It's a game of patience

We see the adverts on most sites "Tips to loose your belly" or "Something's that the fitness pro's won't share". Well firstly if you click on them they usually take you to the same site where you have to pay through your nose to get a book or video on what is effectively a diet and exercise regime to shock an awe you - but in effect it's nothing different than paying for a few training sessions with a REAL health and fitness pro.

I also take offence to the notion that by clicking on some link you will go to some site which promises you something that a professional otherwise wouldn't want to tell you. Ask yourself this, why wouldn't they want to tell me? It would be like going to the garage to get your car fixed but then the mechanic saying "I can make it perform more efficiently, but I am not going to tell you how". Would you trust that mechanic? Nope I wouldn't either.

I said in one of my posts a few weeks ago that I would share what some of my tips for training have become, what the acquired knowledge of this experience coupled with the knowledge I had before this 20 week stint would bring out of me.

Well, I thought to share one today.

1. Patience


Achieving your goals be it in getting stronger, faster, more muscular etc it all requires patience - in my honest opinion. I don't believe in taking short cuts and I do believe that if you aren't strict with yourself on the days when you are meant to be doing exercise of such then, ultimately you will never achieve the results you were looking for.

Let me put it another way, if you want to achieve your degree in higher education, you know that you will set out on a course with a specific time duration. In that you will need to attend the lectures, classes, workshops, work on assignments, and finally take your exams. If you want your degree you NEED to follow those principles to the letter. You can't not hand in an assignment one week, and not do several exams expecting to achieve the same outcome, for you to get your degree you need everything working in your favour.

Bodybuilders train for years, in that time they eat a strict diet, they have a regimented structure of supplements (and other not so legal supplements) they rest when they can and they know that to achieve their goal it comes with hard work and time, for them it's all about being patient until the moment is right. So why should you look at doing this any differently?

Olympic athletes train for 3.5 years to aim for that Gold medal. Football/Soccer stars most of their childhood to make it professionally and with the hope of representing their nation. You could apply this to nearly every professional sports person on the planet - they had to wait to achieve their goal.

That for me is what training is, you can't afford to take the short cuts when it pleases. I don't mean throwing in an extra rest day or treating yourself every now and again to something not specifically in your diet. What I am trying to get at is understanding what your goal is. Understand how long it will take to achieve your goal - realistically - and work towards it. Set out a plan and work hard to achieve it.

Anyway, I would say that this is one of the foundations of training that I have discovered. I would ask any of you who has a personal trainer & ask them what they think about the patience principle and then ask yourself, if I want to achieve my goals am I being patient enough about it?

First and "second first" for everything

You remember your first kiss; your first car; the first time you tried a Starbucks coffee and complained that they have burnt the coffee by putting too much pressure through the machine; the first time you bought something in a clothes shop that fitted so well you ended up treasuring it until you shrunk it in the wash....you get the picture - there's a first for everything.

Then there is the second first. i.e. going back to Starbucks after having forgotten about the whole burnt coffee episode and then discovering that they actually burn the coffee quite a bit and you then remember, you've been there before.

Training can be like this. You remember your first "MONUMENTAL PB" - usually preceded by a challenge you had set yourself i.e. bench a 100kg. You remember the first time you ran for 30minutes and felt so great you ran another 30. You get the picture.

You also remember a terrible training session, where everything seems to go wrong. You can't lift the weight you had been only a few days earlier or you really can't get into a rhythm because other people are on the machines and you start losing focus on the training all together and just want to head back home asap.

Yes, well I had my "second first" on Wednesday. My first was when I initially started training a few years ago, and remember the guilt and somewhat embarrassment of leaving after 10 minutes. But last night, I tried to persevere, I tried to achieve my 30 minutes of HIT fame, but it wasn't happening. I'd had plenty of rest since my last weight session and my diet since my near death due to alcohol "poisoning" had been "BANG ON" but for some reason I could not find motive, or sway with trying to get through my weights session.

In short, it was a disaster.

Here's to no more "first's" in this department for a few years to come.

Peace
G

Alcohol is poison

I am dying....I know so is everyone else but today I AM DYING!




The photo is not a mistake or a set up I plonked the objects down and found that whilst I could be trying to get blog recognition with brands (evian if you are reading this I drink 3 litres of your stuff everyday - Gazzetta dai meno con l'intermerda più con Milan) it is a telling sign of one of my weekends, in a foreign country where the previous night did it's damage.

I am obviously writing this from an airport lounge, Lisbon to be precise. I wait for the flight before me to go to then get a seat at the front of the queue for the torrid trip to Liverpool airport. The flight in front is for Rio...I have yet to spot any cabanas or dancing troops to annoy/entertain me. Get your act together Brazilians!

The training and diet prior to this weekend had been going to schedule, I had played football twice this week coupled with 2 weight sessions and a 60km bike ride. Overall my weight has levelled out at 74kilos for the last 4 weeks following an initial drop from 80kg when I switched to low carb/paleolithic.

