Workout notes for March 20, 2008

I'm inclined to think that Yahoo 360 really is going to bite the dust, which raises the question of where to put my workout notes. Blogspot is a great place for blog entries but it doesn't function all that well as a social networking site; the same thing in reverse is true for Facebook and MySpace. The networking part is OK but blogging isn't easy, intuitive, or obvious. So I guess I'll have to play around with it.

As for yesterday:

Still getting over the flu (sort of stuck at 95% better) but I had a great leg workout under Josh's tutelage. I did:

(1) Squats. Warm up set with just the bar, then 25 @ 135, 12 at 205, 12 at 255, 12 at 295, and 10 @ 335. I've done more in the past but I'm working on form; my squat form has been pretty goood but lately at Josh's suggestion I've been using a wider stance and going deeper. Feels really good!

(2) Body weight squats on the inverted BOSU alternating with drop step lunges / knee lifts. Balance is sooooo much better than it was a year ago.

(3) Leg press (3 x 15-20 @ 270, 1 x 12 @ 360) alternating with seated calf raises.

Short, sweet, simple, and by the time I walked out of the gym my legs felt like rubberbands -- in other words, exactly how they SHOULD feel! Which is fine, although getting up and down today is a wee bit tricky!

More tomorrow...

California Trip: People

The nice thing about having free time AND a car was that I could get out and about. One day I drove out to California State University, Channel Islands meet my friend Steve Stratton, who is Head of Collection Development and Technical Services for the University Library.

CI is the newest branch of the Cal State system and, no, you do not have to take a boat to get there. The campus is actually in Camarillo, tucked away in between the low peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains, smack dab in the middle of Ventura County. Apparently the CSU chancellor decided "Channel Islands" was the best possible name for the campus, despite being on the mainland. (The school occupies the campus of the former State of California Mental Hospital, generically known as "Camarillo," so that wasn't going to work. Likewise, a land deal with Ventura County fell through, so that took care of that option!)

Thanks to Steve I was able to take a tour of their new library which is under construction and due to open in February 2008. In addition to Steve I met Steve’s boss, Paul Adalian, and one of Steve’s faculty colleagues, Manuel Correia. After the tour, Steve and Manuel and I went to a taqueria in Camarillo for a yummy lunch!

I was pleased to meet three online friends, all fellow bodybuilding fans, I’d never met in person before:

Doug lives in West Hollywood a and took me to Gold’s Venice, a place I’ve been fantasizing about (it’s the place they invented bodybuilding, you know) for at least 30 years. Mid-day Sunday apparently is NOT the time to go looking for celebrity bodybuilders, although Dougie did point out one aspiring porn star and I was quick to spot former pro-bodybuilder Tom Prince, who had to retire 2-3 years ago after suffering some illness (bypass surgery?) He is much smaller than he was back in his heyday but still very impressive! Afterwards Doug and I had lunch at the French Quarter Restaurant in West Hollywood. We were there about five minutes before I realized that I'd actually eaten dinner there in early 1994 with my friend Paul Camp, who works at UCLA's Biomedical Library.

Tom lives near LAX and works for a major airline. We’ve been chatting online for years. We got our wires a bit crossed so we didn’t have a chance to work out together but Naoyuki and I met up with him in Venice Beach for a cocktail at the Roosterfish and dinner at the C&O Trattoria. (Nice food, cute waiters!)

Dan is another long-time correspondent who lives in San Francisco. Dan moved to SF from the Dallas area where he was living when Jeremy and I arrived in Houston (1999.) It’s hard to believe it’s taken this long for us to finally connect! Dan was down in Palm Springs for Pride Weekend. We went out for a bite to eat our second night there (Friday), then he and I went to Gold’s Palm Springs to workout together Sunday a.m.

Likewise, while in Palm Springs we made a new friend, John, an erstwhile Canadian now living and working in Chicago. We persuaded him to join us for dinner at one of our favorite places, Haleiwa Joe’s, and explored a new one, El Mirasol, with him. El Mirasol goes on the list as another fave!

Next: Other Eats!

Weekend Update

Friday morning Naoyuki flew to Los Angeles to attend the AACR (American Association of Cancer Research) conference, where he presented a poster Sunday morning. I will be joining him there on Tuesday, then the next day we will head to Palm Springs to spend four nights at INNDulge, our favorite gay resort. (This morning when I left home it was raining and in the low 30s; by the time I made it to the Pembroke / Medina exit it was snowing and I walked into the building with snow in my left ear. I'm REALLY ready for California!)

I wish I could say I had a fabulously productive weekend but that's not the case. On the other hand:

(1) I had another good workout session with Bally Boy Josh.

(2) I got a much needed haircut.

(3) Saturday evening friend Jim and I had dinner at the Sahara Grill on Elmwood, followed by a brief visit to Borders, and then the Regal Cinema (Transit Center) to see 300, the completely over the top movie about the Spartans and the Persians at the battle of Thermopylae.

Sunday I cleaned the bathroom. Well, not ALL of Sunday (although it was pretty damned messy); most of Sunday I spent avoiding cleaning the bathroom (and instead reading the 2nd installment of Kim Stanley Robinsn's Mars trilogy.

