Week nine, day 1

RTP GROUP SHRED DAY 4

Monday morning and first thing I'm thinking about is my day 4 shred pic...boy how life has changed. This has become a big focus for me but in a good way. It's brought everything into sharp focus as well. Am becoming more committed to doing other things in my life with focus as well.

However I will always remember " Progress not perfection, there is only one perfect person, and he does not live on this planet."

Group shredders, give it your best today. GO TEAM, have a great week.

EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA

Just coz it's sunday thought I'd drop in a pic of me taking

the man and woman of the year..... my precious little people to lunch. See ya, tomorrow.

Week 8, day 7

RTP GROUP SHRED DAY 3

Sunday - nice lazy day day today...ummm, actually not ...leap out of bed, throw on some threads, jumps into the wheels and head for the gym....why?

Coz it's photo day - that's it day 3.

Thought I had this thing covered but when it came to putting pic 3 where pic 2 used to be I started getting confused.... again. Well I'm just a simple lad, got it down eventually.

So pic done, I'm taking my kids to lunch.
THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR AWESOME SUPPORT. IT REALLY HELPS KNOWING THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE ALL OVER THE PLANET SHOUTING FOR YOU...AS I AM FOR ALL OF YOU. KEEP GOING , 11 more days. I wonder how many of us will keep going. It certainly does keep you on the straight and narrow.

Have a fantastic sunday...see ya tomorrow.

Week eight, Day 6

RTP Group Shred - Day 2

Now to get these darn pics side by side. Step one take day 2 pic. Ok done, piece a cake compared with yesterday. Just made a few adjustments to the height of the camera and the angle etc. Shot the pic. Oooops, looks a little different. Hmmm..shows what happens if you don't mark everything properly.

Anyway..since I don't have time today to reset the whole thing again, I'm sure you get the picture LOL.

Don't know how I'm going to get this thing done tomorrow since I live 20 mins from the gym where these were taken, but I WILL make a plan.

Well done all of you in the group shred, and big up for the courage it takes to expose yourself, literally when you/we are not in the best shape. But guess what, before we know it we will be

Week eight, day 5

RTP - GROUP SHRED DAY ONE

Christy - this is especially for you. Here's how Dougal got his pic done in time.

No camera, no tripod, no person to take the pic, 3 hours to deadline. And I just know Adam is standing waiting with a big whip.

Hmmm....Oh I know, I've just got a new mobile with a pretty cool camera. OK, where the heck is the manual. Oh right, ok, self timer..now we are getting somewhere.

Find an empty room in the gym, lock the door and go to work with "Prestik" (a kind of maleable putty) Stick the prestik on the window of the solitary room, standing around in my underwear, feeling really foolish. If only you could see me now.

Stick the camera to the window, set the timer, press the shutter, step back and smile. Cliiick, great let's have a look.

Hmmm, great pic of the garden outside. I had the camera the wrong way round. Ok..again. Set it up, Click...

Superb pic of half of my size 10 feet. Ok, can't send that.

Fast forward one hour and here is the result. Not the best pic I've ever taken but it'll get better.

Now to edit the thing and get it onto this post.

Another hour - hey I'm a finess professional OK.

Anyway Adam, here is day 1.

Committment complete - now about tomorrow

Week eight, day 4

RTP GS DAY 1 TOMORROW



So Adam Waters group shred starts tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. It seems that this blog has allowed me to be less cautious of committment. When one plans to do..well, anything it's a question of starting. That's it, just start.

So, that is exactly what I'm doing with this challenge. My thought process has been...can it help me get to my goal quicker..and the answer is a resounding YES.

So I got my head around it, made the committment - to Adam, and now I need to work out the logistics. Like, I live alone most of the time and stay at my girlfriends place a couple days a week. I do not have a tripod, do not have a digital camera and am not about to ask a passing person every day to take a shot of my semi nekkid torso...no sirree.

I'm still not comfortable undressed in front of strangers so going public will be a real stretch for me but I will do whatever it takes to get the "lean for Life" job done.

I WILL work out the details because I HAVE MADE THE COMMITTMENT and I will absolutely honour that committment

So check back tomorrow to see how I plan to get the pics done. Right now I don't even know.

Week eight, day 3

What a waste of time. In South Africa we do not have enough band width. Throughout business hours and into the evening it is seriously difficult to access and browse, never mind, make contributions to various forum, blogs etc.

So what can I learn from this since I've been sitting waiting for 15 minutes for everything to get into place so I can start writing. Well apart from the networks being seriously overloaded, I can learn one of the most important lessons of our time...Yup, you guessed it, PATIENCE.

Everything today is about immediate gratification...if I can't have it now, then stick it.

Well unfortunately that concept doesn't work with certain things...things like, fat loss and muscle building and...well that's plenty for now.

I mean, there is no way that you can force fat loss or build the muscle you are looking for. Your body will do it in it's own time and that, friends, is that.

Frustrating as it may be, learn the lesson quick or prepare to be continually freaked out.

Anyway slow fat loss is more permanent that fast fat loss.

Anything more than around 1kg per week is likely to be muscle and we guys do not want to lose muscle, it's hard enough to build in the first place.

Week Eight, day 2

Beautiful day in South Africa, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, it's summer and life is good.

Isn't it great how we are able to make any day beautiful depending on our state of mind.

For example, if I was bankrupt, and my car was being repo'd, and I had no job...the day wouldn't be looking that great.

My reality is different to yours...and I the way I see things is different to yours.

To get MY reality right I thank God every day for this beautiful planet he created and all the blessings he has given me, and I thank him for adversity in my life since it makes me stronger when I learn how to deal with it.

Since I created pure thought for myself today, I had a great ab session and fantastic cardio. Felt like I was floating on air.

Works for me

Week Eight, Day 1

Big Leg Day

Done and dusted...My training partner is ill today so I've just trained alone. It's quite difficult to adjust your mind to training without the rythm and timing of a partner. Luckily it was LARGE leg day so I knew that if I had to bail at the bottom of a squat I could dump it off my back...can't do that with bench. You'd just end up with a smashed sternum and a weak little voice shouting "Helllllllppppp, hellllllppppp" whilst feeling very embarassed. I've seen it before, it ain't pretty.

I've been more careful to eat more whole food today, sometimes I tend to take the easy way out with protein shakes if I'm back to back and under pressure.

Clients tend not to stress if you're chugging down a shake, kinda shows you walk the talk, but they probably wouldn't appreciate you not being able to spot them on a heavy dumbell bench press because you are smashing chicken breast, couscous and spinach into your face would they now...no, they wouldn't.

So good day at the office, am looking forward to cardio and abs tomorrow.

Out

Week Seven, day 7

My apologies for this, (since gloating is not a character trait I admire), especially to those who don't play, don't watch and actually could care not a jot about rugby.

BUT I AM A VERY PROUD SOUTH AFRICAN AND A RUGBY FANATIC

2007 Rugby World Cup.... World Champions - SOUTH AFRICA
IRB Player of the year - Brian Habana - SOUTH AFRICA
IRB Coach of the Year - Jake White - SOUTH AFRICA
IRB Rugby Team of the year - You guessed it SOUTH AFRICA

WE ARE THE WORLD CHAMPIONS

Week seven, day 6

World Cup FINAL Day

Cardio and abs went great today. 20 minutes on the mill with a maximum of 14kms per hour.
Went hard and felt good.

Right... moving right along ... everybody in the country is fully focussed on Rugby World Cup 2007. South Africa V England.

