Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day. It is very important to do your best to thank military past and present every chance that you get. Today is a special day to remind you that there are soldiers that have and will continue to put their life on the line for the freedom we get to enjoy everyday. For this make sure to thank a soldier today, or the next opportunity that you get.

Now a brief history about Memorial Day. Memorial day started after the Civil war to remember soldiers of that conflict. It was celebrated in both the north and the south. The ceremonies were obviously different depending on whether it was in the north or south. The south was focused more as a social identity, remembering the lost cause. In the north it was more a day to remember the soldiers

After World War 1, the holiday came to be more about remembering soldiers of all American wars. Traditional celebrations are to put American flags and flowers on soldier’s graves.

I believe it is important to never forget that there are veteran’s out there. These are people that in their time put their life in danger to protect freedom. It is also imperative to remember we are still at war. There are soldiers currently in two different theaters of conflict, which put their life on the line daily. Today is a day to remember soldiers of the past and present.

Taking tests...

My workout today was a test day. This is a day I come up with to gauge my weaknesses. I pick four movements and go all out for those movements, resting about 5 minutes between exercises. This is an excellent training tool for the future. When I take the test again I will be able to see were my workouts have improved me.

The test today consisted of 100 double unders, 30 burpees, 50 squats, and 3 sets of dead hang pull ups. I was able to do the double unders in 2:19. I am not to happy with this, but know I have neglected double unders. When I do this again in a few weeks I expect to take over 30 seconds off of that time. The burpees were done in 1:25. I was not jumping for joy with this one, but I will live with it for now. The squats I was able to do in 59 seconds. This is respectable. However, I feel that I can do better. I hope to take my time under 55 next time. The final was 3 sets of dead hangs. I was able to get 22 total. I was happy with this. Especially considering the bar I have to use. Overall, I am happy with my test and feel I passed.

This was not the test I am most proud of passing today though. That honor belongs to an accident at work. I hit a wall with the dump truck. I was turning and had to cut it sharper then I really had space to. I nicked the corner of a techo-block wall. I just knocked the corner off and managed to shift the whole side down.

Just a few months ago I would have flipped out and made a big deal about it. I would have blamed someone else, I mean how could it be my fault that I hit a wall? However, I realized the change in me. I was calm about it, took care of it, and moved on. I never once in my head or other wise thought of blaming anyone else. I realized I messed up and had to deal with it. I think they call this becoming an adult. When I was done fixing the wall, the situation was over. It was nothing to make a big deal about. Sometimes you just hit the wall and all I you have control over is how you put it back together.

Inspirational Quote: "I believe that all wisdom consists in caring immensely for a few right things, and not caring a straw about the rest." - John Buchan

Thinking outside of the watch

I will rave today about the greatness of weight vest. They allow to make any movement that much more challenging. Yesterday I struggled with double unders because having the extra weight on makes jumping that much more difficult. This is a movement I am normally pretty good at. The idea of double unders with a weight vest came to me while researching how to best use the weight vest.

The idea that I came across was to not limit the use to obvious applications. The obvious applications would be running, pull ups, etc. pretty much any basic workout movement. This is why I did double unders with it. It is not something you would typically think to do. Today I took it a step further.

After work, I had to paint some on my parents front porch. This is the time slot I normally use for my workout. However, not wanting to just push back my schedule, I decided to wear my weight vest while I paint. This at first sound ridiculous. However I can assure you it made painting that much harder. The nicest thing about it is that although it does not replace an intense workout. It was able to proved a different type of difficulty to overcome.

This lead me to think that sometimes, I have to leave the stopwatch off and just do something difficult. This means wearing the weight vest to do chores or simply walking somewhere I might drive. All of this will help with my fitness. How could I limit my fitness sessions to just short intervals with the stopwatch. The whole point of intense workout is that they are short, this leaves a whole lot of time to do extras.

This also leads me to the point that, just because you workout you cannot expect results. There is the 23 to 1 rule. The max really you can spend working out is one hour a day, you have 23 to fuck it up. This means just cause you had a grueling day and you are tired you still do not cut corners. I would still walk from further in the parking lot. You workout to make you more fit, not to give excuses. These excuses could be from eating extra deserts to driving to a place you know you should walk.

Workout: 40 minutes of painting with the weight vest on

Inspirational Quote: "opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -Thomas Edison

Mental Toughness....

