Yesterday I started my first week (which is actually week 3 of the program) of the 7 weeks to 100 pushups program. I started in week 3 because the instructions said that if I was able to do more than 20 pushups for my initial test that I should jump ahead. However, I'm not sure that I should have because I wasn't able to do all 5 sets required for the day. Thursday, when I go for Day 2, I'll actually be re-doing Day 1 again. If after this time I still can't finish the sets, when I get to the next day I'll go back to Week 2, probably pick the 3rd day of that weeks program, and see if I can finish that.
Not quite sure when or how I'll be integrating this but I also have another program I'm going to start so that I can do pullups. It's another several week course that works in the same way as the pushup program. Do many sets at low reps for one week, then the sets decrease and the reps increase each week until you can do 10 pullups. I have never been able to do even one pullup in my whole life. So, if I can do ONE pullup, I'll know that I'm in better shape than I have ever been. If I ever get to 10 pullups, as the program is supposed to get me to, then I'll know that I'm on my way to feeling and looking better than ever I could even imagine!
Pushups and pullups are so effective at creating functional strength and developing your build throughout your entire upper body, specifically shoulders, arms, back, and chest. But it's true as well that good pushups also work your whole body as you need your legs and a strong core to keep you in the "good form" position (straight as a board). Pullups aren't quite the all body workout that pushups are (you shouldn't be using your legs in the slightest for pullups, if you are you're swinging so you're cheating!), but they build upper body strength like no other. Pullups will help build that explosive power in your upper body. And not to mention... if you ever need to save your own life and pull yourself over the ledge of the cliff, you'll be happy you could do so many pullups and pushups, lol!
Alright, that's the progress so far. I'll continue to blog about my success (or lack there of if that's the case!) and keep track of my progress. Let's see if I can really do it!!!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Getting to your goals
Before you can set your goals and your strategies and plans, you have to understand and accept a basic philosophy if you're going to be successful making life long and life changing decisions...
Slow and steady wins the race.
A simple statement with plenty of meaning. My take and meaning on it is that the way to meet your goals isn't done in one day, or even one week or one month. Most goals are achieved, with success and with continued commitment, by taking the small steps necessary that make the big goal possible.
Most of us fail to meet our goals and plans because we decide to change everything at once. In one day you're going to lose weight, exercise, cook at home, blah, blah, blah. We set our standards to these impossible, A+ levels, tell ourselves there is no middle ground, so when you have a setback or a bump in the road, you've failed... and worse, give up.
The truest and best way to making the big goal ("I want to lose lots of weight") is to take care of the small things, to fix the basic foundation of bad behaviors, and to take on tasks and goals that you can realistically achieve... do it for a while... adjust it into your life as now PART of your life... then mark it off your list and move on to the next item. You'll find that, after some time has gone by, you've knocked several items from your big list and you're so much closer to the end all big goal.
Now... how do you do it? How do you get there?
The first step to making your goals happen is to start at the beginning and write them down. You start with your big goals, and remember, while "I want to lose weight" IS a goal, being just a bit more specific with it will add a level of significance and an actual reward at the end ("I will fit into a size X dress" gives you a definitive target to reach, and you are in fact "losing weight" as you wanted). Next, start to break down that big goal into smaller and smaller pieces. With each piece or sub-goal or whatever you want to call it, comes tasks that need to happen to be successful in reaching the higher goal. Break it down as much as you can or want to, giving yourself as many tasks, jobs, mini-goals (whatever) as you want, and in a way that you like. Online, on paper, or even all in your head if you're that good, but have your goals put down somewhere that you can see it and make the right plan to achieving it by knowing what it take to get there.
I would advise you to think of goals in "one day at a time" or "one week at a time" for timelines, end dates, ect. "I want to eat breakfast everyday" literally means everyday until you're dead, right? So, it's "one day at a time" to get there... but before you know it, it's just part of the daily routine and no longer even "day to day" because it's PART of the day!
Think small, definable, achievable things that you can really, really do and really change, and start there. Soon enough, even your small goals will be bigger and better than your best goals used to be!
One of my small steps that I started doing when I first started Weight Watchers, when I needed to shave a point off my daily points total, was to switch from regular hazelnut coffee creamer to the fat-free kind. It was just a little sacrifice, one I could easily make and stick to. I did it, and now it's just the way it is, and it saved me a point a day. A goal I could realistically do, DID it, and then moved on to bigger and better.
In the race of life, it's the tortoise who wins in the end and not the hare. He takes it slow, he takes the right turns, and he minimizes his mistakes. The tortoise is kinda boring and not super flashy, but he gets to his goal each and every time. He always finishes the race, and usually in front of the crash and burn hare's who thought they could win in one day but are now gasping for air on the sidelines.
Think about it. Think about your goals. Get them OUT of your head and ON to some paper or a computer and start checking things off the list!
Let's see some results. Let's see a list. Let's see some dates. Let's see some rewards for making goals. But what I don't want to see is more talking or more not making things happen. Take action now.
Let's be about it People.
Slow and steady wins the race.
