Thought I would throw here a nice and shorter blog this time.
I have touched on this subject earlier, but the need for supplements is in their name. First establish healthy eating habits, then seek out what supplements you need. If you're busy, you might benefit from protein shakes instead of the need to warm up or cook an extra protein serving of your choice from beef, chicken or vegan options. I have discarded quite a few supplements in last 6 months.. I used to take PWO for each workout that are loaded with a lot of different ingredients that I had actually no idea if they work or not. My PWO right now is EAAs (basically protein), a bit of carbohydrates in powder form, then beta-alanine, creatine and citrulline malate. I find that this works as a kicker just as well as the regular PWOs. I still take whey protein with my post-workout snack but could I do it with food? Yes, but with my current schedule, I prefer it this way. Find out what works for you.
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I thought I would go a little bit deeper today.
Feeling inadequate, agony, despair, sorrow.. All very valid, dark and deep emotions. I channel them into energy and rage to hit my workouts. Sounds cringey? Yes, it is. But at the same time, it works. And during a workout, there is no time to think about your struggles outside. Focus on what's in front of you. Dumbbells, barbells, battle ropes, whatever it may be, focus on that. Your daily struggles, failures and work tasks wait outside. It's just like the saying that you can leave your ego at the door when you step into the gym. Focus on the exercise, not the weight. I do the same for my struggles, transforming them into temporary energy. Now don't get me wrong, some things just simply cannot be transferred into energy. And those could be the death of someone, a divorce, your kid gets ill and so on. The things I mentioned earlier are nowhere near in the grave importance of these. What I've mainly dealt with in my life is things I've created through things I've experienced. And slowly, I've learnt to let them go. But I still aim for perfection and when I feel like I'm inadequate like failing a task just for example.. I turn that into a harder workout session and reflect upon the "failed" task. Maybe it wasn't a failure after all, maybe I gave it my 100%. Hope you had a good read and can reflect your life on it as well. So we're reaching the end of January. Hopefully whatever you set yourself to achieve hasn't dimmed down yet.
Today's topic is not giving into stress. I used to be really big into eating when I was stressed. I would eat a lot of candy, drink sugary sodas and other stuff like pizza. The problem? That was what I ate when I was feeling happy. So, in essence, I really didn't eat healthy at all. Then I managed to sort of get rid of "happiness" eating and only gave myself a limited amount of candy when I was stressed. I also allowed myself just zero sugar sodas. I know, I know, it isn't healthy but it certainly was healthIER than what I used to consume. These days my mood doesn't affect what I eat. I eat the "same shit" every day. Chicken, beef, vegan options, eggs, broccoli, carrots, oatmeal.. It doesn't change. The only thing that changes is my overall mood. And that's good. If I'm feeling really shitty, I might drink a zero sugar Coke or Monster. So, I'm still learning. Maybe you can learn something from this and adapt to your needs. It isn't healthy to comfort yourself with food. Food is fuel. You wouldn't fill your car with more fuel than the tank can take because rest is overflow. Think about that. Something I wanted to write about today is whether you should skip your workout or not...
Today, I really felt like skipping. Bad sleep, bad mood, anxious and tired. Yet I just got a good back & rear delts session in. So the difference to me is the following: 1. Wouldn't like to - feeling like what I described above - get your ass to the gym 2. Wouldn't want to - schedule is tight, making excuses and feeling what I described above - get your ass to the gym 3. Shouldn't - feeling actual pain/ache or you're ill - focus on revovering and rest I started cutting last summer, actually just in the end of July... Some would call this progress slow, but bear with me as I explain.
I've come down from 119 kg to now 107 kg, so that's 12 kilograms in about 6 months. So that's 2 kilograms per month. I haven't lost any power yet and feel like my muscular mass is intact. So 12 kilograms of just fluff (water weight and fat) is AN AMAZING result in 6 months. I'm actually really satisfied with this. I hope to continue this trend, however it'll probably slow down to 1 kg a month. My goal isn't a weight or a size though. My main goal is health, then waist circumference and then weight. And that's a big leap from #1 to #2. I really want to be able to feel even better than I do right now. When I got to around 115 kg when I was powerlifting, I could really feel it in my knees. A reminder of old pains. And after a while, I decided that I need to cut down again (in June). Let that serve as a reminder that you can start any day in the year, not just when it's new year or a Monday. Start, get going, make it a routine and become better than you were. I know I have. Hello there, it's been a while.
