Damir’s Circuit of Doom

Damir’s Circuit of Doom

Ok now I must say Damir is on fire, our training sessions have been on an entire different World. Now I think he knows my cardio is not at the same level as it was at alive, so he is kicking the shit right out of Ryan and me! Last summer we did a circuit outside with a giant tire. Our workouts now make the giant tire circuit feel like the good old days.

Tonight we arrived early, so I hopped on the elliptical because I don’t like watching Damir set up the sessions, because as he sets it up and if I see what he is thinking I tend to cringe at stuff I don’t like. I prefer not to have time to think about what is coming.

He set up a circuit that I am going to call “Damir’s circuit of doom!” At first glance I thought it was going to be an easy session, but I was wrong!! The first exercise was ropes, some call the ropes “ropes gone wild” I say there is nothing wild about the ropes. The rope was tied to the weight sled so when we were done playing with the ropes, you had to Squat and pull the sled up to you. Then push the sled back! Next we did plank rows, 15 each arm. Then it was off to the Ball slam.... I love the ball slam!! Next it was what I am going to call “the punch in the face”; it was like last week with the green ball full of water. This time it was a red roll full of water. Again I popped it up in the air like Damir said and it came down on my face and my neck. It really sucks!!! Next it was Dirty Burpees.....yeah Baby!! Gotha to love those. The TRX rows were next, that was supposed to be the last one, but Damir threw in Squat clean and press.

After the first set, Damir said let’s do it again, but this time we will add and a pull, push with the sled!!So I start going hard on the ropes and pull, push. That’s when it hit me this whole session is going to be this circuit. So I take my time pulling back the sled, of course Damir notices and yells lets go Brian!! So I turn it back up, and pound off the push pulls, Plank rows and ball slam. I started with the dam water filled roll and bang I figure it out, pop the roll up like you would bump volleyball. It worked!! I thought holy shit I did it right!! I pound off the rest of that set pretty quickly.

As I finish the second round, I went to sit and grab water my heart was just pounding in my head. Damir said something to me, but all I heard was “wha wha wha wha” ... so I got up and started my next round as I picked up the ropes, Damir said 3 times now with the sled!! I smiled and started with the ropes, and gave it my all on the next three stations. That is when my heart felt like it was coming right out chest. But I pushed on as hard as I could because I Was thinking it was the last round. After I finished I went and sat and grabbed my water bottle. Damir says lets go Brian we are doing five rounds today! As I walk over to the ropes I am thinking I am not going to be able to do this again my heart is just pounding hard! I do the ropes and I start pulling the sled, now I am having a hard time pulling it back, then something someone said earlier in the day slipped in my head I don’t know why, but it did. “This is where we separate the boys from the men!!” That is when I get this second wind I did not think I had. So I pound off the sled and I just go full tilt on the Plank rows and Ball slams! As I picked up the red roll filled with water, which is when my body had something to say, and bang I vomit in my mouth, and swallow. After that it seemed to become easier. So I finish the fourth round and as I start walking to my water bottle Damir say right away Brian you only have to do the sled a fifth time. So I pound off the sled and I must say it was an amazing feeling to finish the circuit without really bitching about it. Like I said Damir is on fire!!!

I can already feel my body stiffening up! I hope I can Walk tomorrow!!

Summer of Possibilities

Summer of Possibilities

In my weight loss journey I feel I am close to big changes this summer. I will do many of the things I have always wanted to try. Basketball, this maybe the first thing I will be able to try. I am hoping this summer a few friends will get together on a Saturday and play some basketball. I have never really play basketball, but am very excited to give it a try. Also maybe ride a bicycle maybe in the cards. Although I have not even been on a spin bike, I am hoping to blow the dust off my bicycle, give it a tune up and go for a ride in fish creek. I really want this, so I am pushing hard in sessions and with the food to reach this goal.

I am also excited to do a little hiking in Fish Creek & maybe try a small hike in banff. But first I will be running a 5k I'm May, last year I did this 5k, walked the whole way it took me 1:26 to finish. This year I am hoping to run and walk it and push hard and finish in 45mins.

I would also like to play softball, Walmart sometimes has a tournament during the summer, if they do I am going to give it a try.

Also I would love to try boating of some kind. When I was in my teens I used to kayak. I would love to try that or maybe try a canoe. The summer has so many possibilities, this is going to be the best summer ever!

