How to balance working out with working

"Sporadic work schedules make for a non-existent workout schedule." Don't be a twit! Send a Tweet!

As a manager and driver for a major pizza chain I work a lot and my schedule from day to day is never the same.

So how do I find time to work out?

While it is ideal for you to not only have a set work schedule but also have a set exercise schedule that is not always a viable option. In my case one day I may work 9 am to 7 pm and the next I may work 5 pm to 2 am which does not provide me the ability to exercise on a set routine. In order for me to find time to work out I have to communicate my needs, monitor my schedule, and avoid procrastinating.

The key to having the time you need to do the things you want is to communicate your needs to those that control your schedule. If you have a direct supervisor then let them know that you would like time to go to the gym. If they are like myself and try an accommodate your needs when making the schedule then you will get a "better" shot at a set workout schedule. Since there will still be days I have to open and close since I am the only one available I have a gym membership to a literally 24hr gym, this allows me the flexibility to go when ever I have the time.

I know that there are going to be days that I have to close, I am the only driver available in my store to close on Tuesdays, so I will schedule most of my workouts in the morning. This also allows me the opportunity to request mostly closing shifts since I need to be available at 3 on weekdays to pick my kid up from school. Each bit of information about my schedule gives me a more accurate brick of time that is possible for me to workout. Since my kid has to be at school at 8 am and I have to pick him up at 3 pm that gives me the brick of time between dropping him off and picking him up to workout.

I know that if I go drop him off and then come back home I will end up going back to bed and sleeping the day I way. So since I am already out and my gym is always open I can and should go right after I drop my son off. This also gives my body time to recover before having to drive a bunch and allows a shower. If I were to procrastinate and not go right away I would either not get up in time to workout at all or I would go and have to cut my time short and I may not get a shower in before pick him up. You do not want to be that guy that smells like BO and sweat at work. I was that guy once, I thought nobody noticed but they all commented later.

It is important that no matter how you find the time to workout that you make sure you find the time. If you are TO TIRED to workout, TO BAD go do it anyway your body will stop being to tired. Once you get the blood pumping and you start to get a routine going your body will retain the ability to workout. Having a varying schedule may be good for you as well, it will stop your body from storing energy till that time when you go to the gym everyday, because it will never know when you are going to go.

Sorry I do not have pictures for you today, this post is already late.

Have a Happy and Healthy day!




Thomas Gould

How I am Progressing!

National Guard Weekend

We took a crappy old school bus style bus up to flagstaff, the bus would not even go the speed limit up the mountain so it took us 3 hours to complete a 2 hour drive.

 After we arrived they had all of us fall into formation and the instructed us on where we would be staying, by the time we arrived it was already really cold probably around 60 degrees Fahrenheit and a large part of the platoon was shivering, but I wasn't.

 We all got beds to sleep on which was nice because David told me that we would either be on cots or on the floor. Despite having an actual bed to sleep on and a sleeping bag designed for the temperature up in flag I slept like shit the first night. I have not spent a night away from my wife in ten years and I have not spent a night away from my kids since they were born.

SATURDAY

I woke up at 4:45 am, 15 minutes before we were required to be up, I took that time to shave and brush my teeth.

During first formation we did warm-up PT(Physical Training), followed by the 2, 2, 2 which is 2 minute push-ups, 2 minutes sit-ups, and a 2 mile run. At which point we had one person pass out.

PT in flagstaff sucks. We were at an elevation of over 7300 feet and the air is thinner up there and no matter how hard you try you can not get enough air in.

My scores on the Personal Fitness Test were horrible

32 push-ups
19 sit-ups
> 22 min 2 mile run

We all thought that once we were done with PT we were going to get shower time but we ended up going straight from PT to breakfast

OMG Breakfast... So Delicious!

Scrambled eggs with bacon, hash-browns, and toast. served by a local diner.

We spent most of the rest if the day in classes.

• Land Navigation
• Sexual Harassment Prevention
• Suicide Prevention
• Drill and Ceremony

In the middle of the classes they had all the enlisted people go get there uniforms issued and the five guests in my class all had to stand in formation and wait for them to get there uniforms and change into them (about an hour). I got really badly sunburned

After the last class we did some actual drill and ceremony and we did not move fast enough for the Sargent so we ended up having to do a bunch of push-ups and flutter kicks on hot asphalt. At which point our second person of the day passed out.