No earthly idea what we'll be doing in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, although we have a dinner reservation for Thursday night at Copley's, I have a hankering to check out the Los Angeles Farmers Market, and we'll no doubt wind up hitting the Cabazon outlet malls before it's all over with.

Some time in the pool would be good!

Gym time

Me personal training sessions at Bally's are going remarkably well and I’m very thoroughly pleased.

I’m quite pleased with Josh, and not just because he’s a cutie. He’s one of those never-stops-moving jock types who is all about being active (football, basketball, baseball, golf, cycling, you name it, he does it) and his approach to training is not about how much you can lift or lots of aerobics.

Instead, we focus on things like proper form (in just about everything) and working muscles to the point of failure (as in, I started off doing this shoulder press exercise using dumbbells and now I’m just moving my arms up and down with no weight and I still can’t do it!) Plus lots of emphasis on balance (standing or kneeling on the BOSU, using the big balance ball for flyes rather a flat bench) and coordination (do these curls / presses while standing on one foot) and exercises that address the core (abs, obliques, back muscles.)

For an hour a day, three days a week.

I usually try to make it there half an hour to 45 minutes before our session so that I can (a) do about half an hour’s worth of laps (walking) on the track and (b) do some stretching. By the time Josh is done with me, I’m whupped so afterwards it’s about all I can do to get through a shower and then stagger home.

The great thing about Josh is that he’s very attentive to detail and gives very constructive feedback. He doesn’t just say, “that’s wrong,” he says, “try doing this” and keeps on saying it until – voila, at last! – I finally make the mind body connection and start moving things in the right way. And when I do get it right, “that’s a hundred percent better” or “you’ve nailed it” or “you squat better than I do, I can never keep my feet straight.”

For the first time in my life I feel like I’m being coached, in the very best sense of the word.

I’ve pointed out all of this to the fitness director (Nick), who hooked me up with Josh in the first place, and to Josh as well, who, for his part, says that he enjoys training me because I work hard.

The benefits are obvious to me, even though they’re probably not particularly evident as far as the scale is concerned. My torso is much tighter than it ever has been previously and everything else is firming up nicely, too. I don’t seem to have lost (or gained) any weight and I doubt my measurements have changed any but I can feel the difference and on occasion I can see it in the mirror. I’m inclined to think the goals I set out when I first talked to Nick about hiring a trainer (See 57 Weeks and Counting, March 9, 2007) are completely doable and that I’m well on my way to achieving them.

In some ways it’s sad that I have to pay someone to motivate me to do this kind of work but I keep reminding myself that it’s not just that – I’m getting instruction, not just motivation, and of a sort that I have craved for a very long time.

57 weeks and counting

Until my 50th birthday, that is. Which is why Tuesday I went to Bally's and said, "I want to talk to someone about getting some personal training." An hour or so later I was talking to Nick, the fitness director at the Amherst club where I'm a member. I told him upfront:

(1) I want to be in the best shape of my life by the time my 50th birthday rolls around

(2) I want to be able to see my abs

(3) I want to be able to bench my own weight for reps easily

(4) I want to work on balance and coordination (because I've never paid any attention to either)

(5) I want to learn how to fall down without hurting myself

(6) I want a guy trainer who is (a) gay friendly and (b) in really good shape (because I need the inspiration)

Which was fine and dandy as far as Nick was concerned. He set me up with Josh, one of his two newest trainers, and we had our first session Thursday morning at 10 o'clock.

I was quite pleased. Personal training (from what I can tell thus far) at Bally's is very programmed but very professional and very tailored to the individual's needs. Likewise, Josh is probably early 20s and very interactive, very pleasant, very laidback, very focused on achievable goals, very reinforcing in terms of what I was thinking and wanting. We got the vitals (height, weight, measurements, and way, way, way too high bodyfat ratio) and then did a workout that concentrated on balance, flexibility, and pulling in addition muscle groups, e.g.:

-- Bodyweight squats
-- Bodyweight squats plus lifting one leg when coming back up
-- Squats + leg lift + pressing 10 lb. dumbbells at the top of the motion

Then we tried the same on the balance ball -- was NOT gonna happen. Squatting while on a balance ball is NOT something my body wants to do at this point! (At least I think it's the balance ball -- it's really half a ball with a stable, circular base on the floor, but bouncy.) Without missing a beat Josh said, "let's do this instead," and we shifted to shoulder raises (bring the 10 lb. dumbbells from waist to directly in front of the chest, then up to 45 degrees out, and then up to 90 degrees out.) Much better -- I could stay on the ball and do that (most of the time.)

Plus a couple more of with the step thingy and then finishing up with planks, which were hard but felt really good.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with myself. After nearly 30 years of off and on (mostly off) in the gym, I finally decided it was time to get assistance, to make sure I was getting the best bang for my exercise effort. I'm learning new stuff and I can see making lots of progress.

(Whether it's the best bang for the buck is a different story. I figured out this morning that I have to work nearly 8 hours at my job to earn enough to cover the cost of three hours per week of personal training. Zounds! Keep in mind that I only work about 16-18 hours a week on average!)

Regardless, I think it's a worthwhile investment.

Starting point: 197 1/2 lbs. @ 5'10 1/2 inches; 24% (!!) bodyfat; 51 shoulders, 47 chest, 36 waist, 15 biceps, 16 calves.