Including me ... so talk to you tomorrow.

Week Seven, day 5

I love that 5 x 5

Had the best workout ever. Just felt so strong and kept pumping myself up throughout the session.
Achieved my goal... Barbell Bench Press 5 x 5, no spot, 100kgs
Seated shoulder press 5 x 5, no spot 27 kgs, each hand
Close grip bench 5 x 5, no spot 80kgs
Bicep curls 5 x 5, 21kgs each hand
seated row (just about whole stack)
chins (3 plates)
Tricep push downs (just about the whole stack)

Left the gym feeling like Superman. What a feeling.

Ate well, drank lots, dougal out.

Week Seven, day 4

Discipline is a great tool to feel FANTASTIC about yourself.

What I mean is this. My back was a touch dodgy yesterday (my own fault) and I was contemplating giving my cardio a miss.....then I remembered you guys out there to whom I made a massive committment.

Looked out the window and it was a grey coldish day with rain bucketing down. The little voice said...you could hurt your back further..then what.

Well, suffice to say I ignored the voice, ran out into the bucketing rain and drove to the gym where soaking wet I sidled into the weight room and got stuck into my ab workout. A little gingerly at first, then moving into full range feeling no pain.

From abs to cardio where I got stuck into a full blown mind bending session.

I walked out of the gym feeling FANTASTIC, who cares if I got wet, I kept my committment to all of you...not foolishly, I was careful.... and, my back is 100%.

Tomorrow 5 x 5 sets - upper body whooo hooo, can't wait

My Goal for tomorrow

Bench 5 sets of 5 without a spot with 100kgs.

Affirmation

I get stronger every day by training with passion and eating regular healthy meals.

Week seven, day 3

Disapointing session today...

whilst doing oblique sit ups yesterday during my ab routine I gave my back a bit of a twinge. It was a bit painful this morning and I spoke to two of the physio's in the Health Centre where my gym is situated.

They recomended supine leg press, no pressure on the back, dumbell lunges, and leg extensions.

So I worked my way through the routine with trepidation and felt unfilled at the end. yuggghh.

What it made me realise however is the level of intensity I have been training with up to this point.

A normal training session like in the past is now obsolete and tame compared to what I'm doing now.

No worries, upper body on friday and by then the back will be cool.

It's 8.04 pm and I've been up since 4.30 am.....I'm whacked and I'm outta here.

Till the a.m...

Week seven, day 2

Funny how things change

6 weeks ago, I set a goal to be the international BFL age group champion. As time goes by it has become more important to me to set up and follow through the disciplines necessary to make what I'm doing now a lifestyle rather than a 12 week challenge.

Oh don't get me wrong I still want to achieve my goal but more than that I want to be in better and better shape, physically, mentally, intellectually, emotionally spiritually with each passing year, and that requires the discipline of balance and moderation.

With me it has always been all or nothing. Either overboard with exercise of some sort, or supreme grand master couch potato, but with an athletes mind.

Either party full on or don't bother to go.

Well slowly but surely that is changing....the more I blog the more I am able to think rationally about living my life with balance.

My committment is to spend time exercising each day with intensity and to be in the best shape I can be...FOREVER. Like Adam I see very little point in doing this for 12 weeks and then jumping back onto the couch with a cold one and a smug look, whilst watching ESPN.

I WILL have defined Abs by Christmas, but I will also enjoy myself. I will train less, spend more time with my family and spend more time watching the ocean. I will do different exercise. Ride my MTB, do a lot of surfing, run on the beach.

When the holiday is finished I will get back to work and training with renewed vigour and fresh goals and plans for the whole year.

My cardio today went well although I gave myself permission to back off a little. Still really tired from last nights upper body session.

My goals for tomorrow.
I will drink 3 litres of water
I will train with intensity focussing on each and every rep
I will eat 6 nutritionally balanced meals
I will have a positive day

My affirmations
I am getting leaner and more muscular every day
I love eating nutritious healthy food
I love to help people get their lives back through health and fitness
I LOVE MY LIFE

Week seven, day 1

Moment of truth

Suck it up dougal, you've got to do this sometime. Man this is hard. To show before pics when you don't have the afters is like exposing your soul for the planet to see.

So I'm grabbing courage in my hand like a sword as I stand and deliver.

Here are my pics on the day I started and at the half way point.
Starting weight 220 lbs - halfway 213 lbs.

My goal for tomorrow - to re look at my eating plan and tighten it up for the 6 weeks to come.

Later.

Week Six, day 7

FINE TUNING - 6 Weeks

This is where the rubber really meets the road.

I have really managed to slot into blogging every day and I'm really enjoying it..It has helped me focus on my own journey much more than I could have if there was no record. That accountability thing again.. This is thanks to Adam Waters.

Now that I'm doing that regularly I feel that I want to drill down and fine tune this Journey of mine even further and so I publicly committed to daily goal setting on my blog.

This will help me in that for the last six weeks of my 12 week journey I am forced to be even more focussed than ever before and will give me the best results I can possibly achieve.

I have also decided to write my affirmations publicly each day.

SO: Goals for day 1 of my six week "Fine Tuning plan"

1) I will drink 2 glasses of water as I awake. I will drink a further 2 ltrs during the day.
2) I will drink a 30gm protein shake, eat a cup of jungle oats, a FF flavoured yoghurt and a handful of almonds within 30 minutes of waking up
3) I will eat a protein/carb drink one hour pre training in the afternoon
4) I will train with intensity and focus and concentrate on each rep as I do it.
5) I will drink a protein shake pre bed.
6) I will do something today that will make someone else's life better.

Right that's it for Monday.

If you have any comments, constructive criticism, suggestions please let me know. It might look a little cumbersome but it is day 1 after all.

I have tended to focus on the things that are important to me personally.

AFFIRMATIONS

I am lean and muscular and getting more so each and every day.
I love eating healthy and nutritious food and do so regularly every day
I am so grateful for everything in my life and embrace adversity, it makes me stronger.

Week six, day 6

Cardio today was fun. I mixed up my HiiT in a way I havn't done before. I spent 5 minutes warming up...walk and jogged and then did a 4 minute sequence. 7-8-9-10 kms on the t/mill, I followed this with 5 x 2 minutes sets. Lowest at 7 and the highest running from 12,13,14,14...followed this with a 2 minutes cool down.

I felt it worked really well and I felt great afterwards.

I ate clean all day and had a chance to test myself in the "real world" last night. Went to a party ...a big bash. I made sure that I had eaten my last meal just before we left for the party and drank some water.

Arrived at the party and nursed one....that's right ONE, beer the whole night. When my next meal timing came around, I didn't need a reminder...I WAS HUNGRY. Checked out all the available food and heaped up a plate with...A chicken kebab, egg salad (no dressing) Couscous salad with avocado pear and a small baked potato. Really enjoyed the food, didn't feel over full at all and headed off home around 11ish for a solid nights sleep.

Pretty chuffed with my performance in the "real world".

Andrew well done last night mate ENGLAND nailed France. I hope we win our semi tonight and look forward to meeting you guys in the final next week.

See you later for goal setting.

EXTRA EXTRA

Adam Waters talked about my journey running frighteningly parallel to his.

Here's another example of how that is manifesting. Firstly Big Up to Adam for his range of clothing. Fantastic, I hope you do incredibly well with it.

I also have "T's" and caps which I use in my gym here in South Africa and it's amazing how collective consciousness works. I have no doubt about the power of same thinking on different continents.

