Life Update

I make these now.

Hey look! A really long blog post! Yea!

Focus

By

Mark Acor

(This started out as a fun little free writing exercise, but turned into a much more serious essay than I was anticipating. I haven't done much editing to it, so please be forgiving of any typos)

I just want to write a paragraph that I can look at and say “There, There is a piece of work that I am proud of.” I wish it could just appear on the page. It would be full of deep, well put together thoughts that flowed like sweet honey. I want to be a good writer. I feel that when I’m thinking about becoming a good writer that I get too overworked about writing something good, instead of actually caring what I’m writing about. I want to have an amazing finished product but the topic doesn’t concern me. Interestingly enough, when I think of being a business owner I don’t really care what it is that I want to do, I just want to own and run a successful business. This kind of worries me a little. I think I love the idea of being a business owner/good writer more than what it is I would do as a business owner or the topics I would write about. Could it be that I need a more clear goals or desires? Am I holding myself back by being too broad in my goals? Is that why I haven’t become a good writer, because I don’t have a passion for which I would be writing? I think I may have stumbled upon something here. How can I ever get some place without having a clear direction as to what I’m going to do? I think this could also be applied to my fitness goals as well. I’d like to be in shape. I know what I need to do to get there. I just haven’t been willing to be honest with myself about what I want and then be willing to focus in and drive to it with all I’ve got until I reach my goal. I’ll never get a 6-pack eating sugar or fast food. I know this in my mind, so why don’t I do anything about it. I know I’ll never become a millionaire working for Sage, so why am I not doing anything to move me past them. I know I’ll never become a great writer if I never write, but what do I have enough passion about to push me to write frequently enough to become a better writer?

I know that we get exactly what it is that we want out of life. If someone really wants something, then they do something about it and do what it takes to get it. I’m afraid that the reality is that I value being lazy and sitting down to watch tv more than I do being a good writer, having a 6-pack, or coming up with and executing a business plan. Many people are in this position where they have goals and desires for what they want out of life, but they aren’t realizing them. Why is that? I think if there were an easy answer then everyone would be ripped millionaires, but instead we are a people who are overweight and struggling financially.

I am where I am because of the choices I have made. My gut is a dead giveaway that I have a habit of eating more calories than I burn. My modest savings and debts that I have show that I have desired to spend my money on things other than paying off debt or saving it. The fact that I haven’t written on my blog or elsewhere for the past year shows that I don’t care enough about writing to take the time to write. The common phrase we’ve all heard before goes something like this “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.” I believe this statement to be true. I know that if I am to change my destiny, I need to start at the beginning with my thoughts. If my thoughts are constantly on the things I want, then I will act on them and start building my way to reaching my goals.

This last week I work Mon-Sat and put in 68 hours. That doesn’t leave much time for much else. I would wake up early to have scripture study with Emily, go to work, come home usually after 10pm, chat with Emily for a short bit and then go to bed. While most of our lives aren’t always that busy, it seems like there is usually something going on that fills up our days and makes it easy to forget the big picture items in our lives. When life is busy it’s easy to justify eating fast food for dinner. I mean, you can pig out in one meal and not see a noticeable difference the next day, right? Or spend $10 to go see a movie and it won’t destroy your long term savings goals. But it’s these casual lack of vision moments (or days, months, or even years) that we fall into that over time that keep us from progressing and achieving the things we really desire in life.

So how do we fix this? Gosh, if I knew I’d probably already be doing it. This started out as just a little free write exercise and turned into an hour of typing and thought exploring. As I’ve looked over what I’ve written it seems like what I need to do is constantly be reminding myself of the bigger picture and keeping those goals in mind. By doing that it will be a reminder to make the better choices every day that will help me reach those long term goals. How will I do this? I think a good start will be to first figure out specific goals that I want to reach, like weight and body fat percentage; figure out exactly what the first business is that I want to start, and a detailed budget that will get me to where I want to be financially. After I have these things figured out I need to come up with ways of reminding myself of them multiple times a day. I have a white board in my room I can write them on and use to remind me of my goals while I’m here at home and I can probably put up a note of some sort in my car and work truck to help me keep them in mind when I’m out and about. Having them in mind throughout the day will help me make smarter purchases, remind me to go to the gym, and to take time to write a little on a more consistent basis. I know that by doing these small steps I will be able to achieve my larger goals over time.

While I realize that there are many things in this life that we can’t get no matter how hard we want them, more things are under our control than I think we realize. Let’s focus on the things that we can control and not fall victim to complacency, laziness, or the fear of failing. Satisfaction and happiness are waiting for all those who diligently pursue a worthwhile goal. After all, “Men are that they might have joy”… and a killer 6-pack. 

New Post (don't get used to this.)

