Even though this is a bit of trend at the moment, fasting is not a new concept. People have been fasting for ages, if you are Muslim, it is part of your yearly routine, and even in various Christian denominations it is part of their belief systems. Looking at Paleo Man as well, there would have been periods of fasting between hunting and gathering as the Big Mac wasn’t that big back then.

Various philosophies of fasting are preached, from 8 hour fasts to 16 hour fasts, where you eat you meals in the period between these fasts. I have been very much drawn to the 24-hour fasts as they look to be the most promising. But this seems to be a mixed bag, as one could work well for one person, but not the next. So this will be very much trial and error.

Interestingly enough there has been some studies done on the subject from the effect of 16 hour fasts on the body up to 3 day fasts. Honestly I must admit that I haven’t read the full studies, but have read some summarised versions. I can’t really tell if these studies have been done a Gold standard, but can say that they have yielded some interesting results.

The touted benefits are as follow:

Increased Growth Hormone Production
Increased Release of Adrenaline and Noradrenaline
Increased Fat Utilisation
Increased Insulin Sensitivity and a Decrease in Insulin Production

There are a few more benefits but these are the ones of interest to me.

So what happens with muscles mass?
Well according to these studies, the body does not utilise muscle mass in such short fasts, as longs as strength training is being done on a regular basis. This flies very much in the face of my believes of feed the muscle, which I live by.

So why then take this on if it contradicts you beliefs?
Well if you asked me 2 years ago about high carbs, I would have been a complete advocate against it, I was low carbs all the way. On a recent diet I increased my carb intake and saw amazing results. Sometimes you need to challenge your own beliefs and fears.

What am I hoping to achieve?
Well some studies have shown extra fat utilisation whilst preserving muscle, so with this I am hoping to reduce my bodyfat and preserve muscle and possibly find a different way of achieving the goals I have been trying to achieve through more “conventional” methods.

So what is it going to look like for me over the next 8 weeks?

Week 1-3
I will fast once a week for a 24-hour period, the rest of the week I will be consuming around my maintenance which is somewhere between 3000-3500 per day with the training I am doing. I will also have one cheat day, which will be scheduled in the day before the fast.

Week 4-6
During this period I will increase the fasting days to one 24-hour fast every 4 days. I will increase my calories on my non-fasting days to 3500-4000 calories per day. I will keep with one cheat day per 8 day cycle, which I’ll be scheduled in the day before one of my fasting days.

Week 7-8
Now this will all depend on the results from the previous 6 weeks. I think we need to always be adaptable when it comes to our bodies, as they adapt quite quickly and sometimes what you attempt just doesn’t work that well for it, so flexibility is the key. I will either maintain the 8 day cycle or return to the seven day cycle or as a third option return to my regular 3000 calories per day diet, but reduce the carbs to around the 200g per day mark.

Fasting will always start for me at 9pm in the evening and end the following evening at 9pm, so I will never go a day without food. Nutrient ratios I will keep to around the 40/40/20 mark. I don’t always hit these exactly, but am ok with a 2%-3% deviation. I will try to keep my ratios in line as much as possible on cheat days (I hate referring to it as cheat days, I prefer it being called, “relax and eat what you want day within measure”, but that just doesn’t have such a nice ring to it).

This is all about experimentation and the results will very much dictate my direction. I will keep you posted on my progress and how I am finding it.

Stretching
SMR
Core Stability
Range of Motion
Technique

Foam Roller for SMR

The are more things you can focus on, but these are the things I worked on last week. I have been neglecting my stretching and core stability so those are the things I really am aiming to improve. It also allows your body a bit of recovery time, which is neglected by too many people.

With my weight sessions, I have kept 3 sessions, back and biceps, chest and triceps, legs and shoulders, but during these sessions I have dropped the weight to about 50% of my normal required sessions and focusing heavily on the Range of Motion and Technique, ensuring that I get a full stretch and contraction on each set. Now this seems quite easy with the low weight, but focusing on each contraction, completing the full range of movement, ensuring a good stretch within the movement takes place actually kicks it up a few notches.