Being in a day job really has shown me the difference of how I stay active on social media, my blog or Instagram. I was more active when I started them when I was in school. I think now I'm slowly getting the itch for this again as I feel like I have something to say and I want to say it. So, more on that later. I've been really working on my health. I would say that being on this cut (if we don't count in a few off-weeks) for nearly half a year now has really emphasized the importance of just being healthy. My focus has changed more to healthy weight than muscle mass. Of course I still want more muscle and power, but maybe later. Right now I want to reach a level of health that I've never had before. I work out 6 times a week, 4 days with bodybuilding style, 1 HIIT workout and 1 pure aerobic day. So that leaves one rest day. Some time ago I would've called the pure aerobic day a rest day as well. As the years of training have accumulated, I've realized the importance of rest. Next biggest thing I'm focusing on with my health is recovery through not just stretching, but other aspects as well. While playing video games and watching YouTube makes time go by fast, it'd be better used in other things, like meditating or just taking a nap. I need more sleep. And on that note, it's good to announce that it actually is bedtime and I'll put a pillow under my head. So the time to have New Years Resolutions is soon upon us.
Don't start the first of January. START NOW. Then by the start of new year, you already have habits. You will be less likely to fail. And this stretches, again, to more things than fitness. Although this blog here is for fitness only, most of the time, I am going to set goals in the music area for myself. I don't know music theory, scales, keys or chords. I plan to learn those. And I plan to buy a classical guitar. I really want to try to bring myself to the next level as a songwriter, musician and guitarist. And I am already starting with the current equipment, not giving myself the excuse of money or lack of 'proper' equipment. So, hope you can follow that in the same vein. Start that side hustle, take extra courses online in whatever you want to learn, start going to the gym if that's your goal. Whatever it is, get familiar with it now. The sooner you start, the sooner you will be on the journey to the end goal. I completed the program in the title a while ago. The program's main aim is fat loss while preserving muscle. This is just an overview of the program and my experience of it. I am not giving any details away, as I think that's just plainly rude.
Let's first talk results. I took a bit careful approach this time. In 10 weeks, I lost 6 kilograms when looking at the highest and lowest weight. If we consider the average of each week, then that would be about 4.6 kilos, I lost quite a bit of excess weight in the first week. Could I have lost more? Absolutely. But then I could have risked muscle loss as well and that's simply something I didn't want. Secondly, the nutrition. As the program's title suggests, there are low and high carb days. When there are fewer carbs, there's a higher amount of fat. I had never done something like this before, so I was really intrigued. Where I found problems was in low carb days. I guess I really love carbs or something, but if I had gone for a more extreme deficit, I would have probably needed a refill day here and there. I did not cut off any supplements that I was already taking, but I did take less whey protein if I had a BCAA drink and so on. Third, the training. The program, to not give any details out for reaaons mentioned above, is based on 5-part split and an aerobic day. I haven't done a split like this before or in a really long time, so that was also intriguing. Only problems I found were certain exercises that I simply can't perform well. But as I am a bit experienced, I just worked around them. The program had three phases. My absolute favourite was phase 2 and then phase 3 for back and leg exercises. Fourth, the conclusion. This is an excellent program for the money and will give you results if you do it by the book. I got more than satisfactory results and feel that I kept most of my muscle and strength intact. You can purchase it from testoriginal.com So let's assume you got a good program with a good diet plan and killed pretty much each workout.
You will have achieved what you wanted if you had realistic goals. There is no way you could undo 2 years of unhealthy life choices with 12 weeks of healthy eating, but it has taken you much closer to the next change. Or would 16 weeks of heavy lifting combined with clean bulking make you look like the next Mr.Olympia, but it has given you a serious amount of muscle and a boost to your overall health. The simple reason of achieving a goal is the one you need to remember if you start deviating from the plan. Average input only gives an average output. I have touched on this subject deeper in other posts, so I won't here. Remember why you started your plan, remember what got you there to need that plan and that enough should make you stick to it and achieve what you want and get you one step closer to that end goal. So, in the last blog I emphasized the importance of sticking to a program.
Well, assuming you have, you eat well enough and still don't see gains... You need to question the program. Does it have you absolutely exhausted every single workout and still you see nothing? Maybe the exercises just aren't as advertised on the cover. A program NEEDS to include compound exercises (like Squat, Bench, Deadlift, Bent Over Row, Pull-up and the list goes on..). If your program is filled with isolation exercises or worst case scenario, absolutely useless exercises like flailing your arms without a weight because you're still "squeezing" your triceps, you need to re-think your program. I like starting off with compounds. They get the heart rate going, they engage a lot of muscles and in my opinion, give me most "bang for the buck" when looking at the time consumed for each exercise. There is absolutely no point in doing only isolation exercises unless your workout is an arms day as there are no compound exercises for one muscle group. So, next time you purchase a program that has you doing bicep curls without any weight... ask for a refund. |
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I am a fitness enthusiast and on my own journey to get better. |