From the category archives:

Lifestyle Design

10% Body Fat, are you kidding me? So for those of you who don’t know The Ren Men are dueling it out and trying to reach 10% body fat by the year’s end, if not we each owe 15K to a charity. Grant sits at about 18% and Alan sits at about 26%.

So I (Alan) took the 300 challenge. I’ve done if before but always with some kind of cheating (lat pulldowns instead of pull ups) This is the workout:

25 Pull Ups

50 Deadlifts (135 lbs.)

50 Push Ups (BOSU half-ball)

50 Box Jumps (~24. in.)

50 Floor Swipers

50 Clean and Jerk (35 lbs. db)

25 Pull Ups

Doesn’t seem THAT tough, does it? You try to finish it as quickly as you can. A ‘good’ time is under 20 minutes. Let me repeat that, under 20 minutes!

3:35 pm – Here we go…25 Pull ups, 7, 8, 9, (oh, how can I feel tired already?) 10…(insert — huffing and puffing sound here)…

3:37 pm – 14, 15 (oh they might close down the gym before I finish)…rest…

3:40 pm – I head over to prepare for some dead-lift fun…you can setup the dead-lift bar beforehand, but I know I’ll take as much rest as I can get…

3:42 pm – I still need a break from pull ups, enter dead-lifts…10, feel good…

3:44 pm – Back to pull ups 16-20, (I must have blacked out during 19 and 20)

3:47 pm – 11-20 dead-lifts still feel good…

3:50 pm – Need a break, hey I’ve got a great idea, let’s go box jumping…49, 50 pouring with sweat and swear words a-flowin’, fear starts to set in…will I make it through this?

3:53 pm – Back to pull ups 21-25, and I have to do that again? Holy cow chips…

3:56 pm – 21-35 dead-lifts, after box jumps, burn baby burn…

4:00 pm – Wheeeeeezzzzing…

4:02 pm – 36-50 dead lifts complete, (hand in the air, praise the Lord)

4:03 pm – Floor swipers burn through 20, actually felt decent…two deep breaths, rep out the last 30! Yep, I might just throw up…awesome…

4:05 pm – Clean and jerk, 25 each side, felt good…

4:08 pm – Push ups, saved them for last, because I KNEW I could rep them out…uhhhhh, negative ghostwriter pattern is full….25 half-way home…hello, nice to see you brick wall…35, how did my shirt catch on fire? Oh it’s not, those are my lats burning to a crisp…40, 45, 50…no gas left, fumes?, gone as well…

4:10 pm – The final 25 pull ups…1, 2, 3…reverse grip, 4, 5…I hate you glory days, I hate you Spartans…I hate you number 10…

4:12 pm – 6, 7, 8…reverse grip 9 and 10…I hate you vino, I hate you ego…I hate you Frak’n Peelle…I hate you Adam Baker…I hate you Annie Sorensen

4:14 pm – 11, 12, 13, 14, reverse grip, 15…I hate you Tim Ferriss…I hate you BodPod…I hate you Tony Horton…I hate you Pat Flynn

4:16 pm – 16, 17, 18, reverse grip, 19, 19.5…total muscle failure…I hate you YouTube body transformation videos, I hate you complex carbohydrates…I hate you King Leonidas…I hate you Ren-Menions…

4:18 pm – What can I do? How can I quit now? But I have nothing left? Stop being a kitty and get it done! 20, 21, 22, reverse grip, 23, 24…one damn more…side grip, 24.5…oh $#!4 I am done…one more, 25…DONE!

I take it all back I love you every last one of you!!!!!!!!!!!!

7:35 pm – Finally, getting enough feeling back in arms to feel confident enough that my motor skills will hold up long enough to write this post…

In conclusion, I feel extremely tired, but also really happy I finished. I did almost quit, just once, right before the last 25 pull ups, but I needed to finish…once I started the last 25 pull ups being so close to finish, I was going to finish no matter how long it took. I wanted a better time (43 minutes) and wanted to do all exercises I the right order but I would’ve been in the gym all night. I plan on doing it again next week, I’ll keep you posted…

AL

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A web video blog about lifestyle design, passive income, real estate, vending machines, used cars, and eustress challenges.

Grant and Alan sell two vending machines on ebay. Then, they have a chat with Greg Hart.

Runtime: 22:44

A quick rundown of the episode:

  • Welcome to Episode 48.
  • Selling vending machines on ebay.
  • Interview with Greg Hart.
  • Should we be in your market?

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A web video blog about lifestyle design, passive income, real estate, vending machines, used cars, and eustress challenges.

Grant and Alan sit down with Kevin Chance, a professional poker player.

Runtime: 24:02

A quick rundown of the episode:

  • Welcome to Episode 47.
  • Interview with Kevin Chance.
  • 100th Home Celebration?

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Below is an email we received from a Ren-Menion, Jared C.—

RenMen!
Ya’ll still alive?  Ya’ll ok?? Should I call someone and have them go over to check on you guys?  I’m starting to wonder if you guys took the ‘diet’ thing a little too far and starved yourselves to death….  all so you wouldn’t have to write a check to charity…

 JC,

Thanks for you concern, we are still alive. We have been shooting the information product, for the past several weeks. It has become a much bigger project than we first expected. We don’t want to sound cocky, but we forgot how much we knew about real estate, and how much needed to be shared and told about real estate. We only have our cameramen certain days and we can’t quite seem to squeeze out a Ren Men Show. It is our hopes to get one out this week, –root for us, we are going to need it.

The diets are going…for Grant well, for Alan the same. Grant just returned from vacation cheated all week, and came back the same weight! Alan is still lifting, stronger than ever and has lost five pounds since the Bod-Pod weigh-in.

On the housing front, we have continued to pick up houses here and there — steady wins the race. On the RAG front, we are losing the battle of 200. We had wanted all along to have Jeeps, Jeeps, and more Jeeps, we get them, then gas go to $4.00 a gallon. Sweet! Any Ren-Menions want a Jeep for cheap? 

The vending is status-quo. The information product is coming along great at times and decent at other times. We have had some hindrances, but they haven’t stopped us, yet. We hope to complete filming by the end of April, complete editing by the end of May and push product out sometime in June/July. That is an aggressive schedule, which is right up our alley.

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GP

To know me, is to know how much I love spending time with family and friends.
To know me, is to know that I am captured by the idea of creating and preserving memories.
To know me, is to know that I am a gadget freak, specifically, a videography and photography equipment freak.
My dreamline includes elements of each of these passions.

It was my wife’s birthday last week and I would like to share a video I created for her as a gift. It is a video of the last year and a half-or-so in the life of our family. I am proud of this piece, not for the production value or the editing, but because it reminds me that through it all Carrie and I have remained consistent in prioritizing quality time with family and friends above all else. We live a truly blessed life for which I am completely grateful. I encourage you to do all that you can to preserve the priceless memories you are creating with your family.

***I suggest watching this in full screen in as high quality as your internet connection will allow.

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