WE ARE WHAT WE ABSORB...

Sounds strange right? We have all grown up hearing the saying ‘we are what we eat’ but to be honest, it doesn’t quite work that way.

Remember being at school? I know I’m making you think way back now but I remember having 2 hour classes back to back but after about 30-40 minutes I would lose my concentration and start messing around in class. The remaining time in class was an utter waste because I didn’t really absorb or learn anything else after those 30-40 minutes had passed, instead I just became bored of the class and teacher teaching it.

So how does this apply to nutrition...........?

Say I cook a piece of chicken and in terms of protein it is worth 70g. An average male would adsorb between 25-30g. However if that person that trains a lot he can absorb from 35g maybe even 40g (Please put in mind this amounts are just so you guys can get a general picture). 

But what happens to the rest of that protein? 

It becomes waste, extra calories your body will have to get worked up to burn so there isn’t any real value in eating that amount. It would make sense to use that amount of protein to make 2 meals because otherwise you just making your body go under unnecessary strain in order for it can get rid of the protein that it won’t absorb.

The body likes things to get absorbed quickly and easily without a lot of stress. That is why the metabolism works faster when you eat small frequent meals, rather than bigger infrequent meals. I mean it’s pretty simple if you think about it for a sec and the best example is the Formula 1 cars.

Their tanks get filled up with fuel after a certain number of rounds, it is never filled up completely to begin with because if it was it would mean more weight for the car and the car would not go as fast. The same theory applies to our metabolism in a way. Therefore my advice is to keep meals small and spread throughout the day.

A typical male can have approximately 25g-40g of protein per meal, 150g to 250g per day. However this does depends on a number of factors such as body type/activity/needs/target.

A typical female can have approximately 15-25g per meal, 80 to 120g protein per day. This also depends on the female’s body type/activity/needs/target.

In terms of carbs and fat intake im not going to go there im just keeping things plain and simple.

If you guys want any advice, tips etc..... just drop me a message here or find me on Twitter or Facebook Nick Anthony

Love peace and big mucsles.

PROGRESS PICS 7 WEEKS IN MY PREP

Keeping you all up to date with my progress pics, will be also posting this weeks training routine and why i decided to train this way.......

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

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.

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.

LIKE IT OR NOT THE BODY NEEDS REST AT TIMES

As time goes by, I learn more and more about my body. One of the most important things I have learnt so far is that sometimes resting is a must to achieve better goals. At times we might think we are a Ferrari, and that we can race ahead until our hearts are content, but even those cars need a servicing now and again.

I am writing this, because in these past, I had been getting injured more and more often. First there was my outer calf muscle, where I had fibers toughen during a heavy set of leg press exercises…. This set me back nearly a month of training legs, and I could walk without crutches for over 2 weeks – it made going to the toilet fucking hard! Lol. Next thing to happen was an injury to my front left delt during a heavy set of front presses on the smith. This time I had felt something after the set but didn’t accept that it could be an injury and that I might need some time off… and yes, I know that I am a stubborn when it comes to these things but I did pay the price.

I’ve been going to get laser treatments on my shoulder every day for weeks and I am still i was not quite 100%. Guess it seems that the only way for me to accept some good rest was to get injured… and if you burn the candle from both ends you will always end up paying the price whether you like it or not.

Its just like back in the day, when we were all in school and our teachers would tell us (or at least mine would) not to revise all night until early morning as nothing would stay in your head – just study a couple of hours a day because the brain needs some rest in order to remember and process all the stuff you have been reading.

So as I have said previously regarding training…. Too much of a good thing can actually be bad, and often we don’t realize what we have until something bad happens to make us step back and think. Just like with everything else in this world, we need to have some balance…

Love, peace and big muscles.

SETBACKS.

Even the best of us have setbacks, personal or professional, at some point in our lives. I guess it is a means of making you stronger, and getting you to realize how badly you want that certain target. It is also a way of shaking us down, and telling us that we are still human with feelings, and not just walking robots.

I’m writing about this because I also had a number of setbacks in life; times when I panicked and thought ‘this is it’. At those points, everything that I would usually say to my clients and my friends about overcoming obstacles and setbacks would just go down the drain. Just like when you are at school, and writing an exam, everything you had known before, everything you had studied, suddenly disappears when you are sitting staring at that blank paper.
I guess it is different when it happens to you from when you are simply advising somebody else. I just want to say that at the end of the day, we are all human and the true winner is the one who is able to overcome that setback, who learns from it, who gets better and stronger, and who is able to get right back on that track to achieving that certain goal in life... whatever it may be.

Love, 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.