Human Machines

...I figured I'd throw a post up here.

No more military, a new job, a new gym membership, and being back in NoVA all lend themselves to a totally new life for me. I spent the last 6 years with total and complete access to a free gym and all the nutritional advice anyone could want and I never really took full advantage of that. The military is supposed to inspire one to be a better person both physically and mentally(I would tend to argue this point), and for the most part it does, but I have never felt more motivated in my whole life than I have in the last 2 weeks. Olympus gym is a pretty sweet gym and I got a sweet deal on a membership there. I just ran for like 40 minutes outside(it's a beautiful day) and now I'm deciding what I should eat.

Now for a question:
I'm a pretty knowledgeable guy when it comes to fitness. I know how proper nutrition effects your life and I know the fundamentals of a good workout, but my biggest concern is my mid-section. Anyone have advice on getting rid of belly fat? It will only get harder to rid myself of it the older I get.


Sweet link:
I know you're not indian Alexis but this is a cool ass article anyway about a chick in a special tactics unit.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/185125…

Hi,
I'm pretty sure most of you are single working folk like me, and often face the dilemma of what to make for dinner for just yourself...
thought i'd share this new recipe i found in women's health it's satisfying and quick and you only need 3 ingredients that you more then likely have already. give it a try and let me know what you think...

Eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes garlic olive oil flavor
red pepper flakes
2 eggs

place tomatoes and juice into food processor or blender, and pulse until you get a chunky sauce, heat sauce over medium heat in a shallow pan, add red pepper flakes to taste, heat until a gentle simmer is achieved. crack each egg individually into a small bowl. make a well with a large spoon in the sauce and gently pour the egg into the well, repeat for second egg evenly spacing. cook on medium/low heat maintain a gentle simmer for approx. 6-8 min (you may need to cook a little longer, to check for doneness gently press on egg with the back of your spoon), depending on desired doneness of yoke. spoon eggs into a bowl and serve with a generous helping of sauce, garnish with more pepper flakes if desired.

Hello! I thought I'd post some things about fitness that I had learned over the years. This will be a sort of stream of consciousness as things come to me. Feel free to correct me! I appreciate any new insights. If you don't, I'll assume I'm right about everything. ;)

Before you do any strenuous activity, which includes stretching, you need to warm up. Stretching should come after because it's unhealthy to stretch cold muscles. (some people stretch first of all, which isn't good)

When working the muscles, remember that both strength and flexibility are important. I read, "a body without flexibility is a limited instrument; a body without strength is a useless instrument."

For strength and flexibility, work the muscle until it is rather fatigued (don't overwork), and then stretch it for 30 seconds or so. The muscle can also be stretched before it is worked, as long as you've warmed up already, but not necessary. Doing it afterward helps because the muscle became contracted and tight while you worked it, while stretching will help relax it and keep it from being sore the next day.

I've heard of cardiovascular endurance as a separate category from muscular strength, and I believe that, though you can also think of the heart as a muscle, and cardio will strengthen that muscle by making it work harder like strength training (in this case you make it beat faster). Cardio also gets the heart and lungs to work better as a team.

There are seven aspects of fitness: flexibility, coordination, strength, endurance, agility (move quickly with grace), equilibrium (balancing), and speed. As far as I know, the only activity that helps develop all seven to a good extent is ballet dancing. I think gymnastics and martial arts come pretty close. In any case I still supplement my ballet practice with other things.

There are different kinds of coordination (and others of the above, of course). Hand-eye coordination is helped greatly by tennis and badminton.

If you strengthen a muscle, it's a good idea to have a complementary strength (and flexibility) in the opposite muscle. If you work the quadriceps, work the hamstrings also. Though, I've heard that the quadriceps need to be a little stronger than hamstrings. (I don't doubt it, since I seem to need the quads a lot more)

Running up the stairs burns an amazing amount of calories. It's also really hard to do for very long. Kickboxing also burns a lot.

There seem to be two different ways of strengthening the muscles. Making them larger and having the ability to actually lift more weight means you do more weight and fewer repetitions. "Toning" them and allowing them to lift stuff more often means you'll do more repetitions and less weight. I guess this is why women tend to do more reps and men focus on more weight?

Nutrition: there are 3,500 calories in one pound of fat. All extra calories that the body does not burn or need to maintain your body weight is stored as fat. So to lose fat you need to consume less calories than you need to maintain your current weight, and/or burn calories.

Personally, I think the better thing to do is make sure you get all the nutrition you need (vitamins/minerals, etc.), and focus on what your body can do rather than how it looks or how much it weighs. If you try to increase your endurance for example (and not overeat), I think maybe your weight will eventually take care of itself. Weight isn't all fat, after all. Muscle weighs more than fat.

I also think this "low-carb" thing is BS. I don't know for sure. I think it's the SIMPLE carbs, e.g. sugars, that you need to watch out for. But I think whole grains are good.