I beat Jeff and Tim Gustafson tonight at Mario Kart. There, now the whole world knows about it. I rock. That's all. I'll post again in a couple months. PEACE!!

This is me updating my blog so I can have moral authority to tell my friends that they need to update their blogs. Hope you all have a great day!

Sometimes, less is more.

this is going to be me in less than a year! and yes, i mean the guy with the speedo on. you should all come watch, you know you want to.

update

i'm proud to say that last night i did go to the gym and i'm planning on going again tonight! and yeah, i'm feeling it today after my workout yesterday. apparently your muscles get soft and weak after a few weeks of now working out!

confessions...

i feel bad that i haven't been updating this blog more. i wish i could say that i have just been way too busy with life and i just haven't had the time to sit down and right something down. the truth of the matter is simply that i've been lazy. lazy in not blogging and lazy in, well, not going to the gym. :( it's tragic, i know. so the real reason that i haven't been righting posts is that i've been ashamed that i haven't made it to the gym the past couple of weeks and i don't like looking like a lazy bum who says he's going to do something and then doesn't follow through. but the whole reason i made this blog was to help motivate me because i know that if i'm committing myself to all you who read this then i'll be more likely to follow though with it. i guess in the beginning i thought i was just going to do awesome and have nothing embarrassing to post along the way. but, i see now that the only way this is going to make me want to get out and work more is if you guys are aware of my successes AND short comings. i have to feel threatened by you guys finding out my lazy side so that i'll get out there more and keep working out. so now i'm letting you all know, i, mark acor, have not been to the gym in just over two weeks. i've only lost about one pound in that entire time and i've had two, yes two, sodas since i've said that i was going to quit drinking soda. so there, there are my dirty little secrets. i hope you're all happy. now i have been humbled and i'm off to the gym. hopefully i'll have some good things to tell you next time.

Short Term Goal Update.

ok, folks, as far as my short term goals goes, this is what i have come up with so far:

-NO soda (not even diet coke!) till i lose 30lbs. for those of you that know me know that this is a pretty big deal. but i'm going to to do it, so keep me in your prayers:)

-my sister kim suggested that on my way to doing a triathlon next year i should do a 5K with her in the spring. a couple years ago she participated in a 5k that is held every year called the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. it's set up for people of all ages and abilities to take part and help fund breast cancer research. she and i decided that we were going to train and get ourselves ready for it come next may 9th. while we were talking about it we decided to send out an email to my bother and sisters and their spouses to see if they would be interested in doing it along with us. much to our pleasure we got a number of them to commit to doing it with us. so, now i've got to figure out how to train for a 5k! again, keep me in your prayers!

Course Modification.

ok, so it's been about 17 days since my last post. i know, i suck. BUT, i haven't forgotten about this blog and my responsibility to all my readers. (considering there are any left. and if you are still reading, THANK YOU!) so, why have i been slacking on this blog? well, i'm not one to make excuses so let's just leave it at that i didn't get it done and go on.

i've realized that one major flaw in my plan for reaching my goals next year is this: they are the only goals i have. i know that most of you reading this are a lot smarter than me and have probably been wondering why i have only set two long-term goals and why i haven't been setting more short-term goals to help me reach them. i realized this earlier today and i haven't taken the time yet to set think out and set any short-term goals. if anyone has some good ideas, please feel free to let me know. i'm always up for input. as i've thought about it though i think that some of the easiest, most quantifiable goals would be weight loss goals. now like i said in an earlier post it's not my main focus to lose weight, but i'm tossing around the idea as using it as one of my short-term goals to help me on my way. also, i haven't put myself on any particular eating program, maybe i could set some goals for that? or maybe some lifting or work on getting faster times running? i just don't know yet. but as soon as i do i'll throw them up here for all to see.

you know, i'm actually really excited to have goals that i can work on and reach within a much shorter amount of time instead of waiting almost a year to see if i make it to my ultimate goals. it feels good to know that i'm actually going to be getting in shape and being healthy. in the past i've always just thought of it as something that would be nice to do someday, and left it at that. but now that i'm committed and i know i'm going to do it, it feels GREAT!

and by the way, i am still looking for someone to go running/swimming/biking with. (and don't worry, i wont out run you when we go, trust me :)

The "Lighter" Side of Las Vegas

i started writing this blog and as i was rereading it i realized it was a pretty boring narration of my trip down to las vegas last week. i didn't really feel like posting a huge travel log because that's not the focus of this blog. (if you want to know all that happened then you should take me out to lunch some time and i'll fill you in on all the fun things we got to do.) i do, however, want to let everyone know that even though we were down in vegas over thanksgiving break eating like kings, i still came home 2.5lbs lighter than when i left! now, contrary to popular belief, it is NOT because i lost 2.5lbs of money in the slot machines. (on the contrary i actually won 200 bucks, thank you very much.) luck for me i'd been fighting a small stomach flu that kept things moving "smoothly" for about a week and so all that came in, more or less, went straight through me. i'd say that that was one of the things that i was most grateful for on thanksgiving. i was able to eat whatever i wanted, and i did, and not have any consequences from it. how many of you had that luxury over the holiday?

one down side of the break is that i haven't been to they gym in almost a week:( it's been nice to give my body a good break after all the working out i've been doing, but i'm starting to really get the urges to get back and start working out again. i like that my body is starting to get used to the workouts and actually craves them. it makes getting up and going that much easier.

