End Of Days

The blog is over!

I have moved everything to my very own website!!!

Please now visit:

www.myformerlyfatlife.com

People Change

Well after a lot of consideration and thinking I have decided to change careers. “To what?” you ask. I have decided to pursue becoming a firefighter. As my cousin put it last night, “That’s a big change from working in an office and doing advertising.” 

My response.

“FUCK YA IT IS!”

Ok, maybe I didn’t say that exactly, but that pretty much sums up my sentiments right now. After about one year of pretty much finding nothing that I enjoy doing in my chosen college field, I began to ask myself a bunch of questions. One of them being, “Why don’t I have a job in Advertising?”

The simple answer is that I really don’t want to have a job in Advertising anymore. I can’t stand the idea of being in an office anymore. Just entertaining the thought of being in an office for 30 years of my life makes me nervous. 

I am not meaning this post to be demeaning towards any of my readers (ha, that sounds funny) that work in an office. If it’s for you, then I tip my hat to you good sir. It just aint for me. 

I need some more physically demanding. I need a career that challenges me and in which fitness is just as important as anything. I talked to my parents, my brother, my friends and they all seem to think that this is a good fit for me, and ya know what? I agree. 

Am I scared to be changing everything up in my life? Yes. But I am only 22. And this makes every bit of sense to me right now. I have never had such clarity of mind in having a plan for my future. I know what I want to do, and I believe that the perseverance that I have shown in my fitness journey has only made me stronger. I will do this. I will be a firefighter. 

-Rob

I Have No Voice

Yesterday was the Crossfit Ontario Challenge. And our gym was lucky enough to field three competitors in three different categories.

Alex competed in the Men’s Prescribed Category

Mike competed in the Men’s Scaled 1 Category

and Kris competed in the Women’s Scaled 2 Category

Let me first say that I could not be prouder of the performance that our people put on for the competition. They all showed heart, grit, determination and and huge set of balls. 

Alex ended up winning his first heat and put on one hell of a show for the final 2 WODs. 

Mike pretty much owned the deadlift/burpee workout. That muthafucka knows how to give it his all when the bar is on the floor.

Kris, after some pre-show jitters, showed those judges what perfect form was all about. I don’t think she was corrected once in terms of improper technique.

Although I never competed (a fact that I regretted as soon as I arrived), I did get in a workout. Basically I was screaming my lilly white ass off at our team. And upon coughing up part of the lining of my throat I was informed by Alex that he could barely even hear me. Fuck my life.

It just goes to show that even though I was mere feet from our guys as they busted their asses, they we’re so zoned into the task at hand that my words of encouragement/wisdom fell on semi-deaf ears.

 So today, I sit here, scratchy voice and all thinking about how cool it is to have clients who are willing to shell out $100, and their entire Saturday so that they can get the shit kicked out of themselves.

Can you say commitment?

-Rob

We All Fall Down

Well for a while there I decided it would be a good idea to focus on my strength…and as usual when you focus on one thing, another lapses. I have been slowly  participating in more and more metabolic conditioning workouts and boy have I lost my touch! 

I did ‘filthy fifty’ with the group on Monday, and HO-LEESHIT did I feel like I was gonna die! It is amazing how some things can slip when you focus on others. 

Now I am NOT saying that I regret what I did…on the contrary, I am fucking stoked on the lifting PR’s I hit. All I am trying to say is that if you are prepared to focus on one specific facet of fitness, be prepared for ALL the other facets to decrease in terms of performance.

Some people are content being muscle heads, but get winded taking a shit. Others can run for hours on end…but can barely lift a grocery bag. I guess I am kind of running off on a tangent. But it is the most beneficial for overall health and fitness to not be the best at one thing, but be great at all different parts of fitness. Keep that in mind the next time you workout.

Don’t just work your strengths, but focus on your weaknesses too!

