Gavin Campbell Online

My Weight Loss Challenge: 1 Year 5 Months

2010-02-02T12:43:00.001-05:00

Its amazing how fast time flies. We are already one month into the new year and it seems like as soon as we are able to catch up with the Christmas bills the valentines day bills are starting to roll in. This just isn't fair!!!

The nutritian plan over the Christmas holidays has been hard to stick with. However I have done a pretty good job and haven't suffered too much. In terms of my weight I have now pretty much caught up to where I was. I have not fully reached the target as I feel there are a few other factors involved, but I know for sure the body fat percentage has gone down. That means more muscle has been built. My weight has pretty much stayed the same for the last few weeks and I have been working just as hard and eating properly. However the weights I have been lifting have gone up significantly. For example I am finally back up to 225lbs on the bench press and that is pretty much where I left off in high school. I know I am a lot stronger now though than I was back then but I train by myself so I don't really push it hard. I will talk more about this below.

Since my last fitness test (where I found out I lost a lot of muscle) I have been focusing on rebuilding that muscle. That includes properly fuelling my body with the proper amount of protein to help my muscles grow. This has not been easy (the gas is killing me) but I have been able to stick with it. I try to get a lot of the proteins from fish and chicken breasts but also utilize things such as protein shakes and bars to help me get the rest. I need 180gms of protein each day so to get it strictly from food is pretty tough

I took another trip down to Buffalo a few weeks ago to grab some more clothes. It seems as time goes on I am growing out of all of my clothes slowly. I'm just happy that I don't have much more to go so I can finally grab some proper fitting outfits. The first thing I realised when I went is that I am now shopping in the L-XL sections. It seemed like just the other day I was in the 3X and 4X sections grabbing clothes. This is HUGE for me. They fit a lot better and look a lot better than it did before. I had to resist buying everything on the rack. I'm starting to see the fruits of my labour. I even had to purchase a new belt. I think this is the 3rd one so far. All the hard work is paying off. I have about 3 garbage bags of clothes to donate. I am trying to figure where I could drop them off to send to Haiti in my city.

I took my progress photos for the month yesterday and while doing that I got a shot of my back. This actually surprised me. I did not realise how developed my back and shoulders had become. I don't really look at my back much but now that I see this picture I will. I guess its from all of those chin ups I've introduced into my routine. They must be doing something good.

Its not just only my back.. but my arms, shoulders and legs have all started to get harder and show much more. This is a good thing.

Now that my weights are all getting heavier and heavier I am finding more of a need for a workout partner to help spot me. I think I need this to help get me to the next level and help my progress. Its starting to get a little dangerous with some of the weights and I can concentrate on form as well as increasing the weights. I might also consider switching gym's as my current gym has way to many broken machines and way too many people. It got a little ridiculous this year. I think they pushed hard to sign up people and now its a little too busy. Its gotten hard to get a treadmill in the evenings.

I am also going to start concentrating on my abs a bit more. My goal for summer is to get rid of my mid section… or at least reduce it significantly to look good in my motorcycle jacket. So I am going to start focusing on a lot of core work and maybe look for assistance with where to tweak my diet. But this is a requirement for me at this point.

My next body measurements will be taken in March. By then I hope to be around 20% body fat (more than likely under) and hope to see a serious increase in muscle. For now I am going to keep up with what I am doing but add more core and step up my cardio and diet a bit to help out.

Lets see how this goes.

SmartWiFi – Helping your Blackberry Last Longer

2010-01-05T09:19:00.001-05:00

I just came across this review on www.bbureport.com and I must admit that this is a brilliant application to have if you have a blackberry with WiFi built in.

I know we all have issues with battery life when it comes to using our blackberries. My Bold 9000 would die in less than a day sometimes as I used more and more app's online. To get around this I disabled 3G as I barely require it and have my WiFi on. This allows my blackberry to last a bit longer. But this WiFi program will take it one step further.

I can sit here and explain it all to you but instead just watch the video for yourself.

I'm now headed over to my favourite app store to purchase my copy.

On a side note. It looks like they have a whole bunch of useful paid and free apps over at S4BB. I got work to do dammit!

Source: SmartWiFi another Smart program from S4BB - BB news you can use - The bbu report

SmartWiFi Home: http://www.s4bb.com/

My Weight Loss Challenge: 1 Year 4 Months

2009-12-31T09:02:00.001-05:00

First of all I want to start off this blog entry by saying…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope the new year is as good to you and even better than 2009.

Today I ended off my 2009 in the same fashion I plan to start my 2010. By hitting the gym. I got up early in the morning 6:30 and jumped on the treadmill at the gym for 40 minutes to wake me up. It felt really good as usual. I slacked off during the Christmas holidays a bit with this but will be getting back into it strong again.

The Christmas holidays were good. I enjoyed the time off relaxing. However in terms of weight loss I got what I was expecting. I actually put on a few pounds (16 to be exact) while enjoying all the Christmas food. I could not resist and mother would not let me walk out without stuffing myself silly. I am OK with this as I have been through these swings before. Those pounds I put on will be much easier to lose than the initial pounds. Once the food passes through my system they will fall off. I figure 2 weeks and I’m back to normal. As long as I get back into my routine and don’t let it sit I should be fine. Actually after weighing in this morning I already lost 6 of those and all I have really been doing is eating less again. I haven’t had much time to go to the gym. This process is a slow process and I’m not in any rush so I am willing to take that step backwards to enjoy the holidays but I will work it off in due time. My next goal is to hit 15% body fat by the summer. This gives me about 5 months. I think I can do it as long as I stay strong.

I recently picked up a new tooth rush. It was recommended to me to grab the Oral-B Triumph toothbrush. After about 2 days I am very impressed. Teeth feel and look much cleaner! I will do a quick review on it in the next few weeks. Just want to give it a bit more time.