The one thing I am going to defiantly going to do is playing catch. I do believe I have many friends that like to do this, so I am going to try and do this as much as I can do!

I feel amazing, all my hard work feels like it really is taking me where I want to go! If I stay on on this path I will be in the 200's by September. The last time I was in the 200's I think I was in high school. I don't remember what it is like to be in the 200's, i am guessing it will make life a lot easier.

Jail yard chain squat lifts from hell

Jail yard chain squat lifts from hell

Funny right when I think Damir has settled into a groove with our training, he surprises the shit out of me. On my way to the gym tonight my Buddy and nutritional Coach Kim sent me a text message “last night’s training session was insane”. So I knew he was in one of his crazy moods, what I did not know is that it was going to make me literally cry like a little girl!

As I came out of the change room tonight, I saw Damir showing Ryan the first part of our First set. I thought it was a joke... from time to time Damir makes a joke like that, showing us something crazy and then just before we did he says just kidding. Not this time!! So I choose to do the crazy thing first, I am calling it “Jail yard chain squat lifts from hell”. So this is how it went Damir put the heavy bench press bar on my shoulders with two heavy chains attach to the bar and had me sit on two step up steppers. It was insane. I thought there is no way I am going to be able to do this. As I stood up the first time my whole body shook. I did ten, with a breather in between. I switch over to do what Ryan was doing, biceps curls and over head press, and Ryan went over to the “Jail yard chain squat lifts from hell”. As I started to curl the weights I heard Ryan say stop in a voice I have never heard before. That when Damir and Clayton grabbed the bar off Ryan’s Shoulders very fast. In fact I have never seen two trainers jump into action so quickly before. Damir modified the squat lift for Ryan, as put the weights down from the Curls and pressed Damir Say “now Nine “ and pointed to the bar with the chains on it. As I walked over to the bar I said to myself Damir would not make me do it if I could not do it so time to cowboy up and do it with confidence. That is exactly what I did.

The next two sets was normal stuff we have done many times before, Step ups and squat rows, chest flies and triceps lifts. However the last sets pushed me beyond my limits! First I had to throw this ball full of water in the air from the squat position, catch it and do it again. The problem with this is that when the ball comes back down it hits me in the face, it was like being punched it the face. So I have done that about ten times I think. Then I switched with Ryan, to squat pulls with the rope tied to the weight Sled, like I did last Friday with the steel beams in the truck at work. Once I had pulled the sled to me I had to push it back and do it again. Problem with this was I wanted to run the sled back, but the dam rope kept getting in the way. After pulling it back and pushing it back, Damir said back to the ball. So again I throw that ball in the air and it smacked me in the face! Damir try to help me figure out how to do it without the smack, but I just couldn’t .again I switched over to the pull and push. And banged that out! That when Damir said “one more time” As I started the ball hit me square on the nose and as I continued I started to cry. Of course I stopped because ...... well because I started to see stars. Damir saw that I stopped so he added a and extra pull and push to Ryan, and yelled lets go Brian. So I pop that ball back in the air and it came down and hit me again in the face..... But now I was mad so I just kept going taking it in the face, did it about two more times before I switched. Now the pull and push was much easier to do because I was pissed, so I pounded that off, even with and extra one pretty quick. As Damir gave us the traditional great job hand slap, I just laided down right there in the fake grass and took a minute to collect myself... It was an extreme work out and it blows my mind!!

“Staircase of doom”

“Staircase of doom”

As I was writing my blog this morning my phone honked, as I looked down to see who was sending me a message I laughed, because the night before I had mentioned to Sandra that if it was not to slippery I would like to join her on the stair case on Memorial drive. Yup it was Sandra, we are doing the stairs! So off Sandra, Lara, Kristy and I went to Memorial Drive to tackle the stairs.

We decided to park at the top so we could start by going down. Now since I have started my weight loss journey this set of stairs has been daunting, always saying one day I am going to conquer them. Well that day was today. As I started down my first trip, I found the steps very wide which made it hard to go down them 1 step 1 foot at a time; with a little modification I was able to do it. As I reached the bottom I said to Sandra “that was not that bad!” Sandra replied “you have not gone up yet Brian” as I started up that is when my heart started to pound, half way up I stop to take a breather. That’s when I heard Damir’s voice in my head “LETS GO BRIAN, THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST SET!!” So I started going almost right away. That first set going up I only stopped that one time. When I reached the top I immediately started going back down, going down that second time was much harder than the first. As I was going down I met Sandra going up I Gave a supportive high five. Now the second time heading up I wish I could say I only stopped once but that would not be the truth. I stopped a few times. As I reached the top I took a little breather, as Sandra was finishing her third and last set. I headed back down for my last set I passed Lara coming up and gave a supportive high five. At the bottom I took a small breather and head back up the third time. This set my legs felt like Jell-O but I pushed through and made it to the top only stopping 3 times of maybe 20sec each time. On my way up I passed Lara going down and she gave me a much need Fist pump and said you got this! At the top I had the biggest smile, I had did it conquered the “Stair case of Doom” I was so afraid of!!

