99 Gym Visits on the Wall, 99 Gym Visits on the Wall, Take One Down

So I went to the gym yesterday, hooray for me. But it was a good workout I’m starting to fine tune the 8 is Great Workout. It consists of 8 exercises averaging 8 repetitions for 3 sets. Here is a little taste.

· Body Area Worked: Chest

Type of Lift: Incline Dumbbell Press

· BAW: Bicep

TOL: Easy Grip Barbell Curl

· BAW: Lats

TOL: Lat Pulldowns

· BAW: Tricep

TOL: Single Arm Cable Pressdowns

· BAW: Shoulders

TOL: Military Press

· BAW: Abs

TOL: On Ab Ball Front/Left Side/Fight Side Crunches

· BAW: Legs

TOL: Hack Squat

· BAW: Legs

TOL: Deadlift/Lunge Explosions

That is the workout, you can start with any lift and change up the Type of Lift with barbell, dumbbell, or machine. Whatever you feel comfortable with to start. I like the saying of it’s hard to do it’s worth doing. Stay tuned as I give different exercises, warm-ups, and cardio that I use in my workout. 8 to be Great.

Special K Diet Far From Over

So today is my weigh-in date(NO Weight Change) and I don’t feel like a gave the Special K Diet a fair chance. I feel I did not follow it closely whatsoever. I mean I had extra snacks, extra meals, traded lunch for dinner, it was a diet disaster. So this week I will follow more closely.

As far as the gym I was able to make it one time and worked out one other time outside the gym during the week. So once again a failed week. I am know where near David Beckham. My goal for the week is 3 gym visits and one outside activity.

The website JWALLHOOPS.COM is coming along nicely i started to use a dummied down version of using web design. A lot of Wix is just using cut and paste to put together your website. I do not have a specific date that I would like to have the website published, but I was thinking around the time John Wall declares for the NBA Draft.

As far as other business related topics, I am also putting together a one day basketball camp for boys and girls at a local church. It will give me a great opportunity to Run the Show and give back to the church while earning some extra money. I will keep you updated, but until then it’s gym, diet, and business.

When You Get Off the Track Get Right Back On

So after a great day of casual exercise with some push ups my diet was terrible. I tried switching up the Special K diet and it was a terrible idea, I ate a regular lunch and a regular dinner and a half and even dessert. As Charles Barley says, “Terrible, terrible, terrible” but I did not let that get me down today, I got right back on track and have been a perfect angel today, well at least with my diet!

Also on Wednesday I missed the gym, no reason just laziness and today(Friday) I did not wake up early and have to attend a dinner at night after work, so am I going to miss the gym, all signs point to yes, but I’m going to prove my lazy self wrong and go tonight. The girlfriend may not like it now but I have to do it for myself. I mean if you are already skipping days in Week 1, then you are not going to make it. By the way I'm not sure if I'm going to make it.

So Special K Diet I am sorry for cheating on you. I know you promised to be great to me and I failed you hopefully we can stay together and be something special. I heart u, you big box of specialness.

Random Business Idea. I love Miami Trick T-Shirt for Spring Break or whatever catchy slogan idk

Business Idea Friday #3

Dear Company XYZ I want to be the Jared of Subway for your company. I want to lose weight using your pill, meal plan, exercise equipment, or whatever you sell.

• If you believe in your product. I will follow every direction that you give me and I will lose the weight for you. I am not 400 pounds but I was a overweight kid growing up lost some weight in school and then after college continued with being overweight. So I have some weight to lose.

• I will document the entire adventure. I will put it on youtube, facebook, twitter, the company’s website, whatever gets the most people to use your product.
• The cost to you. I will work in 30 day periods for your product. The cost is $30 day plus any merchandise that you want me to use or wear to promote the product.
• Why should we choose you? I’m an average guy from the Midwest trying to fit in with the South Beach bodies. Good looking guy, late 20’s, without a perfect body. A lot of people believe your product doesn’t work and putting some guy in a magazine that says he lost 30 pounds doesn’t really help your case.

• Why this will work? Think of Jared the Subway guy average Joe who ate Subway and lost weight, it is a hit still to this day, not because they used some celebrity, but because they used the product it worked and he had the jeans to prove it.

• Why do it your way? A very good example is the guy who wears t shirts to promote your business and puts it on many of the social medias. It is a great way to promote your product at a very low cost, with high rewards.

Contact me at scdonovan@hotmail.com, it will be a great business adventure.

A Walk In the Park

So here are some random Fitness thoughts and an update on my Special K Diet.

• Special K Diet. I have been good so far, well just ok in my eyes. I have ate the 2 Special K meals aka cereal, snacked on Special K bars and Special K crackers, even snacked on fruit when I was hungry. BUT, I have had a little extra when I have my dinners, I eat a meal and half instead of just a regular meal.