Cardio+Math=A Good Time.

i've noticed lately that i have a weird habit of doing math in my head when ever i'm doing any type of cardio workout. it usually takes about fifteen min to kick in, but then, for some reason, i just start taking any numbers i see around me and i start making math problems out of them. most often it starts by me working out what percentage of my work out i've completed and how much i have left. then it leads into working out a ratio of how many people are on machines vs how many are empty. i end up taking any set of numbers i can find around me and just throw them together any way i can. for some reason whenever my mind is fatigued, numbers just fill up my mind. i mostly have fractions and ratios come to mind, which is funny because i HATE working with fractions in my math classes. it's not that this bothers me or anything, i actually kind of like it, i just had no idea i had a math obsession like this.

so does this happen to anyone else? or am i just a strange duck with math on the brain?

Today, I just didn't care.

ok, so today was our family celebrated thanksgiving today. we did it today instead of next thursday because it was going to work out best for everyone's schedule. i didn't mind though, it means i get to go to Vegas next week during thanksgiving! but that's besides the point. i just wanted to let everyone know that today with all the eating i've done i think i may have just undone all the hard work i've put in this week. oh well, you win some, you lose some. i had a good time with my fam and ate some kickin food! i have no regrets about today. YEAH FOR FOOD!!!

Help Wanted.

i'm currently taking applications for the following positions:

-running buddy.

-swimming buddy.

-biking buddy.

if you are interested in any or all of these positions please feel free to contact me through this blog, email, phone, facebook or messenger pigeon. (extra consideration will be given to anyone who responds with a messenger pigeon.)

Light At The End Of The Tunnel.

i had a great session at the gym today. as i was starting on the bench press i started talking to the guy on the bench next to me. his name was ron and he had to have been one of the happiest guys i've ever had the privilege to meet. while we were chatting he offered to help spot me on the bench. i gratefully accepted**. he really got me motivated to lift a LOT more than i was planning on. this is what i ended up doing:

set 1: 10reps @ 225lbs (my warm up set)
set 2: 12reps @ 275lbs
set 3: 10reps @ 295lbs
set 4: 6reps @ 315lbs
set 5: 3reps @ 365lbs!

that's right, i was putting up 365lbs on bench today. i haven't done that since before my mission! it seems i'm a lot closer to my goal of 400lbs than i thought. maybe i should aim for more? or maybe not? i think i'll keep the goal at 4oolbs and see how i feel once i actually get there.

as for the rest of the week i've gotten to the gym every day so far this week. i've lifted every day and i've done cardio on mon and wed. i needed to do cardio again today, but time didn't allow. i'll try and get back to the gym tomorrow morning before my family had there family pics at ten and get in another set of cardio.

for the first week of this blogs life i've felt good about my workouts. i've felt the pressure from this blog that i was hoping for, it's made me work harder at the gym and it's helped me when i've been faced with food choices, too. so keep reading this, people. keep the pressure coming. it's driving me right now. thanks for taking the time to read. i really appreciate it. :)


**having a spot while working out makes all the difference in the world. the great thing about a spot is that at the end of your set they help you get those extra few reps in that you normaly wouldn't be able to get, and it's in those last few reps when you're giving it all you have that you really tear down the muscle and get the best results. normaly i don't have a spot so i don't use too heavy of weight and i can't get those last few reps in because i don't want to risk not beinig able to push up the bar and being crushed to death (crushed=not good)

First Update.

my numbers as of sat, 15th of sep

weight: 279.6
body fat: 36.7%

this is my starting point. if all goes as planned this should be the worst that both of those numbers will ever be for the rest of my life. if you do the math this works out to be that i have hanging on me right now 102.6lbs of pure fat. i have had friends that are adults that weigh less than that:) so here's the dilly-o, as i mentioned in my first post i don't have a set weight that i'm trying to get down to, but what i am hoping to do is cut into that 102.6lbs while at the same time adding good weight. i could care less if i was staying the exact same weight but loosing a pound of fat while gaining a pound of muscle. i'm excited to see how it works out. maybe after some time of tracking my weight and body fat i'll come up with some fancy pants graph to show how it's all changed.