I was also mentioned recently in another blog. Check out the Total Babe blog. Its very similar to mine in terms of the content but only from a female perspective. I am currently catching up on the articles as there is a lot of useful information such as the article about caffeine as well as this article where she mentions Gmap Pedometer. This is an interesting tool where you can map out your walking/jogging path in your neighbourhood and it will tell you how far it is. I have already mapped out my path that I plan to start doing when it warms up next year. For now I will keep myself in the warm gym and use the treadmill.

Next week I have to go and visit my physiotherapy guy. I have developed a pain in my lower back (more like my upper ass) as well as in my arm. I have a feeling its related to my weight training so I just have to get it checked out for safety sake. For now I am taking it a bit easier just to give it some time to heal but I want a professional opinion.

I am already dreading the gym next week. This is when all the new years resolution people come out. I remember last year it was hell for the first week. After that it was back to normal. I expect that again. It may take some adjustment in my schedule to avoid the busy times but I will get through it.

I didn’t really make any new years resolutions, however I do plan to continue what I have been doing for the last year. I guess that is my resolution. Hopefully you will be successful with your resolutions this year. Good luck.

Iron Man 2 Trailer (Video)

2009-12-18T09:45:00.001-05:00

This is one of those movies I Just can’t wait to see.

Unhealthy Information

2009-12-17T21:55:00.001-05:00

One thing I have learned while working towards my fitness goals is that there is a lot (and I really mean a lot) of unhealthy information being passed around when it comes to health and fitness at the gym.

When I say unhealthy information I mean tips and tricks people like to tell you about that will actually do more harm to you than good.

The reason I am writing this post is because I was just given a piece of information that shocked me. I was told that “if I want to lose weight I should not eat anything until lunch”! I think the most shocking part of this advice was that it came from somebody that works at the gym. I had to correct the person to help prevent them from passing on this type of information to other people. Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. You should be eating it for sure and make sure you are eating the right things.

My advice to my readers is to be careful who you take advice from.

People to be careful of:

A person to give you diet advice as to what to eat specifically not knowing your body facts. If they tell you to eat 1200 calories a day and don’t realize you do both cardio and weights every day that could actually hurt you. You may not be fuelling your body enough to help you along. For somebody my size I require 2700 a day right now just to survive. It sounds like a lot but I have a pretty hectic workout schedule. I have friends closer to 4000 a day.
A person that wants you to do 50 different exercises on biceps or any body part. That may be good for them and they are probably a huge person that is toning every little muscle but if your not at that level yet you could be wasting your time working muscles you will never see. If your goal is to lose a lot of weight you need to do cardio. Focus more on that. However the weight lifting is required as well. Just don’t do one without the other. And make sure you do it properly.
Somebody that you have seen at the gym for a while and has not changed for the better at all. I guess the point here is that if they won’t follow their own advice why should you.

People to listen to:

Those that ask the right questions to give you an educated answer. They should ask things such as, how much weight now? What are your goals? How fast? Do you know your body fat percentage? How often and hard do you work out?
Trainers that have clients that are making big steps towards their goal. They have a proven track record.
A person that may start off the advice with “everybody is different” because they are totally right. And the fact that they pointed that out is good advice.

Always remember that everybody’s body is different. What may work for one person may not work for another. The basic concepts are the same but you need to tweak things for your specific goals. So take in the advice and do your own research. You will come to your own conclusions but it will be an educated decision and you will understand a lot more as to why you have to do what you have to do.

Updated Links Section

2009-12-14T22:32:00.001-05:00

I noticed my links section on the side was a little out of date so I decided to update them with some sites I frequent quite often.

Toronto Raptors – This is my basketball team. I follow them closely and support them in the good times and in the bad times.

Toronto FC – Our MLS soccer team. See above.

The Muscle Couple – A very good fitness blog about many different things. But I have gotten a lot of information and help from these guys. Its always a good read for inspiration.

Gym Technik – This is the one online service I have been using for over a year now to track my progress. I have not seen anything better and totally recommend them to all. The premium service is well worth it.

Total Babe – Another inspirational site. I haven’t really had the chance yet to go through this site but this girl has gone through everything I am currently going through. I need to take the time to get into it. Lots of good stuff on there and once again, very motivational.

I plan to add more as I go along but don’t want to drop every and anything in there. Just the good stuff.

My Weight Loss Challenge: 1 Year 3 Months

2009-12-08T14:48:00.001-05:00

So the last few weeks have been very busy. I haven’t been able to hit the gym as much as I wanted to as I have been extremely busy. But I have been able to squeeze in workouts here and there to hopefully make up for it. It is expected that this happens every now and then and I try to prepare for it by watching what I eat even more on the days I can’t make it to the gym.

I also had my quarterly fitness check up last week and my yearly doctor’s check up this week with some good and some bad news. :) Don’t worry nothing too bad.

First it was the fitness check. This is where I check my body fat percentage, blood pressure, resting heart rate and various body measurements. The good news is that I lost weight (as I expected). Various parts of my body have gotten bigger, some have gotten smaller. All good though. My resting heart rate is now at 56 BPM so that is really good from what I am told. My blood pressure was a little high but that is mainly because of a energy drink I took before the exam (I wasn’t thinking). Now the bad news was that most of the weight I had lost was muscle which meant my BFP went up. I was a little shocked and sat down with the gym trainer to try and figure out what went wrong in the last 3 months. After reviewing everything it was discovered that I wasn’t fuelling my body enough carbs and protein to help sustain and build. I have been eating very light as I haven’t been hungry but I have been working out hard. So while jogging my body gets its energy from my muscle. Since my goal is to build muscle I don’t want this to happen.

