this effort I’m not trying to accomplish much so I decided to keep it short and sweet.  I’m recording this because a blog is much like a diary, and I decided it might be fun to look back someday and see how at did at certain dates.  It’s a cheap workout because I’ve decided to use equipment that I had in my basement that I received as a cheap gift over 5 years ago.

And now on with the workout:

  • Bench:
    • 45 lbs –   basically the bar for 10 reps (my warmup)
    • 135 lbs – 1st real set for 10 reps (years ago, this was my warmup set… disappointing…)
    • 185 lbs –  2nd real set for 5 reps (hoped to go for 10, but too weak currently)
    • 205 lbs –  3rd real set for 1 rep (I was hoping for 2 reps, but I failed this Sunday)
    • 165 lbs – warm down set (this was a hard 10 reps surprisingly)
  • Curls
    • 45 lbs – bar basically, warmup for 10 reps
    • 65 lbs – 1st set for 10 reps
    • 75 lbs – 2nd set for 10 reps (easier than I imagined)
  • Row
    • 65 lbs – set of 10 reps
    • 75 lbs – set of 10 reps (fairly easy too, time to increase the weight next time)
  • Sissy Squats
    • 2 set of no weight for 10 reps (making sure I got 90 degrees angle for the squat).  I almost didn’t include these, but they were hard for me so here they are.
  • Goals:
    • Lose 20 to 40 lbs by the end of the year (20 lbs seems possible, but 40 lbs might be stretching it).
    • Be able to bench press 250 lbs by the end of the year (I’d be happy if I could get 225 by the EOY).
    • Be able to curl 95 lbs for 10 reps by the end of the year.

Well, that’s all.  I kept it short and sweet as I mentioned above.  I’ve always worked my upper body but not my lower body because I wanted to be fast with my legs because I was in Tae Kwon Do years ago, so my legs are underdeveloped (sort of, I’m sure they are stronger than average, but not too strong, maybe around the 80th percentile…). I’m pretty goal oriented with working out, so it might be hard to keep it short.  I expect that I’ll be in a hurry to at least get to bench 225 for 1 rep.

I have to admit, I’m a little surprised that I’m as weak as I am, but hopefully I’ll recover quickly, especially in bench press (my favorite).

I hope I do much better soon,

Don

Son Wounded – A Visit To The Hospital

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Yesterday was an unusual day!

My wife had a scheduled dinner with an old friend, my sister thought about coming up and saying the night with their kids, and my son went on a bike ride with a friend in the neighborhood that he hadn’t seen in 3 years.

I had bad feelings, and was a bit on edge, but I push my fears down thinking it’s just an odd day.  They around 7:00pm, the mom of the friend that my son was riding his bike with rang my doorbell.  I went to the door and she told me that my son was injured but she wasn’t sure to what extent.  Apparently he had fallen off his bike and got injured somehow.

At first, I thought it was just a road rash like abrasion, so I thanked her and as my son entered the house.  I told him to go to the bathroom and undress so I could see the problem area better.  At that time I thought I was going to wash him up and put some medicine and a large bandage on him.  So when I went in to check on him, that’s when I saw a gaping, deep, hole in him that went beyond the skin and appeared to be even beyond the muscle.  I freaked!

Out of the door, I yelled for my daughter to come home, check the level of bleeding from the wound (a little, but not horrible at that time) and threw the kids in the car.  We then rush to the local hospital and sat in the waiting room trying to get admitted.  Unfortunately, it was a bad day and a lot of other people were there with problems too, and the staff was wanting to say the least.

I though about packing everybody back in the car and driving 30 minutes to a larger, more respected hospital.  So I check the wound again, and this time it appeared to be bleeding again, so I went out and asked some of the hospital folks if they were too busy and if I should go somewhere else.  They said it shouldn’t be much longer.  So I went back to the room that my son was at and looked at the wound again.  That’s when I noticed the blood again, and so took the bloody bandages, went out to where there were hospital nurses and asked for some clean bandages and I said that my son was bleeding.  That prompted a doctor (or surgical assistant) to come and make sure that he wasn’t bleeding too badly.  The doctor check and said that while it is bleeding, he doesn’t believe that it’s an artery (which was my main concern).

The wound had the properties of a gun wound, and the doctor asked if my son was shot or playing around with guns.  And since my son knew that he got the injury when he crashed on his friends bike, he wasn’t sure what exactly caused the hole itself.  So the doctor’s order a x-ray, just to make sure that there wasn’t anything left inside (like a bullet).

They believe that their wasn’t much muscle damage and sewed him up.  He got three stitches (it was a bullet sided hole), and then they cleaned him up and sent him home.

Needless to say, yesterday (7/25/2012) was a bad day, but it could have been worse.

