C3...25-Year HS Reunion...Choosing LIFE CHALLENGE!!!

What up blends??? C2 down...C3 to go! I gotta get some pics taken soon. I know you are all dying for an update (Yeah right!) . It's Spring Break and I am in windy, rainy, chilly Indiana! Good times! Actually, it is nice to just chill and be with the family and catch up on bills, honey-do lists, etc, etc. I took last week off and I am rearing to go as Spring is here and everything is new and fresh. We here in Indiana are adjusting to our new Daylight Savings Time clocks and to be honest it is a bit strange. It is dark until 7:00 AM and light at 8:00 pm....strange! Anyway.....on to some motivational stuff........

This official C3 challenge is getting me totally pumped up. I have named it the above title in honor of the fact that, at age 42, I am CHOOSING LIFE....TODAY....TOMORROW....and I ain't lookin' back no way, no how! Needless to say, (like many of us) my high school years were so-so and disappointing from an athletic standpoint. I have allowed that to haunt me as an adult and quite frankly, I am tired of it. So.......off with the "old" and on with the "new!" While a bunch of you will be sailing the Caribbean on the BFL Cruise (lucky ducks ;)~) I will be attending my 25th high school reunion. I am really looking forward to seeing old friends and catching up with some people I haven't seen in, well, 25 years! I went to my 10 year and that was ok. I am hoping attendance will be better at this silver anniversary gathering. I think everybody has mixed emotions about these types of gatherings. I do, as well, but my purpose is to go to enjoy others and see how everybody is doing. I can say in my heart that I am not trying to impress a damn soul, but it does feel good to be in great shape and full of health.

C3??? It is going to be exciting this time around. My wife (Desira Bull) is rearing to go and really tackle a Challenge for the first time. I am pumped about helping her, too. I am planning some fun goals and rewards for this challenge. I am breaking it into 2 five-week mini-challenges and then a 2-week Bust-a-gut Finale Challenge which will end on June 25th!!! I think I am going to jump into the Indy 500 Mini-marathon with my brother-in-law (shhh...don't tell anybody!) on May 6th to wrap up the first mini-challenge. The second challenge will include another type of race that my wife and I will enter together and then the finale....hmmmmmm....maybe me and Desira will have to have a long, glorious weekend to celebrate!!! Sound like a plan???

Keep visiting and keeping me honest you guys!!

BIG BULL schemin'

Are There Two BIG BULLs???

Hello Everyblend.........Yes, I am still alive........and Yes, I still love all of you BFL bloggin' buddies!!!

Most of all, the BULL has not fallin' off the wagon or nothin' silly like that! I have been hangin' out on the wagon, but off to the side a bit for now. I am proud to say that I stuck to my C2 Carry the Torch "DO OVER" Challenge and finished. Results were interesting this time around.

People have complimented me along the way and that is all well and good. Yesterday, I received the ultimate compliment though. A visitor to our school building had to ask a fellow teacher if there were TWO Mr. BIG BULLS!!! This gal's son and my son played on the same baseball last summer and she wondered aloud if there were two of me, because she did not remember me being SO BUFF!!! How is that for an indirect compliment??? Wowzer!!!

This challenge I worked off a lot of surface weight and began to sculpt a bit for the first time. I dropped about 12 lbs, but have had very solid lifts this time around. I also have thrown in Pilates and Slim n' Six Burn it Up routines to work the core like never before! I am really happy with my results, but keeping a steadier head about the whole thing, because I know this is FOR LIFE..............not some 12-week fling! I guess that is why I am officially a blogger now and not merely a forum guy on Tracker. I am truly in this for life!

So........what is the best compliment that has come your way this time around??? Please do share.......kinda like those old tracker days!

and I will try to be more regular here on Blogville, too!

BIG BULL sharin'

So WHAT'S in your Belly???

Bull bloggin' here! It seems that BFL is here to stay. Did you see the report out this week that lifting weights can reduce belly fat? That deep brown adipose tissue that hunkers down and wraps itself around your midsection and your vital organs. YUP.......they figured it out! Finally!!! Now maybe people won't stare at us like we are aliens from Planet Obsessus!

