Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 44

Day 44 is the first lower-body workout of week 7. It is just a "regular" burnout workout in which you have four blocks consisting of a weighted exercise that you do for three one-minute sets and a band exercise that you do for 40 seconds. In this workout, you do sumo deadlifts, front-loaded lunges, side lunges, and calf raises as the weighted exercises, and the band exercises are things like pulse kicks, deadlifts, and pigeon calf raises. Some exercises use the various tempos, and others do not. So, it is a good workout that definitely tires you out by the end.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Cheers: Season 9

 

The 26-episode 9th season of Cheers aired during the 1990/1991 TV season. All of the main cast returned for the ninth season, as did some of the major recurring cast, led by Bebe Neuwirth, who reprised her role as Lilith, and included Jackie Swanson as Woody's girlfriend, Kelly, and Roger Rees as Robin Colcord. The celebrity guest stars/cameos this season included former Boston Celtic Kevin McHale, Arsenio Hall, Bobby Hatfield, former Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, and John McLaughlin. McLaughlin hosted the 200th episode anniversary special, which included a cold open, but then was essentially a panel discussion with the cast and showrunners. The panel did include Shelly Long, but at least as it was presented on the DVD, she did not say anything; they just had a couple of reaction shots of her. Otherwise, the show continued to mainly be a story-of-the-week procedural with some serial arcs included. The most prominent serial arcs were the tease of whether Sam and Rebecca would get together, and Frasier and Lilith becoming parents. 

The Blu-ray set is a three-disc set, and as of this writing, it remains available only on Blu-ray in the complete series release. The individual season is only available on DVD (which is a five-disc set). The A/V quality of the episodes is good, but not outstanding. There are times when the video looks closer to DVD quality than what you would expect from Blu-Rays. There are no bonus features, although the 200th episode is more akin to a bonus feature than a regular episode. The episodes can be played with English captions. 

The series continues to be good, but the storylines absolutely became repetitive by the 9th season. The writers did a good job of balancing the storylines to give all the cast members good material to work with, and Bebe Neuwirth continued to steal nearly every scene she was in. Some of the jokes are still outdated and cringeworthy, but not as much as those in the early seasons. Ultimately, if you liked the prior seasons, you will probably enjoy this one (unless you really only liked Long's character, Diane).

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 43

Day 43 was the start of week 7. It switched back to upper-body to start the workout and introduced both a new tempo (4x4) and a new format. This week, you pre-fatigue the muscle group you will be working in the block with a burnout exercise, and then you do four forty-second sets of the weighted exercise. So, in the first block, you do 60 seconds of push-ups at the 4x4 tempo, and then four sets of chest presses, doing a 3x1 tempo.  In block 2, perform the arrow pulls with the bands for 60 seconds, followed by four sets of rotating rows with no tempo. In block 3, you do shoulder raise pulses with the bands for 60 seconds and then four sets of weighted lateral raises. In the final block, you do w-bicep curl pulses with the band for 60 seconds, followed by biceps curls with the 2x2 tempo. So, in each block, you do five total reps. You will be using very light weights in this workout because doing the burnout exercise at the beginning of the block instead of at the end will definitely wear you out. 

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 42

Day 42 was back to the second flexibility and mobility workout of the program. Again, I can tell my flexibility is getting better and my range of motion is improving, ever so slightly.  

Book Review: Dust: The Inside Story of its Role in the September 11th Aftermath

 

Dust, published in 2009, is a book by Paul Lioy, an environmental scientist who was part of a group of scientists that sampled and analyzed the dust at the World Trade Center site after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, focusing on the composition of the toxic materials in the dust. In the book, Lioy discusses what was in the dust, including how factors such as particle size, especially during the actual collapse and shortly after, affected the rescue workers. 

The hardcover version of the book is around 250 pages. The book is informative, but it is not the easiest read. The better the knowledge of chemistry you have, the easier the book is to understand. While Lioy does write it in such a way that it can be understood even if you do not have a chemistry or chemical engineering degree, it is the cross between a news article intended for mass consumption and a peer-reviewed journal article.  It does contain some interesting information, such as how the composition and particle size of the dust changed over various time periods, and why the amount of asbestos in the dust was not as significant an issue as some thought, as well as why they did not test for the presence of DNA in the dust. 