Here is my clothing.

Week Six, day 5

I've just had an idea sparked by 217 day journey, to make me even more accountable. Thank you.

From Week seven, day 1, I'm going to log daily goals for eating, training, drinking and mental attitude. I think drilling down will really focus me on the second half of my 12 week challenge.

So, it's down on paper...well, so to speak, so please hold me accountable, and challenge me if you don't like what you see.

I'm going to call it "Fine tuning - 6 weeks"

Have just finished my leg session today which was really tough but I enjoyed it hugely.

I'm sucking down my meal replacement 42 gms protein, 3 gms fat, 23 gms carbs...good healthy food to replace everything I've lost through training. Tastes really good as well.

I train with glutamine and take creatine before training as well. Other suplements ...none, zip, nada.

Looking forward to cardio tomorrow with a good tough ab session thrown in.

Let you know how it goes.

Bye

Week six, day 4

Today I committed murder

Oh yes, I killed my cardio session. I went into the gym feeling great today.
I did things a little differently. I slowed down, and focussed on what I was doing. Took a little longer with my ab session...more attentive, more deliberate...and it hurt more, which is what I wanted.

Onto the mill....again took my time warming up which paid off since I was able to go a lot harder and finished very strong and motivated.

So, achieved my goals for today as far as eating and drinking as well.

Am looking forward to my 3 x 15 leg session.

I just want to say a public CONGRATULATIONS to Adam Waters. He fully deserves all the good things he's getting right now and he is clearly destined for greatness.

He's a really genuine guy with lots of integrity and a will to help others. I have a belief that you can never be happy unless you are doing something to give back and help others.

The Law of Reciprocity Rules.

I will be watching his rise to fame with great interest, after all, he is the reason I am here and making great progress. Good on you, mate.

Thank you Adam.

Week Six, day 3

Dougal's BACK

Thanks to all of you for your encouragement. Being accountable has its benefits.

Right now I'm battling to type. My arms and the rest of my upper body are destroyed. I'm completely wiped out...and I feel FANTASTIC.

It's that 3 x 15 x 30 secs rest absolutely brutal workout.

However the main thing is I feel fully motivated.

Starts with feeling good in your mind, then getting attitude for the session then acting out the attitude in the session and before you know it things are cool.

That's how life works, but it's great to have that knowledge and to know how to access it.

Right, hometime, another meal and a great night's sleep.

See ya tomorrow.

Week six, day 2

Thanks for the support

Thanks you, Andrew in particular, for your support. My cardio session did not go well. I did my abs and jumped on the treadmill. Did a longer warm up than usual and got going. Feeling a few niggles in my legs and some muscular pain from my leg session I went a lot easier than normal and jumped off the treadmill after 15 minutes.

Now, I don't know whether I was right to go easy...It felt like I should, or whether I was just demotivated. I actually don't want to analyse it too much because I am really looking forward to my upper body session tonight.

I have been eating clean for 5 weeks (saturday night excluded) and drinking plenty of water. I got straight back into clean eating monday am, and have eaten all my meals since then so I'm not going to get down on myself.

I think my attitude should be positive going forward and not negative looking backwards. "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he."

I think what contributed to a rather blah state of mind were a few business issues which happened all at the same time.

Nothing serious...as well as an extended guilt trip from Saturday as Andrew suggested.

So I move forward with enthusiasm for my training and indeed life knowing that I am absolutely on track to achieve my goal.

Thanks again, I appreciate everybody's support and thanks to all of you for visiting my blog.

Please keep coming.

Week six, day 1

Felt a bit flat training today. Took a while to get into it and then no problem. Perhaps it was because it was a heavy leg day and I'm getting to the point where I've really got to believe I can push the weight. Faith now comes into play.

Eating was cool, drinking water was cool, plenty of sleep. Cardio tomorrow and I'll see how I feel.

Got nothing else today

Later

Week five, day 7

Not feeling wonderful

Saturday night was a birthday celebration dinner for me. Went to a portuguese restaurant on the wrong side of town for dinner with family and friends. When the family left the friends got down to some serious partying. I mean 3.30am serious.

Ate prawns drank beer had a fantastic time and woke up sunday to regret it.

How do I feel emotionally about it?

Well - actually...no recriminations. I have good friends and I made the choice to party hard, so I can hardly cry into my soup can I now.
How much damage has it. I don't believe a huge amount so it's move on time.

My life has not stopped and my lifestyle has changed but since I am actually still alive I let go now and again. It's actually good for me because I'm a typical Type a personality - an extremist, so finding balance is a good thing. Except with me it's at either end of the scale.

Anyway, it's done....new day, clean food, lot's of water, hard training and by middle of the week it will be forgotten about.

I'm human.

Week five, day 6

Had to be at the gym at 7.30 to train clients. Got my own butt out of bed at 4.30am to do my own cardio and ab routine and blog. Got a full day today and wanted to get it all done early.

Am feeling more and more motivated every day. I feel and look better than I have for a very long time.

Everything starts in your own brain and you can choose how you want to live.

Create your own life and live rather than exist.

Pics coming soon.

Have a great weekend.

Week five, day 5

At the end of week five I take a look at my strength increases over the last 5 weeks. Most of them are 50% up on my starting weights and it serves to remind me that variety in your training is what will give you most growth, strength and speed gains.

My own program consists of 3 days of weight training weekly doing the same exercises but with different set and rep and rest ranges. In essence I'm doing strength training once every 2 weeks, size training, once every 2 weeks and endurance or density training once every 2 weeks. This means you can do this routine for longer (8 weeks) before changing, since there is no danger of adaption in this time frame considering the gap between same routines.

It's a phenominal concept and is really working for me. At 58 yrs old and at 97kgs, I'm doing 5 sets of 5 reps, bench press with 95kgs to my chest without a spotter. I'm pretty happy. Seated shoulder press with 25kgs each hand. Seated row, 3/4's of the stack and chins with very little assisted weight. My exercises are all compound. Bench press, Seated row, chins, shoulder press, close grip bench, standing row, squats, deadlift, lunges, step ups. They will always be the greatest exercises to do. Methods change, principles never do.

See ya tomorrow.

Week five, day 4

Run Forest Run

Remember Forest Gump. How he ran all over America. When I watch people in commercial gyms on the treadmill I often wonder if they have goals or if they just get on and run for an hour at the same pace every day without thinking about it.

Do they realise that doing the same thing every day doesn't help much. For a start the human body/mind is extremely sophisticated and adapts and becomes efficient very quickly, so once it understands the routine it doesn't have to adapt any more and then it is literally just routine.

You have to mix up your cardio training enough so as to make it inefficient for your body and difficult to adapt. Different forms of hi intensity cardio training over 20 minutes or so are best for accelerating metobolic rate over a period of time.

Forget about burning calories, heating up the metabolic furnace is what you want to do.

My own training is reaping rewards and I can feel that I'm burning fat every day.

My own affirmations - "I am getting leaner and stronger all the time and I love eating healthy nutritious food every day."

Week five, day 3

The one time when Negative, is really positive.

Did squats last nights emphasising the negative. In other words emphasising and over controlling the downward movement instead of letting gravity pull you down. Man are my legs sore today.

I focussed on negatives with all my exercises and I can feel that I really put in the effort.

I think that often times even though we are focussed on what we are doing, we don't drill down far enough, mentally to get the greatest benefit from the exercise. To illustrate let's look at the good old standard, the bench press.

