lot100’s BodyBlog

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

So i went back tothe gym after a month (was on holiday and they had no gymns where i went ). Have to say it was rather deressing as it was obvious i had lost a lot of strength. I ahve still managed to retain muscle size etc but loast a lot of conditioning  - i am aiming to regain orginal conditoning and strength by end of jan/beginning of Feb. Nevertheless it was good to feel the cold iron as i gripped the bars and i have to say i did feel a bit of a rush:)
I am thinking of doing the 5×5 routine to help me get my strength levels. I have also beeing thinking of incorporating a lot more body weight resistance work which gymnasts usually  - lets see how that goes and will keep everyone posted on outcomes
I am seriously sore as i write this and i have a feeling i am going to feel the pain when i wake up tommorrow - I SAY BRING IT ON!!!!

I usually alternate weeks where i start with falt or inclined bench press - yestersay i started with flat, Warmed up with 12 reps with 60Kg then went upt o 90kg to did 8 reps and the up to 100kg and did 6.  The tried something a bit different and went down to 60kg again and carried on benching until failure  - i had to stop around 25reps as i literally could not do anymore. Great start to work out. I then went straight to do incline dumbell press. and did 10 reps with 20kg per hand, then 8 reps with 30kg per hand and then 6reps with 35kg. At this point i could really feel my chest contracting in. I warmed down with 20kg per hand with 12 reps. I then did  3 sets of 10, 8 , 6 of weighted dips with 20kg hooked onto my dip belt and then warmed down with just body weight and did 12 reps. My triceps where already pretty sore from the bench and bumbell press so this gave it a real burn - i think next week i will move this up to 30 kg and see i fair on the weighted dips. At this stage my arms where pretty wobbly but i though i would give close gripped bench press a go as i had a plan set up (as i uasaully do) before the gym session and i would get a bit annoyed if i could not go through all of it. I did a set of 10 with 50kg and then another with 60kg. I then moved up to 70kg but had to ask one fo the guys to watch me at this stage and that was a good thing as at 4 reps i could barely move the bar up (note where i can i always use the olympic barbell).

I finished off with  some abs -yes i am off season but i still train my abs. I tend to train abs in a circuit training manner. I did a set of hanging leg raises and then did a whoel bunch of weighted (with 15kg) sit ups on the decline bench .
I managed to get the entire work out done in 45mins so was happy with the intensity level - This morning when i woke up i really felt my chest and  triceps and had to roll out of bed - that pretty much made my day (psycologically not sure if enjoying post work out pain that much is a good thing:))

weight traning when i first started as a teenager was more about personal vanity more then anything else - i used to tell myself that it was for health reason but internally i knew i did it because i liked the look of muscles, peoples perception of me with a muscular physique etc…….however over the years bodybuilding for me means a very different thing. To me its deeply personal both from a outlet perspective for the stress and frustratons of life as well as an extention of what i like to call "spiritual nurishment". To be truely great at something i believe one has to leave the ego which means disassociating one self for the lower base characteristics. Ego and jeleousy are two faces of the same coin of having an inferiority complex. One could try to put forward an argument that evolution is the reason that an individual will always want to be on top of all other wheather this be in terms of wealth, popularity, influence and hence we perseve others with the view to having a inferiority complex. Others argue for a metaphysical/religious sense that free will by nature exposes us to the path of the lower self and the higher self and to be truly content and successful one has to reach out to the higher self. Hence what does bodybuilding mean in this context - is it a sport of vanity and ego - for me the answer is no. It is often sighted as an point of irritation amongst the seasoned weight lifter where they see an egotistical indivual who comes into the gym - see say an attractive girl, then tries to lift more weights then he can -end up hurt or too sore to come in for the next month and then the whole cycle repeats itself. At the end of the day he gains nothing until he detaches from the lower base self and internalises his struggle with the weight. From a zen/nostic perpective the weight is just the barrier in his mind - the lower base self dragging one perseptions to so called material limits if such a thing exists and externalised perspections one feels other view an idividual with. You must approach the task at hand with humbleness - this does not mean lacking will or determination -rather letting go of ego and competiton with the other guy and looking at yourself  in terms of a journey of self expositon and striving
So does that mean to leave out the asthetics of bodybuilding - in my mind not at all. Beauty is an enriching part of life and bodybuilding is both a sport and art. The point is i had to be true to myself - yes i still like the muscular look. I find the muscualr women attractive. I find the muscualr phsiques of the pros inspirational and something i want to aim towards as i personally look up these are personal ideals. It is however the approach to which i persue bodybuiding that i understand better and hence in turn making the whole bodybuilding experiance a far richer one. It should not consume you as an act of vanity or obsession - these to me are lower base acts. Rather it should be a balancing force in our lives. It should bring routine, structure, displine which inturn can be extended to other facets that we take up in the journey of life. When striving for the higher self  bodybuilding is a valuable tool not only to fortify my physical muscles but also to build the mental and spirtual ones.

I though i would start using the blog as a good way fo revieing my work outs and hopefully getting some input on traning diet etc. As this is my firt entry i though i would give a bit of background to myself. I guess my love of fitness strted near about the age of 9 when i joined a local karate club. I stuck with that for about 6 years and then dabbled in various other martial arts forms (as well as do some local competitions). At around 16 I recall seeing magazines such as felx, muscle mag etc and i really liked how the muscular body looked  - i found both men and womens physqiues in these mags really inspiring and though to myself that how i want to look like that and i guess my journey to bodybuilding started.

At the age of 16 i bought some weights and started training - i began to see some results but at that time i knew nothing about the diet side of thngs so did not get the maximum benefits. Anyway shortly after this period my father passed  away and my mum fell ill - I ended working and studying and weight training had to take a back seat. By the time i was in University My Mums health had improved and she began to work part time - i still had to work in the evenings and weekends to help her make ends meet. Therefore between study and work again i had no time to pursue any other vocation. However i do feel the whole period did teach me a great deal about perseverance, hard work and keeping a positive out look (the last one being a very difficult one for me to stick to ). Anyway i graduated with a 1st class in Electronic Engineering and got a job at an inverstment bank (they hire quite actively people with mathematical backgrounds)

This was a turning point as after many years i was able provide financial security for my Mum and it also meant i could start getting a more balanced approach to my life. The working hours where very long (60+ hrs) and it was pretty much a desk based job and i started to feel really unfit couple of months into working life-  hence i got a gym membership and started training - i did this on and off for about a year and then i started a part time Masters which my work sponsored me to do - hence again i feel into the whole work study routine and very little time to do any thing else. By the end of the masters i had gained a lot of weight and felt really crap about myself. It was at this pont that i decided to do something about it in a serious manner

I rejoined my local gym and was very fortunate to find a personal trainer who was also a serious competitive bodybuilder. I was immediately inspired to start bodybuilding again and i have continued training ever since. I really fell in love with body building - the discipline, hard work, regimented nature it brings to ones daily routine as well as the seriously pumped feeling you get after a good work out - I still love the fact when i wake up the the day after training and sometime i have to roll out of bed because my body is soo sore:) 

Any way after training for couple of months i started to see good gains and hence though to myself that i really wanted to make this a permement fixture in my life. Initally friends and family really did not get why i did this (a lot still don’t) so i have made a mission to try and provide people with a postive view of this lifestyle. I like that fact i look different to the average person on the streets and love the way muscle look and feel - the only thing I guess is the bodybuilding community in the UK is really small and hence websites such a bodyspace is such a great thing!