Switching on & off

This year while getting ready for my contest I found the competition was the only thing on my mind most of the time and in fact it probably consumed 90% of my thoughts. It was very important to me and I wanted to go well so this was only natural. I also found the support network around me fantastic in my friends, family and girlfriend. I have always trained with a lot of intensity and always put 120% into every workout but while getting ready for competition I was on the fine line of mental exhaustion also. By the time I was getting to the gym in the afternoon to complete my session I had been thinking about competition and training for the entire day and I was mentally draining and fatiguing as my mental stimulation was almost depleted. 

I quickly put some measures into place to fix this problem and this made me think a lot more about balance. I have adopted a system now of “switching on” & “Switching off” when I enter and leave the gym. This enables me to reserve all of my mental energy for my session and this also allows me to switch off after my session. Taking my mind of training and competition for part of the day only allows me to focus on it with more intensity when the time comes to train. 

So how do I switch on? This generally occurs before I leave home, as I am getting ready I will be listening to music while getting ready and as I look over my goals. The songs are specific ones, that are meaningful to me and during prep phase it is the song I will be posing to. When I get to the gym I get organized, I do not rush into things. I come up with a game plan, what I am going to do, how many sets and what order I am going to complete these movements in, I will gather any equipment I require then do my warm ups. This helps get me focused, I am prepped and ready and for the last 30mins or so all I have been thinking about is my future goals and how important today’s session is to obtaining that goal.

When I finish my session I will place the weights away after my last set, I will then do about 15 – 30 minutes of stretching, during this time I relax, I think about my workout and evaluate my performance, if needed I check my physique and I take this time to switch off. Sometimes I even lay on the floor with my headphones still in and just lay there for a minute and let my body relax and wait for my heart rate to come down . I leave my session and my thoughts about training in the gym when I leave. Learning how to switch on and off is something the world’s best athletes always talk about, the best in the world can do it in the blink of an eye and overtime and after a lot of practice one can get very good at it, but it is something I am finding very worthwhile and very helpful also and I myself will continue to practice this, give it a go next time you train.

Motivation

Motivation is described in almost every dictionary as the desire or will to complete. For many they begin a quest or a task with an idea, after this seed is planted motivation is generally at its highest however motivation is known to quickly fade unless certain experiences occur or things are put in place to spark that desire and keep it burning.

 Many people go through spates of training 3-5 days a week then they will stop for a month and repeat this cycle over and over again whilst no or very poor results are achieved.

I had a client of mine ask me how I stay motivated, what I think about and what drives me day in day out, and this made me think.

As you read in my “About me” section of my blog I have always been lifting weights competitively from a young age and what came with that was some very intense training also. Looking back now it was quite intense for someone of my age. I personally believe this taught me from a young age to be very determined as often I was training for competition 12 months away and I always had to break my goals down into monthly goals and weekly goals in order to reach my main goal of winning the desired competition. I have managed to link this to my body building in the same way.

 In my office I have three on boards, one has pictures of my friends, my family, my girlfriend and a whole host of fantastic memories, these are the people and memories I love which keep me motivated as I hope to make these people proud come the next time I compete. On the next board is a host of motivational quotes I have collected over the years that remind me of things that relate to me. On the third board are pictures of body builders I desire to emmulate,  these body builders are not just chosen on their size, symmetry or condition, They are all gentlemen of the sport, they are great role models and they train hard. 

Every day I also take the time to remind myself also of why I started training in the first place too, we often forget this over time but it’s important to never forget what got you started in the beginning. For me it was a desire to push my body and my mind and will power as far as possible and be the absolute best I could be whilst also finding it great fun!. The secret is to keep a blue print of those goals in your mind every day, you need to know detail behind the goal, you need to visualize yourself winning, you need to visualize yourself reaching that goal and the amazing feeling you will experience when you have achieved whatever it might be. You need to imagine your family and friends looking back at you proud and you need to imagine how you will feel inside when you prove to yourself you can reach your goals. 

