Living the life of a Bodybuildier
I wanted to share my experiance of the practicalities of living the bodybuilding lifestyle - As i have mentioned in earlier blogs overall i enjoy the dicipline it brings to oneself and the struture it introduces in day to day living. Hoever form time to time I ahve had my frustration and this is primarily with have to explain to other why i live my life i do. Compared to a lot of hard core bodybuildier i belive my rotine is pretty relaxed, I usually wake up around 5:30-5:45am. I prepare breakfast (typically 5 egg whites + one whole egg + oatmilk with skimmed milk) and food for the day, pack and then set off to work. The journey to work takes about 1 hour (I use this as reading time on the train). I try to have a small snack at around 9:30ish am (using nuts, fruit etc). I find having this meal difficult as i have a lot of meeting in the morning and often if its with clients its not approriate to bring in food. Lunch at around 12 (I try to have a main protien source usually from fish like Samon, tuna or mackerel etc, veg and carbs such as potoatoes or brown rise). Fridays is my cheat day so i may have in additon a cheese cake (is a weakness). I then have the next meal at around 3:30pm again try to ahve a protein form either fish or chicken and some veg/salads. I usually leave work around 6pm (or atleast rty to depending on things like project deadlines etc) and go straight to the gym. I train usually between 45-75 mins and then have my post work out shake (only time of day i will take whey). i then head back home and have my dinner - I have a small amount of carb as i train in the evenings and usually chicken or red meat (even though i try to minimise the amount of red meat i eat). I usually check my emails or watch a bit of tv to catch up on the news or read for a about an hour or 2. Before going to sleep if i feel hungry i will have some muscle milk and sleep time.
This routine is repeated pretty much 5 days a week. During the weekends i usually have one day to spend with friends or go vist relatives etc as the other day i end up doing all my shopping. hence not a lot of time is left to do other things.
I have found a lot of my frustrations come from people not understanding why i don’t have as much time to "hang out" or why i try to avoid going out to eat etc. I guess you release how indifferent people can be when it comes to different lifestyles particularly if it has nothing to do with gaining wealth or status or immediate gratification- the response the reactions i get is usually " why" or "whats the point". May be it is a lack of long term perspective - people often go into overdirve to get in shape after Christmas or jsut before summer but toally negate the long term picture (this is actually one of my pet hates where the gym is toatlly packed with poepl in the new year who will usually waste so much time and take up space doing very little and then you won’t see then until the rest of the year). The friends i have who do understand my life style are those who i met in the gym - pretty much everyone else seems to have a preseption gap.
The other aspect really boils down to food - i would often get why do you eat so much - i ahve many time explained the principle of small 5-6 meals a day concept but it just does not get through. The funny thig is whist i am may be eating say a tuna styeak with brocolli the person making the comment would be stuffing their face with burgers and chips or some other processed food…grrrrrrr. In the past i have take shakes to work (i don’t od this any more as i try to get most of my daily nutirtional requirements form whole foods) and would get silly questions over and over agsin about is that something to do with steriods - LOL
The time issue and lack of understanding on why i do bodybuilding type questions i can deal with - what really winds me up is the preachers who haven’t go a clue and try to tell me about how weight training is bad for you or the suppliments i take with screw me up etc. I had one guy tell me you should really do more body weight exercises and not do any weights and then you will not lose your flexibility and agility!!!! I asked him if he though 100m sprinters where not agile. Ofcourse silence followed as he could not counter it. Oh and lets not forget the age old muscle turing to fat *sigh*.
Any way bodybuilding is a lifestyle and those that choose to live this way love the sport - i certainly do. I have had to sacrifice a lot of things but on the other hand i have gained many things such as health and fitness, both mental and physcal strength and the general joy of lifting. I would like to think i am a bodybuider for life now and could not imagine another life style
