Phase 4 – I’m Excited

I popped in to see my nutritionist today… Christine was really helpful. Appreciated it. I now have a more structured meal plan that’s entirely doable / manageable (with some preplanning that I’m just doing right now), as well as fun, nutritious, and interesting. Some good foods, flavours, and more than anything, it fits into my lifestyle, which is something that most meal plans can’t do.

So I’ve updated the Eating and Supplementation section of this website to accommodate all these new insights and the new plan… so you can check it out there.

I have to admit that I’m both nervous and excited to start with this new phase. It’s exciting on many levels. It’s a new routine, but it’s another routine that I’m adding to my changed lifestyle – one that drastically needs routinization!

Last week was good – I managed to get into the flow of commuting, but still, not routined. I had too many things going on – electrician’s coming in, shopping, repairs, etc… So I think that’ll stabilize this week, which I’m really looking forward to.

And then there’s the gym… I think nutrition is now solid. I’m right now cooking enough food to last me the next 2 days! I know it doesn’t sound long, but it does involve 6 chicken breasts! Argh. Good though And then training tomorrow.

I’m not sure what to expect tomorrow. It’s the first session, so I don’t doubt that it’ll be a little all over the place. Adrian hasn’t met me yet, and doesn’t know what I’m looking for… but I wanna work hard. So we’ll see how that starts working out. Fingers crossed. We’ll see.

So – anyways – wanted to say that I’m excited and nervous for the week coming up, but I totally need to get back on a good nutrition cycle, get back into the gym, grow and focus. That’ll stop distracting me, which’ll be great!!!

What’s been going on…

This have been a bit frantic over the last few days / two weeks. I’ve successfully moved from the apartment into the loft, and bit by bit, the loft’s becoming home. I’m loving it. It’s beautiful.

But it’s meant a HUGE upheaval in everything, from lunching to commuting, to friends, to even just getting everything ready. Every day and night I’m working on cleaning, organizing, putting things together, etc… nothing has stabilized yet, and I don’t expect it to for another couple of weeks.

I knew that there would be no way that I could manage the move plus nutrition and gym. So nutrition and gym have gone to the wayside for the past two weeks. This doesn’t mean I’ve been terrible, just not optimal. And that’s OK. I’ve allowed myself this freedom. There’s no way I could’ve physically managed everything otherwise.

But – the fact that I’m here, back on Transform’d, writing this entry means that things are starting to become more stable. And more than stable – I feel like I have more control over my circumstances. The past week’s been all over the place. I’ve been at the mercy of the weather, my loft, commuting, etc… Now things are settling. I have kitchen dividers, I can now wash up as I have some drying things. It’s getting there. And this weekend I’ll put the finishing touches to certain spaces – the plasma will be installed, as potentially will the storage. Not sure about that yet though.

So what does this venting have to do with my training… I gave myself a two weeks ‘holiday’ from training, but as of Mon, I’m back into it in a bigger and better way than before. The plan right now is to have a superiorly customized plan – both nutrition and training, from a nutritionist and personal trainer. It will be painful. There’s no denying that, but I wanna go back to some of the concepts that I started this whole experience on…

• One day at a time
• 90% adherence
• It’s about health and wellness

This is my opportunity to really make a change to myself… from my last personal training session, I realized just how much I’ve been missing. That’s gotta change, and I recognize that that change is likely to create incredible improvements in me. I have my fingers crossed.

So expect regular updates as of Mon next week. Nutrition and training will restart. In a new gym, with a new trainer, in an incredibly different context

End of Phase 3

Apologies for my lack of posts in the past few days… it’s been getting quite intense on this end.

I decided to wind down. Too much was happening. Primarily I wasn’t able to concentrate on much else other than the loft. Something had to quit. I quit meditation a week or two ago, and the gym just needed to end – for a while. Too much to cope with.

So – this is planned… the absence from posting, etc… although I will admit that I’m trying to keep nutrition at a reasonable level. Sure, it’s not A+ right now, but neither is it full of lemon meringue.

