By the time you read this post this morning, I will, God willing, be safe and on the ground in Atlanta. I could tell you several reasons why I'm flying down there for the 3rd time in 2 months, but the number one reason is that it is Mrs. Payne's birthday today and I am going to celebrate the day in person (until I am in person on a daily basis down there).

I won't say her age, but she has reached a milestone in her life. She has accomplished much against many odds and she has done it with focus and ferocity.

Here at Makes Me Wanna Holler I do not give my wife enough credit. And shame on me for that. She feeds me delicious meals that she sometimes painstaking cooks with love, clothes me (at times since she didn't like the way I used to dress), motivates me and even inspires me. She is beautiful, she is articulate, she has a penchant for life, she is my right when I am left and when things are not right with us I am not right. She is the mother of my children --- a mother who I love to watch in action, a child of God, a powerhouse in the workplace, a student who seriously has her nose to the grindstone and a great role model for little girls of all colors and ages to look up to. Without her I wouldn't have anything to talk about here.

Here at MMWH I write, sometimes preach, better manhood. I heard a pastor say last week that a sermon cuts both ways --- into the congregation and the person delivering it. My tales here come from my struggles in the real world. One thing I've struggled with is investing with as much diligence as I should or could into the heart that belongs to my wife. There have been more days than I care to remember when I've allowed this day and a couple other special days to go by, not unnoticed, but definitely without the fanfare they truly deserve. I bare this testimony to you people who I don't know or see to say give your all to the one you love when the times are good so it doesn't appear forced or less genuine when times are bad. And don't even do it for that reason, just do it because that's the special person in your life. Words are great at times, but actions are even better. Don't make it about what you think you can't afford. Don't make it about what that person did to you two days ago. If you love someone, then love that someone, no matter what might not sit well between the two of you.

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Payne! May all the gifts and blessings you deserve be bestowed upon you today and for the next 365 days!


There's a new book on Fatherhood coming to a store or e-reader near you! Add your name to list of people who want to see it happen. Please "Like" Bottom Line Fatherhood and count yourself as one who supports positive outlooks on the Dad Life.

Want to enrich your Makes Me Wanna Holler experience with discussions, current events and interacting with people just like you? Then please "Like" the Makes Me Wanna Holler Facebook Page and join the movement. You won't be disappointed.

My sponsored journey with LA Boxing has come to an end. I will definitely continue until I reach my goal of losing 30 pounds. I plan to post my final video sometime during the beginning of next week. In it I will share what I've lost...and what I've gained in the process.

In the meantime how can forget?


THE INTERRUPTION:


THE GROSS OUT:




THE DELIRIUM:



AND THE REST OF THESE VIDEOS:










To keep up with all of my videos relating to me and this blog you can subscribe to the Makes Me Wanna Holler YouTube Channel here.

To read and view all of my posts on Bye Bye, Backfat! Click here.

Want to enrich your Makes Me Wanna Holler experience with discussions, current events and interacting with people just like you? Then please "Like" the Makes Me Wanna Holler Facebook Page and join the movement. You won't be disappointed.

Last week Thursday I stepped on the scale after being worked over by a trainer who goes by the handle, Gato.

I was pleasantly satisfied. The number, "187" materialized on the digital screen between my big toes and I smiled.
187 pounds represents a 15 pound loss from 202.

The Good News: My backfat is gone. My six pack has begun to reemerge. My facial features appear to be sleeker. My arms are defined but the veins that used to plot routes up and down my biceps are conspicuously absent. My pectorals are no longer "mitties" (figure it out) and are cleanly separated along my sternum.

The Bad News: There are pockets of pudge that are trying to maintain strongholds on me and I have a nice solid layer of subcutaneous fat that needs to go. Unfortunately this layer of fat just beneath the skin, casually referred to as body fat or belly fat is usually the last, if not the hardest to get rid of --- at least for non-professional and semi-pro athletes and other individuals like myself who don't have the time to commit to two-a-days.

The Worst News: I want to reach my goal of 170 pounds yesterday/last week and the more gains I make, the more disappointed I become with the ones I achieve --- the maniac health nut has returned.