The above picture is my battleground.

Jack Martin was my high school cross country and track coach. He was an old school type of guy. He had a lot of sayings he would use. There is one of them that stands out to me. The saying is, "mental toughness through physical pain."

I thought this was just one of Martin's sayings. However, as I reflect upon it, it hits the nail on the head. To simply back it up, the more tough shit you go through physically, the tougher you get mentally. This means that you have to always battle through the tough times. It is simple to see it in your own life. Just for a second look back 5 years. I bet there are things you do today, whether is be physical as run several miles or mental as learn a new language. You are able to face these challenges because of your mental hardening.

I am a true believer that high intensity training is far and away the best way to train. There are so many different lessons to learn. You are pushed mentally every workout to get that one next rep or sprint out that last bit. When you are able to push hard in a workout, the rest of life seems so easy. I have said to myself numerous times when facing a tough situation, "please I can do this, I can do (insert workout)."

This is one of the reasons I train. It makes my everyday life easier. If I can suck up through the pain and push, I know that when I am done everything will seem so much easier. This is all a part of my mental conditioning. Of course there are days you do not want to train, but why would you not when it makes life easier?

Today was a day that pushed me mentally. I am still learning how to best use my new toy, the weight vest. I decided today that 3 rds of 50 double unders, 25 kettlebell swings would be great. This was to be done with the 50 lb. weight vest on. I am pretty good at double unders and figured it would not be that much hard. I was wrong.

I wanted to quit after the first round. I even toyed around with trimming it down to 2 rounds or less double unders. I could not in good conscience do this. I know that somedays I will want to quit. I cannot give into that urge to quit. I feel that it would be too slippery a slope for me. Once I cut one corner what is going to stop me from cutting others.

This mental toughness I believe is the difference between being successful and falling short. I was going to finish that workout come hell or high water. To me it became not about the stopwatch but about the struggle. The struggle to get just one more double under kept me going. I wanted to finish just to prove that I could. I was not going to let a workout beat me.

This never say quit attitude has to be taken into every workout. You have to feel that you will finish this as hard as you are able to. You have to have the mental toughness to never give into the urge to quit. When you keep up this attitude you will be surprised by what you can accomplish.

My total workout time was 18:31. The first round was 4 minutes, second finished at 12:40ish. It was in the middle round I had my struggle. I won that battle though.

Inspirational quote: "Mental toughness through physical pain." -Jack Martin

Smoking... the DELICIOUS type

Yesterday, Sunday, I smoked a few pieces of meat in the above pictured smoker. Smoking meat is a way of cooking which utilizes low temperatures and long cooking times. The product is a unique tasting meat. Some people do not like it, I think it is delicious. It is one of the things I am most excited about in Texas!

This is going to be my brief overview of smoking. I am by no means an expert at it. I have made my fair share of mistakes with it. I am also far from perfecting my technique. However, only the first time I smoked a piece of meat did it come out tasting poorly. This was due to an over seasoning. I was young dumb and made a whole rub receipt and put it on two small racks of ribs. There is need to say they were caked in rub.

Learning from the mistake I have been careful not to over due the rubs. This time I decided to try three different rubs. There were four separate pieces of meat which I smoked, a brisket and three sets of ribs. The first rub I made contained salt, pepper, peprika, and thyme. This was used on the brisket and one pair of the ribs. The second rub was salt, pepper, herbs di provence, and crushed red pepper. This was on a set of ribs. The final set of ribs just got a dusting of salt and pepper. I did this variety to get a feel for what turns out best on the smoker. I was surprised by which rub was the best.

Now that I had all my meat rubbed down..... They went on the smoker at 0900. The process of setting up the smoker is simple. The bottom is filled with charcoal. There is then a dish of water in the middle to help hold a temperature and put moisture into the air. There is a cooking surface right on top of the water dish. This can be viewed in the picture. With a second surface at the top.

The trick I have learned to smoking is to not panic about the temperature. I have yet to find the "ideal" temperature. I however feel that a temperature of about 160 Fahrenheit works fine. The goal is to keep a constant temperature. This is a lot easier said then done. You have to keep the coals burnings, but not to quickly and hot, or to low that they go out. I had one minor flair up of temperature. It was right after I added more coals and got the fire going better. It peak around 260. However, most of the day was 130 to 160.

