A rough work scheduled messed me up at times like week but I was able to hit the gym a few times last week. I definitely went Friday, did mostly warmup and low-weight reps while hanging up with Ed. Saturday I did a much more aggressive set and had to take off Sunday because of work.

But this week my schedule is much clearer so I got a good start on the week today by doing some core exercises.

I've totally neglected my core and it shows. Stomach is huge in proportion with the rest of my upper body. The thing with your core is that you can't tone that shit overnight. It takes time and a lot of painful exercises. So I did dumbbell side lifts, barbell twists and some straight up and down wood chops.

Core is good, sometimes it doesn't work up the sweat you want so I did 20 minutes on the elliptical to feel refreshed.

Man I slacked on this all week and I have no excuse for it.

8/15 was Superset Saturday and it lived up to the billing. Scheduled for a 16-exercise set and I made it through 9 or 10, which was my third set of bench press. My chest felt like it was going to explode.

First bench set was a 10-8-5-3-2 with inclining weights.

Then 3-x-10 on the hammer strength incline
3-x-10 pec flyes
3-x-10 reserve flyes (rear delts)

Back to the bench for 3-x-8 at 155

3-x-10 pullovers with a shoulder top
3-x-10 sit down row

Back to the bench for another 3-x-8 at 155

Back to hammer strength include for a 3-x-10
Then a dumbbell include at a 10-8-5-3-2 inclining weights.

And I tapped out before the fourth set of bench.

So I took 8-16 off and did light work on 8-17, mostly cardio and a few sets of dumbbell curls and other band work.

8-18 I did a 7-exercise set. Two sets of Lat pulls, barbell curls, dumbbell curls, sit down row, upright row, shoulder shrugs. Good stuff.

Took off 8-19 and did about 30 minutes of cardio 8-20 and prepping for a superset Saturday tomorrow. Hopefully I'll reach 10 exercises.

I damn near forgot what I did on the 12th.

I think I did 21-22 minutes of elliptical and some hammer strength incline press work. Place was getting kind of crowded so I didn't do more.

Opted to take Thursday off and enjoy some sushi with Karla. It's weird to be somewhat attracted to a woman 16 years older but she's still looks good and is keeping it together.

Went back to the gym today and thankfully Ed's back off his vacation. I always feel like I have a better workout with Ed around. He had a client so he could help me out but I did some back work until I felt something tweak.

First circuit (All 15 - 12 - 10 with weights moving up)

Lat Pulldowns
Bent Over Barbell Row
Shoulder Shrugs

Second circuit

Sit down Row
Close-grip Lat Pulldowns
Cable Pullovers

I struggled with the form on the pullovers and in my second cycle through the weights I felt something tweak. I don't fuck with back pain so I stopped.

Saturday should be a big deal. I have 12-15 exercises on the docket. Mostly chest and arms stuff.

On Tuesday, I was happy/sad to see my cousin leave. Happy because I need to get my shit straight and get back to eating better and working out more. The all-you-can-eat NY Strip at Texas Cattle Company on Monday wasn't my smartest idea.

Sad because he's my cousin and one of my best friends. I'm glad I get to see him each year and it's good to be close to family.

But anyway, I knew I needed to ease back into my workouts with a push/pull cardio day so I did the following

6 min elliptical + 250 meters rowing x 2
6 min elliptical + 400 meters rowing.

Probably should have grinded through to get 500 meters.

After that I did two sets of shoulder shrugs with 50-lb dumbbells and two sets of shoulder front raises with the barbell (45 pounds). Probably should have done some rear delts too.

It's been two days of this post-announcement funk that I've been in. Yesterday I walked around like a man without a country. I was dazed, confused and completely lost.

Today has been a little better, still very frustrating, but at least I went on the offensive. If I have just three weeks left here it's going to be a productive three weeks.

Well it looks like I got the call today.

It was the call I wanted but not the message I wanted to hear. My time at ESPN appears to be coming to an end here in the next few weeks. I'm hoping I can maybe squeeze one more signing day show appearance out of the guys but that looks unlikely.

I'm a little upset I guess but overall I'm thrilled that I was part of the machine for almost three years. It was truly a dream come true. Wearing the letters, appearing on the networks...it was everything I thought it would be.

Something will come up sooner than later I'm sure. I think I have a little bit of talent and decent resume. We'll see. It's a difficult transition to go from Corey Long, guy who works for ESPN to Corey Long, guy who works. I want to laugh, I want to cry. End of the day I just want to be able to say thank you to all the people that made it possible from my dear friend Kellie to my boss David.

...I know when it's time to blog here again because I'm usually reading a ton of my old blog posts. I really would like to come back to this thing full time but I can't commit to anything right now.

I got a lot on my mind. That's really nothing new as I have always embraced the clutter in my head. I feel quite happy with a lot on my mind. It keeps me from feeling a sense of worthlessness or a lack of accomplishment. If I have nothing on my mind, what purpose do I serve?

I've probably been working legally for about 17 years and 15 of those years I've made my money in the journalism industry. Mostly newspapers and then to more specialized publication and now through wires and online media as an "independent contractor". But over the next seven days it will be judgment time in my career. Maybe things will break right and I'll continue to do what I love with some financial stability or it's time to move on. It's a difficult move because I've always tried to be loyal to the business even when the business (or maybe the people behind the business) proved itself (or themselves) to be a fraud to the people that fought so hard to protect it.

The jobs, while similar in description, couldn't be much different. One company wants to see how far I am willing to go to work for them. Will I pay my own travel for an interview? Will I do it quickly so I miss the two-week "cheaper" flight window? Will I spend a year working for a subsidiary without the good company benefits? The other company is probably considered to be at least part of the industry standard but they move at a speed that is generously described as slow. So at this point I leave it to fate. Either I'm still going to be here or I won't. Nothing more or less. If it doesn't work I'll move on. I can move on. Five years ago I wouldn't have been able to, now I could do it without blinking. It's time for bed

Labels: Employment in America