This weekend has been great on the food front. Well apart from the pasteis de Belem I had on Friday with Derek and Luis (follow him on twitter he's a top bloke) everything else was very low carb, couple with that fresh grilled fish and meat with salad everyday you can really eat very healthily without compromising on quality or cost - it seems even a "broken" country like Portugal appreciates that veg and fresh fish should cost less!

(this by the way shows the power of twitter, I started following Luis about 3 months ago, it was a mutual follow ie he and I were following the same person. Then, only a few weeks ago we were tweeting and I mentioned that I was going to be in Lisbon and that we should meet for a drink. I did have a back up plan incase he was an axe murderer or smething. Luis was a legend, we ate at pasteis de belem, had a drink in Belem on the river sea front, saw parts of Lisbon most tourists wouldn't see and we even ran into a famous Portuguese actor. Thanks Luis, you helped make this a quality weekend)

On a further side note, Lisbon is a surprising city. I always had a feeling that it was going to be pretty but I never realised how much it is on a par with some of my favourite hot spots - a definite if you have never been. And all I can say about Cascais is...beautiful. There remains a sense of the old and traditional in a town which embraces it's tourist influx, a refreshing change to somewhere like carvoiero which has become a running joke for travel writers across central Europe.

Alcohol is however poison.

I will refuse to talk about last night, not because anything bad happened, just because I can't remember much after my third drink. Yes it took me all of three drinks, two beers and a Capirinha to do the damage. Whatever I had after seems a moot point as I just don't remember! Even the thought of drinking again makes me gag worse than a new employee at the sewage plant! Anyway, it makes you think one heavy night, followed by a pretty sour day after, what goes on through your body and its functions to recover and get you going again is amazing, but the damage will be plenty - trust me, I think science will find some way to spoil you having one glass of alcohol.

I took resistance bands with me this weekend, no this is not for "functional" training, I have a trapped nerve and I have found that light stretching in the arm helps release it somewhat. I have yet to see any valid scientific proof that resistance bands help aide muscular growth, or to any effect "maintain" what you already have, as ever if someone does have any interesting scientific articles that promote the use of these in strength training and muscular development, please email me.

Anyway 10 days until I'm in Rome, the first of three back to back weddings in July. I hear my cousin isn't shitting himself which is rather disappointing but refreshing. I look forward to the weekend, even if I feel that my stomach will bloat from the pizza and pasta - well, when in Rome.

Barbeque pizza please

I wrote this piece a week ago - sorry for the delay. Updated bits in italic. 

As I write this post the weather outside is teetering on something resembling a summer, if in temperature alone - god knows where the sun has gone and it isn't anywhere near my vicinity. So, it's strange that the title should be involving a relative cooking pursuit which in other ways would require for their to be good weather. Amazingly the weather perked up and we had some good sunshine for a few days. 

I have purchased a baking stone and and a pallet for turning the pizza. Both can be used within an oven or an outside barbecue setting - I can only hope that one day someone will buy me an official pizza oven...(hint hint, nudge, nudge) Whilst I am on a reduced carb diet and trying to follow a lot of the basic principles of Paleo dieting, I don't believe having a pizza or a plate of pasta every 10-15 days is going to do any harm. So I look forward to my pizza this evening.
The pizza shovel here was put to good use. As you can see I need to work on the shape and the cooking time a little more, but it's fantastically mega! Picture below!



Training 
My training hasn't been going so bad since coming back from injury. (I was carrying a slight back tweak 3 weeks ago) My strength hasn't decreased which in fairness I knew wouldn't happen, and it's very unlikely I would have suffered any strength decreases if I took off 20 days instead of the 10 that I did.

I am not sure what actual time does elapse before you start to lose significant strength but I would venture a guess at not 10 days. (If anyone has any knowledge of this I would appreciate it).

One thing I have placed a little more focus on is my arms, encorporating 2 exercises for Bi's and Tri's to my routines. So in the space of one week, two total body sessions which include these muscle groups. What I cannot work on to failure still is my back, shoulders and legs due to therapy & injuries.

Diet 
In the last 10-12 days it hasn't been at its greatest but it is getting back to good standards. Certainly I notice the snacking takes a hit and cost wise - it's bloody expensive to eat in a reduced carb state. Let me put this to you. For breakfast you may have cereal. Well the average cereal box is £1.45, and it will last me 4 - 5 days. Now as I no longer eat cereal and eggs instead, sometimes turkey bacon and definitely fruit (yes I know they are carbs - not complex though) on average it costs £7.32 and last me the same amount of time. So overall my food shop has exponentially increased nearly 6x what it originally was - so any tips on keeping this low cost would also be appreciated.

I am nearing the trip to Portugal and have been working hard on not snacking on shite. Yes that's right, shite. I am eating as lean as I possibly can and keep everything plain to an extent. I am noticing a difference for it though, which is positive! 


Anyway, back to the grindstone people. Hope you are all well,

Peace
G