September 12, 2011

Rant and Tip for September 12, 2011

Quote “Never Forget”

OK I did not post yesterday out of respect for those who perished September 11, 2001. At that point in my life I was working at a company that had offices in WTC1. I still have my badges from the building and the Port Authority. I knew 3 of the 6 people that worked for that company that died that day, Angela Scheinberg, Ed Beyea and Abe Zelmanowitz. Abe and Ed were programmers and Angela was one of the people I reported to. I was working out of the Albany, NY office and frequently traveled down to NYC for a major project I was working on. That particular week another co-worker and I chose to go to a training class just outside of Boston in Lexington. This class is also held in NYC down on Wall Street. If we had gone to the NYC class we may have been in WTC1 that day before heading to the training location. It was only by chance that my friend and I went to Boston instead of NYC. Like many stories you hear, it was by the grace of God we were not there. This also means 2 more people were able to escape with their lives. I remember sitting at the class in Lexington when a worker in the building came in the class. They asked if there was anyone from NY in the room. Mike and I said we were. They took us to a room with a television and we watched in horror. WTC2 was already down and then we watched WTC1 go down. We just stared at each other and said we have to go. We left the training class, went to the hotel and checked out and drove home to Albany. It was the longest drive I have ever experienced.  I will never forget that day and I will never understand how this can happen in a civilized world.

God bless us all, no matter what religion you are or are not!

Today being Monday I will be benching. Sunday night I was a little concerned because my triceps were still sore and I wasn’t sure if the DOMS would be gone by morning. I had hit them pretty hard on Friday. Tomorrow I will warm up and go for a one-rep max and then drop the weight to my new opening weight. Then I will do a reverse pyramid workout. Hitting a weight I can do for a set of 5. I will continue to do the sets of 5 with that weight until I can no longer get three reps out. Then drop the weight 10 pounds and see how many reps I get out then. If I cannot get 5 then drop it another 5 pounds. It is time to confuse these old muscles of mine. I was doing a standard 5 sets of 5 with increasing the weigh pressed on each set. 

It is important to change up your exercise routine to confuse your muscles. This will stimulate growth and increase strength. It will also strengthen you bones and tendons as well. Sometimes all it takes to confuse the muscle is increasing the amount of weight you use just a little. This will also help in keeping your metabolism cranked and burning calories and fat.

Have a great workout!

Tip: Don't do the same workout over and over. Your body only changes when you force it to, and it's remarkably quick to adapt to new stimuli. The best way to avoid plateaus is to change your training routine every now and then, that's also the best way to avoid overtraining.

1 comment:

  1. Thank God you weren't in NYC that fateful day Jim. I am sorry for the losses of your friends.

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