Friday the 13th (one week ago from yesterday) for some is a very ominous day full of dread and bad luck. For the other less paranoid folk it is just another day. As for me, my wife, my brother, and a "friend of a friend", Friday the 13th defined "Provehito in altum". If you understood that, most likely you are Echelon. Put simply - we attended the taping for MTV Unplugged featuring 30 Seconds to Mars in good ol Harlem!
Echelon Family
Now you know the "who", "what", "where" and "when". As for the "how"; we were not "caller 100" the "one thousandth customer!" nor did we find a golden ticket wrapped around a candy bar. We simply replied to a call out to the fans on facebook and sent in our mugshots. Jokes on casting as we actually participated in the performance and my singing voice is the kill. oh and not to forget the "why". "Why" is because we were the kings and queens of the selection. Also, we got to paint our faces with "war paint" as per email request and any chance to act a fool - we'll take it!
The email also requested we print out attached lyrics and learn them so the whole ride into Harlem we were reading and singing the songs in the car. We were determined, like soldiers on a search and destroy mission to get the songs down pat. It was pretty interesting at stop lights when people would look into our car at 4 face painted strangers in a strange land singing songs while reading off of lyric sheets. Only thing weirder is if we had ourselves an L490 singing bowl in the car.
Garage rehearsal
Upon arrival we caught Tomo on a little escape outside for some fresh air. We checked in and got our cool MTV bands and were led down into the bowels of the building right into the garage. I wondered if the MTV people thought "ok these guys look crazy - let's lead them out the back way and hope they don't come around to try and get in again". Fortunately we were in the right place as there was a group of other crazies (echelon) in the garage "rehearsing". By "rehearsing" I mean everyone was grouped around a radio playing the songs and queued when to sing certain parts by the sophisticated method of someone holding up a piece of oak tag with lyrics written in sharpie. Not gonna lie it was kinda cool especially since Tomo stopped in a bit for some guidance on what exactly to do and expect at the taping to come.
Tomo from Earth
After the garage session and the vox populi was prepped, we were lead up to a staging area aka mini cafeteria aka the sweat lodge. It felt like 100 suns. We did a little bit of "rehearsing" in there as well while everyone took bathroom breaks in groups grade school style. Not too many people cared to go until it was announced that once taping began there would be no breaks and immediately there was a surge and "this is war" was written on everyone's face as they fought to get to the front of the pack.
When we were finally lead up to the studio there was one final rite of passage. This is the part when the casting director points at people and the final set pieces to the stage are put in place - Us! This is also the part when everyone was separated to give the proper crowd balance. It was a beautiful lie. I was too cool so I got to go in first...well 3rd but I still got to sit right up front...on the floor...by a candle stand that probably hid me from view from any cameras. The important thing though was I was up front lol. The set was tiny so everyone was pretty close (closer than you would be than front row of a regular concert), but being up front, I was closer to the edge.
I was sitting right next to that candle stand!
In fact I was so close I could touch Tomo's pedals and he had the distinct pleasure of enduring the hurricane that was my singing voice the entire evening. I actually reached toward him to demonstrate to my brother, who was a bit behind me, how close I was only to have Michael Clarke Duncan aka security guard menacingly shout "Don't touch him!" from behind the set. I had no alibi and just laughed.
Groupies
Aww yea I got the pick!
The performance itself was pure awesome. The energy was crazy - everyone was ready to attack. We've seen them live before and heard these songs but the acoustic versions they performed were amazing. Jared was a little sick and we thought that maybe he would sound a little off - wrong. It was the best we've heard the band. It was such an experience to literally perform with 30 Seconds to Mars and have the band react and guide us through the songs and enjoy some idle back and forth chatter between sets. They also messed around with other songs like The Cure's "pictures of you" to Eminem's/Rihanna's "love the way you lie", and even some "message in a bottle" by the Police!