The book does not focus on the actual 9/11 attacks. The discussion on the actual events amounts to a couple of paragraphs at most. So, if that is what you are most interested in, this book may not be for you. But, if you have followed the issues with the illnesses that people who worked at the Trade Center site have experienced, this is worth reading.

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 41

Day 41 was core cardio, so the entire workout was done on the floor, alternating between plank-based exercises, such as mountain climbers, and prone exercises, like dumbbell crunches. The format is the same as the prior weeks. You do four blocks of work, with each block consisting of two exercises that you do back-to-back for 45 seconds, twice. Then you have a burnout block in which you do four of the exercises from blocks 1-4, each for 45 seconds back-to-back with no rest between them. So, again, this is not a traditional cardio workout from programs like P90X, Insanity, or even Lift 4, but it does get your heart rate up, and every exercise works your core. 

Book Review: Hunters of Dune (#22 Chronological Order)

 

Hunters of Dune, published in 2006, is the first book of a two-part continuation to the Dune series of novels, first created by Frank Herbert and continued by Frank's son Brian, and his co-author Kevin J. Anderson. Brian Herbert and Anderson had written a series of prequel novels that detailed different eras that were mentioned in Frank Herbert's original novels, which essentially set up the story in the original six books. They then discovered notes and an outline detailing Frank's plan to complete the story, which would tie all the eras together. The events of this book begin three years after the cliffhanger in Frank Herbert's final novel in the series, Chapterhouse: Dune, in which the no-ship Ithaca, carrying Duncan Idaho, Miles Teg, Sheeana, Scytale, and the seven sandworms, escaped from Chapterhouse, the Bene Gesserit world that had been taken over by Murbella, who has united the Honored Matres and Bene Gesserit. The no-ship had been in an alternate universe, hiding from the "Great Enemy" from whom the Honored Matres were running when they returned from "The Scattering." When the ship returns from the alternate universe, they are pursued by the Face Dancers, the Honored Matres/Bene Gesserit, and the Great Enemy.

The hardcover version of the book is just under 530 pages. The story flows well and is much easier to follow than any of the novels in the "second trilogy." In fact, it helped me to understand the story in Chapterhouse Dune much better than I did after reading it. The events in the book span 19 years and lay the groundwork for a battle that will tie together all the eras of Dune. It would be too much of a spoiler to explain precisely how, but it involves the identity of the "Great Enemy" and the cloning technology of the Tleilaxu. While some people hate the novels by Brian Herbert and Anderson, I believe that their novels are as good, or better than some of the books that Frank wrote. Regardless of where you fall in that debate, this is worth reading to see how the story will end.

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 40

Day 40 was the second upper-body workout of the week. It is a burnout workout, so you do three sets of the same exercise in each block (front raises in block 1, pullovers in block 2, chest presses in block 3, and W-triceps kickbacks in block 4), followed by a band or bodyweight exercise to burn the muscle group out. It is another challenging workout in which I had to drop-set many of the exercises.  

CD/Music Review: Adele: 25

 

25, released in 2015, is Adele's third studio album and the follow-up to her multi-award-winning 21. Where 21 was a breakup album, the songs on this one take a more reflective and "moving on" or "making up" tone. The album has 11 tracks in all. The smash hit from this album is the single "Hello," which debuted at number 1 on the Top 100. The other singles, "When We Were Young," "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)," and "Water Under the Bridge," all made it into the Top 30, with the last one peaking at number 8. 

Like the songs on her prior album, this one has a mix of ballads and more upbeat tracks. While "Hello" is the biggest hit (and best song) from the album, all the songs are wonderful and showcase Adele's vocal talent. The CD liner contains pictures from the recording sessions, production notes for the various tracks, and a thank-you note from Adele. It does not include the song lyrics, however. Ultimately, 25 was one of the best, if not the best, albums of the mid-2010s, and is absolutely worth listening to. 

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 39

Day 39 was the second lower-body workout of the week, and unlike the first, this one follows the Dirty MOFO format. Today, the four exercises are alternating front-loaded squats, goblet sumos, swings, and bridges. Of course, the idea is to increase the amount of weight you use for the first three sets and then stay with the heaviest weight you can for the final two sets. I found that my range of motion was much better for all the exercises, and the only exercise in which I had to drop the weight back down to what I started with was the swings. For the others, I was able to stay with either the heaviest weight or the medium weight. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Black Sails Season 3

 

The 10-episode third season of Black Sails aired in the winter and spring of 2016. All the main cast members return for season three, and there are two notable additions to the main cast. First, Luke Roberts, the newly appointed Royal Governor of the Bahamas, named Woodes Rogers, who travels to Nassau to take control of the colony from the pirates, with Eleanor Guthrie serving as an advisor, who has agreed to help him in exchange for a pardon. The other is Ray Stevenson, who plays Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard. Much of the season involves various groups aligning in the bid to control Nassau.

