Week One Reflections

Week One – Progress?

It’s only when you take the time to look back at where your journey began that you realize how far you’ve actually travelled. What you think you’re doing, seeing and achieving is probably so much less that you really are. Not a believer? Well, you and me both…until now. To help me demonstrate why I believe now, I’m going to look back over my life (briefly) and reflect on the development as I initially see it and then I’m going to delve a little deeper and prove that the things I personally take for granted are so much more valid than I realize. I want to share some of my secrets with you…..

Why? – Honesty.

I want to be honest. Honest to you, Honest to me. I want you to know. That, and the fact that I’m feeling the reflection and I believe it’s a good time to share – after all “sharing is caring”. I often feel the twang of non-development and guilt for not pushing harder, and as such I lose sight of how far I’ve come in retrospect for how far I still have to travel. Another reason I want to share is because I’ve been holding this in for many years and now I’m letting it out.

My Health & Fitness

In terms of my health, I’ve never really taken it seriously until recently. As a kid I played football (soccer), ran long distance and participated in Royal Navy Cadet sports such as Field Gun. I was encouraged to be active by my parents and enoy it. I was always motivated by movies such as Rocky and the (original) Karate Kid. A an adult I worked out irregularly in the gym, played squash and spent many years teaching and competing as a kickboxer. I don’t think I can remember a time post 18 years old where I didn’t have a belly and excess body fat. One of my oldest friends back in ‘Old Blighty’ used to say she was proud of how far I’d come (of course I never took it on board) – I was the guy who ate dunkin donuts and coke for breakfast, with a cheesy garlic bread chaser, in 1997. By 2000, I’d kicked the donuts and garlic bread but I never realized that until recently…

 I spent my twenties teaching scuba diving, which although physically demanding has a particularly fun and active social side – meaning excess drinking, eating and partying.

As a consequence, my late twenties arrived pretty quickly (in the haze of youthful alcoholism) and I landed in Sydney (after a few drinks on the 24 hour flight) – the most body-conscious city I’ve ever known as a fat heavy drinker. I weighed 118kg but I was loaded with body fat, visceral fat and was not in great shape. Bending to tie my shoe laces caused me to break into a sweat (no lie) and I’d frequently end up huffing and puffing after a short walk up stairs to my apartment. It didn’t improve until I met Winnie. She was healthy, very healthy. She trained Taekwondo and swam fairly regularly. She inspired the change.

My Diet

In terms of my diet, I was always fed nutritious meals at home. Portion sizes were massive and I was raised to clear my plate. Seconds never really happened because we were served big enough portions to leave no excess. Every meal was a mountain to climb. Every bbq was more or less a challenge where survival of the fattest/hungriest would win out. That said I was raised to enjoy veggies and salads (and I make a pretty awesome salad – thanks for that Nanny Marg!). I’ve had a sweet tooth as long as I can remember, and crave sweets, lollies, chocolate, ice cream and fizzy soft drinks. It’s not easy giving those things up. As I grew up my hunger grew too, therefore my portions kept growing too I guess. Then I reached legal age to drink alcohol. Welcome the fun of pubs and bars, enter the beer belly. Dang! Well as I mentioned the diving era was very sociable and as such I drank a lot. A lot is an underestimation. I was binge drinking by modern standards, most nights. Now, almost a decade later, I drink irregularly and I’m proud to say I consume no more than 1-2 drinks per week (more like per month) at medicals I may attend. The other side to excessive drinking, was that I’d stuff myself silly with pies, sausage rolls, chips, kebabs and other unhealthy junk foods late at night, prior to going to bed.  Now I eat a sensible, gluten free restricted diet and rarely consume alcohol. I take dietary supplements and supplements for my training regime. It seems like a huge waste of money to consume those and then ruin it with binge drink/eating.

The Present

I’m deployed. I’m focused, driven to succeed – I’m a proudly serving member of her Majesty’s Royal Australian Navy. I apply myself and test my limits every day. I work hard and smart. I train hard and often. I eat well, with occasional rewards and treats. I usually share them with my fellow watch keepers – which reduces my potential intake and keeps me satiated with small tastes of my favourite things. I stick to my planned training routines and never quit. I have developed a self-actuating mentality and I’m determined to succeed.

