I have to admit, I fell of my diet for a long time. Little Debbie snacks became the bane of diet; I was crushing those things: Oatmeal Pies, Honey Buns, and Zebra Cakes. They are soooo good and sooo bad for you. I was making excuses for myself saying, "I need the sugar!" And I was reading online and other people's post that said that you need sugar after your workout to feed the muscles, and to help them repair. I believe them too, but when I woke up the next morning, there was a little bump in my stomach, and each day, it got a little bigger.
Now, I don't want to mislead you and make it seem like I gained a bunch of weight. I was still about 185, but the point is, I wasn't losing weight. I was maintaining, which was something I didn't want. I'm training for a competition in April, and I need to lose weight accordingly. Sucking down those snacks and brownies too was not doing me and good.
We all fall off our diet at some point. Whether it's for a long time, or it's for a short time. That time you go over to your friend's houses and there are a cookies on the table??? Yeah, we all have been there, or been somewhere like it. It's hard to maintain a strict diet all the time. But the key is, when you fall, to stop falling. That one cookie is not going to kill you (and I say that meaning your diet), but that next one will! One doesn't turn into two, but two sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, will turn into three and so on.
My friend today reminded me of something I said to him. "People will go out and spend a bunch of money at the bar and on having fun, but when it comes to their body, they spend little to none." Your body is the most important thing in the world, and taking care of it, is not superficial. Not being financially able to have a gym membership shouldn't stop someone either from being healthy and taking care of themselves. Wherever it is that you lay your head at night, is a place where you can work out. Push-ups and sit-up can be done anywhere, and in truth, those two exercises alone are all you body needs to be in good shape.
Calories are not lost by doing different workouts, they are lost working out. Realistically, a person could do one exercise and lose weight from everywhere in their body. The problem would be that it would be very hard to continually work out the same muscles repeatedly because of fatigue, but make no mistake, doing so would cause a person to lose weight.
So as it was, my diet was not going well. Today was my last day with sugar, and let me say, I went out with a bang. I ate three large brownies this morning for breakfast. After the gym, I went to CVS and bought a package of Keebler Elf chocolate cookies and ate the ENTIRE pack; that is 11.5 oz of nonsense! I will surely be expecting a nice bump in the morning.
Moving forward no more sugar. And when I say no more sugar, I mean, intentional sugar. I have started drinking coffee again because I found a nice article that informed me that drinking coffee after workouts helps to put glycogen back in you muscles. There is no PHD here, so I don't know exactly what glycogen is, but I know I want to have as much of it as I can. Therefore, I will not be putting in sugar in my coffee. I will not be drinking energy drinks either, and of course, those Little Debbie snacks are out, cookies, and brownies as well. As of right now, I only drink water (coffee is basically brown water, only has 3 calories per serving when black), occasionally I might have juice, but I try to stay away because of the sugar. I can foresee the only time that I will be ingesting sugar is when I have a night out on the town, and the sugar intake will be strictly limited then. I will do my very best to stay on the path this time.
Well there you have it. I am rededicating myself. I hope others will too. Being fit is not about looking good, it's about living a long healthy life. We all only get one turn, and a person can choose to live their life however they like. But I want as many years as I can get. And working out is no guarantee either for more years on this planet, but a healthy person more often than not will live longer. I'm hoping to get a few steps in the next century, hopefully, I will see you there with me.
Mr. Felder
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
The 2014 Slam Dunk Contest
At first, when they announced the format of the Slam Dunk Contest I didn't like it. I said to myself, "Here's another attempt to make it more exciting for no reason, when the dunks, themselves, are suppose to be what is exciting."
I wouldn't say I was completely wrong, but I did end up like it. The "freestyle" round I knew immediately wasn't going to be anything special; one random dunk after another couldn't possibly be. There were however two dunks that were really good, but for the most part they were just warming up and passing the time it felt like.
I do want to point something out. Every year, at some point during the MLB home-run derby festivities, an announcer says something along the lines, "See you have to really appreciate these guys and what they are doing. They are the only ones in the world that can do this and do it this well. It's not like the NBA dunk contest. You can go to almost any basketball court in the world and see people doing the dunks that they do and better. This is were it is at. These guys are the best of the best and they are the only ones that can do this." Or some rhetoric like that, that makes want to break my television set. The NBA players in the dunk contest, are just that, NBA players. They are the best of the best (would be better if I was in there), and their craft is their craft. The dunk contest is extra, and yes you can find other people doing those dunks around the world, but nobody is paying a lot of money to watch them. The world want to see NBA players showing their superb athletic ability that they don't normally get to display in front of the world, and that my friends is why we like the dunk contest, sometimes.
Continuing, the dunk contest the went into what was referred to as battle rounds. The first battle round was good; Terrence Ross versus Damian Lillard. Both dunkers missed on their first attempts which always hurts the level of excitement, and it is unfair to discredit them for missing an attempt, but that is just the way it is. Lillard ended up completely a crafty 360-windmill off the bounce, which isn't easy! Ross, who was the returning slam dunk champion completed a throw-the-leg-dunk by taking the ball out of someone's hand. Ross won the round via the judges (Wilkins, Johnson, Erving), but the announcers, as did I, believe Lillard should have won.