You lie on the bench, grab the bar, take the strain and, if its a heavy set, get through it as quick as possible. What you should be doing is this.
1) Visulise your goal for the set before you get to the bench. Understand what you are trying to achieve.
2) Lie on the bench, close your eyes and calm your breathing down
3) Again visualise the goal for the set, and imagine that you are actually doing the first few reps. Feel the weight and how smooth your rhythm is.

When you've done a few reps, in your mind, take the strain, lift the bar off the rack and continue the set, for real.

You'll be amazed at how much more you can lift and also how rythmical the set was and how it went exactly according to plan.

Understand this, The mind cannot distinguish between a real and an imagined experience. Therefore the more you train in your mind, with a specific goal in mind, the more proficient the real action will be, because you've already done it...according to your sub conscious.

That's real focus.

Give a try at your next session and let me know how it goes.

Week five, day 2

My ab work is taking on a life of its own, which is cool. I am doing about 10 minutes of core stabilising and strengthening before I start pure abdominals and then into a mini boot camp ab routine which lasts another 15 minutes or so. It's going to be interesting to see how much development there has been when my abs start to show.

My cardio routine was really effective and I can feel that I'm getting fitter from session to sesssion. Hi intensity interval training is great for releasing endorphins and and seems to be doing that as lot for me. I feel like I'm getting high almost every session.

It's a beautiful day here in Johannesburg,I'm loving summer.

Rock on.

Week five, day 1

Say what?

Week five day 1, wow. It just struck me how quickly time goes by . Into week five for me almost doesn't seem possible. Has it been tough for me. NO. Why?

Well I guess that's down to the amazing Adam Waters. Not only has he found the secret but he has been generous enough to share it...for free...unusual these days.

It's a one step strategy. Become completely accountable to as many people as possible. It's that simple.

The more people you tell what you're doing, IN DETAIL, the more resposible you become for your own wellbeing. If you have integrity that is.

I mean, it's easy to tell someone, even on a blog, how great things are going if you're a liar. "Oh things are brilliant, I'm making gains and eating great" is easy to say if no-one can see you sticking black forest cake down your gullet every day.

However if you have integrity and lying is not part of who you are, it's a doddle.

All this leads to my admission that I had a piece of cheese cake last night...deliberately. How so? I hear you ask. Well it was my birthday and my friends at the gym bought me the cake. I am not a rude person so I had to figure out the best time to eat a slice.

Now I do not advocate this strategy normally but this was an exception. If there was one time when you could load up on high GI, simplex carbs this would be it.

So, following another mind numbing training session I chugged down my 40 gms of protein and downed a medium slice of cheese cake. I'm happy to report that it actually didn't do that much for me. I certainly didn't feel like smashing the rest of the cake into my face.

My world didn't collapse, I never fell through a crack in the pavement and the sky didn't fall on my head.

So, now you know that I ate a piece of cheese cake on a special occasion, honesty prevailed and I have moved on integrity intact. I really don't think it has had any effect on my nutrion whatsoever, and it's a new day.

Case closed.

PS
Training was fantastic and I had a great day.

Later

Week four, day 7

Sunday, overcast, beautiful day. Got my kids with me to day which is great. Free day to day, no brain work, no training, just chill.

Took the kids...mine and my girlfriends two = 2 adults 4 kids aged 12,10,8,6 to movies followed by lunch. Movies + popcorn and cold drinks + lunch at Spur fourways, basic sunday stuff right. Well R750,00 later I walk out of Spur shellshocked. Do that once a week and you're in for 3 grand a month. Lucky I'm self employed.

By the way I ate spare ribs, berry ice cream and a sprite zero....well it was my free day.

See ya monday

Week four, day 6

Always Expect the unexpected or at least make allowances for it

Saturday - weekend - cardio/abs....so because I've got clients at 7.30am and I'm collecting my kids later I need to get my training in. Our treadmill at my gym is being serviced so I decide to get my training done at our local chain "Virgin Active".

I'm on the road by 6am heading for Virgin Active. Hmmm no cars there, wonder why? Bounce up the stairs, walk into the gym with a bright and breezy, "hey how are ya". The reply did not please me. "Sorry Sir, we are only open at 7am." Grrrrrrr.

Okay plan B. Back in the car head for my own gym 20 minutes away..open up, lights on, music up and jump on one of the bikes.
Cardio went well, abs even better, clients arrive...job done.

Moral of the story. Make contingencies. For me, I like to get my head around an alternative...which in this case I didn't do...since I'm not big on surprises.

Another great week of progress, everything done right...Oh by the way, I'm 1.5kgs and 2.5% body fat down... Remember my post this time last week, check it out again. Go figure.

Week four, day 5

Upper Body 3 x 15's - Ouch

I approach the squat rack with a little aprehension..I know what's coming.
Don't get me wrong I enjoy the session, but I know it's going to hurt.

I load up the bar smirking to myself, I know my training partner is on his way feeling a little anxiety himself.

Mark arrives, I load up with water, CrE2 (otherwise known as creatine ethyl ester hydrochloride, which, according to the container is up to 40 times more potent than creatine monohydrate and promises 100% absorbtion and a radical pump.) which I can feel working 10 minutes into the session, a bottle full of Synthevol(glutamine) my training log and I'm good to go.

I check the deadlift bar, load the correct weight...and BLASTOFF.

I've done a warm up with dumbells to loosen up my legs and feel the correct movement.

I lift the bar onto the fatty part of my deltoids just below the start of my spinal column. I feel that familiar pain of a heavy bar and embrace it. I don't use padding, I prefer the feel of the steel on my shoulders.

I push my hips back and lower them to a point below parallel with a straight but hollow back, looking straight ahead.

Feeling my way through the first few reps I get into to a rythm and crank out 15. Rack the bar check the clock and breath heavily...wow 30 seconds so soon. Step up to the deadlift bar, take the strain and rythmically grind out 15 of those.

Another 30 seconds and back to the squat rack. Now I'm breathing hard.
Back to deads, back to the rack, back to deads. Now I'm hurting and my mind is telling me it's ok to bale after 10. Man this is heavy and my lungs are gulping every millilitre of air around me. No way 15 is the number I tell the voice and that's what I'm doing.

Onto lunges and step ups, different kind of pain and really heaving lungs.

20 minutes later we're done.

I feel like I've just run a marathon...FAST

My glutes, hams, calves, arms (yeah from holding the dumbells for lunges and step ups) and abs are burning..nearly as much as my lungs but I FEEL GREAT.

I just beat my biggest enemy, the voice in my head....and...the pain in my body.

Why do I do this. Because every day I do I become more trustworthy. Every time I honour a self promise without quitting I become stronger.
Every day I get better...

and that's just menatally and emotionally

never mind the physical benefits which help my physical me incrementally.

WHAT A HIGH - CHOOSE LIFE

Week four, day 4

What a beautiful day in Johannesburg today. We had the first of the summer rains..sky was black, wind was swirling around angrily blowing stuff into the air, it got chilly...and the rain came down and came down, all day. A sort of cross between a summer shower and driving rain. Going home from the gym this evening it was hard to see properly, traffic was backed up and there were the usual bumper bashings...what a beautiful day.

Have I gone nuts

NO, I just have an attitude..a positive attitude. The thing is, firstly, if I love this kind of weather what can get me down, mostly, nothing.