• Fix Your Diet. What I have done is change the Special K Diet just a little. My biggest problem is eating late and eating extra. So I have switched the lunch and dinner menu around, which means I will be having Special K for dinner along with some fruit.

• Walk In the Park. Today is perfect outside. I didn’t want to battle any traffic or people at the gym so I decided to go for a walk. I put on the music and probably walked 5 or 6 miles and to get a little bit extra out of it I did pushups on the way there and back. I feel great and got a little color out of it.

• Eight to be Great. Soon to come is my workout and yes I gave it a cool nickname, jealous?!?! Of course you are.

I’m going to live on Social Security?

If I could I would, but you have to be at least 62 to start earning Social Security. Plus you don’t get enough money trust me. I have seen my Father’s check and hundreds of people’s checks due to me previously working at a bank. That’s what I want to talk about, making sure you are not making 12K when you’re 65. Here is my Generation X (I could be Y, I’m 27 idk) speech aka The Dad Talk. Put money in your 401K, because I said so! Down below you will see some info on what, when, and where for a 401K.

• What. A 401K is a type of account you put money in tax free. OK dumb it down more you ask. Say you earn 500.00 before any taxes are taken out, but after taxes you make 400.00. The 500.00 is what the 401K takes from. So in the end a 401k account takes from the 500.00 so you pay less in taxes.

• Where, So Where Does My Money Go? Your money goes into a type of investment like a mutual fund (mutual fund is made up of different stocks of a company). So let’s say you put 100.00 into your 401K every check. Your 401K buys 100.00 worth of that mutual fund tax free.

• When. As you are putting money in tax free it adds up faster. So not only are you avoiding taxes to put your money in, but you are helping it grow faster. Over time you are putting in more money and it is growing and growing, not losing money due to taxes you have to pay. This is where the Financial Adviser shows you the big graph of your money growing over time. Since I am not a financial adviser, there is not a chart, but bankrate.com is a great website for investments.

Here is another way to think about it. Think food and where you keep it. So your refrigerator is your 401k account (it holds all of food), the food is all the mutual funds aka stocks in the fridge (milk is Company A, eggs are Company B). The food because it is in the refrigerator I protects it from bugs and heat (the bugs and heat are taxes). So if you keep milk in a drawer it will get worse and worse just like taxes it takes away because it is not protected, you are not using the 401K account=Refrigerator.

OK son or daughter thank you for listening and make sure to send me a Father’s Day Card this year and not spend it on beer or clothes.

Making Extra Money

Everyone could use some, that’s for sure. Maybe mowing a lawn here or there, doing someone’s taxes it all adds up. My suggestion is to take something you know and use it to your advantage. If you sell shoes, write a blog on shoes. If you work for a bank teach a business and budgeting course. If you have a passion for something Just Do It. Passion goes a long way when working at something. My passion is basketball and written below is how I hope to plan my summer and make some extra cash.
• Dream Big, Really I mean it. Last year around this time I wanted to work the Syracuse Basketball Camp so I emailed the basketball office and asked about working the camp. After everything was said and done I was able to work for my dream basketball camp. Now I did not work this camp to make money if anything I lost a little, but at that time it was like taking a vacation for me.
• Plan ahead. One thing I did was email coaches long before June and July when most of the camps take place. I sent out emails some as soon as January. Most basketball camp directors need to have an application or resume and more importantly need to see what kind of numbers they have for the upcoming camps.
• Plan your schedule accordingly. For a lot of people who work full-time jobs you need to give notice for vacation. If this is not the case, great, but we still have some work to do. A lot of camps run at the same time so you have to make a choice of which ones accept you and which time frames don’t interfere with one another.
• Close to home. Like any job the further you travel from home the more it is going to cost you. So for me a large part of my planning will be to have the basketball camps stay as close to home as possible. The basketball camps that I would like to work in another state, I need to make it work where I can do more than one so I can profit from the situation.
• Millionaire in One Week. This is not going to happen. But being able to do something you enjoy and still make some extra cash will pay off a credit card early or buy something that wouldn’t usually be in your budget, you have a budget right?!?!
So the end message no matter what you are trying to do make sure you set goals, plan out everything, don’t spend to much money to make money, and don’t expect to make a huge amount by doing a little bit of work. Stick with those important points and you will Make Some Extra Cash!

Special K Diet, Does it Really Work?

So most diets are a gimmick that get you to lose weight with eating things that you normally wouldn’t eat. I mean the grapefruit diet sounds absolutely horrible and makes my face pucker like the bitter beer face commercial.

So for the next week (maybe 2 weeks) I will go on the Special K Diet that is on the back of the cereal box. I mean it came from a cereal box it must work. Lose 6 pounds in up to 2 weeks is the claim. I will post my weight tomorrow (yes it must be done) and give you a weekly update. Here is the general guidelines of what they expect you to do.

