WE LIKE TO MAKE THINGS MORE DIFFICULT THAN WHAT THEY REALLY ARE..

Things are more simple than what we think. They truly are, we just like to makes things difficult for ourselves. For some unexplainable reason, it makes us feel better. We like to believe that we have achieved more by making our lives difficult than by sticking to the old basic rules which actually work best most of the time.

The best example is through the diet and training.

Most youngsters that come up to me, shit I said youngsters, maybe I am getting old and wiser  Anyway some of these kids come up to me all stressed out about their diet and training telling me some crazy-ass combos. Sometimes I can’t help but laugh because I was like that once so in a way I understand them. But what I tend to do is sit and explain to them that everything needs a balance; training, diet and life in general otherwise everything falls apart.

In terms of your diet, you should always add protein carbs and fat in your meals and adjust them throughout the day. Morning should have more carbs, that goes for the post-workout meal and towards the end of the day, limit your carbs intake and add more veggies and same more good fats. It’s pretty simple really. And make sure you always listen to your body. If you are hungry, just eat, don’t wait that extra hour because its written down but don’t go crazy, remember keep that balance!

As for the training, I am a firm believer in strong compound movements for the ladies and of course for the guys. But don’t go crazy, keep in form, push yourself to your limits but don’t injure yourself at the same time. To be honest, I like to go a bit crazy every couple of weeks and ‘think’ out of the box and do same intense reps and sets just to shock the body, but even then I keep a balance. I do it for a week then switch back to the type of training I was doing before.

As for my supplements, it’s also pretty straight forward. When I hear the youngsters tell me what they take, I hear some crazy shit, sometimes they need a good 15mins to tell me what is in their cabinet and I need to go home and research most of the new stuff they have because I have never heard of it. What we shouldn’t lose sight of is the fact that we never stop learning; no matter how much of an expert you are in your field, there is always room to learn and take in more knowledge. You’ll actually be surprised to know that sometimes you can learn so much even from a person who hasn’t been in the game for so long! So sometimes just a back seat, listen and learn!

At the end of the day, Rome wasn’t built in a day. The same applies to reaching your goals; you have to be patient and more importantly focused. That six-pack unfortunately won’t form over night. That’s why the trick to reaching your goals is believing in yourself and never give up no matter what anyone says. Be consistent, train like a dog in the gym but at the same time remember to have a positive and humble outlook on life and I guarantee you the rewards will come your way. The sky is the limit so aim as high as you can and want!

Below I will give you guys a rough idea on how I train/eat and what supplements I take. Remember nothing is set in stone so eating/training/supplement intake may vary from day to day.....

MY DAILY MEAL PLAN

MEAL 1

40-60G WHEY ISOLATE

WITH

75G-100G OATS

OR

10 EGG WHITES 2 EGG WHOLES

WITH

200G-300G POTATO

BROCCOLI

ON THIS MEAL ITS HOW I FEEL AND HOW HARD OF A WORKOUT I HAVE IN FRONT OF ME , IF I FEEL I NEED MORE ENERGY AND A BETTER PUMP I EAT THE WHITE POTATOES WITH EGG OTHER WISE I JUST STICK TO THE OATS AND WHEY.

MEAL 2

WHEY ISOLATE 40-60G

WITH

FRUIT OF CHOICE

I PREFER EATING STRAWBERRIES OR PINEAPPLE BUT THAT'S JUST ME ANY OTHER TYPE OF FRUIT IS FINE.

MEAL3

75G-120G RICE UNCOOKED

200-250G EITHER FISH/LEAN PORK/TURKEY/BEEF

GREEN SALAD

PERSONALLY I LIKE TO ROTATE THE PROTEIN ONE DAY PORT OTHER BEEF ECT ECT KEEPING IT A VARIETY SO IT DOESN'T GET BORING

MEAL 4

10 EGG WHITES 2 EGG WHOLES

200G-300G POTATO

BROCCOLI

MEAL 5

WHEY ISOLATE 40-60G

FRUIT OF CHOICE

MEAL 6

75G-120G RICE UNCOOKED

200-250G EITHER FISH/LEAN PORK/TURKEY/BEEF

GREEN SALAD

MEAL 7

40G-60G WHEY CASEIN

I NORMALLY DRINK THIS SHAKE 30MIND BEFORE I GO TO BED

SUPPLEMENTS I USE

• ·      4000MG VIT C A DAY
• ·      1 MULTI VITAMIN PACK A DAY
• ·      4000MG-5000MG OMEGA 3-6-9
• ·      PROBIOTICS
• ·      GLUTAMINE
• ·      BCAA
• ·      WHEY ISOLATE
• ·      WHEY CASEIN

