4XLT

Yesterday, I dropped by Owasso Fitness Zone and purchased a one month membership. I spoke with Paul the owner briefly, nothing more than small talk, and told him that I can’t let up now that I am finally beginning to establish a very meager habit to my working out. It’s the truth, if I take the month off – from working out or healthy eating – then I’m screwed. It’ll be just like this spring when I had my last health push, e.g. I go strong for a month, then a few days off turns into a few weeks, and then I’m absent from the gym for a few months.

I can’t let that happen again.

So, I drove myself up to the gym late this morning and went through my chest, back, and triceps routine. Tomorrow, I’ll hit the gym up again and work through my shoulders, biceps, and legs. This weekend will likely be my last run through of this particular set, as it’s not a very good set at all, come to find out. Thanks to the guys at the Men’s Health forums for cluing me in to that.

As Long As I Am Here In Tulsa

I’ll be back in Oklahoma until January 5th, and it’s going to be busy ministering in different churches, scheduling some support raising appointments, and working on the worship seminar. Regardless, consider this an open invitation to all my friends to give me a call / email to get out and get the heart rate up whenever I can schedule it. Let’s toss the football for an hour or get a pickup game going. Let’s jog my memory of football training. Let’s attack Riverside Drive.

I need all the help I can get on this one.

I know we all have our routines and mental tricks for working out, eating right, and sticking with a healthy lifestyle. I’ve got a few of my own.

1: Nike Football’s Leave Nothing Commercial

Watch it yourself (if you haven’t already), and tell me it doesn’t get you pumped! I want to knock somebody’s teeth out every time I see it.

See, told you so.

2: Suitably Epic Music

The garbage they are playing through the speakers at 24hour Fitness just doesn’t cut it for me. At all. So, I have an ever expanding list of epic-sounding classical and soundtrack music on my iPod that I play when I work out, suitably entitled the “Battle for Health!” mix.

Here are a few of my favorite, get-pumped-up songs in the list.

1. Klendathu Drop (Starship Troopers)
2. Returns A King (300)
3. Come and Get Them (300)
4. Battle at Devils Den (Gettysburg)
5. O Fortuna (Carmina Burana)
6. Riders of Doom (Conan the Barbarian)
7. Optimus Vs. Megatron (Transformers)
8. The Battle of Kerak (Kingdom of Heaven)
9. The Battle of Monte Cassino (Medal of Honor: Underground)

And when those don’t work, I’ve got a whole host of generic metal / rock that I draw from (and as much as I fear my indie cred plummeting by admitting this, Godsmack’s “I Stand Alone” just gets me going like a mad man.

3: Daniel Craig in Casino Royale

Ok, so maybe this one has an explanation due it. Here goes:

All my life, I’ve had a pretty substantial mental image of myself as the fat guy. Even in the best of all possible situations, I always figured that there was just no possible way I could ever be not fat. That was just the lay of the land and my part in life, right? It hasn’t been until recently that I’ve begun to get past that. I can be healthy if I work hard enough – it is possible!

So, when I watched Casino Royale again recently and I saw Daniel Craig’s physique, I saw what I wanted to look like one day. Massive shoulders, solid chest. If I put in the effort, I can do this. I can.

Yeah, I know, the photos are rather terrifying.

Why would I do something as dumb as put photos of my fat body on the internet when I have staunchly refused to take my shirt off on the river or at friends’ pools ever since eighth grade? Am I worried about what people will think? Sure, of course. Heck, in the back of my mind I can catch myself worrying, “Oh no, what if some cool girl stumbles into the blog and sees the photos and gets grossed out??” I’ll admit, that’s pretty terrifying.

The answer is simple enough on my part: public accountability while looking towards a future testimony (that being the whole reason for the blog in the first place). Yeah, I’m fat – I’m obese now, but the photos don’t lie. When I slack off, you’ll see it, but as I progress, you’ll see that, too.

Plus, in the immortal words of Right Said Fred:

I’m too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt
So sexy it hurts
And I’m too sexy for Milan, too sexy for Milan
New York and Japan