When I am in the gym under a big squat or bench press, or when I am curling up some heavy dumbbells I think about my next competition and I imagine myself on stage and I imagine my body and the changes I will be making. I think that this session will be the one that makes or breaks it and I need to put 120% in and it has to be done, no compromises!

Practice this every day and you will be motivated every day, one last tip! Make sure you spend your time with motivating people. Not people that will drag you down.

TGIF

I hope everyone has enjoyed a solid week of training. 

For me this week has been superb in and out of the gym. Training has been fantastic and the quality of training really high, my sessions have been short, fast and heavy and my form has been 100%. I have had good recovery between my workouts also. Stepping into this off-season I can easily notice a difference in my recovery time, having more calories in my daily diet is making the recovery process a lot faster and I am able to recoup quicker ready for the next day which is far from what I found pre contest where the lack of calories had me feeling sore for days, my muscles were tight and of course I was drained of energy. 

My nutrition has changed slightly. Pre contest I was having minimal carbs with most of these positioned around my workout. I have tried to adopt something similar in my off-season as I find my body responds really well to good fats such as the monounsaturated fats found in almonds, and avocados etc. By having fats in my diet as an energy source I was able to reduce the amount of carbs I was having, this being said my coach instructed me to increase my carb intake just slightly this week and I have felt better for it. My main sources of carbs now are sweet potato and white rice.

I weighed myself this morning (Friday) before breakfast and I am sitting at 102kg, At this weight I still have visible abs and I will ensure I always see abdominals throughout this off-season as I don’t want to be putting on excess body fat at all. I will be changing my diet weekly if needed depending on how I am looking each week.

There is one thing I have learnt this year and that’s - Having a plan is great, but things change and if you are not open to changing the plan sometimes it can work against you. Your body changes just like the weather and you need to be constantly monitoring what you are looking like and how you are feeling and nothing is more important than listening to your body.

Mid Week

So it's Wednesday, the week is half done! This weeks training split has been as follows

Monday - Back

Tuesday - Chest & Abdominals Triceps in the Evening

Wednesday - Shoulders

Thursday - Biceps and Abdominals

Friday - Hamstring and Calves

Saturday - Quads & Abdominals

I trained Chest with Billy Cairns on the Tuesday which was great, Billy pushed me to my limit and we had a great workout together.

In terms of my training I am putting all my attention into my form and technique, ensuring all movements are carried out with precise form and precision. Since concentrating on this my weights of course dropped back to start with but I have found that over the past 6 months my strength has returned along with the precise technique and this has only allowed for better results. With good form this week I have already been hitting PB's back in the gym. Some of which included

A 145kg barbell row for 10 reps as well as 8 plates on the T-bar for 8 reps. I will see how I go coming into the later part of the

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My Body weight is currently at 102kg today before breakfast. My diet is not really any different from my pre-contest diet. I have upped my carb intake but not much else has changed. I dont really eat any bad food so I have been able to hold most of my condition which I am happy with. Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the week will bring!

I am looking forward to a good off-season. I have a great team of people around me at the moment that are all going to help me make some great growth in this off-season. I am getting ready for the 2013 season and I am working hard already to make my goals reality. 

At my last comp my contest weight was 93kg. I hope to bring a solid 100kg+ physique the next time I step on stage. Many people see the off-season as a time to almost relax a bit, eat some bad food and take some time to drop the intensity. Not me! I like to think there is no real "off-season" I am just not on stage at the moment, my food still gets weighed out to the precise amounts every meal, my protein intake is monitored so to is my carbohydrate intake and fat intake with overall emphasis on my overall calorie intake also.

In order to make the needed gains in muscle I need to ensure my body is getting the right amount of nutrients throughout the day, every workout counts so to does every meal!

Every week I plan to update you with my training progress as we plan to grow ready for a BIG 2013-2014!