Secondly if we didn't have weather like this how would we appreciate beautiful sunrises, sunshine and warm days. How would we know how stunning a deep valley is with a magnificent river running through it if we didn't have to climb over a huge mountain to get there. How would we know how anger feels if someone wasn't kind to us, and how would we know happiness if we had experienced sadness.

Life is about balance and the real deal is, the fact that we have the gift of choice. We have no control over what the weather is going to look like tomorrow, but we do have a choice about how we feel about it.

ME, I choose positive over negative, I choose good over bad, I choose kindness over rejection or rudeness, I choose to embrace adversity, I choose LIFE and I am LOVING LIVING it.WHAT'S YOUR CHOICE

Oh by the way, I had a majestic, cardio and ab workout today, ate well and drank lots. All in all A GREAT DAY

Can't wait for tomorrow's 3 x 15 leg day..Deep squats, OW.

Embrace this life, it's all we have.

Week 4, day 3

Mind Blowing session

Upper body again - remember the 15 x 3 sets x 30 seconds rest workout. That time again. Man this workout is just brutal. I upped all the weights so I was really tested and took myself to the limit.

3x 15 bench 70kgs (bearing in mind I'm doing 5 x 5 with 90kgs
3 x 15 seated db shoulder press 15kgs (5x5's with 23kgs)

and so on through seated row, chins, upright rows, close grip bench , tricep push downs, and bicep curls.

Don't forget you get 30 secs between each set so you are doing 8 exercises x 15reps x 3 sets. It only takes about 40minutes but it hurts.

I'm writing this at 5am on Thursday and man I can feel it in my body.
Phenominal.

It's one of those sessions where you just sit there with your meal replacement shake in your hand staring at the ground dripping all over the place. You gather the energy to look at your training partner, and think...words aren't necessary....what the hell just happened. We seemed to be in a trance. There is no time to talk..not with 30 second break..just do, and do hard.

But man...it WAS GREAT...I'm lovin it.

Ate perfect, chugged water and slept real well.

Later

Week 4, day 2

Hello again, good to be blogging. It has become so much part of my life and I really enjoy it.

just done cardio, good hard 20 minutes and 15 minutes of core and ab work.

Have eaten well and hit the water as usual.

Am hectic today so I'm going to leave it there and come up with something more interesting tomorrow.

By the way, want to thank all of you who visit on a regular basis (10 countries and climbing) for it is you who keep me honest.

Accountability in this form is power enough to keep me honest.

Please keep on coming to visit...and I hope that just one thing I've written has helped someone to make a decision about getting into and keeping in
great shape.

Week 4, Day 1

Monday, new week. This feels really weird. In South Africa to day is a holiday and I have in the past treated holidays as free days. However I have a contract...with Adam and all of you and I intend to keep it.

Protein smoothie for breakfast, protein shake for mid morning and a protein smoothy at lunch after training. Barbeque chicken breast, and couscous salad with avo for dinner. Cottage cheese and fresh fruit for meal number 5. Awesome day done. CLEAN

Legs today 5x5..gym was pretty empty which was cool...mind you the squat rack is always free. People seem to be scared of the rack and deadlifts.. I have learned to love both exercises and I value them very highly in any training plan. Compound exercises are KING.

Looking forward to cardio tomorrow, going to go real hard.

Let you know how it goes.

Week 3, day 7

Sunday = free day

Ate pretty well for a free day...lot's of fruit, avocado pear sandwich for lunch, so, pasta in the evening.

All in all a chill day.

See ya in week 4

Week 3, day 6

Go Figure

Saturday morning, I am excited, aprehensive, a little anxious but can't wait.

Today is measure day. I feel leaner, harder, stronger, so it's all good right. WRONG

I open up the gym, take my time opening windows, getting the vibes going and holding myself back I move slowly towards the scale.

NO WAY

I have eaten super clean this week, have trained like a dog, worked hard on the cardio. How the hell can I be a kilo up.

Get off the scale, stare dazed into the far distance and then jump back on...like it's going to be different. No there it is, one kilo up.

OK, let's not dive off the nearest tall building just yet, body fat test to come...that'll be down for sure. Spirit restored I haul out the calipers and get to work.

WHAT BODY FAT UP.

I crash to the floor devastated, sweating profusely, heart palpitations causing convulsions... "how could this happen to me, I'm a professional" I appeal to some unseen power source expecting that with a flash of light my weight will suddenly drop and my body fat will miraculously drop by 10%.

OK last resort...the tape measure, this will show for sure that I have made progress.

Unfortunately the tale of the tape confirmes the scale and the calipers.

How does this happen.

Perhaps my metabolism needs to settle after a time of yo yo eating, perhaps....well actually perhaps really doesn't matter. Facts are facts and I'll never really know but...

What am I going to do about it, how am I going to react...am I going to be proactive.

I'm going to do exactly what I have been doing, and committed to do. Intense weight training 3 x per week, hi intensity cardio 3 x per week, eating 5-6 quality meals per day, drinking litres of water and getting enough sleep.

Luckily I have enough experience to know that what I'm doing works, and these things happen, they just do. I looking for progress not perfection.

At the end of it all, the ground underneath the nearest tall building is safe for another day...and life goes on.

Week 3, day 5

Endorphins were pumping

This is one of those days. Normal work day, everything went as planned, started looking forward to training in the evening and then it was time.

Nothing to suggest it was going to be different. My training partner arrived as normal, I finished with my last client, gym emptied out...just he and I left.

Pump up the vibes, look at my training log, hmmm 5 x 5's today, upper body.

Hit it...set 1, bang off we went.

Fast forward 1 hour, man I didn't want to stop. "Are you feeling different today Bud" I asked Mark, "What do you mean". "Well let's do more tricep work I just don't want to stop training". "Oh yeah I feel exactly the same". Rock on.

It was just one of those sessions where everything just fell into place. All our lifts were up, concentration was intense, the clock seemed to go just slowly enough to recover for the next set, rhythm and timing were perfect...yup, just one of wonderful days that remind you how great the feel of steel is.

Bring it on.

Week 3, day 4

G'day sports fans

Here is a great cardio routine for you.

minutes (Treadmill)
1 - 5kms p hr
2 - 5
3 - 7
4 - 7
6 - 7
9 - 7
10 -11
11 -7
12 -12
13 -7
14 -13
15 -7
16 -14
17 -7
18 -15
19 -7
20 -5

there you go. If the upper numbers are too high just drop them down a bit.


Drank huge amounts of water and and 5 good meals.

Coming to the end of week four.

Feeling stronger, leaner, happier, more focussed than I have for ages.

See ya tomorrow.

Week three, day 3

I Love Weight Training

I love the feel of the steel, the smell of the gym, the clank of the weights and the mind games we play when trying for a new personal best. I love going to gym every day and I love the fact that I have complete control over the way I look and feel. THAT MY FRIENDS IS POWER

Even if I didn't believe all those statements long ago, the more I spoke out loud the more I started to believe them and guess what..they became the truth.

Everything we are started in our minds... we can choose WHATEVER,we want to believe...BELIEVE IT.

Had a great workout last night.

Squats...oooh, I love the burn. Checkout the pic

And the seated guy is my faithful training partner Mark, c'mon Bud no time for rest, one more set LET's GO.



Still eating clean, fresh, healthy food x 5 or 6 meals a day.

Living life and LOVIN it.

EXTRA - EXTRA - EXTRA

In context with my post this morning here is an article I wrote as a preview to a talk I did on health and fitness, I hope you'll find it interesting AND maybe even helpful.