The reality is that from 2006 - 2010 I gained 29 pounds. I'm not so sure I should be killing myself to lose in 90 days what it took 5 years to gain.

But knowing this hasn't stopped me from trying. My goal for the beginning of July is to weigh in at 182. From there I will have to decide what steps I need to take to shave off the next 10 pounds.

But none of the above would've been possible without the good folks over at LA Boxing (Mamaroneck). I can't believe that a mere couple months back I was filled with fear as I crossed the threshold of the gym for the first time. Nowadays I come in and say hello to everyone on staff for the day. I have my own LA Boxing t-shirt and I jump rope in plain sight of all, not the dark corner of the gym I started in.

The philosophy there is simple: If you don't do the exercises the only one you're cheating is yourself. What LA Boxing has done for me in the short time that I've been a member is let me know I can withstand the test, take it and give it right back. When I'm getting ready to give up during a workout, the voice I hear before any trainer's is my own, demanding that I not fall down on myself, that I not cheat ... myself. The trainer's have an excellent eye for your strengths and weakness and they work very hard to turn your weaknesses into strengths.

I can't say where I'd be with this regimen. I know for a fact that I'd still be 202, my knees would still, it would be difficult for me to move up and down stairs and a lot of my pants would still look like pipe cleaners.

• I've learned a lot about the craft of boxing. It isn't something I intend to employ the next time someone makes me upset, but it is definitely an outlet for my daily frustrations and occasional woe.


• The mind numbing 800-1,000 cardio workout has tested me so much in these few short weeks that I'm not sure what I CAN'T do, anymore.


• I feel confident in myself and no longer ignore the man in the mirror.


• My LA Boxing experience has reinvigorated the warrior in me. The program has once again reminded me that nothing or no one but me is stopping me from achieving certain goals in this life. And I've been able to successfully and positively apply the same aggression, creativity and being light on my feet that is required of when I'm wearing the gloves to a variety of other areas in my life that needed "jumpstarting".

On the morning of Father's Day I went to the gym. Gato worked me over once again. When class was over he asked me if I was still dying.

"I'm never dying. The day I die is the day all this stops."

It hasn't stopped yet.

I don't intend for it to stop ever.

Remember this? I wouldn't be surprised if you don't. It lived and died on the Makes Me Wanna Holler Facebook Page. You can check it out below:



This contest didn't go so well, in fact, it made about as much of a splash as a pebble does in the Atlantic Ocean.

Oh well, things don't always go as planned. You move on and try, try, again.

• Do you need to get in shape?


• Does the Dad in your life need to get in shape?


• Do you need a kick in that place just beneath your beltline, directly opposite your front side to get you jump started?


• Can you even see your beltline anymore?


• Or, would you simply like to try something different other than the usual humdrum of lifting weights or running on a treadmill at your local gym?

Then, please, have a week on me (LA Boxing, actually):


THE FATHER'S DAY 1-WEEK WORKOUT JUMPSTART GIVEAWAY

The good folks over at LA BOXING are offering one (1) One-Week Trial Membership at one of their gyms in YOUR neighborhood. It's a great opportunity for you to get it together and take the first step to getting, or staying in shape. Take it from me. I'm a believer. If this is your first time here, you can follow my weight-loss/get in shape travels at To The Test: Real Words, Real People, Real Results.

The winner will be chosen via Random.org.


This is a little taste of what you'll face, if you win:



This giveaway IS NOT the Fresno gym (unless you win and you live in Fresno). It's actually for the LA Boxing Gym in your hood. So before you decide to enter you have to find out if LA Boxing is actually in your neighborhood or the neighborhood of the Dad in your life. The easiest way to find out is to visit www.LABOXING.com, click on the GYM LOCATOR link near the top of the page and enter your Zip Code. If you're there's one nearby then you're in luck! Keep reading, enter to win and do something besides coming up with some last-minute As Seen On TV $10 gift for Dear old Dad, the man who has let himself go to keep everyone else's wheels greased and running properly.


