Moose

<dork> m00se be all l00se up in the hizzy. </dork> Well, I missed the last challenge, and I fell, flat faced, off the bandwagon. Not only did I fall off the bandwagon, it backed up and rolled my rump over. Hey, we're only human. (I also took a nasty, fairly theatrical tumble in front of a coffee house, almost landing Madonna style across the hood of someone's car whilst clutching a cup of scalding nuclear-hot coffee in my hand. That is a story for another time.) Here's the skinny: I wasn't able to keep up with a lot of my previous goals in the last challenge, but I did hold tight to the paleo diet. Over the course of the challenge, I lost close to 20 pounds and brought myself back into the high 190's. People were telling me I looked great, and that was a major boost to my self confidence. I was also happy with what I saw when I looked into the mirror. For the first time since high school, I was able to see the 6-pack starting to come back. Training made it hard to do everything (the Tai Chi and the core/ab workouts), especially being so tired in the mornings. Now that spring is here, my coach is cranking the dial up to 11. After the challenge, which landed on my state swimming finals, I figured I would take a well deserved cheat -- which lead to another, then another, then an entire month of dietary cheating. I fell off, and I fell off hard. I also put on 7 pounds, so I'm back in the 200's again. Fine line we walk, eh? (When I mentioned this to my friend, Andy, he said he was going to start following me around with a tuba, family guy style.) Here's the goal: Back on a diet.[/*:m:35gyxgj6]Work those abs, for real this time.[/*:m:35gyxgj6]Hit all of my tri workouts.[/*:m:35gyxgj6]Really get into Tai Chi this time.[/*:m:35gyxgj6]Diet I want to get back to the Paleo diet, or switch over to Bob Seebohar's diet - which was developed for the OTC's triathlon team. Bob Seebohar is an Olympic triathlon coach and nutritionist, and his diet seems to be based on Paleolithic type diets. My coach thought we should talk to him and get a nutritional profile, but I don't have the several hundred dollars required for a consultation. (Wish I did, though.) So, with the diet, it's getting back on the diet (to maintain health and nutrition, not necessarily to lose weight), and to get rid of my addiction to coffee. Abs of Doom With the last challenge, they were playing hide and seek with me. Now, they seem like some sought treasure forever lost in a temple in a Drake's Fortune kind of game. (That would be cool in real life, though. Well, I mean, being Indiana Jones or Drake...) ANYway, yeah... I want me some abs. Perhaps I'll start doing P90x - although I dare say if I do that, then Tai Chi is out for the duration of the P90x session. Keep on Tri-ing There were a few workouts I missed. Mainly the biking workouts because it was harder to get out in the mornings on the bike because of the crazy nature of Colorado spring weather. Can't make excuses this time. The Marathon is next weekend, then I start training for my half IronMan in August. I'll have the T'ai Chi Chuan, please... For core and balance, I would like to get into my Tai Chi training, although if P90x rears it's head, I won't get to this until later this summer. That's me. Guess it's time for Stella to get her groove back... again. Heh.

Scale this morning was sitting at 203 point not. Getting closer and closer. I was a little bit curious this morning and did a quick 3 point calliper pinch-test, and I was sitting right at 9.1% body fat and LBM of 182, which is down from 10.3% and LBM 184 when I started at the beginning of this. 26 days, and I'm down 1.2% body fat? I'm down for that. But I realized that I don't have enough muscle built up underneath to make it look good - so for the time being I'm just skinny when I'm standing up. I'm at a "desired" LBM according to my ACSM manual for my weight, height and body fat, but I really want to get these abs to stick out while I'm working out so much. I still have some loose skin around my belly from losing weight, so when I sit it tends to make my belly look somewhat fat. :roll: I guess It's inspired me to do some major work in the strength training arena, and I'm willing to bet my coach won't object. Dryland training last night was awesome. The swim coach killed my abs, so I was sore for the entire swim workout. But it burns so good.

Alright! Ebbing down toward the 100's slowly; this morning the scale told me I was at 203.7. Tonight, I'm doing a brick, even though this is supposed to be a rest week. 3 Mile run, half an hour of strength, and an hour and a half of swimming - all followed by leftover pot-roast from last night. :3 Meant to wake up and do Tai Chi, but the body was tired.

