Merry Christmas Everyone!

In the eternal words of Noddy Holder; It's Chrrriiiiiiiisssssttttttmmmmaaaaassssssssss. Yes, pedant, I'm aware that's not the song I posted above but it's a catchy motto! For the record, Shakin' Stevens easily tops Slade as my favourite all time Christmas tune, I'm afraid. As does John Lennon's ' Happy Xmas (War Is Over)', Elton John's 'Step Into Christmas' and Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday'. But I digress...

I love Christmas. Christmas in our household is a site to behold and a pleasure to be a part of.

The day typically begins at an appropriate hour - Santa himself couldn't cut my sleep any shorter than it needs to be. I then get showered and slip into something special... clothes wise... not lingerie or anything! Then begins the imminent wait for everyone else to get ready. We then either head out or await the family depending on where we're spending Christmas. Once everyone's arrived, we normally take a stroll down the local for a drink and our bi-annual pool tournament between the families. Once we've lost, goddammit, we head home to sit down for Christmas lunch complete with hats and crappy Christmas cracker jokes.

Quite out of the ordinary, we don't exchange our presents until the afternoon after we've had Christmas lunch. And then a big deal is made out of the fact that everyone has to have a gift at once - to a point where the person codenamed  'Santa' (present hander outer) has to dig through the presents to find one for the person who hasn't currently got one to open! But I wouldn't have it any other way. As a kid, I used to find this quite annoying during the day when I hadn't got my brand new Action Man All Terrain Vehicle to play with, but the spectacle of everyone sat around giving and receiving gifts made up for it. Not to mention it gives you something to look forward to. I've never understood people who rush downstairs first thing in the morning -  especially as individuals rather than as a family - and proceed to tear into their presents without taking time to savour them, look at what other people have got or see the faces of your loved ones when they open the gifts you've bought them. For most, the day ends there. It's almost like they want to rush through the holiday they've waited for for so long. All too many people I know end up bored or sat online on Christmas Day after exhausting the festivities but that's not the case for myself! Once presents have been exchanged, piled up, hoards examined, thanks given and cats removed from playing in the piles of wrapping paper, the steady all-day drinking becomes a free for all and the real fun begins. The Wii is switched on and the board games come out - I have fond memories of playing Dunkin' Doughnuts with my late Nan when she was well into her late 80's - and after that it all becomes a bit of a haze. Other than flashbacks of having more people than places to sleep and makeshift beds made out of sofa cushions and blankets. Rinse & repeat for Boxing Day.

All that and so much more (I'm rushing through this!) is why I love Christmas. It just seems to be a day that everyone comes together to work toward the same goal; to celebrate with family and friends, have fun and have a jolly good knees up. 

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope today brings you everything you want and for whatever reason you celebrate Christmas - celebrate hard!

And to those who aren't around this Christmas, know that you're in my thoughts and in my heart.

xx

The Changing of Times (So long, 2010)

January: I am still reeling over the death of my last-living grandparent at the end of 2009. She was the only one I ever really knew; her husband died when I was a baby and my dad’s parents both died in the same year when I was only 11 years old. She was a hell of a woman - so strong, even into her 90’s – everyone feared one of her ‘clip round the ear’oles’. She used to say I was her favourite.
 

That same month K and I broke up. Although we were still ‘unofficially’ a couple right the way through to her eventual departure, it was the beginning of the end. I leave her house and get on the motorway in a fragile state of mind; I’m caught speeding by a mobile police van that, according to the documents, left that spot just 13 seconds after snapping me. That was a bad day. The fine arrived through my door not long after.

Fast forward a couple of months and we find my Dad in hospital with years’ worth of alcohol abuse finally catching up with him; his liver is shutting down. It’s touch and go for a while and we all ready ourselves for the worst. But eventually, after months of treatment, a stent installed inside him, litres of fluid drained from his abdomen, thousands of diuretics and other pills and strict orders that he can never drink again he pulled through. I think more than anything the hardest part was seeing my Mum like she was.

Back to K’s house; we’re exchanging letters and final kisses as she walks me to my car. We’ve just spent the weekend together pretending like this moment wasn’t coming. We visited a safari park and a zoo and took a random trip to some town in the arse-end of nowhere - but we found the fun in it as we always did. I can barely believe this is goodbye. I can’t actually comprehend that there’s every possibility that I won’t see this beautiful girl that I love so much ever again. I hold back wild marriage proposals in the hope that she’ll stay. I don’t cry. I get in my car and drive away. I was tortured by the memories of this day for months. I couldn’t believe I left. I hated myself for it. I thought of things I should of said; things I should have done; anything to stop her leaving.

The summer after she left was the lowest I’ve ever felt and I needed distraction. However, my best friend had taken off on his travels to the States and wouldn’t be back for a few months yet. I try to throw myself into work but in a country in the depths of recession I struggle to find any, and that which I can is nothing less than soul destroying.

