geographer’s BodyBlog

Welcome 2009! And welcome to my bodyblog.

This website sounds totally vain. Who cares about a person’s journey towards a new body? Well, I honestly wouldn’t care who reads this blog. But this blog is all about my journey towards being a new me by June 2009. I wish to go through 3 phases of change:

January-February (8 weeks): Fat Loss
March-April (8 weeks): Muscle Gain
May-June (8 weeks): Prepare for a Bodybuilding Contest?

Yes, I MIGHT join a bodybuilding contest sometime after June. A friend told me that this is the only way that I will be super-motivated to really train smart. I’ve always thought of joining one when I started going to the gym in 2004; but mainly because I don’t have the right social environment to pursue this lofty goal, I never had the chance to even think about it.

But for 2009, THINGS WILL CHANGE. I will try to get as much social support from users of this site to push me and push me further. I will not do anything in my spare time but to do research on the best exercises, food and nutrition, and supplements that will help me turn into the muscular guy that I know my body is capable of.

Why am I doing this? Well, to be honest, I just want to prove to myself that my genes do not determine what my body can do. I come from a family of largely set men and women. I wouldn’t call ourselves fat but we’re definitely not skinny. I grew up as a fat boy who rarely exercises and who was a total geek. I was really afraid of jocks and basketball players growing up, but until recently, I found myself getting more and more interested into physical culture. And for good reason, physical exercise helps and enhances my studies. Yes, I feel that there is a correlation between my mental agility and my physical agility. If I don’t do my rigorous physical exercise, I just don’t seem to perform well in school. As they say, MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO.

The next six months will be particularly tough for me, in terms of my school requirements. I am trying to get into what they call a Ph.D. candidacy stage in graduate school. What this simply means is that by the end of June, I will be what people call in an ABD or "Anything But Dissertation" stage — which basically means, I’ve done all my Ph.D. requirements except my written dissertation. I will contextualize these things much later. But let’s just say that the next six months will be super-tough mentally for me. So, as an additional motivation, I would want to emerge out of this process as a completely renewed person. I want to maintain my sanity by controlling the controllable: my body.

I think, my friend’s suggestion (joining a bodybuilding contest) is a great way to end this challenge. I still don’t have any idea WHERE I’ll compete; but I can compete either here in Canada or somewhere in Asia. The point is, the contest should be done between July-August; so if you know any contests here in Canada or elsewhere, please let me know.

I want to use this blog for two purposes: to track my physical improvements and to track my intellectual progress as I push for the Ph.D. candidacy. I just turned 25 (quarter life crisis?) this 2008 and I want to be able to achieve at least two things by 2009: my first bodybuilding contest and my entry into the candidacy which also translates to my entry into the job market. My goal is to be stable: physically, intellectually and most of all spiritually and emotionally and come out of this process a better, healthier, hopefully more insightful person

I’m so freakin’ excited for 2009! This year will be intense.