All you can eat Stec

Hitting new PR’s all the time.  Almost every day is a new PR.  Make sure to go to my website, eugenefitnesstraining.com and on the workout of the day it is a sort of journal of people me and people working out with me.

Over the past few weeks I’ve had very few days that weren’t PR days.

Still not down to 10% bodyfat, but thats not as important to me as performance.  Sure it would be really really nice to have an awesome 8 pack without that little bit of fat on my side back, but PR’s are what I want.

It seems like my diet is really dialed in to be seeing so much performance, but not getting the bodyfat lower.  Once I stop seeing gains I’ll have to adjust it some more.

So I finished my first week of crossfit - I have to say, I absolutly love it.  It is exactly what I am going for.  I’m pretty stoaked and diving into it headfirst and soaking up as much knowledge as I can.  I’m trying to progressively move up intensity, but sometimes its hard because the motivation is there.

So before I was doing bodybuilding, and training for 5k’s and 10k’s.  I was so frustrated with the fact that the two were kind of counterproductive.  And on the other hand, I like my body to look better but more importantly, I wanted to be a machine in the gym.  After all the lifting weights that I’ve done in my life, all that it’s really helped me with is squatting a massive amount of weight in a weird way.  Whenever I get to the basketball court or do something else that doesn’t involve lifting or running in a straight line than I quickly get winded.  Crossfit seems to be something that can take me where I want to go in all around fitness, even though it is a unconventional method.

Even better — it involves timed challenges, which is why I love the 5ks!  You do these workouts they post for you, and then you post it and compare with others.

Sure, now I can’t even finish the workouts with the weight and amount they prescribe, but I guarantee I’ll be there in 6 months.   And thats where the fun begins.

Oh, and as far as my gym goes, I spent saturday crafting a medicine ball, parrallelettes, and a 10′ and 20′ plyometrics box so I am good to go.  All three for under 50 bucks!

Oh and I ordered my still rings too so I’m pretty stoaked about that.  I can start working on my muscle ups!

My wife plays the biggest part in my motivation.  I wouldn’t be able to meet ANY of my goals without her sacrifices - I appreciate her so much.

Oh, lets talk about her sacrifices.
For one, watching the kids while I’m out working out.  Sometimes (actually a lot) I miss my workout in the morning so I have to hit the gym or go running after work.  I’m sure thats exactly what she wants to do after watching over the kids all day — Watch the kids some more!  Plus, thats a lot of time that she could be spending with me.  Sometimes I can tell she’s frustrated about this which is so understandable, and I appreciate her so much for it.

For two, eating.  I make my five meals a day and eat similar like things nearly every day.  She eats a long with me but thats got to be a sacrifice.  She also is a super-sweetie and loves to cook things for me, but my eating habits make it difficult she can’t go all out on cooking.  Whenever she cooks she substitutes the non healthy stuff with more healthy choices. I love it when she does that, but it sure must be a pain in the butt.
Oh, and like most hot chicks, she loves to be taken out to nice dinners  and spoiled with desserts.  Of course these things are enjoyed the most when someone else is enjoying them.  So I go along and order a salad with extra  grilled chicken breast, no cheese, no crutons, dressing on the side.  No appetizers for me.  Water.  Dessert - naw.  And then she feels bad for ordering whatever she’s ordering, and we don’t tend to go out anymore.

But here’s the kicker.  If she’s sacrificing all this stuff so I can meet my goals, do you think for one second I’m not going to give 100% on my workouts at the gym and in my runs?  Heck no.  When I hit the gym, I’m going to go above and beyond to give her the best body possible with the time I’m in there.  She’s not doing all these things for nothing, shes doing it for me.  And the least I can give her the best body I can.  Plus, a little stamina where it counts never hurts.  =)

I try to find as many things to keep me motivated to working out.  My kids, Jake and Julie, are an easy one that’s always in my mind.  They motivate me for the following reasons:

1. When I’m healthy, I’m happy.  I spend more quality time with them.
2. A longer life.  I can’t believe how some people can’t control themselves and are sacrificing 20+ years of their life.  It’s one thing to do that to yourself, but if you have kids — get a hold of yourself.
3. Hopefully some of my habits will be passed on to them to make them happier and help them to live longer.  Even now, Jake won’t eat white bread!  =)  Not only the habit of working out and eating right, but the habit of discipline and to keep going when things get tough.
4. It will be so fun as they get older to be able to hang with them on sports and activities.  That’ll be so fun when their deciding which sport they want to do in junior high and high school and I’ll be able to practice and help them improve.

I also keep them in my mind and think about them when I’m completely dead on a run and I need another half mile or that last set of squats that I need to get up.  I even put all Jake’s pictures he colors for me in my gym, and most of them are in front on my squat rack!

So last tuesday, everything seemed to be going wrong.  I drove four hours to meet with some clients, and I did everything i could think of to prepare with meeting them and the meetings didn’t quite go as planned.  I come home, things are crazy at the house with kids and I’ve got a million things to do with work to tie the loose ends before the vacation and pack etc…  Really no time to do my scheduled run.  Oh, and top it off I had a conference call that went long. 

 Even worse — it was my INTERVAL workout.  This means pain, but also some heavy duty growth.

As I was thinking about not running and how nice it would be to just relax a little bit before I get my stuff done, I also began thinking about how not only will I be strengthening my body by a difficult workout, but I will also be strengthening my discipline, determination, and will to accomplish my goals.

I did go out and run, and although I almost puked twice (once after my 4th and last 1200 meter interval, another as I inhaled the greesy smell while I passed the KFC on my 10 minute cooldown) It felt so good that I had done it.  If situation comes where its twice that hard to go workout because I did it Tuesday I’ll be more likely to get it done.