Yesterday I was at 204.5 when I weighed myself, and today I was at 205.2. Seems this is where my body likes to hover right now, but then again, it's a rest week. Monday nights run felt awesome - I got out to the park with the new shoes. No foot or leg pain, and I was wishing I could have gone another lap. The coach said just do an easy run (no HR zones) so I ran at a comfortable pace, which averaged to an eight and a half minute mile and a cadence between 75 and 80 RPM. These shoes are changing my stride length and technique from what it was when I was running in the vibrams, but I think for the better. As much as I want to love the vibrams, these $50 Nike track waffles are feeling much more natural to me. Paleo is producing some noticeable results; people on my swim team have started asking me if I'm slimming down. Just that is an incentive to keep on with the diet, and now, looking back at older pictures, I'm noticing differences in the way my body looks, and the way I hold myself. I'm craving more workouts. My mom is going to freak out next time she sees me; she thinks that triathletes are too skinny, and now I'm looking more the part. (She saw me reading a Triathlon magazine with Mattie Reed on the cover and asked me about it. She thinks he needs to eat something, to which I replied "As much as he trains, he probably eats as much as you, me and [my stepdad] in one sitting.") Had a few small cheats on the diet: an oatmeal raisin cookie and a bowl of Chicken Pho - which has rice noodles in it. At least the cheats are healthier options than, say, a pack of Reese's peanut butter cups, or a few slices of pumpkin pie. I guess we all need our pig-out food once in a while, as long as we're not justifying eating them on a very consistent basis. Feeling great without coffee. I've only done Tai Chi twice this month. It's so hard to balance the time aspect of it all. If I had some time to clean the house, it might really help. Skipped over a few bike sessions this week, too - which I don't feel good about, but the coach tells me as long as I'm hitting everything in July as far as workouts, we'll be fine. If not, she's coming over and kicking my butt. Weather's partly to blame; these spring snow storms are a bummer, and there's only so much spinning one can do in the kitchen before he goes nuts. (The sweeping vistas that are my kitchen sink...) I will be so happy when spring gets here, and the weather here in Colorado stops being so bi-polar. (We had all four seasons in the span of an hour yesterday. It was crazy!)

The whole weekend I have been hovering around 206 pounds. Swimming and Running on Saturday (of course it snowed on Friday night...) I ran 58 and 1/2 laps at the local indoor track. Talk about monotonous. Swimming was fairly simple, seeing as we were having a flip-turn clinic for the upcoming state championships. Sunday, I was supposed to ride, but I was feeling lazy and cleaned the kitchen I didn't get to last weekend. Recovery week this week, so mileage goes down. Next week, I'm out of base-build and we go into full training. One thing I will give this paleo diet: the return of the 6 pack. This is the first time I've seen any portion of it since high school. Welcome back, old friend. :3

Yesterday and this morning both I came in right at 205.4 pounds. How's that for a little irony? I took a night on Wednesday off so I could clean. The chlorine at the temporary pool was really bad, and one of my swim coaches told me if you can't see the bottom of the pool, then you shouldn't be swimming in it. The Tri coach didn't have my run workout up and posted it later in the day, so I missed it; but I did get a good dry-land workout in with the team. There was a good bit of Pilates, Yoga, and plyometrics. Following the workout last Thursday, we workshopped technique last night at practice. This weekend, the snow is going to be a major pain in my rump. We've got about 6 inches of wet snow that's not sticking to the roads, but tomorrow it's only supposed to be in the thirties. The roads won't be dry enough for me to cycle on Sunday, so I might be cycling in the kitchen. Diet is going fine. Might have some Pho for lunch, since it's so cold out.