CONTEST RULES:

MANDATORY ENTRY:

• You MUST leave a comment here as to why you would like to win this 1-week trial membership. If you're a Dad then speak for yourself. If you want it for the Dad in your life then state why you would like the membership for him.

Additional Entries (You can do any or all of the following, BUT each are invalid without the Mandatory Entry above):

• Comment on any post on this blog (1 additional entry per post) - please state in the comments section of this post which additional post(s) you commented on.


• Create a video/webcast stating why you want this prize or who you want it for. Once you've created your video please Contact Me with the link for the video. (10 additional entries)


• Join the Makes Me Wanna Holler Facebook Page (2 additional entries) - let me know here in the comments section that you've joined.


• Become a friend on Google Friend Connect (see the right column of this page) - let me know here in the comments section of this post, that you've joined (2 additional entries).


• Tweet (the red text): Enter @MakesMeHoller to win a 1-week membership at LA Boxing in your neighborhood for the father you love. http://bit.ly/chMtIK #giveaway (1 entry per tweet)

Contest Duration:

The contest will run from 9:30am (PST), Monday, June 14, 2010 to 8:00 am (PST), Friday, June 18, 2010.


Eligibility:

All entrants in this contest must be a resident of the United States and have a working email address.


Official Product Info:

Please visit the LA BOXING website.


Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. Neither E.Payne nor MakesMeWannaHoller.com has been compensated in any way for this post or contest prize.

The official weigh-in was today and the scale registered the above number. I haven't seen 180-anything in at least two years on any scale I've stood on and today I am very satisfied. I set a goal for myself last week to lose 3-4 pounds a week. I lost 3 this week and I'm driven to lose 3 or more next week.

I am officially down 13 pounds from my original 202. My gut is gone, my backfat is still here, but in a greatly reduced amount. Other than my shoulders and knees feeling like they need a serious squirt of WD-40, I am limber and light on my feet.

I'm not sure why it's taken so long to get to this point after spending nearly two months at the same weight, but why ask, "Why?" I now have the momentum, better eating habits and LA Boxing - Mamaroneck behind me to forge ahead toward my goal of getting down to 170 pounds, which is 3 pounds less than the lightest I've ever been. I may get there, I may not. For now in the short term I've got 9 more pounds to go before I'm the hell up out of the 180s and I'm shooting for 179-180 for the July 4th Holiday. This is my new mini-milestone to chase down.

There was a little saying I coined when I was pledging my fraternity way back when in college. It kept me sane when I was certain (and not so certain) everything around me had gone nuts. It was my mantra that kept me going when tremors were ripping through my body while I held myself in push-up position (one of the more tame feats of strength I can mention here) at the kind and oh so pleasant behests of my big brothers for ungodly amounts of time above pools of my own sweat as they attempted to "distract" me. For whatever reason I remembered it last week and I've added it to my routine.

"I CANNOT submit. I WILL NOT submit. I REFUSE!"

Stay tuned...and stay motivated, whatever your goals may be!

On Thursday of last week I was all set to fly with my family out to Barbados, W.I. for the Memorial Day Weekend. The plan was to catch up with family down there and regroup on the island where we were married. But due to the travel nightmare that erupted thanks to my son's expired passport (who knew kids' passports were only good for 5 years?) I stayed back for a day with him and paid through the nose to get his passport renewed.

On Friday we were good to go. And then my sinuses went crazy on the plane ride. By the time I landed I couldn't hear out of my left ear at all and I could barely breathe through my nose. The wife told me I snored so bad my first night there it sounded like I was gargling water.

I spent most of Saturday swimming in the ocean. The day was about as blissful as bliss can get.

By Sunday night I was experiencing aches and pains similar to the flu.

On Monday we headed back to New York, got caught up in a mid air traffic jam and were ultimately diverted to Atlantic City to refuel, take off again and head to New York. Instead of landing at 8pm we landed at 11:30pm. By the time I hit the front door of my house it was 1:30 in the morning.

