A little while back I spoke about how we were going to get a BowFlex. Sure, like you I’d seen the infomercials and like you, we know infomercials are usually contain sucktastic products. This is one of those rare times where what you see is truly what you get.

We got the gym set up a couple weeks back, but I wasn’t able to start using it because I had fresh ink on my arm and flexing your arm muscles with tight freshly tattooed skin is not a good idea. Ripping skin is not a good feeling, been there done that already. Then this last week, while my arm was about 90% healed, I still couldn’t really work out because I was shooting Katie all week.

Bryci on the other hand worked out all last week. I’m so proud of her, she’s pushing herself so hard. Eating properly, sleeping properly, drinking her water (75-90 ounces per day) plus working out.

So this week… I started working out on the Bowflex. Holy shit. Consider me impressed. This sucker will push you as far as your body can take and then some. I started a simple reconditioning workout, being that I haven’t worked out in awhile. 3 days per week, one day on, one day off… nothing major. Seven exercises ranging from core routines to bench press etc. Two sets of 15. On Monday I worked out, I was sore on Tuesday. Today I worked out, raising my weights from Monday’s totals… and yes, I am sore again. Thing is, you get such a rush off this, you want to work out again. As I type this I am thinking about how my arms felt on the final few reps, buckling from the pressure… it was amazing.

(our gym can be bought here if you’re want one)

When we’re not working out on this, we leave it with 10lbs wired up. When we’re ready to work out, depending on if it’s Bryci or myself, we change the weights, depending on work out. Takes all of 10 seconds tops to flip weight amounts. The workouts are fast, you fly through them and you get such a feeling of YES! when you’re done.

So let’s see what happens. Bowflex has this 6 week thing where they say your body will change so much, you’ll be impressed or your money back. B worked out for one week and I noticed a difference in her body. ONE WEEK. I have worked out twice on the damn thing and lines I had on my mid torso are back. Two work outs. Damn. Muscle memory is a great thing. heh

So yeah, I am a big fan of this. It might look like a weak ass machine that can’t do much, but it can do 70 exercises. It tops out at 210 pounds of resistance  but it can be upgraded to 310 or 410 by buying 50 lb rods. 2 rods go for $99 or so. I know what you’re thinking… 210? That’s IT? Yeah… you start doing pull downs with 100 lbs and watch how fast you are thinking… holy shit.

No joke, the Bowflex Extreme 2 SE is for real. We love ours, and honestly, wish we’d bought one sooner.

A little while back one of the guys I know online sent me an email and he asked me for a couple pointers to help him get to the body size he was going for. I love helping people and I get enthused when others are enthused about losing weight and being that version of themselves they want to be, so I had no problem emailing him back with some tips.

I got this email today that made my day.

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from: Jack xxxxxxxx@gmail.com
to: james@jamesdot.com
date: Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 4:10 PM
subject: Thanks

I just saw our blog post on the bowflex and it reminded me, I wanted to say thanks. I’ve dropped 9 pounds since talking to you last time…who would’ve thought someone I’ve never met could motivate me to get in shape, go figure. I’ve been pretty good as far as eating and I’m def drinking plenty of water….never had to piss so much in my life I’m getting stricter every day as far as what goes into my body…..haven’t had a soda in weeks, no sugar in my morning coffee, 6 small meals a day, no butter, very few breads or pastas, nothing with sugar in it, ect.

I feel better than I have in about a year and I have to wear a belt all the time, even a pair of my old jeans that were pretty snug fit well again, haha. This feels like something I could really stick to and I have no one to give credit to but you and B Speaking of you two, if either of you have any recipes you’d like to pass along I’d appreciate it….I’m use to cooking things that are just good and not so much good for me.

Make sure to keep us updated on the bowflex too, I’ve considered one in the past but I’ve never had first hand experience with one and they aren’t exactly cheap.

Thanks again,

Jack

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Now doesn’t that make ya feel all warm and cozy? I was stoked that Jack took my advice and was inspired enough to make things happen. That fucking rocks. I can identify with the belt thing too, it’s a weird feeling when you drop 5-10 pounds off your frame. The clothes you liked before don’t fit, the pants are too loose and the shirts are baggy as hell so you look like some wangsta with his drawers above your pants, loose over sized shirt.

Yeah, I iz a gansta, foo. Wut.

At the same time, watching my frame get cut and watching B notice how my obliques are cutting up. She notices how I’m toning and I notice the way she looks at me different. No more holy fuck, you ate the whole thing? She is no longer dipping her food in the condiment stains on my shirt. Ok, she never did that. eww

Point is, my body is changing and I’m doing it for me, but the fact the one person that means the world to me is noticing, that just keeps me motivated more. It’s easier for her as well with me eating clean. She loves the bad food as much as you or I do but she also likes not having ripples when she bends over. I think she is the definition of perfection, but thing is, I thought that when I first met her, long before she was Bryci. (awwww, try not to throw up guys)

So anyway… Bowflex is ordered.