The only tuning up to the smoker I did all day was to add coals, stoke the fire up when needed, and add a piece of Applewood every few hours. Around 1700 I could tell that the meat was about done. I did not take them off then cause we would not be eating for a while. Also when smoking meat it is hard to overcook. The greater fear is it being undercooked. This is why I put the meat on so early. At 1700 I decided to put some white wine in the water dish and a fresh piece of wood to put in some last flavor. Around 1730 the meat was taken off the smoker.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get any pictures of the meat. I will say it was very delicious and very little survived the dinner table. The meat was falling off of the ribs and the brisket was well worth the time and effort put in. Now about the best rub. The simple fact when you are smoking, you are trying to smoke in flavor. The rub does not play a factor in the taste. If I were to smoke more meat tomorrow, I would probably not put any rub on them. I would focus more on putting a mixture into the water dish. Next time I smoke meat this is the technique I plan to use.

Workout: I decided to put my vest to use. I did an 8 minute AMRAP of 10 sandbag push press, and 10 push ups. I did all this while wearing all 50 lb. of the vest. The push ups were a struggle. I was able to squeeze out 5 rounds and 2 push ups. The vest makes a big difference!

Inspirational Quote: "It's what you do right now that makes a difference" -Blackhawk Down

New Toys

Yesterday I got my birthday present in the mail. It is a 50lb. weight vest. I know it is weird to get so excited about a weight vest but I believe with the lack of access to a gym it will help me out over the next few years. I plan to use it on sprints as well as long distance runs. Also, it can make any body weight movement harder. I am already seeing 100 burpees for time become an awful yet amazing experience. I am also hoping to be able to attempt, "becoming John," in a few months. It is a 20 min AMRAP of the cycle 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats. This is all done with a 50 lb. vest on. I am sure to talk in the future about the joy and misery of training with a weight vest.

This weekend Sara and I will be headed to Crossfit 908 for a team workout. It is in teams of three. There are 150 pull ups, 150 wallball, and 150 v ups to complete, then 300 double unders, 2700 m run, 3000m row. It should be a fun workout.

After that, I will be painting the front porch so I will probably not have to many interesting things to talk about. However, I already know that my post on monday is going to be on a smoked meat. I am smoking a brisket and ribs tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Suns out.... Guns out

Remmy enjoying a roll in the grass in the backyard. This is by demand of my one reader.

Today was the most beautiful day since I have been home. There was not a cloud in the sky. Which meant it was hot. And of course I worked in the sun all day. This brought up the thought about vitamin D to my brain. Here are my thoughts.

Nutrition: Vitamin D is a extremely important and often over looked vitamin. Everyone should know your body makes with exposure to sunlight. This means there is no need to supplement with vitamin D pills if you are getting enough sun exposure. However, the problem comes when over a period of time you do not get enough exposure.

Vitamin D is responsible for a lot. Here is what vitamin D does in your body, "When synthesized in the kidneys, calcitriol circulates as a hormone, regulating, among other things, the concentration of calcium and phosphate in the bloodstream, promoting the healthy mineralization, growth and remodeling of bone, and the prevention of hypocalcemic tetany" (Wikipedia). Wow those are extremely important benefits. To me if you are going to live a health lifestyle it is neccessary to make sure you are having enough vitamin D. The simple way to do this is to go outside with exposed body parts for a short period of time everyday. When I say exposed body parts, it means no clothing or sunscreen. Both of these block your body's adbsorbtion of vitamin D.

However, vitamin D's most important health benefit to me is mental. There are studies that show a connection between vitamin D levels and mental health. I can attest personal that there is a connection. Every winter since freshman year of high school in the winter I get in worse moods. I will not say I am depressed, but I am not happy. It was never thought in my head to connect it to less sun exposure and therefore less vitamin D. It only happened in the winter cause in the summer I am always outside. This past winter I started taking vitamin D supplements. An amazing thing happened, I was in good moods just as if it were summer. It was the first time I can remember being in great moods all winter long. This is why I am a big proponent of proper vitamin D supplementation.

There is however a footer to this story. Vitamin D is fat soluble. This means it is possible to overdose on it. Only take vitamin D if you are not getting sun exposure. If you are outside all day long, there is no need for vitamin D supplements.