In my life I’ve always lived with no regrets. I still keep myself honest with this, but now I look at my own life with a greater appreciation for the present.

The Past is History, The Future is a Mystery…but the Present, that’s a Gift.

SO now, I’m 95kg and I’m not bothered about my weight. I’m bothered about transformation. I’ve been working hard to make 2014 my year of transformation. I have travelled so far, I’ve done a full 360 on who I was, and I’m loving the person I’m becoming. Today for instance, I worked out in the gym. Granted I was motivated by Rocky 3, and the Eye of the Tiger is playing in my head right now, and I pushed harder. The result was an awesome workout, Arms and Abs day flew by in a blur. My arms kill right now, and my body is sore – but that’s making me feel more alive.

I’m the luckiest man in the world. I have a super wicked awesome family, a pretty cool job that I enjoy and the best wife ever. She supports, motivates and inspires. She challenges me and gives me a reason to be better. To prove how good I am to the world. I Love my darling, little bear.

Personal side to my journey has been even more epic, and I’ll save that for another day….

My Goal – Moving Forwards

My biggest, most difficult goal is to transform my life, my habits and my thought processes to being healthy and active. For my future family, I wanna be the kind of dad who runs around with, plays games with and enjoys the journey of bringing children into being. I don’t want to be restricted with aches, pains, excessive blubber. I don’t want my future teenage kids to be ashamed of me, to think of me as a poor role model. Na-uh. I’m going for the opposite.

I want my wife, my family and my kids (one day) to be proud of who I am, where I come from and where I want to be.

“In defence of my country, I will make my family proud”

Next….

Three Questions

To finish, I’d like to pose three questions for you. Take them on board and use them at will for any aspect of your life. It helps me and its part of my meditative practice to mull over them:

1.     What have I learnt?

2.     What am I learning?

3.     What am I yet to learn?

Challenge yourself, push hard but remember looking back to lubricate your journey onwards from now is vital.

Looking Back to Move Forwards

Gymania...

Catching Up.

Over the past week or so  I've done a fair amount of training, in one form or other. I've cycled, run, climbed a crap-load of stairs, and I've trained in the gym quite a lot. I've been eating cleaner too. My body really notices when the slightest whiff of gluten passes my lips, I've had some accidental slip-ups, and I've even eaten some supposedly GF meals that've made me sick too. My body responds quicker the more time off gluten I have, so being clean means I notice the traces now...interesting times. Still, I mostly fuel my body with good nutrients and train pretty hard, so I'm happy I'm making progress.

I Love this. Charry.

Riding to Work

On top of the occasional run to work, which is pretty draining since I do the stair-master workout as part of my daily routine on my ship, I've started riding my road bike to work. It's around 10-11km depending on the route I ride, but its a great way to start and finish my day. Plus I beat the traffic and get to add the kilometres to my legs a different way!

My Gymania

It's awesome being back into a regular workout routine. I've missed it. But now I'm training hard, gaining functional strength and seeing minor changes all the time. My gym-focus is back with a renewed vengeance and its helping me get my body ready for marathon time.

I've changed my routine more regularly to keep myself on my toes. I've thrown in abdominal workouts at the end of my weights sessions (instead of during the rest sets), so I can rest, hydrate and prep for the next set, since I've been going a little heavier.

I've continued to utilise dumbbells, barbells, cables, med-balls and my favourite of the moment kettle bells. I'm planning on utilising my TRX onboard my ship (if possible) and I'm going to try doing "cardio intervals" during intra-workout in the gym too.

I've recently joined Fitness First, they look after members of the Defence Force, and have some really good flexible options for people like me. I get to train with Winnie and that just makes me very happy. Our workouts are always fun and its nice to spend that quality time together being healthy :)

Tonight, I concluded a fairly progressive Shoulders workout, with an abdominal blast. I actually managed to rope Ms Cheezo (one of my colleagues on my new ship, and good friend of Holmie) into doing it with me. We did Figure 8 crunches, Med-ball throw and catch sit-ups, overhead v-sits with kettle bells, heavy kettle bell standing side crunches - all 3 sets of 10 (or more). 