I’m dead serious about their six week challenge so I am going to blog about it often and keep you guys in the loop. Before I start I will be taking before photos, before measurements, the whole thing. They claim in six weeks you will see a dramatic difference or your money back. This of course, if you’re using it right. Being that it’s bought on CC, damn, the bill will get to me after 4 of the 6 weeks so it works out well. Worst case, I send it back and I tried something new to further myself for 6 weeks.

The upside, I IZ A GANGSTA FOO!

Off to continue date night with my girl, later all.

Bryci made me lunch just now. Grilled chicken breast + baby potatoes. Healthy and damn tasty. I love it when my girl takes care of me. Shows me she loves me.

I’ve been toying with an idea for the past month or so. Like many of you, I will eat healthy, work out and start to feel great about myself, but then I start to slip… I don’t jump head first into junk food or as we call it, fat kid food, but I still slow down on the healthy eating and start to not work out as much as I want to.

I have seen ads on tv late night for Bowflex time and time again and I had always heard they sucked. Not sure why they sucked to be honest, I think I heard the tension system they use falls apart or something. I couldn’t place the source of the info that they sucked… I wonder if maybe, they don’t suck and somehow I got someone’s opinion on it and for whatever reason took as the way it was. Not sure.

So I did some research… I turned to google and looked up bowflex and reviews and I found site after site after site where they wanted to hate bowflex. They wanted to tell you the system sucks and it doesn’t work. Thing is… they couldn’t do it because after using it, they realized that yes, bowflex makes a good product that really works *if you use it*.

I have now read over 25 reviews and not one piece of negativity attached to them. Every single blogger writes that yeah, they’d heard they suck… but they don’t. Wait. What? They heard it too? Hmmm…

Bowflex has a sale on and well, I am tired of starting something I never quite finish. They have this six week guarantee. Try their system for six weeks and if you’re not completely happy, you can send it back and get your money back. They even have a sale on now on the gym pictured above, $500 off… so fuck it, time to get ma’ fitness on.

Anyone that knows me will tell you, I’m an all or nothing kind of guy. I go hard into things, so with this.. I am ordering it next week and when it arrives, I will show you. I am going to create a special section in this site where you can follow along with my progress. You’ll see before and after photos, weights, what I am eating/drinking etc. You’ll see when I cheat and have a Pepsi, or a chocolate bar.

We like all like the world to be idiot proof, and we all say we can’t do something because we don’t know how to. It’s all bullshit really if you think about it. In this day of Google owning internets, there is nothing we can’t learn, teach ourselves.

That said, some of you are still procrastinating… so let’s do this together. I’m going to teach you that yes, you can achieve the body you want, with some effort, good nutrition and 20 minutes a day, three days a week. (that’s their claim, I plan to do more than that tho)

If I can help one of you guys change your life for the better, that’s all I am after. My life will change the day I set this machine up. I am  PUMPED!

I have helped a lot of people trim up, get healthy, become the better version of themselves. Problem is that sometimes, we lie to ourselves. We have our parents telling us we’re big boned from an early age and for whatever reason, that becomes the excuse/reason that we’re larger.

I have heard this excuse from many a person. I’m bigger boned. I’m larger framed. You name it.

I tell them, nope, your skeleton is the same size as mine, give or take height. They don’t see it though. I try and point out, ever seen a fat skeleton? Nope. There’s a reason, because they don’t exist. Then I saw this image, this might make things clearer, and also point out I’m not crazy.

This is a scan of a 250 pound women on the left, and a 120 pound woman on the right.

Fat is that yellowish/white area. Muscle of course is red and bone is grey/white.

Before you point out the girl on the left has bigger hip bone areas, direct your eyes to the girl on the right… her shin bones. Bones are bones, they might differ by an inch or so but if you’re grossly overweight, it’s not because you have bigger bones than the healthier person you want to be. It’s because you’re eating poorly and not exercising, drinking enough water.

How your body looks is 85% food intake, 10% exercise and 5% genetics.

Only 4% of all women have the genetic code to become bodybuilders, so if you’re worried about bulking up… stop stressing. There is a 9.6 out of 10 odd that you don’t have the right genes.

So with that said…

These people are the same size as you on the inside. They just have more of that yellowish stuff. Eating at the BK Lounge won’t solve their issues though.

I love fast food, I just try and make better choices when there is all. It does help. That way you still get the happy feeling for bending the rules, but you’re still eating better.

Wendy’s the other day – Baked potato, chili on top, grilled chicken sandwich.

Not perfect, the bread in the buns is terrible, gluten rich (bad) but if you compare the protein/carbs of what I ate against say, a burger/fries I did better than I once would. Hey, we all like cheating and eating fat kid food… but after awhile, when we start to see our clothes not fitting the way they once did, it’s not rocket science as to why.

Expect more of yourself and you’ll love what you achieve.

There ya go, pep talk over.