Malkavian Raven

Must be your cat. ~ Malkavian Raven

Reminds me off my old cat RC... ...I miss him. ~ Malkavian Raven RIP RC

Oh my dear word! LOL!! WHY! Why would you do that to your cat... LOL!! I'd be tempted to serve chips and salsa out of it! ~ Malkavian Raven

I'mma get me some of those! YOW!! ~ Malkavian Raven

The cat does it too!!

Oh yeah, that cat knows how to par-tay!

~ Malkavian Raven No trees were harmed in the making of this video...

~ Malkavian Raven Oooh, centered even...

Mod note: let's not advocate violence against anyone, please

I'll just wait for all the facts to come out. I'll agree this does seem out of character for Chad, but I can't say that I know Chad Johnson well enough to know how he acts outside of the spotlight. Some people are night & day when the camera's on or when they're around a bunch of people. ~ Malkavian Raven (yawn)...

Sounds like what you're really needing is protein, lots of it. If you're not eating much, that's why you're not seeing any results. There is an old rule of thumb of 1.5 - 2.0 grams of Protein for every pound you weigh. Since you're at 155, you should be taking 232 - 310 grams of Protein a day. Best sources for protein are salmon, tuna, shrimp, grilled chicken breasts, lean ground beef, steak, eggs and cottage cheese. As long as you're working out every day, I could also suggest loading up on carbs. Generally, people think carbs are bad for them, but carbs are where your body gets its real fuel. Without carbs, your body starts burning muscle tissue. You can find carbs in oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, beans, potatoes and yams. Try eating some avocados now and again, cook your meats in olive oil or flax seed oil and that should cover your unsaturated fat intake. Other suggestions I can make is try not to go long periods of time without eating because your stomach will shrink. Try snacking. Try going out to eat with friends and ordering a big meal. Try DRINKING more of your calories, the Bolthouse Farm smoothies are great for calorie intake. Try eating faster, the faster you eat the less time your stomach has to tell your brain it's full. Other than that, try keeping a food diary to see what foods you are eating and when. Try stocking up on those items and have them readily available to snack on periodically throughout the day. ~ Malkavian Raven

You can give it a try, but I don't think you're going to see the kind of results you want. You'll burn up the fat and you'll build lean muscle. But if you're wanting to bulk up, then you're going to be disappointed. You can continue what you're doing to torch the fat, but at some point you are going to need the excess caloric intake to build the mass you want. ~ Malkavian Raven

It has and always will be a dilemma. You can have both, but you need to get rid of the gut first by dieting and doing lots of cardio that keeps your heart rate up to burn off the excess calories that are stored as glycogen in your fat cells. To build mass, you need to heavier weight training and excess calories to repair damaged muscle to make them grow and get stronger. See how the two contradict themselves? ~ Malkavian Raven

Article ~ Malkavian Raven

Sweat is very good. It's not just for cooling down your body as your core temperature increases. A better question is, what is in your sweat? Everything from water, salt, ammonia, etc. -- basically what your body is sweating out is the equivalent to urine. Hence why sweat stains are the same color as urine. Anywho! It's very important to keep pushing water as you're working out. Another thing, which I mentioned in a previous post is dry skin brushing. Your skin is essentially your third kidney, dry skin brushing will make your kidneys and other internal organs work a little easier as your skin is responsible for eliminating about two-pounds of waste. If you want more information on that, let me know and I'll send you the article & video of how to do it. Congrats on quitting smoking. I smoked for ten-years, quit off & on about seven times before I finally kicked it for good. This July 4th was my second year without one. (I know it was July 4th cause I used my last pack to light bottle rockets.) As for drinking, just don't over indulge at any time. One of the points was sugar intake, alcohol turns to sugar in the blood. Sugar thickens the blood, which causes the "hangover". As for being a trainer, no. But I know plenty of them around the local area and we're always exchanging ideas and methods. Good luck on your weight-loss! ~ Malkavian Raven

