A Journey to Remember - Update

It’s official, I am graduating from university…FINALLY! It’s been such a long road, but it was worth it. Lately I have been putting off blogging because I have been actively looking for a job that is within my field. I have applied within the city, outside the city, nationwide and overseas. One thing for sure is I am applying at various gym facilities so that I am able to kick start my long term goal of becoming a fitness trainer.

I have been thinking about my training and diet recently, and I see other guys and girls lifting, pushing, pulling and working up a sweat and getting what they want - physically - and I compare myself to them and seeing how hard I train. I can honestly say that I put effort into my training, but I I need to push harder as well as I don’t put as much effort into my diet. I know I have to bulk up however, I want to do it the right way. Some suggest dirty bulking, which is pretty much eating anything from fast food to buffets to home cooked meals. What I would like to do is more so bulk up and enjoy food. Needless to say, I have to make sure that I’m eating properly and making sure that I actually bulk up at the same time build up strength.

Training has been pretty good, if you asked me. With exams done, I’m able to schedule twice-a-day workouts; once in the morning and once in the evening, if I’m not scheduled to work in the evenings. This week I started working out twice a day and I have to say it's tough especially waking up early and working out. But once I’m at the gym I get pumped to start working out. Now, I have done some research to make sure that I don’t burnout from working out twice a day. An article from bodybuilding.com advised to workout twice a day for two weeks then workout once a day the follow week, which is understandable. Reading the article was helpful because I would've worked out twice a day everyday to a point that I could possibly burnout. I think it's important to let your body recover from intense workouts in order for your muscles repair from the wear and tares.

Reflecting upon training, dieting as well as my life has made me realize that nothing can’t be achieved.  There may be some obstacles that may come their way but, the obstacles can always be conquered and be one step closer to your goal. For myself, being able to graduate from a university is a short term goal. I still have goals where I can use what I’ve learned in university and apply it in the work force. Also with bodybuilding regardless it being leisure, I am still continuing to build and prep for the competition and becoming a fitness trainer in the near future. There are many options and opportunities to grow for each person. One thing for sure is do it for the right reasons by making the right choices that come your way.

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 - 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.

A Journey to Remember - Day 4 & 5

Day 4 was a week when I decided to hire Brian as my coach and build muscle to compete in the MABBA Fall Classics as well as it was rest day. It’s surreal that I made the decision to bodybuild and compete in a competition. It’s as if I’m still dreaming and I’m still deciding whether or not to do this, however I am doing it and going through with my decision. It was nice to have a rest day after training pretty hard the three days. Rest days are nice, but I do still have to work harder in order to build more muscle and bulk up a lot if I want to be where I want to be. I know it sounds harsh and I should not be so hard on myself, however I think the reason as to why I am so hard on myself is because I don’t want to give up and it’s a way of motivating myself to keep going and to push through.

Day 5, hypertrophy push was interesting when I was working out on this day. Usually I don’t have a problem with working out, but for some reason I was not able to do well in my opinion. The workout plan called it to be all push, which consisted of incline and flat dumbbell presses, chest crossovers, etc. However, there was one workout that I had to do, which was the rope face pulls. I didn’t question the fact that it was on a push day, maybe it’s because the following day was a pull day. Regardless I still did the workout. When I was doing the rope face pulls I did notice that I’m stronger on my pulls rather than my pushes. This was really interesting and very odd. I’m not sure if it is just me, but I always thought I was stronger on pushing rather than pulling and I was wrong. To give an idea of what I mean on my bench press I can bench two plates (one of each side) of 30lbs plus the bars, which is 45lbs making it a total of 105lbs. With the rope face pulls I was able to pull 110lbs. Mind you rope face pulls consist of using a cable machine. Regardless of the machine my pulls are a bit stronger than my pushes, even if it is just a difference of 5lbs from the example. Nevertheless I’m still improving and plus its only been 5 days since I started.

So far in my journey I have noticed a few things. One is the amount of food I have to consume in order to reach my daily macro goal. Second my push exercises need far more work than my pull exercises. Third, I have a long way to go. Although these seem very minor, they are big changes that I have to make in comparison to what I was use to during the summer and into fall and winter. I am continuing to learn as I go into my second week making those tweaks in my workouts. Going into my second week what I’ll do is I’ll push myself to workout hard on both push and pull days but I’ll workout harder on my push days. Also I’m a little confused as to what hypertrophy days are. I guess I need to do more research.