The next battle between my soon to be favorite player, Paul George, and Harrison Barnes. Barnes's dunk was weak and took three attempts to complete. Paul George, who by most accounts was considered the best dunker in the contest, ended up doing a great dunk. To point out, it took him four attempts (one of the first three didn't count), but he did a fantastic threw-the-legs-360-dunk. Something that not many other people can do!
Moving on to the sweet spot. What ended up being the last round of the contest was the best round; made for TV. The last round featured two NBA players whose vertical (not pure) is probably about 43 inches, at least. To put into perspective, LBJ's vertical has been measured at just over 40 inches and everybody knows how high it looks when he jumps. John Wall and Ben McLemore went head-to-head their is no doubt about it. McLemore added theatrics, featuring Shaq, something that wasn't necessary; it made for good entertainment and gave the commentators something to joke about. McLemore ended up jumping over Shaq sitting in a large golden chair. He got up there, there is no doubt. But what he did wasn't enough. Mr. Wall stepped on with the team mascot and delivered what everyone was waiting for, something they hadn't seen before. That is what people are looking for, dunks that they haven't seen, and John Wall gave the people that with the last dunk of the night. With his team mascot standing just ahead of the rim with the ball over his head, Wall ran and jumped from behind him clearing him throw his legs, and at the same time grabbing the ball from the mascot by reaching down, and then pumped the ball after possessing it, and then threw the ball through the hoop backwards! Wall ended his incredulous attempted by jigging, something that he is know for around the league.
I am comfortable saying that it was a good contest. They made this All-Star weekend all about charity, and having the format as it was made helped with that. I would personally like to see two people in the slam dunk contest like old days when Jordan and Wilkins competed against each other, but I doubt we will ever see that again, unless LBJ decides to do it, which is a whole another issue that I won't get into, at least not for this post.
Mr. Felder
I wouldn't say I was completely wrong, but I did end up like it. The "freestyle" round I knew immediately wasn't going to be anything special; one random dunk after another couldn't possibly be. There were however two dunks that were really good, but for the most part they were just warming up and passing the time it felt like.
I do want to point something out. Every year, at some point during the MLB home-run derby festivities, an announcer says something along the lines, "See you have to really appreciate these guys and what they are doing. They are the only ones in the world that can do this and do it this well. It's not like the NBA dunk contest. You can go to almost any basketball court in the world and see people doing the dunks that they do and better. This is were it is at. These guys are the best of the best and they are the only ones that can do this." Or some rhetoric like that, that makes want to break my television set. The NBA players in the dunk contest, are just that, NBA players. They are the best of the best (would be better if I was in there), and their craft is their craft. The dunk contest is extra, and yes you can find other people doing those dunks around the world, but nobody is paying a lot of money to watch them. The world want to see NBA players showing their superb athletic ability that they don't normally get to display in front of the world, and that my friends is why we like the dunk contest, sometimes.
Continuing, the dunk contest the went into what was referred to as battle rounds. The first battle round was good; Terrence Ross versus Damian Lillard. Both dunkers missed on their first attempts which always hurts the level of excitement, and it is unfair to discredit them for missing an attempt, but that is just the way it is. Lillard ended up completely a crafty 360-windmill off the bounce, which isn't easy! Ross, who was the returning slam dunk champion completed a throw-the-leg-dunk by taking the ball out of someone's hand. Ross won the round via the judges (Wilkins, Johnson, Erving), but the announcers, as did I, believe Lillard should have won.
The next battle between my soon to be favorite player, Paul George, and Harrison Barnes. Barnes's dunk was weak and took three attempts to complete. Paul George, who by most accounts was considered the best dunker in the contest, ended up doing a great dunk. To point out, it took him four attempts (one of the first three didn't count), but he did a fantastic threw-the-legs-360-dunk. Something that not many other people can do!
Moving on to the sweet spot. What ended up being the last round of the contest was the best round; made for TV. The last round featured two NBA players whose vertical (not pure) is probably about 43 inches, at least. To put into perspective, LBJ's vertical has been measured at just over 40 inches and everybody knows how high it looks when he jumps. John Wall and Ben McLemore went head-to-head their is no doubt about it. McLemore added theatrics, featuring Shaq, something that wasn't necessary; it made for good entertainment and gave the commentators something to joke about. McLemore ended up jumping over Shaq sitting in a large golden chair. He got up there, there is no doubt. But what he did wasn't enough. Mr. Wall stepped on with the team mascot and delivered what everyone was waiting for, something they hadn't seen before. That is what people are looking for, dunks that they haven't seen, and John Wall gave the people that with the last dunk of the night. With his team mascot standing just ahead of the rim with the ball over his head, Wall ran and jumped from behind him clearing him throw his legs, and at the same time grabbing the ball from the mascot by reaching down, and then pumped the ball after possessing it, and then threw the ball through the hoop backwards! Wall ended his incredulous attempted by jigging, something that he is know for around the league.
I am comfortable saying that it was a good contest. They made this All-Star weekend all about charity, and having the format as it was made helped with that. I would personally like to see two people in the slam dunk contest like old days when Jordan and Wilkins competed against each other, but I doubt we will ever see that again, unless LBJ decides to do it, which is a whole another issue that I won't get into, at least not for this post.
Mr. Felder
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