A while back, I think I mentioned how I had started biking with a good friend.  Sadly, for various reasons, I have had to miss those trips for about a month.  He was either doing things or I was doing things.  There was one Sunday when I called him early in the morning to tell him that I was feeling quite shitty and that there was not going to be any energy to go on a bike ride.  He surprisingly agreed and we went back to our beds and fell fast asleep.

I probably should have gone on a ride the weekend of July 4th since it was a long weekend.  We had company, however, and I wasn’t going to play the bad host.  I say that, but then I turned around that Sunday night and got totally PLASTERED on way too much Tanqueray & Tonic…Big Fatty’s drink of choice.  I started out small but then it got really strong as we were watching the local fireworks display.  Pretty flashes!  It was all good until I reached the downstairs porcelain god and we started a close relationship that lasted for a while.  When I awoke on Monday morning, half of my body was in the bathroom while the other half was lying on the carpet.  I was literally lying in the door.  Oh, and naked with a blanket.  Good times, I tell ya!  The pic was taken by the other half as the dog, I guess, was seeing if I was still alive.  I was told it was scary, but I honestly don’t know.

After that night, I got back to my routine at the gym.  I could allow one night of partying before I returned to my strict gym time.  I say strict, but in reality, I wasn’t feeling like it was doing anything.  I thought I was doing great on the Body-for-LIFE plan and I believed it would start to show as time progressed.  I didn’t see that coming.  One of our coworkers told me on more than one occasion that I needed to go to the gym with him.  This guy knows what he is talking about.  He is really built…to the point where I honestly want to be someday.

I am loving the feeling of renewed energy.  My coworker is a great trainer and one that takes time with you and explains what you don’t understand.  I , of course, have many questions about weightlifting and the best ways to do it and be safe at the same time.  I can see where changes are taking place.  The pic to the right is from last week.  You may think there is not much change taking place by looking at my stomach, but there really is.  I have been told by many that the stomach area is the hardest to train and it is also the last area you will see the changes in body/muscle size.  I am hoping that later is when I will witness this miraculous change because now it’s not changing as much as I’d hoped.  The goal is to look much different by the time we go to the Pride 48 Podcasters Convention in Las Vegas.  I WILL look better for that event.  I’m promising that to myself. 

I will write more later as at this moment, my eyes are trying to close.  It has been a long day and it is time for my brain to calm down and allow my muscles to heal.  Onward Bound, Mr. Muscle Man! LOL

Tuesday’s running was for a specific reason and the routine was not really my own.  The base of the routine was created by…you guessed it…Bill Phillips in the Body-for-LIFE.  The part left up to me is the speed.  The following is the plan, laid out by the minute, the intensity, and the speed in miles per hour.

Today starts a renewal to the Body-for-LIFE fitness plan.  It’s 11:43pm and I am still awake, but for the rest of the day, I have been following the plan as closely as possible.  This takes an extreme amount of determination, responsibility, and patience.  I am treating this as a fitness plan for personal reasons and a little bit of vainness.  There are, however, many people who have completed this program as part of the Body-for-LIFE Fitness Challenge.  Maybe one day, I could do that.  For now, it will have to be for health reasons alone.

The first Body-for-LIFE fitness challenge was in 1996 when it was known by a different name…the EAS Grand Spokesperson Challenge.  Through the years, thousands of people have changed their lives mentally and physically.  The writer, Bill Phillips, one of the youngest entrepreneurs in the US, is also the creator and owner of EAS, a fitness and sports nutrition supplier.  I am sure you have seen Myoplex on the supermarket shelf at one point in time.  If you want to try it, take my word for it…it’s good and can be good for you as a replacement for junk snacks.

Back in about 2005, I bought this book and was determined to read it.  You know how that works!  You buy the book, it sits on the coffee table or night stand for a while, and then finally you remember you have it and start to flip through the pages.  Once I started reading the book, I became interested and decided to start on an experiment.  I do that from time to time.  It’s almost as if my brain sees my body as a science project.  Nonetheless, I started the process of eating the prescribed meals and at the proper times.  I went to the gym and did the exact workouts prescribed by Mr. Phillips.  Believe it or not, within a few weeks, I could see the changes already taking over me.  I could see definition in my chest, legs, back, shoulders, and most of all, in my stomach.  I had never felt so wonderful in my life.  Muscles I never realized I had were waking up and making themselves known.

As you can see in the picture to the right, my body had taken the shape I was aiming for, or rather, it was in the process of getting there.  My love handles are still visible, but I was trying everything in my power to make them go away.  You can’t see my legs, but they were developing pretty well along with everything else.

