He's going to pump..... You up!

My favorite fitness social media site, Fitocracy.com has teamed up with biggest fitness icon of all time, Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Together they have created something called the 1% Challenge.  Together they have created 5 workout routines (so far) that take about 15 minutes each.  There are strength and cardio as well as equipment and body weight routines. Where does the 1% come in?  15 minutes is roughly only 1% of your 24 hr day.

I've talked about Fitocracy before but adding in these routines takes it up a notch.  Your not just blindly trying out exercises to see what works, though that's not always a bad way to begin.  All of these routines have video tutorials which is great for beginners who aren't sure of correct form.  In preparation for writing this post I watched a couple and I would even recommend them to people who know the exercises.  There are some good tips on how to keep your form all the way through the routine.

My favorite Routine is B or the Body Weight Circuit.  These means you can do all the exercises without buying any equipment going to the gym or even being at home.  If you live out of a suitcase you still don't have an excuse for not doing these.  Once again this is a great routine for beginners because it's much harder to injure yourself with no heavy objects around.  If this gets too easy you can always up your repetitions or jump over to the intermediate body weight routine D.

To ease myself back into working out and make sure I don't injure myself like I did last time this is how I'm starting off.  Personally I have added in some crunches and side planks but as with any exercise routine only do what feels comfortable to you.

//Actuator//

AAAAAAAnnnnd we're back!

Honestly I am coming back with new fitness posts.  I have to say the people that are STILL reading this blog with how long a break I have taken have really inspired me.  With only 13 total posts I have almost 2 thousand views.  I'm glad to hear you are still interested.

I have a whole list of things I want to talk about this time around.  First off an injury that took me 6 months to heal with the help of a chiropractor and a physical therapist.  Second, I AM A DADDY!!  Just 6 short weeks ago my little boy was born and it has been a wild ride.  I have some tips and ideas for the guys for not gaining her pregnancy weight as well as some ideas for the ladies about getting that shape back as quick as possible.  Third, since the last time I have talked with you I attempted to run 200 miles in 3 months.  That's less than 2.5 miles a day but finding the time and not wearing out is tough.

My latest challenge? The baby is crying, the diaper smells, work is calling, so WHEN do I get to work out and WHAT kind of exercises can I do?

If your interested in catching up with what I have been doing for the last 6 weeks I have a video blog on YouTube that I post to once a day.  This is mostly to update family and friends but I also try to be informative to new parents and we will squeeze in some good info on staying in shape at the same time.  I'll make sure to post any of those videos right to the site.

Once again thanks for hanging in there.  I can't wait to get things rolling again.

First Injury: Keep your head up

So I have now had my first fitness related injury.  It's one of those things that you really shouldn't be proud of but I am anyway.

 I was hoping to avoid that for a little bit long but I suppose it's good to get it out of the way.  Still not 100% sure what I did to cause it but the chiropractor is fairly certain it was because of bad form.  Now I admit I am not 100% on when I'm lifting heavy but I try very hard to keep as close as possible for as long as possible.  However when all you want to get are those 2 last reps in, your focus becomes keeping that weight from falling on your head instead of keeping perfect form.

Sorry to those "do or die" types but if I'm hurting I'll say so.  This hurt like hell and kept me out of the gym for a while because every time it would feel a little better I would push through the pain and aggravate it again.  I say it was a neck injury but I had pain radiating from the spine and all over my right shoulder and upper back.  Apparently this is a common enough injury that when I finally went to my chiropractor, he recognized it pretty quick.  All I had to mention was that I have been lifting heavier recently to get that "ahhhhh" reaction.

The human body is able to withstand tremendous amounts of weight. Even without developing your muscle with the intention of lifting, the back and more importantly the spine are designed for it. Studies have even shown that the curves in our spine allow us to support 10 times more weight than if it was straight.  That being said, we have a tendency to try and get our back under the weight.  Even in the movies you will see someone trying to push upward while bending their head forward with the strain.  However doing this straightens the natural curve in the neck and subjects your neck to undue stress. The point being the when you are doing heavy lifts, especially shoulder press of any kind, be sure to keep your head up.  Sitting here typing this posing like L, probably isn't helping any.

(Warning next part isn't so fitness related just an observation)
The solution?  A couple trips to the chiropractor will straighten it out if they don't scare you to death first.  They try this in multiple ways first the try and electrocute you with those contacts they put on your back.  And if you like me you try and handle as much voltage (or whatever) as you can cause we are manly men and we can take it.  But then they leave you alone in the room and you feel your muscles start to contract in ways they never have before and by the time they come back you've either become a contortionist or your dead.  Next they act like pedophiles.  You have to take your shirt off so they can rub oil on you (if they don't really need to do this someone let me know cause mine did) and rub your back down with the excuse that "you need to be loose".  Then they lay your cheek on their hand and tell you to relax.  This is the time when they have given up on you and decide your a threat and try to SNAP your neck clean off.  Just like this. Some how after a couple of times doing this you feel better and get to go back to working out like an idiot or learn so you never have to see that horrible man again!

As always I hope I was helpful.  If you like these posts or if you would like me to cover a topic feel free to leave a comment and let me know.  If you really think they are worth someone's time share them around.  I hope to have some of these topics recorded on my YouTube channel as well so come check me out there if you have not already.

/Actuator/

About me, myself, and my blog

So the other day someone wanted to know what "Before you Actuate" meant.  So I figured anyone reading this might like an explanation as well.  The whole business started with my friend Ray/Sebron and his YouTube channel. He had done a few videos before but was starting the YTO (YouTube Orbit) the objective is to post 1 video a day for an entire year.  It doesn't have to be long or very interesting but there needs to be one a day with the opportunity for a few misses. As of today he has reached 310 videos so almost there.  Which when you see the extremely long list of people who have failed trying to do this it is a very impressive feat. 

So watching these got me interested in video and editing so I got hold of some software and started messing around.  I released a video on 11/11/11 just because I thought it was cool.  It really wasn't much of anything but I wanted to be able to say I put up my first video on that date.  The video was all old footage I had taken with different cameras over a very long period of time so it had no point to it.  It just looking like a movie trailer for nothing.  Somehow that snip-it got a ton of hits at least for a first video on a channel with nothing else on it.  That channel is called SelfActuate.  The thought process behind that was that I wanted to do fun exciting things and share them on an epic scale.  To actualize my hopes, dreams, plans, and whatnot.  I only made one other video for that channel and decided that I needed to refine my skills a bit.  So I jumped over to an old channel I had set up with the intention of posting stupid videos to practice with.  Come to find out vlogging or video blogging is a thing and people actually started watching what I posted.  That channel became SAVY SelfActuate Vlog on YouTube.  Corny but everything on that channel is so it fits.  I have still been uploading videos there that have a little less production time to them.

 I had started my masters program around that time as well so as time was getting short I've made less and less.  I wanted a place to write down ideas I had for videos that were never made so I was trying to track them here.  So the original concept was before the SelfActuate video there is the blog. Hence "Before You Actuate".  However since then it has taken on a bit of a different meaning.  I've always been into fitness but more so recently.  Now the title has come to mean "before you try this be prepared" or for geeks "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this."  So my new goal is to put together what I'm doing fitness wise and share what I find and let you know if it works or not.  Hope your enjoying so far!

/Actuator/

PS: I should have some new videos up soon and they may even be health related!