Quotivation

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt-

Who's in control of your goals?

One of the things that has been incredibly frustrating for me over the years of training and trying to build the body I want has been the projected feeling that I am not in control of my goals. 

Whether intentional or not, most programs cause so much confusion and focus so much on the minutia that it quickly starts to feel nearly impossible to reach your goals (or, at best it feels left up to "chance"). 

In other communities that I was a part of prior to finding Adonis, when I would ask for advice on improving the look of my body or bringing up a lagging body part, I would get a the blanket...

"how much can you lift in the compound lifts? Focus on getting those to "x" amount of bodyweight (x being some random number related to bodyweight) and the rest will take care of itself." 

In these communities (strength focused) it was "uncool" to focus on aesthetics without strength so everyone passes around this generalized advice that focus on getting "strong enough" in compound lifts and you'll look as good as you need to. In these communities anymore focus on how you look is somehow considered "sissy" or stupid. 

This is just another reason as to why you must make sure that you are consuming information from a source that aligns with YOUR goals (and preferably only from that source). 

One of the things I love about Adonis is that it feels as if my goals are in my control because of the no BS approach. With other programs, confusion is used to make it seem like you must consume some "magical" combination of protein, carbs and fats (at the right time, in the exact right amount, from the right source) or you will never reach your goals. Or perhaps you need to eat certain "approved" foods 90% of the time or you will never reach your goals. 

These and a million other "requirements" are generally used to create ambiguity and make it seem like you have little control over your goals- with Adonis, it's simply: I know that since muscle gain is my goal right now, I will eat at maintenance and train my butt off in the gym (with lifts specific to the result I WANT, not random compound lifts for the sake of strength), and in time, the results I want will come. It's taken 4-5 years to understand this and now thanks to Adonis it all makes sense. 

I can stop worrying everyday that I didn't meet the magic requirements to build muscle and it comes down to a few crucial questions (both of which I have total control):

1) DId I work as hard as I could on this given day in the gym doing a workout specific to the results I want?

2) Did I eat around maintenance, getting 80-120 grams of protein?

If I did those 2 things, I am doing exactly what I need to do to see the results I am after right now. It's liberating. My wife actually asked me yesterday, "You seem different, like happier, what's up?"

I had to think about it for a second, but then realized... I simply was carrying around 1/10 of the stress about all of this than I used to. I now feel in control. I now know exactly what to do in order to achieve MY goals- and it's pretty simple (although obviously requires consistency and hard work, which I am cool with). 

So, I guess I am just incredibly thankful for finding this program. I won't lie, at times it is hard to let go of control and believe it's this simple, but every day that I move away from the OCD type approach, I enjoy the process so much more.

Weekly update 4/27/12

Weekly stats
Weight: 187.4  +3lbs
Shoulders: 50.5 n/c
Waist: 32   down .5 inch
A.I. 1.57
I took the whole list of measurements  this week and I gotta say even though the weight is up 3 lbs. All 3 waist measurements went down. My right arm is catching up with my left. And my chest is up by .5 as well. A very good week indeed.
I’ve really been pushing in the gym this week, every workout is absolutely as intense as I can make it. I’m working with trying to perfect my form  and getting my mind in the muscle.
Two things I’m experimenting with is pre workout exhaustion work. Depending on what the dominant muscle group is I will do bodyweight sets to get things warmed up and pre-exhausted before the actual AI workout starts. I’m also doing this at the end of certain exercises I will do “Burner” sets just to make sure I got everything wiped out. I do this mostly on chest and back.
Other than that I’m foam rolling tonight to get all the kinks out and I am looking forward to hanging out with my kids this weekend.

Sacrifice and commitment to ones diet leads to many blessings. Including better health, a cleaner body more freedom to do the things you are inspired to do and greater longevity.  As 2012 approaches commit to be more conscious of the foods you choose to fuel your body. Give thanks for every bite.

 God Bless  

Goal hijacking and Fitness

Eight weeks ago I decided to do a more traditional type of workout. I went back to a progressive weight lifting protocol that I really enjoyed before finding P90X.  I did make some improvements but I feel like I went backwards from my goal of total health and freedom of movement. I did P90X today for the 1^st time in 8 weeks and felt like crap I was back at square 1 one with my conditioning and felt like puking during the entire workout I was gasping for air and I had to take numerous breaks throughout the entire thing, a few times I had to lay down on the floor to rest. I am disappointed in my level of conditioning as it stands especially with P90X2 shipping in a couple of days and my plan to start January 1^st So my plan is to hit P90X as hard as I can between now and the 1^st so I can be ready to tackle P90X2. There are things that are becoming clear to me that over the next few weeks I’ll be writing about that go along with this is a qote from Carl Daikeler’s Blog

“I believe that in over a century of declining health, we have found the way to get people healthy again: Real Fitness+Real Nutrition+ Peer Support+Financial Rewards.

It’s not an easy sell, because it takes work. It takes the realization that the least expensive way to stay healthy is to make sure we are feeding our body TRULY substantial nutrition. And it means that we can no longer expect anyone to exercise, eat better, and understand the difference between quality nutrition and pretend nutrition without the courage of someone standing up for it. Those who do put that together deserve to be well paid for it. And I see that formula getting people healthy every single day.”

In the coming weeks I’ll let you in on what I’m up to and what I’m thinking. It’s really getting back to basics diet wise and my plan for 2012 is to regenerate my body and my health.

Yours in Health

The more things stay the same the less they change

I noticed something the other day while working out. I’ve been going to the same gym for 3 years now and I see the same people everyday on the cardio equipment some of them are really pushing hard and others are reading books or engrossed in a television show not paying attrition to what is going on.

The thing I noticed is Most of these folks look the same as they did three years ago. They are doing the same workouts lifting the same weight or running just as far as they did last week.

In order to make a change we need to progress in our work loads. It needs to be done in a way that makes sense and is in line with our goals. If last week you ran a mile on the treadmill at 3 miles per hour this week something has to be different ether faster or longer. The same goes with weight training, more reps or more weight.

What I love about Beachbody programs is the progression is taken care of for you all you have to do is show up and press play and do your best every day. 

Whats Next

I can’t wait to start P90X2 in January. I have been waiting so impatiently for months now and I’m getting antsy waiting for it to come out. I love Beachbody products and know that P90X2 will live up to the high standards of the rest of the products.