I have a book for dancers called "Dancing Longer, Dancing Stronger." It basically talks about every muscle in the body and how to strengthen and stretch each of them. It's meant for dancers who are already in good shape, and it occasionally uses dance terms (e.g., plié, which simply means standing up straight and bending the knees), but I recommend it for the huge information about the body.

I read about the seven aspects of fitness so many years ago in a book that I don't remember, but I found the same information in this website:
http://webpages.acs.ttu.edu/rchen/…

The benefits of actual sports and activities: http://webpages.acs.ttu.edu/rchen/…

I mostly agree with that last link, though I wonder a little bit (e.g., I thought gymnastics might help agility more significantly than that. Though, I haven't done gymnastics much).

Are you pumped yet?

Oh....my....lord. PAIN!

So...Last FRIDAY(almost a week ago)I went to Krav and did some heavy sparring. Had lots of fun doing so. But, i was also graced with several bruises and scrapes on my arm and one bruise on the top of my knee that blossomed over this past week into some huge, disgusting beast stick style bruise. So, LIGHT sparring at krav tonight. One BARELY touching kick to the knee and OMGWTFBBWOWWWWW! @_________@ It was total KO. Well, my instructor is awesome and makes these chinese herbal conconctions for bruises. So he had someone in the class rub that junx on my bruise. Then said instructor came over and proceded to rub out bruise. FOR T3H HURTING!

Dag. I am a gimp now!

;_;

Great workout this morning with rossobella. I decided to do morning today since i'm going to be busy for the rest of the day. Did cardio, and worked legs today in the weightroom. Sorry I was so "in and out" Nicole, but i had to cram in as much studying as I could XD. I'm glad you came though, i need morning motivation hehe..

Hi, I'm actually pretty proud of myself I've been going to the gym pretty regularly. almost at my goal weight, but i'd really like to build some muscle strength.

I've had one problem though, Guys hitting on me at the gym. I'm not trying to be down on myself , but i'm not really a beauty queen or even kinda hot, so when guys hit on me there has got to be something seriously wrong with them. So in short I'm trying to find a gym buddy. i really prefer to work out by myself, but I'm sick of creeps. so if anyone is free to go to the gym (ie: freedom center) at any of these times the company would be much appreciated.
Mon- 6-9 am
tues- 11-1
wens- 6-9 am
thurs 1-3
fri- 6-9
sat- 12-1

Let me know...thanks

Krav class last night was JAWESOME in so many ways, and I have the scrapes and bruises to prove it! Full out sparring will definately leave you pwned by the end of class. But i love it, and I really feel like i've learned a lot so far. Going to the gym in a few so I can get my cardio and weights in for the day. That will keep me up to date with my goal of weightlifting 3x a week.

I need to practice my Kung Fu forms too. Its frustrating trying to put everything together, but from demonstrations, they look very useful.

Tomorrow: More Systema training! XD

GREAT workout today. (thanks for waiting on me pinkybarbiegirl

Jay, i picked up the 7 Habits... and i really like it thus far. A lot of it almost seems like common sense, if we weren't our own worst critic :) One thing that really stuck with me from this book. Its a lot harder to keep a promise to yourself, than it is to keep a promise to someone else. But you have to treat yourself with just as much respect. When I promise myself that i will eat better, or workout harder I need to follow through.

Starting this week, i'm training twice a week at Krav which is going to be awesome for my energy levels. I also upped my weight lifting today too, so hopefully that will give my metabolism a boost.

I have really been slacking this week, I only went to the gym once. I could make excuses about working 60 hours this week, but in all honesty, I couldve gone. Damn.

I got around to signing on to that sparks website, after AngryOgre said it was working for him. I put in my height and weight and it told me I was borderline obese?!?!?! WAAAY Off. For some reason it is in my genes to be more dense I suppose, I dont know, but noone at work ever believes I weigh as much as I do. I'm in decent shape, I eat right and I work out. Everyone has pounds they need to lose, but damn yo, borderline obese? I think not.

I think I'll stick my routine.

In other news, I dont use the bar bell when I do chest I almost always use dumb bells, and I moved up 10lbs on pretty much all of the chest work outs I do. Thats rockin for me.

Well, i've decided its time to start Taking Things Seriously. I want to train in self-defence and fencing twice a week, take a pilates class at the gym at LEAST once a week, bike ride in the mornings before getting ready for my day, and do cardio EVERY DAY for at least 30 minutes and weight train at least 3x a week.

Sounds ambitious, I know, but i'm sick of making goals and never reaching them. This is the year! One of my biggest things to overcome is my eating habits. I just like how things TASTE, and will eat even when I know I'm not really hungry. I also need to drink more water so I don't suffer from bad skin and dehydration.

A good haircut was just the first step to the new me.

This entry was really random, but I just needed to vent.