Oh yeah..... The knees are back and so am I. Still doing my running and strength training is going very well. I was hoping that all I needed to do was chill out on the hard running (I like to kick my pace up by a quarter of a mile an hour every time I run) and just maintain a certain speed for a time before kicking it up a notch. I think I just get a little too anxious to make more progress and I end up taking myself out of the game. One thing that needs to happen is that I need to stop abusing myself on the weekends. We have been hanging out with new friends every single weekend and at some point in time during the weekend, alcohol becomes involved. Everybody know that alcohol doesn't do a body any good at all and it will end up being more calories that I have to work off. I guess it's up to me to take control of that. At some point, I will be able to drink in moderation and enjoy me couple of beers one night and not load up on a week's worth of calories in one evening. That aside, I seem to find myself in great anticipation of the first flexibility training cycle. I know that initially, I said it was going to be two weeks long, but I wonder if one week will be just fine. I guess I'll see when I get through this strength training cycle, which by the way is going better than I expected. I think my greatest downfall is that I'm so anxious to throw around heavy weight that form goes right out the window. I think this week that I will cut back on weight and concentrate on form before I end up hurting myself. I have to be able to remember that it isn't what I can lift or how fast or far I can run, it's how good I look and feel.
I should also say that I am working abs the same way throughout every cycle, but I think that I may abandon that during the flexibility cycle. I guess it really depends on how I feel once I come to making the transition from strength training (which I will miss till I see it again) to flexibility training. I might just look at a different ab workout as I feel like I can never get enough ab workout in. Oh well, wish me luck and here's to healthier living.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Next Stop, Knees
Well folks, I know I said I wouldn't chronicle my running as my friend Chris has cornered that market, but I still planned on marking my physical progress here. I finally had broke the 210 pound barrier that I had been stuck at for almost a month, but the saving grace was that I was still losing inches off my waist so naturally, I was incidentally building muscle, which is good. I'm now down to 205 and still slimming. I'm now at the point where the 'fat boy' pants I had to buy to wear to work (that I managed to outgrow anyway) are falling off me, and I can see that I am looking better. Not quite underwear model material yet, but working towards it. I know when I first came home from the Army that I was a soft 190 pounds, meaning that there was a lot of fat that I had accumulated as I had been told by my fellow soldiers and senior NCOs alike that I looked portly at 185 (didn't matter that I was whooping their asses on APFTs by tens of points). I am still working on being able to make that Army APFT standard, but have hit an unfortunate snag....
About two weeks or so ago, the day after a run, I got out of bed feeling good about the run from the night before when I set my feet down on the floor and stood up...... Pow! Sharp pains in both my knees. All this time I had been worried that my back might give me trouble, the knees had quit. The pain has been constant for the last two weeks as I can tell the difference between pain subsiding and me getting used to the same old pain. This has been the same old pain now for two weeks or so, somewhat sharp and very arthritic. I did what I could to ease into actually running, but I fear that my running career may be over. I guess we shall see.
On the upside, I have since figured out that I can still handle the elyptical machine with not a lot of pain. I can even go for three miles or so, which is good. The goal here, I have to keep reminding myself, is to be in shape, look good and feel healthy and it really doesn't matter how I get there. There's also always swimming that I can revert to for a total body smoking. We'll just see what kind of time I have for that and how many times I make it to the community pool. Another good thing is that I think I have nailed down an actual routine that will work for me. Here's what it looks like:
6 weeks circuit training w/ cardio
2 weeks flexibility training w/ cardio
6 weeks strength training w/ cardio
2 weeks flexibility training w/ cardio
Wash
Rinse
Repeat.
Makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. The benefits have been great thus far. I have been developing this routine over time as I know that I am no spring chicken any more and my body doesn't tolerate certain things the way it used to. I have taken inventory of all the things I have lost that I once had in my youth, such as flexibility from my teens, strength from my 20's and the endurance I had developed in my early 30's, and decided to give them their equal time. I haven't actually incorporated a flexibility cycle yet as that idea only came about about a week or so ago, but I'm hoping that devoting an entire two weeks to stretching will help things like what my knees are going through right now. Wish me luck as I embark on my pseudo-scientific endeavor.
