Mike Dauden’s BodyBlog

For some reason I just felt like writing this.  I don’t know if I would call this a song, a poem or just a bunch of phrases I strung together.  All I know is I wrote it for people - myself included - who are going through tough times and need some encouragement to never quit and just stay the course.  Here it goes:

STAY THE COURSE
 

WHEN THINGS SPIN OUT OF CONTROL AND NOTHING SEEMS TO BE GOING YOUR WAY
STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS
  YOU’VE TRIED EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER AND YET NOTHING JUST SEEMS TO WORK
STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS
 

GOD CAN ONLY HELP US IF WE STOP TRYING TO HELP OURSELVES
A SAVIOUR IS ONLY NEEDED BY THOSE WHO WISH TO BE SAVED
FOR AS LONG AS WE LEAN ON OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING WE WON’T FULLY TRUST IN THE LORD
SO NEVER BE SURPRISED IF ALL YOUR EFFORTS ARE FOR NAUGHT
 BECAUSE APART FROM HIM WE ARE NOTHING, HE’S THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE
STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS
 

WHEN YOU FEEL THAT YOU WON’T MAKE IT AND THERE’S NO HOPE LEFT IN SIGHT
STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS
  WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE GIVING UP AND YOU THINK THAT GOD HAS FORESAKEN YOU
STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS
 

DOES A FATHER LEAVE HIS SON TO DIE IN THE DESSERT? DOES HE DEPRIVE HIM OF ALL GOOD THINGS?
IF WE OURSELVES ARE CAPABLE OF LOVING OUR OWN CHILDREN WHAT MORE HE? WHAT MORE HE?
 AS YOU WALK THROUGH THE STORMS OF YOUR LIFE, NEVER WAIVER, NEVER FLEE
STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS
 

WHEN THERE ARE GIANTS ALL AROUND YOU AND YOU FEEL TOO SMALL TO TRIUMPH
STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS
  FOR GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE US, THAT’S HIS PROMISE FROM THE START
ALL HE WANTS TO DO IS BLESS US IF WE BELIEVE, JUST BELIEVE
 

WE’RE ABOUT TO CROSS THE JORDAN AND THE PROMISED LAND AWAITS
STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS
 HE HAS PROMISED US GREAT THINGS SO WE MAY BE A BLESSING TO OTHERS
STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS
 

WE WILL OVERCOME, WE WILL PROSPER,
STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS
 

STAY THE COURSE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROSS

This is not really a blog entry like the usual one but I felt this was a good way to share with you one of the interesting contributions I read today in the Men’s Health Philippines forum.  It’s a recipe for tuna that will satisfy your cravings for regular food, packed with nutrients, easy to prepare and most of all - guilt free!

It was posted by marts and I credit him for this wonderful gift to dieters called "Nome Made Tuna Gyudon". 

Here it is:

1 can tuna in water
1 cup rice
3 tablespoons kikkoman (light soy sauce)
2 tablespoons mirin (rice wine vinegar)

microwave it on high for about 2 minutes (or until it’s steaming)

before you eat it add 2 whole eggs (raw/mixed)

home made tuna gyudon.

It’s a winner!

I remember the time when people tried to be the black sheep just to stand out.  I had a classmate who took weed to school and he would smoke it during breaks in front of the whole class and that made him look really cool.  Some would get tattoos made to identify them as a member of a fraternity so they could appear untouchable.  Others grew their hair and dyed it in shocking colors.  All of these things were done in an effort to call attention to themselves and to their credit, during that time (some 30 years ago) it actually worked!

Fast forward to today.  You see someone with a tattoo, smoking weed, sporting colored hair, drinking beer and guess what - it could even be a girl but what do we call this by today’s standards? You guessed it, normal.  Because nowadays everybody’s got tattoos, body piercings, doing drugs, getting arrested, having a porn video, the world’s so BAD today that it seems the only way to stand out is….. to be GOOD. 