I AM AN ATHLETE
A healthy lifestyle – the mind/body connection


By its very definition the word lifestyle in the statement “A healthy lifestyle” indicates that we are talking about far more than a 10 week diet and running around the block for the same time frame.

The very notion that we can – kinda, sorta, eat properly and do some exercise for the short term, is based in the word, a word that should, in my view be banished from dictionaries, DIET.

Diet always implies that there is an end in view. We all know what I’m talking about. The 28 day grapefruit diet. The 4 week south beach diet. Lose 150lbs eating only rice cakes in 10 days diet and so on.

We also know instinctively at the very least that, you cannot get to where you want to be, physically, and then go straight back to sleeping late and eating cheese cake.

So what is the solution, and how does the mind come into this?

We need to change our identity. There are two types of people who are overweight. People who simply habitually overeat at meal times and people who are comfort eaters. Since the second group is by far the majority I’m going to talk about them. Habitual overeaters simply need to understand how to eat properly. Simple to fix, not easy, but simple.

Comfort eaters however is a different group altogether.

The majority of people that come to me for help are very overweight. The first question I ask is “how did you get to look like you do”. Then begins a psychological discourse in which lies the answer to getting lean, healthy and fit, for life.

Mentally, physically and sexually abusive, parents, partners, children, friends and so on, or certain instances, and timelines are by and large the trigger for overeating on a regular basis.

At the time the incidents were occurring, eating large amount of pleasurable food i.e. ice creams, potato chips, pies, pastries etc, were responsible for soothing a traumatized emotional state. This done habitually leads to “bingeing” preceding or following a difficult situation.

After some considerable time the individual is seriously overweight, with a self image problem of varying degrees.

Now, I’m a great believer in the statement….Things in my past are responsible for the way I have become..But only I can be responsible for the way I’m going to be.

A courageous attitude, certainly, but it doesn’t happen overnight. It all starts with a thought and remember that “everything starts with a thought” and I mean everything.

How often have we said “I think I’ll go down to Durban for the weekend” or “I think I’m going to shop for new clothes on Saturday?” See what I mean.

So…although it takes time, a process of conscious/subconscious mind changing through affirmations and a firm commitment to a future healthy lifestyle through goal setting, is all that is needed to get you on the right track, forever. The Will to want to is obviously critical, but I don’t know any fat person who wants to remain where they are and get progressively bigger as time goes by, do you?

I start my clients with a simple affirmation “I AM AN ATHLETE “and I insist they repeat it to themselves many times a day and whilst exercising. It seems silly at first and they are normally embarrassed to repeat it out loud, but the miracle starts happening when, through repetition they start believing it. They start walking with more purpose, up straighter, and with more confidence. This has the knock on effect of making them want to train harder and so they progress until they reach their original goals and it’s time to set new ones.

I’ve seen this happen countless time and although this article touches the surface of my personal methodologies, used with love, kindness and caring, since I’m not a qualified psychologist, my heart soars when I see a client, now a friend, walk into the future with head held high, a strong respect for themselves, and a definite belief that “ They are athletes”


Dougal Macdonald
Body-for-LIFE
Success coach

Week 3, day 2

I was talking to a client of mine this morning. He has been through the same thing that we all go through. We manage to sustain fat loss for a prescribed period of time and then we let go. That is why diet is such a filthy word. It implies that there is an end in sight and that the old life of Big Macs and cheesecake is just around the corner....well it isn't.

If we are not prepared to make a "lifestyle" change..forget about it.

For me, I was lucky enough to find Adam Waters at the same time I hit rock bottom and because of that I KNOW that I will be spending xmas on the beach covered by a six pack and not a T shirt.

As a fitness professional it has got to be the most self defeating thing in the world to be out of shape. Firstly you are always feeling terrible about the way you look... knowing what you do... and secondly, how much credibility can you have if you, as a fitness coach, are...well....FAT.

We all need to find whatever solution works for us and my personal opinion is, that full scale accountability is what works best for most people.

I suggested to my client, who happens to be a very high level executive in a major organisation, that he go to the organisation's Chairman, lay out his plan and goals, and the date by which he will achieve them and ask that if he fails to live up to his daily action steps, he would forfeit his very considerable bonus. Hmmmm....puts a different perspective on how serious you are about getting into shape.

This blog for me is such a win. There are people from all over the planet reading...well hopefully, reading my words after having seen my contract...see early blog entry...and holding me accountable. Barring a real catastrophe there is no way I'm going to skip a meal, training session or cardio workout.

So all of you reading this...please post comments, I would love to know what you think, perhaps what information you would like to see that I'm not including etc.

I would really appreciate feedback to help motivate you to go for your own goals.

Talk to me.

PS...5 good meals, good thinking, lotsa water, and a killer cardio session and....it's another day in the bag. I am getting better and stronger every day.

Week 3, day 1

Upper body

4x10 - 1 minute rest

Bench 80kgs
Seated row 55kgs
Seated Shoulder press 21kg dumb bells
Chins
Close grip bench 60kgs
Upright rows 44kg cable machine
Cable tricep push downs 70kg
DB bicep curls 15kg db's

great workout, 1 hour.

Eating well, chugging lot's of water.

Life is good...no really

Week 2, day 7

FREE day

as in free up your brain day. I think a free day once a week is really important to free up the inside of your head and give it ...nothing to do.

No eating plans, no training no....well, nothing.

I can still remember what I ate on my first free day back in 1999.
Breakfast - Packet of biltong (beef jerky) mixed with cashew nuts
Lunch - double cheeseburger and fries and a coke
Mid afternoon - a bar of chocolate
Dinner - mexicana pizza and a litre of ice cream
Boy I was ill.. what was I thinking?

But at the end of that 1st BFL challenge I had lost 10kgs and 20% body fat.

My free day today I have eaten so far:-
Wake up - Cappucino and 2 slices of danish (note.. 2 SLICES of danish)
Breakfast - 3 scrambled eggs on wholewheat (no butter)
Lunch - 1 sausage and greek salad
Mid afternoon - bowl of fruit salad

that's it so far

Things have changed so much - I still believe in the free day concept and although my free choices are much healthier I still enjoy the freedom to choose.

We'll check my stats this time round at the other side of 12 weeks.

See ya monday for week 3..rock on

Week 2, Day 6

End of week 2...WOW

Cardio today went really well. Feeling fitter than I have for a long, long time. Finding I'm able to run harder each time I jump onto the mill.

Abs/ core training also done with care and persistance...am really looking forward to stripping that fat off my abs.

Ate clean today - 5 good meals.

Free day tomorrow and onto week 3. Can't wait.

Hang in there. Honour self promises.

Week 2, day 5

MASSACRE OF THE ENGLISH

I know it looks like I'm more interested in rugby than my health and fitness but this is Rugby World Cup 2007 and we just thrashed the poms 36 - 0....I mean 36 - zip, magnificent Springboks. When last did you hear of the World Champions not putting a single score on the board in a world cup game.

OK enough of that. Ate beautifully yesterday. Am eating a few Pistachio nuts since reading a report that they are the new superfood. Why not.

Feeling fantastic...had a great leg session yesterday doing the 3 x 15 supersets but with squats, deadlift, lunges and step ups.

Am really happy with my progress so far. I measured today and I have lost 2kgs in 2 weeks and dropped 1.3% body fat. My lean mass has increased by 1.3 kgs and I have dropped 1.9kgs of fat.

