It Aint About How Hard You Can Hit

"let me tell you something you already know, the world aint all sunshine and rainbows, it's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently and keep you there if you let it. You, me or nobody is gonna hit harder than life, but it ain't about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward, that's how winning is done! Now if you know what your worth go out and get what your worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits and not point fingers saying you ain't where you want to be because of him,or her or anybody, Cowards do that and that Ain't YOU! Your better than that!"
Sly Stallone in Rocky Balboa.

Sly copped a lot of hate from his 6th Rocky movie but, damn, he sure packed a punch in that scene. I challenge you to hit YouTube up and not be moved by that scene.

I have been listening to that scene on repeat this morning after blowing an assessment item in one of my courses. I didn't study and it will show. I have been attending the majority of my courses but truthfully I have simply been coasting. I have been planning to get up early to study but sleep in. I will get all pumped up about studying, exercising and living but then when I return home I crawl into bed and eat shit and watch crap. I believe it is a side effect of the last days of the "dark ages", a coping mechanism whenever the slightest bit of pressure arises. Luckily though this weakness is only really potent for about 24 hours a week, from mid Tuesday afternoon til Wednesday afternoon. I have come in leaps and bounds in the last couple of months reducing this time to one day but my journey again comes to the crossroads. It is time to develop some true grit. Some deep ingrained discipline to carry me through pressure.

I was once like a pressure cooker. I would just absorb the pressure, soak it up, actively pursue it in fact because that pressure drove me to produce tender meat from gristle. However I reached critical mass and developed cracks. I have now been healing for months now. The true grit is needed to complete the healing, to fill the cracks. And I believe I am a mere month away from being a fully functional pressure cooker once more however I've got to be able to take the hits to fully ensure my integrity.

I think the reason why the last 24 hours is always difficult for me is because I go flat strap on the weekends and subconsciously or consciously believe I need a day or two to just relax and sleep in. I resisted for much longer yesterday before caving into temptation than ever before and it is definitely becoming a two steps forward, one step back pattern. Such a recurring pattern forces me to reconsider the structure of my week especially when I have my fully rested day which means no cycling, no gym. This is something I'm going to consider during work and then I will post my renewed plan of attack. Down day but ain't nothing I can't respond to, Let's Go! Alpha and Out

Nanana Spinning, Nanana Spinning

Spinning, Spinning, BATMAN...I mean spinning. Warning this may Contain Bike Related Concepts with Traces of Perfection.

Since my first long ride and subsequent breakdown I have been focusing on improving my endurance by incorporating "spinning" into my bike rides. For the Non-cyclists, spinning regards a high cadence while pedaling i.e. how many times your leg completes a pedal rotation in a minute. Spinning is usually considered between 90-100 reps per minute. To the average biker, spinning would feel foreign to them as they/we are all brought up as good "grinders" which is basically a lower cadence at a higher gear so you really have to force the pedal to rotate. Spinning allows you to push harder for longer and as your fitness improves you can crank out higher gears but at the spinning cadence. This technique is used by the pros to great effect allowing them to reach massive speeds and maintain them over long distances. Essentially the concept involves utilizing aerobic energy cycles compared to anaerobic, avoiding some of the waste products of the latter system as well as increasing removal of the waste products due to a higher heart rate.

So far this week I have been pumping away quite well at the spinning and I can definitely notice a difference in endurance particularly when climbing hills. It takes some getting used to but I definitely recommend it and for all you desperate housewife dieters it most likely burns more calories cause you can go longer and maintains a higher heart rate (although don't quote me on that). Still rocking everything really well on my journey to Alphadom. My diet has been perfect. So perfect intact I felt it safe to include some treats, in moderation of course, consisting of a serve of cashew nuts, a slice of cheese and scrambled eggs for breakfast with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, mmmmm. Usually such indulgences would trigger a landslide despite my best intentions however my mind is becoming that strong that it can dismiss any such tempting thoughts in an instant. My exercise is also going well. I hit the weights hard this week for the first time in ages and man it feels great, sore but great to be pumping iron. To take it to the next level also I have taken to getting into a stretching, icing and just taking care of my physiology in general before I go to sleep. In the past injuries have plagued and hampered my progress and I am focused to do anything to avoid such injuries as well as maintain my exercise workload to which injury prevention and recovery are essential. Man I'm good, Alpha and Out!

How Bout Some Goddam Respect

My return to the gym hard this week has reintroduced me back to all the pet peeves of sharing a gym. Crowding, waiting for equipment and Neanderthals roaming around not doing much but the peeve today absolutely takes the cake. I was smashing out reps on the bench press. I finished my set and had a brief rest. Some old but relatively muscular guy, therefore he should know better, started grabbing some plates off the bench press, as in the spare weights on the connected rack. Ok I thought he didn't ask or anything but oh well. I then started my last set, and all of a sudden he's grabbing more weights off the bench, while I'm lifting! It totally threw me off and ended up turning a rubbish set because I lost focus. I get up angry but of course do not confront him because I'm too easy going. I move onto my next exercise and turn around. And he has claimed my bench for himself! He was just forcing his way onto the bench despite another 3 being available. Where's the Respect?

I am sorry for this vent of a post but the only thing that really irks me to the core is people whom through their words and actions do not respect others. Love and Respect is part of my A.L.P.H.A mantra and I truly hold respect as integral to my day- day life. That guy showed me no respect. And I for one want to thank him- for giving me anger which I fed into my lifting for a big session. I also want give him a warning I coming to get you chump, I will be ripped to shreds and ontop of my game and you will quake in your boots if you show that lack of respect again! RESPECT, Alpha and Out!

Challenges To Explode

A very average day today consisting of a bed-ridden, junk food and TV binge. It is a bad reminder of the Dark ages where I'd be in bed all day, getting up only to collect food, not rising till the absolute last possible moment before work. And damn I felt physically terrible- bloated, lethargic and sick. Basically the complete opposite of the Perfection days I have been enjoying recently.

Now rather than dwelling on today I want to examine my movements to attempt to find the trigger then bury it and move on. Now triggers, I believe this episode was triggered mid Tuesday afternoon. I was tired, the weather crappy, a day of procrastination making me feel guilty and a new protein flavour all added up to a dangerous mix of self destruction. This lead to the purchasing of processed snacks on the way home, which I subsequently administered to myself along with a large dinner and combined with TV driven insomnia. All this meant I was up on the idiot box till the wee hours of the morning leading to sleeping in and then giving in altogether about today. Damn just look how a moment of weakness can wreak havoc on everything. Taking things forward I think I need to switch my coping crutch from processed, crappy carbs and TV to something positive. Immediately a gym session along with a hit of jack3d springs to mind. That is good thinking and means I just need to be prepared for impromptu gym sessions at all times. I think I can manage that. Let's Do It, Alpha and Out!

First Challenges

A long, long day, yesterday was. Cold, rainy and very windy weather wore me down. I ended up having too much desert and some biscuits before I went too bed. Certainly not the end of the world but considering how good I've been flowing lately it is enough to annoy me. Luckily though a minor setback like that doesn't derail me like it did before and I am up back on it today, my rest day.

The roots of the wearing day yesterday arose from my early start, waking up at 3:45am before my 4:30am alarm. I had only 4 hours sleep but I am was rockin' ok. I than made the mistake of using the scales to check where I was at. Good news I had cracked the 90kilogram mark which for so long had been a barrier. However the numbers weren't as great as I thought they'd be and this allowed the usual negative thoughts try and slip through. I jumped on my bike and rode to the gym for a session. I was stretching when I caught some of the negative thoughts trying to sneak in and I smiled. I smiled because one, I caught them and questioned them before they could sink in but I smiled mainly because the thoughts were completely non-founded. While the numbers might have not shown it I knew and could feel a massive gain in fitness and fat loss. It humoured me that these thoughts were completely off line. Despite the early start I continued to grind out a big day with shopping, catching up with mates and a Uni practical then grabbed a bus to pick up some protein powder, which I had just ran out of that morning. As a cornerstone of my diet, the lack of it really took the edge off my diet and most likely caused the minor blow-out last night. I think it has such a profound effect on me because of its appetite supressing qualities and also the ease at which it can be consumed.

Anyways, it is back to all quiet on the Alpha front with a rest day coming in as always at a good time. I will do some planning today and comeback to training tomorrow with force looking to improve my cardio, pack on some muscle and tweak my nutrition. Lets Getit, Alpha and Out!

A.L.P.H.A

The recent boom of positivity and momentum I have been enjoying along with the fork the road nature of this time period has got me reflecting on everything- goals, aspirations beliefs etc. I have successfully managed to tie in some of my deeper beliefs to buzz words based on the letters of "Alpha". And here they are!

A is for Ambition
And I've got bucketloads of it, sometimes to my detriment. I've got the desire to achieve great heights in any and all of my endeavors I pursue. My ambition drives me out of the depths and up to the sky.

L is for Love
Love and respect is what it is all about ultimately. I am a great believer in respect and I believe that love is built on a deep and profound respect. The so called romantic side of love gets layered on top.

P is for Perseverance
That is what has kept me going in the face of sometimes mountainous adversity. Anything worth having requires hard work and belief I.e. they all require perseverance. Diet, weight training, triathlon training and building social skills requires perseverance and endless tinkering.

H is for Heights
I want and will achieve great heights in any field I choose. I have the will, belief and power to set high goals, plan and achieve them.

A is for Adventurous
While at the moment I might not be particularly adventurous I'd certainly like to develop this to be become extremely adventurous. I'm talking climbing mountains like Everest and K2, cycling crazy distances, competing in triathlons around the world, going out to clubs all over the world, even performing in those clubs in some facet. Watch this space it is the final letter and the final aspect for me to truly develop.

Well that's the wrap up of some of my key beliefs and lifestyle hopes and aspirations. Let's go work it out, Alpha and Out!

I Hit It, I Hit It Good

A mere day after running the Zone I ran smack, bang into a big, bloody, brick wall. The wall is another sports psych term explaining when the endurance athlete suddenly loses energy and momentum. His legs become leaden, the air becomes thick and hot, the solid ground become a muddy bog sucking down each leg as you pedal, run or swim. And damn today I hit the wall harder then ever before.

I hit it good and furthermore I'm even happier that I was able to be in a position to hit said wall. A mere month ago I would not be able to reach that point in the road. It occurred while on my first large bike ride from Brisbane City around the Mt Cotton area. I managed to keep up with my mate but on the return leg, riding along the freeway, a baking sun, simmering bitchuem and cramping and sore legs all added up to the brick wall. But besides the last couple of k's it felt awesome to be out in the open , riding freely, cranking some solid speed, enjoying the descents and attacking the hills. It was a great start to my experience in long range riding. Let's keep the Perfection rolling, Alpha and Out!

In The Zone

A packed weights room greeted my entry to the gym so I went straight to the cardio room to crank out a long tempo run. I had planned a big leg session but it was clear that wasnt going to be possible with the number of people in the gym. At the end of the day it was for the best as I have a large bike ride planned for tomorrow and having sore legs would not be to pleasant. So I jumped onto the treadmill and began the tempo run.

Music pumping, admiring my form in the mirror and the pleasant temperature soon had me churning out the steps in the fabled "Zone". Now kids gather round while I tell you about the Zone. Where to begin, ah yes, no pain. You almost lose total sensation of your legs as if your running on air. Your pumping out the Km's but your breathing fine and untroubled, there is no burning despite the intensity of your run. Ontop of this weightless, painless feeling you enter a intense focus leading to tunnel vision to the goal your chasing. Damn I love it, Alpha and Out!

Mental Thorns Can Be Crushed

Less than 4 hours sleep last night after finishing work late and an early morning lecture resulted in my mind trying to knock me off my perch. I was tired, worn down physically but mentally I was pumping with positivity. Such was this positivity that I overcame my physiological weariness and actively attended all 3 lectures today, hit the majority of my study goals before crashing late afternoon.

However throughout this period my physiology was crying out for attention, it did not like being shunned and over-powered. It was saying screw this you tired you can catch up on those lectures later, study can wait, you done good this week you deserve a reward. I call these mental thorns. They are simply subconscious thoughts trying to entangle you to protect it from change. The body hates change. In fact a great deal of my studies in science are associated with mechanisms to avoid change and return to "comfortable" levels. These mental thorns are protective, they're just trying to keep you comfortable. But the key to mediocrity is the realistic while the key to success and greatness is the unrealistic. The unrealistic has led to all modern phenomenas such as airplanes, mobile phones even basic western staples electricity and tap water were unrealistic concepts before some came and CHANGED their view from what was unrealistic to what was realistic and engaged in activities to persuade others of this view change. So while mental thorns are protective and natural to the body they inhibit the new, exciting and beneficial mental processes required to succeed. So crush them thorns and achieve your dreams. Damn this is a good post, now I'm gonna go practice what I preach, let's do it, Alpha and Out!

Nuff Inspiration To Fuel The Nation

4 hours sleep, 1 sore back, 5 small meals and what do you get? Constipation?...Hell No! You get Inspiration. I was on fire today and it all comes back to the momentum of my perfection pursuit I began on Sunday and decided to continue. Combine this positivity with the euphoric response of the body to lack of sleep and a high protein diet and man, life becomes limitless. This limitless feeling lead to a mind racing with creativity mainly surrounding the opportunity I have to use my journey as a jump start to a personal training and life changing business. Let your dreams fly! I do have to be weary though as often on days like this the euphoria of lack of sleep can easily be replaced by weariness and irritability which can lead to food blow outs and a negative mood. I am confident though that I am in the right mindspace to successfully manage this potential situation, Boo-Yah!

And all this positivity despite a sore back which luckily coincided with my rest day (unluckily for my Oztag team who were knocked out of the semi-finals). This means that depending on how I feel in the morning I will only have missed half a session of training, at least for cardio, I will put off weighs for another couple of days to be safe.

Let's keep the ball rolling in the pursuit of perfection, Alpha and Out!

Perfection Is My Reward

I found myself in a familiar position today. After the rampaging success of yesterday I walked into the kitchen for morning snack time. Goodies peered out at me from every corner. Jatzs, brown and golden. Cheese yellow and moist. Cashews salty and satisfying. Upon sight of my previous vices an unwelcome voice chimed in. "You had a great day yesterday, you deserve a reward," Hello, Awkward, old friend. Along with the voice the cravings gripped my mind. But I pushed forward, grabbed some kiwi fruit, filled up my protein shake and sat down to read the paper. I cut up the kiwi fruit, which I find helps increase the perception of large quantity due to longer time and sipped my shake. Upon finishing the snack, the voice chimed in again. "Come on, you know your still hungry, just a couple of jatz won't hurt?" Usually I have no support in such situations and cave in. But this time another powerful, booming voice chimed in. "Are you really hungry?"

"But you deserve a Reward,"

"The perfection of yesterday was the reward!". Alpha wins.

Yesterday's pursuit of perfection was a resounding success. I hit all my diet targets, study targets, made it to the gym and coped well at work. And as I knew would happen my mind and body worked along smoothly despite only 4 hours sleep and a large exercise load. I also found it very helpful tweeting my thoughts, cravings and happenings throughout the day. The perception that people will be able to track my progress throughout the day helped hold me to task. Also I now have a minute by minute, almost, of the positivity perfection gives back. My mindset was full of positive thoughts, feeling I could accomplish anything, create anything, complete anything. It was intoxicating.

So intoxicating in fact, I am continuing it today!

Alpha and Out!

Pursuing Prime Perfection

And with that quirky segment of alliteration I will outline the meaning behind the Ps seen above. Overall this has been a below average week. Initiated originally by a cold but then continued on by bad habits. I missed my first lectures of the semester and have been dozing in others, always a bad sign. I have also been snoozing and watching too much TV which led to snacking in bed, a repeat trigger/ symptom of the Dark ages. Based on this build up of poor habits along with my study falling behind has triggered the positive response required.

That response is perfection. Past blogs have outlined my attempts at perfection which highlight repeated failures. These past attempts I believe have failed because I set unrealistic goals throughout an unrealistic timeframe such as months or weeks. So now I'm keeping it simple. The goal is simply to be perfect until Monday morning starting from this afternoon.

Now this pursuit will be difficult but doable and I've only got myself to keep on track. Central to the Perfecting criteria is diet, study and gym in that order of priority. My diet has been poor and now is the perfect opportunity to reinforce the benefits of hitting your diet targets. Study has literally been non-existant so the criteria will be a solid 2 hours minimum of study. While the gym is pretty self-explanatory. Finally some other minor criteria includes no snacking in bed, no snoozing and just nothing negative. Another thing i hope to include positive thoughts suppressing the negativity I know will come with pursuing perfection.

I am going to aim to log my thoughts, feelings, urges, basically anything throughout the day to hopefully reinforce how perfecting those life aspects makes you grind so much better throughout the day. Let's Do It, Alpha and Out!!!

Virus, You Sly Devil

The walls were up, the immune cells strong and the mind was pumping the positivity but alas a goddamn virus still managed to sneak in. I proceeded to smash it with juice, vitamin C and rest but it seems to be settling in for the long haul. It has not completely wrecked my exercise regime. I am still hitting up the gym but the cold has definitely taken the edge off my performance. I am trying to maintain my exercise and walking the tightrope between my fitness and my recovery. So this basically means reducing early morning starts, keeping warm, lots of fruit and plenty of sleep. Hopefully this will do the trick, Alpha and Out!

Hittin The Stone

Milestones that is! I am having a champion day after a very tired, lethargic and flustered rest day yesterday. Speaking of which when I wrote yesterday's post I was sitting in the sun. After getting up and finding shade, reading up on my practical and grabbing a cold Coke Zero my misty head cleared somewhat and I managed to walk on.

Anyway back to the champion day. I seriously believe today's awesome origins came from just before I went to sleep. I had got a free sample of ice cream from work which I took home for my grandparents. Now never underestimate the power of ice cream on me, I would buy a 1 litre tub after work and demolish the lot at 3am in the morning back in the depths of Awkwardness. As I got home, extremely tired and having dinner in the back of my mind Awkward was whispering "Come on, there is a small tub of ice cream in the freezer for you to eat before you go to sleep," Not content just to entice me, he tried to rationalise it for me - "Come on your tired, you've been going all day, you were spot on with your diet you can fit it in, you deserve it," All the usual bullshit that Awkward sets in my mind when I am tired. The crunch point came as I walked past the freezer on the way to bed. I looked up at the white door, greyed by the night. And I...

Walked straight past it. Boom! That is the milestone I am talking about. Alpha knew that if I fell to the creamy sword, I would be up even later, sleep in, miss my 8am lecture, probably not even make it to Uni and have a dwelling, depressing day in bed. The final touch to my avoidance was the biography/training manual of champion triathlete Chris 'Macca' McCormack which I am currently enthralled in. Instead of grabbing a spoon and digging into temporary relief, I jumped into bed and read the book till I was right to drift off to sleep with the warmth of the dog at my feet.

Macca's book leads me onto the next reason I am in a great mood and having a productive day. His book has swung me around from pure desperate housewife style "fat-loss & toning" to training for a return to triathlon and doing everything for performance rather than vanity. This lead my gym session to crank out a race pace/flat out duathlon in the gym on the treadmill and exercise bike. When I left home this morning after a brief but deep sleep I had no intention of doing a duathlon in my gym session however I was in a good mood and thought about how busy the weights section would be and that it would be better to do that tomorrow morning rather than today. So I jumped on the treadmill and bike for a 5km:20km:5km run:bike:run. And I SMASHED IT! 22:51min - 35:43min - 24:04min. I am happy to see my body hold up to the race pace intensity and the increased duration of the workout. From this pattern I am going to launch myself into preparation and training for triathlons rather than fat-loss. And I am excited at the possibilities. Phew! Long post today but I got a lot of positives in my mind. Straight to the Top we're going, Alpha and Out!

Tired Times In The Sun

I sit on the edge of the lakes at Uni in 20 degree sunshine feeling tired and flustered. As I soak up the sun I am trying to pinpoint why I am feeling so tired and out of it. I had a very solid 7 hours of deep sleep, usually more then enough to keep me grinding. I did have a massive 'brick' session of cycling, running, weights and oztag over a 4 hour period last night. However I made sure I had a stretching session last night and along with icing sore legs has avoided the usual physical hang over from such a session. I am having my rest day as planned but still feel tired and lethargic. Maybe it's the length of my day leaving home at 6:40am and returning home after 11:30 thanks to work. That along with the first practical session for one of my subjects has got me all flat. I always seem to find the first practical session intimidating due to the initial meeting of lab partners and the interaction I,'as an introvert, do not enjoy the prospect of. However I generally get over it quickly and it becomes enjoyable. Bam I think that probably explains it. Hopefully in a couple of hours I'll be fine. Fingers crossed, Alpha and Out!