Staying Motivated in the Gym..........Part 4a

Previously on My $0.02----------------> [Recommended reads for newcomers]

Staying Motivated in the Gym..........Part 3

Staying Motivated in the Gym.......Part 2

And in our first installment-------------> Staying Motivated in the Gym....Part 1

Carnival Epilogue...

So I had this whole wake up call recently. It's time for me to stop being a lard-ass and get cracking again. I have to revisit this topic from time to time - key word "STAYING." Fitness is a marathon, not a sprint. Fitness is a process, not an event. Fitness is a journey, not a destination. Fitness is a lifestyle, not a diet..........point taken?

Background: Post Carnival, I was a little worn out. I'm usually pretty consistent and steady paced, but I told you guys about my 90 day blitz leading up to my trip,(varying from 1-3 days in the gym a week with high weights, 6-8 rep super sets, ab workout every other day either first thing in the morning, last thing before bed) but while at carnival I partied everyday and slept probably 4 hours.....at a time....if that much (kinda hard to sleep when you get home from a party at 5, 6, 7 am and by 9, 10, 11 am ppl outside are blasting music). I also got into the habit of eating all types of fun, glorious, gluttonous-ass, self indulging...........BASICALLY what I call "lard ass" or "fat boy" foods. And you know what? After being so disciplined and regimented for nearly 2 years......................IT WAS FUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNN!!!!!

Sidenote: In the soca community, when speaking of Carnival, it is common practice to say the name of the city or country it is in. When someone simply says carnival, we are talking about TRINIDAD CARNIVAL!!! Note to self for all of you, put this on your life's check list: LIST OF THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE - TRINIDAD CARNIVAL.

Sider note: Speaking about last years carnival, I said it was, "arguably the BEST week of my life." This years carnival..................HANDS DOWN DI BESS DAMM WEEK OF MY LIFE!!! Talk about pure an unadulterated fun on top of fun with fun dressing, marinated for two days in a 12 year old aged fun, served in a creamy fun sauce with little grated fun sprinkled on it.........and a side of fun...................."and thangs"

Subsequently, I fell into the typical lard ass thinking that most of Americans have. Oh yes. You know of which I speak and are probably guilty of several counts yourself. That instant gratification lardass mentality that sounds a little like this: "I worked really hard.....I deserve a break........and a treat." So I decided, "Eh!! I think I'll take a week off of my usual routine and stray a lil from my norm." Now, normally this is okay, welcomed and a very good healthy practice. Especially if you're doing heavy free weight training.

Sidenote: Constant heavy free weight training is really bad for your tendons and joint unless you have a super perfect diet and supplement game.......which most ppl don't. It's always a good idea to scale back for 1 week every 4-8 weeks with just calesthetics, cardio, light free weights or cable machines that are easy on the joints. Almost everyone trainer I know has suffered some serious injury, who coincidentally don't take any time off and I'm praying I'm not next.

However, I decide, "let's go for broke," took it to an extreme, and went on what I called my "Fat boy binge." This was scheduled to last the Friday I got back until the following weeks Sunday (can't jus be a fatboy for 3 days now can we? Stop talking that "that's that healthy shit")..............Can I tell you, good food (rather "fun" food bc a lot of what I was eating was not good) is like CRACK!! It's SOOOOOOO GOOOD!! Once it hits your lips........... I literally had a Will Ferrell moment. Yes, that's exactly what happened to me.

So, almost 2 months later. I'm still breaking many of my rules and I've prolly been to the gym about........4 times.....not per week, cumulatively in the last 2 months. Now, to clarify and not offend the sensitiveez out there, when I say "lard ass" and "fat boy" I'm not making fun of overweight or obese ppl. That's just sophomoric and mean. I know full well there's a plethora of factors, namely genetic that determine a persons size and shape. So when I say lardass or fatboy, I mean things that are just egregiously excessive or not conducive towards a long healthy lifestyle. You don't have to be fat to be a lardass, thats moreso a personality/character thing. You don't have to be fat to be a fatboy or fatgirl, skinny and fat alike do fatboy shit from time to time. So to clarify, here are some of my activities. Any single one of em are ok and acceptable, few and far in between, once in a while.....but daily..........or worse, more than once a day can lead to calamity. And sad thing is many of us do these naively and dont realize why we aren't meeting our goals.

My fatboy/lardass tactics (completely out of context for me)

• eating food or drinking while laying down
• haven't been drinking my usual 64+ onces of water a day.....or any thing for that matter that doesn't have a ton of sugar and "red #5 " in it
• having ice cream immediately after meals
• ordering fastfood more than once a week....sometimes more than once a day
• ordering fries with my food
• eating "wings n thangs" from the local hood fried food spots (two thighs n cheese fries aka the "Raphael Extra value meal")
• eating chocolates with or immediately after meals
• three full meals in the span of 4 hours
• eating well after I'm already full
• eating big meals and going to bed or nap right after
• icecream with hot peanut butter and fudge poured on top [salivating like homer]
• Breakfast, ice cream, sushi, tai food and cereal one day (one of my favorite)
• Drinking JUICE, shakes and or soda with my meals
• and too many more to name because my inner lardass is kicking in and about to wrap this up
  

Sidenote: Anyone who knows me or has ever dined with me in the last 2 years knows that I NEVER EEEEEEEEEEEEVERRRRRRRRR drink any fluids with any of my meals, let alone juice or soda so this was a HUGE break of characer for me. Not even water. I've explained why before. Scroll down to "DRINK LOTS OF WATER" and start reading from there.

Sider note: 8 glasses of water is not as hard as ppl make it sound if you look at it as 64 ounces. The average paper cup is 8oz and the average cup/glass at home is 12-16oz. I have a 20oz measuring shaker cup so its easier to track. Try this, drink 2 cups of water (16oz) before you go to bed and I PROMISE you you'll get up in the morning.................[GIGGITY!!!]

Jim Rohn once said "The formula for failure is a few small simple errors in judgment, repeated over time. Why? Because failure doesn't show up on the first day. It would be great if it did."


Time to get back to work.