Now for the tie in with finances.  The hospital admittance, the room, the x-rays, and the treatment will probably run my over $1,500… easily.  Now most people have insurance so it’s not even worried about, but I have a HSA plan, so that money will come from my pool of savings in the HSA.  But since it’s my son, that cost associated with such an injury isn’t even considered in my head at the time, but now I’m wondering how bad the financial damage will be…   So let say I’m right and it is $1,500 for four hours of work and x-rays, that’s $375 an hour!

Ouch!  Both in my son’s case, and me financially.

What a horrible night!

MR

Steps to Prepare To Fly

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I’m currently getting ready to fly back home. The following are a few things that I made sure were in place to make my flight less stressful and for emergency situations.

First, since I have kids, I made sure that my life insurance is at a respectable level.  For me, that’s half a million dollars in coverage.  I actually did this a few years ago, but it’s brings me easy of mind knowing that if something did happen, my family will be covered.

Second, I always take dramamine a half an hour to a full hour before I get on the plane.  On the way out my ride was smooth, but I didn’t have a direct flight, and the second leg of my trip was very rough!  I’m sure I would have been miserable if I didn’t first take some dramamine.

Third, make sure you have Tums or some other form of antiacid.  While I didn’t have an  upset stomach on the way out, if I had, it could have been a very rough journey.

Fourth, I also take carry some ibprufen in my pocket just to make sure if the need arises, I have the medicine.  I was almost forced to take such a pill during the last flight.

And finally, I converted an audiobook to a series of MP3s so that I could be distracted and enjoy the fly.  I’ve used similar approach with my car trip to vacation destinations.

Well, that’s it, now it’s time to go to sleep…  I hope the flight goes well tomorrow!

Cheers,

MR

Becoming Beautiful, What the Beautiful People Know

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Beauty

Beauty By Weight Loss

What Beauty Really Is

Beauty is more physical health and confidence than direct looks!  Oh sure, there are some women/men with very pretty faces, some even look like models, but if they are 40 pounds overweight and don’t practice good hygiene/grooming, they will not be considered beautiful.

Sometimes losing just 20 pounds will make a normal girl beautiful and a man handsome.  I’ve seen such beauty come out, when a female friend (that was overweight by 40 pounds) lost her extra weight . The transformation was amazing!  Not only did her basic body shape become incredible, her face even became much prettier too.  When weight loss happens, it happens all over the body.  So your face become more in shape too!  Once her face became thinner, she was breathtaking! Who would have guessed?

I’ll see this while walking in the mall too, there will be a girl/woman most would consider normal, borderline homely, but I know if that girl/woman would just loss just 20 pounds she would be a knockout!

Photoshop Models

Models that we see on magazine covers aren’t real.  They should really be called Photoshop girls, because photoshoped images are all that is on the magazine covers these days.  Not to mention the position tricks to make them even more attractive.  Some of the high heels on that the models wear for the pictures are almost like small stilts.  And if you notice the bikini pictures, practically all the models are standing on there tiptoes.  Not only does this make them look longer, but it also tightens up everything.  IMHO, the tightening make them look even more healthy.

Photoshop can make model faces practically flawless and thin girls thinner…  From a technology standpoint it’s impressive, but not real.

The end of the following video is amazing. when it get to the end pause it, I’m sure you’ll be amazed!  I wonder if makeup can accomplish some of this look too?

Actually, I not as impressed as I use to be by models.  After seeing a few episodes of “Top Model Search”, I have come to the conclusion that most models only look great for that 1 particularly great picture, but in normal moving life, most don’t look that spectacular.  Oh, there are exceptions, but they are rare.

Beauty is a comparison with others, but it doesn’t have to be a first place takes it all kind of comparison.  Women, you don’t need to have the perfect breasts, buns and looks all at once.  In fact, if you are just normal in all areas with any area that is a bit more polished, you will be considered beautiful.

The Beauty Of Being Healthy

Given all of the above, the really beauty of being healthy is the way it makes you feel.  When I’m in shape, I have more energy and I’m just more content in general.  Since I’ve been both thin and heavy, I feel very qualified to say this!

Being Beautiful is Really a Lifestyle Choice

Like the models from the “Model Reality” shows, you can have the potential to be beautiful, but if you don’t experiment with your body and looks, it will remain hidden (unless very obvious).

Your lifestyle should include some form of exercise, especially anaerobic exercises!  Lifting weights is one of the best ways to reshape your body the way you’d like!  Both women and men should include working out with weights!

Clothes Makes the Man/Woman

I forgot to mention that clothes can make a big difference too.  In fact if you aren’t in perfect shape, clothes can be a great way to hide that fact!

Conclusion

I guess what I’m trying to say is, life is short, why not try to look your best and be the most health you can be.  Get out, do things, start new things, be healthy and beautiful!

-MR

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