Out of Place

Out of place

Out of place is the best way to describe how I feel is week. I started my week retraining at a different Wal-Mart, 3650. Now I have been with Wal-Mart for 19 years on Friday, so I know more than a few people who work at the 3650. Most of them have not seen me in many years, so it was 3 days of bumping into people who only know 520lb Brian. You would think this would be an experience of how do you like me now, and pride about my weight loss journey. That is not how my brain works, I feel uncomfortable in about the whole thing, mostly because I am still process things like a very big person and I am embarrassed that I was ever 520lbs. I know I should feel proud of my accomplishment. So at work I was out of place in the beginning of the week

Monday’s workout was the closest to being back in my happy place. It was running suicides on the “Hill of Hell” with Damir’s Triple Threat Boot camp. Yes an hour of running, walking, running, puking, walking ... not stopping was the closest to feeling in my happy place. It is official I am very crazy, but I am ok with that. I would say that the “hill of hell” was easier to do this time I am a lot stronger. It also helps to do the hill with a group of great friends, who were very motivating. It was a blast.

Tuesday’s training session was at another new gym, 2110 fitness. Just like last week it was intimidating walking into a new place again. Kim again talked me through the doors. As I walked in I notice the Empowerment big black MMA dummy, so I knew it was going to be an awesome workout. Also it was nice to see some familiar faces from Alive there, Joel and Nadia were there which made it seem easier to walk in there. As Ryan and I began our session you could tell Damir was very comfortable there. He just kicked the shit out of us. It was a workout that went by very fast as he did not give you time to think or breathe. It was an awesome Session!!!

Wednesday’s kickboxing boot camp was held at 2110 fitness, it was a great class. Damir put me with Sandra, who was an awesome partner. She pushed me very hard. It was also great we had a great time together, we laughed almost the whole time, and it was a great class. We sweated our asses off.

Thursday’s workout was a little lower key as we did weight training, it was good.

Friday I had one of those days where things were again out of place at work. We received a truck full of heavy steel fixtures for the store. They were put on the truck with a forklift; some were on skids some were not. There was a point when we became stuck trying to figure out how to pull one of the heavy bundles out of a very tight spot. You could not get behind it to push it out, I could wiggle it a little from side to side, but it would not work pulling it out that way. As a few people were outside the truck on the dock trying to figure out how we were going to move it, as I looked at it I thought it can’t weigh much more than Damir so, I grabbed a tie down strap and made two handle, wrapped the handles around the middle part of the bundle. The co worker that was on the truck with me said “that's not going to work....you are going to hurt yourself.” I smiled and walked back three steppes and looked at him and said" watch this!" I squatted just as I have done hundreds of times with Damir as I came up I yanked and it move a few feet towards me, I stepped back three more steps and squatted again and yanked as I came up and it move even further. The guys outside the truck ran in to see how I did it; I think those 20 year olds were amazed I was able to move it. Also it was great that I was able to keep up with the 20 year olds lifting and pulling the 2 hours it took to get everything off the truck.

Friday night I did Damir’s Triple Threat Boot camp, it was a good class, and we were at Results fitness again and Damir made a very intense circuit, it was awesome!!

This week It was very hard, I miss all the Smiling face from Alive, that place has been such an important place in my life, and a very big part of my support team. Yes I am able to see some of my fellow Alive members in passing and at boot camp, but it is not the same. I hope they are all doing well!! This week I was able to lose 3 pounds, not bad for a week of feeling very out of place.

Kim turned into Jillian Michaels!!

Kim turned into Jillian Michaels!!

It became very clear this week that Alive is much more than 4 walls and workout gear. It is a community, we do stand together. Holly and Ben have created something much more than just a place to work out. I have been saying the secret to my success is the great community I am a part of. This week confirmed that fact. Walking into a different place was hard, but it felt good to go and see my follow alive friends there kicking some butt.