We went over my diet and workout routine. I have since tweaked the diet to get more protein (which was also recommended by The Muscle Couple) in a previous blog post. I have also ensured that I am getting enough good carbs. While I was at it I also made sure that my fat intake was in check as well as my calories and sodium. Right now I think I have the perfect nutrition plan for me and my goals and I plan to stick to it hard over the next few months. As for my workout routine he moved a few things around to give my muscles time to heal, however I still need to tweak this a bit more just so I can do them when I like to. I have also removed most of the jogging and replaced it with intense walking. I will get the harder cardio in my boxing class and while playing basketball (once or twice a week).

Next was my yearly check up with my doctor. I like to go and see her every 6 months during this process but every 2nd visit is the check up. She was impressed with everything. My blood work came through perfect and my cholesterol levels are now all in check. She was even impressed with my skin. It is looking a lot healthier and I have managed to avoid the stretch marks associated with massive weight loss. This is probably because I did it slowly over a long period instead of trying to quickly lose a lot of weight. My blood pressure is still a bit high however it is going down and almost back to normal. This will take a bit more time and she figures by next visit it will be fine. I hope so.

Other than that I am just chugging away. Still working hard and hopefully by next summer I will be at my goal.

My Weight Loss Challenge: 1 Year 2 Months

2009-11-23T00:30:00.001-05:00

This weekend was an amazing weekend. Just to get to the point off the bat, since my last update I dropped another 12lbs to finally clear past the current plateau that I have been fighting against.

I have been fighting with that plateau of getting past the 250lb mark for the last two months. I would get sooooooooo close and just not make it over. I finally got past it and stabilized. I do know however I have cheated on the diet a few times when partying. I am only human. But every time I did the weight was gone by the next weekend. So I know at least to maintain I can do that. However currently I am a weight loss mode so I shouldn’t be doing this and focussing. The weekends are the hardest to get through as they are when you face the most temptation. The weekdays are easy as I have been able to keep myself busy.

To get past that plateau I had to tweak my routine a bit. I asked my friends over at The Muscle Couple for some tips and advice and one of the key things they advised me to do was to do my cardio workouts in the morning as soon as I wake up. I was currently doing them at lunch time with my weight training. So what I do now is get up at 6:30 to hit the gym. Then I am done and back home to get a good breakfast in and get to work. In the time at the gym I usually walk and jog a total of 2.50 - 2.80 miles and burn up to 500 calories in that session alone.

So far this has been going great for me. I find that as long as I am in bed by 11pm I usually get up pretty easily in the morning. After 11pm and I will fight to get out of bed. However my motivation pushes me.

I then moved my weight routine to after work and before my boxing class. And any time I have in between the two I jog on the treadmill to keep myself busy. Usually it is about 15 minutes.

I have also increased my protein intake. That was the other major point.

After doing that for two weeks I definitely feel a difference.

I do have a stationary bike in the basement but I plan to save that for those cold winter mornings when there is a pile of snow outside. For now I will continue with my gym trips as it keeps me motivated and going.

I’ve noticed my cardio has improved big time. Jogging is much easier, boxing is much easier, basketball is getting much easier too. Its all around improvements. I’m getting very close to where I was at 14 years ago when I was at my peak. I will soon be benching the same I did when I was 19. I have had to push myself even harder. Faster and more incline on the treadmill. And heavier weights all around just to get a burn.

Last weekend I went wardrobe shopping. I finally had to break down and buy a lot of new clothes. I had nothing but a few older shirts left in my closet that fit me properly. Everything else was just way too big. I now have two huge piles of clothes laying on the ground to donate. I just got to get them out the door. I don’t plan on ever fitting into them again. Some of them are brand new too. Its such a shame. I still need a new leather jacket. Maybe I’ll save that request for Christmas.

I did take an old pair of pants into the boxing class to show my instructors and other members the difference since I started and they were shocked. As a joke my instructor claimed he could fit two girls in the shorts and they decided to give it a go. Here’s the picture I’ll end off this blog post with. This is a pair of pants I was wearing 14 months ago. They are a size 50. I am now just under a size 38 and still shrinking.

My Weight Loss Challenge: 1 Year Later

2009-10-06T23:42:00.001-04:00

Ok here we go. The 1 year update.

Over the last year I have taken on the challenge to lose weight and get myself relatively in a much healthier shape. It wasn’t easy, and I have had my ups and downs in the entire process which I have documented on this blog over the year.

Last week I had my 1 year fitness test. They compared my various stats to what they were one year ago and I had some amazing results which I will summarize here.

Weight: When I started I was 328 lbs. At my test I weighed 258 lbs. I peaked at 251 lbs the week before. That was a grand total of 70 lbs in 1 year.

Body fat percentage: I started at a BFP of 39%. I now am at a BFP of 22%. I have however increased my muscle mass by 7lbs from 194 lbs to 201 lbs.

Measurements: All of my measurements have gone down. Arms have gained a lot more muscle and have gotten more toned. As well as the legs. My pant size has gone from a size 50 down to a size 38 and still shrinking. I have gone through a number of belts in the process.

I guess this is pretty good. Actually I am very happy with what I have done and so are a number of other people.

I am continuously asked what I am doing and how I am doing it. And I am always willing to sit down with people and give advice and tips when they are serious.

You can follow my trip throughout the last year by reading through the blog. You will see what I have had to go through and the various struggles I have gone through. It is all written through my point of view and should help motivate others.

For those interested here is my current routine.

It is based on a 7 day cycle. Yes I aim to go to the gym every day of the weak. However I did this on purpose. If I miss a day or two that is ok as 3 of the 7 days are cardio only as that is what I focus on the most. I also go twice a day as I do a boxing class in the evenings which is mainly cardio. This entire routine is setup in GymTechnik and I have been tracking my progress using this service over the last year. It has been great looking back at my progress mapped out on the site.

