His head is bigger than this
The Gas Giant:
It’s been oh so long since I’ve checked in on the beloved Lord of Pasta so here goes!
- Seagal again implies that he had something to do with Silva’s training and recent victory. Man but I wonder why Silva’s camp lets the great gas-bag get away with this?
- Reviews are out on Seagal’s latest direct-to-DVD turd-boiler: “An increasingly rotund Seagal is near incomprehensible and, for many scenes, near invisible, as most of the time he is in the shadows. Bad even by his recent standards, Seagal’s career continues to descend into obscurity.”
Hiking:
This morning I finally got back up on the mountain. Here’s the gallery from a 1.5 hour hike!
Wildlife spotted? One antelope, one deer, and one turkey. The turkey was just too quick to catch with the iPhone.
I went from an access road to the woods and finally down a fire break. I am still not sure what is public and what is private land. Fences start and then vanish with no warning, hardly any signage, and random buildings appear in clearings. Some look private and some I’m not sure. Luckily I was up early enough to avoid humans or trouble.
I’m guessing this is private property
You call this a fence?
Exploring the fire break
The MotionX GPS for the iPhone is great but it’s just too much of a power drain. My phone died before I got back home so I decided to order a Bushnell BackTrack GPS. The device is basic but it allows you to set up to three way-points. It also goes into sleep mode automatically which preserves battery life.
One of these days I need to see if anyone around these here parts offers a basic compass and map reading class. I could use a refresher and I definitely do not like to rely totally on devices.
Exercise:
Sandbag training is now part of the official routine. If you want information about the exact routine just look a few posts back. Right now here’s my Happy Family Training Platter:
- Weight training for martial arts – 2x per week
- Cardio on recumbent stepper – 1x per week
- Sandbag routine – 2x per week (one with TKD kick drills & shadow boxing)
- 1 – 2 hour mountain hike – 1x per week
- Stretching – 1x per week
If I have to miss I’ve been sacrificing the hike or recumbent.
So far so good.
Prior to the move I was having BP issues. The BP was coming in at pre-hypertension. Last week I visited my new Wild West doctor. Short version:
- For my height and sm. bone structure I should weigh 180 – 185lb
- When I left Corndog Land I weighed 206. At the doc here I weighed in at 200.
- For weight loss this guy values diet over exercise. He advises exercise for heart, BP, and stress relief. Weight loss is a secondary bonus.
- Doc advises figuring out your daily calorie intake and then reducing it by 5%. Once you hit a plateau reduce it another 5%. He’s had more luck getting people to lose weight and keep it using this method, than the fad diets or crazed exercise routines.
- Doc Holiday took my BP and it came in just on the edge of pre-hypertension. Doc thinks I can get it back to normal if I stick with regular exercise, reduce salt, and get down to 185lbs. This means no meds which is great!
Trout Fishing:
I chatted with our new neighbor who is an avid trout fisherman. Here’s the condensed version:
- This area has Cutthroats, Browns, Brooks, Rainbows, and Lake Trout.
- My spinning rods will work just fine and there is plenty of shore access.
- How to catch? Small spinners, worms, and–I kid you not–marshmallows! Better still, they bite year-round.
- I can’t apply for a residence license until I’ve been here a year. An out-of-state permit is $100 so I’ll likely buy a few $10 day licenses.
- Number of trout you can keep depends on where you are. Different limits for the two lakes (basically they dammed the river at two points) and different limits for where on the river you are.
- My gear arrives Thursday so in the next few weeks expect a few fishing trips!
Hiking Gear:
My day kit is almost complete. When it is I promise an inventory and photos.
Our furniture arrives this Thursday so posting may go up. Besides that bit of news, no martial arts training at a legitimate school until after the house sells. Who knows when that will be!
Last tidbit: Yet another article that touts the benefits of meditation. I plan to start regular meditation tonight. I hope I can stay disciplined enough to keep it up at least 3x each week.
However, when the third group received meditation training after eight weeks, their stress also decreased.
Further, those who meditated also spent more time on tasks, didn’t switch between different chores as often and took no longer to get their work done than the other participants, the study found.
“Meditation is a lot like doing reps at a gym. It strengthens your attention muscle,” Levy says.
Peace.
-BCP
I’ve been doing a lot of reading/listening to info about Strength and Conditioning recently (planning to do my RKC and a personal trainer cert over the coming year), and the one principle that seems to be almost universally agreed upon is that you cannot out-exercise a bad diet. Doc is probably right on that one.
It makes sense. He showed me calorie burning numbers for the non-athlete. Typical exercises for the average Joe. It’s simple math: most of us cannot out exercise a poor diet — though reg exercise is part of the solution.
The meditation link goes to the GPS product page.
Nuts. Thanks for that. I presently have no furniture so I banged that post out on a cot from a netbook.
Fixed!