So all in all a positive result. I prefer to do this slowly and 1kg per week loss works for me but only if I am increasing lean mass which I am.

Cool Bananas everyone - have a wonderful weekend, see ya tomorrow.

Week 2, Day 4

G'day Adam G'day all.
T20 world cup cricket, Australia got massacred by Zimbabwe...WHAT..impossible, no it really happened. I still don't believe it but anyway..let's see what happens going forward.

Getting into ab boot camp now in addition to core training. Am really focussing on doing ab work in a seperate session and not just as an ad on. Building so that when the fat is stripped they will be well developed.

Cardio - best session to date. Felt great afterward and feeling like I can really start pushing hard.

Life is great, live it.

Week 2, day 3

BRUTAL BRUTAL BRUTAL

I have been training for a long time and I don't think I have ever done a session as tough as this.

Don't try this at home folks.

Adam give this a go and if you call me a wooooosy then you are a hero.

For each exercise use a weight that you can just manage for 15 reps

All exercises are supersetted with a 30 second rest in between each set

3 sets of
Barbell Bench press x 15 superset with
Seated row x 15

3 sets of
Seated dumbell shoulder press x 15 superset with
Supported chins x 15

3 sets of
Close grip bench press x 15 superset with
Close grip barbell chins (as in raising the bar to your chin whilst standing straight.)

3 sets of
Cable tricep pushdowns x 15 superset with
Z bar bicep curls

Yup that's all it is folks...takes about 20-25 minutes and don't forget the brown paper bag.

WOW it is tough. Either that or I'm more out of shape than I thought.

Got in 6 good meals but got to bed late...was giving a talk until quite late.

All in all, another great day in paradise

Bring it on

Week 2, day 2

I'm testing a zig zag eating plan and this was the first day. I'm eating normally on weight training days and on two of my cardio days I'm cutting carbs back. Normal protein, carb meal in the morning, thereafter no carbs for the rest of the day. I up my protein intake though to keep my calories up a little. I don't want too much of a defecit.

NOTE OF CAUTION..This is my own plan and I'm not recomending it to anybody especially my clients. This is something I'm experimenting with.

Felt OK except for a little tiredness in the evening.

My ab training went well, Adam, thanks to you I'm doing the David Grisaffi thing...think I'm ready to notch it up a level.

Cardio - perfect.

All in all - a great day.

Can't wait for my next weight training session.

Roll on friday SOUTH AFRICA - ENGLAND.

BTW Adam - My forecast South Africa - Australia in the semi's.

Opening game of the T20 world cup cricket. South Africa blew the Windies away even with a fantastic Chris Gayle century.

Man I love sport.

Week 2, day 1 ....breaking news

The header was really just to get your attention since there already is a
day 1...

In my contract with Adam Waters (The Master) and all of you, I committed to eating a minimum of 5 healthy meals per day. Well yesterday, for various reasons I only managed 4 meals by the time I hit the sack....but my sub-conscious was one step ahead, and also just a little bit naughty...as far as timing was concerned.

I genuinly forgot the 5th meal by the time I got into bed exhausted and I was a nano second away from dreamland when this little voice in my head nudged me with the question "ummmm, what about your 5th meal."
I mean could it not have reminded a little earlier.

Now I don't have to tell you that when you are that close to disapearing for the day it is real hard to get yourself together enough to get up and make a protein shake.

So...then my little voice reminds me that I have a contract with certain people. Bam, that little voice has my attention, because I take that contract very seriously.

Within 5 minutes I had leapt out of bed, mixed up and chugged down a protein shake and got back into bed feeling very self satisfied.

It wasn't that hard and...I stuck to my plan.

I AM A WINNER

Week 2, day 1

World Cup Rugby

South Africa 59 - Samoa 7....now I know that's not too much of a big deal to those who know rugby but it is a "World Cup" after all...the Superbowl of rugby and each and every game is important. The Samoans are very physical and it's great that we only had one injury.

Roll on friday when we play England.

Back to reality. 5 quality meals and a really hard leg session. Am feeling fantastic, looking forward to training, the eating is becoming a habit and water has become addictive.

Everything is going according to plan...I'm loving life.

Till tomorrow

Week 1, day 7

Cheat Day

Like I said yeaterday...doing cardio today, so off I went to the gym did 20 minutes Hiit, preceded by 15 minutes of core training and ab work. Can't believe how full public gyms are on sundays.

Waiting an hour then my girfriend and I are off to a slap up breakfast. Eggs benedict maybe hmmm.... actually I'm not actually fussed about eating a whole bunch of junk food today which is great.

We went out to dinner last night.. good time to test my resolve. I had beef carpaccio and a salad and a bottle of sparkling water. Considering I normally drink 3 or 4 beers whilst eating out, I'm really proud of myself.

Big day today, I am seriously excited. South Africa is playing their first game of the Rugby World Cup. This is a big deal for me, I'm rugby mad. Adam's country Australia played last nigh and gave Japan a huge smack.

Roll on 4.00pm this afternoon whoo hooo!

Week one DONE 9/10

See you in Week 2

week 1, day 6

No training today, have decided to do cardio tomorrow on my free day. I think this will help to counteract any calorie overload to a certain extent. At least my raised metabolism with allow fat burning instead of storage.

Had a perfect eating day though without much stress. Isn't it funny how when you make a REAL commitment to anything it seems so much easier than all the striving that you've been through before.

Maybe it's reaching rock bottom that makes it easier to realise that there is only one place to go - UP.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Week 1, day 5

Heavy upper body.. 5 x 5's, I love it. Solid upper body session, brutal actually but I really enjoyed it.

Ate very well, drank enough water, confident positive mind set.

Have made a great start to the first week.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I reckon a 9 would be fair.

From the past I know to be careful because right now I'm feeling invincible but I do know that the goblins are lurking around to smack you on the back of the head.

As long as I'm accountable to all of you and Adam I'm cool though...so onward and upward next week with even bigger effort.

Oh by the way - THIS IS MY VISUALISATION PIC. I had a friend put my face onto the body so that I have something to shoot for. I've done this before, it is a great technique.

If I get close I'll be ecstatic.

Have a great weekend

Later

Week 1, day 4

Now I know I'm committed....

Planning my day yesterday I realised that I had absolutely no time for my own training, which was cardio and Abs/core.

When people tell me they have no time to train my stock answer is "my diary is always free 45 minutes before I wake up"

So...this is where the rubber meets the road, am I going take heed of my own glib comment. ABSOLUTELY...no hesitation. Entry in the diary, 4.00am own training.

Did I get up when everyone else is sleeping. For sure, at 4.00am I was on my way to the gym...which I just happen to have the keys for...and ended up having a great session.

Honouring self promises is key to the wellbeing of your self image. Simply doing what you say you are going to do gives one such a sense of confidence.

The more you are able to do that the more you start trusting yourself, the more others start trusting you, the better your self image, and so on. It's an ever increasing positive circle.

If you want to do one great thing today...make a decision to honour your self promises, and you'll see how great you feel about yourself and how it positively impacts other.

Accept the challenge...give it a try.

Heavy upper body session tomorrow...can't wait.

Week 1, day 3

BIG OUCH

A hard leg session is always painful, but this one....whoaaa, squats, deadlift, lunges and step ups. My legs are toast.

But...it feels great, feels like I'm back..in the groove.

Ate super well, drank lots of water gave myself a 9.5 for the day.

Feeling confident that I'm moving towards my goal. Looking forward to weight/bodyfat saturday. Going to do it weekly.

