Best thing about Journaling Your Workouts (and Nutrition): Accountability.

The power of journaling...what a way to really get yourself accountable in the endless journey to fitness. Never really caught on the journaling/workout log approach until actually doing one at Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training Site. Read a few friends' blogs today which I was thoroughly impressed with quite honestly. Very simple, very down to earth. Very inspiring just knowing what it took them to get where they are and how they just walked towards the sunset and carried on. Awesome, powerful stuff. You guys are awesome people.


Anyway, onto other things. Had another great workout this morning...c-i-r-c-u-i-t t-r-a-i-n-i-n-g! Did 10 cycles of a unique body weight circuit that I really enjoyed doing. Eats have been excellent today (yesterday's dinner really killed me though).

Got to get back to getting accountability back on the nutrition side. It hasn't been ideal but this past week, I've slowly been getting back on track here which is good.

Tomorrow I'm pretty excited. Why? My other true passion: Volleyball! Will be hooking up with another Doctor tomorrow for a good session of volleyball. So after work, it's off for a good cardio session. Hopefully, TT has conditioned me enough that I don't poop out. Lot of good players I understand will be there. Haven't played in years so it will be interesting how this turns out.

More Great Quotes from the Dragon....

“I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. I cannot blindly follow the crowd and accept their approach. I will not allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.”

Awesome! Never limit yourself and be open to new things and discoveries….if anything, it does help mental fortitude in life’s daily challenges!

Here’s another great one

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”

I’ve always believe that we do tend to take a few steps back but with the intent to always move forward…always. Don’t look too far ahead, when there are things right in front of you that are far more important in life.

2nd Turbulence Training Transformation Contest starts May 1st!

Ok ya'll...want motivation, win a wealth of great health and some nice cash prizes for your efforts if you win? Look no further than the 2nd Turbulence Training Transformation Contest which starts in a few days...click here for more information and details...

You want to make a difference to yourself, your family, your dear friends? Rock it and join the contest!!!!!!! You simply can't lose.

Andy

Abs Update for April 20-26

Great workouts this weekend...did some great circuits with some core strengthening workouts which was good. Highlight of the weekend was a family bike ride we did under 81 degrees of heat. Biggest challenge here was with the elements (it was super hot today. Hydration was important! Luckily we packed a few nice iced water bottles with us! Whew!). Topped off our Sunday with a nice lunch and a movie that afternoon...The Forbidden Kingdom is one helluva movie which I strongly recommend! A+ across the board! Wife and I love Jackie Chan movies and were surprised our 3 year olds (who we took with us for the ride) loved it too!!! Nice to see them pay tribute to the great one, the Divine Wind - Mr Bruce Lee in a subtle "little" way. I also like the little mention of water and the cup analogies, almost similar to the one I mentioned here in my blog a few days ago!!!! Great movie!

Here's a progress pic of my abs for the week of April 20-26. Gettin' there!!!

Commercial Gyms vs Home Gyms...is there really a debate here?

Ok ya'll...today's workout was a bit different today from the norm that I've been doing in recent weeks - I went back to the gym today for a pretty nice chest workout. Yup, my good friend and workout buddy called me last night and asked if I wanted to workout with him so I obliged. Talk about getting your chest getting fried...whew! Finished it off with the normal EPOC approach to cardio. Felt really good.

Hitting the gym again really was refreshing. To see alot of old faces early this morning was nice to see...but with the old faces I still saw the same old routines...I still cant understand the reason behind it all to this day. But again, I'm not really sure what the goals are for most of them but I can't see any logical reasoning behind it sometimes - because they've been doing it for so long.

So it was in and out in less than 40 minutes for us and we headed back home.