Day 16 Yesterday, Woke up and weighed myself: came in at 206.2. This morning, I was down to 204.8. :shock: If things keep going the way they are, I'll be down in the 190's pretty quick. I don't know if I should be that low, I'm getting pretty lean as it is. Perhaps more carbohydrates will help. Doing some research on the matter - as to what my weight should be as a triathlete, I came across this training peaks article. 204 lbs / 81 in... carry the pi... I am at a ratio of 2.5 pounds per inch. It's not like I'm carrying a ton of extra bulk, really. 171 to 186 pounds would put me in the 2.1 to 2.3 ratio. There are a lot of different charts out there that tell you ideal body weight. A few I found said I should be between 185 and 226, one said I should be between 209 and 255. Assuming it was 185 and 226, at a ratio of 2.3 p/i, I would be on the extreme low side of my ideal weight. 2.1 ratio and I would be considered underweight. 171 lbs. puts me at a BMI of 18.3, which is, in fact, underweight. I've seen myself at 190 (back in high school) - and I was scary thin. So, I find myself wondering if I should strive for a 2.2 or 2.3 ratio for competition. I'm definitely not starving - I'm eating well (slash / a lot) and I'm shedding weight. One thing about weight lifting is it's hard for triathletes (especially those silly Mooseses who are training for IronMan) to keep muscle mass. That much cardio just kills any muscle gains you make. Seriously -- my butt is almost gone. I guess this means that I will really have to concentrate on muscle gains in the core and the legs, while maintaining enough arm tone for the swim. I really don't want to start the Michael Phelps diet. Seriously, how did his mom keep him fed before he got all the endorsement deals? Should also add that I had a run before swim practice last night. There was nothing good feeling about this run - everything below the waist was aching and sore. I did a 5 mile recovery run on Monday that wasn't horrid, but I started to hurt the last two miles. After last nights run, I went to swim practice. The pool was cloudy for some reason, and it was so murky it was like swimming in a lake. There was _that_ much chlorine in the pool. (My friend's eyes were so shot, he looked like Fred from Scooby Doo.) My legs felt a lot better after the swim. When I got home, my new running shoes were waiting for me. While the Vibrams 5 Finger shoes are really, really awesome - they hurt for running long distances.

Happy Monday, fellow Nerdlings! It's been a long weekend, from the feel of it, but it went by way too fast. And guess what? I didn't get any housework done like I thought I would. (Suppose I should get on that before I'm taken hostage by cockroaches and smuggled into a foreign country. Well... it's not THAT bad...) Weight totals from this weekend are pretty interesting: Friday: 207.6[/*:m:8qcx4e78]Saturday Morning: 206.8[/*:m:8qcx4e78]Saturday, post run: 204-point-not[/*:m:8qcx4e78]Sunday: 206.6[/*:m:8qcx4e78]Monday: 206.3[/*:m:8qcx4e78]Fridays are my day off, although I did opt to do some Tai Chi in the afternoon. My dog was very confused and thought we were playing, so it was very hard to concentrate. Next time, I think he's going to hang out in the yard for an hour. Saturday I had my masters swim in the morning and a 12 mile run in the afternoon. (Data, graphs, GPS and notes here...)It was a heartrate zone 2 run, which is pretty slow - it's more like a jog - but it helps train endurance. Every 2 miles, I did a set of cadence drills: 3 x (1 min cadence @ 85 + rpm, 1 minute recovery). The first set of cadence I was averaging in the mid 6-minute mile, the second I got down to the low 6's to 5:45 m/m, after that, each one went down the more tired I got. My coach wants me to race inside of a 90 rpm cadence. For IronMan? That's gonna hurt! The park is supposed to be 2.9 miles around on the running path, so since that would be four laps, on my last lap I back-tracked 4/10ths of a mile so that I would come out even. Makes sense, right? Well, Apparently I would have needed to backtrack a whole mile. The park data is off: it should have read 2.74 miles around. I was back at the car, and I didn't want to run another 6/10ths, so I said screw it and stretched out. The coach likes my post-run ritual of oatmeal for complex-chain carbohydrates, so I think oatmeal and brown rice are staying in for my longer workouts. Saturday night our swim team had a St. Patrick's day party, :mrgreen: so we had corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes. (It was still in my workout window...) Daphne, my totally awesome Australian training partner, was eyeballing the chocolate cake. There are four of us on the team, including her and myself, that are doing the 30 day paleo thing. She justified it by saying "if a caveman saw a piece of chocolate cake, he'd eat it!" (To which I replied "I'll show you how a random piece of chocolate cake on St. Patrick's Day paperware shows up in the paleolithic era if you show me the Burrito Bush that Chipotle picks their burritos off of.) The general consensus was, since it was a special occasion, that we would each cheat and have a piece. Sunday, I was supposed to have a 50 mile ride, but I woke up and it was snowing. Rather than spin in the kitchen, I threw in a load of laundry and went to the coffee house to study a bit from my ACSM manuals. Been keeping up on the water just fine. I will have a cup of coffee saturday morning between swimming and running to give me a little bit of a boost. (I also had one yesterday afternoon since I was sitting there, but on the other hand, I've cut my coffee consumption down by more than 85% or so) You've just been moosed!