· Eat Special K products. Cereal, bars, waffles, protein shakes, crackers, granola bars, whatever says Special K consider it part of the diet. I’m sure this diet has nothing to do with them making money it’s all about being healthy.

· Breakfast. For breakfast you have the choice of eating cereal with skim milk (one serving, which means half of what I usually eat) or the choice of Special K waffles. Good news is you can have all of this with fruit.

· Snack. The snack can be almost any Special K product. Granola, bars, crackers, the list is pretty long.

· Lunch. Once again they offer is Special K cereal or a meal replacement bar or I believe a protein shake with fruit. Seems pretty simple so far.

· Snack #2. Same old same old. The snack can be almost any Special K product. Go Special K.

· Dinner. Believe it or not they want you to eat your 3rd meal just as you regularly would. I’m sure they don’t want you to overeat, but a regular meal sounds pretty good about now.

· What about drinks? Drink as regular. So I’m assuming a Coke or glass of orange juice is just fine.

So I like cereal and I have 2 boxes of Special K so I’m good there, plus we buy Special K bars in the economy pack so put a check next to that on my grocery list. I will however have to stop at the grocery store and get something to mix it up, protein shake, waffles, meal replacement bar, I don’t think I could have a Special K for 28 out of 42 meals, actually that scares me, but so does having to go on a diet so let’s do this. By the way 254 lbs. wearing clothes and shoes and mid afternoon, see you Monday for the next weigh in.

Getting in a Routine, The Hardest Thing in the World

When I was in high school a routine was easy. You would go to school 8:00 to 3:00, head to practice 3:30-5:30, come home shower and eat something and the rest of your evening was free. Once you are done with your schooling, work asks you to be flexible, even the 9-5 has traffic and other unplanned events. Here are a couple of things to get in a workout routine.

• Get in a routine. I believe they say is if you do something for 6 weeks straight it will become habit. So while I have been going to the gym for the last 2 weeks, a routine it is not.
• What can I do to get in a routine? I find the best way so far is to write everything down, it forces you to do the same thing over and over.
• What is the best time of day to workout? My answer still has not changed it’s whatever works for you, but the main point is to do that every time. If you go 8am on Monday, then next week you must go 8am on Monday.
• Always have the bare minimum. I keep my basketball shoes and a basketball in my car at all times, with a change of clothes. This way I have no excuses to stop at the gym.

Business Idea Friday #2

As I did last year the beginning of the NCAA tournament I become very lazy and watch basketball all day, I would like to think of it as tradition. Since I have not been doing alot I have been trying to work on some things on the computer.

• So I have turned my focus to basketball and the internet. I am big on making websites for up and coming basketball stars. Because there is so much to figure out about a player before he gets to college I believe during his first year you get a pretty good idea who is going to be a star.

• Business idea, retail merchandise throwback t shirts. The idea is to take where the player went to high school ie WORD OF GOD ACADEMY as the front of the shirt. The back of the shirt would say "WHERE IT ALL BEGAN" or something similar. Since I'm assuming you would not be able use the players name, you could not display it or you could promote a website ie jwallhoops.com

• Focus. One thing I have struggled with is focus on an idea. I will come up with 100 things and try to do a little bit of everyone and get know where. I am focusing on 2 or 3 ideas and seeing what works.

• How to Make it in America a show on HBO is a good watch. A line struck me and really hit home. It went something like this, “Everyone has ideas, but know one wants to put in the work”. Whatever idea you have stick with it, try it out, go until failure. Failure breeds success as long as you learn from it.

St. Patrick's Day Luck of the Irish

St. Patrick’s Day a wonderful time filled with beer and green shirts went well and very cost effective with a little luck, of course. Here are a couple of ideas for next year or whenever you go out.

• Cook at home. I cooked corn beef and cabbage, maybe not the healthiest meal but a tasty one(my girlfriend ate a hot dog instead)

• Don’t get drunk. I know this may sound crazy to some of my friends, but it’s expensive to buy any drink when you are going out to a bar or club. So why not just have a drink or two and socialize or you can pre-game to save a couple of dollars.

• Don’t drive drunk. I know the thought process slows down after a couple of drinks, but why not plan before you go out on getting home. Tickets are expensive and so are lawyers so save some money and have a plan.

• Luck of the Irish. So as a couple we had 6 beers which cost $8 (expensive I know). But sometimes you can get lucky, I gave the person a $50 and they gave me $48 back for buying 4 beers. I thought about giving the money back, but I chalked it up to being Irish and counted my blessings.

