New Year, New Blog post

It's a new year, 2012 even.  It seems that I've not taking all of the advantages I should have on the blogging I could have been doing here, especially over the past few months.  That said, 2011 was a real roller coaster ride for me with the new job, new house, the move, and the costs involved with all the changes.

I found out last week that I'm a part of "Rob's Big Losers".  This is a program sponosered by the Local YMCA branches in the Greenville area, as well as HIS Radio up here.  I have to blog for them, so I'm figuring I should blog here at least as often as I blog for the program.  This week has been extremely stressful for me as I learn about the program and what's expected of me.  Add on top of that I have to tear down survival walls that I put in place for years about my self image and my own expectations of what I can do and what I'm capable of.  I know I'm capable of SO much more that I do now fitness-wise, and I cannot wait to see how the program helps me out.  I just need to let go and enjoy the trip.

Rob Dempsey quoted this on Monday, and I've been using it as my signature on my personal email since I heard it.  It's a comfort and a reassurance:

"I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me."
Phillipeans 4:13

My goal is to blog here after every workout, whether it's a part of the Y program or one of my routine bike rides. To go over how I feel and post up my expectations and successes. That way in 12 weeks I can look back and see how far I've come.

Changes in Latitude...

It's time for my semi-annual post to the blog about things and such.  I took a new job in September, and proceeded to spend the next 2 months away from the family trying to get things settled. 

While things are not settled, we are now all together at the new house.  In fact, I'd say we are as far from "all settled" as possible.  We have boxes everywhere and an ever increasing amount of missing furniture we need to overcome.  That said, we're all excited about what the future is holding and what we can do.  This is the first year that I can remember where I actually had to work on my birthday, but it was still fantastic. 

Day 7 (of 90)

So today completes the first week since I started the new workout routing, following the BeachBody "Power90" system.  So far I've completed 3 of the "sculpt" workouts, and 2 of the "sweat" workouts.  I'm only working out 5 days a week, instead of the 6 that the program calls for, in order to allow for a more normal-ish weekend and work in other activities with the family.

The good news is that I've managed to wake up at 6:15am, or there abouts, each day and get myself out of bed.  I've completed the workouts, although in some cases I still pass on certain routines or cannot complete them fully.  I would hope that by day 45 I would be able to complete most of the routines and be upping weights.  I'm working with lower weights right now, because big huge muscles isn't what I'm looking for.

Here's to another strong week, and a good report of some weight loss and size changes soon!

Power 90 - Day 1

It's been a while since I used this blog as a resource for putting down my thoughts, and I'm figuring that blogging out my exercise routine may be helpful for keeping me on track.  I'm not going to post up every day, but on days where I feel like I need to post up about it I will.

That said, the last time I attempted P90 (no bloody M, X or +) was in the summer of 2004.  The workout routine worked great, but the stress it put me under along with work and home life was overwhelming at the time.  I wanted to be in shape for my 30th birthday, and while I did loose a LOT of weight on the program, I had to choose between my marriage and my self image at the time.  It's 7 years later, and I think I'm willing to try this again.  I'm using a few new strategies with it (only M-F, doing it at 6:30am instead of after work), so hopefully things will end up WAY differently.

Today I finally got my first workout put in, and it was a workout.  I really wanted to start with the strength training on Day 1, but I also want to keep Strength on M-W-F, and do cardio on T-Th (leaving Sat and Sun for other activities with the family).  I also was unwilling to postpone it even 1 more day just to start on the routine that I wanted, I figured it was time to "dive in".  I got through most of the routines okay, and I survived the ordeal, so I'm going to count that in the "win" column.  I need to take the time tomorrow morning to get my weight written down, and I have my measurements from last weekend already down in ink, so I can start tracking my progress.

Here's to hoping for a "more fit" me in 2011!

