Project: A Better Best5Zach 1/8/13

Hopefully you read my New Years Resolutions. People have said I have 3 years worth of resolutions just for this year alone. I guess they don't know me real well, 'cause I am a man that needs a lot of work in many aspects of life...but not one any more than the condition of my physique HAHA!

I will lighten the mood and point out some things. You ever hear about the saying for surviving a bear attack? No? How about something for those that believe the end of the world is coming.

Ok ok. So, I am not going to make this into all things EOTWAWKI. Nope. Sure, you gotta be in good shape to survive the End of the World. But, being in bad shape affects everything else that's more important RIGHT NOW. Like the energy to play with my kids, extending my life, and improving the attraction that my wife somehow has for me.

So, here is the deal. When I graduated from highschool, way back when, I was 5'3'' and 135 pounds. I was in incredible shape (weren't we all!). As Forrest Gump said, I could run like the wind blooowwsss.

Last year, 2012 marked the 11 year anniversary of my graduation.....

Wait. Go back another year to 2011. That works better, since it was an even 10 years.

I was 28 and things weren't right. I had no energy...at all. I felt like I needed to take a nap constantly. And if I took a nap, I felt like a zombie. I suffered horribly from heart burn. Like, BAD. I looked terrible when dressed up an even worse without a shirt on. Heck, my great aunt, stricken with Polio and wheelchair bound for the rest of her life told me at Thanksgiving that I looked terrible and was fat and balding.

But I chalked those up to getting old.

The real eye opener came during NASA softball season of 2011. I hadn't been a full time player and I was way out of practice when i started palying pick up with them. But mid to late in the season I was asked to fill in full time. It took me awhile to start hitting with any authority. And in one game, I crushed a ball to the fence. Between 2nd and 3rd base, I was dead. I pulled up at 3rd. And I thought I was going to die. I don't mean that lightly. I have been an athlete my entire life and I have never felt like this. Not during football where I played both ways. Not in a wrestling tournament where I had already had 4 matches in the last 3 hours. I thought I was having a heart attack. As you can see, not real pretty.

So, being extremely fortunate to work at NASA, I started going to the NASA gym. My friend, Mike, whom I had wrestled with in HS was one of the trainers. He put me on a good work out.

So, I hit it...not so hard. After all, I don't have that much time in the day. I could go only about an hour, but I did my best. I carried this work out into 2012 where we started the "Weigh to Win" contest.

I weighed into "Weigh to Win" at 176 pounds and about 26% body fat. At the end of "weigh to win", 6 weeks later, I believe, I was down to 168 and 19%. I looked a LITTLE better, but I felt MUCH better. I had energy, I didn't have heartburn. I felt better about myself, and I hoped my wife appreciated my hard work.

It showed in the field during softball and flag football. Sorry folks, I don't have any pics of me in "good shape", though I promise it isn't very impressive.

Perhaps my favorite thing was my overall strength. I was lifting more than I EVER had done. Now, I wasn't dieting and I didn't have time to do concentrated workouts. I was doing a mix of cardio and weight lifting.

But sports ended and work picked up. I didn't have the spare time on my hands in the last quarter of the year. I was down to 1 or no days a week.

Welp. New Year. And like all the other suckers, I am in the gym. But, I am putting this out here to keep me honest. I don't have a magic number in my head. I won't be aiming for a 6-pack. I'm not trying to lift the world. I just want to be powerful, not so round, and able to run and play easily.

But I do want to fix this:

That's right. Right back to where I was last year. Sigh. Almost to the 3rd digit!

In order to get this done, I am going to have to be efficient with my effort and time. That means thermal layering, some sort of diet control, etc. Unlike last year, I am going to concentrate more on the cardio and pure power instead of trying to sculpt. So, lots of squats, dead lift, bench, power clean, etc. And lots and lots of running and crunches.   I am also going to be mindful of some small things...like....there is 130 calories in this Gatorade, which wipes out 10 minutes of running.

So, apparently as of Day 1, I am about 177 pounds and 26% body fat. Gotta start somewhere.