I cut peaches by hand in a jam factory.
Cut sheet metal for lighting fixtures in a suburban industrial park a long time ago. I worked too diligently, and the veteran sheet metal workers were pissed and told me to slow the fck down.
I remember a mexican guy offering me microwave popcorn during the lunch break. It was cool. We ate popcorn and then cut metal for a few more hours.
Extra for a movie.
I was in a rock band in my early twenties. We toured all over the US and Japan.
Professional sports bettor.
It was essentially an arbitrage-with-risk strategy whereby I looked for lines that were significantly off of the market price and pounced when I found them. I utilized a staking strategy to bet more when my edge was larger and to bet smaller when my edges were thinner.
I did it for two years and it paid for my MBA. Eventually, though, the softer offshore sportsbooks and the local bookies stopped taking my bets.
I had a cup of coffee in minor league baseball. Didn’t play with or face anyone who went on to be a superstar, but lots of guys who made it to the big leagues.
^ it’s good you went on to CFA. Most of those guys just fade into obscurity and get jobs at gym teachers… and talk about their days in the minors… like I’m some 19 yr old girl who gives a shit…
One of my first jobs was writing a computer program to computerize a horseracing handicapper’s technique. I was still a teenager and computing power was a tiny fraction of what it is today, and there’s know way I knew enough math and statistics to do it the right way, but it was still kinda fun trying.
I also worked for a non-profit around the time of the dot-com boom and was assigned the task of thinking up ways that underserved regions in developing countries could make use of all the technology that was being developed at the time. It was very interesting, although also frustrating, because cell phones and computers were thought to be “rich people’s toys” at the time, and so people would spend millions of dollars creating irrigation systems, but not be willing to spend a few thousand so that the managers out there could keep things maintained. I was advocating more solid-state stuff, because it tended to be lower power and could withstand dust and dirt and stuff better than hard drives, but other people in my organization just wanted to ship antiquated equipment instead, which is fantastically expensive.
Generally before and after work. It is a bit of a juggling act, but I want to build up better competency and references before I have kids and stop having any time to myself to develop those skills and business. I’ve been around long enough now at my day job that my coworkers and superiors don’t mind if I come in at 9 occasionally and/or leave at 5 as long as I’m a good contributor to our group, and I have the ability to work at home pretty much when I feel like it if I don’t abuse it.
I usually work out before a training session in the morning or after a session in the evening, which means about 2 hours in the gym on days I am training (usually just 3 times a week or so). Starting to transition into some small group based stuff soon, but just need more experience with that so I am shadowing a buddy that does it. This is fun for me, keeps me in shape, social and is something I could see myself doing for a long time. Also, people that give a sh!t about training well and have the means to pay somebody generally are pretty interesting and driven: tons of scientists, lawyers, finance types, doctors, nurse practicioners, psychologists, gourmet chefs, business owners as well as some military/police/fire.
My dad had this exact job while working on his MS in computer science…this was in like '76 or so. He tells stories about how in school the computers literally took up a whole room, and he still has those punch cards that were used before floppy discs as examples of some of the first programs he wrote.
I saw punch card machines at my dad’s lab, but never used them.
I did work on the handicapping program in Pascal on an Apple IIc. I just saw one of those on display last week and said “I remember working on one of those.”
Hey, can I pick up your brain on something since I can’t affrod my own personal trainer for now?
Is there a way to train the shoulder muscles to do pull ups? Push ups maybe? I’ve been asking people and the only suggestion I got is using the assisted pull up machine at the gym. I am not a gym member though and wouldn’t want to join for just that one excersize. Thanks!
Sounds like interesting stuff. I would bet that if you could provide nutritional advice too, you could expand your client base. I’ve always prided myself on my knowledge of fitness / nutrition, but the more I’m reading on nutrition the more i realize the science behind it is quite complex.
I once worked at a hockey arena. There was a fifteen foot radio-control blimp that would fly around during period breaks and drop prizes on the crowd. I was part of the crew flying the blimp, and would also help out the Zam-man and the ice crew tending the ice. Never actually got paid, but I had free rink-side seats for every game I showed up for.
There is definitely a “grease the groove” dynamic to developing pull ups. If you cannot yet do an unassisted pull up, there are a few ways you can build the strength and coordination to do a pull up without the use of an assisted pull up machine.
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Negatives. Start on the bar and lower yourself down slowly. Really you should try to do it as slowly as possible.
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Static holds. Three positions: chin over the bar, 90 degree bend in elbows (hard!), and dead hang with your scapula pulled together (think of hanging from the bar with your ears in front of your upper arms). Do these for 5-10 second holds. Once you are able to do multiple sets for all three, you will likely be ready to do a pull up, if not before. A nice way to break these down is below, although if you need more rest at first then take it:
0:00-0:10 Hold at the top 0:10-0:59 rest 1:00-1:06 Hold at 90 bend (or as long as possible) 1:07-1:59 rest 2:00-2:10 Hold at bottom 2:11-2:59 rest 3:00-3:06 Negative 3:07-3:59 rest repeat for 20 minutes
- Use assistance bands, use the chart at the bottom of this page to determine what resistance you need so you don’t need to tell us your weight:-): http://rubberbanditz.com/info-center/pull-up-bands/. They are around 40 bucks for what you’ll likely need, but you can shop around.
Do 1, 2 and 3 or some combination of them every other day.
- Assistance exercises. As the name suggests these should be used as assistance to numbers 1, 2 and 3. Numbers 1,2 and 3 should take precedence for developing a pull up. Assistance exercises include:
Body rows, can use a bar or rings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hQDr0v3Ceo
Curls (don’t worry, you won’t look like Ahhhnold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zawY6rIbJ4A)
Bench Dips (can do on stairs): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0326dy_-CzM
Push ups
Stick with 1, 2 and/or 3 for three weeks or so and see how you progress. Test your pull ups to see if you can do one before your pull up workout one day a week. You will get there.
Wow! THANK YOU!
Starting with the “negative” approach he mentioned is good. You can easily push yourself to the top of the bar, and then slowly lower yourself. Hold the top for 15 sec, lower yourself slightly, and hold for 15 sec and so on and so forth.
Don’t do the assisted pullup machine, frankly, don’t use any machine for strength training. If you’re really cheap, go down to the local elementary school and find a bar.
It’s difficult to get too into the weeds with clients on nutrition, especially since you literally need a Phd to understand some of the chemical reactions going on and the hormonal responses to different foods.
For most people, it comes down to not melting cheese on everthing, not drinking a lot of beer and eating some vegetables. Keeping track of macros is a good idea, but that’s as specific as most people are willing to get. Training can be fun…not so much with watching diet.
I’ve been doing the negatives with chin ups, but with pull ups I haven’t been succesful. I can’t even hold the head over the bar yet - just sliding down right away. So I am just hanging for now.
I am not really cheap but I am taking some other expensive classes (for which I actually need upper body strength) and thus can’t afford the personal trainer. So I did exactly what you suggested - went to a local playground and found the monkey bar:)
^ Find yourself a sugar daddy.