Day 93: Purpose Is Focus

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. It defines what you do and what you don't do. Your purpose becomes the standard you use to evaluate which activities are essential and which aren't." - Rick Warren


TRAINING

Today is this week's Day OFF. I was and are tempted to do a light rollers' session, but are leashing myself, since rest and recovery is important to progress.

Since I have made my Day Off on a Sunday over the last three weeks, it will stay like that. I can get through the training week, no matter how hard.


COMMENTS

Sleep - Time and Quality: On and off for ~10 hours. Still very broken, perpetuated by that sharp and deep inner pain. Honestly, I think the reason I slept so long (and have some of the days this week) is not because of training, but because this pain seems to take so much out of me.

Mood/Aggression: Still on the UP

Energy: I don't have a lot of physical energy today (after being up and down all night/morning with the pain), which is ok, since it's not a training day today.

Mental Focus and Clarity: This is clear, though. Clear, concentrated, and FOCUSED!

Stress: High as ever, but my focus has SHIFTED.

Recovery: It's not training I am "recovering" from.

Body Composition and Look: 117 pounds at 10.6% bodyfat. A 1% bodyfat loss this week - AND that's with only single daily training sessions and every other day at HIGHER than Maintenance calories! The change is definitely noticeable. I am making some progress in getting my lower body mass down (YES - airpunch!) - with a 2-cm girth loss in both my glutes and thighs (also in my waist). Deltoids and arms are looking the best ever. I am excited to see this progress and look forward to the next few weeks!

Other Notes: This week has been a TURNING POINT for me - not just with progress, but with my MIND. I have found what I have been missing. I have renewed the fire that I used to have. I have clarity. I have passion. I have focus. I am READY!

Day 77: Now THAT'S what I call PROGRESS!

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Letting go doesn't mean giving up... it means moving on. It is one of the hardest things a person can do. Starting at birth, we grasp on to anything we can get our hands on, and hold on as if we will cease to exist when we let go. We feel that letting go is giving up, quitting, and that as we all know is cowardly. But as we grow older we are forced to change our way of thinking. We are forced to realize that letting go means accepting things that cannot be. It means maturing and moving on, no matter how hard you have to fight yourself to do so." - Unknown


TRAINING

Session 1

HIIT - Run:
a. 4 min jogging
b. 8 x 20 sec sprint/10 sec easy
c. 4 min jogging

Full-Body (1 min recovery between supersets):
Superset A -
1. DB Hammer Raises 2 x 6
2. Single-Arm DB Lateral Raises 2 x 12 per arm
Superset B -
3. DB French Press 2 x 6
4. DB Concentration Curls 2 x 12 per arm
Superset C -
5. Reverse Rows 2 x 6
6. Push-Ups (hands on fists, feet on bench) 2 x 12
Superset D -
7. Squat Jumps (all way to ground) 2 x 6
8. Side-to-side Plyometric Bench Jumps 2 x 12 per side
Superset E -
9. Hanging Straight-Leg Jackknife 2 x 6
10. Bicycle 2 x 12 per side

Post-Weights Cardio - CrossRamp:
a. 5 min @ R12/CR10
b. 5 min @ R10/CR10

Stretch 20 min.

Session 2

Cardio - Run 3 miles.


COMMENTS

Sleep - Time and Quality: ~5 hours.

Mood/Aggression: Good. Happy with the progress I've been making this week - still eating a lot, but manipulating my calorie and carbohydrate intake around my training, with less training than Maintenance, and seeing a NOTICEABLE difference!

Energy: Shattered.

Endurance: Ok.

Strength: This session wasn't about strength - Full-Body sessions never are.

Pump: Strong.

Vascularity: Staying consistent throughout the day and not just strong when training.

Quality of Training: HIIT Run was not as fast as I would have liked, but it was as fast as my body would move . . . Resistance session, although short, was intense, and I was breathing heavily, my heart pounding by the end of it . . .

Recovery: The double resistance sessions DO take quite a bit out of me, and my body is catching up.

Appetite: Amazing what a difference manipulating feeding times makes. I have had NO cravings over the last five days for sweets and have resisted everything I have been offered. I am pleased. Without cutting calories or carbohydrates, I am managing to remain satiated and without wanting to gobble everything in sight once I DO start eating. I think I have found my new lifestyle nutritional method!