It’s the end of summer and our family dog, Jasper, is fairly unwell. We do everything we can to make him as comfortable as possible but after a few weeks of his condition deteriorating it’s clear that we have to let him go. It hurts. I think of the 16 years we had him; we grew up together.

We’re now getting closer to the present day but things haven’t been much easier. I think about K every single day. Some days I’m fine, others I’m not. I try to avoid talking to our mutual friends for fear of hearing about her or being asked probing questions to which they could never know how complicated the answers are. I miss Jasper. I miss my Nan. And to top it all off, the Hornets had a horrendous 2009-10 season – not even making the playoffs - with talks of Chris Paul leaving to spread his wings elsewhere.

2010 did have its moments, though. I did some things I thought I’d regret but didn’t. I’ve had some nights out that will stick with me for life. I’ve been reunited with old friends; buried the hatchet with some and grown closer with others and I worked the best Fresher’s I’ve worked to date.

And such is life; where one door closes, another opens and through the bad times I found some good. For example, I excelled with my Martial Arts & MMA as being punched in the face sparring or hurting my hand breaking a brick didn’t seem so bad anymore. I was fearless and it showed in my improvement. However, the two biggest outcomes of all this year’s strife have been my gains in the gym and this blog. I channelled everything in to the gym with a renewed sense of purpose and drive to better myself. I researched the science behind everything and words such as ‘macronutrients’ and ‘hypertrophy’ became second nature. I ate smarter and trained harder; giving every session everything I could. And to this day I find motivation out of things which, once upon a time, would have weighed me down. You can read about that here.

Everything that couldn’t be smashed out in the gym, I would write about here in this blog. It was never intended to be public, let alone reach the level of views that it has done. I found when I wrote my troubles out I could take an unobstructed view of things and see what I needed to do to rectify them. This is my therapy. This blog has taught me a lot about myself. It also spurred me to create things such as my list of 30 things to do before I’m 30 and, knowing that people were reading it, a reason to start ticking them off rather than report back empty handed.

I also owe it to those bad times for giving me an incentive and the motivation to seek my own happiness rather than placing it in the hands of fate or someone else. I’ve taken life firmly in my grasp and will be fulfilling a lifelong ambition and venturing off to distant parts of the world very soon. I suppose I needed a kick to get me on my way.

I write this at a time that I’m finally letting go of the things which have haunted me. There was once a version of me that would have crumbled under the things I’ve been through this last year but I’m still here and I’m still moving forward. Come midnight on the 31st I will write this year off as experience and toast in a new year of adventure, self discovery and good times. I will walk into 2011 as a man who’s been through his own personal Hell but come out the other side stronger for it. I will walk into 2011 with a spring in my step, hope in my heart and an unrelenting anticipation of things to come. 

The Misadventurist's Internet Heroes 2010

Seeing as 2010 will soon be wrapping up, I figured I'd share with you some of my the wonders I've found, loved or laughed at over the last year. Will be adding more as/when I remember them, but if you have any suggestions - send 'em my way!

Enjoy!

Websites

Muscle & Strength - The website I've got all my workouts from, my nutritional advice, calculated my BMR's, read articles, researched supplements and more. The forum is filled with great guys and girls all very knowledgeable about all things fitness and they're more than happy to help with anything they can.

Twitter - Fell in love with Twitter this year! Facebook has certainly taken a back-seat with regard to my updates. Got talking to some lovely people and am provided with information tailored for me depending on who I choose to follow.

LolSnaps - Thousands of funny pictures, gifs and videos. Endless hours of entertainment. Open it up. I could click 'next' all day long, baby, all day long!

UKFDubstep - YouTube Channel for UKFDubstep. The best source for all the latest and greatest dub tunes.

Amusing Euphemism Generator - Exactly what it says on the tin. Excellent fun.

StumbleUpon - Can't even begin to think how many hours of my life I've whiled away on this site. In a nutshell, people find a cool site and register it with StumbleUpon. When you click 'stumble' in the top left you're taken randomly from site to site - normally finding something funny, interesting or plain awesome on each page. You can also sign up, list your interests and tailor the results you get, save your favourites, share them and so on. If you like it, install the toolbar, you won't regret it!

Videos

Other

TweetDeck - Excellent program I use for my Twitter updates. Various columns arranged efficiently next to each other for tweets, mentions, direct messages, trends and more. Can drag & drop files and photos & it will auto shortners URLs for you. You can customize it all and add extra columns if you see fit. It can also be synched with various accounts to post from multiple places including Facebook, LinkedIn and other social network sites. Plus much more. Essential software for any Tweeter!


Spotify - Can't go long without my music fix and I use Spotify every day. If you don't want to pay for Premium, get Spotify Open for 20 hours of music a month for free.