So rather than be just another face in the crowd, I choose to stand out.  I choose to be good.  Here are ten things that make me GOOD a.k.a. stand out:

1. I wake up at 5:30am everyday while everyone else is sleeping because I need to get my morning boxing training before heading out to work.
2. I sleep at 10pm every night while everyone else is out partying.  My weight training after work really zaps out all of my strength so I have no other option but to get some sleep if at all to prepare me for the early morning boxing I need to do the next day.
3. I eat all my meals from my lunchbox which contains only brown rice, chicken breast, tilapia fillet, bananas, egg whites, protein powder and gatorade.  Anything that’s not in my lunchbox, I don’t eat or drink.  It’s as simple as that day in and day out.
4. I keep in touch with my mom at all times through text during weekdays and spend time with her on weekends.  My dad passed away a few years back so I need to keep my mom company because I remind her so much of my dad.
5. I join public aerobic classes during weekends so I can be with ordinary people with a common passion for living and who are just glad to be alive.  I feed off their energy and they feed off mine.
6. I set a good example to my children especially with my newfound discipline not just in training and dieting but also in making practical decisions when it comes to financial matters.  Delaying gratification and the value of hardwork are some of the most important things we can ever teach our kids.
7. I try to motivate other people and strive to make them feel better whenever they talk to me.  More often than not, they would leave my room with a spring in their step because chances are I would have told them how exciting the future can be for them if they just focus and stay positive.
8. I pay over $30,000 annually on taxes.  By Philippine standards, that’s a lot of money considering that most of the rich guys pay even less tax than that.  It’s not that they make less, they just declare less taxable income.  I guess that’s what their accountants are for.
9. I don’t drink, smoke or take prohibited drugs.  Not because I can’t but mostly because I don’t want to.  I have friends who say they pity me because I am not allowed to eat this or that or I’m not allowed to drink or smoke or toke.  Thing is, I really can - if I wanted to.  I mean, my body has been clean for so long that a stick or even a pack of smokes won’t kill me - my lungs can take more abuse because it’s in better shape than those who have been smoking for a long time.  Same thing with drinking, i think my liver has been flushed so many times that it’s good as new so a bottle won’t hurt at all.  But it’s a matter of choice.  I respect my body as the temple of my soul.  I take care of what goes in my mouth and into my head because garbage in results to garbage out.
10. Lastly, I have a pretty good relationship with The Lord.  I draw my strength from Him which is why I can box in the morning, perform my day job, weight train in the evening and still have time to talk to Him every morning when I read His Word.  All my decisions I lift up to Him. Not because I’m a religious fanatic but it’s just easier to lift it all up to Him.  By that, I don’t mean not doing anything but trusting that He will send the Holy Spirit to guide you towards the right direction.  In the end the action will have to be taken by you but you need to get some alignment with what God wants so He will bless your endeavors and give you a higher ratio of success.

So there it is, the Ten things that make me stand out.  I’m not a perfect person and I lead a far-from-perfect life but this is how I got to where I am.  Judging from my transformation, I would say I’m on the right track and contrary to what others may think, I’m really enjoying myself.  We are all given 24 hours a day and the key is how much we can squeeze out of the time we are given.  I am able to see the sun rise every day, do 22 rounds of boxing drills before going to work, put in some 8 to 9 hours of engaged work at the office, follow my diet to the letter and feed myself every 2 to 3 hours to stoke my metabolism, work out in the gym and carry more than my bodyweight in all the power exercises, watch TV with my kids before they sleep, go to the beach or run along the baywalk on weekends, attend Sunday worship and let my tears form water pools in the ground instead of sweat, I live an enchanted life!  With so many people getting drunk, stoned, driving drunk, getting into all sorts of trouble, depression, sickness, I sure standout don’t you think so?  And the funny part is I did it by beong GOOD. 

Try it, and become a rebel like me.

Strength and honor!

Mike "The Transformer" Dauden     

Don’t you just hate rules?  Ever since we were young we have been bombarded with rules from the ten commandments to don’t talk when your mouth is full, eat your vegetables, don’t forget to brush your teeth, pray before bedtime, don’t eat too much sweets, put down that cigarette, stop watching too much TV, avoid the salty stuff, pay your taxes on time, don’t drink and drive - yadda, yadda, yadda!

