I catch the 5:42 AM bus into town to go to the gym, do my workout, shower and then catch the 7:15 bus to get me to the metro station in time to transfer to my next bus that takes me to work.  Buses run every 20 minutes from my town to the metro station and the 7:35 bus misses my transfer by 5 minutes.  ...Of course.

The bus driver who runs the 5:42 AM bus drives that route Monday through Thursday.  He is off Friday and, ever since this round of drivers took over in September, the driver who runs the Friday route has never shown up or has been doing the route in reverse, resulting in NOBODY getting picked up on the bus and me being late with my scheduled routine.

Even though we have been calling and complaining, I have decided to bypass my pre-gym workout and get dressed immediately upon waking up and going out the door to catch the 5:22 bus.

Today, however, was a little hectic.  By the time I had gotten all my stuff in my bag, made sure I had my wallet and my fruit for the day it was already 5:16.  I live just under a half mile from the bus stop, so I lug my bag over my shoulder and sprint out the door.

The bus stop is in front of the elementary school.  Instead of running around the track that outlines the soccer field, I dart diagonally across the field and straight to the staff parking lot, run down the lot and see the bus 500 feet from the bus stop.  I have to cross the street and traffic is just far enough away that I dash across the main 2-lane road and stand at the bus stop just as the bus pulled in.

It's crazy, but if I had delayed any part of my morning by even 5 seconds I would have missed the bus.  Whew, I'm winded!

Username: GWDetermination

I’m trying to post to this at least a few times a week, but I would still rather be posting to my blog and keeping up with people on FB.  However, the world has been taken by storm over this phenomena of liking and wanting to know what EVERYONE is doing 24/7.  Still don’t quite understand the intrigue, but hey I am making the most of it and you should definitely check me out at GWDetermination!

The truth is that there is no one perfect way to train someone.  One person may want to just lose weight, another wants to tone up, someone else wants to bulk up and then there are the ballet dancers, martial artists and gymnasts whose daily and weekly practice schedules are more than enough to keep you in shape.

The point is that how I train myself is not going to work for everyone.  That being said, I am in great shape much the same way that my friend Suzy, who runs boot camps, is in great shape.  Derek and Kim run their own fitness programs that are primarily aerobic based, thus explaining their very lean and thin body types.  Suzy, she is an Amazon warrior in a 5’1” frame.  In other words, do not mess with her.  And me, well, I guess I’m the Rocky Balboa of the brain aneurysm and stroke survivors.

I am larger in my mid-section than everyone else I have named, but my body fat is right around 4 percent.  You wouldn’t know it by looking at me, especially if you looked at me next to Derek.  It’s all where your fat gets distributed and my legs and chest have next to no fat considering how many push-ups I do and how much I can currently leg press (900 with hands on the handles currently).

Your desired outcome for your body truly dictates how you train.  I have always wanted to be muscular and lifting as much weight as I can is an important goal for me.  It’s such an exhilarating feeling to know that, despite a stroke, I can do all that I do.  That training regimen and resulting body type is not for everyone.  I have gone through many body transformations, and I’m still doing such, because I want to look a certain way without giving up my brute strength.  Developing yourself and creating your image is a lifestyle.  The more I work towards it, the more I realize what I need to adjust and incorporate.  Knowing it is half the battle.  Now comes the longer half in executing it, but along the way I get to help others get exactly where they want to be because the more I personally develop, the more I am able to impart onto them.

It’s been tricky to do.  I’m heavier than I was when I was running full time (because running essentially became a full-time job), but I don’t think that I’m gaining weight as much as I am putting on muscle.  I’ve been gaining roughly 5 pounds a year since I got to my lowest weight, however, my body fat has actually lowered from the time I ran my first marathon, which was when I was at my lightest.  I’m around 220 now, and amidst training for my first marathon, I got down to as low as 188 pounds.  I was a stick, but I had a good amount of body fat mainly because I had adjusted my training to suit that of a runner.  And to run long distances, you need body fat to get you through the entire race.

Now that I’m all muscular and gaining muscle mass, running long distances is not the cakewalk that it used to be, but I’m fine with that.  I’ve done all that I can with running…I mean, I won my division at The Boston Marathon.  Do I really need to prove myself anymore beyond that?  Yes, there are additional ways to prove myself further, but the point has been made.  It was time to find the next adventure, and that is where I currently am.

It’s been a transition, and now that I’m putting on muscle, I’m back on a strict-esque diet to trim down in areas I didn’t have to worry about while I was running.  I’ve been made much more conscious about how my body works and works together now that I have shifted between multiple body types, workouts and appropriate diets for each.  It’s a struggle in the fact that I’m still combating a lifestyle that I had grown up with for the first 22 years of my life, but I’m learning something every day and I will always believe that the best things and those worth having require the most work to attain and obtain.

This is merely my latest transition, but it is somewhere that I have always wanted to be since I started running.  Considering how close I am to personally being where I want to be, and then being in a position where I simply need to maintain for the rest of my life, getting myself there in the next 2 months doesn’t seem very long given how long the result will last for me.  Figuring out how to maintain is always an initial struggle, but once you figure it out, the stress of no longer having to lose weight is a monumental lift that can only be described by having the reward of experiencing it.

I’m not obsessed, but I find it highly coincidental the amount of similarities and parallels I am able to draw between myself and what I have been through and overcome compared to the Rocky movie series.  I didn’t chase a chicken or punch raw meat, but the overall determination, drive and sense of overcoming impossible odds rings very true.  We are both left-handed and have this desire to give back to other people.

I don’t know how to substantiate this into a blog post, but I have run at 4 AM and have run through snow, and even ice (which Rocky did not do).  It’s just pretty cool to be influenced by a movie and have substantial aspects of the film relate to you personally.  It creates this sense of being able to accomplish anything, and I guess that is what I have been living my life by for as long as I can remember.  I think I first saw Rocky when I was 12 and, needless to say, I’ve progressively chosen to take on the world over the last 13 years or so.

I actually described this relationship in much more detail in my college film I created that followed my weight loss in diary segments.  Once I get everything worked out with my partner, I’m going to start selling the film in hopes that it will help other people accomplish things even a little bit at a time.  Until I find the best way to sell it, I guess I’ll go out and look for a tall Russian to pummel.  …Coming from a guy who has never been in a fight yet in his life.  Maybe I’ll get lucky!