WHAT YOU ARE GETTING TODAY IS A GLIMPSE INSIDE MY WORLD...
WARNING: What You May Read Below Is Quite Candid... Enjoy Yourself!
April 28, 2006
This photo was taken at the Mesquite, NV bowling alley we enjoy visiting once a week. Asia is a happy six months into Baby #2's brewing. While I haven't beaten my all time high of 172 (if I remember correctly), that is alright by me. We have added a little competition to our game. We call it, "Left/Right Bowling" and it is just what the name implies. First, we roll left handed, then we attempt to pick up whatever pins are remaining with our right hand. Certainly, at first, our scores were awful, but Asia now regularly beats her old points records and I am gaining... We have both finished as high as 140 and throwing 2 or 3 strikes in a row using these methods. Why on Earth would we want to bother? Balance. Whether it be physical or mental, we are enjoying the results and will be glad to keep you informed of where it goes from here.
Earlier this week I was asked to throw together a basic calendar of events for the fitness resort in Tennessee. How is that coming along? It is coming along! These things take time. I welcome your feedback as this is a weekly schedule that may or may not be what we actually go with but you'll have a fine idea of what we are planning for you there... If you want to take a look, feel free: CLICK HERE
This October we are having a little gathering in New York City to conduct, hold and film the !st Annual "Know How" Cooking Class with my friend and client Joslyn Lewis. I suspect we will be having a number of regulars from the Lies & Propaganda and Best Shape Of Your Life message boards but whomever comes is in for a treat. Look at the filming location: CLICK HERE
And last but not least, fair and square, I weighed in at 200 pounds on Wednesday. When I weighed myself in Glenwood Springs, Colorado 32 days ago, I was 180 and had workout clothes on (ouch, my lowest in years). So, after my Nautilus workout, I ate like a horse that Friday and Saturday before coming home and began the following Sunday trying to bulk up... 30 days later, I woke up, peed, weighed myself, saw exactly 200 pounds, then ate. As I ate, I measured myself to compare things from the middle of the 3rd day on the program:
My weight went to 200 from 185 pounds. My chest gained 2 inches. Arms, thighs and calves went up an inch each and my waist was actually down almost 1.5 inches at one point. Not bad for a 28 day period. Not bad for being injured those last 10 days of the month. Yeah, I got hurt moving furniture when the carpet cleaners showed up a couple weeks back, go figure. It never fails, but the timing is good. I am sure I really do not want to be too much heavier, even though I am leaner, when we film Part Two of the DVD set in Vegas next month.
April 22, 2006
Don Lemmon, age 37, going for a hike above his home. For more: CLICK HERE
I am up approximately 15 to 18 pounds this past month while "bulking up" without "fattening up" along with other members of the message board. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. When I last attempted to "come back" and bodybuild on a whim, I was brought to a halt after injuring my right shoulder saving a chihuahua from a doberman (long story). This time, I jammed my shoulder blade moving a mattress when the carpet cleaners dropped by. What happened to the good old days where the hero gets hurt saving a child? Why is it I need to get my bumps and bruises from less glamorous experiences? Either way, after 30 days, starting at roughly 182 with an empty tummy and ending up at a hair over 200 pounds...
I proved my point and now it is time to rehabilitate my muscles rather than take things too far. Maybe another day. Who knows? I know one thing, some of the members were talking about slow to grow muscles and asking if they might be neglecting something in their training. The answer is both yes, and no. I personally cannot "neglect" a single muscle when I train or it shows on the way I look. For instance, if I do a hard set of chest presses, but stop short of failure at that last rep and see no results in the development of my triceps... Who is to blame? Did I neglect to work something or did I neglect working hard enough? Let's say I can do enough pullups to feel my upper back or side muscles ache but then I stop before my arms begin to quake...
Who is to blame if my biceps aren't pumped? Nothing was neglected but a little extra effort. You know what I mean? Another example, say I get on the leg press and make excuses around 15 reps that it is enough already; that doing 5 more isn't important because I already am using more weight than last session... So I stop. Then what if I am not aching and shaking in my lower body like I was the time I actually went for those last few reps? I end up kicking myself in the butt and regretting it because I simply wasted my own time. Think about it. Hey, wait a minute, it looks like we need to make a food run to my favorite Las Vegas Trader Joe's (Store #98)...
April 15, 2006
Has anyone else ever dropped a ball into a pool while playing Putt-Putt (mini golf)? Well, I have. Is that bad? Laughs... Well, I did and Asia took photos of me fishing for it (thanks honey).
"In other news..." As you know, we had a DVD shoot last month here in St. George. People keep emailing about it so we just cannot stop talking about it. The topic of the week was, "Why did you shoot at the particular gym you chose to?" Well, it wasn't our first choice.
A change of events took place the day I decided to be an admirable, stand up, sort of guy and personally went down to one of the clubs that told me we could shoot there. Man, I am glad I popped in too. What a bite in the butt it would have been to show up with cameras and learn their manager, for whatever reason it may be (I have since determined exactly why), was against the idea.