What I’ve come to realize is that the reason we resist these rules is because we fail to understand who they are for in the first place.  I mean when our parents told us to brush, eat our veggies and all the other stuff, who were we doing it for?  We were doing it to please our parents.  When your parish priest or your religion teacher told you to follow the ten commandments who were you doing it for?  We were doing it to please God - and maybe get a decent place in heaven when the time comes. When you don’t drink and drive, when you wear your seatbelts, who do you do it for?  In the Philippines we do it to avoid getting pulled over by a traffic cop who could set you back a couple of hundred bucks a pop.  But ask yourself, who is the real beneficiary of all these rules?  Doesn’t brushing your teeth mean a better looking smile, less tooth aches and better smelling breath for YOU?  Not to mention prebenting you from wearing dentures at a very young age.  When the bible says don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t kill, wouldn’t these help you get more friends, save you from becoming a menace to society and keep you out of prison? Well you can have friends while you’re in there but that’s beside the point.  When you are told to not drink and drive or use your seatbelts, who’s life are we actually trying to protect here, isn’t it YOURS?

So I guess the rules are how you view them - if you think they need to be followed in order to please other people or to fit a particular norm, then they are rules.  But once you accept that these rules are for your own good, they become words to live by, guidelines, nuggets of wisdom. 

I say this in order to stimulate your mind and give you a different perspective on what we used to know as rules.  Given the proper mindset, they can be taken positively.  Take the little things like diet and exercise.  WHy do you go to the gym?  WHy do you count calories?  If you do it to conform and just fit in with the rest of them, then they may be rules and chances are like any other rule, they are meant to be broken.  However, if you truly understand the benefits of exercise, like preventing you from getting sick, making you more active so you can do more things with your loved ones, or releasing stress from the daily grind, then it takes on a whole new meaning.  If you avoid fatty foods because you want to breath easier, if you quit smoking because you want to live longer, if you sleep early because you want to catch the beautiful sunrise - the greatest show on earth - God has prepared for you each day, then that becomes something to look forward to, as opposed to something to dread.  Rules, when seen in a positive light can be liberating.

Here’s how I put this into practise everyday:

I’d rather buy supplements than buy medicine.

I’d rather pay gym membership than pay hospital bills.

I’d rather pay my trainer than my doctor.

I’d rather wake up early for a workout than wake up early for an operation.

I’d rather fast to cleanse my system, than fast before a blood test.

In all these things I do, I see them positively especially when i compare them to how bad it could be if I don’t do them.  This is how I stay motivated.  I transformed my body when I turned 40.  What changed?  What is different now?  Why am I successful at dropping the weight now when I could not do it before when I was younger and had a faster metabolism?

What changed was my mindset.  And when I got that part right, the rest just fell into place and I am now what I had always dreamed of being.  I am living my dream.  I pray that you too begin to live yours.

Strength and honor,

Mike "The Transformer" Dauden      

I heard this one from Dr. Oz on Oprah, he said the gioal is not really to get fit but to feel better.  Simple statement but incredibly profound.  Here’s why I think so.  If the goal of working out were to build big strong muscles, what if you don’t want them?  If the goal was to run faster or lift heavier, what if you don’t compete - or just don’t care?  But if the goal was to feel better, who wouldn’t want that?

So assuming I have sold you on my opening statement and you too want to feel better, how do you do it? 

When it comes to dieting, go for the food that you love. If you are a chicken person, go without the skin or shift from dark to white meat, at the end of the day, it’s still chicken.  If you love ice cream, go for the low-fat variety or try a whey protein shake or smoothie, this should taste and feel almost the same without the extra calories.  If your diet calls for sweet potatoes but you are a rice person, go for brown rice.  The point is, you gotta stay close to what makes you feel good.  Drastically deviating like going from chicken to tofu steaks or from ice cream to unflavored oatmeal will only make you dread your diet.  In the end, you feel deprived and chances are, you won’t stick to your diet and instead, rebel and stuff your face in the end reversing all the progress you made in the previous days.