It was fun to repeat this workout, its one that Winnie and I did on the weekend at the gym too. Although, Ms Cheezo did find the med-ball to be a little challenging, throwing, catching and sit-ups all at once! It was a laughter inducing experience.....LOL.

Day 92 - Balls, Bells and Bars...

Variety 

The spice of life and the means to staying focused on my journey from fat to fit. I like to mix things up, and apparently, its good to do so. This week, being the crazy last week of my leadership course is a bit messy and getting into my normal routine is getting harder as the week progresses toward graduation. I decided to mix it up again tonight....but why?

Variety, or, the quality or state of having different forms or types can be important within a strength and conditioning program. Triathletes and cross-fitters tend to need a variety in their program to develop different physical qualities. My variety of strength, endurance, speed, stamina....run, swim ride and sports seems to be the go here!

Athletes must incorporate variety in their regime to become more complete. There is no single exercise or piece of equipment that will create the complete athlete. In order for muscles to increase strength, the workload must be greater than normal. I've noticed that since I started mixing things up, even as early as when I started to train for triathlon (instead of just running) I got stronger sooner. By overloading the muscles, your body adapts by growing stronger. Once the body adapts, a new stimulus is required to continue the reaction. Workload must progressively increase to make gains in strength and endurance.

Variety is a method of adding tools to your toolbox to facilitate your progression.

Tuesday night football..

Almost certainly its harder to play, or more intensive to play indoor football on a full size court with less people. Tonight there was 5 of us! 3 on 2 was the order of play - so lots of running and stop/start sprints, changes to direction was in order. For the first 30 minutes my game was all over the place. Mr Peds reckoned my skills were better when I took a few moments to stop and think, prior to taking shots or passing. This actually seemed to be true...I missed, hit the post and crossbar...I hit the ball wide by the narrowest margins and somehow couldn't find the back of the net. On taking those moments to think, I went from hell to high scoring! I even knocked 3 long-range (from our goal area) shots into their net! I really started to score all over the place, even nut-megged the keeper three times. Such fun.

After 75 minutes I was pooped, needing to change the pace for gym time!

Bells and Bars...

Tonight I opted for the mammoth session - Back and Arms. I reduced the number of exercise variants, but pushed hard to make the ones I was doing count. My dead lift technique has definitely improved, and I feel stronger for it. My rows were all a good show of my developing back strength. I concluded back with 3 sets of 3 unassisted chin ups...and my gosh I was trying hard!

I moved into Biceps and then Triceps. I was feeling the burn by now, 45 minutes in and that was my cue to finish off with a kettle bell circuit. Qinno joined for a bit and we did some basic run throughs. I've been intensifying the kettle bell circuit and 15 minutes is pretty tough....for me!

After all the hard gym work, I think my back deserves a good relax on the foam roller tonight. Looking forwards to that!

Day 86 - Faster, Faster!

As I woke this morning I could tell that my body was in need of a little rest or a slower pace today. Today's leadership classes were fairly sedate and that provided the well needed recharge. As the day proceeded, I realised that I was gearing up to do my first proper speed session after work.

Speed Sesh...

My Speed Session, can be reviewed in detail on this link: Speed Session: 3 x 1km and there you'll see I ran off the beaten track (well its a gravel path around the back of the Creswell gym, and what you can't see is the gradient of  the slow climb I was running on. This was an added element into the session that wasn't necessary, but a challenge regardless.

I planned, and executed 3 sets of 1km fast runs. By fast, this is my slightly faster than race pace, which really got me going. The distance, although low, is actually far enough to give me a good workout.

Overall, with warm up and cool down I covered a mere 3.46km in 20:10, which yields an average pace of 5:50min/km, but if you look more closely the average included the warm up and cool down! A true test of how hard I was working was my heart rate. I was working with a training effect of 3.2 (improving category), which meant an average heart rate of 149bpm (81% of max), and a peak heart rate of 170bpm (92% of max) - which is pretty good. Lap times were:

Lap 1 - 4:39:80

Lap 2 - 4:15:00

Lap 3 - 4:32:60

On completion of this training session I felt smashed, yet exhilarated for completing the running exercise. I had a good cardio and run training session, that had me out of my comfort zone for a few moments of each set - the hill that leads up to the main gangway (main gate).