The end was a real treat as the band brought out a choir to finish with U2's "Where the streets have no name". Joshua Tree was one of my all time favorite albums and I remember writing about it for a project in the 3rd or 4th grade. The cover of "where the streets have no name" definitely resonated with me and brought me back (as if I am an old man now). The whole performance was epic and it was a trip to really be a part of the show rather than just sit and watch. That night WE were part of the band. It was a night of sublime adrenaline - A night of the hunter.
One year ago the Green Ranger ninja'd his way through 5 miles of mountain and obstacles with Batgirl at his side. Six months later Deadpool laughed his way through 12 miles of bitter November in the garden state. Two weeks ago Iron Man revisited the Green Ranger's 5 miles of conquered mountain and found it had taken steroids to become a beast unlike any other. No, this is not a tale out of a comic book but rather a tale of blood, sweat, and beer. What I am writing about is in fact the good ol Tough Mudder. For those of you who don't know what a Tough Mudder is, I have written about the Tough Mudder in a previous post.
On April 9th 2011, I participated in my 3rd Tough Mudder event with the team (aka "Super Mudders") at Bear Creek Resort in Pennsylvania. This was the same location as the very first Tough Mudder which we completed so we assumed we knew what to expect. We were in far better shape and survived the 12 frigid miles of Tough Mudder Tristate and were prepared to utterly crush this Bear Creek course for a 2nd time on a nice warm April Saturday. I mean, after Tough Mudder Tristate how hard could this be, especially minus the cold factor that forced many in New Jersey to be taken out of the event. Little did we know that this would be a grueling test of guts and glory; pain and more pain.
Our first surprise was provided by good old mother nature who dumped a fresh layer of snow on the mountain just a week before the event and soaked us with rain the day before. The mountain would greet us in the downcast morning with ice and slush all over it's treacherous slopes. So much for warm April frolicking.
Late. That is how we began. Our start time was 10:20 and after getting our bibs and getting numbered we found ourselves making the climb to the start line at 10:10. We took a quick snapshot and literally as I set foot at the back of our wave the gun blew and smoke bombs were set off. This was actually a good thing as I could not even stand on the slope with my Vibrams (I learned very quickly they had no grip on snow and I was immediately skiing) . Last Tough Mudder I made the mistake of wearing brand new shoes that were not broken in and ran without the insoles as I forgot to bring my custom insoles. Plenty of mud got in them and my feet were constantly sliding around lumps of mud in my shoes. This Tough Mudder I made the mistake of wearing Vibrams on a course with plenty of icy/snowy slopes and plenty of rocks. Pure genius.
We began so fast that we did not even realize three of our numbers were not at the start line yet and ended up starting at 10:40 (2nd team) and another five even later starting at 11:40!! (3rd team). I found out later that my brother (Superman) saw 2nd team still coming up the hill but it was too late as we were already underway before he realized we were not all together.
I (Iron Man) was in the lead pack with Green Lantern and Wolverine. We lived up to our goal of running straight to the top nonstop. The pace was set and we had smiles on our faces as we raced toward the Greased Lightning (a massive slip & slide into a frozen pool). Coming out of that first pool staring up at a black diamond hill complete with snow I realized I was wearing a 15lb weight vest by way of a soaked cotton Iron Man hoodie (I weighed it wet the next day). At the top of the hill the rest of the group were nowhere to be seen - we pressed on.
Green Lantern faced his redemption moment at the Berlin Walls as he was unable to overcome them at Tristate. Victory!. That is all we knew for the first half of the course. After a pretty awesome run through the woods over toppled logs/trees in our path and paths of rocks we arrived at a surprise obstacle called Blood Bath. I thought we were at a water station but found that everyone was being given a habanero pepper to eat! I bit into it and my mouth exploded and immediately I jumped into a freezing bath of red dyed pepper water. The burning in my mouth was quickly replaced by the taste of mud and rubber as I involuntarily gulped some of the water.