Saturday’s kickboxing class was sure different, Ben was awesome he kicked our asses good without any kickboxing gear. It was awesome to watch his mind work and put together a great workout with very little. Paula was my partner today and it was awesome. We worked well together; my favourite combo today was the bare knuckle super punch. She just hit as hard as she could, missing my hand only once punching me in the chest. We both laughed, my chest hurt her hand more than my hitting my hand.

Also this week the food has been going very good, this week I really enjoy the mean plan. I have stepped way out of my comfort zone. I found out that I like couscous, it was one of the best salads this week, and I really enjoy hummus.

I did have a moment of weakness this week, Thursday night after Kristy went to bed, I was upset over the Alive closure, and I binged on cucumbers, hummus and crackers. I thought it would be ok, because it was not chips I was wrong. On Friday Kim asked me how I was doing with food and I told her about my mishap the night before. It was like a scene out of the Biggest Loser; Kim was sitting on the couch when told her I had an extra snack of cucumbers, and hummus. She was annoyed but said why that was wrong. Then she asked if that was it. I told her about the crackers, and she turned into Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser, she hopped off the couch and got right in my face. Laid right into me, I have never seen her that way. It was a good thing, she got her point across. Like I said I am a part of a great community. Now I know Don’t go off plan.

Friday Ryan and I had a visitor in our session, Kristy joined us. It was fun to see Kristy doing the same stuff as us. She did really well, she was able to keep up and kick some ass. It was a different kind of session, as always Damir kicked the crap out of us. But it seemed to go by fast. I was not comfortable at first, being in a new place and all. But the changed pretty quickly as Damir pushed us hard, I had no time to even think about what was going on. When we were done our session and after my encounter with Kim as Jillian, Ryan informed me that he and i were doing Damir’s boot camp. I was tired from our session, so i was like i am not sure if i could do it. That is when Kim piped up and said something like “oh your doing the class dude ...... you ate fucking crackers ..... your doing it!!” so i got to workout hard for two hours With Damir it rocked!!

Pushing Around Damir

Pushing Around Damir

The last two weeks have been very similar to pushing Damir up the hallway of doom. You start out with a great big push from deep down in your legs, as you hit the kicking shield you feel him pushing back, as you start to move him down the hallway with momentum you start to feel like this is going to be a breeze, then he gets his footing again he starts to push back a little harder, by now you are over half way and you dig even deeper moving your feet one after another, your almost at the end of the hall and he put the brakes on and it like pushing the wall!! But somehow you move the wall forward. Now you are at the end of the hall, he says breather. Just as u start to feel your heart rate start to decrease, he says ok lets go back and you start the whole journey back 60 feet up the hallway again.

My big Push

My big push came from a small 130 pound woman, as you may have read my nutitonal coach has changed, and she is a little spitfire named Kim. Holly laid the foundation of my nutritional eating habits, which I am sure was like pushing a wall. Now Kim is building the frame of the house, which I am sure is like pushing a smaller wall. I say that because I don’t like change. Kim changed everything, everything! Now I eat oatmeal, and like it. In my first week I bought the wrong oatmeal, I went to superstore and bought instant oatmeal, because I only bought instant before and it was the only thing there that said oatmeal. I was supposes to by oats, plain oats. That first week I choked down the instant oatmeal and bitched to Kim I didn’t like it! she figured out I bought the wrong one and fix that. In week 2 I try the oatmeal her way and now I like oatmeal. It tastes so much better! I also eat something different every day. This is new to me as I like to stick to the same stuff because I know it works. Also she now has me cooking my meals one day in advance; this was hard to get used to. I like to cook everything off all day Sunday, she put an end to that, I can prep stuff for the week on a Sunday, but I must make it day to day. I think it is to show me I can live like a normal person. She is doing an amazing job, she checks in on me to make sure I have my eye on the ball; she has kicked my ass when needed. I am very lucky to have Kim in my life!

My Momentum

In the last two weeks I have lost 11 pounds and hit a very big milestone 151 pounds down. This is a big mile stone for many reasons. When I started my journey I always said stuff like this is going to take forever, I need to lose 300lbs. Well as of Friday I have passed the half way point. I am now 369lbs. When I lose 15 more I will be at the same weight I was at when I married Jennifer the first wife.

Pushing the Wall

Tomorrow i will be walking into a different fitness center, this is very scary ....... here is hoping i can move the wall forward.