P90X Trial - Day Three (Plyometrics) Sorry it took so long, life and all that. Plyometric means "jump training", and there is plenty of that throughout the entire video. As Tony states at the beginning of the video, Plymetrics is the "X" in P90X and I'd have to agree. I don't know if I've ever jumped this much on a basketball court -- then again, probably not, because no one ever passes me the ball. (I'm a terrible shot.) If you seen an "X" before the exercise, it means for 30 seconds, "Y" means for 60 seconds. Equipment Needed: Heart Rate Monitor Mat Stool or Chair Water & Towel Exercise List: Set One -- x Jump Squats x Run Stance Squats (4 squats each side, then rotate to the other) x Airborne Heismans (back & forth between left & right) y Swing Kicks (need a chair or stool to lift your leg over) (repeat all four exercises) Set Two -- x Squat Reach Jumps x Run Stance Squat Switch Pickups (back & forth between left & right) x Double Airborne Heismans (side step twice, Heisman pose: tire, tire, hold) y Circle Run (put a waded up towel on the floor, run around in tight circles, 30 seconds in each direction) (repeat all four exercises) Set Three -- x Jump Knee Tucks x Mary Katherine Lunges x Leap Frog Squats (two forward, two back) y Twist Combos (30 seconds like you're skiing, last 30 seconds 180 turns to the left) (repeat all four exercises, 180 turns to the right on the Twist Combos) Set Four -- x Rock Star Hops (15 seconds each side) x Gap Jumps (like you're jumping over a creek) x Squat Jacks y Military March (repeat all four exercises) Set Five -- x Run Squat 180 Jump Switches (left side) x Lateral Leapfrog Squats (side to side) x Monster Truck Tires (4 forward, 4 back) y Hot Foots (30 seconds each foot) (repeat all four exercise, change to right side on Run Squat 180 Jump Switches) Set Six -- y Pitch & Catch (30 seconds each side, pitch then squat to catch) y Jump Shots (30 seconds each side, catch from one side then shoot with the other) y Football Heroes (4 monster truck tires forward, six jogging steps back) (no repeat) If you've got leg or knee problems (like I do), you do not have to come too high off the ground, just get your body off the ground. Other notes, Kris Kross' "Jump" would make great workout music for this disc. Just kidding. ~ Malkavian Raven

If you're looking to get rid of belly fat, sit-ups aren't going to do you any good. Sit-ups do not directly target your abdominal muscles, but rather your hips. Secondly, your abdominal muscles are buried under the wall of belly fat, so you'll never see physical results anyway. If you want to get rid of belly fat, here's a few quick pointers: a.) watch your caloric intake, try reducing it b.) try to cut out sugars c.) if you drink or smoke, cut that out d.) when you workout, workout all of your muscle groups e.) walking, dancing, basketball, etc., anything that makes you use several muscle groups at once Belly fat is extremely hard to get rid of simply because it just a wall of solid fat. It is my worst area of my body, which is where most of my body fat comes from. I workout three times a day, several days a week and I have nowhere near "ripped" abs. So, if you don't see results in a week or two, don't quit. Most people expect exercise to make them look like a supermodel overnight -- it doesn't work like that. Just stay positive, and keep working for it. Need anymore advice, let me know. ~ Malkavian Raven

I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about body building. If nothing else, it keeps me from taking those extra days off, even when I don't feel like working out. I call it my "5-Hour Energy" drink, though most of my workouts don't last but a couple of hours at the most. My only suggestion, just stay away from the Icy Blue Razz flavor. I usually get the Watermelon flavored C4, thought I'd change things up a bit -- never again. Oh sweet Watermelon, how I miss you so. ~ Malkavian Raven