About two weeks or so ago, the day after a run, I got out of bed feeling good about the run from the night before when I set my feet down on the floor and stood up...... Pow! Sharp pains in both my knees. All this time I had been worried that my back might give me trouble, the knees had quit. The pain has been constant for the last two weeks as I can tell the difference between pain subsiding and me getting used to the same old pain. This has been the same old pain now for two weeks or so, somewhat sharp and very arthritic. I did what I could to ease into actually running, but I fear that my running career may be over. I guess we shall see.
On the upside, I have since figured out that I can still handle the elyptical machine with not a lot of pain. I can even go for three miles or so, which is good. The goal here, I have to keep reminding myself, is to be in shape, look good and feel healthy and it really doesn't matter how I get there. There's also always swimming that I can revert to for a total body smoking. We'll just see what kind of time I have for that and how many times I make it to the community pool. Another good thing is that I think I have nailed down an actual routine that will work for me. Here's what it looks like:
6 weeks circuit training w/ cardio
2 weeks flexibility training w/ cardio
6 weeks strength training w/ cardio
2 weeks flexibility training w/ cardio
Wash
Rinse
Repeat.
Makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. The benefits have been great thus far. I have been developing this routine over time as I know that I am no spring chicken any more and my body doesn't tolerate certain things the way it used to. I have taken inventory of all the things I have lost that I once had in my youth, such as flexibility from my teens, strength from my 20's and the endurance I had developed in my early 30's, and decided to give them their equal time. I haven't actually incorporated a flexibility cycle yet as that idea only came about about a week or so ago, but I'm hoping that devoting an entire two weeks to stretching will help things like what my knees are going through right now. Wish me luck as I embark on my pseudo-scientific endeavor.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Let's End This Little Tea Party
Where are my manners? I have them, to be sure, I just reserve them for those with thinner skin, a breed of people that seems to be more and more rampant. In a world full of toleration for the intolerant, we 'real' people seem to be falling prey to others who seem to have free reign to either tell someone how to act/speak/think or they get you slammed into sensitivity training of some sort because they can't take the behavior and verbage of those around them. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I'm tired of the sanctimonious many dictating the actions and behaviors of a few.
What is it that happened that turned most of this country in to the thin-skinned, spineless, whining little punks that plague us today? I can tell you what I see that is certainly perpetuating it - the incessant overcoddling of children, but the problem has roots far deeper than that alone. Today's kids are overprotected and underexposed, and it's the fault of the adults that surround these children. No matter what competitive event they may chance or choose to enter, whether it be little league or a company intramural sport, everyone gets an award for one thing or another. If you or your team didn't win, well maybe you were the most valuable player to your team, or most improved player, or perhaps you had the most team spirit. If I sat here long enough, I can assure you that I would be able to come up with enough awards for an entire little league baseball team. This is apparently what needs to be done in order for each player not to feel like a complete failure who doesn't stand out on the team or just plain sucks. Why is it that we as a modern-day society feel the need to equate not recognizing someone for some unique trait they supposedly have with outright bashing someone? It's understandable that some people truly do go through life hardly receiving enough affirmation, but to have to praise everyone for any inane detail we can pick out about them is entirely too much. This is one of the reasons that sensitivity training exists in the first place. If a manager goes long enough without giving certain employees recognition regardless of their level of performance, those same employees have a case to bring to their EEO office and in all likelihood get that manager sent to some sort of sensitivity training. The best thing that anyone could do for their kid, employee or anyone else that needs it is that if someone sucks at something, TELL THEM!!! The other side of that equation is that people need to be able and allowed to tell someone that they suck if that's what they need to be told. It's time to stop rewarding people for being mediocre or just not standing out. Life is a learning process, and if part of that learning process is finding out that you don't excel at anything or that you don't stand out in a crowd for any reason, then so be it. Time to suck it up. Stop being hurt and offended, take the criticism as constructive and do something with it rather than stick out your lower lip and look for someone to tattle to.