WORKOUTS???

Oh well, I hope this blog finds you doing well, hitting your 10's and reversin' the curse! Today, I stayed home with my sick 6 year old girl and tended to her feverish sinus infection. We napped for about 3 hours together and it was just what the doctor ordered for both of us. I have been struggling as of late for several reasons and it has taken its toll on me physically. I have been doing a pretty good job of staying on workouts and have made a renewed commitment to my LBWO's (which can easily go by the wayside, if you let 'em). I wrapped up a 30-day Colonix treatment and that may have had some effect on my past month. My weight jumped up a few pounds, but my waist is shrinking and my upper body is massing. So, I can't complain. Rod...I saw your latest "flex" pics and they were awesome! I will take a few of those and post them this weekend. (I sure hope my students don't peruse my blog!) Bethkk.......should I worry about that???

EATING???

Let's see...........eating has been pretty good! Could it be better......YES!!! My biggest challenge is late night snacking and late meal portion control. Anybody out there with the trick to beating that monster??? I also have changed some things up. I was taking L-Glutamine, ThermodynamX, CLA, Flaxseed, multi-vitamin, Vitamin C (1000 mg) and Glucosamine Chondrotin. I dropped the Thermo, L-glut last week cause I ran out. I am going to pick up the L-glut and drop the Flax when I run out of that. Is that random or what?? Any suggestions??? I swear by the multi-vitamin, GC and Vitamin C which I have taken daily for years. I also have added twice daily a mixture of collard greens, red cabbage and kale to my salads, tuna and cottage cheese concoctions. It is some high quality leafy greens and fiber that has been a great addition to my diet. I am pretty happy overall with my eating these days! Now.......ABS........come out, come out wherever you are!!!

SLEEPING???

This is where I need to improve the most! I am going to try to hit the sack between 9-10 pm the rest of this challenge. I know if I do this that my results will be amplified! Sleeptime is that magic fat-fighter.........oh....and don't forget your multi-vitamin to keep that metabolism burnin' through the night!

BIG BULL checkin' in

Whooooday???

Whoooday??? The tension building. The fans all face-painted and pumped UP! Conversations stirring across the gymnasium. Game officials attending to pre-game duties. The players going through their last minute warm-ups and preparations. Starters readying themselves to take the floor. The national anthem ceremoniously played. And then...the moment the fans have been waiting for....player introductions.

As each starting player from the opposing team is announced, the rowdy home crowd (with backs turned to the floor) pose the question of the night in unison, "WHOOOODAY!!!???"

Who is the opponent??? Ahhhh....yes...in youthful and playful fashion they have identified the opponent and dare to ask, "WHOOOODAY???" It begs of me to ask who is my opponent??? Have I identified my opponent?? Do I even know for what it is I fight?? And dare I turn my back on my opponent and ask, "WHOOODAY???" in almost an irreverant tone? And then, am I bold enough to face my opponent down in the battle and fight valiantly for the prize???

Wow! What questions are bouncing around in my head! I must go muse on this some more.....and try to figure out exactly..... "WHOOOODAY???"

BIG BULL musin'

From my F-List to my M-List........

YOU don't want to be on my "F-List"......I am tellin' you right now! Ain't nobody wanna be on the BULL's F-List!! Kids in my classes always ask me, "Is this for a grade???" . I tell 'em, "Life is for a GRADE....Don't FAIL!" Then they just stare at me (like I am in a storefront window), wondering if that person standing there is real or fake.

Actually, my F-list is really just my "February-List." My list of things to get done before February (the longest shortest month of the year) goes away. Do you have an "F-List"?? I am sure you do somewhere. And like mine, your F-list morphs into your M-list somehow and someway and the parade of 2006 continues to "march" on to the same percussive cadence that says, "Pick it up...no slackin'...the parade ain't over yet!"