A simple statement with plenty of meaning. My take and meaning on it is that the way to meet your goals isn't done in one day, or even one week or one month. Most goals are achieved, with success and with continued commitment, by taking the small steps necessary that make the big goal possible.
Most of us fail to meet our goals and plans because we decide to change everything at once. In one day you're going to lose weight, exercise, cook at home, blah, blah, blah. We set our standards to these impossible, A+ levels, tell ourselves there is no middle ground, so when you have a setback or a bump in the road, you've failed... and worse, give up.
The truest and best way to making the big goal ("I want to lose lots of weight") is to take care of the small things, to fix the basic foundation of bad behaviors, and to take on tasks and goals that you can realistically achieve... do it for a while... adjust it into your life as now PART of your life... then mark it off your list and move on to the next item. You'll find that, after some time has gone by, you've knocked several items from your big list and you're so much closer to the end all big goal.
Now... how do you do it? How do you get there?
The first step to making your goals happen is to start at the beginning and write them down. You start with your big goals, and remember, while "I want to lose weight" IS a goal, being just a bit more specific with it will add a level of significance and an actual reward at the end ("I will fit into a size X dress" gives you a definitive target to reach, and you are in fact "losing weight" as you wanted). Next, start to break down that big goal into smaller and smaller pieces. With each piece or sub-goal or whatever you want to call it, comes tasks that need to happen to be successful in reaching the higher goal. Break it down as much as you can or want to, giving yourself as many tasks, jobs, mini-goals (whatever) as you want, and in a way that you like. Online, on paper, or even all in your head if you're that good, but have your goals put down somewhere that you can see it and make the right plan to achieving it by knowing what it take to get there.
I would advise you to think of goals in "one day at a time" or "one week at a time" for timelines, end dates, ect. "I want to eat breakfast everyday" literally means everyday until you're dead, right? So, it's "one day at a time" to get there... but before you know it, it's just part of the daily routine and no longer even "day to day" because it's PART of the day!
Think small, definable, achievable things that you can really, really do and really change, and start there. Soon enough, even your small goals will be bigger and better than your best goals used to be!
One of my small steps that I started doing when I first started Weight Watchers, when I needed to shave a point off my daily points total, was to switch from regular hazelnut coffee creamer to the fat-free kind. It was just a little sacrifice, one I could easily make and stick to. I did it, and now it's just the way it is, and it saved me a point a day. A goal I could realistically do, DID it, and then moved on to bigger and better.
In the race of life, it's the tortoise who wins in the end and not the hare. He takes it slow, he takes the right turns, and he minimizes his mistakes. The tortoise is kinda boring and not super flashy, but he gets to his goal each and every time. He always finishes the race, and usually in front of the crash and burn hare's who thought they could win in one day but are now gasping for air on the sidelines.
Think about it. Think about your goals. Get them OUT of your head and ON to some paper or a computer and start checking things off the list!
Let's see some results. Let's see a list. Let's see some dates. Let's see some rewards for making goals. But what I don't want to see is more talking or more not making things happen. Take action now.
Let's be about it People.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Thanks to everyone who became a Fan!
I am always surprised by how many people became Fans of my Mike Custer's Thoughts page aka my blog. Thanks for joining and I'll try not to be too boring.
I do tend to say what I want, often rambling, but often enough actually droppin a little knowledge here and there :-)
Thanks again!
I do tend to say what I want, often rambling, but often enough actually droppin a little knowledge here and there :-)
Thanks again!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
7 Weeks to 100 Pushups - Initial Test
I maxed out at 23 good form pushups, which 6 months ago would have been absolutely amazing to me :-) but for now, it's a good starting number. I get to skip 2 weeks of the program because I can do more than 20 already, so this could very well be 5 weeks to 100 pushups!
I begin again next Monday. If I start on Friday, I'll throw off the timing, so the extra couple of days off won't hurt. Not like I won't do some other kind of workout till then anyways!
Thank you again to MakeUseOf.com for providing another good article! I was very happy to find this program (or shall I say it found me!) because I wanted to do more pushup workouts to get more upper body development, and bam, here's a program to do it. I'm a "tell me the routine and I'll do it" kind of guy, so having someone do the work for me was a big help!
Along the way I'll still be doing the basictrainingSF classes as well, which are such good workouts (if you've ever worked out "bootcamp" style, you'll know what I'm talking about!). These ladies know just how to kick my butt, but I feel so good for it later!
The resulting changes to my body are coming along pretty slowly, true, but I have to admit that there are results. Not going to be winning any bodybuilding contests (hahaha!) of course but I'm glad to see changes instead of just hoping for them.
So, I guess I have my first ever fitness goal... beyond "do more exercise, get in shape", which we all know is the biggest load of crap "goal" you can have! 5 weeks from now and Kathi will be here for our Anniversary... and maybe I'll have something to show her!!! :-)
OK, that's the report for now... status reports to come!
I begin again next Monday. If I start on Friday, I'll throw off the timing, so the extra couple of days off won't hurt. Not like I won't do some other kind of workout till then anyways!
