A Journey to Remember - The Past Couple of Weeks

Recently I have been pre-occupied with school. Being in my last year of University, studying has been one of my top priorities on my to do list. However, I know that I should have balanced my time properly rather than just focus most of my time studying, but with me graduating - hopefully - this year it’s better to have focused my time on school work. I did put in some time training within the past couple of weeks in-between studying as a break. Personally, it is important to take some time for yourself especially when you feel pressured, stressed or overwhelmed with what you are doing.


I am still working hard and pushing myself to become a bodybuilder and compete in MABBA Men’s Physique in October. Unfortunately I had to make a tough decision of dropping my coach due to personal reasons. I was fortunate enough to be able to have a coach to guide me if I had any questions or concerns about eating and/or training and I’m sure once things turn back around I would sign up with my coach again; possibly closer to competition time. During the couple of months of training I have seen a slight difference in definition. If compare myself from 2010 to now, you can see a big difference. If you would like to see that picture and read the blog please click here.

The workouts that I have been doing throughout this journey of mine have been tough as well as it has been pushing me to do better than performed previously. A workout that I constantly struggle with is doing pull-ups. Now just to make things clear, I am not talking about the pull-up diapers for toddlers or for the adults, I am talking about pull-ups or formally called chin-ups. Before starting my journey I use to hate doing pull-ups. I felt heavy (which I was) and I wasn’t able to pull myself up. Now I enjoy doing them, not only because I have to, but rather I want to be able to succeed in doing chin-ups consistently in a row. Probably last week or a few weeks ago I was able to do 10 pull-ups consistently without a break in-between or assistance (yes I use the assisted pull-up station). Having that sense of accomplishment and fulfilling doing chin-ups/pull-ups was gratifying to be able to do them.

(from 2010-top left; to present-bottom right)

Another workout that I continually struggle with is the bench press. For those who aren’t familiar with what a bench press is, it’s a workout that involves a flat bench (or incline/decline bench) with a barbell, which weighs at approximately around 40-45lbs. The point of the bench press is that it targets your chest by gripping the bar just at or further than shoulder width apart and lowering the bar towards your chest then pushing it up back to the starting position then repeating for a certain amount of reps. Starting out I bench pressed 40lbs, consisting of two 10lbs weight plates on each side of the bar. Afterwards I increased the weight each time by 5lbs. Currently I am able to do 100lbs, which consists a 45lbs and 5lbs weight plates on each side plus the bar. However, on my last set I failed to finish the set almost hurting myself. I was a bit embarrassed and felt like I want to give, but I didn’t. I still went to workout the following day starting with an incline bench press.

Although from trying to workout for years and not be able to loss weight to where I am currently is a big accomplishment for myself. I thought I wouldn’t be able to lose weight and become fit. I thought I would be unhealthy thinking that I am average or ‘fit’ when in reality I’m not. I still have a lot of gaining and training to do before being able to compete for the MABBA Men’s physique competition, but I know that I won’t stop in getting to where I want to be just like how you shouldn’t stop to where you want to be and what you want to become. It will take a lot of work, patience and time because nothing comes easy. If you want it, go for it because it may be the only opportunity for you to start achieving your goals.

A Journey to Remember - Week 4

Fourth week in since I started this journey. I find it interesting how much I have learnt about my body. I’m still learning and finding things about my body that I find quite interesting in terms of bodybuilding (if you thought otherwise you’re sick…lol). However, week four wasn’t the greatest out of the other weeks.

The beginning of week 4 started out pretty well. I was able to train and somewhat stay in my macros. However, I started to feel sick and weak as the week progressed. At first I neglected the thought of becoming sick because in my mind I’ll just sweat it out while I’m working out - not quite. I did sweat during my workouts, but it wasn’t enough. It's as if my body knew that the Easter long weekend was approaching and that my body’s cue was to go on rest mode, which it did. I ended up catching the flu to a point where I started talking I would end up coughing up a lung until somewhat losing my voice. My temperature had gone up and down during the day and into the evening where it did affected my sleep and of course prevented me from working out for 4 days. Now you probably think that it isn’t so bad missing 4 days, which can be easily be made up once I’m fully rested. True, but it did have an affect my strength preventing me to workout effectively.

During the time I wasn’t feeling well all I could do was rest; eat and sleep, eat and sleep and taking flu medicine to help recover. It sucked. When I started to feel a bit better where I was able to workout again (which was yesterday March 28) I noticed how weak I became. Yesterday’s workout end up being a push day. The workouts usually consist of incline bench presses, flat bench presses, shoulder presses, etc. However, when I started to workout I wasn’t able to preform effectively as I did before catching the flu. An example would be the incline bench presses. Before I got sick I was able to bench 75lbs plus the bar, which would be 45lbs, making it a total of 120lbs. Yesterday I was only able to do a total of 105lbs.

