The 30 Day Experiment

Beginning last Monday, August 4th, I'm trying to put on at least 10 lbs of muscle in the next month. Two years ago, I was up to 180lbs, and since then my weight has been all over the place. Well, I weighed on Monday at 167 lbs. I discovered this great site called www.gyminee.com, that allows me to track all of my exercises, my diet every day, and my weight. You can view my public profile by clicking here.

Sign up for a free account (it's really free, and pretty badass) and add me as your friend. When you put in your current weight, your level of activity, and your goals, it tells you exactly how many calories, grams of proteins, and carbs you should be eating daily to help you reach your goal. As I've learned, diet is EVERYTHING.

I'm currently on a 4 day workout routine, 1 hour per routine.

Here's the routine I'm currently doing:

Monday - Chest and Triceps
Tuesday - Legs
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - Shoulders
Friday - Back and Biceps

I'll detail more of my routine soon, but so far in the past week I'm already up 3 pounds. I took a before picture, and once my month is up I'll post the after picture as well. I'm interested to see if I'll actually be able to see a difference in only 30 days.

-Steve

Getting closer...

September 20th - That's when I'll be certified as a personal trainer. I'm assuming they give me a piece of paper that I can frame and hang on my wall, maybe throw darts at, and then I can keep doing what I've been doing, help people get in shape and feel better about themselves!

thank you AAAI!

What I'm (re-playing): The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I got a suddent urge this morning to play Zelda, really bad. I flipped a coin, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to play through Windwaker or TP. Great game, incredible soundtrack, so-so Wii control integration.

I was at the gym last night, trying to set a new world record for bench press (lie). Anyways, I'm trying to get fired up for my last set, and the WORST music I've ever heard comes on the gym radio. It's not exciting, it's not fun, it's not good music, it's just awful! How the heck are you supposed to be inspired listening to this? How are you supposed to get pumped up and lift weights? Come on L.A. Fitness! Work with me here.

I need to be fired up to lift. I understand half the gym is there to run on treadmills, use ellipticals and stuff, but COME ON! Maybe the gym could employ different channels for each half of the gym; if they wanna keep the techno for the runners, how about some decent techno, like Ian Van Dahl, ATB, Oakenfold, or Tiesto? For the other half of the gym, they can put on some rock/alternative.

It doesn't make sense; I feel like there is such a market there for good workout music. You have a captive audience that can't change the channel; instead of using that as an excuse to play crappy tunes, think of it as an opportunity to promote your custom work-out mix. There's gotta be hundreds of L.A. Fitnesses throughout the country, you think they'd have cornered the market on "workout radio" by now. Seems like opportunity missed.

My workout mix is loaded with stuff that makes me angry: Disturbed, Eminem, DMX, etc.. If I'm pissed off, I'm more likely to put more effort into that final rep or that last 10 seconds sprinting. I understand that's not what everybody else needs, but the gyms are giving people very little to work with. I've been a member of a gym in 5 different states, and it's the same garbage in every gym. Things have to change! A few suggestions for L.A. Fitness Radio:

-Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger" - Cliche', I know. but cliche' only because it works. Tell me you don't get excited when this song starts, and I'll call you a liar. To your face. Rocky was a bad ass. I mean, by the time Rocky IV rolled around he single-handedly defeated communist Russia with a boxing match.

-AC/DC, "TNT" - Classic.

-Foo Fighters, "DOA" - Heavy guitars, Dave Grohl SCREAMING, what's not to like? Actually, pretty much any Foo Fighters song is good.

-Puff Daddy, "Victory" - Before he became Diddy, Sean Puffy Combs managed to make one good song. Featuring Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes, this song gets my heart pumping every time.

-Disturbed, "Down With the Sickness" - Listen to this one with caution, instead of lifting weights you might want to start throwing things.

-Metallica, "One" and "Enter Sandman" - Metallica goes perfectly with having to lift any sort of heavy object. Don't headbang while doing shoulder presses, you might die.

Pretty decent list of songs here.

What the best stuff to work out to? I'll be putting together my own list soon, so check back!

-Steve