Final Post- I Am A Niking

What is a niking you ask?  Why it's the combination of a viking and a ninja, or so my friends have led me to believe.  Because of my recent increased strength my friends have been calling me "the viking" a lot more frequently.  I've been called the viking (or "Yeldarb the terrible") since I was a young kid because of my blond hair and I was always taller and stronger than most.  Plus my moms side of the family is all scandinavian and I guess they were there for a long long time, I guess you could say the time of the vikings.  Okay I'll take it, but as far as I'm concerned this guy right here doesn't look like a viking:

Probably more like a viking out of training.

Now after some training I'm closer too it:

Now that's more like it.

Now I'll admit that I still have "room for improvement".  Especially when it comes to trimming my body hair instead of taking a giant chunk of it right off in the first sweep and then having to go from there (I am not looking forward to the re-growth to say the least).  And I guess that the body can still shape shift until it's as close to perfect as possible.  But to be honest I'm satisfied with where I'm at.  Whatever happens to me is up to my body, because what I'm going to focus on is exercising because it makes me feel good.  I want to take the strength that I've obtained and use it toward athletics, which brings me to the next point:

Ninjas

I can't think of anything more awesome then ninjas.  Their stealth ability to complete their mission without being seen or heard is astounding and I look up to their morals to help the common people of society.  With that being said I don't recall talking about them that often.  But others in my life have proven me wrong with my new nickname "the niking" and my sister even felt the need to make me a hoodie a couple of years ago to honor my respect for ninjas:

Although I don't wear the thing outside in the public I think it's pretty funny.

Fine, great, grand, wonderful, I will take the new moniker and walk into the streets of Chicago everyday in my black garments and help the common people to the best of my abilities:

(Note this suit used to fit me perfectly and now the pants are basically falling off)

With that being said it really just shows how I feel with my new stronger body.  But a more realistic accomplishment has been achieved through this.  A more humble approach to this project that I personally think is far more important then a fit body:

Mindful Living

My special activity was mindful living with a picture of me on my meditation cushion.  To be honest my meditation practice hasn't really changed throughout this.  The cushion is right next to my bed and is the first thing I do when I get up.  Simple enough.  I just breath and relax my body and mind to head out towards the day with a better attitude.  The mindful living aspect that I saw was more about the choices I made.  Choices dealing with food and attitude.  Once the wrong food choices came into view I would push them away, and once the negative attitude came up I would just push it away.  Put a smile on my face so to speak.  So to me the mindful living wasn't really about the meditation cushion, it was the daily choices.

But here's the thing.  During the whole process we were being "suggested" on what to do.  So were they really my choices?  I still had a helping hand (so to speak) on what to do, and although I still made the correct choices (most of the time) it wasn't without the help of others.  You've got Patrick who guides us along the way, and chen who is in my mind a ninja that choses our fate.  The experienced veterans that have came before us who nudged us in the right direction the entire time.  And then the teammates (Kim the hong kong hiker that climbed over countless lags to accomplish her goals (that she will achieve), Nathaly who pushed through the project all while focusing on saving the planet, and Ramiro who overcame his extreme a.d.d and sinus infection to finish this project with full force) that have provided support the whole way through.  So when I think of actual "mindful living"  I can now see that during the three month duration of the project it was really only practice for the act of "mindful living".

From the beginning to the end I was aware that after this was done it would be Halloween weekend and I always believed that I would "party my ass off".  The day after the project ended I did absolutely nothing.  Nothing.  My body deserved it, and I was proud to give my body the break.  Once I woke up the next day I knew that we were supposed to hold off on the jumprope for awhile.  But those three months were our time, our time over there and all around.  Now it's my time, my time over here, and if I want to jumprope that's up to me.  I wanted to move around, and I basically need to when I get off of the cushion.  So after I stretched a bit I did the ten minutes of jumping, and that seemed a lot easier then the two nine minute sets.  I could feel that my insides were all prepared for my healthy breakfast (don't judge, I liked my pcp breakfast), and that's kind of how the whole weekend went.  If we were done after two months and it were Halloween I would have probably gone to the parties and been like, "oh hell yeah, give me a shot of that.  Oh it's pure gasoline, sweet, give me a double, that sounds good."  But honestly I just wasn't about it, I just went through a week of supersets and my body needed time to heal, time to rest.

Once the weekend came and I had no one to suggest what I should do, and didn't have any goals in front of me I was actually pretty peaceful.  With no one in control I was in control and I started to just listen to my body.  When it came to the meals I didn't just make my normal PCP meals I had developed.  I listened to my body and what it wanted, and what it wanted was healthy food.  Food that grew from the earth and prepared in a healthy fashion, and to me it was good, damn good.  I started making smoothies for the snack with no concern towards it's weight and if I got close to being full I stopped.  Once sunday came around I felt like working out, so I did my own version of a superset.  I didn't go as far as we did before (I did only 3 or 4 sets around) because I didn't want to push it until I got sick, but it felt good.  I feel awake and alive.  I feel good, body and mind.  And so in conclusion that's what I've defined as "mindful living".