After I had quickly recovered from the running, I started a new element to my training, Kettle Bell workouts, done my way.

I covered pushups, goblet squats, military shoulder press, one leg dead lift, kettle bell swing, Floor chest press, pirate ships (kettle bell's version of landline 180s), floor pectoral fly, and some abdominal work. My abs are still so sore from the caving yesterday.

Today I learned that rest, planning and a new routine does help keep you motivated, challenged and interested in what you're doing.

Oh and go the Blues...NSW finally win Origin!

Day 85 - Caving Activity

What a day. I think that today has been one of the most challenging days for me; from a physical and mental point of view. Today our class went on a caving trip, to develop our leadership and offer a different setting for some self-development and reflection.

Caving

So, having done lots of tight spaces in the diving sense, in wrecks and caverns all over the world, I was feeling pretty confident about today's challenge. Still it pays to go with an open mind, because every day we can find learning opportunities in almost everything we do.

The caving was carried out at Bungonia National Park, NSW...3 hours away from Jervis Bay. In the middle of nowhere, we were there learning about leadership and crawling around like rats!

The first cave was a great warm up, a great lesson in communication, some tricky traverses but mostly a simple enough cave to get through. The lights out exercise, resonated with me. It reminded me of night diving skills, but the conversation was interesting. When people were asked about their fears, or anxieties before the cave one person spoke up....whether this was fear of embarrassment or otherwise, the result when asked in the dark was more people talking about the same subject. In my humble opinion, this was a really good exercise in Honesty. It was startling how much more honest people were, when they couldn't see your face, or you theirs. It actually pulled the team together almost instantly and that was staggering. Know Yourself, Know Your People. Be honest.

The second was a little more tricky. There were squeezes, tight ones, propelling along ledges attached to chain, climbs, belays, you name it we were in it. There was a silt out caused by movement, dust and that was hard (on the lungs and the mind). The climbs weren't easy. They required some strength in your upper body and your legs. The crawls were hard your knees, elbows and core - especially the squeeze through sections! I got stuck a few times, still working on reducing the 'Bateman Belly', but at 94kg I'm happy to be doing it after losing some weight! Getting stuck didn't bother me, that was just a logical puzzle to solve. 

Fears, Self-Control and Thinking Too Much

I took more from today, than I have ever on a leadership or development course before. When I was placed at the back of the group in the second cave, I began getting concerned about the people I couldn't see. Coming from the diving world of guiding divers, accounting for them and leading them from the front, put me well out of my natural comfort zone in this case! In the 'cement bag' silt out I couldn't see or hear people for a few moments. I was not worried about myself, per say, just how my team mates were doing, then I started to think...and this situation that can be deadly. I started to think about how deep underground, how the air was dense with silt, how hot I was getting, how my breathing rate was increasing....then it hit me.... focus on your dive training. I regained control of my breathing, and remembered something Winnie wrote on a dive slate: "Keep Breathing, Love Winnie" and that helped, but surprisingly the think that changed it was when I saw one of the staff members Chief Blowie.... I said "talk to me chief" (I was trying to distract my thoughts)...to which he replied "you're a dickhead"... which made me laugh, and remember that comedy or keeping things light can control a situation. 

I was carrying a trusty little rock in my pocket. In the moments where there was inactivity, where I had the potential to think (or over think) I started scratching the rock surfaces. I found I was writing the words "Winnie, Win Gaz, and Batman" quite a lot..... I always find that thinking of Winnie calms me down, make me see sense etc. She's always there, even when she's not!

Later on after getting stuck again, I was actually first going through a very tight crawl-squeeze. I didn't like how tight it was, and almost started thinking again, but using self-control and the knowledge that I was with a great team (My buddy was Mr Protein) and a few reassuring words (that I didn't need as it happens) had me scooting through in no time. I was saying to myself JFDI! It helped.

Physical Training

Caving, Climbing and working your way through the tight spaces is a pretty tough workout. Im so glad my endurance training has been going on. It really did prepare me for the cross-fitness of climbing, sliding, squatting, pulling myself along or up, belaying and carrying equipment. I did a little research on getting home, and a day of caving/climbing burns between 3000-4000 Calories. Which is testament to the continuous whole-body workout that I had received today.

