A Journey to Remember - Week 2

The second week of my journey wasn’t the ideal workout week I would expect it to be. Mind you I was able to still workout and keep track of my macros however, things got in the way; mostly school.

As I’m going through this journey, I am completing my Bachelor of Arts degree in English. A lot have been asking what I am going to be doing with my degree once I graduate and my answer is to be teaching as an ESL instructor. Typically I would like to teach overseas because I have been hearing a lot of great opportunities as well as awesome experiences that friends, or friends of friends have told me. Now with me embarking on my journey in becoming a bodybuilder I would not let go of this goal. As I have mentioned in a previous blog that I would continue on with becoming a bodybuilder and compete in the MABBA (Manitoba Amateur Bodybuilding Associate) Fall Classics in October. I would also make it a career out of it as well. Being both a bodybuilder as well as an ESL instructor would benefit me in both situations. Being a bodybuilder would not only maintain my fitness and completing my goal of competing, it would show the motivation and the dedication I put into working hard in maintaining a healthy life. With ESL, I would be able to help individuals with their english reading, writing and speaking skills in order for those individuals to become successful with the english language. Both would benefit from one another in a way where I would continue to be a motivator to others in either fitness or the English language as well as set up goals for those individuals who want to make a difference in their lives, whether it is learning ESL or having a healthier lifestyle. I would make sure that I would balance both careers along with my personal life as well.

Enough of my goals and busy life what did I do during week 2. Week 2, like I’ve said, wasn’t the best week I had. I did workout and kept track of my macros, but it could have been much better. I didn’t push myself to my fullest during my workout however, I was still able to workout 4 out of the 7 days, which is still good. Also with keeping track of my macros I tried to maintain myself food consumption, but there were some days that I went over my fats, carbs, or protein. Regardless of missing a day or going over the macros, I am still continuing to push myself more each time to make sure that I bulk lean properly according to Brian’s plan that he gave me. So I encourage you, keep going, don’t stop, and believe in yourself with whatever you’re doing. Each one of us are able to reach for the goals that we set. All we have to do is continue to work for it, be motivated and find your reason why you set these goals and how you’re going to achieve them.

We can do it!!

A Journey to Remember - Thoughts II

During the past week ever since day 8 it has been hard to continue to be motivated and keep on track with everything (work, bodybuilding, school, friends, family, etc.). I have been trying to focus on the things that I need to focus on, however things always took priority. I know I am not superman and that I am unable to satisfy everyones needs. I have noticed over the week that I have set things aside for others rather than focusing on things that I need to focus on.

Most of my life I have help others before doing my own things. I have helped friends, family, coworkers and even a few strangers. Don’t get me wrong, helping others is the courteous thing to do rather than just not helping at all. A good way to be able to help and respect the other party’s needs, if you aren’t able to help out personally, is provide other options. Providing options who need help with something shows them that you are concerned about their needs and that you want them to be able to find the best solution to achieve whatever their needs are. Regardless if you are not able to help out personally giving possible suggestions would give an idea of other solutions. Nevertheless if there are things that prevent you from focusing on what you need to do try to help out even if it is suggesting other possible solutions. Whether you help out personally or provide other suggestions the result will be as equally rewarding.

As previously mentioned it was difficult to stay on track with training from things that I needed to do and focus on. I think from the past week I only trained 3 or 4 times when I needed to train 5-6 times a week. I was preoccupied with work and school, which I needed to focus on. One thing that I need to do is manage my time more wisely. It is obvious that we all feel as if time is limited. We usually think that we need more time or we do not have enough time when in actuality we have the right amount of time given. For myself, I tend to do more things when I already have a lot on my plate. I do realize that I should not do more things unless I am able to focus on helping others or doing other tasks that are outside my schedule. There is nothing wrong with being able to take more things on, however analyze what you have and ask yourself if you’re able to add more things on top of what you already have. I, personally, have just enough things to focus on at the moment where I know I am capable of achieving what I need to achieve.

Life can be tough when you have a lot on your plate. As for myself I try to go ahead one step at a time. If you feel extremely confident and go for that leap then go for it! As long as you know that life does have its challenges, however you only grow from them. The challenges that I face can certainly bring me down. Currently, I’m finishing my Bachelors degree in English under the University of Manitoba. You might say, “what are you going to do once you graduate?” well that’s a great question. I come to a point that a degree in English can go either two ways (from what I know). One is I can go into education and teach in a school setting or two go into editing and become an editor for a publishing company. However, with me journeying towards becoming a bodybuilder and competing in the mens physique competition I’d like to become a fitness trainer and help and inspire those who would like to change their way of living. What about my degree? I would still utilize my degree and have a certificate in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). This way I am not only a fitness trainer I would also be a teacher for potential ESL students.