That's great 'n all, but from my perspective the special activity should have been music.  The fact that I can play music all day and not have any hand problems is the greatest reward I've been given from doing this.  So I'm getting a commemorative tattoo in honor of PCP.  On the inside of my right bicep I'm getting: You Broke It, and on the left: You Fix It.  The blue collar approach to healing.  My bands last gig for the year is on wednesday and then we go to the studio.  This time I'm going to join the party, but be more moderate than before.  This is how I'm going to approach the whole thing.  I'm going to indulge from time to time, but since the majority of my daily life and night life will be "Body fit and mindful", I'm pretty sure I'll stay that way.  With the knowledge I've received through doing PCP if I ever feel broken down I'll fix it.  

I wouldn't be writing all this without the practice that I did with PCP.  I am honored and thankful that I went through this project and wouldn't trade it with anything in the world (PX90 or what have you).  I wish the best for those who come next.  Push through it all and get the most out of it.  A special thanks to Patrick/Chen and the veterans before us for their knowledge and support.  And big ups to Fantastic Carrot!  We Did It!

SUPERSETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These supersets are crazy.  Start with the pull ups now go to the chest dips now run around the block and go to the creep and start floor jumping now do the hokey pokey and spin yourself around.  Really?

I really don't have that much to say right now.  Every time I finish a superset I just lay on the floor for about a half an hour.  I'm going to pull through and complete all these supersets but I will in no way lie and say that I'm having fun doing them.

Beds rule.

Yodo: welcome to the jungle

So Patrick commented with this link yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT5HPiYY6p0


Talk about intense.  Unlike the 8 min abs vid there is nothing funny about it.  The intensity and timing of the dude's voice combined with the crazy music makes me feel like I'm on some guerilla mission in the jungle.  I had to watch the video at first to see the order of it and I thought to myself, "I can't do this, what the hell is he doing?!"  But I'm not the type to turn down a challenge so I got to it, and actually completed it.  I was pretty surprised that I could do it, and to Patrick's/Chen's credit I don't think I could have before this project.  I definitely felt my abs working in different ways and guess what I did 8 min abs right after (probably because I'm a lunatic).  That burn could start a forest fire.


With Kim's post yesterday and Ramiro's comment about "Think of where I'll be in a year" it's crazy to think that in the last week I realized that this is just the beginning.  Now that we know how to eat right and the science behind exercising the possibilities are endless.  I mean Rock Climbing?  I wouldn't have thought about doing that before this.  Shit, last night my friend brought up skydiving and immediately I said, "I'm in."  Oh and that's another thing:


Will-power:


I was basically forced to go to a BBQ last night.  I was actually really pissed about it.  I didn't want to be around a bunch of food while I'm basically at the end of this.  But when I showed up I just refused the food.  I sat there and watched everyone eat and I didn't even think for a moment about joining in.  And then a friend said, "Stu, you're being requested from the little ones."   So I went to where the kids were and started playing with them.  While everyone was barfed out with the BBQ and carrot cake I had the energy to be a human punching bag to a bunch of young hooligans.  Thinking about how Patrick said that this will help the whole family and friends thing.  I'm basically these kids uncle and instead of passing out on the floor I can pay attention to the, "hey stu, watch me body slam and then elbow this."  and, "hey stu, this guerilla (stuffed animal) died the moment I punched it."  Those kids are hilarious, and I enjoyed the BBQ after all.    


I thought that this would be a short post but since it turned into a long one I have one more thing to say.  I've heard of some friends of friends that have done the PX90 (or whatever it's called).  I guess it's  a workout plan and has nothing to do with diet.  All of them have returned to their unhealthy body form after the thing ended, and I'm assuming because they don't know about the diet.  I'm glad that I found this project instead of the other one.  

8 Minute abs

This is a post for team JFD.  8 minute abs might be a little tough and you might not want to do it.  But believe me, the more you do it the easier it becomes.  When I started doing it the time went slowly and I just wanted to get through it.  But now it seems like I'll blink my eyes and I'm at the last section of it.  So if I were you I would start doing it consistently as soon as possible because those ab muscles are pesky funkers.

Family reunion of sorts

I went to a musical family reunion last night.  At one point there was 25 musicians playing at once.  Two trumpets, two trombones, two flutes even, I don't even want to list it all.  It was nuts and fun.  But that's not the point of this.  My band was basically born out of this musician lineage, and so some of the people have known me forever.  The cats I haven't seen for awhile all commented on how I look better "then I have in my entire life".  That felt really great because some of them said, "man being a musician taking care of themselves is a rare thing."  Anyways what I wanted to write about was when they asked me what I did and I responded, "eat right and workout."  They all looked at me like I was lying to them.  It can't be that simple, I must of found the fountain of youth and drank from the holy grail or something.  Nope, eat right and workout, that's it.