On Tuesday, I called my doctor and am now on a two-week supply of antibiotics to get rid of my sinus infection. My system cleaned itself out for two days straight (I'll spare the details) and I've been catching up on work that should've been done two weeks ago.

To make a long story short, I'm down for the count and haven't worked out at LA Boxing since last Tuesday. But I'm never one to stop cold turkey once I've started. While on vacation I still managed to watch what I eat (to a degree) and I determined that I needed to reduce my salt intake. Over the past 3 weeks my weight has yo-yoed all over the place to the point that I thought my scale was broken. But the real culprit was water retention. Because of my trip and since my trip I've been doing the following daily:

1. Drinking 10 cups of water.
2. Eating at least 2 servings of fruits.
3. Eating 2 servings of vegetables per day.

Also thanks to my time in the Caribbean I've re-added fish to my diet, eating it at least twice a week. The results have been immediate. My weight dropped and has remained at approximately 191, down from my original 202. I anticipate it being very easy to break back into the 180s by next week when I head back to my LA Boxing Gym out in Mamaroneck, NY to workout with the crew, Pasquale, Dennis and the indomitable Gato.

Here I am on the beach during my vacation. I wouldn't have even considered taking a pic like this a couple months ago.

On my way, but not there yet.
BTW - I've upped the ante with myself. Instead of 175 I want to get down to 170. My wife told me I was only allowed to go down to 180 and I smiled...dismissively.

Follow Me On Twitter
Subscribe to Makes Me Wanna Holler

Photo Credit: Self-Portrait by E.Payne

"Aren't you too old to be boxing? I mean c'mon?" is what my mother-in-law immediately asked me yesterday after I revealed to her my new fitness routine.

I can always count on her to not keep her thoughts to herself...

I laughed and quickly explained that I wasn't trying to be a prize fighter. I was simply getting in shape. 6 weeks ago I may have agreed with her. But that was then and this is now: 6 weeks into my experience at LA Boxing - Mammaroneck, approximately 10 pounds lighter (I can't seem to shake a nagging fluctuating 1 pound), a whole lot stronger, faster with my hands than I ever thought I could be and walking tall --- shoulders back, back straight --- not so much from pride but because of all the ab work I'm doing.

It has been a serious uphill battle chasing down the former me: 173 pounds, 6% body fat, insane, disciplined and maybe carrying 25% of the responsibilities I do now and having roughly 50% more time than I do now. When I was in this place it was the winter of 2005. Barely 30 days later my daughter was born. Then began my slow, unnoticeable descent into personal inactivity. By the time I got married in 2007, I had gone from being up at 5:45am to do more in an hour than most people did in a week to doing a handful of pushups when the mood hit me. After I got married I stopped doing even that.

In July 2009, I weighed in at 205. My body felt heavy and slow, I couldn't move the way I wanted to and my right heel was bruised making it nearly unbearable to walk. None of my clothes were fitting. Even though it took me 3 years (starting from my daughter's birth) to gain only 28 pounds, this was no consolation for me. That summer I managed to run off about 12 pounds of that, much of which I now suspect was water weight because by year's end and a heavy round of holiday eating I was 205 once more. At 5'10" 205 is easy to disguise clothed, but not in the mirror after you come out of the shower. Not when glory that was once your pectorals (established during my senior year of high school) had become flabby pieces of meat covering your breastplate.

Making matters worse is that I'm no longer a gym rat after having put myself through a year of a Brooklyn based bootcamp in 2005. It was in Prospect Park that I learned to do bear crawls and mountain climbers until exhaustion. I sprinted the entire length of the Brooklyn Bridge in both directions. I did jumping jacks at red lights ignoring the heckles from everyone that felt the need to roll down their windows and yell at me and my fellow boot campers. I removed the bread from my diet, lived off lean meats, fish and vegetables, ate before seven and was in bed by eleven. My boot camp instructor loved me and made me an example for the rest of the group. I was a non-complainer who did what I was told. I did have my binge days on Sundays where I ate everything that wasn't nailed down from French fries to frosted flakes. The bottom line was that although I had a girlfriend and a son to be (my wife and son now) but I was single and my time was mine.

