Is it Time...

I wonder if it is time to start this blog again? I mean, do people still read blogs now that Instagram and Snapchat are so popular? Time will tell I guess. I even thought about changing the title of this blog since I m no longer racing, however, I am still training. I have really gotten into being in the weight room lately.

I Am Doing the Weight Room Wrong...

So, for the past few months, I have been hitting the weight room pretty consistently. I can really feel myself getting stronger than I was and it has been a good change of pace from the typical S/B/R that I have been doing for the last 8 years or so. It has been fun and I wish I could figure out a way to continue to lift on the same schedule and get all triathlon training, but who has that sort of time? So I plan to continue to got to the gym for the rest of the year, while working in some swimming, and maybe the elliptical machine to try and lose some pounds.

And, I will admit, the weight room has had its "eye opening" moments. Sometimes I think I am doing it all wrong and if I cared, it might even be intimidating. Let me list out the Top 10 things I am doing wrong at the weight room.

1. I don't wear all black. Now I like to wear a sleeveless shirt when I lift to let the guns shine in the light, but it seems I should be wearing all black. Shorts, shoes, hoodie, headband or hat. I know black is supposed to make you look thinner, but I thought the whole point of going to the gym was to get swole!
2. I am wearing the wrong headphones. I have been wearing my in ear buds, like the ones I use when I go running, but apparently that's not right. It seems that I should be rocking Beats by Dre headphones, wireless beats by Dre headphones when I lift. I gues it gives you that extra umpffttt when you need it.
3. I don't have a duffle bag I carry. I am not sure what hey all have in the bag, but I don't have one. I just walk right in and get to work.
4. I also don't carry around a shaker cup. You know the cup that people have to shake before they can drink out of it. Maybe they don't know about the water fountain right outside the door, maybe it is some super supplement that helps them recover faster, I don't know. But I think I need to get one pretty soon.
5. I don't slam the bar down on the ground and grunt. Ok, I get this one, really I do. We all want people to think we are strong at the gym and what better way to let them know then to make a lot of noise and let the weights come crashing down? That way they have to look over at us in admiration or utter fear of our strength, but come on, is that necessary?
6. I only use one machine at a time. I have seen many "bros" setting up multiple machines so they can really get that burn going. It's weird cause they do about 3 reps and move to the next one and repeat.
7. I don't sue a mouthpiece. Yeah, I am not sure about this one at all.
8. I have never taken a selfie while working out. Instagram is full of weight room selfies, and I dunno, maybe it's like taking a picture of your dinner on FB, but I think its odd to have someone film you or snap a picture.
9. I re-rack my weights when I am done! Nothing is more frustrating than having to take off plates from some lunkhead that was using the machine before me. there are signs posted for a reason "bros" so take the time and re-rack them please.
10. I work legs.

So do you have any weight room shenanigans going on at your gym? If so, let me know what you are doing wrong!  But, always remember this:

I was Assessed...

As I told you guys in my last post, I have started working out with a trainer twice a week. It is something I have always wanted to do, so I finally pulled the trigger and signed up. I let her know what I wanted to accomplish and that I wanted the exercises we do to benefit my triathlons, and she said she could come up with a plan which is always exciting! However, with the start of any plan, you need to be able to have a starting point, a place of measurement for lack of a better term, a way to tell how much progress you have made throughout the workouts, so we started with the dreaded health assessment.

 Remember, I have basically been fat and happy through November and December, so I was not looking forward to this.

 THE ASSESSMENT

 It started with blood pressure. Yawn, boring, then we went to measure my bicep strength. Now we are all friends and I can be honest on here right? Well my bicep strength ranged in the poor ranking. "James, your bicep strength is considered when measure against other makes your age" Quote. I decided to tell myself that luckily triathlons do not require a lot of bicep strength to make me feel better but it was still embarrassing to hit anything in the poor category, so there goes my arm wrestling career. Next up, flexibility.

Oh great!

 Flexible is not a word used to describe me, in any way. So I was not looking forward to doing the Sit & Reach assessment at all. So what it is basically is that you sit on the floor, legs forward and see if you can reach past your toes. I was hoping to make it to my toes honestly, however, I was genuinelly surprise that I scored a 10.5, which places me int he fair category! Yeah , not bad, even went past my toes, and then I could still get up and walk around! Next up was Body Composition.

Sighhhhhhhhhhhh

This is the one I have been dreading. I know I have gained some pounds and I really wanted to skip this instead of hearing someone say "you weighed in at XXXlbs and have XXX% body fat" because then I would hear the unsaid whispered barbs "you really did a 140.6? what did you do waddle all the way to the finish line? more like aluminum man than Ironman!" Now I know that my trainer would in no way ever think those words, but I did. So here are my body composition numbers: Remember I did Redman at 183 lbs

Body Weight: 196 lbs 
Lean Body Mass: 166 lbs 
Fat Mass: 30 lbs 
Body Fat percentage: 15.3%

Yessssssssssssssssss! I was thrilled and shocked. I am only .2 away form the low category! I wasn't happy about the 13 lbs I have picked up, but I was relieved that was all. I was actually expecting to be in the 25% BF category, so this was good news. This was news that made me want to eat right and jump into my training. As a matter of fact, I was so excited that I just had to do the Dougie, so I jumped on my bike...

Next post will be more about Monster rope workouts, my love/hate relationship.