Our lunch sucked... We had and MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) and while they are not as horrible as I remember from the ones I had when I was a kid they are not as good as fresh cooked restaurant food.

Dinner was just as good as breakfast, we went back to the same restaurant and had Spaghetti and meatballs.

After dinner we were free to do as we pleased as long as we stayed in the barracks. So me and David and a few other guys decided to play poker but we did not have any chips so we had to play PT poker.

30 second dead cockroaches

Sunday

After more scrambled eggs we drove up into the mountains and went hiking.

Land navigation was fun I was the only person in my group that did not have to have map reading and point plotting and compass reading explained to them over and over.

After land navigation we were issued another MRE and then we were sent home.

Summary

I had so much fun despite being yelled at constantly and forced to do more push-ups then I have ever done in one day. I want to go back next month but I had a very hard time getting the time off this month and no one seems receptive to giving me the time off again.

Rest of the Week

On my day off I went to the eye doctor and failed my eye exam

I bet you are wondering how you fail and eye exam. Easy the Navy Seals require no worse then 20/70 vision without glass and it must be correctable to 20/20. I have 20/100 correctable to 20/20. So I failed the part of the requirements to get into the SEALs that I can not do anything about.

After my eye exam I went to talk to the navy recruiter and they told me with my family and debt there is a 50/50 chance that I will get a enlistment waiver approved.

So I went and talked to the Army recruiter and they said that I need to lose 5 lbs and gain an inch in my neck and lose an inch in my waist.

My Measurements

National Guard: 

• Neck - 17.5 
• Waist - 39

Navy

• Neck - 17.5
• Waist - 41

Army

• Neck - 16.5
• Waist - 39

Need

• Neck - 17.5
• Waist - 38

So basically at this point I am looking down the barrel of a loaded cannon. I can never do what I want to do in the military. The branch I want to go into I am locked out of because I have two kids, my second option has a 50/50 chance of being locked out of, and my third option needs me to be 22% body fat to pass MEPs.

We will see how the next 30 days go and see what my body will let me do.

Have a happy and Healthy week

Thoams Gould

Memorial Day

I hope everyone had a fantastic memorial day

Mine was very very busy...

So busy that I forgot to eat

While I ate, but it was not enough to power my body.

After I got off of work I went to the gym

After doing some stretches Duane and I did are mandatory 100s which made me feel horrible. I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach which is weird since I have done m100s before and although i felt tires and was pouring out sweat I did not feel sick. On my way home I realized I was starving and through working and working out I had forgotten to eat a decent anything.

After I was done at the gym by Duane's house I stopped off at the gym by my house to pick up the personal workout plan that the physical trainer created for me. It looks like it could help but the majority of the items that I need to work on are not on the priority days.

Here is what the plan looks like

Day 1

• Warm-up
• 5 - 10 minute - cardio

• Strength (2 - 3 sets)
• 10 reps - leg press
• 10 reps - rear delt/row machine
• 10 reps - overhead press machine
• 10 reps - chest press machine
• 10 reps - tricep extension machine

• Abs (3 sets)
• 30 - 60 seconds - front plank
• 20 reps - B2) dbell side bend

• Cardio
• 10 - 20 minutes - interval cardio

Extra Day 1 - Push-up/Crunch specialization

• Warm-up
• 10 - 20 minutes - steady cardio

• Strength
• 2 minutes - push-ups
• 2 minutes - Sit-ups
• 2 sets of 10 reps - overhead press
• 3 sets 30 - 60 secs - side plank

Day 2

• Warm-up
• 5 - 10 minutes - cardio

• Strength (2 - 3 sets)
• 10 reps - leg curl
• 10 reps - leg extension
• 10 reps - lat pull down
• 10 reps - rear delt/row machine
• 10 reps - bicep curl

• Abs (3 sets)
• 30 - 60 seconds - front plank
• 20 reps - B2) ab crunch
• Cardio
• 10 - 20 minutes - interval cardio