Which leads me to this question:

Commercial gyms vs Home gyms...which is better? I have the luxury of both worlds, however at home, I really have to improvise alot of things on the fly - and not everything is state of the art. At the gym - they are at your disposal. However, the reason I like the home gym is because I like to workout in "closed quarters"...I can focus more on the task at hand without the distractions a commercial gym would have (guys and gals - admit it! There are plenty of distractions to keep you from staying focused. I'll be the first to admit that. :) ) But even at the gym, I really never ever seem to look over my shoulders to see what guy A is doing or gal B is wearing or even really care about what goes on quite honestly; that's not why I go in the first place. But that's primarily why I go in the early times of the morning...because that's where I feel alot of freedom to move if you will. I remember one time, I went to the gym at exactly 4 AM and all that was there was me and the janitor! I felt like a kid at Toys R Us who just won a free shopping spree. I was like: look at all these wonderful toys!!!!! But as soon as 5 am came around, here came the flood of people. Fortunately, I was already on my way out thankfully.

Don't get me wrong about commercial gyms, it's a great place for variety and the best option for me when home workouts become a little monotonous (just not the intensity of course)...

At home, it's a whole different beast. It's almost like a sanctuary for me if you will. I get more satisfaction working out at the confines of home than anywhere else. There's less time required to get your butt up, get into your workout gear (as well as your work clothes), start your car and head out - that takes alot of time. Also, having to cram your workouts in right before work at a gym setting really makes you feel youre pressed for time. If I had the financial means, I would make my garage complete of all sorts of workout equipment! Good thing is, not much is required for me to do my workouts at home either.

A fact of life is this: life absolutely does get in the way of many things (especially as working parents) - it's always recreational for me but always viewed my best workouts were at home and if anything - with a good kick in the butt you can still manage to crank out a good workout in 20-30 minutes tops with merely body weight training and a few dumbells at home - and that's the truth! Not giving up the commercial gym however. Simply knowing it's there is re-assuring that things don't get too stale.

Just click on this link for more information on some hardcore workouts!

"Be Water My Friend..."

Another great motivating quote from the great Bruce Lee today getting up this morning:

"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend."

A good parent, a good husband, a good friend, a good co worker, a good workout buddy - you are whoever you want yourself to be if you put your mind to it.

Did a Bodyweight Circuit that completely gasped the living air out of me this morning...and it was off taking care of some errands with our little baby boy who had his 1 year check up with his Pediatrician this morning (1 year immunizations and a blood test...poor dude was a freakin pin cushion today!) and I was very impressed that he didn't even cry!!! I guess that's his way of saying: "No pain, no gain, Dad!". Took part in his first haircut that afternoon too! He got his very 1st certificate of his young life: A certificate of his first haircut with his own hair in a small ziplock for a keepsake! Mom was proud of course. Of course the cameras were rolling as one of the highlights of our day was occuring right before our eyes...

Later this evening (a few hours before this post)...I did an ab circuit of 5 different exercises to finish off the day.

"Be water my friend."

Andy

"Springing back" in the Spring...

More than a week of no workouts...today was another good day...slowly getting it back together again with a brief but intense workout at home today. Eats have gotten back on track the past few days now. Starting to get better on the nutrition side again as well. To get some time to recover from the flu and just resting out here really has it's benefits. I somehow feel recharged and stronger. Must be all the carbs I ate the past week. No fret though...it'll come back in no time for me. Just taking a break from any serious conscious nutrition is all and kind of just kind of getting things together again.

It is always important to change up things every 4 weeks...I think I was 6 weeks into it before I got sick. Also, I have changed my approach here with workouts for a few weeks just for experimentation purposes is all and so far so good.

I was able to do the Pistol Squat today!!! Yes!!! Used a 12 lb medicine ball and I surprised myself when I did them today. It took almost 4 months to get this down. Another goal accomplished for the personal record books. :)

Anyway, spring weather in San Diego was a good 61 degrees, clear skies, nice wind - so I got my Schwinn Trailer, hitched my boys in and hopped on my Trek for some fun in the Spring San Diego afternoon sun with a leisure bike ride for added cardio and hit some trails around the neighborhood. Lot of uphhills here again which was good. We hit a few stops and just enjoyed some of the views along the way. Stopped at a park (there's tons of parks where I live) and let them play a little as I played hoops with a basketball I took with me in the attachment as well. Speaking of hoops, a doctor friend of mine who works at UCSD Hospital here in San Diego is a huge basketball fan (we love the Lakers)...he was so into March Madness and now that the NBA playoffs are up and running...he asked me and a good friend of mine if we were interested in joing him and his other doctor buddies for some pick up basketball during the week (once or twice a month is all nothing big). I was all for it so let's see where this goes...I could definitely use some of that for leisure cardio on days when I don't train even just for fun. Nice for him to ask us though!