Totally Meatless Tuesday

So it’s a little cheesy but I couldn’t be any more creative with the title. The title says it all, I’m eating no meats today, nada, nunca, nothing. I will be eating alot of fruits and vegetables that is for sure. I have not decided what protein I will put into my diet, because I am limited with what I have in the house. I’m sure it will taste great whatever I have. Here are a couple of ideas for good sources of protein.

• Eggs-Make an omelet
• Milk
• Peanut butter-PB and J so good
• Cheese-Grilled cheese sandwich
• Protein shake(kinda obvious)

I’m not going Vegan or Vegetarian, I barely even know what they eat. But it’s a great way to mix up your eating habits and maybe put you on track to lose a couple of pounds. Prince Fielder did it why can’t you and I.

A Case of the Mondays, Honestly What a Dumb Saying

I know alot of us don’t like going to work, I have a new job and I am working on different business ideas so I enjoy what I do. So the key to having a good Monday is, drum roll please actually Rock Band drum roll...................................
Enjoy what you are doing!!! Here are some ideas to do just that.

· Change things up. So instead of wearing the usual khakis and polo to work, try wearing a shirt and tie or even a suit. You will be surprised how different and good you feel, plus you most likely will get more respect and even get a compliment or two.

· Make a Monday to do list. I keep a notebook with me, one could even say a journal, better yet to bring it back to girls everywhere a diary. I do my best to write down what I eat, goals for the day, things I want to get done, and business ideas. I may not get everything done on that day, but it keeps me focused.

· Have a special day. So if Monday is your toughest day, do something to reward yourself in the morning. I usually choose a Starbucks carmel frappacuino or a Jamba Juice Razzmataz, but you can do whatever you like. Make sure you do your something special in the morning because otherwise you will be thinking of doing that something special all day and you can’t wait to leave.

FITNESS NEWS

· I have officially started the gym routine. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays around 3-6 pm I will be lifting weights. Everyday that I have off during the week I will be playing basketball for cardio (also to work on drills for the Florida Playmakers Basketball. I will post my workout sometime within the next 2 weeks.

· Today I am also going to calorie count and keep my count very low, somewhere in the 1000 to 1200 range. I think it is a good idea to do this from time to time just to see where you are at. It also keeps you from eating alot that day. Maybe you would have had a bowl of ice cream and since you were counting calories you chose not to.

· Another major reason I am starting to count today was I ate poorly yesterday. Because of a long night I woke up late and ate lunch and for dinner had pizza. So today I’m going to keep myself in check.

Number of Hours watching TV 21.5 in a week, so I’m just a little above average. I did make it to the gym 3 times last week though.

Spending a Saturday at Work?

• Start your day off right!!!! I know you have heard it before but eat breakfast in the morning and of course make it at your house. I made an orange banana smoothie, which would cost me about $4 at Jamba Juice, but instead I used 2 oranges, 2 bananas, skim milk, sugar, and ice cubes and we(me and girlfriend) had breakfast for a low price I’m guessing under $2 (girlfriend not included).

• Wake up early!!! This way you can make a lunch or at least pack one. I brought today a Special K bar for a snack .25, Lunchable for lunch $1, soda .25, apple .50, and a water .25. So my whole lunch cost me approx $2 when bought from the grocery store. It was quick fairly healthy and cheap, can’t beat that.

• Best time to workout!!! I’m sure their is some study that says workout in the morning before you eat to get rid of the fat, whatever works for you is my study. What I’m saying is you have to be consistent. If you workout every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after work then do it everytime and most importantly develop a routine. I’m working on developing a routine right now.

Question? Have you ever known someone who told you I workout 3 days a week and eat right all the time and I am fat? Think about it, eat right and workout.

• No time for the gym!!! I read in Men’s Fitness the average American watches 21 hours of TV a week. I am definitely above that. I mean I watch alot of sports, work part-time, and really enjoy TV. But I am also overweight and over time have not been going to the gym. I started a log of how much I watch TV. So far Tuesday thru Saturday I have watched 17 hours of TV, and I still went to the gym 3 times(bonus of having a part-time job).

Maybe you should see what you are spending your gym time on. American Idol, Sportscenter, The Bachelorette, etc....

• Watch TV at the gym!!! That’s right walk on a treadmill and watch the local news, almost all of the newer clubs have mini TV’s attached to the machine. So no excuses wake up and watch Stuart Scott or Jessica Parker at the gym.

Business Idea Friday

So I am a person who is always thinking of business ideas, whether I go through with them is another thing.  I decided that my business ideas need to be tried, the greatest successes come from failure.  So “Just Do It”. 

What do I need to do to get fit and wealthy?

If I had the answer I wouldn't be typing away right now.  What I will do is show you what I do to get there.  I have numerous business ideas and ways to get in shape and I want to show what works and what doesn't work.  Join me in my pursuit of David Beckham's abs and Warren Buffett's money.


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