Extra Day 2 - Pull-up specialization

• Warm-up
• 5 - 10 minutes - steady cardio

• Strength (2 - 3 sets)
• 10 reps - wide grip pull-up
• 10 reps - medium grip pull-up
• 10 reps - chin-up

Day 3 (body weight)

• Warm-up
• 5 - 10 minutes - steady cardio

• Strength
• 10 reps - pull-ups
• 2 minutes - push-ups
• 2 minutes - sit-ups
• 15 reps - lunges
• 30 - 60 seconds - front plank

• Cardio
• 85% 1.5 mile run

I will try this out for a couple of weeks and see how it works out and if I do not feel like I am improving I will have to work on a new routine for my self or find a military style training I can work with.

Have a fantastic and healthy week

Thomas Gould

Personal Training & Re-motivation

I work in food service and I have been at my current job just over two and a half years. For most of the time I have been there I have been trying to move up to a store manager but I realized this week I do not want to work in food service and I do not want the stress that comes with being a manager.

This week has brought to my attention how much going into the military really means for my life.

This goal means I get a second chance, I get to do something with my life that means something to not just me and my family but to the whole country and the whole world. I need to work hard at my life to get the discipline that I have to have to move through life with a purpose.

I still have a hard time pushing myself to do the push-ups and sit-ups that I need to build the endurance to be able to meet my goal of getting into bud/s. I get so tired, distracted, and sore that I just want to sit in my crappy broken desk chair, then I get stiff from sitting in the chair.

Monday will be a start of a new era in my training, swimming every day, running and Mandatory 100s interchangeably everyday. In addition I had a appointment today at planet fitness with a personal trainer and he is helping me work up to where I need to be in august.

PERSONAL TRAINING

I arrived at my appointment at 9:29 (not quite as early as I would have liked)

When I got there I checked in at the front desk and told the lady I had an appointment and she points at this skinny guy in a yellow shirt behind her.

I do not know what I was expecting, I knew from Planet Fitness' reputation that I was not going to get some huge muscly guy in a tank top acting like a drill instructor.

I was not really expecting a skinny soccer coach either though

The first thing he said to me is that we were waiting for one more person.

I went and sat down and thought how is a personal training session personal if there is more then one person. Luckily the other person never showed.

We talked through out the entire workout about my goals and when and how I get sore and ways to resolve some of those problems I am having. We did the 30 minute circuit which is a full body workout and the only part I had a hard time with the shoulder and chess press. At some points I was considering increasing the weight because it seemed to easy to me.

He asked me why I wanted to be a seal and up to this point I had not really given this question any consideration. I answered him the best I could with several different reasons.

• I have always wanted to be in the military.
• I love to scuba dive.
• I want to do more with my life and be awesome.
• I like to travel and adventure.

On Monday I will be able to pick up my personalized workout from the front desk.

NUTRITION

I have been having a hard to sticking to my diet, just like everyone does.

When I am at work and I get hungry or stressed out I have to choose to eat nothing, pizza, or fried chicken wings. The best choice of course is nothing; but when you work in food service and you are constantly inhaling all the fumes from food it is hard to not eat.

I plan on making sure I eat before work everyday and then bringing something to nibble on..

• Carrots
• Celery
• Cucumber Spears

Something...

Once I get all my bills caught up I am going to learn to cook some healthy chicken recipes that I can make in advance and take with me to work and for lunches and other times I do not have time or the energy to cook.

A day late and a dollar short

Well actually a week and three days late and no money short but...

Life can be frustrating sometimes, you crash your new mustang that you have not even had for a year and total it, then you drop your replacement Samsung Galaxy S4 that you have only had for two months in the parking lot of work and crack the screen, to top it all your weight loss has plateaued.

How do you deal with it all?

don't GIVE UP!

I bet most of you did not see the don't.

For the last two weeks or so I have been hoovering between 212 and 215 lbs depending on the time of day and food and water consumption. This has been aggravating because up to this point I had been losing pretty consistently.

FRIDAY MORNING!

I woke up and sprung a leak just like I do everyday then blindly pulled the scale away from the wall and stepped on...

211.8 lbs

Hooah!