-Rob

Why We Do, What We Do…

I often find myself in the middle of a workout thinking to myself, “What the fuck am I doing? Why am I putting myself through this? What the fuck compelled me to try this shit?” And I sit and try to think of the answer as I write this piece. 

I mean, it is fucking hard. Doesn’t matter if I am doing a Crossfit Metcon like 100 bupees, or if I’m trying to hit a new 5 rep max on my squat. This shit hurts. It’s uncomfortable, it’s tiring, it’s time consuming. I would much rather be home watching tv, or sleeping, or eating. So why the fuck don’t I just do that?

I think it could be that life nowadays poses little challenges anymore. Really, who challenges themselves anymore? We go to work, we go out with friends, and we are obsessed with doing things that feel good or easy, rather than what we have to do that doesn’t necessarily feel good. 

Some of you may say, “Rob, you don’t HAVE to work out.” To you I say, “If I have to explain why I have to work out, why I have to lift, then you simply don’t and won’t understand.” 

Here is a great post from my man JV about the dedication required to do what we do.

If you want big time changes and results shake it all up and bring the pain! You are going to have to eat at 1500 cals a day you are going to be hungry you are going to get sick of looking at Chicken Tits and Brocolli. You are going to want to snap and run out and shove a Pizza down your gut and revel in how fucking good it would taste. Your workouts should leave you wanting to cry, scream, crawl into a ball, puke all at the same time but when you walk out of that gym you should realize that NO ONE ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NO ONE worked out in there harder than you did on that day.

You will get exactly what you put into it. You want a 50% body well its exactly what you have received. You want to become a cut above the rest well chum you got to kick it up a few notches and enter the freak zone. The zone where everyone around you doesn’t quite understand why all you ever eat is Chicken Tits and something green and vegetably, why you have to go take a piss every 20 or so minutes because by 10am you have already drank 40oz of water. Why you are sitting at your desk stretching and rubbing your legs because the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) might just go away a bit just a bit…

Some of the crazy fuckers around here are doing that kind of shit 24/7 and can do it for extended periods of time. Most people can’t. Some do it for shorter periods. Some do it right before summer, some do it just to do it. Torture yourself bring the discomfort and revel in it, knowing that the self deprivation and pain will in the end bring about a knew mentally and physically 

JV is one straight forward mother fucker.

To me it is all about walking up to a bar. A bar with weights on both ends, weights that add up to a number that you don’t know you can lift. To get over or under that bar and give it your all despite the mental repercussions of failure. And when you nail the lift, when you break an old PR, blast through a plateau and hit that one perfect lift…well, there is no better feeling. 

It’s about finding that place within yourself, finding that gear that you never knew you had that makes the difference between getting stuck and pushing through or getting stuck and dumping the bar.

It requires dedication.

It requires mental strength. 

You need to leave everything on that floor. 

To often in life we become complacent. We never test ourselves. To me it would be sad to live and die without never really finding out our own limits and see what we are capable of. Cause I guarantee that with some time and effort that all of you are capable of great things.

And at the moment that you find that special place, that extra gear…then you will know why we do, what we do…

-Rob

2 Years Ago Today, I Was Fat.

Just like the title says, I was fat 2 years ago. Hell, I was borderline obese! But that all changed. I made the decision to get in shape. I decided that I was no longer let my physical appearance limit me from what I wanted to do. No longer was I going to get winded walking up a flight of stairs. No more late night binges, no more being ashamed of my body. No more concealing every piece of skin I have. No more black clothes, no more double chins, no more feeling shitty and no more being fat!!!

Here is a before pic (picture is graphic, as it may cause vomiting and nausea):

 

And well, this is me now!

 

A lot of people helped me on the way. My family and my girlfriend first and foremost. But secondly my online buddy’s! I wouldn’t know half of what I know if it wasn’t for you guys! Thanks! I am 50 pounds lighter and a hell of a lot stronger! I think back after all the time that has passed and wonder how I got myself into that mess. Also, I NEVER make fun of someone who is fat. BUT I also don’t let them make excuses for their predicament. 

