Fitness Update: 01/11/08
Wednesday when I was leaving the sauna a man approached me and introduced himself. We started chatting. I see R in the gym often. I usually see him in the sauna. I’m impressed with the intensity of his workouts. This is a man who began overweight, and now he is in bodybuilder form. I respect the fact that he didn’t use excuses to keep him from achieving his goals. He just did it. People like him inspire me to do more with my workouts. When we ended our conversation he told me I had a “perfect body.”
What is a perfect body? Heck I don’t know. I think I got what he meant. One of my goals is to compete and this year I’m focusing on turning that dream into a reality. My body is starting to look great for competition. Guess what? There is nothing wrong with being confident in your abilities. I believe we all need self confidence.
The excuses that kept me from focusing on figure competition were flimsy pathetic and I’m not going to use them again.Sure I’ve always been above average when it came to how my body looked physically. I worked at it. It definitely wasn’t magic. Over the past few months I’ve kicked up my exercise workouts. I’m kicking it up several notches. I know what I want, and I know what it takes to achieve those goals. I’m willing to put in the time. Whether I work out at the gym or work out at home I can still receive an excellent workout. Not only will I see improvements with my physique it also enhances my health. Guess what? There are still areas I want to improve even if it isn’t obvious to others.
Fitness: December Improvements
- Muscle gains (bigger biceps, more definition in back, legs)
- Increased definition in my arms and legs
- Increased definition in my abs
- Increase in weight lifting
I’m not using any supplementation or increasing the amount of protein I’ve been adding into my diet. However I’m still gaining muscle, and this body is vegan powered, baby! ;-) We don’t need as much protein as we think, and consuming protein to gain muscle mass is a myth. However, I’ve been flooding my system with whole foods, raw fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies, and I’m taking adequate time to rest. The amount of rest needed depends on the person. My body is fine on three to five hours of sleep.
My Thoughts
Chatting with R made me realize that even though I’m trying to achieve a goal, competing in a figure competition, I still need to appreciate where I am now. It’s also important to remember that we all do things at a different pace. Don’t compare yourself to others. Set reasonable goals that you can achieve once they’ve been attained, kick it up a notch. If you got sidetracked think of what is holding you back. Make appropriate changes. Pick yourself up and keep exercising.
Question: Regarding your exercise routine, what gains have you made?
[tags]exercise, vegan, muscle gains[/tags]