Bell hop... down please!

As the day progressed even with eating and drinking regularly I dropped off another 2 lbs ending the day at 209.8.

WHAT?

The next day I weighed in between 210 and 209.9 so my month old scale is working just fine.

However

I would like this scale or one similar to it

Working hard or hardly working

Both - I work hard I push my weight lifting, my run my diet while staying in a safe zone.

leg day used to kill me I would not be able to get in and out of my car; yes my 2008 Ford Mustang sat a lot lower to the ground the my moms Avalon does but still... with out my legs completely killing me. No matter what workout I do, no matter how much weight I lift my legs do not hurt. Same with my arms and chest in the upper body portion. I have only felt one day of core and repeating that exercise routine did not make me feel it again.

I have tried changing my routine to make it so my body does not get bored or complacent or what ever it is that people say happens when your routine does not change. I even tried using some recommendations from the Director of Fitness at the Naval Special Warfare Center and I did not feel that either.

I am not exactly sure what I should do to remedy this:

• Move up to more sets
• Push heavier weights
• Just keep working and build resistance

One thing I know I want to do is buy a weight vest, ankle weights, a medicine ball, and elevation training mask... But I can not afford them.

To add some comedy to an already annoying situation - We maxed out the weight on three machines and almost maxed out two more... I asked my friend what to do next and hes said "Go to another gym" - Stupid year contract.

Final Note:

I am trying to make these posts more interesting and more interactive but I am not exactly sure how. I wanted to make it a video post instead of just a diary entry but I do not have the time to edit the video or equipment that can record good quality HD Video.

"Do or do not! There is no try!" ~Yoda

Why quote Jedi Master Yoda?
Well that is simple. I am a total scifi geek, however, it is also a motivation to me.

Everyone has a hard, tired, sick, or depressed day and needs a pick me up. Everyone gets their pick me up a different way some use energy drinks like monster or rockstar, while others use motivational text or pictures of people that the way they want to look.

For my motivation I use motivational text and Seal training videos,  because if I cant hack a day of exercise now I will not be able to take a day in bud/s.

In addition to Master Yoda's words of wisdom there is also two more I think of in a hard time:
"Your brain will quit 1000 times before your body will." ~source unknown
"Not dead cant quit" ~U.S. Navy Seals

The reason I think of these specific quotes is simple. As a Seal it will be my job to push on no matter what is in my way and only give up when I am dead. Everyday is hard, I have work, family, and sore muscles so I could make excuses everyday and not ever achieve anything but "lazieness is the archenemy of dreams."

Post your motivation in the comments and we will see how many different forms of motivation there are.

Have a fantastic healthy week

Thomas Gould

My Dream!

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
~Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. never got to see his dream become a reality but the things that he did helped to bring about a change in this country that was unheard of up to that point in history.

Everyone has a dream from the little kids running around pretending they are a super hero to that old man in the nursing home. Some dreams are simple and may come true the very next day while others dreams are complex and take training, time, and money before they come to fruition.

I have a dream!

There is two jobs that I have always wanted to do but thought I could not. The first job that I wanted to do that due to the fact that I am required to wear corrective lenses I will never be able to do is fly a fighter jet. The second job that I thought I could not do until very recently was be a Seal.

*Claps fins together excitedly*  Arw! Arw!

What? Not that kind of seal!

A Navy Seal!

I thought that because I was fat I would never be able to be a navy seal, but while I was looking at the different jobs that I could do in the military I got bored and decided to look up the requirements to enter Seal Training or BUD/S as it is known in the navy. This is what I found

By law, only men are eligible to apply for the SEAL program. Upon joining the Navy, you must:

Meet specific eyesight requirements: 20/40 best eye; 20/70 worst eye; correctable to 20/25 with no color blindness

Meet the minimum Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) score:
GS+MC+EI=170
or
VE+MK+MC+CS=220
or
VE+AR=110 MC=50

Be 28 years of age or younger

Pass a physical examination required for divers

Be a U.S. citizen and eligible for security clearance

The chart below highlights the current minimum Navy Physical Screening Test (PST) requirements for Navy Challenge Programs.