Spring time...Summer is just around the corner, too! Can't wait to get rolling with some Boogey Boarding again here soon as well.

Just more motivation for me to get that defined, ripped 6 pack...sigh!

Andy

My first ever video.

80% recovered from a "horrific" past week or so...on top of what I did this morning, I was bored so I thought I'd demonstrate a modified pull up (in my own humble way) that I don't know if this is similar to Rob's pull up... What sucks about this is this was my 4th attempt at this in less than 5 minutes. I already did 3 sets of 8 as it was...the first one was a trial, the 2nd one had my shirt off (I'm a shy dude..hahah) and the third one...my kids were running around. Sorry if it looked like I was pooped (actually I was)....:)

At least I got some back work done today!!!

First Ever Turbulence Training Transformation Contest in the wraps!

Wow...congratulations to all the winners of the first ever TT Transformation Contest! It's truly an inspiration to be a part of such a wonderful group of people at the tt forums. Hard to believe I now feel somewhat connected to alot of the TT members from across the globe all with the same fitness goals and aspirations...Again, very proud of all the winners and all the runner ups, as all the other contestants who participated in the first ever TT Transformation contest. Personally, they will all be friends for a lifetime for me. Craig does have another in the works so for those who want to take a shot at it...you have nothing to lose but that unwanted body fat!


Anyway, feeling good today (80%) so I did a HIIT with a little ab work I did on my own today. Cough is pretty much resolved and should be up and running for sure tomorrow. I honestly do not know if I blew the whole TT April Workout I started considering all the stuff that transpired more than a week ago...Anyway, refocused and ready to rock. Contemplating different workouts and routines so we'll see what I do soon.

"My strength comes from the abdomen. It's the center of gravity and the source of real power." - Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee...who doesn't know this guy. An icon in the Martial Arts industry and a stud of a man with great ideals and philosophies in life. How can one man as lean as he was yet be as strong as he was? He had a killer core like no other I've seen and he always seemed to lean to the core as the basis of overall physical power and strength. I agree.

Again, I would have to think his ideals of a strong core was way before the view that core training became mainstream...

His down in the basement training was way before that of workouts/training that we see today. This guy truly personified the importance of fitness as well as the importance of living a healthy lifetstyle out of the big screen - his results were made in the gym. His ability to move like a cat, punch and kick with unbelievable power was always a treat for me watching his movies on Betamax back in the 80's.

He is an ispiration to all and my first personal motivational icon in my blog to keep me in track.

Awesome party for my youngest son's 1st birthday...great to see alot of friends and family again. It's amazing to see my son grow so quickly in just a years time. What a blessing it is to be a parent!

The entire week last week I've been down with the flu (and other things) unfortunately so training has taken a back seat for now. It is still lingering to this day with a bad cough. No excuses here but I'm a Nurse and I know better when to take a break from any type of workout to nusre an ailment like this. Not as bad but I won't be pushing myself too much this week so I can get back into the swing of things in full stride and with 100% focus. Only take a look at the Bruce Lee picture above if you want to see "focus". 2 steps back here somewhat but always with the intent of looking forward...


Andy

My current motivation: to get the elusive 6 pack!

I've been off training for almost a week now for personal reasons...had time to play with here so I started workoing on my blog...Here is a recent picture of my Abs take only a few weeks post contest and right before starting a new turbulence training program for April, 2008...Hope I get those abs defined a little more here soon. What more motivation can you ask for really? Everybody wants a set, right?