Looking at my core sessions I have put the following work in place:

Bridges 3 x 1 minute hold
Leg Lift Bridges 6 x 30 sec hold (3 on each side)
Side Leg Lift Planks 6 x 30 sec hold (3 on each side)
Side Bridges 6 x 30 sec hold
(There is another one that I add into this mix, but I can only explain it as an upside down hang, whilst keeping my core stable.)

I also focused a lot on doing stretching, as I have been experiencing tightness in my upper back, my hamstrings and quads. I tied this in with loads of work on the foam roller, which is something I am focusing on a lot. I am a massive convert of SMR.

Diet wise I have been eating a lot, my weight peaked at 90.3kg, but I have seen some good growth in my chest area (I am up about 4cm, with my weight being 5kg less than the start of the year) and my waist increased about 2cm in size over the last 6 weeks.

Over the next 8 weeks I will be shaking things up a bit by looking at some different types of training and diet, I am doing Crossfit this week for the first time and I am trying something that seems to be. Bit of a trend at the moment, Intermittent Fasting. There is some interesting ideas around this, but I will write a full post on this on my understanding of what should happen.

My Top Ten Gym Criminals:

The Non-Racker
That guy who strolls over to the dumbbell rack, takes off 40kg dumbbells, pumps out a few reps, drops them on the floor and leave them there for someone to fall over.
The Space Hog
You are on a bench ready to lean back to knock out your final set of flies, only to discover some guy who has suddenly popped out of nowhere, to stand right in your range of motion, almost like he is about to sit only my lap.
The Swinger
No, not that kind of swinger, this is the guy who decides he is strong enough to curl 30kg dumbbells, but the only thing he is doing is giving his hip flexors a great workout. Lift within your capability, bad form leads to so many problems.
The Chatterbox
You have just gotten yourself ready to lift the heaviest you have ever lifted, Metallica blaring away in your ears, you are pumped and ready to go for it, when Mr Chatterbox strolls over to discuss how much it has been raining, it’s England it always rains. Chat to me after my session, I am friendly, just not when I am pumped and ready to go heavy.
The Texter
The guy on his phone, texting his girlfriend or mate. Speed work on your thumbs does not count as a workout sessions.
The Smooth Operator
Not sure why some people treat the gym like a singles bar. If you want to meet someone, consider speed dating, rather than interrupting the girl who is about to push out a heavy squat.
The Macho Man
We have all seem him, the guy who carries imaginary rugs under his arms. Walks over to the bench press, pushes out one heavy rep and then acts like he is king of the gym.
The Floater
That guy who hovers around the bench you are using, to try and rush you along. Just come over and ask if you want to work in, or ask me how many sets I have left.
The Secret Agent
You are doing a bench press with some dumbbells, you turn your back for two seconds to wipe your sweat and with the skill of a secret agent, he sweeps in and steals your weights, MI6 is hiring I heard.
America’s Next Top Model
The guy who comes to the gym in Boss Jeans, Prada Trainers and the latests t-shirt. I always expect Tyra Banks to pop out and say, “You are not America’s next Top Model”.

For all of these people, there are the people who are great at the gym, who are there to train hard, the old school bodybuilder who remembers your name and is always willing to help out, the girl at reception who always ask how you are doing, the guy who greets you every day and the trainers who are interested in what you are up to. They make the crimes of the others a lot more tolerable.

I am extremely passionate about music, when people ask me what type of music I love, I can’t really pick a specific genre. I love all types of music, each has their own value, feeling and life. Since I spend most of my day with headphones on my head, listening to one type of music would get very boring very quickly. I do have my favourites, but generally on par listen to everything and anything.

So what has this got to do with my fitness? Well for my workouts I find music is quite important. I struggle immensely to get through a workout without music on, lately the iPod cable has been missing from our studio at the gym and it is quite hellish to do boxing in my opinion in silence. I have even turned back on my way to the gym, because I forgot my headphones! If you are a person that go to classes at the gym, you will quickly make your decision based on who has the music that you prefer. I do. The better the music, the better the workout I find.

My Favourite Headphones at the Moment

So I have a few genres that I prefer for various different types of workouts. Generally I prefer something with a bit of a fast beat when I am doing cardio, which is usually some form of House, Drum and Bass or Dance. It keeps me motivated, makes me push harder and can even sometimes put a smile on my face. When I do weights I prefer to listen to some punk rock, heavy metal or hard rock. It really gets my blood pumping and the aggression going in me to push harder.