Physical Screening Test
SEAL
Swim 500 yards (450 M) – breaststroke or sidestroke
[in minutes] 12:30
Push-ups [in 2 minutes] 50
Sit-ups [in 2 minutes] 50
Pull-ups [in 2 minutes] 10
Run 1.5 miles [in minutes] 10:30

This was taken from the Navy Seals page and then modified to only include the requirements for the Seals

Going through each individual requirement I will explain why I feel that I can make it as a Seal and then discuss the mental aspect of BUD/S.

For the eyesight requirement I am not 100% sure I am will pass this portion as I do not remember what my eyes tested at last time I had them tested but I am hopeful that they do not fail me.

I have not taken the ASVAB since high school but the last time I took it was told by the recruiter that I could do any job I wanted based purely on my score. I have learned a lot since high school and I believe that I can do even better now.

I am 27 now so I have 1 year and 9 months until I do not meet this requirement.

I was born and raised in Arizona and as far as I know I have never done anything that would keep me from getting a security clearance.

The physical testing requirements are the hard part for me...

In my current condition 216 lbs I do not qualify to get into the military at all let alone into BUD/S

I am capable of doing 25 push-up comfortably and I can push myself to do 35 before I collapse on the floor. As a much younger person I could do a good quantity of push-ups I do not remember the exact number but it was more then 50.

While I was attending Metro Tech High School my PE teacher administered a physical test similar to this in which we had to do sit-ups and I rocked that test. We had to do as many sit-ups as possible in a minute and I was able to do more then 100. At the moment I am capable of doing 15 but with constant work on my abs and back I will get back to that point.

Pull-ups are my kryptonite, I hate pull-ups and they hate me but I can do 1 pull up now so I just need to build up the strength to surpass the minimum and I will be fine.

I am a certified scuba diver so obviously I love the water and I love to swim given endurance training and weight loss I will eventually be able to swim 500 yards in LESS THAN 12:30 minutes.

Running, {sigh}
I love to run! At my current weight I can run I have done it for paintball but I am scared of running in long intervals and causing my self to become injured and be unable to go into the military at all...
I am going to keep walking around the apartment complex parking lot until I stop hurting and then I will begin to run around the 2 mile radius that is by my apartment. hopefully it does not get to hot to fast or it is going to be a very miserable summer. My goal is not to run 1.5 miles in 10:30 but to run 2 miles in less than 10 minutes. For timing this I am going to have to find a large park or use a treadmill as the current route I plan on taking has a lot of areas I may have to stop.

My goals are not quite as easy as the ones set fourth by the Navy. I would like to be able to do 200 push-ups in 2 minutes, 100 sit-ups per minute, 20 pull-ups in 2 minutes, swim 500 yards in less than 10 minutes, and run 2 miles in less than 10 minutes.

I am striving to be able to be able to meet all of my goal numbers without a time limit by the beginning of June and then compressing the number into the time from June to August

My best friend has agreed to help me train for the military by pushing me to work hard at the gym. I just hope we can get enough coordinated free time to be able to go at least three times a week. I do not quite know if he knows what he has agreed to but we will see tomorrow 04/06/2014.

The excerpt of the Martin Luther King Jr. speech above was taken from the website
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm on the 5th of April 2014. and is the copyrighted property of American Rhetoric as of 2001

Week 2 Day 3

I love Honey Nut Cheerios, they taste good and they are better for you then most other cereals like captain crunch which has a lot of sugar in it. I remember back when I was younger there were actual nuts on the honey nut cheerios, sadly they are just plain honey cheerios now but I still ate 2 bowls if you go by the recommended serving size on the box.

I have an old pair of pants that barely fit when I weighed 260 pounds, it was the only pair of pants I had clean yesterday when I had to go pick up my son from school. Even pulling these pants up around the largest part of my stomach they still fell down. It felt AWESOME!

After picking up my son from school I had to do some quick exercises because I was called into work early. Working out on my elliptical machine is hard, it hurts my right knee and wobbles really bad, but I still pushed myself to spend fifteen minutes on it while watching NutriVentures which is a show about eating well that my 6 year old likes.