The blu-ray set is a three-disc set. All the bonus content is on the third disc. There is about 50 minutes, give or take, of bonus content, including a season 2 recap, several behind-the-scenes featurettes, and featurettes on the new characters, Woodes Rodgers and Blackbeard. The A/V quality is again excellent this season, with the episodes looking and sounding wonderful in HD.

The show continues to be excellent. While there is less violence and nudity/sexual content on the whole this season, there is still some of each, so it is definitely not family-friendly. A couple of major characters are killed off this season, which will have reverberations into season 4. I will not spoil who they are, but if you have read the book Treasure Island, you know who it cannot be. Ultimately, if you enjoyed the first two seasons of the show, you will like this one. It remains well-written and very well acted, and is absolutely worth watching.

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 38

Day 38 was a total-body workout. Like the other total-body workouts in the program, this focuses more on cardio and muscular endurance, so only a few of the exercises use weights. Most of them rely solely on your body weight. And, for the couple of exercises for which you do use weight, it is a single light dumbbell. The first two blocks in the workout have a lot of squats and lunges, and the other two use more plank-based exercises.

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 37

Day 37 was the first upper-body day, following the Dirty MOFO format. So, you do four exercises (narrow chest presses, back flys, push presses, and hammer curls) for the 60, 40, 20, 40, 60 time intervals, increasing the amount of weight as the time goes down, and then trying to stay with the heavy weight as time goes back up. Each exercise uses one of the tempos (either 3x1, 1x3, or 2x2). Even Joel was using lighter weights and dropped to a weight lighter than what he started with a couple of times. So, this one was definitely no joke. 

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 36

Day 36 was the first workout of week 6. It was a lower-body workout to start off this week, and Joel hinted that this week will be a mash-up of what we did throughout the prior five weeks. This workout was a superburnout workout that utilized all the tempos we had used during previous workouts. So, some exercises use the 3x1 tempo, some use the 1x3, and some use 2x2. This workout has squats, deadlifts, lunges, and calf raises, and works quite a bit on balance. Overall, a very good workout.  

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Cheers: Season 8

 

The 26-episode 8th season of Cheers aired during the 1989-1990 TV season. It can be argued that this was the season in which the series peaked, earning multiple awards. All of the main cast members returned for Season 8. Unfortunately, Bebe Neuwirth was still just a member of the recurring cast, despite stealing every scene she was in as Lilith. She won the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy that year. The other significant recurring cast member this season was Roger Rees, who played an English mogul named Robin Colcord, who was brought in as a love interest for Rebecca and a partial foil for Sam. The guest cast this season included Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Conroy, Alex Trebek, and Bill Medley. The show continues to blend a story-of-the-week procedural format with serial arcs. This season, the big serial arcs are Sam's quest to buy back Cheers from the corporation that owns it and Rebecca's relationship with Robin (and sexual tension with Sam). 

The blu-ray set is a three-disc set. It does not include any bonus content, but the episodes can be played with English captions. The A/V quality is overall very good, but there are times when the picture looks more like standard definition than an upgraded HD transfer. 

The series continues to be good. As the show transitioned from the 1980s to the 1990s, some of the more outdated comedic elements were less prominent. The writers did a very good job balancing storylines for the large ensemble cast, with each cast member getting at least one episode centered around him or her. There are a couple of hilarious Lilith and Frasier episodes, including ones involving Lilith's pregnancy and giving birth. Cliff also has a very good episode in which he is a contestant on Jeopardy. Ultimately, if you have liked the series up to this point, season 8 is worth watching.

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 35

Day 35 was flexibility and mobility, specifically going back to the first version of the routine from week 1. I can tell my flexibility is getting a little better, but unfortunately, I have gotten to the point where I do not think it will ever get to where I want it to be again. Maybe if I can lose another 10-15 lbs, and get to the point where I can "easily" do P90x yoga (or as easily as I could do it about 15 yrs ago), it will get to where I want it, but I am not sure how realistic that is. However, I will continue to strive for improvement and make progress.  