I have a problem this year..........I need a leap year to get me just one more day in February or maybe I will just have to arrange that myself and pretend I have one more day. Shoot....what do you think people who are born on February 29th do??? That could really mess your brain up! Anyway, here I sit on February 26th, strategizing for today and tomorrow and tomorrow's tomorrow. Hmmmmmm............maybe wrapping up this non-sensical attempt to blog intelligently or at least interestingly enough to keep you reading this silliness would be a good start! Yea......that's the ticket!

Before I leave though I want to share this most awesome thought I just had..........
My oldest child (boy) turned 17 years old yesterday and he/we celebrated by landing his first "payroll" job as a dishwasher!! Ahhhhh.........remember your first paying job??? It is kinda like this whole BFL thing. You just do it and it is altogether exciting and a job you wish away for bigger and better things. Then all of a sudden its a year later and your BFL body and workouts are taking on a life of their own and the best part.........you are working smarter now!! My son will soon be there in the part-time "working" world. A year from now he will wonder from whence he came. He will laugh at how green he was in that first job and how it totally sucked to be a bottom-feeding dishwasher in the restaurant world. But he will look at all he has learned and how he has grown. He will see his first car and think, "Yeah, baby!" He will have graduated to a better pay and better grunt work somewhere else. He will be heading for graduation and have "money in the bank" (if he stops dinging up my cars!) He has the world by the tail and the BEST IS YET TO COME!!!

Wait a minute...........was I just typing about my life??? That IS how I feel about my life, as I wrap up my F-list and begin to create my M-list! What an AWESOME feeling to be able to stare life down, right in the face and LIVE DELIBERATELY!! In fact (don't tell my son this), I am in even a better place, because just like when I started my C2 "Carry the Torch" DO-OVER Challenge (God Bless ya, Julie!) I have knowledge on my side this time! Ain't nothing going to stop me from "writing my name in the water", "cutting broad swaths" and "building castles in the air", because now I have the knowledge to lay the necessary foundations under those castles and chase those elusive dreams once and for all! Ahhhhhhhhh.............the good life....living deliberately........and............the best part.......it doesn't matter what age you find yourself...REACH FOR IT....GRASP IT....ATTAIN IT!!!

Oh and don't forget.........LIFE IS FOR A GRADE....DON'T FAIL!!!

BIG BULL officially bloggin'

P.S.............What's on your M-List???

Rod...the Bod....and the Clod

(in "Amazing Carnac" fashion...)

Who is BIG BULL's friend?......
BIG BULL's idol?.....
and BIG BULL on the cable row machine?

As I make some transitions from Tracker to Blogger here is my post about our first workout this past Wednesday...

Don't let Rod the Bod fool ya......that man can flat out pump iron!!!
My God....he put me through the ropes....I barely can belly up to the keyboard here and type! I don't know what he puts in his Wheaties, but lets just say that Rod is "THE REAL DEAL!"
It was an honor and a privilege to workout with a BFL veteran like you, Rod! And I promise to never whimp out on the cable rows again......Rod almost took the whole stack 200 lbs on his set of 6 reps!!!!!!!!! I was smiling on the outside, but feeling the Colonix moving on the inside when I stepped up to meet that same challenge! Let's just say Rod absolutely buried me on the cable rows!
The best part of the lift was when we super-setted our tricep/bicep routine to wrap up a solid 1 hour workout and were just absolutely spent at the end! Do we look pumped up there in the pic???

Final Tally........ALL-IN.......ALL-EVEN!
Chest - push

Shoulders - push

Back - Rod

Triceps - push

Biceps - BIG BULL

A great time was had by all and Rod had the photog of the day with that awesome bicep curl pic showin' what he is made of........pure determination!

TEAM ALL-INdiana is alive and well!!!................BIG BULL reflectin'

Hey Tracker-Buds, Blends and Bloggers

Uhhhhhhhh..........now what? Am I supposed to say something? Am I supposed to sound intelligent in front of the class? This reminds me of my first day teaching way back when. I am speechless!!!!!!

BIG BULL blogstruck!