Just some quotes that resonate with my world:
The first sets the tone for some that follow...
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." - Charles Darwin
followed by;
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
but wait, Albert has another:
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” - Albert Einstein
One I was given when I was a little chap:
"England expects that every man will do his duty" - Admiral Horatio Nelson, the Battle of Trafalgar, 21st October 1805
oh yes, one for the odd frustrating occasion:
"lack of planning on your part, does not constitute an emergency on mine" - old English proverb
Winston Churchill has a couple (well, he has lots but these I like):
“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.” - Sir Winston Churchill
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Sir Winston Churchill
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” - Sir Winston Churchill
This one, just see if it works for you, it does for me...
"One of the things I keep learning is that the secret of being happy is doing things for other people" - unknown
and how true is this?
"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing" - unknown
and the penultimate quote:
"A man who has done his best has done enough" - Packer
And to just make sure we all know what WILL happen....
"Strength is irrelevant. Resistance is futile. We wish to improve ourselves. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service ours." - The Borg, Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Best of Both Worlds" (1990)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Results Day - Week 5
Excuses, excuses...
The facts speak for themselves. Now January is almost over, Australia Day has been celebrated and many more calories were put in than expected, it is now time to tighten the belt of resolve and knuckle down to reclaiming the body I had.
The data:
Weight: 95kg - up 2kg since last results day!
Fat: 11.6% - up 0.9%
Waist: 96-90cm - lower range up by 1.5cm
Need I say more?
I know why I have gone up in weight and it is now time to park the excuses and get on with getting the nutritional balance correct. After all, I am still sweating out 600+ calories almost daily when I go to the Gym, the Cardio sessions are great, as are the weights. So why make my life even harder by not getting my eating fixed as well?
It starts today...
The facts speak for themselves. Now January is almost over, Australia Day has been celebrated and many more calories were put in than expected, it is now time to tighten the belt of resolve and knuckle down to reclaiming the body I had.
The data:
Weight: 95kg - up 2kg since last results day!
Fat: 11.6% - up 0.9%
Waist: 96-90cm - lower range up by 1.5cm
Need I say more?
I know why I have gone up in weight and it is now time to park the excuses and get on with getting the nutritional balance correct. After all, I am still sweating out 600+ calories almost daily when I go to the Gym, the Cardio sessions are great, as are the weights. So why make my life even harder by not getting my eating fixed as well?
It starts today...
Friday, January 22, 2010
Just so you know....
It's not always peaches and cream in the World_of_Fred... after yesterdays truly positive feedback came a dark stormy thundercloud in the name of weakened resolve.
Yep, you guessed it: I took one positive step forward and then two back on the nutrition front. Beer and Pizza took me 1,400 calories over my daily target, all in one evening of 'slippage'.
What does this mean for me? Well, it simply means that the next three days I have to be a little more careful in my food and beverage consumption. However, I'm not going to beat myself into submission or starvation, I'm not going to find myself another training session to try to burn off those extra calories.
Why not? Because even a healthy lifestyle will have the odd peak and trough; in reality you cannot force your body and head into an unrealistic set of daily expectation, most importantly you must not lose sight of the bigger picture. The long term goal requires long term commitments, allowing for bumps and hurdles along the way so that adjustments can be made in response to unexpected events.
My plans (nutrition, cardio and resistance training) all allow for 'tolerances' and enable me to forgive a slippage: I have this because I am keeping an eye on what I do, not only keeping an eye on what I do but responding to the feedback I receive in the results that I get. This is the only way of ensuring that I remain positive and focussed on my goals.
So, next time you have a slippage, make a note and move on: don't dwell too long on it, look to the next opportunity to improve and then you will succeed.
Yep, you guessed it: I took one positive step forward and then two back on the nutrition front. Beer and Pizza took me 1,400 calories over my daily target, all in one evening of 'slippage'.
What does this mean for me? Well, it simply means that the next three days I have to be a little more careful in my food and beverage consumption. However, I'm not going to beat myself into submission or starvation, I'm not going to find myself another training session to try to burn off those extra calories.
Why not? Because even a healthy lifestyle will have the odd peak and trough; in reality you cannot force your body and head into an unrealistic set of daily expectation, most importantly you must not lose sight of the bigger picture. The long term goal requires long term commitments, allowing for bumps and hurdles along the way so that adjustments can be made in response to unexpected events.
My plans (nutrition, cardio and resistance training) all allow for 'tolerances' and enable me to forgive a slippage: I have this because I am keeping an eye on what I do, not only keeping an eye on what I do but responding to the feedback I receive in the results that I get. This is the only way of ensuring that I remain positive and focussed on my goals.