Meanwhile behind us was Superman and my father (Flash). My brother had the amazing luck of beginning to cramp on the 3rd mile much like my wife (Batgirl) during the first Tough Mudder who cramped up during the 1st 7 minutes! She pushed through and gutted out the rest of that original 5 mile course. She missed Tristate and this past mudder due to pregnancy but she has already signed up for 2011 Tristate at the end of the year! Superman on the other hand had to gut it out through 12 miles rather than 5. In the process he reached a redemption moment of his own. During Tristate he did not make it at the Walk The Plank obstacle. This time however he plunged into the freezing cold water and swam his way to shore with no problem. Victory!
Soon after the Plank which I once again survived (I really must learn how to swim before the next Tough Mudder), Green Lantern began to cramp up. He told us to keep moving and he would catch up as we may cramp up from the cold as well if we did not keep moving. Green Lantern was right and I fought off calf cramps as Wolverine fought off quad cramps during what seemed like an endless run up and down and up and down rock paths in the woods. As we ran I felt my calves seizing and beginning to cramp as I pressed on. Luckily I did not cramp up but I did have the fortune of breaking my toe during the 5th or 6th mile in the woods - Vibrams and rocks are not friends. Thank you for whoever turned the "6" mile mark upside down into a "9". As I said the run was endless and Superman was excited to see "9" as he was cramping from the beginning and the course was advertised as 10 miles (total lies! it was 12!). I wish I saw his face when he ran past the mile "7" marker.
Green Lantern, Wolverine, and I were still pretty much cruising along trading comments of "man we are tearing up this course" and "I wonder if they will catch up to us - Let's not let them lol". We agreed before the event that we would try to do this one to our max and we would not wait for each other. The Tough Mudder is an event where you are never alone anyway and part of the pledge is to "help your fellow mudders complete the course". There is always someone saying "good job" or "keep going". In the case of Green Lantern, there were even mudders who gave him some gels and a massage for his cramps.
My turning point was near the top of the mountain. Somehow my wife made her way up to the Funky Monkey (greased monkey bars over yet another freezing cold pool) to take pictures. I was amazed she came that far up the mountain to get shots. Our paparazzi are the best - if only we did not have to keep replacing them as they end up becoming participants. The bars were pretty easy until a few rungs away from the end. Seems I forgot to take off my wedding band and it decided to take a dip into the waters below!
My wife did not know why I stopped and was just hanging there. She was even more confused when I fell in the water a couple feet from the end of the monkey bars. When I showed here my hand she knew what happened. That was not a loving face. The water seemed the coldest of the course and I was feeling on the bottom fully submerged up to the side of my face. I pictured images of Smeagol's hand reaching in the water and grasping the one ring. My wife urged me to keep going and she would jump in to find it. She must have thought I was a fool. I knew I would not leave that pool alive without my band.
I was searching while turning away fellow mudders offering me aid out of the pool. "No no I don't need help out, I need to find my wedding band" - they all looked at me like I was a dead man and continued on. I heard a small voice say "I saw it drop over there" as a child pointed at a spot behind me. I immediately headed to the spot and soon after...Victory! The crowd clapped as I yelled "NO COUCH FOR ME!". I didn't realize what else that search in freezing water cost me until a few minutes later sliding down yet another snowy slope.
At the bottom my leg completely seized and I could not move my leg at all. Green Lantern and Wolverine ran back for me and had to forcibly stretch the cramp out. It hurt but felt great. I felt like Batman at the Tough Mudder Tristate. From this point forward I could not go more than 100 yards without my leg seizing and I would need to have the cramp stretched out (thank you Green Lantern). Wolverine had to keep going or he would have suffered the same fate. It was fine we were at mile 8-9 and there wouldn't be much more. That's when a staffer told us that the course was longer than advertised and we had a few more miles to go after that.
We found out that the last 2 miles had the hardest of all the obstacles - probably because I was cramping so bad. I should have rested for more than a minute at a time but that minute seemed so long and I wanted to keep moving. The final 1.5 miles took us over 1 hour to complete. It was like a battlefield. There were people everywhere cramping up, laid out, and being driven down the mountain due to injury. The masses were muddied and marching up and down the mountain from obstacle to obstacle which included yet another brand new obstacle. We had to climb up a 15 foot wall by means of using human ladders and having another mudder pull us up from the top. Everyone took a turn leaning on the wall and letting someone climb on top of their thighs then shoulders. It hurt.