So – an update… I had my consultation with Extreme Fitness yesterday. That was an eye opener. Truly. I didn’t realize it was going to be a personal training session, albeit a body weight one. I am in pain today. My legs primarily hurt like ffing hell. Which opened my eyes. I have been working out under the presumption that because I had a personal trainer way back when, I’d remember how to maintain form, etc… turns out that presumptions isn’t quite valid. I had to be corrected on a number of levels yesterday, and it HURT. Like hell. But that’s good… I think.

I also learnt something that surprised the hell out of me: I’m at 13% bodyfat!!!! Yeah – that bears repeating – I’m at 13% bf. I’ve reached my goal. Wow. That was a shock to the system.

But that was also tempered with the fact that I’m now underweight for someone of my age, size and height. I’m like – d’uh! Of course. Apparently the average should be 180-195lbs. And apparently that’s now my goal! Interesting.

So I learnt a lot. What’s interesting are the next steps… they (of course) recommended a personal training plan, but I saw through the whole strategy. I saw it for what it was… and to be honest, I can feel the value in it. That’s not me rationalizing. Because working out with a trainer is going to be an intensely painful experience, so I’m not going to jump on that bandwagon without serious commitment of consideration.

So I’m thinking about it… if I wanna commit, I can do so this weekend. Then I can get my nutrition plan worked out next week, to start the following week, which’ll mark the start of Phase 4 of training, which – in the words of Jason, the cute consultant (there had to be something more for me in it right eh ) – I’ll be in a conditioning phase which is preparing my body. That’ll last about 10-12 weeks, which’ll take me right up to Peru. After that I’ll be in a muscle development phase which should take me to Newfoundland. Here’s hoping.

So it works… it fits in, and it makes sense. But it’ll require a bit commitment from me – both financially, motivationally… I’ve done it before, albeit not to this extent. So I’m still learning. And I’m willing to push it.

The goals Jason set for me are quite intense… 20lbs of muscle, 1lb of fat to be gained over the next 6 months. That’s intense. Amazing as a goal, but intense. That’ll take me to about 180/185lbs. I told him – and will maintain on this site – that my goal is to be between 170-180lbs. I think that’s more realistic. But if I can get more, I’m never going to say no. But I need to be realistic, and set realistic goals.

So that’s where I am right now… big changes in life. Fortunately work’s remaining steady (I got a full time job offer, which secures this position for a reasonable amount of time). But gym, nutrition, commute, living, etc… all of that’s changing drastically, as well as a potential love interest too… So everything’s evolving quite rapidly right now, and it’s a lot. But at the same time it isn’t. The loft is exciting… the changes in lifestyle and routine are going to be wild, but doable, enjoyable and they’ll need to be sustainable. If there are huge changes happening, I can take that opportunity and make the most of it – aka a new training / nutrition plan, one that’s likely more intense than I’ve ever had before. Now’s the time.

So this will all mark the start of Phase 4 of my training… here’s it at a high level:

• Taking this week and next week off from the gym
• Get a trainer this weekend for training and nutrition
• Next week, work with the trainer to define optimal nutrition plan
• Week after – aka March 8 – phase 4 will start with training with the trainer
• Phase 4 will go until Peru, which is May 28 – that gives 12 weeks to that phase
• From the goals set with Jason, it’s looking like a gain of 10-15lbs during that time period. I’m going to take it easy and say a goal of 8-10lbs for those 12 weeks, which still equates to a pretty intense 1lb a week!

What I’m also considering right now, is a test… take the personal training on to begin with, and see where it goes. If it’s valuable, then invest more. If it’s not – aka I am not maintaining the nutrition plan, or if it’s too much – then pull back and review choices and refocus. That’s fine. We’ll see. This is a big chance.

I would love to say that I’m excited for Phase 4 of training, especially considering that Phase 3 has been successfully accomplished and rocks… but all my excitement is focussed towards the loft right now, and there’s not much room left to be excited about anything else! For now. We’ll see where I am after the weekend. Bring it on.

