Turning the Page - This is a LONG Post

I've been in this chapter for too long. It's time to move on to something I haven't read, yet. I'm getting anxious to see how this book ends.

But the only way to get to the end of the book is to take what I've read on the page I've been stuck on, remember it, and turn the page - finally.

To get a full understanding of the story, you have to remember everything about your book. Too often, especially when I was younger, I'd skim through a book, and when I got to the end, I'd already forgotten who some of the important, but non-key-players were. The book would reveal WHO committed the crime, but without remembering the details on previous pages, I didn't always understand WHY they did it.

So as I turn the page today, I don't want to forget the difficulties I've faced, or the weakness I've given in to. Those are pieces of who I am becoming on this journey. Failure defines a man just as much as success does - maybe more. Your character is molded out of trials and tribulations, not easy going. Anybody can succeed when they never have a problem or a fight. You become who you want to be by withstanding the onslaughts, taking the direct hits, falling six times - getting up seven.

So today, I focus on the next chapter. I look ahead to what I will be, not what I've been.

Here's some info I never blogged about, but felt today was a good day for it.

Everybody but me, it seems, as blogged about their great shopping experiences. They talked about all the new clothes they can fit into, how great they look in XL's, instead of XXXL's. I've always felt a little left out, as my body has never been one to allow me to drop sizes like that. Even at my best weight (239), I was wearing XXL, mainly because I'm 6' 8", and I have very broad shoulders.

Still, when all your current shirts are WAY too big, but the next sizes down are always WAY too small, you feel caught in that flux that everybody else has been able to escape.

I decided I'd shop for clothes when I hit the 260's. No point in doing it before then.

But then I got fed up with my XXXL's. They were too hangy, and, to be honest, they made me look fat. So, I decided to start the XXL search.

What you are about to see is me in my first XXL shirt in over four years - probably more like five. I purchased the shirt at Wal Mart(!) to wear to the Joe Sakic Celebrity Bash I'm covering for my paper next week. I had to find something casual yet professional.

I will not be wearing the shorts or the cheesy grin to the party.


What you will see now is me in one of my long-time nemesis', a white undershirt. For those of you who wear them, you know they may as well be spandex, as they show every fold on your torso. I've always hated being seen in them, but I noticed I no longer looked disgusting in them, so I had beck take a pic of me to see if I looked the same way to others. I was pretty OK with the results.


Lastly, you see my oldest daughter flexing. It has nothing to do with my weight-loss, but it was cute, so you get to see it.


The moral of the story is this: I'm moving forward. Yesterday, the train started moving again. I ate clean all day, I'll do the same today, and tomorrow (no kids!), I'll be riding 2 miles to the football field, where I'll be putting myself through a football conditioning workout I found online yesterday. Then I'll ride 2 miles back.

You guys should stick around. This is about to get good.


EDIT:

This is what I'll be doing, starting tomorrow.

For speed, sprint. For strength, we'll do bodyweight exercises. Again, coaches and trainers of advanced athletes would say you have to do things beyond sprinting to help speed, and some would say bodyweight exercises are not sufficiently challenging to develop the kind of strength we need here.

But keep in mind these are beginning athletes. Sprinting itself, if an athlete has not been on any kind of a program for speed, will help bring out the athlete's latent abilities-you might say it will express their speed, same with bodyweight exercises regarding strength. (Advanced athletes, also, can incorporate these, of course, into their more complex programs.)

Some football greats have largely developed and honed their speed and strength via sprinting and bodyweight resistance exercise. Herschel Walker comes to mind, there are others.

The purpose of this article, though, is to get to the weight-training, so we'll cover the bodyweight exercises (calisthenics) and sprinting only briefly. But again, it doesn't mean they're not important.

Bodyweight Exercises

Train the bodyweight exercises, such as push-ups, pullups/chins, bodyweight squats, calf raises, dips, three non-consecutive days per week.

Repetitions and sets are up to you. Start with a half-hour total for each workout, then work up to an hour or even more if you can. You need to develop the repeated ability (stamina/endurance) to do these physical tasks, and it will help you develop the ability to get through football practices as well. Either on three other days or after your bodyweight exercises, do a series of sprints.

Sprints

You can include sprints various distances, such as forty yards, twenty yards, one hundred yards. You need to ease into the program with both the amount of sprints and the rest times between these. As you are new to this, you will be surprised at the fatigue this creates. But as you build up to it, you will handle it better and you'll make progress in your speed.

Do no long distance running on this program, although you may occasionally run up to a mile; occasional quarter-miles or 220's might suit you better. But emphasize the football distances, the shorter sprints.

You will be surprised at how much even a five to fifteen minute workout will help you at this stage of your development. You may make dramatic progress in speed and stamina just from these workouts.

Keep up this program for at least six weeks; twelve might be better.