Working with Birch

On monday I managed to go pick up the 2 sheets of Birch plywood for the main bulk of the project (1x 1/2" and 1x 3/4"). It took most of the week, but I have managed to get the bottom and longer support struts rough cut out. Working with the Birch in some ways is a lot easier, and in some ways is a whole lot more difficult. Most of the more difficult has to do with working with the tools I have at the house, as I don't have a complete wood workshop to work with. I am finding that I'm getting more confidence in what I'm doing after I try a few times, so hopefully by the final cuts I'll be getting closer to being a pro with it :)

Once I have all the parts rough cut out and staged, I'll start working on sanding and leveling such that I can start assembly. If I can have the frame rough cut and be working on the clean up part by October, I think I'll be doing extremely well.

Ready for the Real Thing

This is mostly going to be more of a a photo update than a lot of narrative today.  I did want to document the "rig" a little better on how I'm using it.  The Router is attached to the guide that I finished yesterday, and the two black lines are to mark the two I'm using for inside and outside cuts.  The inside cut is just a little bit larger than the Senna plans call for, to make sure I don't over-do it.  I figured I can always trim it back down the 1/8" difference that it made.

I cut out the middle 1/2" ring setup, and gave it a go.  Overall it looks to work near perfectly.  I would state the when you get to the last piece that completes it, be careful as you basically have created a gear that can spin rather easily!  After that I notched out the connectors, labeled them, and then created a few of the curved ribs with the insides.  Using this method I was able to get 3 of the ribs done easily, with 1 more that I can hand carve.  I will not get all of the ones that the plans had in the center piece, but I have a 1/4" 2x2 ply I'm planning on using for that one as-is, so I should be good.

The major question I'm going to have is, do I keep these parts and finish them off, or do I re-do all of this work in the Birch ply once I purchase it this week?

The first cut is the deepest

Not my best work.

This is going to be a little longer of a post today, mostly because I got a whole lot more done on the project than I have in recent days.  Last night I attempted to use some 2'x2' sheets of plywood to get some practice cuts made, while attempting to create my router guide for cutting circles.  To say the least, it didn't go so well.  What I learned is that holding the trim router in my hand is not going to do much for me all the time, I'm going to have to be VERY careful with it!  It didn't help that the battery that I thought was full for my Ryboi ONE system was anything but full, so I put it to charge and took the evening off.  I figured Saturday may bring different results.

What I can say is that a day, the right tools, and the right techniques, make all the difference!  I spent the morning out, and after lunch came back and started back up again on creating the router circle cutting guide, this time with a fully charged 18v battery.  After getting the shape cut out, I cleared out the middle in as close to a shape as I could to the bottom guide of the router.  After that I drilled out the 4 screw holes to connect it to the bottom of the router, and then drilled out the holes, I thought, to the lengths needed for the various curved pieces.

The next part was to test it out.  For my first attempt I decided to use a 1/4" piece of 2x2 ply, and pre cut out the circle so I was only trimming what I thought was going to be maybe 1/2" off of it.  What I found was that I could place the router in the middle of my workbench and vice it in place, upside down.  Then after drilling a hole in the center of the board, place a nail through both the ply and the guide hole below.   During my first attempt I didn't secure the router depth well enough, and it slipped some.  I was able to re-secure it, and trim it off no problem.

The good news is that it created a beautiful circle, but it was less than 18" in diameter by about 1/2"!  I made a few adjustments to the guide from what I learned - First I created a new hole at approximately 1/2" further down the guide than what I had before, and this time I place a spare piece of 1/2" ply underneath the guide further up to help secure it so it wouldn't bend.  When I got my test wood, I had picked up a 2x2 1/2" ply as well, intending to have enough material to test out most techniques well before attempting to work on the good hardwood!

This time, I measured out a center hole about 9 1/4" from the edges of the wood, and drilled the new pilot hole.  I'm still getting the hang of using the router, but it's definitely going better.  I did have a few problems still with cutting out the circle, but it's definitely improving.  I may need to get a better 1/4" router bit than the cheapie $7 one from Harbor Freight to do this work, but it is definitely doing the job on the test runs so far.  Hopefully by Labor day I should have the initial pieces of the frame cut out and ready to assemble.