Days 40 to 42

This weekend was BAD. BAD BAD BAD.

I needed a time out… last week was a tough one mentally and spiritually for me. I was exhausted, tired, not focussed… and I needed a time out. I got it. I got a beautiful one. 3 days up north at the cabin. Awesome snowboarding… everything was brilliant. Loved it.

But nutrition and exercise was BAD. I won’t say how bad… but I thoroughly expect my body fat to increase considerably this coming Friday.

Which brings me on to stuff that I’ve had time to consider this past weekend… I need to extend this time out for the next few weeks, to encompass moving into the loft. I’ve been trying to accomplish too much… and while it’s been good, I need to put more and more attention on the loft.

So from today, for 3 weeks, my focus on training and nutrition will reduce somewhat. This doesn’t mean to say I’m going to have pizza every day. Hell no. Nutrition will remain good. However there will be breaks between training. This week, for example, I’m only able to train 3 days. Next week should be good. And the week after is my first week at the new gym, so I’ll be getting used to an entirely new rhythm and routine. I can’t put too much pressure on that.

So I’m trying to accommodate the best I can. Without going completely off tangent. Which I think – and hope – is doable. I will still be writing up every day, but my progress won’t be as great… I’m managing that expectation right now…

But still… when I get back into this, my first goal is going to be getting down to that 15% bf level. That’s a huge priority for me. I wanna get there. It’ll be a huge boost. And I’d like to do it (if possible) before heading away on my next holiday – if I get a holiday. I’m going to fight for that in work. We’ll see how that nets out.

Simple Supplements

Given this whole Animal Cuts / ZMA thing… I’ve been thinking about supplements a bit the last few days. And I think I should stop going crazy trying supplements. Especially supplements that play around with hormones – they really don’t work for me.

So – the supplements that I’m very happy taking right now:

• Protein – whey and caesin
• BCAA
• Creatine
• Carb – waxy maize
• NO Supplement (motivation and dedication at the gym)
• Multivitamin
• Omega 3
• Greens+
• Meal Replacement Drink

The only one of these that I’m not taking right now is the NO supplement, and that’s primarily because I’m already drinking too much! When I move to Extreme Fitness, I’ll fit that in in the morning walk up to the gym.

One sidenote… I don’t want to exclude a fat burner from the mix, given that a half to one week stint on the burner can do wonders for my system. So I’m going to include it in SMALL DOSES:

• Fat Burner – Animal Cuts

And that’s it. Really. I don’t want to boost testosterone, I don’t want more Size On kind of solutions that taste uber sweet and are made of pure sugar… I don’t want to keep trying. I’m happy to keep things somewhat basic and go from there Because balance is vital here. That’s what I’ve got to remember… but this doesn’t mean there’s any negative to what I’ve been experiencing thus far

Day 24

Today was really good… I didn’t wanna get up out of bed (but that’s been consistent all week LOL). But when I did, I was thinking about things… had my meditation session and then the 90 min workout was fantastic. And I may be kidding myself, but I think that I’m showing some volume growth in the shoulders and chest. That may just be me… but I think it’s there.

I was also looking in the mirror, and while this impression changes depending on my mood, the love handles are at one of the lowest points I’ve ever seen them – which is fantastic! I’m discovering that most of my fat now is contained around the back – the back of the love handles. The stomach area is pretty tight now – tighter than it’s ever been, but I can still grab hold of reasonably large chunks of fat around the back. They’re less visible now, but I still want to target them. I think it’s still really important to do that.

Today I realized that I’m now 3 weeks into my current workout, and there are (potentially) 4 weeks left in this apartment, at the gym downstairs. That gives me a few options – most of which will be dependent on results this week. I have to bear in mind that the results WON’T be optimal given the nutrition – the bad weekend, and the last two nights of pizzas. But if I take that into consideration, hopefully I’ll be able to make a good assessment of how to continue.

