Ye Shall Obtain

very true that is ^

so it has been awhile, and this seems to be a common trend, which is not good, but i like to think that this is all due to my increased efforts in the gym making it too hard for me to get on the computer and post updates about said efforts. but of course that ain't true. i have plenty of time for it, i just haven't. go ahead and judge me, i don't care.

take, for example, the fact that i finished that paragraph last night and i started this one this morning. and now it's the next day and i am still working on this paragraph. anyway, i should really put an update here because lots of things have happened and changed. first of all, and i don't know whether i already mentioned this or not, but my trainer, thiago, quit working at gold's, and so i got a new trainer, scott. he's a big guy, and is incredibly strong. his program has definitely built my strength but it has been much slower to fire up the fat burning...well, that's not entirely true; it's been much slower to burn the fat down. i have definitely seen a lot of toning up and my legs arms and chest getting much leaner. just not so much in the gut area. which i don't necessarily care about, but what it means is that rather than losing weight, i've had a weight shift from fat being lost but the difference made up by muscle gained. that's actually a really good thing to have happen in the long term, because it makes the metabolism more steady and consistent, but it can be just a bit frustrating when the scale says there hasn't been a change.

on the bright side, the last 4 weeks have been a big change in that pattern, and i've actually gone down nearly 12 pounds in that period, with about 2 pounds that have kind of hovered back and forth. what is making the difference? certainly the increased cardio activity is taking effect. 2-2.5 miles ran in hi/lo intensity intervals really burns it down. another thing i think has made a difference is the amount of classical music i have on my ipod. it helps me to stay calm, focused and to really keep my form and intensity up, without being too intense to think through what i'm doing. i find it does a bit better than the heavy metal and such that i have historically used to keep me going strong and hard at the gym. there's something about beethoven, mozart and schubert that happens that doesn't happen when you listen to the musicians of today. it makes the pain less painful and weight less difficult.

i have a week off from work next week, so the hope is that i will be in the gym twice a day all of next week, a light session and a hard one. hopefully this will mean another 5 pounds off in the next 2 weeks.

one thing i have kept in mind as i have gone through these past few months at the gym is the lyrics of a favorite hymn:

And while I strive through grief and pain,
His voice is heard: "Ye shall obtain."

 pain is temporary. spirit is forever. you can damage the body, you can kill the body, but you cannot kill the spirit. it is invincible, and by it the body will achieve glory. the only catch is that the spirit must strive. strive, folks. strive and live.