Wall St.

Originally uploaded by ravisraman.

No bears in sight!

Photo.jpg

Originally uploaded by ravisraman.

World trade center site. They are getting ready to start construction on the new Port Authority building and the Freedom Tower…a new skyscraper. Visited the World Trade Center site. Just standing there was pretty emotional…more than I thought it would be. They are starting to build the foundatin for the new Port Authority center and the new Freedom Tower skyscraper.

Morning yoga

Originally uploaded by ravisraman.

Jivamukti (in union square) is a really awesome studio. Outstanding teachers, and a cafe with lots of fresh organic and raw food!

Ridin in style

Originally uploaded by ravisraman.

The benefits of economies of scale. The good thing about travelling with a small group…is u can do things that on your own just wouldn’t be sensible. Like in this case….getting a stretch limo to our Manhattan hotel from JFK. It was actually cheaper than two cabs! And it was fully stocked :)

Will be on the move this week. Heading to NYC for a few days and then to Dallas for work. We’re doing some focus groups to make sure that we’ve really nailed the right customer segment target for a new product we are building. Then I head up to Philadelphia to visit some friends from college, and then onward to Harrisburg for a wedding. Will be a busy week!

Kathryn, a very dear friend of mine will be starting an adventure soon. First off to India for a several months, to study yoga at an ashram, and then possibly off to Spain for some language immersion. After some globetrotting, she’ll probably settle down somewhere with great weather, which means Seattle is out of the picture. While I will miss her deeply; I am grateful for the open, honest and fun moments we’ve had in the short time we’ve known each other.

In wishing her the best last night (pics) it really hit home how important friends are in your life. We rarely if ever play-full out with our friendships. Playing full-out means that you go out of your way to make sure that their needs are met. It means that you always give them the benefit of the doubt. It means that you never take action expecting to get something in return. It means that you aren’t afraid to ask the hard questions or push back when you really and truly feel that it is the right thing to do. It is about brutal honesty and uncontrollable laughter.

It’s all these things that make real friendships happen. I’ve been amazed and grateful for the outstanding friends I have in my life, but realize that most of us (me included) are guilty for not playing full-out. We can make whatever excuses we like: too busy, scared, embarrassed, it just slips out minds, we don’t have the nerve….but it doesn’t change the reality that most of us probably never (or very very rarely) feel what true friendship is. We’re too concerned about networking, getting ahead, looking good in from of others or taking care of ourselves to really invest the time and emotion in it.

Friendships are NOT negotiated with set terms in a wood-panelled board room, but we act like they are. If you only feel that you can give when you get something in return; or if friendship is only about pleasing and not about growing, challenging, being brutally honest and laughing ’till your ribs hurt….you are missing out.

I ran into Paul in the locker room today at the gym. He asked how my push up hold progress was coming along. The answer was that for the past month or so, I haven’t been doing these much. At most I’ll just hold it for a few minutes to work the arm and chest muscles out, but will not go to failure.

As soon as I finished talking to Paul, I went down to the gym to try to max out. His question made me really curious. It has been over a month since my last test. I had just trained chest the previous day so I didn’t know what to expect.

• May 29th: 41
• June 6th: 44
• July 9th: 54
• August 16th: 62!!!

Right now I’m focusing on increasing my 1 set max for push ups (full reps). To do this I’ve just been weight training and doing occasional sets of Push Ups (typically 2-3 sets of 25-35). Yoga is also very helpful.I set a goal back in May to hit 75 by the end of September. I’m getting close but progress is slowing down (as expected).

I am running again! I ran for the second time in almost 4 months today after spraining my ankle back in May. I can’t go far, and my ankle is a bit sore, but it definitely feels great to be outdoors again.

Surprisingly, my body feels super light and strong. Having been hardcore about my diet and yoga practice has had a huge impact on my cardio. My lungs have a little ways to go to get back into real running shape, but I am in much better condition than I thought I would be.

I haven’t committed to any races yet though! I’ll see how the ankle holds up after a few more runs before setting any more crazy goals! At any rate…I have about 5 weeks left to the body transformation competition…and right now anything doesn’t align with my goal of building lean muscle is getting cut from my routine. Distance running and building lean muscle don’t go hand in hand.

