I often run/jog/walk the Lost Bluff trail here in my hometown. It is a very challenging trail to run. One that requires you to be alert, as there are many dangers like sleep hills, and descents, exposed tree roots to trip on, and if its in the summer, sweltering heat.
The trail claims to be 2.2 miles through rigorous terrain, I find it to be 1.62 miles using gps.
I ran this trail at around 1 p.m. when the heat was a blistering 102F and heat index of 113F.
When I was done I could ring out my tank top and get a half a cup of sweat from it.
If you want to test your stamina, endurance, and cardio, you will want to give this trail a try. Once you get it down pat, your only competition will be that of your stop watch as you try and beat your last time. My best time was 23 minutes. I average about 26 minutes.
In the video below, I take you with me on my jog, using a pair of mini dvr sunglasses that I purchased online.
So that it would not be completely boring, I threw in some still shots of the trail and some extra footage taken by the dvr sunglasses.
All of this was shot using the dvr sunglasses, the music was obtained from royaltyfreemusic.com and all of it was edited on an iMac using iMovie.
This is a large video, about 26 minutes in length so I had to break it down into two parts due to the limitations of YouTube.
Sorry for all the shake, it is on my head and I was jogging after all. Hopefully the music and still shots and sometimes video scenes that do not shake, will help you tolerate it and watch it all the way to the end.
A lot of you don’t even know who Joe Manganiello is but I can bet that you want to look like him. He is who the ladies dream about after watching True Blood.
It takes a lot of work to get the body pictured above. He tells us how he does it, and if you are as dedicated as he is, maybe you too can pull it off.
Did he have a trainer?
Yes he used Hugh Jackman’s trainer who helped to train Hugh during X-Men.
His workout.
He says that a year ago he was 240 pounds and would always squat and bench as heavy as he could. Now what he needed to do was carve and sculpt the clay that he had already made.
He does a six day a week program with two workouts per day. He does the cardio in the morning, then he does weight training later in the day.
He starts his day doing cardio on an empty stomach. He does 45 minutes of cardio, not at break neck speed but at a good, even fat-burning heart rate of 125-155 beats per minute.
After that he enjoys breakfast which usually consists of oatmeal, or maybe an egg white omelet with some sausage, and he adds a couple of scoops of whey protein to water to wash it all down with.
He does way too many things to keep it mixed up so I will not post it all here. Muscle confusion equals progress, he says. Intensity, Variety, and Brutality. He does high reps with little to no rest. One example he gives us is that say he is doing Chest and Biceps day. He will do a set of presses, do a set of flyes, and immediately do a drop set for biceps.
He’ll do 15 reps of each exercise for 4 sets. alternating between wide and close grip flyes with no rest in between. Then he will move onto doing incline bench and throw in some rope curls, before moving on to machine curls. He only weight trains for 1 hour then he is done.
ABP: Always Be Pumping.
When he is on the road shooting True Blood, he does circuit style resistance training in his trailer. He uses 25 pound hand weights, a push up stand where he pumps out 500-600 push-ups of varying grips, a Bosu ball and elastic bands for biceps. If he’s shooting a scene shirtless, he takes weights to the set and performs reps in between takes.
Diet is key
He is big on the low carbohydrate lifestyle. The only carbs he eats is the oatmeal in the morning after his cardio workout. Other than that, no breads, no sugars, no carbs throughout the rest of the day. “Its really all about getting in good clean forms of protein and fibrous vegetables” he says. He does eat fruit, but protein is the bulk of his diet, whether its salmon or good clean buffalo meat, that’s his favorite. He also eats lots of egg whites and whey protein throughout the day.
This is why I do not have a body like his. I can not be that strict on my diet. I do not have the will power. Maybe some of you out there can. If you can, gemme one more rep!
Hey everyone! I’ve got another success story for you that shows how hard work can pay off.
From time to time I like to find a real life true success story from in the gym and post it on the website. For about a year now I have watched this young guy get thicker and thicker in the gym. It has not quite been a year since I first met him yet, but in the short time I have gotten to know him, he has really shown some improvement in the gym.
Here is his story…
My name is Mason Colby Palazzolo, I born on September 1, 1990 in Grenada, Ms. I was born normal until I was 5 months old. I was really sick so my parents rushed me to the hospital and see the doctor. He recommend medicine that I needed to cure my sickness however, he gave me the wrong medicine and it has caused my hearing loss (side effects of the medicine). My Parents were very angry at him and wanted to sue him, so in the court..he had to pay the fine of $42,000. Since I was three years old, its been very difficult to talk, because I can not hear anything. My parents wanted to find something to help me to hear again. So, we headed to Memphis, TN. They have surgery operation for deaf people. Now, after the surgery..I have a machine called Cochlear Implant, its where they put a magnet inside of my head and I have this machine to wear on my head thats stuck to the magnet to hear. I was really blessed that I have great parents to help me hear again. I really love them to death. With the cochlear implant that I wear everyday, I slowly build my speech and hearing every day of my life.
In my high school years, it was very difficult to make friends. People make fun of my hearing, speech….etc. It lowers my self esteem, but I had to do my best to finish 4 years of school. When I graduated, I was very happy because I didn’t have to go through that again! After I was done with high school, I had nothing to do. I had no friends, no job….I was a really lazy person. I stayed at home all day long to play videos games, watch TV..etc. It really makes me angry a lot. I saw my classmates at high school, they really have great life, jobs, pretty girlfriends….its just really makes me so mad because those classmate used to make fun of me. So, I found a gym, Snap fitness in my local town because I wanted to release my anger. [Read more →]
This is a video of my friend doing some leg pressing in the gym. He made such a funny face after doing 15 reps, I asked him to get back at it and let me record it. I was hoping to see that funny stressed monkey face again, but didn’t.