On a slight tangent – my training program is quite interesting now. I seem to find myself flipping… rather than – body – this is what you’re going to do… you’re going to lose X% bf or X lbs… I’m like – this is what I’m doing, how is my body reacting? OK… it’s reacting that way… this is how I’m going to adapt my program to best take advantage or leverage what’s going on.

So I’ll put it out there – my goal is still to drop bodyfat. My goal is to get to that 12-15%. But TO NOT LOSE ANY MORE MUSCLE. That’s pivotal at this point… which is why I’m playing around so much with my nutrition: finding that balance where I can maintain muscle, gain volume (not necessarily muscle) and lose bf… I think with a greater balance of volume versus fat loss, that’ll make the physique look better, and I’ll be less concerned about losing all the weight, because the balance will be better.

Anyways… long story… but here’s what I’m thinking:

• For the next 4 weeks, continue with the maintenance diet – adjusting and evolving as appropriate
• Re-admit SuperPump into the mix
• With SuperPump, reduce reps at the gym to 6-10, focussing more on stimulating the muscle fibers than pure fat loss

It’s time for a change… and a change that will start honing the body rather than sabotaging it.

You learn the most from meditation when you least want to do it

That’s what I just learnt. It’s been a few days since I meditated. I know – it’s bad. But life – sharing experiences with a good friend – took precedence. And it was great.

But this evening, I kept finding things to do to push off me meditating. And sure, once I sat down for my 15 mins of meditating, the mind was hectic. All over the place. Not controlled.

But then – some things just fit. I saw immense clarity. Things cleared – not completely, but much more so before meditation.

And it’s as Joko – the author of some of my favourite books – has been saying – the greatest ordeals give you the most need to practice. When you least want to practice is when you should, because it gives the practice greater focus, greater intent. It also provides incredible learnings. Powerful learnings.

For example – over the past few days / week, I’ve been chatting to this great guy who’s likely to move to Toronto from Vancouver. We’ve been having fun conversations, but I’ve felt myself get a bit caught up / bogged down by the whole experience. It suddenly hit me when in meditation that being with someone isn’t right for me right now – there’s too much I need to explore myself – mentally, physically, spiritually… or just in general, I don’t need to give it a label.

When the time is right… when the person is right… it’ll happen. This isn’t happening right now, and such a sense of calmness and clarity descended. I felt so good for it.

Don’t fight what doesn’t feel quite right… invest where the current is going… go with the flow. Don’t fight it. It’s through our thoughts that we chose to fight… rather than react to the pure awareness of what’s happening

Training while at the loft

Something that’s been on my mind more and more recently, is how I’m going to approach training when I’m at the loft. I’ll no longer have access to my own personal gym, so it’s going to be quite the profound change to life…

Also – the loft will necessitate a number of changes – commuting to work, no lunches at home, etc… and I was thinking of something that may work out really well.

I liked the gym around the corner from work… it looked good, but I didn’t like the ‘gayness’ of it all. Working out at off peak times would help placate that… so I’ve been thinking more and more about how it’d work if I went to workout at lunch. The first point to consider is feasibility – could I actually take the time to do it? It would mean a 90-120min lunch… but could I offset that with coming in to work 60 mins earlier? And avoiding the rush hour traffic on the subway?

So here’s what I’ve been thinking:

• Cook breakfast at the loft
• Go into work – walk up to Pape / Castle Frank stations and subway into work
• Get into work for around 8am
• Have a mid-morning snack
• Go to the gym around 11.30/12 and come out around 1/1.30
• Lunch (high carb pasta)
• Afternoon snack
• Walk home
• Dinner
• Prepare for the next day…

One thing I know I’ll miss when I move away from the apartment, is lunching. Taking time out at home to have a lunch… and that’s why I think this plan could work out really well! It helps me get better nutrition that’d fit in with my goals of weight gain… I have a break mid-day… I start earlier, so means I can get more work done in the morning… and everything seems to come together.

I’ll just see whether this will really impact work… because I don’t want it to.