This may sound like I’m pushing Body-for-LIFE, but being totally honest, it does work if you put your mind to it.  With determination and will-power, a good body and mind can be achieved.  The plan takes 12 weeks.  If you get through with that time and you see the changes I’ve written of, you can start back at the beginning and do it again.  It never has to stop!  You can keep going and maintain the good feelings you will undoubtedly have.

You can find Body-for-LIFE by Bill Phillips, along with the companion book, The Body-for-LIFE Success Journal, at your local book stores or you can find it on one of the many online book retailers.  If I can be of any help along the way, feel free to email me at thegaycountryboy@gmail.com and we can keep track our changes.  I would love to have someone to go through the process with me and share your feelings and observations.

Anyway, back to glasses. I’ve worn glasses since the summer before my senior year in high school. My first glasses were so big! They felt like they covered my face. They were so large that some mornings, my mother would have to remind me they were on my face when I got worried cause I couldn’t find them. I wore those till I got to college. I had to get another pair and for some ungodly reason, I picked out a pair of gold frames and Photogray lenses. I kinda thought they were neat. It was obviously before I was introduced to something called style. A few of my college ID cards have pictures of me with those horible things. The worst thing about them was the lenses. Since my eyesight is worse in my right eye, the lens was thicker and the Photogray effect took longer to turn back clear from being in the sun. I looked absolutely aweful.

I’ll see if I can find some of those pictures. I think I can handle the humiliation after all these years. All I know is it feels so good not having that piece of metal sitting on my nose.

I was admitted into the ER shortly after 3:00 am fairly quick compared to some of the horror stories I’ve heard and witnessed.  I was placed in a room and shortly after, the dreaded needles were being stuck into my arm.  I’ve got some big veins, but when it comes to needles, my body screams NOOO!  The nurse entered my right arm twice to get blood.  Plenty of blood.  Obviously, she had a two-prick maximum (LOL) and decided to give it over to someone else.  The second nurse: tie off left arm, slap-slap-slap, “There’ll be a big stick!”, and BOOM!  I had an IV in my arm.  No biggie.  It’s great when a nurse can get the job done fairly easy, even when she is dealing with a big needle pussy.

I was able to get plenty of rest it seems before they came in and woke me up for the cardiovascular doctor to check me out.  I was rolled to the cardio department and this fairly cute guy gave me an injection of some stuff to course through my veins.  They waited 15 mins and then placed me under the big Exorcist like camera apparatus.  Sadly to say, I wasn’t impressed when I found out this thing was run on DOS.  Is someone behind the times a little?  It didn’t take that long, but it wasn’t the quickest either.  My stomach was empty and I was lying flat on my back.  Not the best feeling.  And I am not the most reverent and personable person that early in the morning after being woke up with bright lights.  Kind of a bitch, actually!

After the camera, I was placed in a room across the hall where this lovely southern girl of my age picked up my shirt to find the contacts for the heart monitor were not the ones she needed.  It should be no surprise that the first nurse who placed them on me failed to shave the hair off prior to their placement.  With some counting and some laughing at the similarities of the 40 Year Old Virgin and myself, we managed to rip them off with as little pain as possible.  She then got a razor and shaved the areas needing the new contacts.  I was able to get another short nap as the doctor was running late.

I had never taken a stress test before, but since I run a 6-min mile when I go to the gym, I could have had plenty by now.  I was told since I am 32, they would have to raise my heart rate to 160.  I reached that in no time and was told to kick it in and get it up to 175.  I was proud of myself, even though I was hacking my lungs up and breathing like someone twice my size and older.  They let me sit on the bed and catch my breath for a few before taking me into the waiting area for a wonderfully delicious turkey sandwich.  It was shortly back to the camera, and this time, I was lying on my back with a full stomach.  Uncomfortable again, with the food pressing up onto the base of my esophegous.  That was over in no time and I was rolled back to my room in observation.

Overall, the other half and I were there for 12 hours, only to find that the pain I was having and the tightness and shortness of breath were not being caused by my heart.  That’s good news and not complaining in the least.  The bad news is that there is no final word as to what IS causing the discomfort.  I was given a prescription of Aciphex for 30 days.  I’ve taken it before with no explanation as to what it should accomplish.  After Googling the drug, I know what its purpose is and what I should expect.  From this point on, it’s going to be a guessing game on how to stop the pain.  The joys of today’s healthcare system….