Make A Plan and Stick With It

Make A Plan and Stick With It.

One of the most common things non gym goers say to me is “I wish I could be like you”, I don’t mean that in a vain way , what they really mean is they wish they had the self discipline it takes to go to the gym without fail, to not fall off the wagon when it comes to diet or to get up before work at 4.a.m and do cardio

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The things is, they all could, but they choose not to and that’s the difference, it’s all down to choice.

If you want to lose weight (the most common thing I am asked about) then you need to choose to eat the right foods and you need to choose to get up and do more to expend the energy required to lose that weight or gain that muscle you want.

There is no magic formula or pill.

You have to decide what is more important and make a plan to reach that goal, it will take some sacrifice and maybe some rearranging of your life. I don’t get up at 4.a.m to do cardio because I love it, I do it because I want the results and after a near twelve hour work day with the commute I don’t want to do it when I get home. So to fit it in before going to the gym and work takes the sacrifice of going to bed at 9.p.m while the rest of the world enjoys their evening.

Make your plan long term with short term achievable goals built in, make milestones that you would like to achieve on the journey  to your goal whatever it maybe, and I’m not just talking about getting fit or losing weight , you can do this with any part of your social, home or work  life that you choose to.

There will bumps in the road and at times you will need to adapt, as Mike Tyson once famously said “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”.

 A long term plan allows for the odd hiccup but it’s what you do when it happens that counts and where most people fall down. They don’t lose the desired weight for that week so instead of adapting they revert to their old ways and set themselves back further and maybe give in.

No matter what you want to achieve , be it bodybuilding, losing weight or having a better work/lifestyle balance  you first have to want it and then you have to want it some more, because at the end of the day no one is going to achieve it but you. Make a plan and stick with it.

The road to failure is paved with excuses,  be better than yours.

Bodybuilding , Natural.. to be or not to be.

I have been a lifelong natural athlete.
The governing body for the competitions I  enter require all entrants to have
been drug free for a minimum of seven years to create an even playing field for all
involved.
The thought to be anything other than a natural drug free athlete has never crossed
my mind, sure I have had plenty of opportunity to take performance enhancing drugs, but
it’s just not me. I want to find out how good I can be without distorting the result. As I
have before there must be plenty of people who think eating four or five chicken
breasts a day and leaving the house at 4am as unnatural, so I guess it could all come down
to perspective.
The word steroid has become a broad term for all performance enhancing drugs
(PEDs) but they are not all the same, some are hormones some are diuretics, some are
stimulants and so on. I am not going to go in depth as to what each does and will use the
term PED to cover them all for convenience sake.
Steroids represent an incredibly broad and important class of hormone, and there are
hundreds of variations in plants, fungi, and animals. If you eliminated steroids from your
body, you would die.
I am neither pro or anti PEDs, I choose to be PED free and that’s my choice, I do not
judge anyone who takes them, that’s their choice. As long as they are not used to cheat or
gain advantage in a drug free environment or sports event then I have no issue with them.
If you enter a “natural” or “drug free” competition that’s exactly what you should be and
should have only used anything you can buy off the shelf in your local pharmacy or health
food shop. Even this has some grey areas though such as caffeine which is banned by
some sports authorities at certain levels and not others.
There are some who would argue that protein shakes are a PED but I disagree with
this as I could achieve the same amount of protein with a normal diet. The same
argument could be used against multi vitamins too but you would never find anyone to
agree.
I have friends who take PEDs and if you go into any gym in the world you are almost
certain to know someone who does too. They will be using them for competitive reasons
and or aesthetic purposes to achieve a large muscular look, some are regular users and
some periodic,depending on their goals. I have no problem with that at all, it’s their
bodies and can do what they want with them.
PEDs have been demonised and still in some circles have a stigma attached, who
hasn’t seen a tabloid headline screaming “ATTACK FUELLED BY ROID RAGE!” In my
experience users never get anything remotely resembling roid rage and it was always in
the perpetrators DNA to be aggressive regardless of their chemical intake.
I do not condone or excuse their use but there are far greater problems seen on the
streets of any city or town nightly from alcohol abuse and yet we never see headlines like
“BOOZE RAGE KILLER”. But that’s another social discussion for another day.
Some drugs are safer than others, but almost anything will kill you at a high enough
dose.
It’s the dose that makes the poison. Never forget this, and don’t confuse the effects of moderate use with those of outright abuse.
The only thing that bothers me is the increasing amount of users in their late teens
and early twenties who have barely lifted a weight taking them. I wish there was a way of
controlling their use and that it was compulsory to have trained 4-5 days a week for three
years naturally. If then and only then after you have shown commitment and were still
interested in them should you be allowed take them. Unfortunately that would take
control and regulation and I don’t see that happening any time soon.
What PEDs aren’t, in a even playing field, is a short cut, whether you take them or not
the work ethic and lifestyle required to compete as a natural or not is the same...HARD!
Those interested in looking into this subject further could do worse than watch the
award winning documentary Bigger Faster Stronger. It is an honest, entertaining and
informative film by Director Christopher Bell that explores America's win-at-all-cost
culture by examining how his two brothers became members of the steroid-subculture in
an effort to realise their American dream.