Body Composition and Look: Down 6.2 pounds in five days - withOUT a decrease OR change in calorie and carbohydrate consumption (just manipulating carbohydrate intake around training times), and at LESS than Maintenance training volume (only ~20 minutes of cardio a day and four days of resistance training)!

Other Notes: I got a new bottle of Alpha-T2 yesterday, so started that with a dose last night.

2010: Day 51

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You'll have your heart broken and you'll break others' hearts. You'll fight with your best friend or maybe even fall in love with them, and you'll cry because time is flying by. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you've never been hurt. Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. You just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone's hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts. Don't be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back." - Unknown


MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY

Daft Punk - Aerodynamic



An old song, but I love the instrumental, and sometimes it's just good to listen to something uplifting and different.


TRAINING

Ended up having today off.


COMMENTS

Sleep - Time and Quality: Probably close to ~10 hours - WTF? Passed out on the couch during a movie, and woke up at 0519, which is ideal - even earlier! - to get up, had a shower, and went to bed for a few hours.

Mood/Aggression: Pretty blah today.

Energy: I actually don't have much energy today - not like a few days ago when I couldn't stop bouncing around!

Recovery: Feel it in anterior delts a little from yesterday.

Body Composition and Look: 124.8 pounds at 11% bodyfat. I have not remained as low re body composition as I desired, but the upper body mass re shoulders and arms from the last five weeks is noticeable - as is the mass gained in my LOWER body. I am the largest I have EVER been - upper AND lower- re girths, and the lower body mass is NOT WANTED! Therefore, I am going to do my BEST to lose that lower body mass withOUT stripping the hard-earned muscle from my UPPER body! I have ~3-4% bodyfat to lose - and whilst I know that scale weight is not really important, for this competition, I will have to lose ~15-20 pounds (not something I am proud to admit, since I usually simply do NOT let myself get this big, but this is all about accountability, right), the lean mass lost mostly from food and water weight no doubt (and lower body, since I don't mind it going from there). It's time to turn my body back into the LEAN machine that it is used to being!

Other Notes: Started back on Alpha-T2 and Erase today. Also started using Shift - I will dose once pre-bed.

Competition Notes: Seven weeks to competition. Six weeks maximum to get into competition shape. Five weeks ideally to be in the shape I want to be in. Time to kick myself into HIGH gear, returning to 2-a-day training sessions 2-4 times a week, ensuring pre and post-weights cardio is completed, and ALL sessions are as INTENSE as possible!


FIT TIP OF THE DAY

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler." - Henry David Thoreau

Day 341: Move Towards Success

Quote of the Day

"Success comes from taking the initiative and following up...persisting...eloquently expressing the depth of your love." - Anthony Robbins

Training

HIIT Run:
a. 4 min jogging
b. 8 x 20 sec effort/10 sec easy
c. 8 min jogging

Stretch 29 min.

Comments

Sleep - Time and Quality: Again, took me until ~0600 before I could sleep.

Joints: Even in the cold and everything, knees were great!

Endurance: Fine.

Quality of Training: HIIT Cardio was ok. Ran outside in the snow, a little cautiously in the areas where there was a lot of black ice. Run was shorter re distance than usual, today. Going to have to start running on the inside track at the gym from now on.

Body Composition and Look: Weight has plummeted over the last few days down to 111.6 pounds. The fat around my waist re tyre has softened up a lot over the last week or so, which will definitely make it easier to lose - and LOSE it I WILL!

Question of the Day

"What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum towards success in your life?" - Anthony Robbins

Day 281

Training

It's this week's scheduled Day OFF - definitely required before I head into next week. That's not to say that I'm not going to have my active time though - about an hour's yardwork today.

Comments

Sleep - Time and Quality: Waking after ~3 hours, which is getting close to 'normal' for me.

Energy: I have been running around non-stop!

Libido: Let's get wild, LOL.

Recovery: My back has DOMS from yesterday's boxing session - it feels GOOD.

Body Composition and Look: Lost half of the extra weight I gained post-competition, and seeing deeply my top four abs again. The rest will be gone by the end of next week.

Eviscerate Smolder Notes: This is like the original Eviscerate in its staying power and lasting effects - definitely, regardless of whether you have showered or not, continue feeling the 'smolder' up to 24 hours post-application!

Other Notes: My week 'off' is now over. Tomorrow it is BACK TO BRUTAL!