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 34

Day 34 was core cardio (with the switch-up of the workouts this week, it came on Day 6). Like the prior core cardio workouts, it uses some weights, but it is mostly bodyweight exercises (and a lot of plank work). It was a good workout. Absolutely more challenging at the end of the week versus the middle of the week.

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 33

Day 33 was the second upper body workout of the week, and it did indeed follow the "dirty MOFO" format. So, we did 4 exercises, chest press, lateral raise, back flys, and biceps curls, for five sets, one minute, forty seconds, twenty seconds, forty seconds, and one minute, going up and down in weight. Weight selection is key to this workout, starting with a light enough weight that you can increase the amount of weight you use in the two subsequent sets. However, even Joel was drop setting mid-set multiple times during the workout. So, this one is definitely not easy.

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 32

Day 32 was the second leg day of the week. This one followed the traditional superburnout format, with three blocks, each with two exercises, one of which used the 1x3 tempo. Then you had the fourth burnout block, which used bands. In this workout, you do some variation of squats, lunges, deadlifts, swings, and calf raises. Joel hinted that tomorrow's upper body workout will follow the dirty MOFO format, so that should be fun. 

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 31

Week 5 continues to switch things up, this time by moving the total body workout, which is usually on Day 6, to Day 3. Basically, swapping total body and core cardio in the workout order. This one was a tough workout that included some weighted exercises and some bodyweight exercises. Some of the exercises are compound, working two muscle groups at a time (like legs and shoulders, biceps and triceps, etc.). Another tough, but doable one.

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 30

Day 30 was the first upper-body workout of week five. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, it does not use the dirty MOFO format that the lower-body workout used. It has the traditional four blocks; the blocks this week worked shoulders, chest, back, and triceps. This is a burnout workout, so after the third set in each block you do a burnout move either with bands or bodyweight (push-ups). At least one exercise in each block did use the 1x3 tempo that was introduced in yesterday's workout, which was very tough when doing the push-ups. So, overall, another good workout. 

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 29

Day 29 was the start of week 5, which completely switches up the workout structure. First, it goes back to the lower body starting the week. Second, this uses what Joel hilariously refers to as a "dirty MOFO" format. You only do four exercises in the entire workout, one in each block, front-loaded squats in the first block, sumo deadlifts in the second block, weighted bridges in the third block, and alternating reverse lunges in the fourth block. 

The twist is that you ultimately do five sets in each block, and you increase the amount of weight you use in the first three sets and then stay with the heaviest weight for as long as you can in the other two. In each block, the first set is the traditional one-minute set, which you do with your lightest weight. Set two reduces the time to 40 seconds, but you increase the weight, and set three reduces the time to 20 seconds, but you use the heaviest weight. Then, set 4 goes back up to 40 seconds, and you try to stay with the heaviest weight. Set five is another one-minute set. Three of the four exercises are performed using a 1x3 tempo, one second up, three seconds down. The sumo deadlifts do not use a tempo. 

Ultimately, this is a very challenging workout that has a huge cardio effect. There is almost no break between the sets at all, and a minimal break between each block. If anyone is old enough to have done the old Body-For-Life workouts, this format is similar in terms of going up and down in weight as you reduce the number of reps you do, but is different in that once you reach the heaviest weight, you try to stick with it instead of dropping back to a lighter weight unless you absolutely have to. 

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 28

Day 28 was the flexibility and mobility day, and alternated to the second routine. While this one is good, I still like the first routine better. Plus, this one was harder because my shoulder was very sore from getting my Flu shot and COVID booster. So, I had a very limited range of motion in my left shoulder, and this routine does a lot of shoulder motion exercises.

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 27

Day 27 was the full-body workout. It is mostly a bodyweight workout, although the first exercise in the first block does use weights. There are some squat pulses and lunges as well as a lot of core work. You actually do end up working all the major muscle groups in the workout aside from your back. It is definitely one of, if not the most challenging workout of the program so far.

Workout Update: 25 Minute Speed Train: Day 26

Day 26 was the second lower-body day of week 4. It is a superburnout workout, so the fourth block is a burnout block using bands. The format is similar to the other superburnout workout, in which an "unbalanced" exercise is performed with a "balanced" one (meaning one exercise is using one leg loaded, then switching to the other leg, and the other exercise works both legs at the same time). This workout includes variations of squats, lunges, deadlifts, and calf raises. Overall, a good, challenging workout.