Of course, there are a number of requirements here… the most important of which, is that I retain my job at Rogers! If I don’t, then this plan will take many more months to put into action… we’ll see.

Changing it up

Animal Cuts is done. Yippee! It’s funny, as soon as I saw those results from Fri, a huge wave of relief came over me! I was relieved that I didn’t need to take them any more! The fact that I would be able to think clearly again is the primary focus of that relief. The Animal Cuts started to get the better of me – and while I was ready to make the trade off between mental clarity and lower bodyfat, I was looking for a way out. Fortunately the way out was presented nice and early and was undeniable.

So, since I’ve been thinking about things, i’m thinking of making a couple of changes. I’ve got to the point where I’m kind of fed up of cutting, cutting, cutting. I’d like to fell bigger again. And I am at one of my most lean states that I’ve ever been in!!! Sure I’m not quite at my goal yet, but maintaining muscle and continuing to lose small amounts of fat – not the 2lbs a week that was previously my goal – is how I think I wanna move forward from this point.

I think – and this is where I’m lucky – that I’m now in more of a moulding phase rather than pure cutting. My goal of 12% bf still remains, and I will get there. I just don’t want to push artificially hard to get there. The trade offs just aren’t worth it! And I wanna have fun again! Let loose just a tad – emphasis on the tad!

So here’s what I’m going to do -

Up every morning at 6am – protein shake. Then meditation and the gym around 6.30ish.

BCAAs at the gym.

When out, cook MYSELF – omlette – but before that, some surge and a tonne of creatine.

I’m going to start cooking for myself, because my omlettes are about five times as good as the cafs. And I’ve been able to finish my omlettes, whereas I leave about half of theirs.

Lunch, snack remain the same.

Dinner – low carbs. Probably more eggs at night and lean meat.

Before night snack – whey and caesin.

And the other note – because I’m getting up even earlier, need to go to bed earlier. I’m going to adjust my alarm clock to 9.30pm. In bed by 10.30.

So they’re a few if the changes I’m going to try out starting tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Day 10

Extensive workout this morning! I really feel like I worked my chest, tris and abs! So that’s a good thing

Wasn’t there for an excessive amount of time either – about 80 minutes. I should’ve been there longer, except I slept in this morning – just couldn’t roll myself out of bed That was an hour delay this morning. D’oh! Didn’t mean that.

Everything’s going OK – the training is going extremely well. As compared to last year, I’m taking a different slant on training. It’s now more meditative, meaning that I focus more on the movements, rather than getting the heaviest weights. By focussing on the movements, I’m ensuring that form is kept throughout. This doesn’t mean to imply that I’m not pushing hard. Almost all sets finish with some form of fatigue… some extreme, some less so. But I keep pushing, but it’s about mindfulness of the movement.

On the note of mindfulness, I’m persevering with my meditation, but I’m finding it tougher to keep the mind still. While not a great thing in and of itself, it is good – without the meditation I would have no reason to reflect on the busyness of the mind. I’d let it pass. Meditation is honing in that awareness. I personally still believe that there’s a connection between the Cuts and the un-mindfulness I have right now. There’s only one way to test it – and I’ve discussed that before. Mindfulness is something I always have – sometimes it’s less mindful – but it’s always there. The overriding goal right now is to strip the fat. Once that’s done, it’s about bringing everything else back in line.

On the note of results, while I’d be excited to have results as good as last week, I can’t expect that. My nutrition this week has been unpredictable. Pizza on Tues, burger last night. Today will be good – tomorrow less so (lunch out). Right now I’m trying to strike a balance between maintaining my muscle mass and losing fat. Knowing how strong the Cuts are, I don’t want them to deplete any more of my muscle. So I’m trying to eat more to compensate. But eating more is contravening the goal of fat loss. So I’m kind of at a loss right now as to know the next best move. This week’s results will tell me a lot. Next week looks to be far calmer than this one… so I’ll hopefully be able to reign things in a lot.