Not so anymore. Other than promising myself to get in shape someday my options were bleak. My body --- something I've been in tune with and kept tuned for a very long time was out of whack and no longer listening to me. I was contending with dim prospect of having to live with something that is me but resembles nothing I've ever known to be me (if that makes sense). My self-esteem was on the line, because a major tenet to me being who I am is being in shape and feeling like I'm in shape. Working out aided in my development of the self-love required to be able to love others and not rely on others for love and approval. It rounded out who I was as a person. That part of me has been missing for these past few years.

Then along came LA Boxing (Mamaroneck). They saw in me an opportunity (I guess): an out of shape family man who was very vocal about wanting to be in shape once again. For me it was simple. I'd get to learn how to box (or something close to it) --- something I've always wanted to do. It took me nearly a week to get up the nerve to actually go to the gym after I had secured my membership. I wore a lot of clothes that first day to cover my protruding gut and my less than defined arms and sharp shoulders. By the time I was done with their signature, hour-long, 1,000 calorie burning cardio boxing routine (complete with gloves and heavy bags) I was a hot, sweaty mess. I wear a lot less now, but the burn and the sweat has only gotten worse. I can't speak for any of the other LA Boxing sites across the country, but the gang over at the Mamaroneck is the nicest and most supportive bunch of merciless trainers I've ever met.

It's definitely been a blast. There I have a discipline to embrace versus just going to the gym to lift weights or run on a tread mill. I'm not in it to learn how to knock someone out. I just want the all over conditioning that comes with being a boxer. I'm not interested in turning back the clock. I want to age with strength and grace. At one point during my workout yesterday I was doubled over tasting my breakfast in my mouth and feeling my stomach churn. The owner, Dean, ran up on me and screamed, "What are you doin'? I didn't tell you to stop!" And I went right back into it because I have nothing to do but gain by boxing away my backfat. I get to be more alive for my kids and I get to fine tune this machine that I use to move through my days.

What my experience so far at LA Boxing has done is expose the following:

Bad Habits: 1) I can't stay up all night long (a current problem I'm battling) and think I'm going to waltz up in the gym first thing in the morning and pump out a mean performance. It's just not gonna happen; 2) Based on the sheets of sweat that come off of me, drinking fluids all day long (water and electrolytes) is a must; 3) Garbage in - garbage out: I've actually known this for the past 15 years but undoing my snacking of the past four years is not the easiest thing in the world to do. I've opted to correct this by snacking mostly on fruits.

My Age: I'm not who I was four years ago, so staying up all night long and waking up at the crack of dawn to work out just doesn't work. I accepted this about 3 weeks ago.

Other than that I've always been of the inclination that there is nothing I can't do, short of flying without being inside an airplane. As of this weekend I will be 7 weeks in and in a better place than I've been for a very long time. And as of yesterday I began my eventual mastery of skipping rope like a boxer --- something I've ALWAYS wanted to be able to do. So no, I'm not too old to be boxing. I'm not too old to do anything that I want and/or need to do. I've even got more motivation thanks to a family trip to the Caribbean scheduled for the end of this month. I'm trying to be as shirtless as possible while I'm away.

When relaying all this to a friend last night she remarked, "We all have that thing that works for us. I'm glad you found yours." If you have something that you want to do, or always have wanted to do I encourage you to pursue with all your heart, strength and spirit as much as time will allow. As far as I know we only get one go-round in these bodies of ours. Why pass on living life to the fullest? Do what you need to do to make your life richer. Everyone around you will benefit from it, just as I hope you will benefit from my journey as I check with you to update you on my backfat annihilation.

Peace....

Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for this post. I have been provided with a complimentary membership to LA Boxing for a limited time period.

Follow Me On Twitter
Subscribe to Makes Me Wanna Holler

I'm not the guy with my arms out...

I've been blessed to not suffer from writer's block. But I can be distracted from writing like nobody's business. April was a month that knocked me on my you know what. It was a time of change, some good, some bad. Either way, all of it came together to prevent my brain from focusing that much on Makes Me Wanna Holler.