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

An amazing piece of writing I thought I'd share with you all. 

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence. 

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story. 

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit. 

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. 

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. 

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism. 

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass. 

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth. 

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. 

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. 

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul. 

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Dave's VIF Mass Building Routine

Link to the routine: Dave's Volume, Intensity & Frequency Mass Building Routine 

Recently, I started a new routine; The Power Muscle Burn or PMB, so I figured it best to write up my previous one while it's still fresh in my mind.

So straight to it - it's a mass building routine - how much weight did I put on?

20/08/2010        67.6kg

06/09/2010        68.1kg

11/09/2010        69.7kg

04/10/2010        69.1kg

07/10/2010        69.9kg

11/10/2010        70.7kg

15/10/2010        73.3kg

18/10/2010        72.5kg

24/10/2010        73.5kg

02/11/2010        74kg

07/10/2010        74.5kg

And now I'm hovering around the 75kg-75.5kg mark. That's an overall weight gain of 6.9kg, 15.2lbs or 1st1lbs in just 10 weeks (excluding 2 weeks where I was away in September). Very solid gains indeed. 

And for fun if we compare that to when I was at my lightest - 58kg - I have put on 17kg, 37.5lbs or nearly 2½ stone of solid muscle.

Measurements
But what about your measurements, George? Well I'm glad you asked. I've put 1" on either arm when relaxed, 1.5" on either bicep when tensed. And 0.5-0.75" on either tricep, also when tensed. I have also added just over 1" to my chest and over 1.5" to my quads. Overall, very pleased, though the expensive pair of jeans I bought recently are now preeeetttyy snug round the thighs.

Strength
And my strength? Here is a graph of the 'Big 3' (bench, squat & deadlift) and leg press over 8 weeks - I've yet to add weeks 9 & 10 but they all increase at an equally steady rate. All weights recorded are NOT my 1 Rep Max's (which are significantly higher) but weights I can lift for at least 3 sets of 6 repetitions.

All increasing. But numbers aside I'm feeling a lot stronger. Since that graph and the start of the new routine I have now bumped my squat up to 85kg for 4 sets of 5 repetitions and am well on my way to the 100kg milestone. My bench press is now over 60kg, Stiff Legged Deadlift is over 80kg and my leg press is over 250lbs/113kg. I also feel a lot more energetic, have a lot more confidence in myself both in the gym and outside of it, and am often complimented about 'filling out'. 

Fat Gain

Of course, as with most bulking routines there has been a degree of fat gain but keeping a fairly clean diet I have managed to keep those gains as minimal as possible. My bodyfat percentage has only gone up from 10% to around 13% or so, but I have subsequently lost ab definition. A 3-4 week 'cut' with some HIIT (high intensity interval training) and a calorie defecit will shed that, however, given my recent travel developments, I am tempted to continue my bulk for a few more weeks to gain more mass and then cut ready for the beaches in a couple of months.

Nutrition

For those interested in the nutritional side of things, I was aiming for 3497 calories a day, consisting of 150g of protein, 462g of carbohydrates and 116g of good fats, spread over 4-5 meals a day. Though typically I only ever manage around 3000-3200 calories a day before being too stuffed to eat anything else! 

I discovered how many calories I needed per day by working out my Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR (how many calories your body needs when not doing anything) and adding a calorie surplus to calculate my Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. The typical recommendation is to add 500 calories to your BMR. But everyone is different, so exercise caution here and add 10%. If you find that your not gaining 0.5 to 1lbs of body weight each week, then you can bump it up to 15%.

From those numbers you can then calculate your macronutrient or PCF (protein/carb/fat) ratio.

I rarely drink and I have cut most junk food out of my diet. I'll have the occassional biscuit or two but for those who knew me before, this is a vast improvement - I was a biscuit fiend. Not to mention chocolate... mmm chocolate. 

Supplements
I did a cycle of a Weight Gainer (which is pretty much equal parts protein and carbohydrates) and after that settled into standard Whey Protein - taken pre work-out, post work-out and in the evening before bed. I also took L-Glutamine for while to aid recovery and keep my immune system up but substituted that for a standard daily Multivitamin and Zinc if I felt under the weather. Recently I have also added BCAA's (branched chain amino acids) and Creatine Monohydrate to my supplement cycle to aid muscle growth and recovery.

Summary
This routine busted me through a plateau at the 66kg mark and put on a further 9kg on top of that. The workout changes every four weeks which keeps you interested and motivated but my favourite phase was certainly the first four weeks or 'volume' phase - the arm day was brutal! I loved it. 

The hardest part, as with any routine - bulking or cutting - was the nutrition. Getting my desired level of calories per day without eating bad or dirty foods was certainly a challenge. And I'm sure if I had managed a couple of hundred more calories per day I would've seen even better gains. However, I'm super pleased with how far I've come in just 10 weeks. I have recommended this routine to others and will certainly do so in the future. I don't doubt that I will probably come back to it myself at some point, too.