Headaches began almost as soon as I asked the receptionist where the manager was. She was polite and told me he was in the circuit training room. I smiled, nodded and walked inside to where he was and made eye contact with the gent. He smiled back and nodded with an approving, "Can I help you?" I made a beeline for him, stuck my hand out and said, "Hi, I am Don Lemmon." His expression went to a negative in a flash.
Having no idea what was going on, I assumed he may have been irritated by the two ladies he was training and turned back to bark orders at (they were ignoring his instructions). The women instead talked to themselves but he didn't care and tried to talk over them. I stepped back a safe distance. The moment he gave up trying to gain their attention, he turned to me and said, "So how can I help you?" His tone alone said it all. He did not like Don Lemmon.
Hoping to turn things around, I explained that I had spoken to someone previously in corporate about filming and wanted to come in and set things up with him in person as to when and all that. Midway through my presentation I was cut off and told he would be with me in a moment. Cooly, I nodded and stepped back again. At that point he began working with his clients so I decided to go get a drink of water.
While I waited by the fountain, the manager stepped past me and said something to a couple of trainers who began whispering to themselves and peering over their shoulders at me. When they realized I was aware of this, the group stepped into an office and repeated the same actions. I watched them through the office window!
Mr. Manager went back to work and luckily, only a couple of minutes passed before his clients were put on stationary bikes. As soon as they were pedaling, he dove into his own office and ignored me despite seeing through his window I remained outside waiting. I was wondering what the heck was going on so I knocked on the door. Without hesitation, he came out and told me the club was not interested in my project.
Confused, I tried to explain things to him one more time but he turned his back to me. I had to raise my voice to ask him who ultimately makes these decisions as he walked off and that threw him over the edge. He replied, "I decide." With that, I asked for a card. He handed me one from the front desk, but not his own.
The card he gave me was a generic one with the gym's basic info on it. I asked if I could have the one next to it with his actual name instead. By this time, I realized that even if I called corporate and got the green light, this "manager" was going to make my shoot impossible to complete peacefully. Luckily, we worked out other options but there is no excuse for his behavior; especially without an explanation.
Maybe I will get around one of these days to telling you about the issues that arose due to the owner's daughter at the place we did happen to film. Since the filming, employees have actually left over her exploits. However, we shall save that for another blog as I want you to digest this one first....
April 8, 2006
See this little monkey? Why is she laughing? She is always laughing. Her life, it contains no stress, no worries, no taxes, just trophies and compliments. The brat, laughs... She just won, not one, but two new certificates in another online baby contest. Asia keeps submitting her into these things and this time she is the only toddler out of who knows how many kids to win in two different categories! I am shaking my head because we are going to have a room or a wall completely full of her achievements before she even has a clue what is going on around her, laughs... As for me...
Well, I paid my debt for the year to the IRS (and I bet that thrills them to no end). But myself, I just do not understand it, I really do not. Paying three visits to my accountant to sort things out, I saw no less than a half dozen of his other clients literally crying as they picked up their forms to file. What is wrong with this country? Hard working men and women barely scraping by and big business not phased in the slightest. I do not mind paying the little bit I do each year, really, it makes sense. But seeing how it affects other working class folks, I just have to wonder if there could be another way for Uncle Sam to get his due... Know what I mean? Come talk about it: CLICK HERE
April 2, 2006
With the video shoot behind me, Aspen out of our systems and a fresh outlook on life, it is off to other projects. I did a radio show last week with a fellow named Dave DePew. It went over really well. So well, in fact, we decided it was high time I got my own gig running again. If you want to listen to the show that got everyone's thinking caps rotating, let me explain the clip a little; there were a few glitches. First, Dave did a great job of introducing me and pumping up his listeners' interest but he was pronouncing my name wrong from the get go. Friends, family, clients and others have all been less than understanding about it, but it didn't bother me one bit.
Next, the connection seemed bad at first for my phone line while calling in. I got skips, dead air, echoes and was lost at times trying to determine when I was being cut off, talked to or what not. But after a few minutes, it went wonderfully. Callers had the phone lines going crazy, message board members kept trying to get on and new listeners flew to my site for more info. It went a lot better than planned, to say the least. I will tell you more soon but this week we begin taping my own show with a co-host and a team of personalities that I know you'll enjoy. This new show will be called Healthy Living Radio and will begin airing May 2nd. Here's the clip: CLICK HERE
Don Lemmon w/ JaNae Stewart and Monica Brant.
I know the shoot for our DVD is long over with and I should really post other photos but I left the one above up because I wanted to thank a few people and restaurants for making this so easy on the crew and myself. First, there is Gimme Sum, our favorite local Asian cuisine. Next, Basila's where we got the best stuffed grape leaves and hummus on Earth. The Green Gate Village Bed & Breakfast who treated Monica Brant like a queen while in town. The Virgin River bowling alley in Mesquite, NV that allowed us to host a bowl-a-thon one night (where I returned to roll my latest high of 172, thank you very much)... And the list goes on... Thanks to all of you... For images from the DVD shoot we haven't posted before until now: CLICK HERE
Don Lemmon's Best Shape Of Your Life
CLICK HERE
