You are the Solution

 

My dear and ever-so-faithful collegestuds and collegebabes,

It has been far too long since I posted last and let you all know of my exploits. The last two weeks things have been extremely hectic. I don’t think two days have even been remotely similar in the last two weeks. It’s good to have variety, but maybe there was a little too much anarchy going on. 

First, I want to apologize. No, not to you. Yes, I have made myself responsible to impart knowledge unto you, my dear collegebabes and collegestuds, yet ultimately it is your responsibility to find your inner motivation and crush the competition. In the end, the ultimate competition is yourself and what you are doing to bar yourself from accomplishing your goals. So, guess who I am apologizing to…drum roll… 

Myself

I have been so busy that I have neglected doing a good workout in the last two weeks. This is regrettable. Regrettable because if I had not stopped working out continuosly in the last two weeks, my body would be a whole two weeks stronger than it is now. Training for a better you is all about the math. More hours in the gym doing the right workout geared toward your specific goals yields a better, more strong and confident version of you. 

I made lame excuses like “I have no time to workout” or “I’m tired”. I really thought those things. Then, I realized something dreadful. Instead of working out during that one hour of time I had nothing to do, I played a computer game. I realized that not working out was also making me more tired. I felt lethargic in the last two weeks. Even worse, the lack of physical activity made me stressed. 

It’s a good thing to study. In fact, I have been doing exceedingly well in my classes so far, and of that accomplishment I think anyone would be proud. Still, at what cost are you willing to hole yourself in a room and study nonstop and completely forget about feeding your body and working out. Sometimes, it is better for your soul and body to just drop the books and just run.

I did that tonight. I just ran. I ket on running. After some intense running I ran by the gym and decided to go in there to see what was going on. I didn’t really feel like weightlifting so I jumped on the treadmill and continued my run. I watched other people workout in the gym while I was mindlessly running. I cannot even begin to describe how inspired I was by those people. 

My workout consisted of a roughly 6 mile fast paced run and 2 rounds of traditional tabata back to back. Afterwards, I jogged back to my room on the other side of campus. 

After my workout I felt completely destressed. All of the little nagging feeling i had had before simply vanished. I had become myself again. I looked at myself in a mirror as I walked towards my room. I thought back to my Kinesiology lecture earlier in the day. A statistic was brought up that stated that by 2030 50% of the citizens of Minnesota would be Obese. Not overweight, Obese. 

Now, my dear friends, look into the mirror with me. Think about what is important to you in your life. Do you have a family? Do you have a significant other? Do you want to feel empowered and confident? Do you want to avoid health problems that could potentially ruin your life?

Join me. 

Be a part of the solution, not the problem.

CollegeStudatUMN

 

Lucifer’s Second Coming (Part 2 of Lou’s Leg Combo)

 

(That’s chump change yo…)

Dear Collegestuds and Collegebabes,

Regretfully, I must inform you all of the double homicide of left leg and right leg. They both died to day in a freak accident called SUPER INTENSE WEIGHTLIFTING! WAAAAAA EXTREEEEME!

Now, if you understood any of what I just said, you should have gathered that today was devoted to strengthening my legs. What do leg muscles look like? Just take a second to look at the picture of professional weightlifter Jay Cutler above…Yeah, take it in…Wait, just a little longer…Okay it isn’t happening. What’s not happening? Oh yeah, your legs won’t ever look like that. Stop Crying.

It was a chilly day here in Minnesota (normal) and I found myself pretty busy. There was about two hours in the day that I knew I didn’t have anything to do so I decided to go to the gym. Today, I went solo. Going solo isn’t a bad thing though. Sometimes you need to do your own thing. Sometimes you need to keep your thoughts to yourself. Sometimes all you want is pure and utter efficiency in your workout. A second opinion in the weight room is always worth hearing but sometimes you just need to put your foot behind the wheel and drive. Oh, and I drove like hell today.

Now, being the collegestuds and collegebabes that you are, you all probably have heard me (multiple times) screaming out at you from the computer scream how monstrous I felt in the gym on any given day. Today was for sure my best workout day (for my legs) yet I didn’t feel like a monster. I simply felt committed. I felt at peace with the fact that I was by myself and that what I was doing at the gym was beneficial to my health. So, I pushed. I didn’t grunt or roar like I sometimes do during an intense workout. Instead, I simply focused. 