Happy Faces....

Days 73-78: Crazy Busy!

OH MY GOSH!

I have been so crazy busy this past week or so. Last wednesday was my last post, and I'm sorry I dropped off the radar. Moving interstate was a very time consuming endeavour, which meant training was put on hold. I dabbled to stay in the game, but nothing substantial until today!

I also had the opportunity to spend an entire weekend at home, between location changes, with my lovely wifey. So, being the try hard hubby that I am, I made sure that the whole weekend was devoted to all things concerning my better half. This also took its toll on me and my regimen.

Sometimes, life gets in the way, and we can't do jack about it. We just have to acknowledge it, accept our situation and create the next opportunity to get back into the rhythm as soon as we can.

Last night, I moved to my latest destination, for a new training course which will take me to my honeymoon and then my subsequent posting to a sea going ship will follow that. Mr Peds will be my companion as we move forwards, he will join ship sooner. My new location, at least is in the same state (NSW), although technically Jervis Bay falls under the ACT...so we're not...but it is only 2-3 hours drive from home...easy.

So, day 77 was spent packing, driving, unpacking and settling into my new cabin. I managed a quick 500m swim in the pool here at HMAS Creswell. It's a smaller 25m pool, so times will be quicker and it'll take a little more to fatigue me!

Run Swiftly

Today, Day 78, was quite fun. I woke early, at 0500h, and got my lazy bum out of bed. I decided last night that I would use mapmyrun to plan an early run. I planned to knock it over before class. I planned everything except the rain.

I launched into my run. From my accommodation I ran down to the medical centre and past the NEOC accommodation, then down to and around the post office, a loop around the quarter deck passing behind the clock tower, then around the 2.4km route and past the front of the clock tower. From there I ran past the wardroom, then out into the darkness, down past the Captain's house, and the waterfront and back up the hill. At the top I past the NEOC accommodation, turned right and ran up to the gate. I returned and repeated the 5km loop.

At 7km, as I looped the quarter deck, the rain started - gently at first, teasing me. I ran past some New Officer Trainees doing their fitness test 2.4km runs, and thought "at least I'm here by choice, they have to be here..." As I said this to myself the rain tease turned into a heavy drizzle. As I looped behind the Captain's house again, the rain got heavier, and heavier until as I ran up the hill from the waterfront I was starting to feel like a drowning rat...reminiscent of my NEOC 49 days, I power on through. Rain still getting harder, bigger drops, more sideways - right in the face, actually.

By the time I was at the gate I was ignoring the rain, the reduced visibility and enjoying the freedom I was feeling. I was soaked through, and still determined to make it back to complete the 10km. As I reached my destination I realised I was at 9.83km (not quite 10km). I can live with that. 54:29:10, so my pace average was around 6:02 min/km, and average heart rate was 147bpm.

Lesson in Leadership using Volleyball

I had never played volleyball, until today. Our course instructor (I'm on a leadership course) decided he wanted to teach us using the medium of volleyball....awesome! First a game of rally-point and then a game of penalty-volleyball. Basically, the crux of it was teach us that the first game participants were not as committed, or accountable to their teammates that game two. Game two, rules were simple. If you messed up and the team lost a point, you sat out and did push-ups, sit-up or something to that effect. The only way to get back on was for your team to score a point without you. Objective of the game is simple - reduce the opposing team's players to zero. It surprising how much more competitive, and how much more you'll try for your teammates when there are consequences, and that was the lesson. I have to say, this was an awesome way to get us out of the classroom, bond with our new classmates, and teach some valuable skills. Thanks LEUT Johno.

Tuesday Night Football

As if I'd not had enough cardio for one day, I played 60 minutes of indoor football. Players and location have changed a little, but the game was just as hard with some very silky skills. In fact, Nerdy-Norm turned out to be a dark horse. First match, and he scores the first 4 goals, and has some very dazzling skills....another part-dutchie I think...

Time for bed now. Tomorrow I'll be hitting the gym proper. I will need to work out a new schedule to suit earlier class starts. I looks like no morning session, unless I run early, and a bigger evening session.....Sorry for being so lazy... But, I'm back now.