We also had to carry a log up a slope, climb a series of nets, and across another net during a new obstacle called the Turd's Nest. This was the only real obstacle other than the Plank where we had to wait - I would guess it was about a 10 minute delay due to bottle-necking. Tough Mudder has made huge strides in decreasing these bottle-necking moments. Right before the end of the course we had to climb one more time over bails of hay. This time I had the pleasure of cramping up 4 times in about 4 minutes. Each time I jumped up to climb a level of the hay bails my leg seized. After that it was one Electroshock Therapy obstacle before free beer and glory! At Tristate I made it through these wires without getting tagged. This time however the series of wires we had to run through was longer and there were more wires altogether. I was dropped unceremoniously and pretty much face planted due to a shock to the shoulder. It happened so fast I didn't realize why I fell until I was actually getting up.
I crossed the finish with Green Lantern. Wolverine was about 20 minutes ahead of us and the rest of the pack was still to follow. I ran into 2nd team and found out that somewhere in the woods run after the plank 2nd team had a member pulled out of the event due to a severe knee injury sustained during the Berlin Walls at the 1st mile. It just became aggravated and by this point it was time to call it.
Punisher, Superman 2, and Flash 2 were next. The cramp master himself (Superman) along with Flash came after that. We did not run into 3rd team until much later when we found out they arrived at the venue late. I was actually trying to go faster thinking they were ahead of us because we didn't see them at the start. 3rd team consisted of 2 more Supermen (we need to try and coordinate these costumes better), Wonderwoman, Batgirl, and Harry Potter. 3rd team crushed the first half of the course and were trying to catch up to no avail. They did catch sight of 2nd team at the plank but did not see them again due to the early stoppage.
All in all this 2nd time out in Bear Creek was a tremendous difference from the first Tough Mudder held there. The course was much longer, the obstacles were much harder, and there were much more of them! Hats off to the team at Tough Mudder. It is crazy to think we are getting in better and better shape but each mudder just gets harder. I hope this trend continues and we'll have a grand old time at Tristate later this year. Look out for the heroes folks! The Super Mudders will make an appearance once again at Tristate! Maybe we'll have a run injury free for once, but there's no fun in that.
A year ago I made a decision. I decided to go against who I believed I was and make a change as to who I would become. A year ago I put the bulk of my free time in geeking out. My days were filled with video games, movies, comic books, beer, and terrible food (delicious but deadly). Fifty wings, a bowl of chilli, a pound of shrimp, and beer to wash it all down was my staple meal at Hooters where you would find me at least once a week. Such a lifestyle led to my slow and eventual transformation into the stereotypical out of shape gaming geek.
I put so much time and effort in the nerd life I wondered what I could do if I put that same amount of time focusing on the opposite more active lifestyle. Motivation was key. Getting in shape purely to look good was too flimsy of a motivation for me so I needed something more to focus on. That solution came when my cousin suggested we do an event as a team. That event was the Tough Mudder. Training for such an event was definitely the perfect catalyst in ensuring I would train and continue to do so or risk failing to complete the Tough Mudder with my team (you can see our team videos here).
Now, a year later, I have completed 2 Tough Mudders(one 5 mile, one 12 mile) and in 4 days will participate in my 3rd. A year ago I hated to run and would gas out at a measly half mile or less. Today I still hate to run (I have only run a handful of times since last year and in the past 3 months only a single time), but as evident from a one mile time trial a few days ago (7:40), I can now definitely run a mile or more unlike last year, and at a decent pace to boot. A year ago my first Tough Mudder was a good challenge. Today that original Tough Mudder would be a warm up. A year ago I was addicted to video games to the point where I would routinely spend 40+ hours playing weekly. Today I still love video games because we all know video games are the coolest thing in creation, however my 8+ hour game binges have dwindled to only a few hours (still a lot of game time I would say but I love it). A year ago I was a food addict and ate to my hearts content. Today I still am a food addict and I actually eat more food daily than I used to eat, but my food decisions have been vastly improved. I actually am eating every 2-3 hours for as long as I am awake and I enjoy the food I eat now just as much as the horrible food I ate in the past. A year ago I was 180 pounds of flub looking down the barrel of a shorter, fatter lifetime. Today I am a lean, mean, 160 pounds and will be as active 30 years from now as I am today.