You DON’T have a gland problem, you DO have time, healthy food is NOT too expensive, and you HAVEN’T tried everything! 

Please make the change today! NOW! IMMEDIATELY! PRONTO! (I have always wanted to say ‘pronto’). It isn’t too late, and you do have the power! 

Just ask yourself one question. What does Rob have that I don’t?

Life Gets In The Way

Let me get the good news out of the way first. 

I am officially Crossfit Certified. I participated in the May 2nd – 3rd Level I Crossfit Certification Seminar, and it was a blast. 

Now the bad news.

Life is a pain. The week prior to the Cert. I was in charge of the gym since Marta had left for Poland to visit her family for 10 days. Well guess what the first thing a trainer stops doing when training people a lot.

That’s right.

Training.

I had about a 5 day layoff from my workouts because I was soooooo fucking busy. Then the certification came around. Now it is a well known fact that during these Certs that the instructors put the groups through one workout per day. Let’s just say that the Saturday workout nailed my balls to the floor. It was killer, but fun…great atmosphere working out with like 60 other people. 

But then…life kicked me in the balls again. (Hmmmm, I seem to be writing a great deal about male genitalia today…paging Dr. Freud?)

I got home from the first day of the cert, and suddenly, like a swift kick to the nuts (ok, that testicle remark was on purpose…so sue me.) I felt ill. Not just. “Oh my nose is runny” ill. But freezing cold, nauseous, headachy, wanna vomit and punch my own grandmother if she tried to touch me ill. Slept about 2 hours all night before I had to get up and travel downtown to do day 2 of the cert.

Well needless to say the instructors took no pity on me. There I was, sicker then an addict going into withdrawals, doing windsprints/pushups/med ball cleans. Oh boy I was toast. Not only that, BUT we are also on our god damn feet all day!!! Ugh. 

Long story short…I didn’t eat real food for about 5 days and I am only just getting back into the swing of things! Blah!

I am rebooting the Crossfit Strength Bias program. And I will see it through if it kills me! 

I basically decided to write this little diatribe to show that sometimes life does in fact get in the way. Sometimes the stars line up against you and Jesus/Vishnu/Allah/Zeus DO NOT WANT YOU TO WORK OUT!

The trick is that as soon as the clouds part and the Lord decides to throw a wrench into some other poor saps life, you need to GET BACK AT IT! So what if you lost some strength or stamina or whatever? Those gains you have made over months aren’t lost forever…hell, it probably will only take a couple of workouts until you are back where you were. 

Sometimes life kicks you to the curb. You just have to learn to get back up on that sidewalk.

Cheers!

~ Rob

Strength!

Alot has been said about Crossfit. Most of which pertains to metabolic conditioning (running, jumping, rowing). Well I will be following the Crossfit Strength Bias Program, which will allow me to show how Crossfit can not only allow you to gain raw strength, but also improve your metabolic conditioning (metcon). 

Day 1

Squat 3 x 5
5 x 225 lbs.
5 x 245 lbs.
5 x 255 lbs.

Metcon <15 minutes

50 walking lunges
25 box jumps – 24″ box
25 wall balls – 14# ball
1000m row
25 GHD situps

Time = 13:25

Gymnastic Training

Muscle up progressions on the rings

*Great day of training! This program will be fun!

The Concept 2 Rower, And You!

Ok, so at the gym we we’re discussing the damper settings of a Concept 2 rower. I was trying to clarify how they should be set. Please read this very informational post on the Crossfit.com message boards for all of you who need to know on how to row!

Taken from:

http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=5310&highlight=damper+settings

Ok I am writing this thread to clarify the drag factor on the Concept 2 rowers. Many people comment me “Chris – I row with the damper on 10 because its the hardest and thus im doing the most work.” I shake my head in dismay. To clarify how the drag factor works imagine that you are in an actual boat. A drag factor of 10 is the same as rowing in a Central park row boat – 8 feet wide, 10 feet long, and impossible to flip. It’s heavy, its slow, but if you can get it moving it has quite a bit of inertia. A 4-5 on the dampersetting is the equivalent of a racing shell – 24 feet long, 18 inchs wide, and the slightest off weight tilt will flip you – a set of 5 strokes gets this boat moving. A 1 on the damper setting – There is no boat. 