Day 1: (Arms)

EZ Bar Curl: 3 sets of 10
Preacher EZ Bar Curl: 3 sets of 10
Incline Triceps Push Down: 3 sets of 10
Rope Triceps Push Down Curls: 3 sets of 10
Treadmill: 40 Minutes total. 20 walking, 20 jogging.
Boxing Class: 1 hour

Day 2: (Chest)

Barbell Bench Press: 5 sets of 10
Barbell Incline Bench Press: 3 sets of 10
Barbell Decline Bench Press: 3 sets of 10
Machine Seated Flies: 3 sets of 10
Treadmill: 40 Minutes total. 20 walking, 20 jogging.
Boxing Class: 1 hour

Day 3: (Legs)

Machine Leg Press: 5 sets of 20
Machine Leg Extensions: 5 sets of 10
Machine Standing Calf Raises: 5 sets of 15 per foot.
Treadmill: 40 Minutes total. 20 walking, 20 jogging.
Boxing Class: 1 hour

Day 4: (Back and Shoulders)

Lat Rear Pull down: 5 sets of 10
Underhand Lat Row: 5 sets of 10
Machine Shrugs: 3 sets of 10
Machine Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 10
Treadmill: 40 Minutes total. 20 walking, 20 jogging.
Boxing Class: 1 hour

Day 5: (Cardio)

Treadmill: 40 Minutes total. 20 walking, 20 jogging.

Day 6: (Cardio)

Treadmill: 40 Minutes total. 20 walking, 20 jogging.

Day 7: (Cardio)

Treadmill: 40 Minutes total. 20 walking, 20 jogging.

My current diet is a nutrition plan that was designed for me to help me get to my goal. I could post it up but it would be pretty useless to others. It basically involves eating things such as oat meal, egg whites, nuts, steak, brown rice, chicken breast, fish along with my protein shakes. I recommend you get one designed for yourself. It will truly help you.

My next steps include losing another 18 lbs from where I am at today (254 lbs). This will bring me down to a BFP of 15%. Once I reach there I plan to start to bulk up more and modify my diet to take me to the next level of toning up (I want to get abs showing by next summer).

I also plan to change up a few things. I will probably modify my weight routine to start targeting other muscles and maybe add a few things here and their. I still would like to keep my weight routine in the 30 minute range per day. My cardio I will keep the same but just increase the intensity as required. I am doing a lot as it is. As for my current diet. I will more than likely be modifying this to reduce the calorie intake. For this I will seek advice. All these steps are necessary to get me to the next level.

Its been a long year but has paid off as you can see. I will be reporting back on my progress probably on a per month basis now. Hopefully I will get a few pictures up of my progress shortly.

My Weight Loss Challenge: Week 51

2009-09-22T23:15:00.001-04:00

I’m just posting this up for now as I will be writing up my 1 year blog post next week. That is really when I hit the 52 week mark.

I’m planning to recap some of the events and things I did as well as give you a final update on my progress.

It may be a lot to read and long winded but probably worth it for those looking for inspiration.

So keep tuned…. more to come soon.

My Weight Loss Challenge: Week 44

2009-08-04T23:25:00.001-04:00

A few updates this week. I hit a new high of 65 lbs. The pounds have been dropping off pretty fast lately.

I started a nutrition plan this week. Basically its a pretty strict diet, but not a diet. I figured to help get to the next step and over the little bit of a plateau I needed to do this. I had a custom diet made up for me which I am actually enjoying.

The nutrition plan (its not a diet) was custom made for me and my goals. It took into account how much I work out each day to make sure I get the right things in my body such as the protein I need for my muscles. This plan contains a lot of healthy food in it as well, but because it is made for me, each item I enjoy eating. For example, I hate beans and peas so they are not included. But I do enjoy fruits such as banana’s and apples and strawberry’s so its worked in. After the first week I have been very successful in following it. I actually have found it to be a bit too much food and cut down on the portion sizes as I can’t even finish it all. In the end that means less calories. I make sure that what I am doing is not eating the extra food instead of swapping in something unhealthy. I am hoping this will get me close to my next goal.

I have set out a pretty aggressive goal for myself. I actually don’t think its too aggressive at the rate I am going but if I hit it I will be very happy. I am looking to lose another 35 lbs by December. I think I can.

Hard work, dedication, resistance to temptation are some of the key things. Just managing my new healthy lifestyle is a chore in itself.

I have been working to help get a few friends started with the same lifestyle change. They have seen what I have done and want to go down that path. So I sit and talk with them for a bit to try to figure out where they are.

One of they most important things to a new healthy lifestyle started is that you have to be ready for it. You must convince yourself that this is it, your ready to go. You can’t be in the frame of mind that you must do this and it is a chore. You must enjoy it. If you don’t get yourself into this state you may not be able to succeed. This takes a lot of dedication and hard work. There will be days you don’t want to go to the gym but you are able to push yourself to go because it feels so good afterwards. That is the hard part. There are days when that burger looks so good but you have to turn it down. This is even harder.

Most people I talk to about this major change have not reached that point yet. And I can see it. I know what its like because I was there. I know that no matter what I tell them, they are not ready for it yet. Its a fact. They know about their health risks, they know what needs to be done, but they are just not ready for it. As I explain how I am doing it, all I get in return is excuses. No time in the day, too much temptation, very hectic at home with all of the kids. I understand. However I am hear willing to assist when they are ready.

I am hoping in the future I will be able to help people realize. who knows… maybe I will put together a plan.

I have more thoughts and stories from the last week or two, but for now this is enough. I will save that for the next post.

PS… look out for an article coming from me soon. :) Don’t want to say much more until I get it done.

