Tuesday, February 25, 2003

187 - It's a Big Number

Last night I had something completely new and odd happen to me. I had just gotten done with frisbee practice and lifting for the night so I bundled up for the trek back to my room. As I was leaving the building the lung-crunching cold hit me like a few thousand tons of really heavy bricks. After having the 40 degree days of last week, it is such a slam to have -10 degree days again. Now as I was walking…well, jogging back to my room, I blinked a few times only to notice that I had ice crystals formed on my eyelashes. Since I was all sweaty, I had small drops of salty liquid on my eyelashes that almost instantly froze in place once I got out the door. That is how unbelievably cold it was outside. In the four minutes that it took me to get home my eyes almost froze…wow, that’s Minnesota for you.

Since I brought up the topic of working out, there are some observations I’ve made while being at the weight room. Now I’m not a huge guy, but I do try to get to the weight room about three times a week and run the other days. Whenever I’m in the weight room, I notice how absolutely huge everyone is and it really frustrates me. How come I’m not that muscular and ripped? I want to be huge and intimidating like that.

Instead, I’m 5’10”, 187 lbs., and not nearly defined enough. Why do I have this constant overlay of flab on me that I just can’t seem to shake? Why can’t I get my benching max above 215 lbs? I’ve been lifting hard for four solid years now and there are freshmen in there that are just as ripped as me, or more so. Is it their diet? Do they push themselves even harder? Supplements? I guess I just don’t understand.

I always try to justify being smaller by saying that I’m a runner too, but then shouldn’t I be well-defined because I burn a lot more fat? Even though I run about 10 miles a week (which isn’t nearly enough in my book) I still have that nice spare tire around my waist. I look back to pictures of when I was in cross country and track in high school, when I was about 165 lbs and had a six-pack, and wonder how I can get back to that. The one thing I want to avoid in my life is becoming fat. I don’t want to imagine it.

I think if I am afraid of one thing, it’s what most of the people in the US have in bunches—fat. Now I know that a lot of people will call me vain, and so be it, but I really hate fat. I see way too many people, especially in my major of computer science, who just sit around all day and don’t even give a thought to getting any type of exercise. To them moving the mouse for six hours a day is a workout. I’m waiting for there to be a virtual workout program for all the computer nerds in our country. Delude them into thinking that they’re actually doing something besides sitting around and bloating.

Now if only I could drop about seven pounds or so of fat and manage to build another pound or two of muscle in the next couple of months, I would be a very happy camper. I’m also hoping that I won’t get too out of shape over spring break next week since I won’t have access to our weight room whenever I feel the urge to lift and it’ll still probably be too cold to run outside. Well, I’ll try, and if I do let myself go a little I’ll just have to bust ass a little harder when I get back…

No comments: