Weekend Recovery

A number of things absolutely smashed me last week. It left me drained, crook and tired. No major episodes but everything was grinding me down and eventually hit a nerve. However a weekend of doing absolutely nothing has healed over the nerve and I have galvanised back to a strong push forwards. The key was literally doing nothing, just watching TV, making sure I had extra sleep and unfortunately for my fitness goals no diet. Now that I have healed over I can charge back into things again.

Today has been a classic "pumped" up Monday- perfect diet, gym during day, more exercise to come and really getting stuck into work and personal planning etc. I am going to specifically plan my exercise plan this week and for the next couple of week, continuing to search for a job for income and continue on the diet plan I have set out.

!!!04.12.2010!!!

Mark the Date for the launch of my big new Challenge designed to really get results in the next couple of months!!

Go the Aussies! Go the Aussies!

After another Ashes build-up where Australia were bashed and rubbished in the media Australia find themselves in complete control late on the first day of the series. The much maligned Peter Siddle has racked up 6 wickets including a coveted Test Hatrick. Tomorrow's papers will be full of praise for the Aussies, saying they have been resurrected but there is still a long way to go in the series. It is just the nature of the media to sensationalise things and blow everything out of proportion. I have recently lost all confidence in the Australian media to report a story fairly, which I find very disappointing. But anyway thats another musing for another day, today should be about a great start to the Ashes for the Aussies.

Unfortunately the Ashes occupied my thoughts today leading to not sticking to my diet plan, missing the gym and procrastinating like crazy at work. Oh Well, let me bask in successful Ashes start and I will be back in full steam tomorrow. Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://p.imgci.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/106100/106174.2.jpg)

1st Gear to 5th Gear in a Flash

And then in another flash the gearbox blew out and the machine came to an abrupt stop. Another great start to the week came undone on the Tuesday. Two gym sessions and one Oztag semi-final left me dead. Making it worse the second gym session didn't start until 11:45pm because my brother had to work late. Tuesday was a complete write off as I was out of my mind tired. I ended up going home and snoozing as nothing was getting done. Unfortunately with the early return came some extra eating comprising of the usual suspects - biscuits, lollies and large serving of dinner.

All this is because of my tendency to go from 0 to 1000 in one day when I really should be going 0-60, 60-90 100-120 etc, slowly increasing my intensity. However as has been the case in recent months the damage was minimal and was easily recovered today. While I have become better at managing the "fall-out" from my insane motivation days I need to get better at slow drip release of the motivational energy and stop these one-day fade outs. Anyway back on track today with perfect diet, exercise and work. Back and Better!

(pic from http://www.lifebydesign.biz/Portals/5/gearshift-knob.jpg)

The Early Morning Stroll

Early Sunday morning walking to my car after a sober night out with some mates, I was struck with many thoughts. It is strange when and where inspiration hits you. This has happened several times after a night out, walking home. Strolling through the cold city, pavements littered with intoxicated people, taxi's flying past and the wind swirling. In that 30 minutes I was more motivated to get fit, really fit, cut to shreds, more sociable then ever before. I think this is a result of my innate inability to strike up a simple conversation with anyone. But regardless of the cause, the motivational energy has to be used. After collapsing for a nights rest, I jumped outta bed raring to go and started to plan another renewed approach to "Alphadom"

The motivational energy gave rise to a creative surge. This creative surge gave rise to thoughts of a campaign to get absolutely defined and fit by the time a music festival hits town. Keep an eye on this space as I plan to unveil the campaign soon.

Monday started poorly, missing walking the dog and a morning run due mainly to sleeping in and rain. However I can catch them up today. So far diet has been almost entirely perfect. Exciting times for the Alpha!

(pic from http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/2462239677_e70dc4f96c.jpg)

Like a Bouncing Ball!

This week I have felt like a bouncing ball. Let go on Monday from a great height, down to the ground after my exam, back up again as I bounced back and got into work, fell back to earth as work piled up and now bouncing back up to a lower point. My goal by the return of Uni is to move the ground up- so while I may still be let go from a height my fall and subsequent bounce back won't be so dramatic. This is what I am working on in my own time the next couple of months.

To mentally aid my journey to the great kingdom of Alpha I am going to try to instill in my mind "Will this action bring me towards the kingdom or will it draw me backwards?" for every action I take throughout a day and will report about it in my bloggin'

Lets Raise the Ground, Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://cccolo.com/Graphics/Bouncing%20Ball.png)

The Turning Point

After slogging my way through a tough genetics exam I entered into the hot, Brisbane day, a new man. I became a man focused on my goals, on moving forward, on taking responsibility, on really taking control of my fitness once and for all. The trigger was the final Uni commitment of the year. This frees up some spare time for me to really get stuck into the exercise, bring in a second job to pay for good nutrition and a renewed focus on my goals for next year and what I need to do to bring them to realisation.

I think it is important once a large, time consuming project is finalised that the first thought should be to divert that time to self improvement, whether that be health, study, fitness, spiritual. Instead of just wasting that time on TV or movies it should be utelised to its full potential. Its gonna be a good couple of months. Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://southwestcc.org/Portals/2/CareCounseling/turning-point-sign.gif)

Damn You, Damn You, TV, Damn you to hell

Another night, another bed, another television, another program. Last night was a night of de ja vu. Me needing to study, saying- just one program it'll be fine, "ok, one more" and then laying there for hours then falling to sleep. On the brightside though, I fell asleep much earlier then past Tuesdays most likely because of the large day I had on Monday. After a weekend of time wasting and relaxing, last night has put me back to where I was before my Monday session. However where there is will there is a way. I will just have to work harder.

Overall yesterday was an average day - average diet, another procrastinated afternoon, still unable to train with weights then went home to the TV. How ever today is another day and I need to take proactive steps to removing the shackles of my life at this stage. What I lack which explains everything is a strong focus of my direction to motivate me. I am working on drawing a vision for my life in the next 1-2 years but perhaps I need to draw it for other focuses - resigning from my position at work, working hard at the gym etc. This will help me to leap out of bed in the morning and hopefully minimize the procrastination that has recently taken hold of me. Alp-ha and Out!

(pic from http://lagwar.com/home/wp-content/uploads/tv-set.jpg)

I - Robot?

At least I resembled a robot for most of last week with my arm injuries, leaving me to walk around with elbows at 90 degrees. Looking like a robot or like a grandad with a ghost walking frame was only a little bit awkward in public. Good news is the pain has gone and my left arm can almost straighten. My right arm is still quite stiff but it is slowly extending.

Bad news is though I failed to isolate the damage of the injury to my physical state, letting it wreck havoc on my mental state. This has left me with a massive amount of study to perfect my preparation for my pending exam. I am not worried provided I stick to my plan for this week. While my diet wasn't catastrophic last week I still need to tighten it up as I am still at least a week away from weights. Up the cardio I say, which will hopefully be possible from tomorrow on. While I am currently behing the 8 ball, a good week of simply following my outlined schedule should bring me back to speed. Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://www.weirdwarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/bender.jpg)

It's Loosening...

After almost 4 days I woke up this morning to find my arms slightly less painful and tight. The pain has retreated a fair bit but the arms are still pretty tight with limited movement. I am going to see how they are tomorrow morning and then make the call whether I see a physio for them or not. Icing them for ages last night seems to help at least in the morning.

Tuesday mornings injury breaking news really wrecked my plans for the week- my gym, study and work as well. With my Uni exam just over a week away I really need to buckle down and retrieve the lost time as best I can. My motivation and drive are slowly returning and I am positive I can reach at least a happy mid-point in my study etc.

My diet has been average since the injury with both good meals and bad/large meals. However now that I seem to be over the "retreat to the cave" recovery phase I believe I can start to enforce greater restraint which is especially important given my lack of activity in the past couple of days. Slowly crawling back to the drivers seat. Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://www.weightlossforall.com/images/shoulder%20triceps%20stretching.JPG)

Like Balloons

Thats like what my biceps are at the moment and not in a good "they're so big" way. They are all puffed up from inflammation. Still suffering from pain and stiffness in my arms from Monday's weights session almost 3 days ago. Yesterday I didn't strech them out just tried to leave them alone and that worked this morning as I felt less pain, still very stiff though. It is a very similar dull, aching pain similar to when I first did my hamstring suggesting it is a substantial strain or tear. That means RICEing it until Saturday or Sunday where I will begin when the pain is gone to strech them out and get movement and strength back.

Not much else to report other than the injury, it is also wrecking my resolve and dietary constraints, study and work schedules are seemingly out the door. This is something I will need to work on in the future -minialising the mental side of injury. Unfortuneatly I think I will have a lot of practise at this, as I am injury prone and my recent lack of activity is definately a major factor. But for now I just need to power on through and rest and rehab it to health. Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://www.faqs.org/photo-dict/photofiles/list/2846/3776red_balloon.jpg)

Pumped to Explode

And then they blew up. After my first weights session in several months I came out sore but nothing more than usual. Went on with my day, played Oztag, studied, went to sleep. And then I woke up. I literally couldn't extend my elbow more than 100 degrees, had no strength and a dull ache. Anway ruled me out of weights but went and trained my brother doing arms and shoulders and did a little cardio on the bike. The rest of the day was a complete write off, I really don't cope well when I am physically injured. I spent 1-2 hours having lunch with Dad, then kicked into an afternoon of procrastination, went home, had dinner then descended into the depths of a TV marathon from 7pm to 1am. Completely breaking my diet, work schedule, study schedule and TV ban.

After icing and applying deep heat the night before I expected to wake up soreish but with normal to minimally limited movement. However I woke up in exactly the same position, writhing in pain, elbows at right angles. The tightness increased further overnight and I am still having a dull ache which is quite painful. This suggests a really bad strain. Nothing seems to help it heal, even old father time didn't help but hopefully it is just a matter of waiting it out further. Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://testyoc.aaos.org/figures/A00064F02.jpg)

FOOD DIARY - B= 2 slice wholemeal toast with jam, glass milk; S= banana; L= lrg serve mince curry and rice, glass OJ, glass Solo, cho ice block; S= serve cheese, coke zero; D= sml serve rice, med serve chicken curry, sml serve veges, low fat ice cream block; S= 4 piece of liquorice, 4 lollies; Xtr= gum x 3,

EXERCISE DIARY - 5 ab sets, 20 mins exercise bike