Help Your RSS Addiction with NewsGator

2009-08-04T23:01:00.000-04:00

*UPDATE August 4th, 2009*

As of August 31st, 2009 the free version of Newsgator will no longer exist. Instead they are encouraging all users to migrate over to Google Reader. I am upset about this as I use this every day heavily and nothing out there right now can compare. I am searching for another RSS reader that works the same way from my BB and the closest I have seen is Freerange which Newsgator was based off. However it does not work the same and does not sync the read/unread status with Google reader yet.

We will see where this takes me.

*End of UPDATE *

I consider myself a heavy RSS user. Whenever I come across a site with useful content I instantly look for an RSS feed and add it to my list. If it does not have one chances are I may not visit it it in the future.

This also includes forums. More and more forums these days have RSS feeds that report the new or updated posts. Some forums work better than others but I’m just happy if a forum has one.

In the past I used a plug-in for Outlook (pre 2007) called NewsGator. I loved it so much that after purchasing my copy it probably became the most used application on my computer. Then along came Outlook 2007 with built in RSS feeds so I really saw no need for NewsGator and unfortunately the program I used so much was put aside.

Recently I got a BlackBerry and was looking for a RSS reader that I could load on it. The only catch I had is that I wanted something that would sync with my desktop so I didn’t have to do the same work twice. After a few Google searches along came NewsGator again. I quickly surfed over the site and was excited at what I saw.

They have an online RSS management system where you can centralize all your RSS needs and all of your clients will sync to it so you don’t have to read the same feeds over and over again. You can download clients for your PC/Mac or for your mobile devices to read news on the go. I use this heavily and the clipping feature allows me to mark articles to read in more detail when I get to my PC. The articles are added to a special folder that I can access later. I LOVE THIS.

I have listed some of the pro’s and con’s I have noticed so far.

Pros

FREE
Centralized management of feeds online.
Sync all changes including read/unread, deleted, folder changes (rename/move) done on any of the clients.
Online feed reader.
NewsGator Inbox for Outlook.
NetNewsWire for Mac.
FeedDemon for PC.
IE/Firefox plug-in.
NewsGator Go for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Java Mobile
Clipping feature to mark items to be read later.
Much more …

Cons

Require a data plan for NewsGator Go.
The NewsGator Inbox for Outlook seems to cause my outlook to take longer to startup. I remember this way back when I used it in the past but its a small price I pay for such a good program.
Can’t think of much more as I am still getting use to this.

The best way to learn more about this program is to just give it a try. Let me know what you think. Did I say I LOVE IT already?

EarFuze – Custom Headphones for You

2009-08-04T22:52:00.000-04:00

Since I have started biking with headphones I have been on the hunt for a good set of headphones that fit nicely under my helmet.

Everything I have found so far (in the ear, on the ear, etc) had not fit well at all. They would fall out when you put on your helmet and never stayed in place so the quality was pretty bad.

While searching the GTAMotorcycle forums I came across the recommendation to check out a set of EarFuze headphones and once I checked the website I was immediately intrigued by it.

After mulling it over for a week or so I finally placed my order on a Friday evening. Exactly one week later it arrived at my door in Canada.

I ordered the Motorsports Blue/Red Full Edition. I liked the multi colored headphones and I figured I would get the full edition because I would like the 1 extra practice to ensure I get the feel for it.

That night I opened it up and decided to give it a go. I read the instructions and watched the video. The video made it look really easy. So I gave the trial a run. It took me about 2 minutes to shape up in my ear and about 10 minutes to harden. I then took it out and was extremely impressed. Once hardened it felt very very durable. I bent it like they did in the instructional video and it did not feel like it was going to break at all.

I then felt comfortable enough and did the real thing in both of my ears. Once again very simple and fast.

Once created, taking them in and out is very simple. Also the sound of the earphones are pretty good. Sound is drowned out from out side but not so much to the point I can’t hear anything.

I grabbed my motorcycle helmet and tried it on. They stayed perfectly in the ear. Mainly because they are flush with the ear and don’t stick out. They did pop out however when taking off my helmet but I was fine with that.

They feel really snug when in your ears. I doubt they will move anywhere when doing any sort of physical exercise as well.

In the end I am impressed.

Some of the things I like with them include,

They feel very strong and durable. Don’t feel like they are going to break.
The price of it is actually pretty cheap. It ran me about 50$ CDN with shipping and everything. Most of the good headphones at Best Buy or Futureshop run me more than that and they aren’t even as good.
They hold up in the ear very nicely. Very snug. Block out a lot of outside sound but not to the point where you can’t hear anything at all.
The earphones themselves are pretty good. Not the best but they do a pretty good job.
Very very easy to form.

Some of the things I didn’t like include,

They are not the prettiest set of headphones while you are wearing them. They look like you filled your ears with putty. Some may actually think you are wearing a hearing aid. However under a motorcycle helmet who really cares.
There is only one size for the ear bud. The felt a bit to big for my ears but was still able to fit me. Would be nice if they had smaller size buds included. This is a minor thing though.

That is pretty much it for my review. If you have any more questions feel free to comment or email and I will respond.

*UPDATE August 4th, 2009*

I finally got a chance to ride around with them on. I’ve clocked in a few KM’s with them on and have fully enjoyed them. The sound quality has been great. They have blocked out a lot of the road noise and are very comfortable.

My only gripe is that when I take my helmet off they are pulled out with the helmet. I guess its because my ears roll up and they get caught up. However this motion is pretty hard on them. The wires have already come out of the mold and I hope in the long run the mold doesn’t break because of this. I will see.

I’m not sure if I could have avoided this by using less in the ear or not. But I have a feeling either way it would happen.

My Weight Loss Challenge: Weeks 42-43

2009-07-25T16:12:00.001-04:00

Its time for another update. I was inspired to write an update today after today’s weigh in. But before I get to that let me update you with what has happened in the last few weeks.

I last mentioned that I had hit a plateau and was finding it harder to lose more weight. On the first Monday when I weighed in I was in a lot of shock. I had jumped up a number of pounds after a weekend off and could not figure out why it was. But it was large enough to make me worried as I know the hard work it takes to get rid of those.

It was a few days until I realized what it was. We had some cookies in the house (another weakness of mine) and I ate a few of them (quite a few). I didn’t realise how bad it was until I went back and looked at the nutritional info. 200 CALORIES A COOKIE!!!!!!!!!! One pass by the cookie jar and it was easy enough to put 1000 calories in my body. I learned my lesson big time.

Anyways for the next two weeks I ate a lot healthier (more strict) and worked hard to get the pounds off. Today’s weigh in put me at a total weight loss of 62 lbs. Which is now my largest figure to day. So I am in a good mood.

As well as that my weights are still constantly increasing and I am able to push myself harder in cardio when I need it. The elliptical is getting a bit too easy. :)

Over the last week I have hired the service of a nutritionist to help put together a strict diet for me to help me get past my plateau and get going again. She is currently putting it all together and I hope to be starting it next week once she completes it.

The good thing about it is that it is custom made for me. After sitting down with her we went over foods I like and foods I don’t like. My current stats and my goals. This new diet is going to incorporate foods that I enjoy so it should be easier to stick too. I will for sure reporting on that progress once I get it started.

The Muscle Couple has posted an update on another fitness experiment with another subject. Once again good results in such a short time. I recommend you read it here.

New Media Player for the Blackberry

2009-07-13T22:53:00.001-04:00

One thing I like about having 3rd party developers for the blackberry is that they are for the most part more open and responsive to your ideas and issues with their products. I would not even know where to start if I wanted to let RIM know of a bug or to add a new feature into any of their products. And I doubt I would even get any response if I did submit something.

Sometimes the native app’s on the Blackberry are just lacking certain features that you want and that is when I replacement app comes into play.

Recently a new media player application was released called Unsynced. I loaded up the first released version after it was announced we were of to a pretty ruff start. However I did notice many others with the same issues and it was reported to the team already as they were working on it. So I waited patiently.

Then in the last few days an updated version was released to address the major bugs that plagued the original release. So now we have something working nicely.

As you can see from the screen capture above it is a beautiful program. Much better looking than the included media player for sure.

It does most of the stuff the standard media player does and is lacking a number of features that are probably not possible due to restrictions on the BB development platform. I am hoping that the new 5.0 OS will allow them to expand it in ways that they should be able to.

I have contacted the developer with suggestions and they are working on various things. I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

One of my favorite features in this program is that it keeps track of were you last were in a large file. I listen to a lot of podcasts and long single tracks so at times I jump to another track and would love to come back to where I left off. See that little blue line above the pause button on the screen shot above? Well that is where I was last in the track. So I can easily jump back to it. This feature is so small but so helpful to me.

The program still has a lot of room for improvement but it is a newcomer to the BB world so it has a lot of time to improve.

If you would like to give it a shot go ahead and download your copy from the Unsynced website. And please make sure you send back feedback to help them improve.

My Weight Loss Challenge: Weeks 30-41

2009-07-13T22:36:00.001-04:00

It’s amazing how time flies. I just happened to look at the last time I posted an update and it was about 11 weeks ago. Where did the 11 weeks go?

Life sometimes keeps you so busy you don’t realize its going by. I haven’t updated because every time I thought about posting an update it felt like I just did one. But I guess it really is time for an update so lets get this started.

I have since been very good with keeping up with the challenge. Going to the gym a lot and eating pretty well. Not the greatest but again, much better than I was before I started.

I still try to target the 2 lbs a week but I am now realizing that this is getting much harder to do. So I think I need to focus on the food part once again and start to get strict.

Last time I posted that I had hit my 50 lb goal. Well since then I dropped 10 more lbs and hit my 60 lb goal so I am feeling good. I had dropped 9 percent off my body fat percentage as well as dropped 8-10 pant sizes. When I started I was 328lbs and I am now at 268. Still a lot to go but much better than where I was at last year when I started.

Now the weight is starting to get a bit harder to drop. I actually hit a plateau where it was not going down again. I had to review my routine and tweak it again to help.

Due to time constraints I took the elliptical routine out of my regular workout and banked on the cardio I do in the evening boxing class to cover. I do not think that it was covering it so I had to find the time and add back in the elliptical routine. That 33 minutes a day makes a huge difference. Once I added it back my weight started to drop again. I truly advise everyone to add this to your daily routine if you are trying to burn fat. I see a lot of people at the gym trying to lose weight but they are focusing way too much on lifting weights.

I recently went thru my closet and pulled out everything that was too big for me now. I lost a lot of clothes. My closet seems so empty. I did have to take a trip over the border to pick up some new items but it did feel good. I should have kept some of my smaller clothes.

I was asked what my motivation was to keep doing this. I think at this point I have passed the need for motivation. This is now a part of the regular lifestyle and routine. Just people noticing the difference now keeps me going as well. I have come to enjoy the time at the gym and feel bad on the days I do not go.

For those that are looking for a tool to help track their training, I have mentioned before that I use GymTechnik. This is the program that I track all of my stat’s on. It also keeps me accountable for my workouts. When I look at the calendar and see missed days I have no excuses as to why I didn’t shed the pounds. However I like looking at the calendar and seeing many full days. They recently did a lot of upgrades to the system. They took our idea’s and implemented most of them. They new GymTechnik is great and I recommend it to everyone looking for a tracking program.

One of my favorite blogs is by the Muscle Couple and over the last few months they were trying an experiment where they took a “skinny” person and put together an eating/exercise routine to help build up their body. All I can say is that I was simply amazed at the results after just 35 days. You have to see it for yourself. I have linked to the four blog posts about it so you can read them directly for yourself.