Day 9, 10 and part of 11 Nothing really exciting happened on Tuesday, diet-wise. I went and saw my kinesiologist for an adjustment, thereby missing a swim practice. Yesterday, I was up to 208.2, but I think it's just the average body weight fluctuation. This morning, I was at 208.8 lbs. o.o Well, I wasn't expecting to lose much weight, anyway. I don't really need to. Ran last night, but my joints were sore from the adjustment I had Tuesday night. I think the muscles were trying to readjust to everything being set right. I had the only paleo-safe chipotle option I could think of... steak salad less the beans and rice, fajita veggies and guac. (It may or may not be paleo, I have no clue, but avocado is full of good fats, and Chipotle has a good track record of healthy food.) Tonight I have a team swim. Wednesdays are usually one of my masters swim nights, but the team is trying a recruitment drive for the ladies - which our team is sorely lacking. Last night was a gals-only swim, so I had to swap my nights out. Missed breakfast this morning because of work. At lunch, I had a Caesar salad - I needed something quick and I forgot to bring my lunch. No croutons or cheese, but I did have chicken and a little dressing. So, apparently my local Noodles and Co. is adding Ladybug as a salad topping. :shock: The little guy hitched a ride on my salad, and I almost ate him. Don't know if it's considered luck to find a Ladybug in your lunch, but I let him outside. Considering I probably rattled his brains pretty good when I shook the salad in the serving bowl to disperse the dressing, I'm surprised he was alive at all.

Day 8 Weight on morning of day 9: 206.9 lbs. (WOW! Down a tenth! Book the cruise!) I haven't been down this far, though, since my senior year of High School. Back then, when I started swim team, I went from 235 to 190 in the space of a month. We were swimming 5 hours a day then. I went back up to 230 over the season in muscle gains. (Mom thought I had an eating disorder, although I was eating three helpings of everything at dinner. Hey, 5 hours in a pool will do that to a guy.) I am noticeably leaning out, especially in the arms and legs. Still can't see much of a change in the belly. If this keeps up, I will probably be out of the Clydesdale category before you know it. (Triathletes over 200 lbs.) Not that it makes much of a difference, since I try to keep in Age Group categories instead. Last night I did a five mile recovery run at the indoor track at the rec center. It's a soft linoleum floor, which is nice to run on when you can't run a trail. I actually counted my laps last night, and I found out that my Garmin Footpod is off by 1/10th of a mile per mile when used indoor without satellite tracking. :cry: I guess my stride has changed significantly since I started running. The footpod is great for tracking cadence on outdoor runs, so it does have a good purpose. I went out to lunch with a coworker yesterday and had an Ahi Tuna salad and a bowl of Red Pepper and Tomato Soup. The soup, I now realize, probably had dairy in it, and I didn't even think about it. The salad was totally safe, although the Ahi seemed a little fishy. (You know Colorado and its vast oceans full of marine life...) I don't think this restaurant is serving sushi grade Ahi. Last night I had left over steak, some garlic and dill mashed potatoes, and a medley of Broccoli, Carrots, and Asparagus. The potatoes were within my workout window. I didn't get the kitchen cleaned, nor did I have the time to do Tai Chi. My body was telling me I needed the sleep, and I know better than to try to push through it when I'm working out this hard. This morning, I am having a cup of coffee. The reason is because I have a pretty monstrous headache this morning. If I can bypass the Tylenol, then coffee is a necessary evil. Throw in a little almond milk, and voila! I know that almond milk is a little bit processed, but it's helping with my sweet tooth a little, and I'm using it to cook with. It's nice in scrambled eggs, and you can find the organic stuff at whole foods, which is minimally processed. Great source of protein. Lasts a month in the fridge. If you're doing oats as an adjunct part of your diet, vanilla almond milk and raisins are awesome in oatmeal, as well. I think I'll shut up, now.