MY  TRAINING PLAN

WEEK 1-3

REP RANGE 8-12 REPS

USING 1-2 COMPOUND MOVEMENTS PER WORKOUT

KEEPING A QUICK TEMPO

TRYING TO LIFT AS HEAVIEST TO FAILURE IN GOOD FORM AND NO INJURIES

WEEK 4-5

REP RAGE 10-100 REPS

USING SUPER SETS COMBINED WITH REST PAUSE TO REACH HIGH REP RANGE

QUICK TEMPO

MEDIUM –HEAVY  WEIGHT LIFTED

WEEK 6-8

REP RANGE 8-12 REPS

USING 1-2 COMPOUND MOVEMENTS PER WORKOUT

KEEPING A QUICK TEMPO

TRYING TO LIFT AS HEAVIEST TO FAILURE IN GOOD FORM AND NO INJURIES

THIS IS A ALSO A ROUGH TRAINING PLAN OF WHAT I DO HOPING YOU GUYS GET THE 

IDEA,

LOVE PEACE AND BIG MUSCLES...

FEAR THE LIGHT NOT THE DARKNESS

Fear the light not the darkness, as it is our ability to shine and become powerful that intimidates us the most. 
We are scared because we know we have the ability to become powerful beyond measure. We know that if we push ourselves we HAVE the strength to better ourselves in all aspects of our lives. Yet this creates an undeniable fear inside of us. But why do we fear this ability? We fear this strength as we are not really entirely sure how we should act when we do acquire such a power. What happens when we reach that goal, then what? Is that it? Do we push ourselves more? More importantly, what happens to us in regard to the relationships we have with others? Do those change? Will the people around us, either our close ones or just simple acquaintances treat us in the same way?

As children, we all shined, yet the older we got, we slowly began to lose that shine. This shine began to dim because as adults we got wrapped up in our everyday stressors and we almost viewed this shine in a pessimistic light. However, it’s entirely up to you whether you want to keep that candle shinning bright. All you have to do is just listen to your gut feeling, chase that dream and make it happen. If you know what you want, what your heart desires, go get it. We all have the potential to excel beyond our wildest dreams, so why should your candle light be dim when others around you are blazing?

Love peace and big muscles

EVERYTHING IS MEANT FOR A REASON........

Coming back to cyprus was a big shock to me after the experiences I had from last year. I wasn't really planning to stay i was just over here to spend Christmas and new years with my family and then i was off again.

But as most thing in life that are planned don't go as they should and other things in my life were meant to happen which looking back now after how many months really helped me for the person Imo now.

The most annoying thing was when i just came back was every body was asking me for that pro card how come you didn't get it why did you come 3rd at the Arnold Classic Europe, you should of places better you need to do this and that and to tell you the truth it was making me more and more annoyed and in my mind i was screaming ....stop talking about this subject!!!!! i just came here to chill with my close friends and family stop talking about this .

But now looking at things it wasn't meant to be. Because i had to live some things  first and meet certain people which would make me a even stronger person so when the time is right i will get it and use it to my full advantage for the challenges i would had ahead of me. But at that time the people I met and i didn't realize what in-packed they would have on me in the future in a positive way.

Yes i did end up drifting away and going off track with my diet training late night also drinking a bit too much.... skipping workouts  and meals, waking up late ect ect. But it wasn't a bad thing at all i was living (normal type of life)which these people had an in-packed on. And after all this it did help me realize who i really am, also made me a stronger person mentally and physically even thought they don't even know it.

Would i do it all again hell yeah im a stubborn f**k never regretted a bit of that part of my life actually looking back at it i do get a smile on my face every so often

So the lesson of this short blog is........well i think i leave it to you guys to figure it out.... :)

Love peace and big muscles.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK: Cheesecake

I'm feeling a little sweet lately so this week, my recipe satisfies the craving without the guilt.

CHEESECAKE SEMIFREDDO

1 jar of sugar-free marmalade (flavor of choice)

1 packet of Low-Fat Digestive Bisquits

1/2 stick of margarine

1 packet of low-fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Hand full of walnuts (or almonds)

The Crust:

Crush the bisquits. Soften margarine, and add to crumbs. Mix until pasty. (Sometimes, less margarine may be required to achieve desired texture). Spread paste onto a 9x9 inch pan.

Filling:

Soften cream cheese and add walnuts. Fill crust with mix. Spread marmalade to taste on top. Refrigerate for at least one hour or until firm.

Enjoy!

Love and Peace and big muscles.