Heroes ... Bodybuilding & Boxing

16/6/15

The following is an excerpt from my book The Novice

Even now I really know nothing of the bodybuilding community on the local, national or world stage. I have never attended a bodybuilding show as a spectator and had never met a competitive bodybuilder until I met Chris, my trainer. If asked I could probably name three current bodybuilders at most, growing up and still even now none of my heroes are bodybuilders.
Of course I was aware of Arnold Schwarzenegger but that was through the Terminator movies and not what he had achieved as a bodybuilder. It was still some time before I got around to watching Pumping Iron, the 1977 film that turned the obscure sport of male bodybuilding into an overnight phenomenon and made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star.
For most people of my generation, the first contact with a bodybuilder would have been from the cartoon advertisements in the back of comic books in the early 1970’s. The “Hey , quit kicking sand in our faces” comic strip advert for the Charles Atlas programme promised to build muscles fast and make you a hero of the beach in no time at all. There he was, Mr Atlas himself posing in his trunks in full black and white glory and beside him it proclaimed “The World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man.” Today he would barely get a second look and might pass as a rugby or American football player, compared to some of the freaky bodybuilders of today, Charles Atlas looks like the average guy you can see in any gym anywhere in the world.
The first time I was vaguely aware of a famous bodybuilder would have been as a ten year old watching The Incredible Hulk on a Saturday evening before my favourite shows of The Dukes of Hazzard and Starsky and Hutch. Even then I had no idea that Lou Ferrigno who played The Hulk was a bodybuilder, he was just the Hulk and was never seen without being green, again as with Arnold, only after seeing Pumping Iron some years later did I connect the two.
 My heroes were boxers, I was spoilt for choice growing up in an era with the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran and later Mike Tyson. This was before the multiple champions with multiple belts of today spoilt the sport and devalued the title champion, this was a time when there was only one champion at each weight and they were undisputed.
 My lifetime hero and the man I have always drawn inspiration from is the former undisputed middleweight champion Marvellous Marvin Hagler. Hagler never had it easy, he had to have fifty fights before being given a shot at the title, most fighters have around 20 fights and retire, he then went on to hold the title for six years. Known in boxing circles for his bald head, goatee, menacing stare, and muscular physique, a ring announcer once told Marvin Hagler that if he wanted to be announced as "Marvelous Marvin," he should go change his name. So Hagler did just that, legally changing his name to Marvelous Marvin Hagler!

The Novice is available on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Novice-Skinny-Journey-Competitive-Bodybuilding-ebook/dp/B00R05L0FM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418585027&sr=8-1&keywords=clint+purches

Abs are made in the mind before the kitchen

There's a common saying in bodybuilding and gyms that "abs are made in the kitchen not the gym", thats absolutely true but without mental strength and will power that trip to the kitchen can be your downfall too.

In my house we have two shelves in our food cupboards and fridge, top shelf is mine, its lined with BCCA's, creatine, whey protein, vitamin pills and so on, the lower shelf is hers and is filled with shortbread, biscuits, white bread, crisps and other such delights.

Twice a day I have to reach passed that delicious shelf of goodies to get to my supplements , twice a day I have to resist temptation to have "just one" on those sweets, because as we all know one leads to two, two leads to half a pack.....and so on.

The same with the fridge, I allow myself one can of diet Pepsi a day, yes I know they are supposed to be bad for you but water is boring, very boring, so once a day I allow a little flavour into my life. However to reach that can I have to reach past chocolate bars that are chilling in there waiting to be eaten, every day at dinner time I have to ignore the red devil on my shoulder telling me I can burn it off the next day with an extra bit of cardio, every day I have to tell him no!

So yes while abs are certainly made in the kitchen they can also be destroyed in the kitchen with its minefield of delights bought by a partner who doesn't share the need to have a six pack. Mental strength is needed to eat clean, ask anyone who is trying to achieve or maintain a six pack, the hardest part is not going to the gym, the hardest part is eating good clean meals and avoiding temptation, that little devil will pop up every time you open that cupboard door, its up to you to brush him off and reach for the top shelf.

Even when it comes to cheat meals you stilll have to maintain control, its a cheat meal not a cheat day or cheat buffet, enjoy your cheat meal but don't let it become the size of three meals. Even while maintaining my weight as I am currently in the phase between bulking and cutting I still have to maintain control and will power not to let the cheat meal become epic in proportions, at my age (47) it can easily push me over the body fat levels I need to maintain ,so when it comes to bodybuilding competition time I wont have to shift an impossible amount of weight to be stage ready.

Abs are definitely not made in the pub either, I often hear people in the gym or read posts on social media stating that "this it it" they are going to get rid of their gut and get a six pack, only to read a day or two later they are having a massive night out on the booze. Will power unfortunately extends to nights out as well, yes its not as fun to be drinking water or diet drinks , buy you will benefit, firstly with that coveted six pack and secondly no hangover, which is always good as it will not lead to missed gym sessions because you cant drag your throbbing head out of bed without spinning or wanting to vomit.

Finally the six packs you see on boxers/fighters are often brought out by dehydration and not good nutrition, yes they are supreme athletes and yes they have a six pack but they get to the desired weight and  visible abs  by dehydrating or extreme dieting at the last minute to make weight. They do this so they can rehydrate after making weight  and can enter the ring/octagon at a much heavier weight, I would not recommend doing this for obvious health reasons as well as the fact that as soon as you hydrate again that definition could disappear very quickly.

To conclude, abs are made in the mind before they are made in the kitchen, whenever there are two options available, one that will help your goal and the other that will not you have to make the decision to go for number one every time, enjoy those treat with moderation during the so called "off " season but when you want to reveal the hard work you put in over the winter you have to be strong.

I have decided to write a blog that will at first follow this years lead up to the natural bodybuilding competition I will be entering. After the competition I will continue to write on all things gym, fitness and bodybuilding related , there will probably also be ramblings about rugby, mostly the New Zealand All Blacks, UFC and anything else I am thinking of at the time of writing.

I am currently three weeks away ffrom starting my fifteen week diet that will eventually lead me to the stage at around 5% body fat, there will probably be the odd rant during this period as my carb depleted brain gets more agitated with even the slightest thing.

I hope you enjoy reading them and if you have any questions or comments please ask away.

Clint.