Energy Drinks, Working out and Disney!

Ok, the title is a little strange, but then again, you're reading this, so it's done it's job.

I recently got back into working our regularly...thank goodness. The years of smoking are definitely making themselves known. Lung capacity isn't quite what it should be. But almost 2 years smoke free and it's getting better. The only way to make the process faster is regular exercise. So I find myself going to the fitness center at least 3x per week. I'd like to eventually get a routine going so that I'm going Monday through Friday... but easy does it at first, and we'll see if I can increase frequency later.

I originally started my gym visits back in march or april. A few visits per week, but I could only handle about 20 minutes on the treadmill. Then I took a break of about 3 months. With Scott gone, it was getting tough to balance work with personal time. There tended to be more work than free time so I started putting off the gym. And it got put off for 3 months. So now that I'm back in the habit of going, I've added a pre-workout energy drink to help me extend the amount of time I can do my cardio.

The company that makes my particular energy drink, I've recently discovered, has several other products that i thought I should try to see which one works the best for me. Here are my results thus far:

RedLine: So far my favorite as far as workout quality and post workout characteristics. I get the boost of energy I need and can generally do a workout of one lap walk (3.5 mph) one lap jog (6.5 mph) and keep up that pace for 16 laps (4 miles). Afterward, sleep (regardless of my pre-existing insomnia issues) is still a possibility. I tend to stay up about an hour later than usual, but I'm willing to accept that for a greater workout result.

RedLine Xtreme: A more potent version of original RedLine. Works wonderfully. FANTASTIC workout. I nearly got 5 miles before the treadmill cut me off at the 1hour mark. I would have been able to continue for at least another 2 miles. But there were a couple of more intense drawbacks. First, the flushed feeling. Have you ever gone running or jogging on a hot summer day with very little wind and the sun high in the sky? You know that overwhelming full body, pulsating "warm" feeling you get. It almost feels like your skin is "glowing" with heat? That's what I got off of this drink beginning within 5 minutes of consuming it. Now the energy boost was impressive. This time I was able to walk 1 lap, jog 3 laps and keep that pace for the first couple miles. Then down to walk 1 jog 2 for a mile and then alternate every lap thereafter. I was so incredibly impressed with this drink.....until I tried to go to bed that night. After 5 miles, I still hadn't spent enough energy to allow myself to sleep. So I turn to the assistance of Unisom...no dice... so then Melatonin...nope, not that either. So I ended up laying in my bed awake all night. I finally got to sleep at 4am only to awake at 10am to continue my saturday. So the workout...AWESOME, but not awesome enough to outweigh the sleep deprivation. So I don't really like this one anymore.

Meltdown: The sales associate at the Vitamin Shoppe insisted that it works as well as original redline, but with more ingredients for mental acuity. I made it a mere 2 miles before I was completely exhausted. Simply not worth it to me. Granted, I came and was tired enough that I could probably lay my head down and go to sleep..which is quite rare, it didn't seem to do anything to help the workout.

Now the next one I have to try is called BANG! It's a 16 oz drink. You're supposed to drink half before your workout and the other half during. This is a different concept to me considering I'm used to an 8oz drink consumed before the workout. I'm going to save this one for the weekend just in case there are sleep issues.

Now for the Disney thing. I'm sure you'll love this. So one of the reasons that I enjoy these particular treadmills is the fact that they come with cable tv. I generally watch whatever is on and today it happened to be the disney channel. StarStruck had just come on. It's a relatively decent straight to tv movie that I have seen before. Taking care of kids all day, I tend to have more of an interest in the disney channel than normal people...or so I thought. First thing to consider is that the treadmill was tuned to that channel before I even got there, meaning that somebody else was watching it. On my way home from the fitness center, I occasionally notice some of the houses that i pass on my way that have their blinds wide open. I happened to notice 3 different households watching the exact same movie on the disney channel that I was watching. Granted the families that live in this particular community almost all have kids, I was noticing that these shows were on in rooms that I believe to be the master bedrooms. So it seems that the parents are watching these shows.

So now I wonder if I am not the only adult that actually enjoys watching the disney channel. Is it a top secret guilty pleasure of today's adults? Is it one of those things that everybody does, but nobody talks about or will admit to? It wouldn't surprise me in the least these days. There are plenty of shows I watch that some people wouldn't like..and some that other people do.

Here's my list of shows I watch regularly. Make your own judgement.

Charmed
Will & Grace
The Closer
Bones
Drop Dead Diva
Army Wives
Desperate Housewives
Brothers and Sisters
Grey's Anatomy
Las Vegas
Hannah Montana
Good Luck Charlie
Wizards of Waverly Place
Suite Life on Deck

The four at the bottom are the ones that people tease me about.

So tell me what shows you all watch that people might make fun of you for. I'm interested to know. Come out of the television "closet" and tell the world by putting them in the comments section below...I dare you! I promise you'll get no judgment from me! :-)