Another Killa in St Lucia

Today was chest and back weights today, arguably my favorite training session. But even before I stepped up to the gym I was behind the eight ball. My slow 7.5km jog late last night along with the calorie deficit (despite slamming a shake before bed) backfired on me last night and I was unable to get even a wink of sleep. Jumping on the bus in after no sleep was the easy bit. Trying to fire me up for a decent crack at the weights was the hard part. Sanity seemed to prevail and I decided to hit YouTube up for some inspiration. Recently I have been following documentaries and videos of pro body builder, Kai Greene. He has quite a powerful backstory. His father left him young and his mother was not fit to raise him so he grew up alone in foster care or on the mean streets of Brooklyn. Many of his generation turned to drugs, either selling or buying, but Kai sunk his pain into the weights. That pain drove him to now become one of the best bodybuilders in the world. One particular video catalogued his life in the lead up to the 2008 Arnold Classic. Recently dropped by his sponsor he lived in a small, cosy rundown apartment block. He would travel for hours by train to get to his old school dungeon gym and he had to budget meticulously to afford the large amount of food required to sustain a 280 pound muscle bound pro. Without the sponsorship and luxuries his rivals were enjoying he was building a champion physique which he would take further a year later at the Arnold and furthermore he was happy content in those squalid and trying conditions. Suddenly a lack of sleep seemed like a minor problem in the grand scheme.

After watching the clip a couple of times I was able to front up to the gym an hour earlier than I planned for. Some jack3d in me and the renewed vigor I have uncovered thanks to dropsets and I was away. For all intensive purposes it was a very good session considering. I dropped the weights and really focused on getting the proper and full contraction, checking my ego in at the door sonto speak. During sets with the weight focusing me I was able to crank out the reps ok but in between sets the lack of sleep would hit me to the point where I was spent and had to force to start the next set by telling myself just to start the set, realizing that once I started I'd be fine. Then to top off the session, capatilizing on my increased mental grit I went and did 10min cardio.

What a difference three days make. Since the unstudied exam debacle on Monday I have had three days of prime perfection- perfect diet, intense perfect training and solid study. Some lunch and a quick nap and I was back studying with some classmates then home for another snooze, dinner and probably a low impact walk before hitting the books again. Nothing beats working hard against the odds. Alpha and Out!