Workout: This one was fun. The burpee is my least favorite movement. According to crossfit.com "(t)o perform a burpee with a pushup, you will begin in a squat position with hands on the floor in front of you (1). Kick your feet back, while simultaneously lowering yourself into the bottom portion of a pushup. Your arms will not be extended. (2). Immediately return your feet to the squat position, while simultaneously pushing "up" with your arms. You will perform a pushup as you return your feet to the squat position (3). Leap up as high as possible from the squat position (4). Repeat, moving as fast as possible" (crossfit.com). My workout today consisted of 75 burpee broad jumps. This is a variety of burpee were instead of jumping up, you do a forward jump as far as possible. My time for the workout was 7:13

I am a big believer in having good form and technique. The burpee is a case were people constantly get it wrong. There is not knee push up in the burpee, if so by defination it is no longer a burpee. You may still call it a "burpee" but it is not really one. I had this in my mind the whole time making sure every burpee was performed as close to perfect while at the same time going as fast as I can. I will be the first to admit some probably faulted a tiny bit. But on all my chest lifted off the ground at the same time as my knees.

Remmy: Remmy was running around and playing with me during the workout. At one point on a broad jump I landed on his front right paw. I heard him yell at me, "abuse," followed by I will be calling the authorities!"

Inspirational Quote: "Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching." -Dennis Janson

bags of sand

This is my Brittany named Remmy. He is with my sandbag. I figured I would do a little advertising for Muscledriver.

Today was a great day. Weather was great for working. Work was work there was nothing really to interesting there. I feel myself adjusting to the work better each day.

Nutrition: Today I got to use my shake at a perfect time today. It was right after a particular tough little session of picking some beds. This is the ideal time due to the fact that my body just got taxed pretty good. The shake was able to give my body the fuel it needed and carry me over until my next real meal, lunch.

My one real thought today comes from that lunch. Yesterday I packed a lunch for work but never ate it. Due to this, I just saved it for today. The only problem is some of my watermelon got slimy. It is not bad just does not taste particularly good. It gave me to thinking just because you have a bad experience cooking or eating a particular food, do not shy away from it. It is absolutely essential to have a wide variety. When you let one bad eating experience eliminate that food from you diet, you are limiting your variety.

Workout: I am absolutely in love with sandbags. There are an extremely useful training tool. It helps you get a step closer to real life. Barbells are great, but when in life are you going to have a perfect grip on a perfectly balanced load. Sandbags are great cause they are not perfectly balanced. There is a ton of work you have to do through the same motions just to stabilize the bag. This allows for even greater stress on balance and coordination.

Not only do they provide this great workout tool, they are extremely versatile. You can use them for almost anything. It literally is just a bag of sand. You can throw it, run with it, lift it.... If you can come up with a movement you are able to do it. The movements that I use most often are the olympic lifts. However, this does not mean that the usefulness is limited to them.

Today my workout consisted of 12 minutes AMRAP of 5 movements with the sandbag. An AMRAP is when you continue through the cycle as many times as possible in the set time. The cycle was 10 deadlifts, 8 hang power cleans, 6 front squats, 4 shoulders to overhead, 2 overhead squats. My goal going in was 10 rounds. I am about 90% sure I did 10 plus 7 cleans. However, I started to doubt my counting, it might have been 9 plus 7 cleans. The difference to me does matter. Since I am not sure I will go with the lower number which means I did not hit my goal. If you are not a hundred percent sure of your number, go with the lower one. That way I will be able to look at myself in the mirror at the end of the day and know I was honest.

Inspirational quote: "Leadership is not about being in control or in charge, it is about being responsible. A true leader takes responsibility and does not passing it on." -Unknown

Raining on Tuesday

Today work got rain out! This is good and bad. The good is that I do not have work and can get other errands out of the way. The bad is that since I am paid hourly, I only get paid for when I work. No work means no money. However, the free time let me go up to the box for a workout which is always enjoyable.

Today my focus will be on nutrition. I would like to talk about shakes, the proper time to use them as well as the good way to make them. Shake I feel are one of the most misunderstood nutritional tools. People feel that since it is fruit that hey it is healthy and I can have it whenever. Shakes should not be used as a meal replacement. I repeat this shakes should NEVER be used to replace a meal. You are a human, you have evolved by eating real food. Shakes are not real food. I know there are people out there saying well yes it is, it is just blended together. However, to me it alters the way in which your body absorbs it to the extreme that it should never replace eating real food.