So, next time you have a slippage, make a note and move on: don't dwell too long on it, look to the next opportunity to improve and then you will succeed.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Results Day - Week 4
The effort is paying off. I knew it would as long as I stuck to my guns, faced down the empty calories of beer and kept up resistance training coupled with cardio training.
Let's take a look:
Weight 93kg (down 1.8kg from last week)
Fat 10.6% (down 0.6% from last week)
Waist 84.5-90cm (improvement of 1.5cm on both measurements)
I know that I am succeeding because I can feel it. I can feel it in my waist and I can feel it in my muscles. I feel great straight after a workout, the endorphins surge through my system and I feel chippa for the rest of the day.
Then, I feel the post workout soreness arrive, a bit of lactic acid residue, a bit of muscle repair as they respond to the resistance training and cardio training I have done.
I feel good.
I feel happy even though I may feel a bit sore and tired I know that I am succeeding. I need to feel sore and tired to know that I am achieving my goals.
You don't lose fat by sitting down and eating cake, you don't get muscle soreness from eating cake... So, it's all about feedback from your body; pain is feedback, especially when it comes from your muscles. Embrace it, it means you are challenging your body to become the you that you aspire to be. If you don't have an image of the new you in your head, you won't get there. Honestly, you won't.
Use the feedback to strive to your next goal, if you have not quite made that goal, use the feedback to find out why.
Don't forget that if you find this hard to do on your own find a Personal Trainer that can help you define what you want to be, and then help you get there.
Let's take a look:
Weight 93kg (down 1.8kg from last week)
Fat 10.6% (down 0.6% from last week)
Waist 84.5-90cm (improvement of 1.5cm on both measurements)
I know that I am succeeding because I can feel it. I can feel it in my waist and I can feel it in my muscles. I feel great straight after a workout, the endorphins surge through my system and I feel chippa for the rest of the day.
Then, I feel the post workout soreness arrive, a bit of lactic acid residue, a bit of muscle repair as they respond to the resistance training and cardio training I have done.
I feel good.
I feel happy even though I may feel a bit sore and tired I know that I am succeeding. I need to feel sore and tired to know that I am achieving my goals.
You don't lose fat by sitting down and eating cake, you don't get muscle soreness from eating cake... So, it's all about feedback from your body; pain is feedback, especially when it comes from your muscles. Embrace it, it means you are challenging your body to become the you that you aspire to be. If you don't have an image of the new you in your head, you won't get there. Honestly, you won't.
Use the feedback to strive to your next goal, if you have not quite made that goal, use the feedback to find out why.
Don't forget that if you find this hard to do on your own find a Personal Trainer that can help you define what you want to be, and then help you get there.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Results Day - Week 3
Today brought a dent to my ego.
Though my weight is the same at 94.8kg, my body fat percentage has risen to 11.3% from 10.4%.
My waist did improve, 86cm-91.5cm, a drop from 87cm-92.
Being a vain, ego-centric driven individual I had to find out why....
So, I took a look at my little nutrient spreadsheet and realised (well, ok, I knew this already) that the four days from last results day still had copious amounts of EMPTY calories = i.e. alcohol. In fact I managed to over-consume by 800+ calories per day for those days. Not a healthy start to operation Fatboy Freddy to say the least.
However, I am happy.
Yep, Happy.
"Are you mad?" I hear you cry.
Well, no (hmmm, possibly). The whole point of tracking my progress is to understand what contributes to success and what hinders it.
We all know the basic equation of:
Cardiovascular Exercise + Resistance (weight) Training + Good Nutrition + Attitude = Great Results
If you don't track each aspect of the equation you will get mediocre results, and you will get them often. What I can do now is make sure I stick with my attitude to succeed, train hard to improve my fitness, chase down the next resistance set and ensure that what I put into my body is the right fuel for the expenditure I need.
What if I can't find the drive to achieve this? You are most certainly not on your own. Lots and lots of people are out there trying to do a similar thing. To make it even easier there are also a bunch of talented and bright Personal Trainers out there who will help you on your journey.
If you are in North Sydney, Body.Wize Australia (and http://bodywizeaustralia.blogspot.com/) can give you a Boot Camp style/Basic Training style workout on a Saturday that'll get your Heart Rate elevated, give your calorie count a smash and motivate you for your coming week.
If you are around Mortdale, Dolls Point, Newtown or Brighton during the week take a look at Juicy Fitness and arrange for a session that'll inspire you to do more.
You are not alone, so don't sweat it out by yourself. Find someone to help you with that motivation and attitude, and of course being pushed by someone else always helps sneak out a few more calories and thus helps you cut the fat!
Though my weight is the same at 94.8kg, my body fat percentage has risen to 11.3% from 10.4%.
