-as of [21 MARCH 2024]–
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*1 AUGUST 2014* –>
(my arms are sore from carrying groceries yesterday)
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*FEBRUARY 2014* –>
(i decided to run from mount’s motel (in lawrenceville) to the princeton shopping center (on a whim))
(an 8 mile run (although i walked down “franklin’s corner road”))
i was just looking for a place to buy food with my foodstamps card…
there were no takers…
i was stranded without my equipment at a motel and john the drunk kept bugging me to come visit him (plying me with booze as usual)…
he ended up going to rehab that night…
and i returned on the bus with a huge stash of food from mccaffrey’s…i also ended up shitting myself after john the drunk locked me out of the house for 40 minutes in the snow (because “his landlady was visiting”)…so i took a shower at his house…and he eventually threw away my shit-stained jeans…the gas station attendant estimated an “8-10 mile” run and so i went for it…it was a cold day…i was dressed in jeans…and the running lanes on route 206 were covered in snow…and i hadn’t run this far in years…i didn’t even have any music to listen to…
i could’ve taken the delaware + raritan canal state park trail (which would’ve only been a 7.7-mile trip)…turns into quaker road which hits “mercer street” (really route 206)…
i also attended a mandatory “yoga class” in march 2014…taught by mark melillo at the corner house…i was there because the princeton rental assistance program suspected i had a “drinking problem” and forced me to attend group sessions (or withhold rental assistance)…it didn’t do much for me…and my left knee was hurting after repeatedly running from the mount’s motel to the quaker bridge mall through snowpiles alongside route 1…
it’s time to get back in shape…spring 2014…prepare for my 30th birthday this summer…i hope my scars will heal by then…my diet (and hygiene) are atrocious nowadays…
may as well get exercise…
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may 2014:
i’m totally out of shape…”skinny fat”…no muscles and a beer gut…and rapidly approaching my 30th birthday…i can’t afford a gym membership (or any decent fitness equipment)…
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SPRING 2009:
(push-ups and sit-ups)
prepare for a summer of sex
(that never ended up materializing)
Bally Total Fitness
(Member since September 2002)
Bally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2007
Weightlifting Music Playlists
(to combat boredom / facilitate adrenaline production)
Weightlifting Winter Cap
(to secure headphones / facilitate perspiration)
Begin a cardiovascular routine in earnest @ college
(before this, a 1-mile run was as far as I was willing to go)
Then I began incorporating 20-minute treadmill sessions into the routine
(to cap off weightlifting workouts)
(speed: 8.5)
(albums of choice: ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ / Beatles albums / ‘Pet Sounds’)
(Abandoned strength routine by the end of my sophomore year at college)
I sporadically worked out at the Bally complex in Springfield NJ during my first summer out of college.
Only to return to the weightroom in earnest during the Fall of 2006
(post-“Finest Hour” sessions)
This time, I was training for a photoshoot
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FALL 2006:
(3 months of training @ bally clark)
(in preparation for december 2006 shirtless photoshoot)
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FALL 2002:
(continued to lift @ bally cambridge)
(finally hit the 300-pound bench press mark)
(315 pounds for 2 reps)
(mountain fitness in watchung)
(my brother spotted me)
(no one gave a shit)
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*FALL 2001*
(by my senior year of high school, i was the strongest player on the football team)
(as measured by bench press)
225 pounds for 9 reps (which equated to “293 pounds” max on the charts we used). i tried and failed that very same testing day (our first day of “camp” in late august) to bench press 300 pounds if only to earn the “300 pound club” designation. i couldn’t cut it (probably because i’d already done the 225 x 9 earlier in the day)…
my high school football coach benedict claimed that alcohol consumption prevented one’s body from rebuilding broken-down muscle fibers for three days. this questionable maxim deterred me from drinking for most of my freshman year of college…
once i got to harvard, i gave up on sports. i flirted with the idea of “walking on” the wrestling team, but the head coach timothy weiss dissuaded me in a one-on-one conference in his office during the first semester. in order to compensate, i became even more of an obsessive weightlifter. i began lifting weights at the cambridge bally total fitness. i downed an extremely gross protein drink after each workout. and i carefully monitored my diet…
and so i recommitted myself to strength training in fall 2003…
by winter break, i’d finally reached the “300 pound” bench press threshold. by then, i was able to bench press 245 pounds for 10 reps (usually without a spotter as i lifted by myself like the lone wolf i am). during winter break, i went to mountain fitness and mounted 315 pounds on the bench press with champ as spotter. i completed two reps. mission accomplished…
after reaching this benchmark, my motivation began to wane…
and i found i’d rather booze (and be social) than lift weights by myself. and so i fell off the weightlifting bandwagon during my freshman spring…
i reintroduced the foods i loved to my diet
(pork roll / egg / cheese sandwiches…burger king…pizza…etc)
new year 2004…i was a sophomore in college…
my new year’s resolution was to get back in shape. i went to mountain fitness (my high school gym in warren NJ) on new year’s day and i was appalled at my weakened state…
still i never quite got back into weightlifting. i’d usually just utilize bally for 20-minute morning runs on the treadmill as a way to efficiently begin the day…
it wasn’t until fall 2006 that i began weightlifting again in earnest. and this was only in preparation for the “tabula rasa” shirtless photoshoot. i lifted for three solid months @ bally sports club in clark until the december photoshoot.
i haven’t lifted in earnest since…
i continued to run on a regular basis
(right up until winter 2011)
then i started to drink heavily
(and i was exiled to the jersey shore)
i would still undertake a 9+ mile bike ride to bally total fitness on occasion…
(or a 3.5 mile run once i moved to brick)
(when i moved to princeton in september 2012, i stopped exercising altogether)
(although without a car, i was forced to do a lot of walking)
(in addition to booze, i also became a heavy cigarette smoker)
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*HIGH SCHOOL GYM CLASS*
(we spent a marking period in the weightroom)
(although i was always more committed to my personal regimen)
(and never wanted to spoil my prior workouts by lifting in gym class)
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*SPRING 1998* –>
(scott shallcross urged me to weightlift as a 8th grader)
i began lifting weights that spring
(before that it was all pushups and situps)
(the old man bought me a weightlifting set for christmas to be set up in the unfinished basement and “uncle bob” toresco drove over to devise me a weightlifting regimen)
(my father was anti-exercise)
(he got by on natural alpha male stubbornness)
(he was saved by his selfishness)
‘you want to die, i don’t want to die’
(neither does paul mccartney or brian wilson)
(my mother got into weightlifting after i did)
(she tried to leg press more weight than me)
(my brother was never a big weightlifter)
(he got by on natural athleticism)
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(i was motivated by a desire to become a ‘professional football player’ (or at least become enough of a standout to attract the hottest dumatalianas in the general area))
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*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
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👈👈👈☜*“STRENGTH TRAINING”* ☞ 👉👉👉
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