Same principle applies to your workouts.  Are there exercises you just hate?  Like crunches, squats, lunges - uhh! Feel free to substitute.  If heavy squats scare you and you don’t have a spotter on hand, try the leg press machine.  Use a smith machine for your lunges so you don’t fear falling over or the abdominal machine if you have trouble reaching your toes during crunches.  Doing what you love makes your workouts more enjoyable and if you like what you are doing, you have a greater chance of coming back the next day as opposed to fearing the exercises even before you enter the gym.

I took this a step further and decided to wear my favorite colors to the gym.  I realized that when I wear certain clothes that emphasize my assets, I workout harder.  If you have love handles, please don’t wear a body-hugging shirt that will force you to keep you stomach in at all times and make it hard to breathe and perform the exercise. 

On cheat days, reward yourself with a treat.  I discovered that eating a slice of cake takes away all my cravings and helps me stick to my diet because I feel so guilty afterwards that I try to go back to eating clean right away.  I also look forward to cheat days which makes all the dieting during the week much more bearable. 

I tried this the other day.  I normally workout in the morning and box at night.  This time I decided to skip boxing and went home straight and instead opted for a massage.  After all the beating my body was taking, I felt I needed a break to recuperate.  After the massage, I slept like a baby which I haven’t done for a very long time.  The next morning, I skipped gym and instead had a nice breakfast at UCC Cafe.  I had garlic fried rice, fried eggs, chicken adobo ( a famous Filipino stew) and a cup of Japanese syphoned coffee - and yes, a slice of chocolate banana cake.  I ate leisurely while reading a book by Lance Armstrong entitled "It’s Not About The Bike, My Journey Back To Life" for inspiration and motivation.  This really helped my body relax and get ready for another beating.  Come nigh time I was back in the gym and amazingly, I was stronger, my muscles were harder, as if they had missed the metal so much that they were jumping up and down with joy!  I did it!  I felt better!  In fact, I felt so good that apart from finishing all my sets, I had enough leftover in the tank to do some extra sets trying out new machines and sort of dancing to the background music as I walked to the locker room.  There was a sudden spring to my step and I was smiling at everyone as opposed to the usual post-workout get-the -hell-out-of-my-way look because i might collapse anytime from fatigue.

So maybe I didn’t check the scale for a day and maybe I gained a pound or two but my muscles were harder, I was stronger, more confident, smiling, friendlier and even bounced as I walked.  I felt better.  Isn’t that what really matters?  I radiated a positive glow that could be felt by the people around me.  I was happy and they knew it.  I felt like a winner. 

So I guess when it comes to feeling better, it really doesn’t matter what the scale says as long as you like what you see in the mirror and other people like it too.  Have you ever seen an arrogant self-indulged gym rat who does nothing but admire himself in the mirror and walks out of the gym alone because nobody can stand his company?  Do you think he is happy?  Working out is supposed to result to wellness.  Welness means being well, feeling well, feeling good.

Are you feeling good now?  Are you overtrained and working too hard?  Are you cranky?  Try to take a mini-break like I did.  Focus on feeling good.  Get a facial, a massage or foot spa, have your nails done by a professional, get a good tan going, floss your teeth and flash those pearly whites.  Remember, looking good and feeling good are the end results of all the hard work.  If it were not, then why do it?

Enjoy your life.  Live to the fullest.  Carpe Diem!

Mike Dauden - Feeling Better

It’s my second week on the program and looking back, I think this program is gonna make me put on some serious weight.  I’m eating more than I’m used to but I find myself needing the stuff I eat during workouts so I guess it’s all good.

I also think it’s part of the program so I can build a more solid base from which to chip off little by little as I progress into month 3 which is unveiling time!

There are times in a program where you wanna give up, especially if you see the scale moving in the wrong direction but I tell you, once you see the pumps and the muscle striations you get in the gym, it’s enough reason to stay the course and just trust te program.

I also notice a sudden surge in strength.  I find myself lifting heavier - as prescribed in the program - but the fact that I am able to do it astonishes me.  From the 30 to 40 pound barbell curls, I am now doing 90lbs.  From 150lbs. on my squat sets I am now doing 330lbs.  I’m becoming a totally different person now.  I’m thicker, harder and stronger.  