As for our homework assignment I've figured it out.  I actually didn't want to go to a gym, just had no interest in it.  I'm really about going to this mma style gym where it's athletic and fun, but a homework assignment must be done.  I'm meeting up with a friend of mine that goes to a gym, but he goes to climb their wall.  Rock climbing has always seemed awesome to me.  It's like a chess match climbing up those walls, and any sport that involves the mind like that is enticing to me.  I'll walk around and see what the gym is all about but then I'll get to the wall and maybe find a new permanent activity.

I just had an egg explode while I was cooking it hard boiled style- weird.

Oh yeah, thanks for all the chest hair suggestions.  I don't think I would have ever gone through with it in the first place.  With this mop on top of my head I would look hilarious without chest hair, as if I were photoshopped or something.

I'm so hungry I could eat a LAG

Last night I went to bed hungry which hasn't happened for awhile ever since the bigger dinners came.  And still with the small dinners I rarely went to bed hungry.  The only thing I could think of is that I've had a little cold the last couple days, and I usually eat a lot when I have colds (and I always get colds around this time in chicago when the weather is getting colder).  It's a pathetic cold in my opinion.  I can go about my days just fine I just have a little fatigue and sinuses.  Little sniffles aren't going to stop me from doing anything.  I can get through the exercises just fine with a little fatigued throughout it, but then again the workouts are harder.  I'm just making sure that I get plenty of sleep, and although I still have some signs today I'm definitely better than yesterday so I think I'll be top form real quick like.  But the hunger caught me off guard since our diet is definitely large and in charge, it was a little strange to me.

My pics yesterday sucked.  I don't know why after all this time I can't take a consistent photo.  I know nothing of lighting, and when I look in the mirror and then look at the pictures I see two different things.  I guess it doesn't matter that much because I know I'm doing well and all that, but to be honest I would just like to take a good picture.  I've been thinking I need to go out and just take pictures and try to get better.  I know this isn't really part of the project but I've always wanted to have decent skills at that.  

I showed a friend of mine my progress and he said that I've got to get rid of my chest and ab hair.  I've got this scruffy chest hair that is kinda in the way of my pecks.  I'm not really sold on the idea since winter is coming through.  I still have to think about it because it kind of annoying to have the hair, so maybe I will.

Sleep sleep sleep, tea tea tea.

Delirium- Final Indulgence

I had trouble figuring out what to do for the final indulgence.  A unhealthy large meal?  So. . . go to any restaurant in the city of chicago.  Ummm. . . too many choices, what to do, what to do.  And then yesterday happened.  We had band practice as we always do but this time one of my band members was fired from his job.  It was 6:30 and he was drunk, and I mean hammered.  He was talking on the phone to people about the matter and me and my other band member looked at each other like, "what's in store with this band practice."  We started trying to get things together and just work on something (we hate not being productive) and then we were surprised that he came back and we got to work.  I thought to myself this would be an excellent time to use up my indulgence and go out to eat.  When I brought the indulgence up they said, "nice it's half price burgers at smoke daddy's."  Smoke daddy's has been around since the 20's and has some of the best BBQ in the city.  Done and done.

The first bite was a smack in the face.  I got dizzy and started laughing.  This is what unhealthy food tastes like.  My mouth was instantly coated with flavor.  I quickly ordered a glass of whiskey (you said unhealthy and I went unhealthy) to wash the salt down.  I was surprised on how I reacted to the salt.  It tasted great but just made me thirsty.  I had sweet potato fries for my side and I thought I wouldn't eat them all but once I had one it was over.  Some of them fell off my plate and I said, "Don't think you can run from me, because I'm going to eat every one of you."  In a weird voice and my friends started to laugh.  And then it was over, me and my band started acting up like we alway do: loud and obnoxious.  Laughing extremely loud and cheering on the band.  The other quiet couples probably hated us, but the waitress loved us.  That's the misconception about waiters and bar tenders.  They don't want some quiet and cold table of four that whispers to each other.  They want the fun table that will keep them awake and have fun with them.  You've got to make them feel like your enjoying yourself and then they'll want to sit down and talk to you.  That why my dad knows everyone in this city.  My family is the most loud and obnoxious family on the planet, but we are always the only table that gets free plates of food.  When the chef comes out to talk to us with are normal street cloths, the couples with the fancy suits and diamonds in their ears always look at us and wonder why the chef isn't talking to them.  It's a business, do you think it's good for business to sit there and hold your breath and nibble your food?  Of course it isn't.  And of course I've gone completely away from my point.  The point is my good friend lost his job and by the end of the night we were laughing in the streets and he sounded great today and has high hopes for the future.  I think that was more important to me then the unhealthy food.

Today is a different story.  I knew I wouldn't look different, but my mouth sure did.  I can tell that the salt and grease did horrible things to my gums.  I flossed right away and got to the bike and jumprope.  I still haven't done a trick but as of yesterday I started doing to alternating foot steps like the boxers do.  Sometimes I get caught up but still I'm happy that I can do that.  My healthy breakfast tasted great.  The hamburger tasted great too but the weighed down feeling didn't feel great at all.  I'm glad that I ate that stuff and am really happy to get back to my healthy diet.  Back to it.