I am happy to say I dodged a huge bullet by deciding to do a complete 180 physicaly despite lacking the knowledge of how to properly accomplish my goal. I avoided the trap of crash dieting, calorie counting, pill popping, and many other "known" methods to "lose weight". My focus was to become healthy and as a result I lost weight, built muscle, and burned fat. I learned as I went and am continually adding to the foundations I have built. That decision is also why I created this blog. My mentality has changed so much in a year I figured I would log my thoughts so that I could look back and see where my head was at during a given point in time. In the mean time I am helping those around me with their own "Fit Quest" and will continue to do so (in fact I am studying to get my NASM certification).
...one of my friends just brought up a good point about men who work out neglecting their legs. I definitely work legs but don't seem to take many pictures so here's some sexy leg action!
In January I began a series of posts that included "Body Experiments" and "Body Experiments II" which described the testing of various "proven" techniques to improve body composition. This is the 3rd installment and we take a look at a few more results.
Since the last post Noob has completed a full 60 day run of Insanity with some pretty great results. Noob began at a weight of 191 lbs and is now 175 lbs having gone from about 27% body fat to about 13%. He has lost close to 30 lbs of fat and gained about 14 lbs of muscle (mostly in his legs). All in all Noob has seen a total of 15 inches lost with the largest lost around his waste (5 inches lost).
In addition to the changes in appearance Noob also has had a dramatic change in physical performance. Insanity uses a series of movements to gauge overall performance and have labeled them the "Fit Test". Here are Noob's Fit test results from Day 1 to Day 60:
Noob was not the only one to complete a round of Insanity. I also completed the program (my 2nd round complete) with some P90X sprinkled in. In addition to the workout programs, I also experimented with the use of cold water showers to help burn fat(as described in the original "Body Experiments" post). All in all I found the method to be pretty effective. It's hard to tell from the pictures but I definitely felt and saw a difference in definition when I used the cold shower method. I also lost about 10 lbs through the process and a couple percent of body fat (maybe 1).
Unlike my first round where I took the Fit Test every 2 weeks, this time around I only took the Fit Test at the very end. Here are my fit tests from my original run of Insanity as well as my latest test (highlighted in red).
Next month we will see Sub Zero's final results and the progress of our first female on a fit quest!
In 2010 a new event popped onto the adventure race scene called Tough Mudder. Billed as the "Toughest Event on the Planet" the Tough Mudder drew immediate attention and sold out their first event within a couple weeks (which I was luckily a participant). The Tough Mudder is a 10-12 mile obstacle course designed to test all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. Thousands attended the first event hopeful for a true challenge, a test of character, and for some just a good old time in the mud.
I, for one, thought it would be hilarious to run such an event as I was on a 4-5 year hiatus from any kind of workout. On top of that I saw there was free beer, a tough mullet contest, free tattoo, costume contest, and the kicker: this video which after my first viewing caused me to die laughing and immediately sign up.
I got a text the next day by my cousin (he told me about the Tough Mudder) to find out if I wanted to do it. I replied:
Years from now laying in my bed i'll be thinking would i trade all the days from this day to that for one chance - just one chance - to prove I'm a tough mudder? I'm in!
I immediately saw my text on his facebook just minutes later. Thief! Tough Mudder promised blood sweat and beer and I was going to collect.