My waist did improve, 86cm-91.5cm, a drop from 87cm-92.
Being a vain, ego-centric driven individual I had to find out why....
So, I took a look at my little nutrient spreadsheet and realised (well, ok, I knew this already) that the four days from last results day still had copious amounts of EMPTY calories = i.e. alcohol. In fact I managed to over-consume by 800+ calories per day for those days. Not a healthy start to operation Fatboy Freddy to say the least.
However, I am happy.
Yep, Happy.
"Are you mad?" I hear you cry.
Well, no (hmmm, possibly). The whole point of tracking my progress is to understand what contributes to success and what hinders it.
We all know the basic equation of:
Cardiovascular Exercise + Resistance (weight) Training + Good Nutrition + Attitude = Great Results
If you don't track each aspect of the equation you will get mediocre results, and you will get them often. What I can do now is make sure I stick with my attitude to succeed, train hard to improve my fitness, chase down the next resistance set and ensure that what I put into my body is the right fuel for the expenditure I need.
What if I can't find the drive to achieve this? You are most certainly not on your own. Lots and lots of people are out there trying to do a similar thing. To make it even easier there are also a bunch of talented and bright Personal Trainers out there who will help you on your journey.
If you are in North Sydney, Body.Wize Australia (and http://bodywizeaustralia.blogspot.com/) can give you a Boot Camp style/Basic Training style workout on a Saturday that'll get your Heart Rate elevated, give your calorie count a smash and motivate you for your coming week.
If you are around Mortdale, Dolls Point, Newtown or Brighton during the week take a look at Juicy Fitness and arrange for a session that'll inspire you to do more.
You are not alone, so don't sweat it out by yourself. Find someone to help you with that motivation and attitude, and of course being pushed by someone else always helps sneak out a few more calories and thus helps you cut the fat!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Out in the 'burbs....
The Australian icon: the hills hoist. Used by many to hang washing from, also to be used to hang from and have someone push you so you swing rapidly in a circle...
Also used by the local wildlife to perch upon, a great vantage point to spot one's lunch...
Also used by the local wildlife to perch upon, a great vantage point to spot one's lunch...
where was that grub?
...who knows?
Ahh, Hello Fatfighters, Choclit....
Had to post, too cute!
Daughter_of_Fred executing a perfect ice-cream bowl clean:
Daughter_of_Fred executing a perfect ice-cream bowl clean:
a very couth method of cleaning a bowl...
achieves the desired result!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Results Day - Week Two
Today is really the baseline/starting point for my next 3 months goals.
Operation Fatboy Freddy has been running for two days and my nutrition, more specifically my alcohol consumption is still higher than it should be. I'll blame my folks for being here, it's not my fault... ;)
So, I am back in the saddle with RPM, this week will be purely bike work with resistance training. Next week back into RPM, Core, and BodyPump to keep my body guessing and not adapting to routine too easily.
Weight: 94.8kg - up 300g from week 1
Body Fat: 10.4% - down 0.2%
Waist: 87-92cm - that extra centimetre tells me lots!
January and some hard work should see some positive change, then February and March will be chasing down the 80cm waist, OwnIndex/VO2 Max (Polar Heart Rate Monitor) in the 50's (47 now) and the Body Fat at a consistent 8% or less.
Now the World Masters is done with I will need to find another focus, not just social water polo. I wonder what I can do, along with my Masters Study and if I can fit it in, my PT study as well.... mmmm?
Operation Fatboy Freddy has been running for two days and my nutrition, more specifically my alcohol consumption is still higher than it should be. I'll blame my folks for being here, it's not my fault... ;)
So, I am back in the saddle with RPM, this week will be purely bike work with resistance training. Next week back into RPM, Core, and BodyPump to keep my body guessing and not adapting to routine too easily.
Weight: 94.8kg - up 300g from week 1
Body Fat: 10.4% - down 0.2%
Waist: 87-92cm - that extra centimetre tells me lots!
January and some hard work should see some positive change, then February and March will be chasing down the 80cm waist, OwnIndex/VO2 Max (Polar Heart Rate Monitor) in the 50's (47 now) and the Body Fat at a consistent 8% or less.
Now the World Masters is done with I will need to find another focus, not just social water polo. I wonder what I can do, along with my Masters Study and if I can fit it in, my PT study as well.... mmmm?
Cold, Snow, oh no!
Sister_of_Fred is back in Blighty and by the sounds of it things are a tad chilly!
For those interested it does not often snow in south London so this is a significant bit of weather the UK is now suffering.
Now, why did I leave?
For those interested it does not often snow in south London so this is a significant bit of weather the UK is now suffering.
Now, why did I leave?
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