But I do have a question. Do you find that your push exercises (i.e. pushups, triceps, etc.) are weaker than you pull exercises? Also what motivates you in situations? It doesn’t have to be working out but in other scenarios such as assignments, work, goals you want to reach. 

Let me know write a comment. I’ll appreciate all submissions and reply to each one.

A Journey to Remember - Day 1 & 2

As of right now it has been two days since I started working out and familiarizing my prep plan that my coach - Brain Duaqui - has given me. I have to say that I never realized how little I ate during the past few months. It definitely has been pushing my body to not only consume more food but also to use the food that I consume into fuel to workout better.

The day I received my prep plan from Brian I was pretty pumped. I read everything over a couple of times just to make sure that I understood everything that I had to do leading to the competition. Two quotes that struck me when I was reading the plan was, “There is no such thing as dirty foods” and “Train like there is always a competition” (Duaqui). These two quotes really stuck with me because I always thought that in order to be built, fit, and….BE BUILT you had to eat correctly as well as workout moderately. But to understand that “there is no such thing as dirty foods” blows my mind. Of course you would have food in moderation and be food cautious about what you’re having however, you are not restricted to just eating greens, chicken breast, tuna, salmon, etc. you are able to have other options that are able to benefit you and your body. As well as with the other quote, “train like there is always a competition” gives me the motivation to train everyday as if there is a competition. I wouldn’t go into the gym and compete with a guy that is squatting 4 plates of 55lbs on each side, no, I’m only competing with myself from what I did previous. For example, if I did 45lbs plates on each side of the bar one day then I would challenge myself to add more weight. Both quotes I will be holding to continually motivate myself in pushing through.

On my first official day I was pretty excited but nervous at the same time. I felt as if I was relearning everything - eating and exercising - all over again. Luckily I have a few workout buddies like Yu and others, as well as Brian my coach who are able to help me out if have any questions or problems with training and/or what food to consume. What kind of caught me off guard was the amount of food that I had to consume. I was mentally prepared to lift a lot of weight but I was not prepared to eat the amount of food that I have to consume. I became so use to not eating so much from when I was slimming down over the summer and now I have to eat pretty much double the amount of carbs and proteins than what I use to eat.
As far as working out on the first day it was a pretty new workout program that I was doing. The program that  Brian gave me was different than what I was use to. Usually I would focus on a group of muscles for example, I would focus on chest with triceps or I would do abs and shoulders. The program was comprised of power push and pulls and hypertrophy push and pulls. I am not going into much detail about it but I am sure a lot of people recognize this form of working out. When I started  I noticed that my body was not use to the program. I kind of felt like I was working out for the first time all over again, but instead of giving up like I have done in the past, I kept going.

On my second day I noticed that my body was kind of recognizing what I needed to do. It was interesting because from only one day my body was recognizing things that I had to do such as prep food and workout. I’m still having a bit of trouble when it comes to food consumption though. Most know about counting macronutrients or macros. I am still fairly new to the concept because I always counted my calories rather than my macros. Now that I have to actually count my macros I have to make sure that I meet the goal amounts. Working out however, is enjoyable. I always get pumped up when I get to the gym or even before I go to the gym; it’s as if I get a boost of energy before hand and actually workout. Once I am at the gym I’m in the zone. When I am at the gym I am focused on what I need to do and what I need to work on, I don’t waste time, which really bugs me when I see a number of people just sitting there for 5 minutes or more. Don’t get me wrong you need rest, but don’t comprise your workout. Rest for 1-2 minutes then go back at it, unless you have some occurring pain. Regardless of that I enjoy working out.

As of right now I am still currently getting use to the program that Brian provided me. The workouts are difficult only because I’m pushing and pulling weights that I have not tried attempting before. I am glad that I can have people around me to help spot just in case I cannot handle the weight. So far, I’m enjoying the program and I know I need to work harder more and more as days pass and I progress because typically I want to have a body like Ryan Reynolds but in order to achieve that I have to “train as if there’s always a competition”, a competition with myself to do and be better than before.