The Muscle Couples Build a Better Body Experiment

Build a Better Body Update #1 10 Days In

Build a Better Body Update #2 with Photos

Build a Better Body Update #3 Holy Shazam

Now if the Muscle Couple decide to take somebody “bigger” and help them to lose weight and get cut (ME! ME! ME! I’m hitting another plateau!) I would love to read what they put together. But I am following this one closely as the results so far are amazing.

Hopefully my next update won’t be so far away but my next goal is 10 more lbs. Hopefully it won't take me as long. It would feel even better to say I've dropped 70 lbs. I know I can do it. Well at least I have the right attitude.

Bionic Gloves Men’s Fitness Gloves

2009-07-13T16:02:00.001-04:00

My pair of $10 workout gloves that I got from Wal-Mart were perfect when I started working out and the weights I were using were relatively light. However, as I progressed to heavier weights they were just not doing the job. I started getting calluses and blisters which made my hands ruff and ugly. So off to the local fitness store I went to pick up a pair of new gloves.

I went through the racks and saw everything that ranged from $10 up to $40 and tried them all on. I was actually surprised to seek the Bionic Gloves on the rack. I have been following their golf podcast for a while now where they also talk about their golf gloves but I never got to see any of their gloves in person to check out the quality.

Once I tried them on I was impressed. They fit very nicely as the material they are made of is stretchy. I also really like how and where they are padded. You can really feel how they protect your hands.

I have been using the Bionic Gloves Men’s Fitness Gloves for a number of months now and they are working perfectly. My hands feel and look great and I am lifting the heavier weights.

I recommend spending the extra money on a good pair of gloves if your serious about lifting. While your at it check out their site for other gloves.

Server Move Completed

2009-07-10T20:26:00.002-04:00

I know its been a while since I last updated the blog but life has kept me really busy and we just recently went through a server move.

I looks like the few sites we ran on this server outgrew the bandwidth allocated to us and we had to move. So now we are back up and running on a bigger box. I hope it all went ok.

Look for an update from myself soon once we settle in.

TweetGenius – The Newest Blackberry Twitter App

2009-05-06T10:03:00.001-04:00

I have been looking forward to the release of TweetGenius for a while now as for some reason I knew something big was in the works. I didn't know what it was but I knew it would be big. And to my surprise it was released yesterday. Version 1.0.

Instantly there were reviews posted all over the place and I was able to see what it was. And it looked really NICE. I got my hands on a copy and started playing with it right away.

Fast. Smooth. Beautiful. I like.

Up until now I have been using YATCA as my Twitter client of choice. However I started to get overloaded with its message inbox notifications and was looking for a more independent application to handle Twitter.

I have SocialScope loaded and love its Facebook integration, but with the latest version for some reason my BB Bold has been hanging every now and then. I have recently uninstalled it to see if it truly is the cause of this.

This release is 1.0 and 1.1 is currently in the works. I figure a lot of the other smaller features such as short URL and TwitPic integration will be added at a later date. For a 1.0 release it does include all of the basic Twitter features.

Some of the things I like include:

Very attractive application. This is what a BB app should look like.
Includes all the basic twitter functions right off the bat: friends timeline, direct messages and replies
Shortcut keys for everything you want to do.
Very fast. Shows off what the BB can do.

Some of the things I don’t like include (more than likely will be added in the next version):

No way to upload a picture via TwitPic.
No way to include a short URL
No way to save tweet's.. something I do often as people post URL’s.
The home screen notifications will only show for unread mentions and direct messages. I would love to have an option to allow me to notify for other tweets.

You can see some of the reviews here.

http://blackberrysync.com/2009/05/software-review-so-ingenius-it-must-be-tweetgenius/
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/05/05/tweetgenius-for-blackberry-its-war-on-the-twitter-streets/

You can order your copy of TweetGenius from http://www.thetweetgenius.com/ and also follow the team on twitter at http://twitter.com/tweet_genius.

Good job guys. This is my new Twitter app of choice on my Blackberry.

New Updates to GymTechnik

2009-04-20T21:44:00.001-04:00

One of my most used fitness programs is GymTechnik. I’ve written about them before here and here and they just got even better with their latest set of updates. These updates include fixes as well as enhancements to the current program. If you are currently using GymTechnik to track your gym progress I recommend you do.

One of my favorite things on the site is the frequent article updates. Their library has gotten bigger and I never miss a new article.

Included in these updates are the following.

Latest articles right when you login
Stay up to date with all our latest articles written by our featured authors available to you right when you login to Gym Technik Online
Automatic copy from last time stats
Don’t feel like inputting workout stats into your smartphone? We’ve now added a mobile setting where you can choose to have all the exercises in the workout you start auto-fill with the stats from the last time the exercise was completed. This is great to quickly load up a page, perform the exercise, and simply hit “next” as the stats are already filled in for you. We've even placed a “Clear” button that you can click on to clear out the pre-filled stats if you need to add in completely different stats. If you wish to enable this feature you can easily do so by clicking on the “Settings” button at the bottom of Gym Technik Mobile while logged in on your smartphone
View all the exercises to track on one page
To date, Gym Technik Mobile only displayed exercises in sequence where you had to have one exercise open and click on “next” to get to the next one. We’ve now given you the option to simply load up the entire workout on one screen so all your exercises are loaded up on one page and you can easily scroll through each exercise and input stats. This is great for super-sets and circuit workouts. If you wish to enable this you can easily do so by clicking on the “Change View” button at the bottom of Gym Technik Mobile while logged in on your smartphone
Numerous Bug Fixes and optimization of speed
We have optimized the way images load up to give you a faster experience on the mobile application. And to make it even faster, you can turn images off in your mobile settings.
All three image stills for each exercise
This is great for beginners that need to view the entire motion of an exercise. Now when you view an instruction of an exercise, you will see all 3 image stills of the exercise showing you how to start the exercise and then taking you through the full motion to completion - all on your smartphone!
Maximum value in picklist goes as high as you push
Quite a few of you had notified us that the maximum value of the weight input in the picklist wasn’t high enough at times. We’ve now made the highest value a “More” value so that you can click on “more” to get higher numbers. Alternatively, within your mobile settings you can change the entry input method to "Enter by typing value" to simply enter in whatever value you want
Numeric entry for BlackBerries
Probably our most popular feature request by BlackBerry users! For those of you that have set your mobile data input settings to “Enter by typing in value”, the BlackBerry now will default to the input being numeric so you don’t have to hold the ‘alt’ key anymore
Remember me fixed
Another big one that a lot of you reported to us – The “Remember Me” function on the Gym Technik Mobile login page now works. Sorry about this one...