So here is my top 2 current playlists for cardio and strength workouts:

Cardio Workout

Tiësto & Hardwell – Zero 76
Ferry Corsten – Feel it (Radio Edit)
Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up
Warp Bros. – Phat Bass (Aquagen Club Mix)
Tiësto – Adagio for Strings
Kura – Love Will Find You
Jaren – Begging’ You (Armin van Buuren Remix)
Dimitry Ko – Odessa (Bigroom Mix)
Scott Page – Africa
i-Tone – The Climb
Deadmau5 – Hey Baby
Tim Berg – Seek Bromance (Avicii’s Vocal Extended)
David Guetta – When Love Takes Over (ft. Kelly Rowland Electro Extended)
Rene Amesz – Smells Like Teen Spirit (Original Mix)
Edward Maya – Stereo Love

Strength Workout

Godsmack – I Stand Alone
Drowning Pool – Bodies
Limp Bizkit – Rollin’
Disturbed – Down with the Sickness
Korn – Get Up! (ft. Skrillex)
Marilyn Manson – Get Your Gunn
Slipknot – Psychosocial
Chimaira – Dead Inside
Linkin Park – Bleed Out
Five Finger Death Punch – Meet the Monster
Godsmack – I F****** Hate You
Disturbed – Another Way to Die
AC/DC – Highway to Hell
System of a Down – Chop Suey
Trapt – Headstrong

So next time when you are in the gym, pop on your favourite tracks and see how it influences your workout, maybe it’s that spark that you need to get that fire going. If you have some tracks that motivate you or songs that you find great, share them. I might find something new to motivate me.

Easily, add some chocolate peanuts, chocolate cookies, brownies and pizza in and you easily reach that! I don’t believe in excuses, so this is not an excuse for me, it is purely a failure on my part. But I learn from my mistakes, pick myself up and move on. I don’t want to dwell on the past, I can’t change
what has been, I can only make sure that I don’t make the same mistakes going forward.

The lesson I have learnt is that when I feel out of control, I lose control. I am a self confessed control freak. So it has been tough couple of days and it almost reached the point of tragedy. Today I feel a bit better about it all, the stress has been alleviated and I am ready to focus on my next set of goals.

So what are these goals, well I am planning out my training regime, the aim is to drive again at my body fat to bring it down to single digits. Maintain my weight at around 87kg and hopefully get into a position where my body is partitioning calories in such a way that I lose bodyfat and maintain muscle.

Considering that things got a bit out of hand, I have had a bit of a triumph on the training front, over the last few weeks I have been aiming to increase my strength by training ate heavy with a low repetition range. I kept my reps around 1-5 and focused on the big movements, like my bench, deadlift, squats and bent over rows. And I have seen some really good gains, my one rep max for my deadlift has now reached 330lbs. Which is such a truimph for me. I would like to bring it up to about 400lbs.

On the training side, I have been completing my classes, recently did core stability and torso training, and every week I want to do a workout of the week as well, which will focus on the principles I am currently studying or reading about.

All in all, I need to plan, set out some goals and put together a plan, without these things I become a drifter, which means I tend to have a very bad diet and can easily ruin all of the good work I have done over the last few months.

Sunshine and Blue Skies makes Everything Better

The break gave me some good time to read a lot, especially on nutrition and exercise, as well as some reading on motivation and harnessing your own potential. I also gained quite a bit of insight on roles and effects of certain vitamins and foods that we eat. Specifically had a lot of focus on caffeine and cortisol. Two things which I am now quite interested in exploring their effects in one another.

Before I left I weighed in at 86.5kg, after my holiday my weight was 86.3kg. This came a bit as a surprise as I thought I would have picked up some weight, but kept it stable. I did though exercise almost every morning by using my new toy, my TRX and going for long runs. Also, to ensure that I kept my calorie burn up as I walked almost everywhere. Good way to get some sun and a good workout.

So the last week since I got back has been about thinking and planning my next steps and at the moment I am increasing my calorie consumption to around 3000-3500 calories per day. The goal is to start picking up weight. My aim is to hit 87.5kg by the end of April (Most people come back from holiday trying to lose weight!). At the end of this week if my weight gain has been more than 0.5kg then I will drop my calories to a base of 3000.