I have not tried Wheybolic Extreme, nor the Cellucore Super HD. Currently taking the Cellucore C4 Extreme, along with the others on this list: Optimum Opti-Men NOW Omega-3 Sofgels MusclePharm Combat Powder USPlabs Modern BCAA I've been seriously thinking of cutting out the Omega-3s, been getting a lot of upset stomach lately after taking them. ~ Malkavian Raven

P90X Trial - Day Two (Ab Ripper) 11 exercises, all of them 20-25 reps, unless you're working both the left and right separately, then it's 40-50 reps; save for the leg climbers. Anywho, here is the list of the exercises. In & Outs (25 reps) Bicycle’s (Forward) (25 reps) Bicycle’s (Backward) (25 reps) Crunchy Frog’s (25 reps) Cross Leg / Wide Leg Sit-Ups (25 Reps) Fifer Scissors (25 reps) Hip Rock ‘N Raises (25 Reps) Pulse Ups (Heels to Heaven) (25 Reps) V-Up/Roll-Up Combos (25 Reps) Oblique V-Ups (25 Reps each side) Leg Climbs (12 reps each side) Mason Twist (40 reps) Equipment needed: mat Once again, impressed by this workout regime. I'm used to riding my seven-speed Ridgeback 501NX, so doing going through the motions sitting down, a little more exhausting. After going through the 50 reps (forward and backward), I actually had to stop because I was finding it hard to even remain seated-up. I gave myself about a 10-minute break between exercises because my core was just exhausted. And I think I'm in fairly decent shape, this should be no problem; right? Wrong. My core has always been my biggest problem. Overall, if you can pace yourself through the first five exercises, you should be able to handle the rest of the workout fairly easily. Don't be like me and burn yourself out. If I learned anything from this part of the workout regime; I'll be reviewing the Plyometrics disc ahead of time before I actually start exercising. I'll post another review of that disc tomorrow, then I'll have to see about getting the next few discs. ~ Malkavian Raven

P90X Trial - Day One (Back & Chest) So, a co-worker of mine was generous enough to lend me a few of his P90X workout discs, mainly the few that he won't be using until this time next week. Today's disc was for the back & chest areas. Lots of push-ups; military, diamond, wide-arm, decline and divebombers. Lots of pull-ups; overhand, underhand, close-grip & wide-grip. Additional exercises included lawnmowers, heavy pants & butterflies. Equipment needed: chin-up bar, free weights, chair and workout bands Initial assessment, if you are looking to just lose weight -- this is going to be a really great program for doing so. Everything is quick impact; the quicker you go, the more fat you will burn. The slower you go, the more muscle you will build. Since I am more into building mass, this workout really did a number on me both mentally & physically; however, keep in mind that Horton makes it a point throughout the entire video to set your number of reps before you start and try to hit that number. You don't have to do in the time he's allotted you on the disc, pause it and keep going till you reach your goal. That last set of divebombers about did me in, but I still hit my goal of 20 reps with about a 10 second pause on the last few reps. Anyway, again, if you just want to lose weight and get in shape, this looks to be the kind of series you'd be interested in. My co-worker has lost 17-pounds in just 5 weeks. He's got about another 20 before he hits his ideal weight. I'll follow-up tomorrow with a review of the "Ab Ripper" disc. Any questions or comments, let me know. ~ Malkavian Raven

Only if you get me AP money. In all seriousness though, I could never make a pro football team for the simple fact that I crushed my leg in the door of a Kia and dragged it down the outside of a brick garage. I had a hairline fracture from my ankle all the way to my knee, even had a case of blood poisoning from it. The lesson I learned, never stick your leg out of the door unless you're 100% sure the car isn't in gear. (1st Gear felt an awful like Neutral). ~ Malkavian Raven

Two days, back-to-back, with a day of rest of the third day. In example, Day One on Monday Day Two on Tuesday Rest on Wednesday Day Three on Thursday Day Four on Friday Rest on Saturday Day Five on Sunday Day One on Monday Rest on Tuesday, etc. ~ Malkavian Raven