Throughout the day I walked 6685 of 10000 steps burning 353 calories according to the step counter on my phone. Most of this was during work since I was driving last night. I like the days I get to drive because I have a 2008 Ford Mustang Gt and it is so much fun to drive. While I was at work the only time I was able to eat was when I had a break at 9:00 pm and walked over to burger king and got a grilled chicken sandwich, it is not the most healthy thing I could have eaten but it is a lot better then eating any of the fried foods or cheese covered pizza that I have available at work.

After I got home from work I took time to walk across the street to Walmart and bought the items I needed to make my own grilled chicken sandwiches. These were better then the ones from burger king because I use 100% grain wheat buns and a small amount of mayonnaise. Before I went to bed I was able to do 30 push-ups which was difficult because I do not have a lot of strength in my upper arms, However, pushing myself to do the extra push-ups will help build strength.

According to my account on FatSecret.com I burned 3086 calories today while consuming a measly 997 Calories. I burned 2089 Calories more then I took in. According to CalorieCount.about.com I should be consuming 1690 Calories a day to reach my goal weight of 180 lbs by August first. It is not recommended for a male to consume less then 1500 calories a day.

Today I feel tired and headachy, this is probably due to a combination of low caloric intake and elevated blood pressure due to the exercise from yesterday. I have a standing prescription for blood pressure medication that I am considering beginning to take again as it helps with a lot of general body aches as well as headaches and mood.

Follow me on my calorie tracking pages.
Firebird2552 SparkPeople
Fordorth FatSecret

Losing Weight

Everyone wants to be a hero at some point in their life, a lot of people give up this dream because they feel there is no such thing or the goal is out of reach. I am no different I have given up on my dreams because I was told I am to fat, slow, and lazy. I even adopted these into my life because I felt badly about my self. Well this is how I am not only changing my life but I am going to become a hero.

In 2012 I weighed about 260 lbs., I was slow because my legs and back always hurt and I was tired when ever I tried to move so I just gave up. I had a headache that never went away and my hands were always in pain because I had high blood pressure and did not know it.

260 pounds

In 2013 I finally got transferred to a store that got an Store Manager that actually cared about what his employees wanted and he helped me pick up my pace at work and Finally promoted me. With all the work I was doing at a faster pace I began to lose weight and literally before I knew it I had dropped 40lbs.

224.6 pounds

There are a lot of different kinds of heroes, some fictional:

• Superman
• Batman
• The Flash
• Captain America
• The Hulk
• Ironman
• Etc.

And some real life heroes

• Police
• Firemen
• Mountain Rescue Teams
• Coast Guard
• Military
• Etc.

Well I could try and become one of the fictional heroes I am not really interested in radiation poisoning or becoming a vigilante.

So my goal is to become one of the real life heroes, more specifically I would like to go into the United States Military. aTo enter into the military you must meet certain weight or body fat criteria, in addition to other criteria.

For my height 5’8” or 68 inches I must weigh or have a BFI of

Branch	Weight	Body Fat %
Navy	181	22%
Army	171	26%
Air force	180	27.5%
Marines	209	18%

So my goal weight depending on branch has to fall somewhere between 171 and 209

My preferred branches are the:

1. Air force
2. Navy

So that reduces the gap to only a 1 lb. gap, these are maximum weights so if I weigh less then 180 lbs. that is okay as well.

How am I going to get from 222.4 to > 180 lbs.?

I am married and I have two children I have a rent and car payment, plus utility expenses. My job does not pay that well so I do not have a lot of money to go buy a lot of produce or expensive low fat meats.

I will be exercising to lose my weight.

I have a old elliptical machine that my mom bought but due to a injury she can not use. I also have my apartment complex pool since it is starting to warm up, and fitness center once I find the key. And I have both Xbox fitness on my Xbox one and Wii fit+ on my Wii.

I take my kids swimming just about everyday, which is good exercise as long as I can get a few laps done in between playing with them.

I use the elliptical machine once in a while, it is really hard to use since it rocks to the right well you are on it and it is a full body cardio workout that stress everything out.

I have not started using Wii Fit+ again yet because I have to move it into the other room and due to work have not had time.

I have tried to you Xbox Fitness but I do not have the space without rearranging my entire living room.