Off-Season: A Discussion

Bodybuilding, as a competitive sport, is not even 150 years old. While the practice of building muscles for various purposes dates back to the ancient Greeks, we have a long road ahead of us in learning the best ways to develop our muscles safely and as effectively as possible. Bodybuilders don't have the advantage of thousands of years of knowledge and development of techniques. We have to combine techniques with new information on how our bodies work, and quite simply, a discussion of what works and what doesn't from people who have been there, done that.

Off-Season is an important time for bodybuilding, because if done incorrectly, it can be counterproductive. Bodybuilders used to gain as much weight as possible thinking that weight gain equaled muscle gain, so that, closer to competitions, they would diet and exercise to reduce the fat and supposedly uncover these extra pounds of muscle underneath and have a nice shredded look. However, we now know this to be a short cut that simply doesn't work. The ugly truth is... there is NO short cut.

If we don't keep on a clean diet, and do our cardio at least three times a week, we will gain more fat which is counterproductive, because 13-15% body fat is the most anobolic. There is a delicate balance here, because keep in mind that if you stay under 10%, the muscle gain is restricted. Why, then, should we gain more weight during the off-season if it is not productive for our goals? Like in my previous post, "Sets and Reps...Is Less More?", I mentioned the problem of the Ego and training with our hearts instead of our brains. We gain an excess amount of weight that does not help us be our most competitive for different reasons, such as looking huge under our clothes, or because it helps us lift heavier amounts of weights. While this is impressive in the gym, it is not good for our bodies, or ultimately, for our competitive goals. We have to keep in mind that when we gain a lot of weight, we are very lucky if a quarter of each pound is muscle. Let's do some math: 20lbs/4= 5lbs of pure muscle in the best case scenario. Don't forget that with the best anobolics and the best support in training and sponsorships, ten pounds of muscle gain per year is a very idealistic goal. Most people, under the best conditions, will not gain even this much.

Another reason why the practice of gaining a lot of weight in the off-season is counterproductive is because we have certain problem areas that hold fat very stubbornly and it is difficult to burn it. The longer the fat stays, the less chances that it will be gone in time for contests. These areas include lower back, glutes, and hamstrings. Some people share the concern that they could lose their muscle during the off-season if they don't gain the extra weight. However, with proper nutrition, eating high quantities of quality foods and calories, there will be little to no muscle loss. For an example, eating a large value meal at McDonalds gives you 1500 calories. There is so much fat and so little nutrition involved in that meal, that, even though you are eating your target calories, will lead you to gain more than the ideal 15% body fat. Anything higher than that is not productive for off-season. If you eat the same amount of calories in healthier foods that are high in protein with balanced carbs and fats, you are maintaining your muscle while restricting the percentage of total body fat. This will help you look like a bodybuilder, even in the off-season, versus looking like a marshmallow man walking around in 100 layers of clothes.

Remember: pure muscle gains are always small. There should be no slacking off in the off-season because to be at your best in this sport, you need 52 weeks of dedication. When competition time comes, you only need 14-16 weeks of dieting, slowly and smoothly decreasing your weight weekly to reveal your well-maintained muscle underneath with hopefully a few pounds of muscle added. By staying lean throughout the year, you don't need to do extra, crazy restricted diets nearing show time. When you are dieting and cardio training in the off-season, remember that you have to be balanced. Less than 10% body fat and more than 15% will not help you. Keep the balance between those numbers and you will be working at your most effective. So where does it leave us? Well 10kg over your body weight should be the best target in your off-season, give or take a kilo or two, depending on you competitive weight.

The sooner you realize that bodybuilding is not so much what you weigh, but how you look in that weight, the sooner you will get into a great condition to become a winner. To be a champion, or to reach your target, is a lonely road. A lot of people cannot understand this sport, including your partner. Like in my previous post, "Back Like a Boomerang", I talked about my struggles with this sport and how I was torn between my love for the competitions and living a "normal" life, but I've accepted that some people will support me, and some people don't want to see me succeed. That tells me that I'm making choices in my life and that is the right thing to do. The faster you learn to balance this dedication with other aspects in your life, the happier you will be. Remember to keep your focus on your goal and don't focus on other people's ideas. There are a lot of people out there who understand and support these athletes so forget about the ones that don't.

Love and Peace and big muscles.

Sets and Reps... Is Less More?

About seven years ago, I discovered a gym in London called Muscle Works. I'm sure you have heard of it, but for those who don’t know, this gym is one of the leading bodybuilding gyms in the U.K. It's like a mecca for those who bodybuild. The owner is Savvas, or Uncle Sav as I affectionately call him, and he also is Cypriot. This gym has the best atmosphere for training. It is a proper, old school, hard-core gym. It's a no-bullshit gym. You can see the hunger in its patrons to be the best. It is a very competitive atmosphere, and it is a great place to feed from the motivation in the air.

http://www.muscleworksgym.co.uk/

Anyways, Uncle Sav and I were discussing the amount of sets per exercise. This was back in a time when I would do 3 sets of each exercise which, if you do the math, added up to 12 sets. Basically, 3 sets of 4 exercises. He asked the question none have asked before as we have all been mainstreamed to do the 3 sets since we began our exercise routines. "Why three?"