I’ve started keeping track of all the little times my brain has said “no” to something that deep down I really knew I should say “yes” to.

Most of the time, this tension involves doing something outgoing like approaching a stranger (mostly cute girls!), speaking up in a meeting, writing an e-mail I’ve been procrastinating about, calling someone I’ve put off calling or exercising when I think I’m too tired, too hungry or too busy.

In every single case, without exception, where I have actually made myself say “yes” and take action; I have NEVER regretted taking the action. Never, ever. At least not in the few weeks I’ve been consciously doing this little experiment.

If you are faced with a hard decision between action and inaction, take action no matter what, the odds are in your favor that it is the right thing to do. An whether it is right or not doesn’t matter, at least you’ll feel better for having made the effort.

I’ve gotten some questions (mostly delivered with raised eyebrows and a smirk) essentially asking what the hell I eat as part of my raw-food-diet nonsense.

Here’s a picture of my “snack food” from last Tuesday during the work day. In addition to this stuff, I started off the day with half of a good-sized honeydew mellon. I also had about 20 almonds or so mid-morning. My lunch was a very large plate of spinach, with some broccoli, cucumbers, carrots and seeds sprinkled on top and a side of tofu (about 1 cup of tofu). I also sprinkled a little balsamic vinegar on top (to help digestion). I didn’t use any oil or dressings (I try to get my fats from nuts, seeds, avacados).

You probably notice that there are 6 bananas in the picture. Yes, I ate six bananas during the day. Yesterday, I had 4 peaches and a few carrots and 4 bannanas. Portion control is something that I’ve had to totally reframe since I’ve started this diet. In our American culture, we are use to buying 5 gallon jugs of ice cream, 2lb blocks of cheese, and just a couple bananas. We feel quite at home having 4-5 slices of pizza or a 6-pack of beer, but cringe at the thought of eating more than one apple! How crazy is that!

When I visited my Vegan Bodybuilder friends in Portland last weekend, we went to a Farm Sanctuary. We spent some time with animals that had been mistreated and rescued from cruel owners or factory farms. We took some very large boxes of fresh organic (of course!) veggies to feed them. I was amazed at how they just mowed down carrot after carrot after carrot! These animals were very healthy and very large. The cow in the pic below weighs 2000lbs and its shoulder was taller my head!

These animals (horses, goats, large pigs, cows) were just gobbling up these veggies. I fed this cow about 10 carrots (as did the other dozen people I was there with) and it just kept coming back for more! It finally clicked that we need to reframe our perspective for what it means to eat fresh fruits and veggies.

If you are hungry, there is nothing wrong with eating two or three bananas. This isn’t about overeating, it is about making sure your body is getting enough of the high quality nutrients that it needs. After all, in ancient cultures, when apples were ripe and ready to eat, did people just eat one or two a week? No, they ate a much higher quantity. Seeing these animals made it seem much more logical to me.

For the past week, I’ve increased the quantity of fruits and veggies I eat (by an order of magnitude) and feel much better. I’ve also noticed that I feel better when I eat more fruits (as opposed to veggies) and eat fewer nuts (though I still do eat a handful of almonds every day).

I’ll also add as an addendum to my last post about benefits I am seeing from this diet, that I’ve noticed my taste buds getting much more sensitive. Whatever I eat is much more flavorful than I have imagined. I grew up eating very very spicy food (South Indian stuff) and I am sure I scorched my taste buds by the time I was 10 years old. I use to throw hot sauce on everything (still do on occasion!). This has been an interesting bit of rehab for my tongue!