I'll update this log with pictures asap and do a few more comparisons for you.

Thanks,

G

You vs Them, You vs No, You vs Cant, You vs Excuses.

"Whether or not you win this thing, you've got to decide how you're going to walk out of here when it's all said and done. 'Cos the game is going to go on. And there's only one rule you're going to need to know about - there are no second chances. There is only this moment and the next moment. Every one of those moments is a test that you get to take one time and only one time.

So if you see an opening; tear into it. If you get a shot at victory make damn sure you take it. Seize that moment. That moment is a crossroads where everything you want will collide with everything standing in your way. You've got momentum at your back. Fear and doubt are thundering like a freight train straight at you. And all you got - the only difference between making history and being history - the only thing, the ONLY thing, you can count on at any given moment is you.

It's you vs them. It's you vs no. It's you vs can't. It's you vs next year, last year, statistics, excuses. It's you vs history. It's you vs the odds. It's you vs second place.

Clock is ticking - let's see what you got."

A little rambling on 'dreams'.

I find myself looking at people and wondering whether they are achieving the things they want to achieve or whether they are even taking steps in the right direction. 

In 50 years from now, will I look back on my life knowing that I’ve done what I wanted to do? Or will I get lost working a job I hate, just because I have bills to pay? Is that how a life should be lead? Born to scrape money together to pay bills? No. I don’t want to lose sight of what’s important to me; of the goals I want to accomplish and the dreams I want to realize. I hate the thought of a life spent just ‘getting by’ and just ‘making do’ with what I have.

I wonder how many people never even try to achieve their dreams as they don’t think it possible.  I wonder about the people who fantasised about becoming an astronaut or adventurer; a doctor or a vet; a fireman or a lawyer, but never even tried as they were told it was a pipe dream or a fantasy. Who are these people to stand in our way? To tell us that we’re no good? To put us down when they have no idea what we’re made of or what’s inside us – and that’s the stuff that matters; our passion, our drive, our commitment, our ambition.

Our lives should be spent constantly learning and striving to better ourselves and the world around us. Our lives should be spent doing what we love.

I know money is an issue. I know work is an issue. I know it’s more than easy to get ensnared in a dead-end job because it pays the rent or buys you the occasional luxury. But don’t lose sight of the things you held dear. It might take longer to achieve than you had wanted but don’t give up on it. You want to climb Mount Everest? Do it! Put a bit of money away a little at time. Take a climbing or survival class here or there. It might take years to come to fruition but none of that will matter once you’re stood on the summit at the very top of the world knowing you’ve achieved your dream.

Take your aspirations and form them into obsessions and don’t let them slip away. Come back to them from time to time and assess whether you’re closer to achieving them than you were the last time you checked. And little by little you will start to get the things out of your life that you had always wanted.

Workout Log - Back Progress

Just a quick log to show the progress of my back. Sadly I don't have any pictures from before when I was super underweight; I had no idea of the importance of a strong back then so didn't think to take any.

The first image is from just a few weeks ago (5-6?), so it's nice to see how far I've come in such a short amount of time. Second image taken today. Nice wallpaper, huh?

Certainly added a general 'thickness' and my lats have come along nicely too. I'm needing a bit more work on the mid/lower sections, but more definition will be visible after my cut/fat loss routine which I'll be starting in a couple of weeks.

And although not fully tensed in image one, you can see there's a good level of arm progression and overall arm thickness. That, combined with the lat development, I'll be packing quite the punch at this rate.

My back workout consists of mostly compound moves such as Pull Ups, Stiff Legged Deadlifts, Barbell Rows, Seated Cable Rows, Upright Rows, Lat Pull Downs and various presses.

To give you an idea of how I've progressed on this current routine, we'll use the Stiff Legged Deadlift  (AKA the Romanian Deadlift) as an example. It targets the hamstrings, glutes & lower back. For those who don't know what it is, it is as follows:

Stiff Legged Deadlift

Week 1: 40kg | 88lbs

Week 2: 50kg | 110lbs

Week 3: 60kg | 132lbs

Week 4: 60kg | 132lbs

Week 5: 65kg | 143lbs

Week 6: 67.5kg | 148lbs

Week 7: 70kg | 154lbs

Week 8: 72.5kg ! 159lbs

Week 9: 75kg | 165lbs | 11s7lbs

Although this specific variation of the deadlift targets largely the lower back, deadlifts (and all the variations thereof) are considered one of the 3 staple exercises for muscle building.

I have also seen the amount of pull ups I can do go through the roof.

I am confident that I am not only building muscle but injury proofing my back.

Oh and to finish, a nice 'hero' pose haha.