The first event was a great time. Did it live up to the the "Tough" title? Not really but it was a hell of a good time especially for the very first event this small, now booming, company was running. The only logical course of action was to do another one and expect, with time, the event would get better and better. We immediately signed up for one a few months later which promised to be more exciting because the course was longer (5 miles became 12 miles), the obstacles were tougher and more ridiculous (running through live electrical wires), and it was in the middle of November! (there were water obstacles despite this fact)
Our 2nd Tough Mudder event truly lived up to the name and truly delivered. The event despite being just a few months after the first Tough Mudder was a drastic improvement and garnered amazing reviews by organizations such as Travlete who named the Tough Mudder the best adventure race of 2010. The "Press Room" on the Tough Mudder site chronicles their reviews and the evolution of the company and event.
It is coming up on a year since Tough Mudder began their operations and they are already making profits as a company and have become the largest contributor to the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps support injured servicemen and women who have sustained injuries abroad, via fund raising from Tough Mudder events. Their events have gone from a questionably tough first event to a series of undoubtedly tough events which include 14 separate events in 2011 and will see Tough Mudders in Canada, Japan, UK, and Australia by the end of 2012.
Tough Mudder will only continue to grow and improve and I will be along for the ride with them. I plan to do 2-3 this year and looking forward to the first of my series coming this April. I figure I will use the event as a focus to keep me in shape and as a yearly gauge to my fitness level and sense of humor. If I am no longer laughing at the course they are probably no longer getting more difficult.
I would hate to end the post without a shameless plug so here is my donations page for the Wounded Warrior Project! Please help support this cause and I will continue to risk my body for those who have risked their lives. For more Tough Mudder goodness check out ToughestMudder where you will find information on training, experiences, gear information, and general information from various participants including "My Story".
What happens when some goofballs decide to put "proven" workout techniques/programs to the test? Apparently, they get pretty good results. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about body experiments a group of us conducted and now some initial results are in.
Scorpion (alias - see previous post for details) decided to test a method in Tim Ferriss' book "Four-Hour Body" with which Tim Ferriss was able to put on 34 lbs of muscle in 28 days. It was a pretty strong claim especially considering the workouts were only 30 minutes long and you only do 2 workouts a week. That equates to a measly 1 hour per week or a grand total of 4 hours to gain this mass in 28 days. Scorpion did not follow the exact same set of exercises but followed the technique and pace in which the exercises should be executed. He also modified the meal plan slightly.
Amazingly despite not sticking 100% to the program outlined in "Four-Hour Body", Scorpion made some pretty strong gains. Overall he gained about 20 lbs in the 4 weeks going from an initial weight of 176 lbs to 196 lbs. 196 lbs is the highest weight Scorpion has ever been despite past attempts to get to 200 lbs via other methods including taking weight gainers. Adding a couple percent of fat loss to the total muscle gain for scorpion was around 25-27 lbs. So it seems the claim of gaining 34 lbs of muscle in 28 days is in fact legitimate. Now having completed his program Scorpion will either push to gain the last few pounds to hit the 200 lbs or perhaps start a new experiment testing a claim to go from 5K runs to 50K runs in a 12 week period. First, he needs to get initial 5K under his belt as Scorpion's cardio leaves a bit to be desired.
Noob also hit a milestone having completed 30 days of Insanity. His results have been great. He is following the workout programs as described and is actually eating healthy (unlike the 90% of Americans who "think" they eat healthy despite our 30% + obesity rate). Noob began at 191 lbs and is currently at 183 lbs. Doesn't seem like a lot of weight for 30 days but the scale is a poor judge of progress as it doesn't take into account muscle mass gained in contrast to fat lost. It's a good thing we took measurements. In the past 30 days Noob lost a total of 8.5 inches and about 7% body fat (about 15 lbs of fat!).
arms - .5 inches
legs - 4 inches
chest - 1.5 inches
waist - 3.5 inches
Next time I'll go over my final 60 day results (cold shower technique to burn fat!), Subzero's 30 day milestone (P90X), perhaps the return of Ermac after his shoulder injury (P90X), and maybe the start of our first female member to attempt a body transformation!