At the moment I am only training once per day (mornings) and taking evenings off. My training is also focused around strength training and HIIT cardio. At the moment I am maintaining a 3 day split, legs and shoulders, chest and biceps, back and triceps. I like splitting antagonist groups together as I personally feel that if I have back and biceps on the same day, following the principle that you start with the larger muscle group, I feel that I end up neglecting or not putting enough effort into the bicep segment of the workout at the end.

At the end of the month I will visually assess myself (need to ensure I don’t get too soft or plump, it’s harder to get rid of fat than put it on) to plan out the next 2 months, but at the moment I am aiming to keep on gaining weight until I hit 90kg, which I am hoping to reach by the end of May. My goal would be to go up to somewhere between 95kg to 100kg, but gradually work my way up.

Train Hard, Eat Better
tfj

Measurements for this week:
Weight: 85.9kg
Waist: 85.5cm

I have just done a small update as I will do a full measurement next week for the final part of my 12 week update. Not too happy with the fact that I almost dropped and entire kilogram and only 0.5cm around my waist. So last weeks drop in carbs was a bit of a bust. So to compensate I will have to incorporate really high carb days, in excess of 400g and then drop really low on carbs for the following 5 days. This is commonly referred to as carb cycling. Carb cycling is an interesting one and there are so many ways of doing it, it is about finding the way that works for you. I shall write a bit about it maybe in a future post to give a broad outline.

Training still remains the same, but I have increased intensity on my cardio again. My big fear is losing all of the muscle mass I have worked so hard to stack on. So far I have realised that higher carb intake seems to be a good key for me while keeping my fats relatively low around 20% of my daily intake.

That’s about it. I will do a longer post next week and should also publish my link to my food diary, which I keep through a great site called MyFitnessPal, plus they have a great app which works well on my iPhone and iPad. But there are so many out there you can try! Also have a look into Calorie Count as well. They do the same thing.

Going home is like being faced with my old self, the fat boy, the quiet teen, the “yes” man, the always responsible child, the weak one, plus I am being surrounded by a family who are all overweight and because they feel so bad about it themselves, they like to project those feelings on to you. You should know, people don’t like feeling singled out and then like to drag you down with them. Remember peer pressure? When we feel we are doing something bad we don’t like doing it alone, we rub of that negative influence on others. That’s why statistics show that when your parents or partner are overweight, you are more likely to be overweight yourself. In the same vain, we can also rub of our positive influences or habits on others. Sometimes that just requires a bit more rubbing. Thus surrounding yourself with ambitious, driven and passionate people inspires you to take on these qualities.

My family has this knack of dragging you into their own problem with food and then making you feel guilty about “not eating enough”, which in there terms could be something like a 1000-2000 calories in one sitting. Buffet is not a swear word in my family. The worst part of all of this is that I will be away from my safety blanket of a controlled diet and exercise. So now I am faced with dealing with a family who does not know the first thing about eating healthy and not having my strongest weapon at hand, my controlled diet. My mum’s idea of a good healthy meal is a Sunday Roast, which consists of Lamb and deep fried potatoes, rice with gravy, cauliflower with cheese sauce and sweet potato with marshmallows and brown sugar. And for good measure she would maybe make pumpkin fritters and throw in a big bread pudding for dessert. Count the sugary carbs and calories on that plate. And second helpings is compulsory, proper men eat a second plate.

Last night I just caved under the weight of it all and ended up flying into a jar of peanut butter (it was organic with no added sugar), I ate about 5 heaped teaspoons of it after having my protein shake and a piece of beef before heading to bed. I knew I was full and kept on eating until I felt a bit sick. Yes, 5 teaspoons of peanut butter is not binging, but continuing eating when you are full, definitely is. The really dumb part of it all is that I am now stress eating, over my worries of over-eating. How stupid is that?

My mind is constantly dwelling on home and the foods that come with it, which brings back memories of all of the things I used to enjoy as a child and how I used food as a way of emotionally coping. So at the same time, it also brings back a lot of hurt and anger. The last few days I have been thinking a lot about these sources of anger and hurt that are linked to my inclinations of binge eating. Knowing why you do something is the key to fixing it, I have come to notice the symptoms and the causes of the problem, but the root of my problem, that “why it all began” still keeps itself hidden.

