"Life Can be Hazardous to Your Health"

In the last couple of weeks or so, the press has been saturated with stories involving needless deaths and crusades to alleviate the dangers of everyday household objects. Three of  the items that I'm referring to (There were more but I can't seem to recall now) were the deaths of the Georgian luger at the Olympics, the trainer at Sea World who was killed by a "Killer Whale' and the recent crusade in the news to ban hot dogs because they are so dangerous.

I also noticed that in each case of the deaths, people were immediately looking to place blame. People want life to be perfect. Do you think there was ONE time when that luger got on his "sled" that he didn't think it might not be his last? Let me see, the object is to go the fastest but someone was at fault for making it too fast? Will padding around the columns REALLY make a difference when a body hits it at 90+ mph? The day the trainer at Sea World died the headlines read "Who is to Blame?". For crying out loud, the woman daily got into a tank with a "Killer Whale"... do you suppose there's ANY way to make such a proposition absolutely fool proof? My parents taught me to be careful when I ate small round objects (hot dogs). When I was too young to take responsibility, they cut them in half for me. I did the same for my son (although I did have to give him the Heimlich once when he was choking on some backyard leaves he had ingested one fall day).

Perhaps you've all detected my innate tendencies towards the dramatic, but beyond my personal quirkiness, doesn't anyone else feel we are neutralizing the ups and downs of life to create a vanilla backdrop to a soundtrack of white noise? Is life without the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" truly better? Or do we need someone to blame and pay to equalize the outrageous fortune part. People who deal with their own mortality each day are some of the only people who are embracing life to its fullest. I heard a quote this week; "Fate leads those who follow but drags those won't". I tend to think that those who follow will generally have a better time of it than those who are dragged to an indiscriminate fate. 

So, how does this apply to me? While I'm not nearly defying death on a daily basis, I have made some decisions regarding my career that some consider foolhardy. If I hadn't made the decisions I've made though, the decisions would have been made for me to a less than desirable outcome. On one hand, I've been encouraged by friends who know me and feel I've thought this through. Others have not been so encouraging and seem to think I should either hang on to this job tooth and nail till I'm of retirement age or declare a "disability" status and hobble any future career progress while I sit by and collect a percentage of my current salary. Granted, our standard of living will not be the same but who said the ability to live in the burbs and to be able to afford a new car every 4 years was the standard of a good and happy life? Yep, I'm taking a gamble. Yep, it might not turn out exactly like I want. All I know is that "My fate" has determined that a retirement from an IT career is simply not going to happen. It's nobodys' fault. I can follow the flow, make some decisions or get dragged to the inevitable kicking and screaming...

My blog is going to change drastically from here on. I've made some decisions, set some goals, and I'm going to have very little time other than to post a quick weekly status for those of my friends who care. If I have anything I feel is worthwhile to my friends in the fitness community in general, I'll post a heads up on facebook. All are welcome to peruse and comment however on a weekly basis.

I've checked out almost a dozen different personal trainer certifications.. (NESTA, NPTI, NASM, ACSM, NSCA, NCSF, NFPT, ACE, IFPA, ISSA, AFAA). The NSCA-cpt option seems to hold the most respect industry wide. It is also the hardest to obtain. I've a copy of the text book they suggest for test preparation and it looks like it'll take quite a bit to digest. I'm amazed at the detail included and am humbled by how much I don't know. If I can finish a chapter a week It'll take 6 months. Soo... it's a race against the clock... I need to finish the certification process before I outlive my usefulness to my current employer.

My wife has gone through sinus surgery this week and I've spent most of my time trying to make her comfortable and try and keep up the house doing the things she's particularly adept at in keeping life manageable. As far as exercise goes, I've actually taken a vacation! I haven't worked out or tracked meals in over 4 days. It is wonderful to be able to move without any DOMS related pain! It's been years since I've let my self rest this much. I'm in major transition and I'd been wondering how to schedule my workouts (i.e. a standard 1x30 min. aerobic + 1 set of muscle group resistance or Crossfit)

Due to my decisions regarding certification however, I start a full workout schedule on Monday with my customary 90+ minutes of hard cardio daily. I'll need to be extra sharp so that I can somehow fit in an hour of effective study daily. 

I'm hoping to attend the Arnold Classic next week. I've volunteered to help with the Crossfit sectional games but I intend to take in as much as I can of the rest of the event (from the perspective of a fitness related professional).

Thank you all who've supported and made constructive comments regarding this endeavor. I've learned a lot doing this so far and I'll most definitely return with improved insights and a more 'to the point"/concise blog tracking my adventures with the caloric economies of life.