The other issue under the same umbrella that I would like to address is that portion of the demographic that feels that they trample on the behaviors of others, citing their sensitivity but has no regard for their own unchecked behavior because in their mind, their entitled to act the way they do. I'm not sure what has brought on people's obsession with every one else's behavior, but I can squarely say that if you can't or don't feel that you must keep your own behavior in check, you definately have no business telling anyone else how to act. Stifling the freedom of others to be themselves through complaining is bad enough, but after imposing your will on others, to subject those same people to your annoying behavior should be grounds to shoot you on the spot. No one but those entrusted to protect me, such as police officers, have any right to tell me how to conduct myself in any way whatsoever. Quite frankly, I don't really even need police officers for that either, as at least I have good common sense to guide me through each day so as not to attract that kind of negative attention. Bottom line is, if you're willing to tell others how to conduct themselves, then you'd better be ready for one of two things: 1) you'd better be ready to act in the same way you're telling others to act, or 2) a serious beat-down of galactic proportions.
Better yet, maybe everyone ought to shut the fuck up when it comes to the behavior of others. This logic carries though many other arenas where these types of complaints are prevalent. Don't like what you're hearing on the radio? Change the station or turn it off. Television? Same thing. Don't like how someone is talking or acting? Walk away from it if you can. Can't walk away? Oh well, deal with it. After all, what are the odds that you have mannerisms that piss somebody else off? Stop acting like you need to go to some sort of inpatient clinic for a few months because you heard someone drop the 'F' bomb.
Sadder yet is the fact that this mentality has also crept into today's United States Armed Forces. The very same people who for years were known for cigar chomping, beer swilling, cussing, fighting, tattooed men in uniform. Now, all tattoos deemed 'offensive' must be removed. In some instances, it's not even so much what the tattoo signifies but where it can be seen on the body that makes it offensive. A soldier, sailor, airman or marine may not curse in mixed company and in some instances, the field, may not drink any alcohol with their lunch, may not use tobacco products of any kind inside any buildings, and the penalties for fighting in bars has certainly stiffened over the years. Today, our fighting forces are more concerned with knowledge of trivial information about their respective branch such as history that each branch is getting further and further away from. Other concerns of today's armed forces are things like EO training every quarter, telling our military why it isn't OK to ogle any of your counterparts of the opposite sex without getting express permission from them by filling out DA Form 00-000. The same traditions that some units have had since World War 1, many have now been banished because some people find them too much like hazing or otherwise offensive. Ladies and gentlemen, the guardians of your freedom.
Finally, there are those who simply fail to do the simple math that would tell them that they don't belong in certain places, perhaps at certain times, for no other reason than the kind of thing that goes on at that time and place can be construed as offensive or outright harassment. Almost 15 years ago, a female reporter went into the locker room of a football team that had just won a game, and the result was a number of players being fined by the league for indecency and other allegations of misconduct. What did that reporter think went on inside the locker room of a football team? Before going in front of whoever she went in front of to complain about what she saw in the locker room, she should have broken down the elements. A locker room - with showers - full of men - who just won a football game - likely changing out of their uniforms - no other women likely to be found in the near vicinity. Being a female and a sensitive female at that, she should have known that the same story she was trying to get could have been completed when the team was on their way out of the locker room, coupled with the fact that there are just certain parts of male rituals and culture that she should never have wanted anything to do with. How she entered the locker room not knowing the risk of what she may see escapes me completely. Common sense should have been a guide, but it is easier and evidently more acceptable to claim ignorance than to use common sense.