Day whoosherwhatsits... (7, I guess...) Boulder was calling my name. 45 mile bike ride around the Rez and through St. Vrain, and nice dry roads to do it on. It was supposed to be in the 50's by 11, and when I got to the Rez to park, it was only 41. I threw on my leg warmers and hit the road. This was a "zone 2" workout, so I couldn't go very fast. Hills were especially sucky, because I had to go up them really, really slow to keep my HR down. (Then going downhill, my Garmin was squeaking at me that I wasn't working hard enough. Alas, Garmin's a harsh mistress...) Started to bonk toward the end - legs were fried from the run. I only made it 41 and a half of the 45 assigned miles - and Boulder has some brutal false flats on the course. You can check out the workout here. If you check out the Map and Graphs sections, there is some really cool data there. During the workout, I had a watered down bottle of Hammer Heed - which restores glycogen levels, two bottles of water, a gel packet, and a Larabar. I know that most of this is not paleo safe, but I have to train with the items I'm going to use on the course. I didn't go into aero position down St. Vrain since it's still pretty early in the season - I didn't know how the roads would be, and there were about a quarter of the normal about of cyclists on the road that there are in the summer. It would have been a few moments, had something happened, that someone would stumble onto my body. I capped out at 34 here - at the Boulder Half last year, with a disc wheel and a Hed 3-spoked carbon wheel, I topped out at 45. (It's scary, sometimes. I get full-bike wobble going this fast on normal spoked wheels. I can only do this on my carbons.) (A picture of my baby...) So... Morning of Day 8, I'm sitting at 207-point-not on the scale. Not as big a loss as I would have thought, considering a loss of 1800 calories on Saturday's run and 2800 on yesterday's bike... but it's working. I'm also eating a bit more than I was before I started this. Run tonight. Tai Chi in the morning. Full-contact kitchen cleaning after the run -- bring your football pads, it's going to get ugly. ** I'd like to note that this diet is messing with my gut a little bit. I'm trying to hold steady, as I've heard paleo has a tendency to do that. I'm also now on a regiment of pills for HCFC regulation to help protein digestion. After my last blood workup, my doctor said I have a minor HCFC deficiency, and that I should be taking these before I eat each meal. (I'm okay with supplements in the morning, but I am horrible at taking things before I eat, because I always forget.)

Forgot to post my stats and measurements, so here they are. Age: 28 Height: 6'9" Weight: 207.4 lbs Waist: 33 1/2" Hips: 41 3/4" Pant size: 34/38 Neck: 15 3/4" Shoulders: 47" Chest: 39 1/2" Bicep: 12 1/2" Forearm: 10 1/2" Thighs: 24" Calves: 16 1/2" Body Fat (3 Point Measurement): 10.3% (LBM 84) Today I had a 3200 Meter swim this morning, and I had an 8 and a half mile run this afternoon. Nothing like destroying your legs on a beautiful Colorado afternoon. Hurts so good. After the run, I realized I didn't have any sweet potatoes cooked, and I needed a high glycemic carbohydrate - I couldn't wait for an hour for one to cook, so I had a bowl of oatmeal. (There are worse things I could have cheated with.) I also had a small cup of coffee to help bring my body temperature up. This morning I was up a pound or two from yesterday. I burned about 1800 calories on the run this afternoon, so I'm sure I lost it by now. I will have to weigh tomorrow to see if I'm back down. (I take my measurements in the AM) Last night we went to the movies and went out for dinner. I had a turkey burger wrapped in lettuce (instead of buns) and I did indulge in a few french fries. (They were cooked in sunflower oil. It was an all natural all organic burger joint called Larkburger.) At the movie, I got a bag of paleo-safe trail mix, and I also had a few squares of 80% Cacao chocolate with dried cherries and almonds in it. Moose has to munch, ya know?

We had low ceilings in my house growing up. When I had to come in for curfew, mom would leave the ceiling fan on low, so she knew when I'd come home. (She knew I wouldn't turn the lights on, because they would shine out the window and reflect into their room.) Their room was right above the fan. :3

Thanks for the comment! Set your mind to it, and anything is possible! Steve has a good thing set up here - and I wish it had been around three or four years ago. If I'm sounding like a broken record player.. it's all about setting goals! Good luck!

Well, it's hard to start on, but it's not so bad when you get into the groove. I've felt a little sluggish the last week, but it's starting to pass, and I don't get the 2PM slump like I used to, unless I'm in a really boring meeting. Day 4 and 5 Weight this morning was 206.6 - so I guess I am dropping some weight, for sure. I've noticed that I am starting to get leaner. Last night I did a five mile cadence-based training run with no real issues. I'm feeling my energy levels starting to come back up a bit, and I felt great for yesterday's run, other than a few small things. From yesterday's training log: Friday is my day off, so other than diet, nothing special to report.

