Workout Flow

So I'm starting to take my blog in a new direction. I'm still doing arts and crafts and whatnot, but in light of my recent health issues, I'm trying to get myself to a healthier place. For the past couple weeks, I've been routinely exercising in the mornings and on my lunch breaks. First, I do several sets of stretches followed by some basic Army PT exercises (like flutter kicks, leg spreaders, overhead clasps, planks, push-ups, toe touches, squats, ski jumpers, donkey kicks, and finally mountain climbers). I do two sets of each exercise, for a full minute per each set. It takes 20 minutes, but it helps me wake up and I feel great afterwards. Then on my lunch break at work, I walk about 2.4 miles, which takes me about 50 minutes. When I started this walking routine a couple weeks ago, I was only able to walk two miles during those 50 minutes. I have to say I definitely feel better overall when I exercise, but there are a few issues I have to work around when I'm exercising, like: having ASD and asthma, so I can't push myself too much, and I have all the precursors of arthritis, including both my parents having arthritis, and I can already feel it in my joints. The worst is when I'm walking and my knees, ankles, and feet feel like they're popping off and crack loudly and then go numb...I may actually have plantar fasciitis too...I should probably get that checked out. But the great news is, I can already tell a difference...I haven't lost but a few pounds yet, but what's most important to me is my body mass index.

When I was in high school, I was taking Tae Kwon Do regularly and constantly running/jogging/bicycling and I had a BMI of only 20 (which is ideal for my height and weight at the time)! I would love to get back to that level...right now I have a BMI of 37.6, which is considered "severely obese." :( But I'm not going to the gym or dieting, I've never been successful at those things; instead, I'm just cutting out fast food and as much sugar as I can stand (until I go into a sugar rage and HAVE to eat something sweet) and staying active. And as I start lessening my body fat, I'll start losing the weight too. My goal within the next 6-8 months is to have got down to a more healthy weight and a BMI of 25-30. That's still considered "overweight," but it'll be out of the obese range. I'll need to loose about 40 pounds and that's gonna take some real focus and dedicated work, but once you tip the scale at 200, you know it's time to make some changes...and yes, I just revealed my weight to you interwebbers, dun-dun-duuunnn! But it really doesn't matter what you weigh because you have to start somewhere and once you start to make changes that will benefit you, you've got the right mindset and you just need to maintain the willpower to keep it up! So, yes, for a while I'm going to be concentrating mostly on my exercising regimen and my weekly updates will focus on my progress with getting healthier and any drawings that I do or anything that brings me great motivation that week, I'll be sure to share that too!

(And for the record, I really missed out on joining the Army right out of high school. I wanted to join and I was in perfect physical condition, but I was so focused on going straight to college and majoring in art; however, that really hasn't done much for me as of yet, and I regret everyday that I didn't join the Army back in 2001. I'm a huge supporter of our Armed Forces, especially the Army (even though my entire family has been Navy) and I wish that I was a part of it).

It's a new TWOsday!

Welcome back to my poorly attended blog. I've been sick for the past week and a half, so I haven't posted a new blog in two weeks...yeah, I have some work to do to successfully maintain a blog, I suppose. Well, thanks to a few days off from work, a Z-pack, and being uber lazy, I'm back on my feet and blogging. Since it's a Tuesday, let me get to sharing with you two things motivating me:

1) I'm still on a New York high from my four-day trip up there for the New Year, so I'm still majorly inspired by the images of New York. In my last post, I showed a few pictures of NYC from my iPhone; however, now I've got some pictures to share from my SONY Cybershot digital camera.

 

The above shots are of a sculpture of praying hands made from 9/11 debris inside St. Paul's Church, the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, a view of lower Manhattan from the Empire State Building's Observatory Deck, a view of the ground 86 stories up on the Empire State Building, and a view of Central Park. I can't express how much I love the city of New York, especially Manhattan. One day, I will call this place home...one day...

2) For my second bout of motivation, I'm posting some links for videos that have been artistically inspiring me with their lyrics, sound, and the imagery of the videos...so yes, if you're wondering, that means there will be new artwork for me to share with you on Friday (and guess what? Since I haven't uploaded a new sketch for almost three weeks, I'm posting three new freehand sketches on Friday!) Now I leave you with these awesomely inspiring videos:

 

Oh look, it's Tuesday!

I mean "TWOsday!" Time for me to share with you two things that are influencing me at the moment:

1)First thing's first...music. Music always inspires me. Depending on the genre, music can make you feel every range of emotion; it can make you smile, make you dance, make you cry, make you laugh, make you tense, make you want to do something...music activates your senses. Personally, I can't even begin to pick a favorite genre; I'll listen to pretty much any and everything. There are, of course, songs that I am more partial to than others, maybe because of how I feel at a particular moment, but right now I feel like dancing...kidding...have you seen me dance? I can't dance...I can fall, I can fall ungracefully with arms flailing, kicking and screaming...that's my "dancing." So instead of dancing, I feel like something new...something to amuse me...something like a muse...Oh hey! Muse has a new song out!

I love that song...I love that band! The song "Madness" details the trials and tribulations of a relationship between two people; however, it pretty much sums up the love-hate relationship I have with my art. When you put your all into something, it seems to tear away at you too. All of Muse's songs seem to be able to take exactly how I've felt at times and turn the emotion into lyrics and music. Now I'm really going to sound like an art student, but their music is so cerebral. I don't know if it's the marvelously organized compositions of their songs or Matthew Bellamy's amazing vocal range; maybe it's the synthesized sound. Who doesn't love a good synthesizer? Come on now, you know you do...why else would Christopher Wolstenholme be using a Misa Kitara in the song "Madness?" Because synthesizers are awesome! When I've got the inspiration to create something, most often I'll use Muse as my muse and be able to crank out several ideas for pieces.

2) My second inspiration for the moment is the quote, "A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others," by Ayn Rand. If you're reading that name and saying to yourself, "Who in the world is Ayn Rand?" Slap yourself one good time...shame on you...now go to Amazon, a library, your local bookstore, etc. and get yourself a copy of the books: Anthem, We The Living, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged. Read them.

Ayn Rand is my favorite author; her work is amazing. While her reasoning is a little more ego-based and she even created her own philosophical belief system called "Objectivism," I still love her work. While I'm definitely an altruist and Ayn Rand rejects the notion of ethical altruism, her work speaks to me. The first book I read by Ayn Rand was Anthem and I couldn't put it down. I don't want to spoil the plot (and the twist) for you if you haven't read it, but wow...just like Rand's quote above, her main characters are driven by the desire to succeed, thinking and reasoning on a higher plane than the rest of the material-focused society. And it is very important to realize that there is actually a fine line between achieving and beating others. Achievement is the reward for hard work completed and finding one's own way of completing a task, not just finishing first. And yes, maybe in order to achieve, you have to be a little selfish. But if you're only concerned with beating everyone else, then you have a juvenile mindset and you won't achieve anything; you won't grow mentally or intellectually. You might not be the best painter or designer, but if you put aside emulous ways and just create and share from your heart, then YOU will be recognized for what YOU have completed. Now go out there, go be motivated to achieve!