It's time to identify those who have been shrouded in oversensitivity, who have been getting others sent to scam artists called sensitivity counselors (for which there is no licensing or certification) who rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars for their time, throw them a beating and tell them how it really is. Let's deprive a few of these pricks of their income and go back to the good old days when a spade was called a spade. If you have a tasteless joke to tell, tell it. If you're one of those who curses, then let it fly. If you're one of those who beats their kids asses in public for acting like an asshole, swing for the fences. If you think one of your counterparts of the opposite sex looks good one day, tell them in a clearly non-suggestive way. If you're one of those who doesn't care to be a part of these practices, leave. Stop crying about the actions of those around you and forming support groups and fattening the wallets and purses of the shills of social work that call themselves sensitivity counselors and start realizing that everybody has the basic right to be themselves in compliance of the basic mores and folkways that have governed our society for a long time. Take off the dresses and end this little tea party that we call sensitivity awareness and political correctness and make a happy return to the way things were when your skin started thickening through childhood. Stop protecting your kids from the sometimes unfortunate ways of the world and start exposing them to some of the more unconventional behaviors while taking the time to explain to them that not everybody acts the same way you might. It's a big world full of a lot of people, each of whom act differently so if you can't teach tolerance then at least teach them a coping mechanism that doesn't include running to the nearest authority figure and ratting out someone for being themselves because the way they are offends you. Grow up and get over it, folks, we all have to live together, so let one another be.
"You find me offensive, I find you offensive for finding me offensive" - Eminem
What is it that happened that turned most of this country in to the thin-skinned, spineless, whining little punks that plague us today? I can tell you what I see that is certainly perpetuating it - the incessant overcoddling of children, but the problem has roots far deeper than that alone. Today's kids are overprotected and underexposed, and it's the fault of the adults that surround these children. No matter what competitive event they may chance or choose to enter, whether it be little league or a company intramural sport, everyone gets an award for one thing or another. If you or your team didn't win, well maybe you were the most valuable player to your team, or most improved player, or perhaps you had the most team spirit. If I sat here long enough, I can assure you that I would be able to come up with enough awards for an entire little league baseball team. This is apparently what needs to be done in order for each player not to feel like a complete failure who doesn't stand out on the team or just plain sucks. Why is it that we as a modern-day society feel the need to equate not recognizing someone for some unique trait they supposedly have with outright bashing someone? It's understandable that some people truly do go through life hardly receiving enough affirmation, but to have to praise everyone for any inane detail we can pick out about them is entirely too much. This is one of the reasons that sensitivity training exists in the first place. If a manager goes long enough without giving certain employees recognition regardless of their level of performance, those same employees have a case to bring to their EEO office and in all likelihood get that manager sent to some sort of sensitivity training. The best thing that anyone could do for their kid, employee or anyone else that needs it is that if someone sucks at something, TELL THEM!!! The other side of that equation is that people need to be able and allowed to tell someone that they suck if that's what they need to be told. It's time to stop rewarding people for being mediocre or just not standing out. Life is a learning process, and if part of that learning process is finding out that you don't excel at anything or that you don't stand out in a crowd for any reason, then so be it. Time to suck it up. Stop being hurt and offended, take the criticism as constructive and do something with it rather than stick out your lower lip and look for someone to tattle to.
The other issue under the same umbrella that I would like to address is that portion of the demographic that feels that they trample on the behaviors of others, citing their sensitivity but has no regard for their own unchecked behavior because in their mind, their entitled to act the way they do. I'm not sure what has brought on people's obsession with every one else's behavior, but I can squarely say that if you can't or don't feel that you must keep your own behavior in check, you definately have no business telling anyone else how to act. Stifling the freedom of others to be themselves through complaining is bad enough, but after imposing your will on others, to subject those same people to your annoying behavior should be grounds to shoot you on the spot. No one but those entrusted to protect me, such as police officers, have any right to tell me how to conduct myself in any way whatsoever. Quite frankly, I don't really even need police officers for that either, as at least I have good common sense to guide me through each day so as not to attract that kind of negative attention. Bottom line is, if you're willing to tell others how to conduct themselves, then you'd better be ready for one of two things: 1) you'd better be ready to act in the same way you're telling others to act, or 2) a serious beat-down of galactic proportions.