That seems so heavy to be lugging around on your back all day! Did you use a lighter wood like lauan? Have you thought about lighter alternatives? I know armature wire wouldn't keep it's rigidity for too long if someone knocked into them, but perhaps a cage-like frame? (Animation nerd here - maquettes were my favorite part of pre-pro class.) Awesome costume idea, though. I want to see it when you're done! m00se

Here are my starting images. My normal camera ran out of battery, so I had to use a cheap HD Pocket camcorder. It gets the point across. And yeah - I'm wearing triathlon shorts. Sorry for showing off so much skin. The antlers: it's a long-running gag. No, I'm not a fury. The picture of the pirate and I is from a little over four years ago. I was 287 lbs. then. That is where I've come from to today, which I'm very pleased with. College, depression, and untold numbers of vanilla breves were unkind to me. (Breve is a latte, only with half and half.) I'm surprised I don't have heart disease from that much dairy. But back then, I decided I had to do something before it was too late, before I started having chronic health issues. Then: size 42 jeans (38 inseam) Now: size 34 jeans **edit** I realized the previous pictures were way too big, so I sized them down and re-uploaded them. :\ I think large, sometimes.

Nice to have a fellow giant lurking about! :geek: I know how hard it is at this height to do a lot of things due to joints and whatnot. Good luck on your quest! Moose

I stopped drinking soda in high school, actually. The coaches on the swim teams wouldn't let us drink it - so after that, it was mostly in drinks with hard alcohol, for for a special treat. I'm actually a helpless coffee addict. (See Below.) Anon to the Challenge! I've been holding fast to the paleo diet. It hasn't been a huge issue to do it, other than all of the cravings. I found out that Larabars are paleo, as they only have fruit, nuts and dates in them - but I have to really resist the urge to have too many of them or they give me a stomach ache. :cry: For coffee, I have been doing very well in staying off of it. (I had to come in early this morning, day 4, and had to deal with our creative director from out of town. I had probably about 1/3 a cup of brew, black. It doesn't say you technically CANT have coffee, but I'm the sort of person that loads it up with soy milk and sugar free flavorings. Other than that, it's been all water this week an orange juice on morning 2. Since I started Paleo, though, I've noticed I've been feeling weak. Yesterday I got some stomach cramps, so I left work two hours early and took a nap before swim practice. I considered, for a passing moment, giving it up and going back to the blood type diet. (Part of what kept me going was this article. Might as well try, right?) I felt fine after the nap, but I had almost zero energy for my swim. I came home, had a sweet potato (within my window - I'm doing Paleo for Athletes...) a sizable top serloin, and a mountain of Broccoli, carrots, and asparagus. What can I say? I'm sick of salad greens. I felt so much better after that. I haven't had a chance to do core specific workouts yet, but the last two swim workouts have been either butterfly or Individual Medley (IM) workouts (our coaches are sadists) - and fly is uber good for your core. So... it counts. I will get into the gym this weekend for something more concentrated. I regret to say I still haven't done my measurements, but I do have some weight statistics: Saturday: 212.6 lbs. (Hey, I'm 6'9"...) Yesterday: 209.4 lbs. I will do my measurements and picture tonight before my run. I've been in my training session since January 1, so my weight and measurements have been all over the place to start with. The m00se is l00se in the hizzy. :shock:

Day 1... stranded on a beach... nothing around except... coconuts. Erm... ANYway... So, the goals are: Try the Paleo Diet for 30 DaysCore and Ab Workouts 3 times a weekLearn my Tai Chi Chuan formsDrink only Water All other workouts I'm somewhat forced to keep on top of, since I am working under a triathlon coach toward Arizona IronMan in November. Also - all of my workouts can be seen at, well... here. I will post measurements and a picture later on tonight, but I did actually start yesterday. DAY 1 :geek: 4 Mile recovery run. Thrashed my legs on Saturday on the 10 Mile Distance run, and discovered that Vibrams might not be so good for long distance running. Started Paleo - didn't even cheat. Convinced that peanut butter cups at the super market are mocking me. Watched both workouts on the beginning Tai Chi DVD. Want to start out on this DVD so I can decide if I want to start taking courses. Huzzah!