as far as my workouts are concerned i've been very pleased with how they've been going. i've gotten to where i'm spending about an hour each time just lifting weights. i'm starting to work other lifts into my workout to really challenge my muscles and hopefully get better/quicker results. i also went running last night (monday night) for the first time in a LONG time. i think this might have been the first time since i was in high school that i've actually gone running for exercise. i've done the elliptical and stationary bike at the gym, but never just running on the street. i liked it. i did about a mile in 11 minutes. not good, i know, but a good starting point. the thing that i'm most excited for is that my knees aren't killing me today. usually if i do much running my knees ache a lot for the following week. which is one reason why i've avoided running. now i'm kind of looking forward to running some more and seeing if i can keep it up without my knees hurting. here's hoping.

one last note: tonight at the gym i saw a guy that looks exactly like hagrid in the harry potter movies. he had the really broad sholders/thick chest, HUGE beard and long hair. the only difference was that this guy was about 5'4"! it made me chuckle.

In the beginning, there was an idea.

tonight while i was at the gym i was going over in my mind what it was that i was hoping to get out of coming and working out. i wondered if i really had a purpose or if going to the gym was just something i was doing to kill time. i realized that both answers were correct, but it just depended on the day. sometimes i'll go with the intent to make myself stronger, other times i'll go with the intent to burn an million calories on the elliptical machine, and still other times i just go because i have a few hours to kill and i don't want to wast the time sitting in front of the tv. (actually, come to think of it, if i did actually go and workout every time i sat down to watch tv i'd most likely be a lot skinnier) but my point i'm trying to make is simply this, i've never had any real direction as to where i'm going with my workouts. i remember back before my mission i was always training for football. and then after football season was over i would work out because i was doing my senior project on body building and my body was my physical project. after high school i lifted regularly till i left on my mission the following september mostly because i was in the habit of it and i had plenty of time to kill. i didn't lift much on my mission and since i got back over four years ago i've just never seriously gotten back into it.

i've enjoy the time that i spend at the gym and i like seeing the results i've been getting over the past couple months, but i've decided i need some direction for my workouts. a "why," if you will, to the reason i work out. i thought about it for a while and these two goals keep coming to my mind: 1) bench press 400lbs and 2) complete a triathlon. let me explain a little about each why i chose these two goals.

first, the bench press: this has always been one of my favorite lifts. i'm built really well for this lift given my thick chest and shorter, thick arms. "back in the day" i could really throw up a lot of weight on the bench. the day before i left on my mission i surprised my self by maxing out at 380lbs. (twenty short of what i want to do now.) i was ecstatic to say the least. but since then, over six years ago, the most i have gotten is 305lbs. so i've got some work to do to get back up to where i was and then to get to where i'd like to be. i don't know if this is a mini mid-life crisis or what, but i'd like to get back to where i was in my "prime" and then pass it up. MY BEST YEARS ARE STILL AHEAD OF ME, GOSH DARN IT!! ;)

secondly the triathlon: honestly, i'm not sure where this one came from. i was thinking of wanting to run a marathon but then i realized how amazingly long they are. (i think that last person to try and run a marathon ran like 250 some odd miles and never saw the end of it, i don't think i'm crazy enough to try one of those.) but i knew i wanted to do some type of endurance challenge. and that's where the triathlon comes into the picture. i think this goal will be more challenging than my bench press goal because endurance doesn't come as natural for me and i'm far from being in shape enough to begin seriously training for one. so this one will take a while and a LOT of work.

my time table to complete these goals is one year. it doesn't have to be exactly from today's date, but i'm thinking some time next fall. as time gets closer i'll find out which triathlon i'm going to do. as far as the bench press goes i'm hoping to be able to be putting up that much weight by about then too.

one important note that i want to put on here is that i'm not setting a set weight that i would like to be at or a certain amount of weight that i'd like to lose. i hope that weight loss will be a pleasant side effect of all this, but as long as i can reach my goals by next fall then i will consider myself a success even if i'm still considered to be "over weight."

and now this is where the blog comes into play. i'm hoping that there will be some people out there who find this blog and then with some frequency follow it. i'm going to hold myself accountable to all those who read and comment on this blog, so the more people who let me know you're reading this the more pressure i'll have to keep working at it and not slack off. don't let me give up. don't let me quit. not this time. i'm throwing this out to all you with the hope that you'll back me up on this. keep me going. i'll be posting regularly about my workouts, my results and any other thoughts that i have on this adventure. and who knows, maybe a picture or two will show up along the way as well. (ladies, try not to drool. it's not good for your keyboard.)

so with these newly set goals firmly planted in my sites let the fun begin!