July 2007 Entries

Fat chicks in tight clothes
So the other day I was at the gym and saw this girl who was probably in her mid 30's trying to fit in clothes she bought when she was in her mid teens. This might be an over exaggeration but I don't think it is. As I saw her fat rolls coming out of her shirt I felt a little disturbed. Why would someone want to wear clothes like that out in public, granted it is just a gym but there still has to be some sort of weight limit on the clothes. I could hear the seams yelling help me, help me. I almost wanted to go over and offer some money to buy new clothes but that would be rude and counter productive. With that being said it is important to wear appropriate apparel for your workout. I am not saying go out and buy $200 running shoes or buy brand new clothes. Get clothes and equipment you feel comfortable working out in. This will help you go to the gym and you won't feel embarrassed for being out in public, and even more important other people won't feel embarrassed for you being out in public.
posted @ Tuesday, July 31, 2007 2:14 PM | Feedback (2)
Dark chocolate good for the health

In my reading I came across an article in Web MD that talks about chocolate being good for the health. This is only for dark chocolate. With white chocolate and milk chocolate the tests that were done came back with little results.

The deal is with dark chocolate it increases antioxidants in people. And in older people has shown to help lower blood pressure. These results occur with moderate eating of dark chocolate. The tests were also done with other types and came back as not having the same effect on people.

I use to work in the MLM world and have seen companies come up with dark chocolate being sold. While dark chocolate is good remember that everything must be done in moderation and not excessively. Also I am not a big fan of MLM, while it supported my family working for the company and not as a distributor, it is easy to loose a lot of money trying to make money.  

For more reading:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20030827/dark-chocolate-is-healthy-chocolate

posted @ Wednesday, July 18, 2007 9:42 AM | Feedback (0)
Writing down what you eat
In loosing weight I have found it helpful to write down what you eat. I have used various software programs in doing this and one of the better ones that I have found is from Keyoe. I have been using their software since version 4. It gets hard to keep track of this type of stuff and they have various programs for all sorts of your portable devices. Not only do they have a portion of diet but they also have the exercise portion with graphs. Any software that has graphs built in is nice since it gives you a way to keep track of where you were at and how much you are fluctuating. The hardest part is writing down everything you eat and your workout routine.

Doing what works for you

I am not saying go out and buy any particular software package. I am saying keep track of what you are eating and do it in a way that is easy for you. A simple spread sheet is easy to work with as you can modify it to do what you want it to do.  You can use a ledger if you are not into using computers or other software packages. Just make sure you are doing things simple for you.
posted @ Monday, July 16, 2007 8:44 AM | Feedback (0)
Shower Stall Etiquette
Shower Stall Etiquette
Ever have a workout go long and you go to get into the shower only to find all the stalls are taken? This has happened to me on several occasions. Not only are they all taken but the people that are using the stalls are in the stalls for an extremely long time.
Keep in mind if you are taking a shower at your local gym for longer than 5 minutes and you’re a guy, people are going to start to talk about what you are really doing in the shower. Keep in mind there are other people than you in the world that might have better things to do with their time than wait for you to finish taking a shower. If you are going to take longer than 5 minutes please go home and not have other people wait on you. It is rude and inconsiderate.
I often hear about people peeing in the shower. This is a practice that is like peeing in a public swimming pool. It is something that is done when you are 5. However, you are not 5 anymore and should not be practicing peeing in the shower; other people use the shower after you.
Just as common practice due to the amount of people who do pee in the shower, wear flip flops. It will help your feet not get contaminated by other peoples germs.
posted @ Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:15 AM | Feedback (0)
WASH YOUR HANDS
Washing your hands after you go to the bathroom is extremely important, especially while you are at the local fitness club. I can’t count how many times I have used the bathroom and am washing my hands and see a few people walk out without washing their hands. First off ewww, next is when you are working out and you see the same person using equipment you want to use but you can’t bring yourself to use it knowing the dirt secret of them not washing their hands.
People need to take the time to wash their hands after they utilize the facilities, the benefits to that person and everyone around them is countless. It would cause our society to prosper; after all we would not want to turn into the French.  
It is not a time consuming task to wash your hands, if you take more than 1 minute you are taking to long. That is the amount of time people take for breaks in between reps while working out. If you are in need of further instruction please check out the article published here: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hand-washing/HQ00407
Also to get a better perspective about washing your hands please visit my friends blog at http://www.overlordacademy.com, including not being taken over by the french (which is extremly important)
posted @ Wednesday, July 11, 2007 9:06 AM | Feedback (1)
Cell Phones at the Gym
What is up with Cell phones while working out? I get to the gym between 6:30 and 7 and there is at least 1 person who is talking on their cell phone. Now if I was a person getting calls at 6:30 I would be really pissed off.

This poses 2 questions:

How many people want to get phone calls that early?
How important do you have to be to be making calls that early?

I for one am not important enough to be getting calls early in the morning, nor do I want to be calling people that early in the morning. I appreciate the friends that I do have and I do not want to be irritating other people while at the gym.
The other thing I noticed was a trainer who likes to text people while helping people out with their workouts. That is plain rude. You have a person who is paying to have the trainer telling you how to work our and he can not take the time out of his life to not send text messages to his friends. I would demand my money back if I paid for a personal trainer and he would not devout his time to a person who is paying money to learn how to workout.
posted @ Tuesday, July 10, 2007 2:08 PM | Feedback (0)
Weight Loss Pills

What is the deal with weight loss pills? I have tried Hydroxycut in the past and have found it did not help with loosing weight. For some people it could help out as for me it does not. I spent more time shaking and feeling agitated than it was worth. I have found that most pills contain a high dose of caffeine and some other drugs that will keep you awake longer. I found I was able to have a slight boost and would not be able to sleep at night. When I stopped taking the pills, I found I was constantly tired and didn't have much motivation. I have seen some that will make you poop a lot but then you are mostly loosing water weight. For some people they seem to work, if they did not they would not be out on the market.

I have tried other brands before the ephedrine ban. They didn’t seem to help that much and I was more agitated. I felt really happy for a while then really depressed. I almost went to go get something else to try to help with the depressions but decided that taking pills to counteract the effects of other pills is not a good idea.  I have decided to avoid using pills and stick to regular exercise. I do not think that weight loss is worth the gamble with pills.  

posted @ Friday, July 06, 2007 1:15 PM | Feedback (0)
Try something new

During the past few months I have found it difficult to stay motivated to work out. I have found that playing racquetball twice a week instead of doing a normal workout has helped me to stay motivated. It is good to come up with an activity that you like to do and work it into your daily routine.

posted @ Thursday, July 05, 2007 9:40 AM | Feedback (0)
Working Out
Somtimes it gets hard to work out. One of the best things to do is to find a partner to work out with.
posted @ Tuesday, July 03, 2007 9:39 PM | Feedback (0)