The Man Of Steel

I’ve completed one week in which I started the Man of Steel Workout.  I am not going at it with as much gusto as Henry Cavill did but only due to the fact that I do have a full time job apart from working out.

I was at the gym only three times this past week, partly due to commitments early in the week and partly due to the fact that I was puking my guts out Friday night and then asleep for about 80% of Saturday.

All that aside I would say that the workouts are amazing and going well.  It is the first time I have used a workout plan from someone other than Jodi and my body has been aching afterwards!  When I did the Upper body, Chest and Shoulders day I couldn’t even walk comfortably out of the gym.  I couldn’t walk normal out of the gym after ARMS day because my shoulders were so sore!  It was awesome!

The upper body, chest and shoulders day took about 1.5 hours, but was totally worth it.  I did legs day the following day and that took about an hour.  Given that the feature on Man Of Steel said his workouts were about 2.5 hours a day I have to think that either he did a pair of workouts each day, which is plausible or that these workouts lists online are only part of the whole thing, also plausible.

Leg day I found to be difficult but not that bad really and I wonder if it is because I already run and bike so much that my legs recover faster than my arms do.  that said two days later my lower body was killing me, this could have been from the workout of whatever illness ran through me from Friday night to this morning.

I’m very excited to be on this path again where I can feel that I am progressing toward something rather than maintaining or making small gains.  I know I’m not going to come out of this whole experience as pumped up as Cavill was/is but I certainly can already feel myself getting stronger!

Superman

If you haven’t seen Man Of Steel, you should.  Superman punches a lot of things and it’s amazing!  Also Henry Cavill is super buff and there was absolutely zero padding or CG on his actual Superman suit (though the cape is CG most of the time actually, which looks awesome too).

How did Cavill become Superman.  Work.  Unbelievably hard work!  I watched the extras on the Blu-ray and he worked with Mark Twight from Gym Jones and was working out about 2.5 hours a day six days a week.  As an example of how far he came during the process, during one of the interview segments Cavill States that he went from deadlifting 200 and some pounds at the start to nearly 500lbs!  It was awesome to see, him with 4 plates on each end of the bar, the bar itself bending as he lifted.  He filled out that costume well for a reason.

After seeing that feature it got me thinking about if I could be doing that type of thing at the gym.  I don’t have 2.5 hours every day to work out, but I do spend time at the gym often enough to do the same things just spread out a bit more.  So I searched around the internet and found the workouts along with interview bits.  I was a bit surprised to read some of the thing Cavill had to say at first.  Not because they were shocking, but because they mirrored the types of things I was saying when I lost those 80lbs and became more athletic.

For instance,

Cavill:

Mark has opened my eyes to seeing past what I thought was my limits. He understands what I’m going through physically. He understands me, what I go through physically. That’s what makes him such a good trainer.

The training has been a journey of discovery, just like Superman’s journey of discovery. Superman learned how to fly. I learned I could do all sorts of things in the gym, which I never thought was possible. It’s not just the physical things,but a psychological thing as well.

I hear or read that and I think, yeah!  I know what you mean!  It inspired me all over again to find out that a guy like that, who started off deadlifting more than I do now, started off already very strong and fit can go through the same type of self discovery I did getting shape.

I have found the details of the Superman workout and will be putting them to use, six days a week.  I might not have the 2.5 hour block of time in a day that Cavil had, but I have more time overall since I’m not on a movie making deadline.

I’m going to become my own Superman all over again.

Here’s a little snippet of the featurette, pretty cool stuff

Wicked!

Inertia

If you go look up inertia in the dictionary (which is an actual book about words for the kids reading) or you google it, you’ll find a definition very similar to this.

The vis insita, or innate force of matter, is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to preserve its present state, whether it be of rest or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line.

I was thinking about this yesterday as I contemplated running after work and or going to the gym.  See we had a staff meeting at 6, but I finish work at 4 and it occured to me just how easy it would be to go home and do nothing.  play my new Mario or Zelda game, or shoot some folks in Call of Duty, or watch TV, just relax.  Heck even just sit down and stare at the wall.

My original plan was to go to the gym since our meeting was planned to start at 6:30, lots of time to drive the 20 minutes to the gym, change, workout for about an hour, drive home, shower and go back to work.  starting the meeting at 6 meant that it wasn’t likely I’d make it back in time if I did a proper workout.

I think that is where a lot of people just stop.  Oh my plans are trashed, I can’t go to the actual gym today, so I’ll just sit.  Once you sit the first time it becomes much easier to sit the second time, and the third and so on.  It becomes easier because you are allowing yourself to slow down.  I know that if I come home and sit down I will not get back up to run or gym or anything, I’ll just be done for the day.  But if I get home, get ready to run and do do it, or go right to the gym after work that my brain can force my body to do the work I want to do.

The real catch is this.  You can get into a routine that allows you to do just the right amount of exercise to stay fit, or get fitter.  If you keep up that momentum, your inertia will carry you through, you are in motion and so you want to stay in motion.

If you stop, you don’t just stay at the status quo, you backslide.  Fitness requires a certain amount of upkeep and the fitter you want to be the more upkeep is required.  Healthy foods, activity and so on.  It’s not easy.  If you just decide that you want to just watch TV from now on, you simply won’t even maintain all that you have worked to achieve.  Complacency is the outside force that acts on the inertia of fitness.

Friend Making Monday: Holidays and More

 

The Holidays and More: Part 2

   I didn’t do Part I earlier

1.  What state/country do you live in? 

Ontario, Canada

2.  Where were you born?  Were you raised there? 

I was born in Collingwood, Ontario, but did the majority of my growing up in Buckhorn, Ontario.  Yes, it’s as small as it sounds like it would be.

3.  How do you feel about stores like Wal-mart opening on Thanksgiving Day for pre-Black Friday sales?  Will you participate?

Our big stores are all closed on major holidays.  Wal-mart, grocery stores, 99% of businesses.  Usually the only things that are open are convenience stores and coffee shop chains.

4.  Have you ever participated in a Turkey Trot? 

Nope.

5.  What was your favourite toy as a child?

This question here is why I really wanted to answer this week.  Favourite toys is always fun to think about.  My childhood can actually be divided up into very distinct sections.  He-man, Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles.  Each of those favourite toy eras spanned a few years, and therefor a few birthdays and Christmases each.  I never got a lot of toys on each event from my parents, but when they added all up I had loads!  As collective groups those would have been my ‘favourite toys’. 

To have a singular favourite toy it would have to be when I was younger and I had a stuffed lion, I still have it now.

6.  Will you count points/calories on Thanksgiving Day? 

During holidays I try to keep track a bit, but I always counteract it all by hitting the gym or the road on the same day for a hard workout.

7.  Will you watch football Thursday? 

Nope.

8.  Do you decorate inside/outside of your home for the holidays?

We decorate mostly inside with a few lights and Christmas type things, nothing too elaborate.  But not until after Amber’s birthday.

9.  Do you have allergies that prevent you from eating traditional holiday meals?

Nope

10.  Is it snowing where you live? 

Yep!  Last year we didn’t have now right up until Christmas, it’s come ‘early’ this year.  We only have a bit of a dusting but it is on the ground.