Can’t wait to get to the next month where I begin cutting down some serious fat.  I am currently hooked on HIIT and I use a stationary bike to easily control the speeding up and down that intervals require.  My vascularity is improving and I really like what I see in the mirror and how I feel.  I guess that’s the most important thing.

After visiting Hola Bola’s site, I decided to try on some Univeral supplements like Uni-Liver and Natural Sterol.  I look forward to see the results of these two and shall keep you posted through this blog.

Live large!

It’s my 3rd day and it’s also a non-workout day.  I am not used to rest days because prior to this, my boxing was everyday and sometimes even did some weights at night if I felt I still had more gas in the tank.  But in order to put the program to the test, I decided to comply and tried my best to stay away from the gym today.  As far as training goes, I think I can get my arms around this abstinence thing.  It’s the eating that really gets me.

Like most of you probably do, I feel guilty eating 3,000+ calories especially on my non-workout days.  I feel a bit bloated with the oatmeal, whole wheat bagel and whole wheat bread that comes with the diet.  Although I know that by tomorrow, once I resume my workout and it happens to be leg training day, I know I will be calling on every single morsel of food to provide energy to endure my crying sets.  I feel a bit excited though because tomorrow will be my first day to train with NO X-PLODE and secondly, it also happens to be my 41st birthday.  Yes, in that order of priority, muscle pump first, birthdays come second.

I haven’t been putting on weight though despite the higher calorie intake, probably because of my intense workout and HIIT sessions.  Plus they are clean calories too, rich in protein and slow digesting carbs.

Well, let’s see what happens over the next few days and weeks.  I will keep you updated!

Today is Day 02 of my Get Shredded program, training-wise it’s a Back, Biceps & Forearms day and I tell you, once you train on the 6 to 8 rep range with 80% maximum weight, it sure makes things a lot more difficult than what I was used to.  My initial approach to shredding had always been high rep using manageable weight and going for full contraction, full range of motion and getting more of a pump with each set.  With the heavier weight and higher intensity, my muscles are forced to grow and I can almost feel the breaking down of muscle fibers requiring repair which means faster metabolism so along with the pain comes the anticipation of better fat mobilization bringing me closer to my goal to get shredded by summer.

Diet-wise, it’s kinda tricky having to consume 3,000+ calories especially for someone used to a sub 2,000 calorie diet which I used to drop the weight.  I could barely finish all my meals yesterday so I tweaked the scheduling a bit and tried to consume more in the post workout.  Since I work out in the morning, it’s tough to squeeze in the pre-workout, post-workout, breakfast 1 and braekfast 2 meals right before lunch.  But I think I’m getting the hang of it.  Psychologically, with all the meals I am forceing myself to take, I am able to push myself during workouts because I feel almost obliged to burn all the food I put in my mouth, not to mention the supplements I take which range from some 24 to 28 capsules a day, not including the powders.

Overall, I feel better, stronger although my arm feels a bit sore from what I call my "crying sets"; these are sets that end in tears. =P

That’s all for now folks, keep you posted!

Mike

Today is Day 01 of my newest program which I took from the pages of the February 2009 edition of Flex Magazine. 

I am taking every effort to follow both training & nutrition to the letter, that way I do not have any excuse for it not to work.

The training seems a bit strange at first since it prescribes lifting heavy in the 6 to 8 rep range but after reading how it bossts your metabolism better then sustained high rep low intensity training, I kinda got the drift.

Prior to this I would box everyday which involved some 24 rounds of mits and various drills.  That I believe has been responsible for my transformation from 276lbs. down to 200lbs. which is my current weight.

This time I intend to convert more of the fat into muscle to further boost my metabolism and finally help me get rid of the remaining 20lbs. to reach my goal of 180lbs. by summer.

My first training day was just fine since I am used to hard work and training like crazy from all the boxing and running that i do.  It gives me more rest days as well given the 4-day trainins split prescribed in the first month.

The diet is much easier because it stays at the 3,000+ level as compared to the 2,000 calories I have been used to in order to drop my weight thus far.

I will update on my progress for this program which I intend to use as my training & nutrition vehicle to reach my goal.

Wish me luck people!

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