As you can tell that I have a long path ahead of me. I’m finishing my degree, preparing for a bodybuilding competition as well as preparing to become a fitness trainer/ESL teacher. All of these goals are there for the taking. All I have to do is make sure that I focus, stay motivated and continue to work hard and I know that whatever goals you may have you can achieve them as well.



(Reference: Yu for allowing me to paraphrase his comments)

A Journey to Remember - Thoughts

Tomorrow will be officially one week that I began my training for the MABBA Fall Classics. I thought for this blog I would share my thoughts and feelings I had and currently have over the past week as I go through this journey of mine.

At the beginning of the week I was so excited to train for the MABBA Fall Classics. I was preparing myself to work hard, train hard, bulk up and everything and I was committed into doing this. I knew I have a lot of work to do because of how lean/skinny I am and that I need to bulk up if I want to be in a position to compete for the Fall Classics. Though I was preparing myself physically I didn’t mentally and I guess also emotionally prepare myself enough before making the decision to jump and train for a competition. I have thought about bodybuilding and thought about competing ever since my Kuya Larry (older brother) suggested it. I can’t remember as to when he suggested it, but I declined the idea when he did suggested it. However, the thought lingered in the back of my mind. The obvious advantage of becoming a bodybuilder is the look. I would end up having the chiselled chest, the big arms, abs, legs pretty much what almost every guy would want to have for themselves. Another advantage would be living a healthier lifestyle, such as eating healthier meals, making the right food choices, exercising and staying fit, etc. These are all great advantages of doing this but I never thought that there can be some downsides to bodybuilding as well, personally.

(not me; image capture google)

I found that within the week that I’ve started training I have noticed that I would have to mentally prepare myself also. As most people know I was pretty ‘big’ to a point that I needed to change the way I ate and exercised. During my ‘bigger’ days I always thought to myself how ‘big’ I was (when I refer to ‘big’ I’m referring to me being fat. I’m sugar coating it). I would literally be on an emotional rollercoaster making myself feel gross, disgusted, and that I’m nothing, which is sad and would make myself feel down. Once I started working out I started to feel better about myself. I started to treat myself better, rewarding myself on a good run that I’ve done or just pushing myself to become better. But there were still the odd times where I would still put myself down, even to this day. From being close to 200lbs and down to 158lbs brought an array amount of emotions. I always felt that I was still ‘big’, I felt that I didn’t look good, and I felt gross whenever I looked at myself in the mirror. Of course I was ecstatic to have lost an enormous amount of weight but, it was so quick that my emotions as well as my thoughts weren’t able to catch up when I lost the weight.

I am currently working on myself where I do tell myself that “I’m not fat” or “I am something”. I think for the most part I just need to love myself. All of my life I’ve always put others before my needs. I always thought, “if I put people first before my own needs it will make me happy because I have helped them with a problem that they had” however, I can’t make others happy unless I help myself first. Don’t get me wrong, helping others out if they need it is a great gesture, but in my situation I can’t help everyone out and satisfy everyone’s needs, I’m not superman (but I can dream I am, favourite superhero for the record). For the most part what I need to do is focus on myself first before helping others. Of course I can help others out whenever I can however, I need to do what is beneficial for me in order for me to grow.

This is why I’m doing this journey. It isn’t just because I want to look good in the summer and all year round, though it does have it’s benefits, but more so I want to grow and be able to achieve this goal that I actually want with the help and support of family and friends like Yu, Kuya Larry, my coach Brian and others. I am grateful that people from Instagram, Facebook, and other social media sites are so encouraging and it makes me feel inspired to go on and push forward onto this journey which I am sharing with everyone. I continue to be excited each day as I workout and train myself to do well in the competition as well as continue to motivate myself in loving myself and caring for myself so I am not on an emotional rollercoaster to a point that I suppress the feelings.

Thank you for all of your support, encouragement and inspiring words to help me push forward on this journey. I hope that I can be able to help inspire people around with my journey and encourage others to overcome any emotional states to grow and appreciate, care and love our own lives.

Time...

Ever since I have finished my final exams (April 15th was my last day) I’ve had so much time on my hands that I don’t know what to do with the amount of time I have. The past couple of days I have been watching TV and catching up with episodes I had PVR’d (is that even a word, I don’t know). However, I will use my time wisely and not waste any of it at all.

Since I have been in school majority of the time, I haven’t been spending time with my family, friends, and especially to God’s word. Now that I have a lot of time on my hands I will be able to do that and possibly more. I have missed a lot of things that I wasn’t able to do when I was constantly studying and staying on campus late into the evening. I look forward to spending more time with friends, family and soaking myself into God’s word and being able to take God’s word and express it through my own life.