What gives you the focus to get through your day? It doesn’t have to be a workout. It can be anything. So long as it preserves your mental and is not harmful to your physical health, proceed. 

Ladies, here’s the workout for today:

Warm up: Tabata Protocol (basically preforming short bursts of moves all out for twenty seconds each)

1. Burpees with a pushup 20 seconds
2. 10 seconds of rest
3. high knees 20 seconds
4. 10 seconds of rest
5. floor sprints 20 seconds
6. 10 seconds of rest
7. jumping jacks 20 seconds
8. 10 seconds of rest

Repeat entire cycle once more for a total of a four minute warm up. HELL YEAH.

Lucifer’s Second Coming: An all out heavy lifting leg workout. High sets, high weight, high motivation!

1. Back Squat (Barbell): 185 lbs, 200 lbs, 225 lbs, 250 lbs, 250 lbs (10,10,8,8,6)
2. Leg Press (like the picture with Jay Cutler): 360 lbs, 360 lbs, 450 lbs, 500 lbs, 500 lbs (10,10,8,6,6) (I got to 500 pounds kids!)
3. Smith Machine Barbell Calf Raises (Ouch): 135 lbs, 225 lbs, 275 lbs, 275 lbs, 325 lbs (20,15,15,15,15)
4. Leg Extensions (the icing on the cake…): 130 lbs, 130 lbs, 150 lbs (25,25,25)

Post-Workout: Tabata Protocol (again but slightly different)

1. Pushups 20 seconds
2. 10 seconds of rest
3. Floor Sprints 20 seconds
4. 10 seconds of rest
5. Jumping Jacks 20 seconds
6. 10 seconds of rest
7. High Knees 20 seconds
8. 10 seconds of rest

Did you notice anything interesting? I did Tabata as a warmup and post-workout. The idea here is to “bookend” your workout with high intensity cardio activity in order to boost the metabolism and improve your overall cardio function. You can bookend a workout with any kind of cardio activity such as jump roping or just about anything. Use your imagination, Stupidhead. 

Collegestuds and Collegebabes, be well and enjoy the beginning of school while you can! Looking forward to post again soon! Spread the blog to your friends!

I’m not crazy.

CollegeStud (at The University of Minnesota)

 

Sprinting, Stretching, and Partying (It was a wedding guys…)

(Usain Bolt)

Hey there collegestuds and collegebabes,

Sorry about the hold up. The last couple days I have been outrageously busy. My cousin Sam just got married and I was at the ceremony and party. Needless to say my friends (but I’ll say it anyway) the party was off the hook. I literally danced for six hours straight. No joke. NO JOKE.

That brings me back to the whole notion of plain simple physical activity. Do you all remember what physical activity is? Physical activity is an intended movement made to accomplish a given goal. What am I getting at boys and girls? I think my pain stricken legs will attest to the amount of energy I exerted last night. six hours of dancing definitely cancels out the drinks I had as well. So what do you get in that situation? A double whammy! No saddlebags on this collegestud! (I’m getting carried away here…) 

So why the hell do I have a picture of the best sprinter of all time attached to a post about a crazy wedding party and dancing? (Do I need to mention I got a lot of compliments on my moves?) Well let’s think about it… Oh yeah because I did a sprint workout earlier in the day before the wedding.

I wanted to check out the University of Minnesota Track so I dedicated yesterday to a nice good old fashioned speed workout. I did a warmup of about two miles on the track and stretched out. Remember to stretch. Also know your limits! People overtrain all the time. After the warm up I decided to sprint it out! I shredded the track up. Hell, there was smoke jetting out of my shoes. 

The workout was very difficult. I managed to sprint the entirety of the track about 8 times with a cool down lap between each sprint. By the end I was absolutely dead. I could not even imagine dancing like I did last night after being crushed by the track. 

Lesson’s of the day? Don’t overtrain. Stretch. Stretch. Work hard but listen to your body and bring an “I can do it” attitude to every training session.

Oh yeah. This is college. Have fun.

CollegeStudAtUMN