And here they are in no particular order:

Boxing: Not so much boxing but remolding my schedule to fit that of someone who works out --- intensely. This covers everything from what I've been eating, when I've been eating, what I've taken out of my diet, and when I sleep. I've actually had to start sleeping to get a decent night's rest in order to function. You'd think this would be obvious, but bad habits learned over the last four years of my daughter's life has made the obvious not so clear.

My Wife: As the woman I've pledged my love to immerses herself more and more into her MBA program and starts telling more econ and statistics jokes, more and more of the responsibilities here at home are piling up on me. I've gone from being Dad, to House Administrator. All I do these days is tell little people what to do, drive them around and feel like I'm going in circles in the process. I've even begun to start cooking again --- something I did daily and effortlessly as a bachelor. Now, I've either knock a meal out of the park or I sit at the head of the table with my kids looking at me like, "Why are you feeding me this?" Then once I get everyone to bed I have all the time I need to dig into the pressing matters of my own life. I take a deep breath, crack my knuckles and pass out for the night.

Photography: I booked 3 gigs between the end of March and the month of April. Easy enough on the shooting end, not so easy on the editing end. The beautiful thing about my relationship with photography is that each photo session is leaps and bounds better than the last one, but then I have to still deal with the one before it, trying to exact perfection and spending a lot of time doing it. I'm also building another blog and doing it very very slowly.

The Future: This one comes up daily. I spend a lot of time thinking of my family and what we're going to be doing in the next six to eight months.

My New Smartphone: I am not a proponent of smartphones. Being connected at all times is something I've always dreaded. My wife decided to switch my plan to hers and get me the same new shiny smartphone she has. She told me I didn't have to use all the features if I didn't want to...Like that was going to happen...after a week of staring at the box and holding on to my old phone which was duct taped together, it took all of a day for me to connect my new phone to everything I do online. Now it rings and sends me notifications constantly. And I'm too weak to ignore it.

AAU Basketball: It was my idea to have my son try out for AAU basketball in his age group. I wanted him to play on a competitive level. I wanted him to actually try out for a team. Something he has yet to do at his high school (they just sign up). He made the team, he's practicing two nights a week and playing four games each weekend. Sometimes the games are back to back. Sometimes, there are huge lags of time in between. Sometimes they are all under one roof. Sometimes they are located no less than 20 miles from home. My goal was to wear him out. It didn't dawn on me that the same would happen to me.

My Son: If I ever thought I was running out of material for this blog, all I had to do is sit still for a couple days and let my son simply exist. Over the course of this past month, even with the revelation that he may be learning disabled, this boy has given me enough material to blog about until Father's Day. Just to catch you up: I currently own all his time. His cell phone hours are restricted. And the door to his room is missing (I took it down). Why? Because my son has decided in his infinite teenage wisdom that since he doesn't like school, he's simply going to stop participating in it. He had it all figured out. He'd be social instead. He blamed everyone for his shortcomings --- from teachers to fellow students to that creature named I Don't Know. And then his grades came in. A horrific piece of paper I affectionately call his Concerto in F Flat. Not for lack of understanding, but rather lack of effort as in not turning in homework or showing up to class. And he's become a victim of the very technology (emails and IMs) that led him to believe he could pull a fast one and not get caught. This past Monday I sent out 10 emails to his teachers and received about 20 in return. He's not a bad boy, he's actually pretty well behaved. He's just misdirected. Stay tuned for the redirection.

Stay tuned for the blogging...


Follow Me On Twitter

Subscribe to Makes Me Wanna Holler

Follow Me On Twitter

Subscribe to Makes Me Wanna Holler

You can view my entire Bye Bye, Backfat...Hello Boxing Gloves Series to date and more at my Vimeo Page.

Stay tuned for prizes/giveaways on my Facebook Page.

Happy Fatherhood Friday!

Follow Me On Twitter

Subscribe to Makes Me Wanna Holler

You just learn how to endure the pain...



Follow Me On Twitter

Subscribe to Makes Me Wanna Holler