A shake, in this meaning is a mixture of fruits, vegetables, powders, etc. into a liquid. This means that the shake takes on the combination of all the part you put into it and then some. I am a firm believe when things are combine they become more then the sum of their parts. There for when we put all these items into a blender we are liquifying them. This has the benefit of absorbing into your body quicker. This is both good and bad. If you are sitting down and have a shake, it cause a bad insulin spike. You are consuming more food then you realize. However, if your body just finished a strenuous activity or is in the middle of one shakes can be of enormous benefit. Your body in this state is using the glycogen stored in your body as an energy source and it needs to be replenished. THIS IS WHEN YOU USE A SHAKE. A shake is only for hours of strenuous activity or after an extremely strenuous workout, not every workout. In this case strenuous means over 12 minutes at least of extreme intensity. This is why I feel a shake is great for me in the middle of my work day, it replenishes my energy sources in an easily absorbable way.

The shakes that I made today contained four simple ingredients. The four were coconut milk(2 cups), strawberries(2 cups), blackberries(1 cup), and protein powder(a bit). (yes, I know it is not exactly primal but it works a little better then liquified steak) They were put in the blender in approximate measurements, I am not a big fan of exactness. The mixture was tasty and will get the job done. I will have more shake receipts in the future and more to talk about them.

Workout: Today I had the privilege of going to workout with a friend of mine at his gym. The gym is Crossfit 908. The workout was a descending rep scheme of 50-40-30-20-10 of double unders and sit ups. These were all sandwiched by 3 deadlifts at 80% of your one rep max. For the deadlifts I did 315 lb. My total time for the workout was 9:03. I was happy with how I did. In the future I look to do more on the deadlift, but for today it was a good weight. There was an extra he threw in which was three sets of max number of push ups. I was able to do 30, 18, 13. My goal was to double my first round number, which I was able to achieve that. I look forward to working with Tim at Crossfit 908 more in the future.

Inspirational Quote: "Determination is often the first chapter of the book of excellence"

And the real work begins

I was unable to make regular post this past weekend due to a family situation. Just would like to address this briefly I hope the best to the Crawford family and hope that all members find themselves dealing with the lose the best that they are able to.

Weekend cooking: I decided to cook my meals for the week for the most part on Sunday afternoons. I love to cook. I find cooking very relaxing and whether or not I produce good food, I have a good time doing it and normal get to do it with my favorite girl. This past weekend was not one of those times, I was flying solo. I had to prepare a few meals for lunch, I decided I wanted to get some red meat. The reason red meat there are more natural muscle growth stimulants in red meat then others. I believe it will benefit me to provide my body with the necessary parts to rebuild itself while doing manual labor. The piece of meat I ended up with were a sirloin steak and a pound of ground beef.

While there I also picked up some yellow squash and a green pepper to be all grilled. I created a rub for both (equal parts of salt, pepper, chili pepper, and cinnamon). I put a health coating of this on the steak then added some olive oil to make a paste like substance on the steak. I then added some oregano to the mixture for the ground beef. I made the ground beef into three equal size patties. The vegetables, yellow squash and green peppers, I put on skewers. I then heated up the grill and grilled all the real food at the same time.

The rub was alright, lacked the spicy punch I usually desire. The rub worked better in the burgers I hope. (have not eaten them yet). The same goes for the vegetables.

Work: Work today was good. I was able to push around a heavy wheel barrow a bunch. This is one of my favorite activities. This is because it requires strength and stability. Work as a whole was uneventful.

Nutrition: I had a great meal plan attack for work. I had an apple for the 11 a.m. hunger strike. I had sausages, not my favorite, and peppers for lunch. Add to that some watermelon and nuts. I was full never felt low on energy or lethagic. I am going to start next week making shakes for my 11 a.m. hunger strike. This will allow me to add protein and fat into. This will also allow my body to be able to digest the food easier.

Workout!!!! I got to workout today! Today I used a kettlebell. I did 5 rds. of 6 clean and push press right arm then 6 clean and push press left. It took me a total of 4:55. My goal was to be under 5 minutes! I did two extras, they were 20 kettlebell swings, focusing on pulling down at the top and driving through my heels. The other extra was 20 deadhang pull ups. I was able to do it in sets of 8-7-4-1. The 3rd set I did 5 but kipped one by accident.

Quote that is Inspiring me: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us." -Marianne Williamson

Becoming John

Becoming John.....