Looking at my journal, I realize that today is day #50 of my raw food experiment (50% of total food intake being raw). Observations I’ve had over the past few weeks:

• The longer I’ve been on this diet, the easier it gets.
• I’ve lost many cravings that I haven’t been able to shake for the past 5-10 years.
• When I do indulge in a craving, I do so on my own terms. I still partake in coffee (once a week) and the occasional beer, but seem to have much less, much less often.
• I am satiated with a much smaller quantity of food.
• I have cravings for fruit (which I have never had before in my life!).
• My energy levels of very high.
• I’ve had noticeable healthier skin. In fact, A rash I’ve had on my arm since I was a kid has started to slowly clear up!
• My teeth have gotten whiter, naturally (noticeable so).
• I sleep less. On average about 1 hour a night less than I use to, and I feel much more awake. This is an area of my life I want to work on. I sleep on average 7 hours a night (even on weekends). I want to drop that to 5, which keeping energy levels up. Proper diet will help, but I have some serious mental prep to do before I get to this level.
• I am much more mentally alert.
• I have much more even energy levels, partically during the afternoon “slump” we typically feel at work. It is funny to see all my teammates run for a Starbucks at 2-3pm, which I reach for a couple bananas or a handful of almonds! :)
• Losing bodyfat, gaining strength. I’ve been getting noticeably leaner. My bodyweight, however , is stable (I am 153lbs right now). Unless the gravitational pull of the earth has gone up, that means I am gaining lean body mass! Weight training has had a big impact no doubt, but I think diet has had an accellerating affect.
• My intuition has been much more keen, pretty spooky actually. Hard to explain this one, u just gotta trust me on on this….or try the diet for yourself and see what happens!
• Over the past few years I’ve had trouble just focusing on one thing at a time…call it ADD, call it lack of focus, call it a symptom of life at a fast-paced Hi-Tech company….but for the past 2 months it’s been much easier for me to sit still and get things done!

Yoga class this morning was awefully good. Aweful because I was falling all over the place. Just standing up straight was hard. My diet has been great, but I think my body is a little beat up from the past week of hard workouts. Good because it was excatly what I needed. Feeling much better now. So while I am making excuses about my own lack of focus, inability to stand up straight, and patting my back for getting up at a reasonable hour…let’s watch this video of a skier who somehow manages to outrun an avalanche! Talk about playing the game at a whole new level!

OK, a buddy of mine was telling me about this last night at dinner. I was 100% certain he was pulling my leg. I mean really, who would ever believe that people would actually mash these two things up?

Some things in life were made to go together. Running and hurdles? Certainly. Skiing and shooting? maybe. Boxing and chess? No way!
You gotta see this to believe it.

Check out the World Chess Boxing Organization website.

The video is absolutely hysterical!

The basic idea in chessboxing is to combine the no.1 thinking sport and the no.1 fighting sport into a hybrid that demands the most of its competitors – both mentally and physically.

In a chessboxing fight two opponents play alternating rounds of chess and boxing. The contest starts with a round of chess, followed by a boxing round, followed by another round of chess and so on. In every round of chess the FIDE rules for a ´Blitz game´ apply, in every boxing round the AIBA rules apply with the following extensions and modifications: In a contest there shall be 11 rounds, 6 rounds of chess, 5 rounds of boxing. A round of chess takes 4 minutes. Each competitor has 12 minutes on the chess timer. As soon as the time runs out the game is over.

A round of boxing takes 2 minutes. Between rounds there is a 1 minute pause, during which competitors change their gear. The contest is decided by: checkmate (chess round), exceeding the time limit (chess round), retirement of an opponent (chess or boxing round), KO (boxing round), or referee decision (boxing round). If the chess game ends in a stalement, the opponent with the higher score in boxing wins. If there is an equal score, the opponent with the black pieces wins.

OK, my arms are officially fried. After Wednesday’s workout with Steve, and today’s day of weights (lifting arms only) I could barely drive home. 8am yoga tomorrow should be an abosulte riot!

Seems as though many of the people I have known at my beloved Microsoft have changed careers lately. Some have left, others have moved around inside the company. I was just at a BBQ for a friend who is moving to Paris for a very cool new management gig. Looking around it was pretty clear that most of the folks around me (we were mostly Microsofties) would not be in same job 2 years from now.

In my 6 years at the company, I have had 3 different jobs, each with different titles, offices and peer groups. Granted, they have all been related by some common thread (business planning led me to product planning which led to product marketing). At Microsoft, 2 years seems to be the average tenure for someone in a given role. This is especially true amongst business-related roles. Ultimately, I think this cross-pollination is a help to the company. It keeps the “blood” moving throughout the business and helps to bring fresh perspective to lingering problems.