THAT’S A 15LBS DIFFERENCE!!! ALL BECAUSE I GOT SICK!!

I wasn’t that surprised but it was still a shocker. I also noticed the amount of weight I had lost. From being 157lbs or 158lbs I went down to 154lbs. Again, all because I got sick. Regardless of the lack of strength and the amount of weight I lost I still put in the time and effort into working out and thrive to build back my strength and weight back up. Also, any time put into working out regardless of how you perform it will still count as a workout so keep it up, you can do it just be patient and persistent don't give up.

I think after being sick I learned from week four the importance of keeping healthy. Yes, I know, it is easier said than done only because I had failed to keep being healthy resulting me catching a cold. I lacked sleep, kept up with eating but not within my macro count as well as lacked working out due to having caught the flu. I believe that I did blog about rest and the importance of resting, which I do realize now how much I do lack a lot. I can make an excuse that school gets in the way because I have to study for tests or I have papers to finish the next day but, it doesn't resolve the fact that I still do not properly rest. It’s also obvious though that sometimes it is hard to avoid catching the flu especially when exposed to others who are just getting over the flu themselves. Hence why it is important to take care of yourselves by ensuring you eat properly, have plenty of rest as well as exercise from time to time and you’ll see the difference in the long run. Don't quote me saying that you won't get sick if you follow what I say because there is a chance of still catching a cold or flu. Just make sure you take care of yourselves so you can prevent possibilities of catching a cold or flu and you’ll see your strength and energy being maintained enabling you to get through your day, which we can do together along the way. Let’s do this!! Remember “Keep Fit and Have Fun!!” (quote from BodyBreak)

A Journey to Remember - Day 3

Day three was progress day. Although I just started a couple of days ago (literally the past Monday) I feel like I made some progress when I started. As you may know that I started training to become a physique bodybuilder and compete at the MABBA Fall Classic’s. If I were to compare myself from last week until now I would have to say I made a slight difference in just a couple of days. You may be thinking, how can there be a difference when you literally started

THREE DAYS AGO?!

Well that’s a very good question because I asked myself the exact same question. For a couple of months now I have been consistently working out and making healthier choices to stay fit, and eat right. I’ve jogged, rollerbladed and weight lifted; cut artificial sugars, desserts, candies, and ate a lot of fruits, vegetables, and various proteins. So I was fairly familiar on what I had to do when I began training. Despite knowing what to do there is always room for improvement on top of what I had already know. I honestly thought to myself that I knew what to do when I was working out and making sure I was making the correct food choices yet I surprised myself in when starting training.

When I started the prep plan the past Monday I never knew how to monitor my macro intake. I always counted my calories just like everyone else would. Checking the nutritional facts on the product and seeing how many calories there were. Brian, my coach, told me not to count my calories but my macros. It was definitely an adjustment to what I was use to and I am continuing to learn how to count my macros. Fortunately, I have an app that is able to keep track of my macros (and calories if I wanted to count them) to make sure I meet my daily macro goals. I use the app called MyFitnessPal. The app is super convenient that I’m able to decide whether the food I’m about to eat or think about eating fits in my macros (wow I never thought I would actually say that, “fit in my macros”). I have used the app for a while even before training. I did look at the macros to see if I was doing well, but for the most part I checked out my calories more than macros.

I thought I knew what to do when it came to working out. I guess you can say that I was being conceited thinking I knew what to do however, I don’t and did not. I’ll admit that I need a lot of improvement on my workouts and pushing myself to “go hard or go home”. Nonetheless everything counts. Even if I don’t push myself as hard one day then I’ll go hard another time because slow progress it better than no progress at all. Since I started training I tried my best to push myself to go hard. I would not go hard to a point where I’m compromising my form, I would go hard where I know I am capable of lifting the weight as well as not compromising my form or push myself to lift heavy weights with good form. Again the quote comes to mind, “train like there is always a competition”which I do train as if there is always a competition and that competition is with myself. I find this quote motivating, for myself, because let’s face it we are our own worse critic, and we make tonnes of excuses to put something off. However, for myself, I will continue to push hard each training day and make my macro goals as if “there is always a competition”.

I think, regardless of me just having started my training and showing a slight difference in my physique shows that every little bit counts. I was actually messaging a good friend of mine, Kylie, who lives out in Toronto and was telling me about how she did not put in a really good workout. I told her to not think that it wasn’t a really good workout because every bit counts, which is true. No matter how heavy, or how much time you put into something a little bit comes a long way. It is encouraging to see people who are motivating and passionate about what they’re doing, not just in working out, but also work, school or life in general. I do hope that more people can be encouraged and inspired to continue to push through even if it is one small step at a time.

(If you're looking for progress pics I won't be putting them up just yet until there is a significant difference. I do apologize for not posting a few. I will post some next progress day so please keep coming back for updates on my journey.)