June 21, 2011
49 days - Blue Band Officer Week
56 days - Blue Band Marching Auditions/Band Camp Begins
74 days - Penn State vs. Indiana State
Back to the ol' grind. That weekend trip to State College feels like it happened weeks ago, but a dragging five-hour shift at a mindless job will do that. So, where is my mind when I'm at work? Thinking. Always thinking. Always working out other things in my life, far outside the bounds of my job. Sometimes I'll be running Blue Band fundamentals sessions in my head as I endlessly throw hundreds upon hundreds of baseballs from the batting cage field back to the machines. Some days I'll be thinking up new exercise maneuvers to try when I get out of work and hit the gym; some days I'll be giving myself a mental test in music theory; some days I'll be thinking about where I stand on certain issues. It certainly makes the day go by quicker.
Today I got stuck on a really solid point of thought, and I ran with it. As I stood there watching a, with all due respect, obese girl struggle to swing a baseball bat at pitches coming at her at no more than 25 miles-per-hour, I just thought to myself - why? Why are so many people in our country so unmotivated to take care of themselves? To me, there is no greater feeling than being fit. I came up with this quote that just makes perfect sense: "Fitness is not a choice, it's a lifestyle." I want to put that on a banner and post it across the doors of every single gym in the world. That one sentence can explain almost everything about our country. Of course this is all my personal opinion, and by no means a say-all-end-all, but I think it makes a whole lot of sense. People don't want to embrace the lifestyle. It's not about going to the gym and doing 20 minutes of moderate cardio every day like I see so many people do, especially when I'm at Penn State. Will you be better off? Of course. That's simply not enough though; that is not going to make anyone fit, plain and simple. Bad habits are the only habits for so many people, mostly on the topic of diet, and when I see people so attached to these habits and giving no consideration to the effect it will have on them, I feel a bit of sadness. Things like soda/carbonated beverages, chocolate, sugary drinks, and huge portions are just the tip of the iceberg; eating simple carbohydrates (white bread, high fructose corn syrup, etc.) without doing anything to burn them off is just another example. Another pet peeve of mine is when I see people "rewarding", or having a "cheat day", just because they worked out beforehand. Cutting those things out of my life was the best change I've ever made, and I feel better every single day, and over the past year or so I've developed a distaste for all of those "bad habit foods". Now, eating healthily is my first instinct when I go to the kitchen. That's why I'm so passionate about fitness - I wish that everyone could experience the feeling of having a seemingly endless reserve of energy, being healthy, happy, and most importantly, satisfied and content with their appearance. I love being able to be source of encouragement, information, and inspiration for people who are stepping up to the plate to change their lifestyle and make a better future for themselves.
After work I hit the gym for a bit. I ran a half-mile with the 10lb ankle weights again, did a bit of incline walking too. I decided to see how my shoulder was doing and did two sets of dumbbell bicep curls at 45lbs, and then three drop sets of skullcrushers for triceps. It's still a little painful, but it has definitely improved. I followed that up with some ab work. The sauna was 170 degrees today, so I did most of my ab work in there since the heat made things much more difficult. I chose a few things from the P90X ab workout, and then added a few exercises that I devised.
After I post this I'll be doing some drill charting for a bit and de-stressing after a long day. Tomorrow I'll be finding something to do during the day since the weather isn't supposed to be great, and then working from 5:00 to 9:30 given that I don't called off.
That's all for now.
Thanks for reading.
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