While having an entire management team leave your group at the same time is absolutely aweful (something I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing); a modest level of churn is definitely a good thing….especially if it means having to look at the Eiffel Tower every day from your office window!

Today I joined my buddy Steve for one of his crazy workouts. I had seen him running around the gym like a madman doing about 20 exercises in 45 minutes in the past, and decided to see what it was all about. It was one of the more intense weight workouts I’ve done in the past six months for sure.

We worked the entire body in one workout. With the two of us it took 60 minutes, including a 10 minute cardio warmup. The premise was to keep moving, and really never have downtime. For several of the exercises, you are also supersetting, where you alternate between two exercises that work opposing muscle groups. For example, we’d do a set of bicep curls followed by tricep pushdowns. For each exercise, we did 2 sets of 15 reps. The last few reps should be at or close to failure.

Halfway through I was breaking a sweat and it never stopped until the end. My heart rate was also pretty high (for a weight training session) the entire hour. While the workout was good, I do think that a bit more rest between supersets would have allowed me to lift more weight for a few more reps (which in theory would give better strength gains); but for an all-around workout is was great.
What we did:

• 3 sets x 16 reps sit-ups on incline bench
• 2 sets x 15 bicep curls immediately followed by an overhead press in a single compound movement
• 2 sets x 15 step-ups on a tall step (like a lunge)
• 2 sets x 15 hammer strength incline bench
• 2 sets x 15 hammer strength pull downs

Superset

• 2 sets x 15 cable pulls across the body (works the obliques)
• 2 sets x 15 crunches
• 2 sets x 15 hamstring curls

Superset

• 2 sets x 15 lat pulldowns
• 2 sets x 20 push ups with hands shoulder width apart

Superset

• 2 sets x 15 bi curls
• 2 sets x 15 tricep pushdowns

I was in Portland this weekend visiting my sister and brother in-law; and hanging out with a group of Vegan Bodybuilders. I don’t consider myself Vegan right now, but back in 2002, I was Vegan for a few years. I had heard of several endurance athletes that were Vegan, but I always felt like bodybuilding and veganism were completely contradictory! After a few years, I slowly slipped back into my vegetarian ways….as the only vegan I knew, I just lost the motivation.
A few months ago, however, I ran across a website, www.veganbodybuilding.com, with many other vegan athletes, several of whom are World Class Natural Bodybuilders (i.e. are drug tested). This peaked my interested, as I am trying to gain muscle mass right now, while at the same time and reverting back to a more vegan diet.

For the past week, Robert Cheeke, founder of the website and top-ranked bodybuilder, hosted a Vegan Vacation in Portland as a way to get many of the website forum members, and the local Portland community, to get together to train, talk about vegan cooking and nutrition, and have fun!

I got the chance to meet several of the forum members, pick their brains for a few tips, and get inspired by being around people who have defined a much higher standard for their lives than most; especially when it comes to living and eating in a morally and ethically sound manner; while keeping their bodies in peak physical condition.

And if you still don’t believe that you can be very strong and vegan….check out these pics of Alex , whom I met this weekend. If you still aren’t motivated, more pics here.

Other posts you may enjoy:

• Yoga & Meditation Retreat Experience
• Lose Weight by Sleeping More
• Held Hostage by Technology
• Chose Your Friends Wisely
• The Dangers of Multi-Tasking
• The Power of Affirmation

Last weekend I slacked on my raw food. I was about 20% raw, as opposed to 50%. I REALLY notice the difference. I feel more tired. My brain doesn’t feel as sharp. I also feel hungrier. When I eat lots of raw food my appetite actually decreases. This is counter-intutive. With fewer calories one would think you would be a raving starving maniac, but the opposite actually seems true. When I eat a meal of mostly cooked food (especially grains or breads), I feel quite hungry 3 hours later. When I eat a meal of fresh greens and seeds (perhaps with a little tofu on top), I am satiated for 5-6 hours at least.