So last night I went to bed feeling very low, woke up this morning and dragged myself out of bad still feeling quite a bit awful. I got to the gym thinking I am not going to make it through this session and had to battle my own negative thoughts. But about 20 minutes into my workout I really got back into it and I finally cleared my mind. Endorphins are a wonderful thing. Being in the gym and pushing weights makes me feel empowered. I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, “You have come so far, too far to give up or let this beat you. Enough in my life have I been made to feel bad about myself. By the end of my workout I was feeling great again, realising that everything I was worried about last night was a bit stupid and that I have grown so much as a person over the last few years and am so much more driven and capable than I ever thought I could be. Even though it was stupid, it gave me some good perspective to really look at myself again. Those lows in life have a purpose and is a good as a time as any to reassess yourself.

Now I am ready to plow straight back into it, not dwell on the mistakes of yesterday and keep my mind focused on what I really want. I am still planning on facing those demons. I will just hold onto that feeling that I can get out of those mental holes I dig for myself. I am my own worst enemy.

I have reduced my carbs and calories this week, and even with this reduction my body is still holding onto my weight quite well. This week I am reducing my carbs a bit further and increasing my protein intake, but at the same time will be reducing my calories a tiny bit as well.

This is all a game of patience, I am in no rush, as I am working on a long term goal with quite a few short term ones along the way. Currently my short term goals are on track, it is now my challenge to keep on plowing ahead with my short term goals so I can achieve my long term one. This requires patience and patience is a virtue that I had to teach myself over the years and I am getting there. It is a hard one to do, as in life we are so used to instant gratification in the form of online shopping, takeaways and quick fixes, with the effect that patience is something that has become a lost virtue. I am myself very guilty of this as well, so I have had to make my peace with the fact that this is going to be a long journey. But taking it one step at a time.

Training wise this week I am increasing my cardio intensity again and also changing my weight training regime. I will be increasing my rep range and also throwing in some German Volume Training, which I will explain a bit in a separate blog as it is quite an interesting form of training to add to your repertoire.

Last week I also blogged about my problems with food, the peppermint oil has been a bit of a miracle supplement and it has helped a lot with my stomach problems. Also, cutting the BSN Syntha-6 has helped a lot. It is indeed a culprit towards my stomach problems. I have now returned to more of a whey concentrate which my stomach seems to deal with a bit better.

My measurements for the end of week 9 were:
Weight: 86.8kg
Neck: 40cm
Chest: 103cm
Waist: 86cm
Hips: 100cm
Left Thigh: 58cm
Right Thigh: 57cm
Left Calve: 40cm
Right Calve: 40cm
Left Bicep: 35cm
Right Bicep: 35cm

Someone recently gave me a tip that I should take some peppermint oil to help with the cramps and bloating. I bought some today and will see how it goes over the next week to see if there is any improvement. I have also started a process of further elimination, today I cut cottage cheese out of my diet to see if this helps possibly, I will continue this further by cutting out the BSN protein powder if the cramps and pain don’t clear (I have a feeling the BSN Syntha-6 might be the culprit). This actually ties in nicely with my current diet plans, as I am to start cutting calories this week, I was just expecting it to be carbs rather than protein. This has made me re-assess my nutrient values and I will be going in a bit of a different direction, not sure where this will lead me, but hopefully by the next update it will be clearer.

On top of this I have started craving foods like a mad man, I constantly thinking of pizza (my favourite food) and Oreos! Yesterday I got the closest to cracking under the pressure and almost gave in, but was able to resist. I did eat more than I was supposed to though, but counter balanced it by cancelling my day off and going in for some boxing training.

Results wise I am happy, there is been a small shift in my weight, 0.7kg and a 1cm drop in my weight, I am also starting to see some really good definition. Exercise wise, I have increase my cardio intensity a bit, by extending the length and intensity, depending on the cardio machine I am using. For instance I run faster on the treadmill, but added an extra 5 minutes on the cross trainer. I have also started cutting calories a bit by decreasing my carbs. I will check the affect on my weight for the next weigh in and measurements, to see what the affect is.

My measurements for this week are:
Weight: 87.2kg
Waist: 87cm

I didn’t take all my measurements this week, but will do this all again for my next update.