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...

PROGRESS PICS 6 WEEKS IN MY PREP

Just came home after a great shoulder workout and I thought ill post something quick to keep you guys up to date with same progress 6th weeks in my preparation, still have a long way to go but enjoying every moment of this journey... 

 LOOKING AT THESE PICS AGAIN, I THINK I SHOULD START SMILING A BIT MORE BECAUSE I LOOK LIKE A REAL MOODY C**T HERE LOL...........

Love peace and big muscles.

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO THINK "OUT OF THE BOX" TO SEE BETTER RESULTS...

As I had mentioned on one of my previous video blogs, I was going to talk about how sometimes you have to trick your body in order for it to respond well. About 5 weeks ago, I began my contest preparation and everything was going great up until week 4. For some reason I felt that my body was not responding well to the cardio. During my training, I was looking and feeling more depleted and tired I began to wonder why.

I decided to take a moment and think about it from ‘outside the box’. To be honest, I hadn’t really stopped cardio, even from the off season, I would train 3 times a week, 30mins in the winter and as the summer was approaching, I would increase it to 5 times a week- I live in Cyprus so yes I wanted to look good for the beach.

 I slowly starting to come to the conclusion that the constant cardio had caught up with me and as a result, the training was refusing to show any signs of change; in terms of both burning more fat and decreasing body fat. Like it or not, our bodies are not made to be ultra lean with very little body fat. Our bodies are built to store fat this concept can be traced back to the Stone Age era where we had to hunt for food. Back in the day we did not know if we would have food from one day to the next, therefore our bodies needed to store that fat to survive. A bit similar to how camels store water in their humps.

Yet fast forward to today, we are now living in a time where we no longer need to stock up on our food intake. Instead, our main preoccupation is looking lean and fit by burning away any excess fat. However our bodies to a certain degree are still programmed to function the same way they functioned during the hunting/gathering era. Therefore if we are constantly exercising, at some point our bodies will react by not burning as much fat as one would desire. So what do you do when you reach this plateau?

 The answer is quite simple, do the opposite from what you were doing; if you were doing cardio 6x a week, decrease it to 3. If you were training heavy and with a slowish tempo, train fast with a fast tempo and even add a cheat meal to shock the body on the weekend. Do this practice for about 1-2 weeks and then jump back to your normal routine. I tried this tactic out myself and I must say, results can be definitely seen. I generally felt more relaxed and rested, both physically and psychologically.

At the end of the day, what is important is to always listen to your body and think outside the box. Both body and brain are highly advanced mechanisms, yet every now and again there needs to be a change-a shock-a stimulation in order for both to maintain their effective functionality.

Love peace and big muscles.

OVER-TRAINING: COULD TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING END UP BEING BAD?

Even the best of us will at one point or another be the victims of over-training. I guess it’s a bump on the road that we all have to go through, so that we can understand what it really means. The most common reason of over-training is letting ourselves get motivated by our feelings; then we stop thinking with our brain and we let our heart take over. The outcome is pushing yourself for that extra mile even though you have the gut feeling that you really should stop. It is just like the double bladed knife I mentioned in the earlier post.... leaning too much on either side and you could end up hurting yourself.

Another reason why people over-train is because they see advanced athletes and pro training like crazy; lifting heavy weights and doing long sessions of cardio with little difficulties. So they think they can do the same. But we forget that most of them have support which helps them recover faster than the average Joe, or that some of them are genetically gifted in such a way that over-training doesn’t really mean anything to them.

So what do you really have to do? You have to learn to start reading your body, and spotting the signs of over-training. There is no point in panicking, just take a step back, take that extra breath of air and think about:

1. How is your body reacting to the workout? Are there improvements or is it all going downhill?
2. Your strength; are you getting stronger or weaker?
3. How much recovery time do you take after workouts? Do you maybe need more?
4. Are you doing too much cardio?
5. How is your diet? Do you maybe need more calories or a more frequent re-feed?
6. What is your mental state like, are you feeling down?

7. Washed-put feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy?

8. Are you stressed?

9. Have you been sleeping well or are you walking around like a zombie?

10. How is your appetite? Has it decreased?
11. Are you bored of the same gym routine or diet?
12. When was the last time you really got away from the gym?

And yes, over-training has happened to me a number of times too. And I had to pay the price, as we all have to. Sometime this is a small price, but sometimes it can be a lot bigger. But hopefully this post will help some of you avoid over-training or at least be able to spot the signs of it before it happens!

Love, peace and big muscles.