Thank you again to MakeUseOf.com for providing another good article! I was very happy to find this program (or shall I say it found me!) because I wanted to do more pushup workouts to get more upper body development, and bam, here's a program to do it. I'm a "tell me the routine and I'll do it" kind of guy, so having someone do the work for me was a big help!
Along the way I'll still be doing the basictrainingSF classes as well, which are such good workouts (if you've ever worked out "bootcamp" style, you'll know what I'm talking about!). These ladies know just how to kick my butt, but I feel so good for it later!
The resulting changes to my body are coming along pretty slowly, true, but I have to admit that there are results. Not going to be winning any bodybuilding contests (hahaha!) of course but I'm glad to see changes instead of just hoping for them.
So, I guess I have my first ever fitness goal... beyond "do more exercise, get in shape", which we all know is the biggest load of crap "goal" you can have! 5 weeks from now and Kathi will be here for our Anniversary... and maybe I'll have something to show her!!! :-)
OK, that's the report for now... status reports to come!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Looking for a new home for my loving cat Nizzle
Dear Friends and Family,
As many of you may know, I’ve made a big decision in life and I’m going to be moving to Munich, Germany, to live with my girlfriend Kathi. One of the hardest choices I’m making in order to go forward with my decision is to find new homes for my cats. I love my cats like my own furry little children, but I have come to the conclusion that it is in the kitties best interest not to make this long journey with me, but instead to stay here in America with new, loving owners. To force the journey on the cats is too selfish on my part… the long, stressful flight, the possibility of exposure to unknown kitty diseases, possibility of them running away, ect, ect. I think the cats will be better suited to staying here and being put into loving homes.
I wanted to reach out to my friends and family first since I trust you all the most, know many of you to be pet lovers, and I would know that I could feel secure if Nizzle was with one of you.
I’m looking for the right home for Nizzle. I think Nizzle would be best suited to move into a home where he is either the only cat, or the other kitties are very calm and\or older cats. Nizzle has grown up with his buddy Sylvester and he’s rarely ever had any issues with being around other cats, but he’s always been more of a solitary kitty, content with eating, sleeping, and the affections of his owner!
Nizzle is the sweetest, most loving cat I have ever had the pleasure of being around, and the right home is looking for just such a cat! He’s like a sweet, little teddy bear… every night, Nizzle snuggles up in my arms and sleeps the night away! (well there is a routine, first he lays his head on my face, then I push him away, then he goes to sleep… typical cat!). Nizzle loves affection, he can’t get enough, and he is a great lap cat and will give his new owner more love than they could ever imagine! He’s also small, cute and adorable! Nizzle is a funny blend of brave and skittish. He’s the first cat to sniff the new dog in the house, but move too fast or make too loud of a noise, and he’s gone in a grey blur! It’s his special personality that endears him to people and what makes him such a pleasure to own!
Nizzle has been around quite a few dogs and doesn’t have any problems with them… he’ll let them know if they got too close!
I want to find the right home and the right owner for Nizzle. He isn’t complicated and only demands the basic cat needs… feed him and love him! But he definitely makes sure he gets what he needs! The right home and owner wants a cat that is low maintenance, is very loving, is outdoors (Nizzle is a fully trained indoor\outdoor kitty, he will “go” outside or use a kitty box), and probably won't want any more cats (other than perhaps those you may already own). Nizzle won’t need anything additional to come into your home… he’s micro-chipped, he’s gotten his 3 month flea treatment, he is current on all his shots, and he has a clean bill of health from the vet (as of his recent appt a couple of months ago). I’ll provide him with his first bag of food, and if you’d like, with a kitty box.
I only have one special request of his new owner. I’d like to ask that if Nizzle is to become an outdoor cat (which is my preference), that for the first 3 months (minimum), up to 6 months, he remain an indoor cat while he becomes adjusted to his new home, owners, and feeding schedules. He needs to learn where the food is and where home is so that he doesn’t try to run away first chance he gets! I ask because I think Nizzle has a small chance of getting freaked out and taking off before he realizes that he's in a new home for good and I think everyone would feel pretty bad in that situation!
Please believe me when I say that I do NOT want to part ways with Nizzle, but if there is a cat that would definitely have a very hard time with such a crazy move as Germany, it would be him. He is a joy and I love having him in my life. I know this isn’t something that most people would agree to, but I would take him back in a second if\when I moved back to America (though if YOU had Nizzle, you wouldn’t want to give him up!!!).
So, in conclusion, if any of you, my trusted friends and family, think you have a place in your home, but most especially in your heart, for a warm, cute, loving, adorable cat that is sure to make you fall in love with him, please reach out to me and let me know that you’re interested in adopting Nizzle and giving him the awesome home he deserves!!! I’d like to kindly ask that, if you can’t do it or don’t want to, just send me a quick reply that you aren’t interested, and I’ll make sure I don’t bother you with this request again!
Thank you again… pictures included… I definitely hope it’s one of you who take my baby Nizzle home!
PS – some of you may get this same letter via Facebook… thanks! And sorry if you're getting this again, but obviously, I haven't found a home yet :-)
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