Long Weekend

I played Dodgeball Wednesday Night, then again on Thursday night. I often find myself being given the ball to make a throw, not so much for my power because there are plenty of people on my team that throw harder than me, but more for my accuracy or ball placement. I can generally pick someone off from across the court, tagging their ankle by throwing where its going to be while in motion and hit dead on. I am really good at follow up throws and tend to have the most stamina on my team(s); when other teammate's arms are hurting, I'm barely getting warmed up.

That being said, my arm got worked the last five days.

Friday I went to play catch and hit some baseballs with some friends. I took another Spark figuring why not, my diet's poor, might as well get some vitamins and what not in. Going to play outside in the hot sun. I don't want to black out on the mound. I pitched for about an hour, wasn't throwing too hard but for some reason it seems more difficult throwing a baseball than a dodgeball and I could feel it wearing on me later on. I ceased playing about two hours in because people wanted to go home (they got to the park and played about an hour before me) and to save my arm for Saturday.

I played for about three hours in the championships on the following Saturday. My team (half on Spark) took 2nd place in both Open and Coed. Did the Spark help? Maybe. We had a solid team this season. Those few individuals that I shared the Spark with said they felt more energetic. One said he felt it immediately, so already I was thinking he was "believing" to feel it, but watching him play like a crack addict hours later kind of says differently. Now that could be a combination of things, psycho-somatic, better diet (then what I practice) or the fact that we were all just amped to go out and dominate. For whatever reason, it still worked for me. I was jittery, but in a "I'm really to play" sort of way. I had speed, I had power, I had everything I needed at my disposal. The only thing I lacked was the discipline to stay focused and make the necessary plays to help my team win. We were just outgunned that day, but the Spark experiment seems to prove itself more and more. It can't win championships but it can provide me with the other necessary elements.

The following Sunday, I went back out to the baseball fields to throw some pitches, hit some balls and play catch and I realized that I had used my arm for five days straight. Normally, when I throw a football, dodgeball or baseball for a prolonged period of time in one day its shot for at least 24 hours. I can throw the next day, but it hurts. As I rotate my shoulder during the typing of this sentence I feel like if needed, I could go play some games of Dodgeball, pitch a few innings of baseball or toss the football around no problem.

It would seem the Spark also serves as a type of muscle repairer type thing. That or its just getting the necessary whatever it is muscles need to get worked without being significantly damaged. Either way, I've got no complaints.

Pete, our supplier and one of the trainers (who will be taking the place of the our current trainer while he is away) provided me with a trial of Muscle Fuel. Long story short, I bought another packet of Spark (to try this passed weekend for the Dodgeball tournament because the shipment had yet to come in) but since he didn't have change, he equated the difference with an extra Spark packet and Muscle Fuel.

Score.

Tasted like a jaeger bomb. Our current trainer, Mike, still had no problem kicking my ass however I still feel like I can run and do more. While Spark gives me more energy, this Muscle Fuel did just that. Normally I would have quit but I was able to keep digging deep, the repetitions, though getting more difficult, weren't impossible. Sure, for the longest time my arms were shaking and it was difficult to perform a simple function such as lift my gym bag from the car without concentrated effort, but I felt a difference. The best way to describe it is to say there is working out on an empty stomach, which is awful and there is working out on a well fed, balanced diet full of the necessary carbs and nutrients serve by someone who knows what they're doing. There is scarcity and there is the optimum. Advocare seems to be providing the optimum. What I do with it is what's going to make the difference.

I feel good. I feel like I worked as hard as I needed to without utterly destroying myself and I feel I could continue on my day and probably will, the possibility of rejoining my kung fu class and re-starting the Armstrong Pull-Up Program (as I skipped last week). Now that the shipment has come in I completed my workout with a Post-Workout Recovery Sports Drink instead of muscle milk, or worse, nothing. These packets run about $3.40 a pop. Muscle Milk, depending on where you get it and if its on sale, can run about .50 cents cheaper per unit but as I have heard from multiple trainers, contains more protein than what is needed and may counteract one that is trying to trim the extra pounds. I have heard that chocolate milk is the best thing to try, but its only a "if all else fails" post workout recovery drink. The PWRSD blended fairly easily, tasted okay and seems to have settled in my stomach just fine. I guess we'll see how sore I am tomorrow and the day after. Generally, after a work out with Mike, I am sore in whatever area we worked (with the exception of abs) for two to three days.

There are three more products that were included in my initial order - Catalyst, Thermo-Plus and Slam. Slam is their answer to 5 hour Energy which, I thought Spark was. If Spark isn't their answer to 5 Hour Energy, then Slam scares the shit out of me. Catalyst is supposed to help with muscle recovery and trim while Thermo-Plus is supposed to be some kind of meal replacement thing; which was more for my roommate who has, almost for the entire year been my work out buddy and has different goals. I want to gain weight, he wants to lose it. We've both been pushed to our limits in the last four weeks. More so than ever before, maybe since Basic Training for me. Either way, we're both excited to see what these products will do. If they're anything like Spark...