I didn’t know what to answer. It was something I had placed little thought into before. He pressed further: "If 3 is good, 4 is better, and 6 will be the real deal, so why not do 6 sets per exercise?"

At that point, he introduced me to the concept of over-training [more on this subject to come]. It is important to pay careful attention to your body and the feeling you have after each set. It can be true that after the second set, you have reached your "peak" and any set thereafter would only mean over-training. In other words, you would push your body into catabolic state. This, as any bodybuilder would agree, is exactly the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish. It would be working backwards instead of forward. So, the question then remains: How can we prevent pushing our bodies into catabolic state while still working hard enough to reach our goals?

Too much of a good thing, as is always the case, turns into a bad thing. It is important to focus on intensity moreso than quantity, back to the old adage about quality being superior to quantity. This is especially true in all aspects of fitness, whether you are building muscles or maintaining firmness. The biggest detriment to reaching your desired physical condition is over-training. It is important to pay attention to the signals of your body. When your muscles feel fully pumped, and the burning sensation is prominent, learn to stop. It is sometimes difficult to realize that it is time to stop because we often train with our hearts instead of our brains [more on this topic to come]. Our instinct is to keep pushing ourselves and fight through the pain, to feed our ego with our impressive number of sets and weights, but ultimately, the important thing (our goal) is being pushed further and further away from us.

So, instead of paying so much attention to our egos, we should pay more attention to our bodies, and we will reach our goals more effectively, save our energy for other aspects of our life, and we will be happier and in better physique. But by doing that extra rep, which we are conditioned to do, might actually backfire, and you lose what you achieved in that exercise.

Give one-hundred percent in two sets (instead of three or more) lifting your full weight capacity, doing the maximum reps at that weight... in other words, your 100%, would be equal of doing 3 to 4 sets of 60% or less.

Less is better at the end of the day for achieving our fitness goals. High intensity, less training. Make that your new mantra.

Love and Peace and big muscles.

Back like a Boomerang!

Anybody involved in the circle of bodybuilding and fitness understands that it is an incredibly difficult and trying sport, emotionally and physically. I have been competing since I was 16 years old, that is almost eleven years. I became serious about my goals to go Pro when I was about 19 years old. I decided then that I would make a serious commitment to the training, the dieting, and the discipline to grow and achieve the physique that would place me among the best professional athletes in the world.

As time passed, it became more difficult, and last year, I lost sight of my goals. I began a path and I had lost my direction. I became a person I did not want to be. I allowed negativity, jealousy, and other people's doubts become my doubts.

For those that are not familiar, my latest accomplishment was placing 3rd in the WABBA World Championships-Short Class. I expected to place higher, but I was drifting away from my path and I wasn't 100%. After that, I called a confidante and told her that I was going to quit, that I was finished with the sport. I had sacrificed a lot and I didn't see why I wanted this life anymore. But... something inside was nagging. I had placed third, not first, which I knew I could have done if my mind was in the right place.

It has been three months since then, and with a new year, a new me! New motivation, new commitment, renovated goals to go Pro. I disappeared from the scene these last three months, trying to live a normal life, like "normal people", but at the end of the day, what is normal? The passion for this sport is something inside of me that I cannot separate from, and like anyone who feels tired, I had to take time to myself, focus on the question: is this important enough to me? The answer is yes. Like the eagle, I needed to renovate. Every eagle has a choice when his feathers grow heavy and his beak grows dull: to die or to engage in a renovation that is painful but necessary. He must fly high into a mountain, away from predators. There, he will pull out every one of his feathers with his claws and beak. Then, he will rip out each one of his nails with his own beak. When that is done, he will hit his beak against a rock until it is broken off.

His beak will grow back, sharp like new. His feathers will grow back, as light as ever, and his claws will grow back, strong. He is a new bird, and his flight will continue for another 40 years. This is something that we must all go through. We all reach a point in our lives where we have the choice to give up, or we can make painful sacrifices to continue.

It is a hard road that we all know well. Sometimes, when it is not enough to find the strength in ourselves, because we are weak, we can look to the people who love us and in them, we can see the best side of ourselves. After the dust of 2009 has settled, sitting back now, the hardships are good at the end of the day, because they make you stronger and you realize who loves you, who will be there for you and who shares your passion to achieve your goals.

Little Nicky is back in 2010! See what damage I can do.

Peace and Love and big muscles.