There are two meaning to this, a work I have yet not dare to try. It is a 20 min amrap of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats all while having a 50 lb. weight vest on. The ultimate goal is 20 or so rounds. It is named after John Welborne.

The next meaning and the one I have being thinking about is becoming John H. John H. is a coworker of mine at the landscaping company. I am pretty sure he is half man half machine. He has always have been the ability to carry heavy wheel barrows, work quicker, etc. I have always wondered why this is. I have a few theories but in actuality I think only one is right. He just works harder to work harder.

He is driven to push it at 100% all of the time. This is something I have struggled with in almost every aspect of my life. When I want to push it I am good. However somedays I just do not feel like I can push it. I feel that I am stuck in low gear. Yesterday was one of those days. Being stuck in low gear would have hurt Hsoj back in the primal days, and it has to be unacceptable to me in modern times. My goal for the next week is to for all 5 days work as hard as possible, no days stuck in low gears.

I will start workouts on Monday.

Nutrition in modern times is easy to slip of the primal wagon so to speak. It is easy to just say it is just one meal. However, when you realize you are saying that every meal you are no longer eating primal. The goal is to limit those slip ups. Yes, there is no real way to eliminate them. I do believe that is someone makes you food no matter what it is you have to eat it. There is no excuse to push away hospitality. Or those moments when you just need the ice cream to cheer up. It is neccessary for both you mind and soul to eat what makes you happy, your body may pay the price. But if your soul is not happy, then you are truly not better of then before. The goal is to improve in all three areas, body, mind, and soul. That is what the Primal Life is all about, improving your body, mind, and soul.

Virtual vs. Actual

So about a year ago I did a workout with "Virtual Shoveling." The concept is good, but it does not compare to the actual thing. Virtual Shoveling is when you have a bar with one 45lb. on one side, you lift it up and over a 20" box and back. The primary problem with these type of movements is they miss the whole toughness of shoveling. The hard part of shoveling is not the motion but the time domain. You do not shovel for 5 minutes or 10 or even rarely 15. When actually shoveling you are shoveling for hours, wheel barrow full after wheel barrow. The time domain change is huge. It is about mentally just doing it cause it has to get done. There is only one way to do it. This is an interesting new dimension for me. The past few years workouts have been measure in anywhere from 2 to 60 minutes, now my work day is measure in hours, and 9 of them.

That being said, the concept or idea behind virtual shoveling is not lost on me. It is a good functional movement which involves many different aspects of fitness. However, I feel that in workouts lets stick with workout movements. Yes we do get these movements from real life, a deadlift is how we pick up heavy items and so forth. We do not though have to find every actually movement and find a way to mimic it in our workouts. I have gotten better at shoveling, not by virtual shoveling but by getting strong and know how to use my body more effectively.

The diet is good today. My goal today was to eat no dark chocolate. I often forget even though it is good for you, it still needs to be moderated. Just because a little is good for you, does not mean a whole lot is better. I was successful in that. My goal tomorrow is to avoid cheeses. My family only has main stream cheese. None of it is from grass feed cow milk, it does though follow my rule of ingredients, which if I am taking the grains out of my diet, they have to go all the way. My goal for the next few weeks it to focus more on this.

There was no workout today, will start workouts on monday.

Starting the Journey

This blog's goal is to cover my transition from a gym rat to a working man who wants to not lose his physical fitness in the process

Today was the first day of my summer job. This is a job that I worked years ago, before I starting eating a primal diet. I am curious to see how I am able to hold up over the summer. The job is manual labor and already I can see where my added strength has helped me out. I am much more capable of moving large loads easily.

The day was the opposite weather of what I expected, but was just as grueling as I could hope for. The day was a raining cold day with the temperature at 46 degrees. (Temperature at 1800 when writing post). It was a misting/raining all day and we had to go on through the less then ideal conditions. We continued to do what we had to get our jobs done. This is typical of what I expected. My coworkers and I continues to joke that all we wanted was a hot shower. I am happy to say the hot shower was all I wanted it to be. It lead me to thinking, Hsoj, random primal name, would not have been able to get a hot shower and dry clothes. Although I model my diet after him, I am happy for the modern conveniences that I am afforded.

For this first day and while I continue to unpack all my belongings, I will not be adding workouts on top of work. I will say I will try my best to post recipes whenever I am able to come up with or come across something good. I am excited about this part of the journey and hope that I can exceed my expectations.