Better yet, maybe everyone ought to shut the fuck up when it comes to the behavior of others. This logic carries though many other arenas where these types of complaints are prevalent. Don't like what you're hearing on the radio? Change the station or turn it off. Television? Same thing. Don't like how someone is talking or acting? Walk away from it if you can. Can't walk away? Oh well, deal with it. After all, what are the odds that you have mannerisms that piss somebody else off? Stop acting like you need to go to some sort of inpatient clinic for a few months because you heard someone drop the 'F' bomb.
Sadder yet is the fact that this mentality has also crept into today's United States Armed Forces. The very same people who for years were known for cigar chomping, beer swilling, cussing, fighting, tattooed men in uniform. Now, all tattoos deemed 'offensive' must be removed. In some instances, it's not even so much what the tattoo signifies but where it can be seen on the body that makes it offensive. A soldier, sailor, airman or marine may not curse in mixed company and in some instances, the field, may not drink any alcohol with their lunch, may not use tobacco products of any kind inside any buildings, and the penalties for fighting in bars has certainly stiffened over the years. Today, our fighting forces are more concerned with knowledge of trivial information about their respective branch such as history that each branch is getting further and further away from. Other concerns of today's armed forces are things like EO training every quarter, telling our military why it isn't OK to ogle any of your counterparts of the opposite sex without getting express permission from them by filling out DA Form 00-000. The same traditions that some units have had since World War 1, many have now been banished because some people find them too much like hazing or otherwise offensive. Ladies and gentlemen, the guardians of your freedom.
Finally, there are those who simply fail to do the simple math that would tell them that they don't belong in certain places, perhaps at certain times, for no other reason than the kind of thing that goes on at that time and place can be construed as offensive or outright harassment. Almost 15 years ago, a female reporter went into the locker room of a football team that had just won a game, and the result was a number of players being fined by the league for indecency and other allegations of misconduct. What did that reporter think went on inside the locker room of a football team? Before going in front of whoever she went in front of to complain about what she saw in the locker room, she should have broken down the elements. A locker room - with showers - full of men - who just won a football game - likely changing out of their uniforms - no other women likely to be found in the near vicinity. Being a female and a sensitive female at that, she should have known that the same story she was trying to get could have been completed when the team was on their way out of the locker room, coupled with the fact that there are just certain parts of male rituals and culture that she should never have wanted anything to do with. How she entered the locker room not knowing the risk of what she may see escapes me completely. Common sense should have been a guide, but it is easier and evidently more acceptable to claim ignorance than to use common sense.
It's time to identify those who have been shrouded in oversensitivity, who have been getting others sent to scam artists called sensitivity counselors (for which there is no licensing or certification) who rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars for their time, throw them a beating and tell them how it really is. Let's deprive a few of these pricks of their income and go back to the good old days when a spade was called a spade. If you have a tasteless joke to tell, tell it. If you're one of those who curses, then let it fly. If you're one of those who beats their kids asses in public for acting like an asshole, swing for the fences. If you think one of your counterparts of the opposite sex looks good one day, tell them in a clearly non-suggestive way. If you're one of those who doesn't care to be a part of these practices, leave. Stop crying about the actions of those around you and forming support groups and fattening the wallets and purses of the shills of social work that call themselves sensitivity counselors and start realizing that everybody has the basic right to be themselves in compliance of the basic mores and folkways that have governed our society for a long time. Take off the dresses and end this little tea party that we call sensitivity awareness and political correctness and make a happy return to the way things were when your skin started thickening through childhood. Stop protecting your kids from the sometimes unfortunate ways of the world and start exposing them to some of the more unconventional behaviors while taking the time to explain to them that not everybody acts the same way you might. It's a big world full of a lot of people, each of whom act differently so if you can't teach tolerance then at least teach them a coping mechanism that doesn't include running to the nearest authority figure and ratting out someone for being themselves because the way they are offends you. Grow up and get over it, folks, we all have to live together, so let one another be.
"You find me offensive, I find you offensive for finding me offensive" - Eminem
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