Now what is the best damper setting for you? 

This depends on many factors – primarily weight. Workout being second. 

To make my point clear a damper setting of 10 (8 for women) should only be used for pieces under 150 meters. This is not a rule – but a suggestion. The reason I say this is that unless you have been trained with the proper stroke for years – you will cause damage to yourself at this setting. 150 meters is a sprint/muscle piece that no matter what you do – it wont kill you. 

Now I will discuss wieght before going back to distances. 

The following is a laymans chart of where you damper should be around for your weight. (Applied for 500meter+ piece) 

250lbs – 6-7 
200lbs – 5-6 
175lbs – 4-6 
150lbs – 3-4 
125lbs – 2-3 

Now that you have a general idea of where your fan should be – realize that this is not final. Every erg is different. If you want to make sure that each erg you get onto has the same “drag factor” there is a function that lets you determine exactly what your fan is set at. 

On the model C (grey and black) erg hold down both the “rest” and “ok” button at the same time. In the bottom right hand corner a little “drag” should appear. Hop onto the erg and pull 5-10 strokes fairly hard – a number will appear. The following is a chart regarding recomended drag: 

250lbs – 139 
200lbs – 132 
175lbs – 125 
150lbs – 120 
125lbs – 114 

(Note first generation Model D users – Go to options and the last selection is “more options” under which is “Drag Factor”(Not sure about subsequent generations – they revised the computer 4 months after initial release)) 

So that now you know where drag is you must realize – these drags are considered in the rowing world to be the most efficient for how a rower works. These drag factors rely on endurance and aerobic ability more then anarobic. Moving higher to the 10 setting emphasizes strength more and more – but subsequently takes much more strength to move the fan (This will make you much more tired sooner then at a lower drag). Remember – it may look easy – but anyway you slice the cake (erg?) it will hurt. 

The athlete’s anerobic threshold, the point at which the body’s muscles have exhausted their oxygen store and start burning other fuel. For regular folks, reaching that threshold is quitting time; anaerobic work is 19 times harder than aerobic work. But rowing is all about harder. Elite rowers fire off the start at sprint speed — 53 strokes per minute. With 95 pounds of force on the blade end, each stroke is a weightlifter’s power clean. Rowers cross their anaerobic threshold with that first stroke. Then there are 225 more to the finish line.” 

 

-Rob

Emotions

Emotions can burn you, destroy you, consume you or they can drive you, motivate you, energize you, fuel you.

Today was a very emotional day for me. I have let my training fall by the wayside lately because of some personal issues, my grandfather is on his deathbed. It also doesn’t help that I am working crazy hours and I can’t seem to be able to sleep. I feel that all of this culminated into one of my more emotionally driven evenings of training in a long time.

 I did the main site WOD, then a 500m row, then busted my nuts trying to do the WOD with our class today.

Around round 4 of the class workout, I hit a wall…I felt gassed beyond belief and I wanted to curl up and die. But I didn’t…for a brief, fleeting moment, I thought of everything that has been going on in my life. It went through my mind like a flash, I can’t put my finger on whether it was anger or love that drove me…but I pushed harder then I have in a workout in a long, long time. Marta has commented about how I am amazingly quiet when I workout, but today was different. I let out war cries that would make King Leonidis quiver (the ‘THIS IS SPARTA!!!!’ guy from the 300 movie).

When I finished, I was laying face up in a pool of my own sweat, and I just covered my eyes and I wanted to cry. I pushed myself beyond what I thought was possible for me.  

Emotions can burn you, destroy you, consume you or they can drive you, motivate you, energize you, fuel you. You make the choice.

-Rob