My Weight Loss Challenge: Weeks 25-29

2009-04-20T21:38:00.001-04:00

I know its been a while since I last posted any updates but I have a few updates to give you. I have not given up on my goal. I am still going strong and have been keeping it up every day.

I have a made a few modifications to my workout routine since. I have added and removed a few exercises as well switching up the order. Every few months I recommend doing this to help avoid getting bored with your current routine. Also due to time constraints I have removed my cardio routine from my lunch time session and doubled my evening cardio session. Just a slight modification but I still get the same workout.

Basketball on Friday’s is still going strong and is a good way to burn calories running up and down a court.

I have started boxing class in the evenings. This is an intense cardio class that involves many different things such as running stairs, sit up’s, push up’s and much more. By the end of each class you are really drenched in sweat. At first the class was hard… but after about 3 weeks its getting much more easier and enjoyable. For fun I took my Polar F6 watch with me to see how many calories I burned and it came up just short of 1000 kcal’s in one session. For the last few weeks I’ve been burning more than 6000 calories a week. But I have since cut back to 4000.

Just for the record I have passed the 50lbs lost mark and still counting. It feels great. Clothes fit so much better and I just feel much better in general. Its become very obvious.

My Weight Loss Challenge: Week 24

2009-03-18T19:32:00.001-04:00

Last week was another great week. I was able to drop yet another 5lbs. I don’t know how I did it but it happened.

This week I hope to hit the 50lb mark and I’m aiming for that.

I will be doing strictly cardio this week to burn it off and will be switching up my routine next week to throw in a few new exercises and retire a few old ones. I’m always up for some suggestions as to what to do. Hit me up on the email if you have any. I currently run a 4 day cycle with weights. Arms, Chest, Legs and then Back/Shoulders. I plan on mixing it up a bit and modifying.

Not much more to say other than I’m keeping it up still. 5 months and still going strong. People are noticing.

Yet Another Twitter Client Application for Blackberry

2009-03-18T19:27:00.001-04:00

A new Twitter application for the Blackberry was recently released. It is conveniently called Yet Another Twitter Client Application or Yatca for short.

I previously had Twitterberry on my phone but was not impressed with the fact that I had to go into another application other than my message box to receive the updates.

Then I heard of this one. Once I saw what it was about I instantly knew that this was the Twitter application that I wanted on my phone.

All your tweets are loaded directly into your main message box. From there you can retweet and reply directly. Just like email.

It just works. Its simple. And I like it.

They recently added Twitpic integration to it and I am sure they will be adding a lot of new features to it soon. It is only available for Blackberry OS 4.6+ and this is because they only allow message box integration in that OS. I don’t expect to see it on older Blackberry’s and I guess that is its main downfall.

Give it a try. I’m sure you will like it. I can’t wait to see what they have planned for the future.

My Weight Loss Challenge: Weeks 22-23

2009-03-10T15:56:00.001-04:00

Major progress last week. Finally got over a little hump and dropped 5 lbs. It felt good as I was fighting to get it done. I didn’t weigh myself all week so was surprised on Monday when I did the weigh in.

How I did it I’m not sure. I think it was a combination of the basketball on Fridays (that gets intense) and pushing it even hard on the elliptical machine. I’ve had to work even hard to get my heart rate up. The resistance is already really high and I don’t want my legs to hurt before my heart rate goes up.

It feels good as I am about to retire the gym shorts I have been using since I started. They are really loose and keep sliding down. Nice to say that huh?

Also noticed my skin is looking a lot better. Not sure if this is because I have been eating better but its gotten a lot clearer than before. Hard to explain.

I’m now coming up on my 50lb mark and can’t wait to break that.

Those Damn Random Computer Issues

2009-03-04T23:54:00.001-05:00

Don’t you just hate it when one day out of the blue your computer starts doing something it didn’t do before that is now causing you a great headache. You can spend hours and hours working on it and never figure it out.

Recently my main computer in my house (which I use mainly as a server for sharing media and running other services) decided to start crashing for no reason. Its a computer that is let on all the time and is barely actually used.

The crash was very weird though. It didn’t give a blue screen or anything. It just hung and the hard drive kept going. I couldn’t figure out what the heck it was.

At the time I had Vista loaded and I have been meaning to downgrade back to XP (I won’t even get into that) so I figured doing this should solve the problem.

One day after the downgrade it did the same exact thing. Go figures, it must be a hardware issue. All I did recently was add memory.

Let me reseat that memory. Still no luck.

So I checked the event viewer on the machine and found some errors. There was a major error that went something like “The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D”. A quick look on google and many articles basically pointed me to the SATA cables or connections.

I basically removed the cables and reseated them all. I also changed around the ports just as a test.

It looks like it is working now. Hopefully it stays that way. But its just one of those problems that piss me off!