Signing Up

[Shmikey]

Howdy. My name's Mike. Here's da buggah.

I'm 24, out of college, and slowly making my way to being a middle school science teacher. I've been following NF for a while now, mostly for the free exercise resources. When I was in college my primary hobbies were rock climbing and WoW; since I graduated and moved from Montana, I haven't had too much of a chance for rock climbing and I got a job doing tech support over the phone (sound familiar, braddah?). The job was so terrible, all I wanted to do when I was off was space out in order to recoup. I hated every minute. About this time last year, I decided I'd had enough, quit my job, broke my lease, and moved to Alaska to work as a deckhand on a whale watch boat. I was the best decision I had ever made. After the whale season was over, I decided I wanted to travel to somewhere warm and decided to volunteer on an organic farm on Maui. I work outside 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, get a free place to stay, basic staples and food from the farm. On my time off I work out, read, go to the beach, and spend time with my beautiful girlfriend Kaitlin. I've been here since October, and though I don't make ANY MONEY AT ALL, I love every minute.

In Alaska, I started working out doing Power 90, and found it fairly effective, but since I moved to Hawai'i things have really started picking up. One of the guys at the farm is really into weightlifting and taught me how to squat, bench, press, row, and deadlift. Since I started lifting, I've really developed a taste for dat feel of getting stronger.

What Needs Work:

I really love making gains in flexibility, specifically through Yoga. My inner thighs and lower back are made of wood, however.

I don't really pay too much attention to what I eat, since most of what I get is dry goods from the farm; I eat a lot of rice, oatmeal, and processed food I buy from the store.

Solutions:

1. Pay more attention to after lift cool-down. I haven't done this since P90, and really need to get into the habit of doing it for myself without a screen.

2. Devote a portion of off-days to stretching.

3. Eat more of the food from the farm! Since I don't have much by way of income and need to keep my saving going until i go through another round in Alaska, this would not only be economical but HEALTHY.

I hope to contribute as much as I can to the community. One love y'all ^^v

[Sco]

Welcome Mike! Your life sounds awesome - I'm so glad you got yourself out of the job you hated into a life you're actually enjoying! And it also sounds like you have good ideas about your current lifestyle and level of fitness, and know what needs work. It's great that you're mindful of those things, because now you know what you have to do to keep improving and living your life of awesome. Go for it, and good luck!

Just as a side note, coincidentally, I was also a deckhand on a boat (in the Atlantic) for a short period of time a little over a year ago, and am soon heading off to do an internship on an organic farm as well.

[Shmikey]

Thanks for the reply Sco! Isn't it weird how coincidences like that happen? Best of luck to you with your internship. I hope that you learn a lot of useful stuff; I know I have!

Also, what kind of vessel did you work on?

[Sco]

I worked on a brigantine for a couple weeks, and a schooner for a month or so. Both on the Atlantic side of things. So I'm no salt, but I've gotten my feet wet, as they say.

And thanks for the luck! I've found a great place with great people, so I'm really looking forward to it.