So...see you on day 4

Week 1, Day 2

Ab and Cardio day today and talking about abs, check this out. My son was 10 years old when this picture was taken. How's that for motivation.

I've decided to do my ab training on cardio days and following on from that I'm going to give serious effort to strengthening my core at the same time.

So..pulled into the gym at around 12.00pm (great time at a public gym... "Virgin Active" is the one I use...because the place is very quiet. You can get to everything you need.) and spent about 15 minutes on my core. This is something new for me but I am committed to it and look forward to newfound health and strength in my lower back and abs. Really enjoyed it and I know it's really going to benefit my health.

From there straight into my cardio workout. Hiit for 20 minutes. Well it wasn't really high intensity but it was increasing intervals. Don't want to blow the whole thing by leaping into something that my head can handle but body can't.

I realise that I've only got 36 sessions but I've learned over time that patience really is a virtue.

See you for day 3 tomorrow.

Train hard, eat right, drink lots of water and...go like hell.

Week 1, Day 1 "The Journey Begins"

Woke up this morning with a real sense of anticipation. No nervousness, no fear, no what if's, just a sense of knowing...that I am on the way back.

That's what happens when you plan properly. Room for error is greatly reduced and isn't it cool that you can relate that to real life. When you plan properly, life seems to run a whole lot smoother.

So...day 1 complete. Ate 6 complete meals, drank a bucketload of water, and trained like a demon. My training partner is on the same page as me with this "journey" and when my program called for a 90 second break between supersets that's what we did. None of this hanging around for 3 minutes talking rubbish about what we did over the weekend.

On a scale of 1-10, we both gave the session a 9 and I give my day a 9.5.

Very happy with day 1. Onto day 2.

So...what's the plan?

The goal

I will be the 2007 international BFL age group champion.
By November 25th 2007 my body fat will be 8% and I will weight 89ks

Where am I now

I weigh 100kg and my body fat is 17%

The Plan

I commit to completing 18 upper and 18 lower body sessions using Alwyn Cosgrave's Hypertrophy program.

I commit to completing a minimum of 36 cardio sessions using a variety of Hi intensity interval training sessions of not less than 20 mins duration.

I commit to eating not less than 5 meals per comprising healthy protein carbs and fat and based on Tom Venuto's BFFM.

I commit to spending a minimum of 10 minutes per day visualising my goals and daily action steps.

I commit to blogging my progress at least 5 days per week.

This is my contract with Adam Waters, all of you who read this blog and myself.

See you on day 1

Dougal
"I believe, I can"

I'm taking time to plan

I'm taking the next couple days to get ready...to build the strategy, the plan.

Monday is day 1, so I need to strategise, plan and shop for food over the weekend. I need to decide on a training program, and I need to decide on my mental approach. All this is easy...I've been here many times...but it's not simple.

What I do know, is that if I don't plan, this will not work, so I'm giving a lot of time to preparation. I also need to be sure that I believe in my goals.

That's a bit of a no brainer but if you set a goal that you don't believe you can achieve...well

So I'm in a heightened state of awareness right now and will be until my "journey" starts on monday.

My next post will outline my approach in detail.

Later

....Starting is easy

It's always the easy part. I've been here before..many times. I've just registered my entry for the 2007 BFL Challenge.

Old thinking would be "hmm.. Left it a bit late, this is the last challenge of the year..if I get sick, or injured, that's it." Could that be an exit if needed?

I also recognise that it's easy to start on a "get in shape" plan when
you're full. A lot more tricky when you're hungry.

So I've gone the "burn the bridges" route. I love that story..it goes something like, "when the vikings landed on new shores, the first thing they did was burn their boats" There WAS NO OPTION but to win, no turning back. The theory is "if you leave a back door, you'll always use it.

I'm done with back doors. I've metaphorically polished my viking helmet, trimmed my beard, shone my breastplate, and standing straight and tall I AM READY.

I've told my clients, family and friends what I'm doing, I'm turning my face away from the dream stealers because I BELIEVE I can have, be, and do anything I want and right now what I want more than anything is to take my life back "BY FORCE".

I will only listen to the good voices, I will not feed the bad..I will seek support when I need it and I will trust my team to help me when I struggle...I'm not naive enough to think I won't.

I take 100% responsibility for ME, and I will see this through to the end. Then I will set new goals and begin again.

I WILL NOT FAIL.

Letter to Adam

Hey Adam,
Happened across your article (bffm insider) and your blog. WOW. My own story runs loosely parallel to yours even down to the dates.

I was going through a messy divorce in 2000 when BFL saved my life. Got great results and did another official challenge in 01 and 02 and then, speedily downhill. Just when you think you’ve got it all under control.

Fast forward to date. Have spent years beating myself up whilst struggling to get back on track. Have lied to myself about “bulking” and have started my own journey back countless times.

I finished my first challenge at 11%, 82kgs. As I stand here now I am 103kgs at 20%. Bulking…pshaa.

It’s like I have tanked 6 years…What the hell happened.

So…. You are an absolute inspiration to me and I have spent hours devouring your blog and running back and forth through all your very comprehensive info. You are my final shot. Well not really, I'll never give up.

No pressure but I intend to apply your “intelligent” concepts and practices and FINALLY overcome these demons.

I would really appreciate your mentorship and would, after serious thought, consider it an honour to be accountable to you, if you are up for that.

My “big hairy audacious goal” To become the 2007, International Body-for-LIFE, Age group winner. The last entries close 3rd September 07. I am turning 58 on October 1st.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Dougal Macdonald
Johannesburg, South Africa

How...no, why did I get here and what am I going to do about it.

Adam Waters is responsible for my being here. You know that saying "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear" well it is completely relevent in this case.

Talk about parallel paths, the only real difference between AW and myself is my age...I'm 58 in a months time.

Going through a really tough time in my life in 1999...divorce, business problems etc..I happened across the Body-for-LIFE website. Lucky for me I had hit rock bottom and the website SCREAMED out at me. I rushed out, bought the book, read it cover to cover and started training.

I hadn't a clue what I was doing and bumbled my way through 12 weeks with absolute commitment. I did every session, every cardio routine, ate every meal and spent my life at the EAS South Africa offices making an absolute nuisance of myself asking a million questions.

At the end of 12 weeks I was hooked. I rested for a week and completed a second 12 weeks, rested again and did another 12 weeks. All in all I've done about 7 challenges.

I even had great results... 2nd, 3rd, 2nd in my age group in South Africa.

I fell so in love with weight training and the concept of a healthy lifestyle I even started helping people do the same thing. Full time.

Slowly but surely, insidiously, whilst feeding my soul, through helping others, my own body starting deteriorating.

At first I didn't even notice. I was weight training on a regular basis...well sort of, and pretending to myself that I was eating properly...after all I do know how this this thing works, geez I'm teaching others how to do it successfully...hundreds of them.

By the time I woke up and stopped conning myself that I was "bulking" I weighed 105kgs at around 20% bf. I was FAT.

Then came the pain and anguish, the false starts, the falling down...man it was tiring..well not was, has been tiring, actually, exhausting.

So, Adam Waters, enough is enough. Rock bottom, is where I am now and I have had ENOUGH.

I am, and will continue to bare my soul within this blog whilst taking MASSIVE ACTION towards regaining my self respect. This is hard to do but truth is the only way.

Monday 3rd September 2007 will be day 1, of 84 days, of my "journey" back.

Join me for "The Journey"