Fatboy 2 Fitboy

Having read Lance Armstrong’s book It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life awhile back, I am in awe of his unyielding willpower and ferocious determination. If reading about this guy’s amazing life and struggle with cancer doesn’t get you motivated, check your pulse- you may be dead. He went from being an elite cyclist to the brink of death and then came all the way back to not only a Tour De France champion, but an icon for hope and compassion around the world.

Lance’s new Nike commercial titled “Driven” is one of the most inspiring video clips I have ever seen. Check it out:

Here are some links to support his amazing fight against cancer.

Oakley and Lance Armstrong have raised $1,400,000 in support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Each pair of glasses you buy donates $20 to this worthy cause.

Nike and Lance Armstrong have raised more than $80,000,000 with a full line of clothing, shoes and high quality Nike equipment. I have a $50 Nike gift card I am going to use right now to buy some workout shoes.

Lance Armstrong’s Foundation contributes a stellar 78% of all donations to grants and programs that support cancer-related causes.

I initially planned to post what I ate every day when I started blogging again, but it slipped my mind. These are the two days I missed posting for June 29th and June 30th.

As far as my game plan, I want to focus on keeping calories at around 2500. This seems to be a happy medium for me. I have the satisfaction of eating enough so I don’t feel like I am depriving myself and the calories are low enough to have substantial weight loss while losing minimal muscle mass. In a perfect world, I would aim for a 40% carbohydrate, 40% protein and 20% fat macro nutrient breakdown. As I mentioned in a previous post about the 40-40-20, most people use it to cut fat (which is my goal) as opposed to building muscle. I ate more lunch meat than I normally would, but the smoked turkey deli meat is too good to pass up for the price and convenience. Two pieces of wheat bread, a little mustard, slap on some turkey and I am good to go.

My eating needs to be fine tuned so I have more energy throughout the day. I wake up at 7am for work and usually do not get to the gym until 10pm. I plan to go shopping tonight at Publix and load up on some quality food, especially for snacking purposes. I ordered Peeled Snacks Go-Mango-Man-Go, 1.40-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 10) a few weeks ago and they are amazing. A friend of mine recommended them after he purchased some in Hawaii and bragged how delicious they were. If Publix does not carry them, I will need to order them online again. They give a nice little boost during a busy day and do not make a mess. I’ll try to pickup some nectarines, bananas and pears as well.

As part of a project in college, I had to give a presentation for my international marketing class about the Starbucks business model and it’s sustainability for future expansion around the globe. As a person who has only had one sip of coffee in his entire life, it was not exactly a riveting topic. All I remember is standing up in front of the class and delivering the presentation without a hitch. The moment came and went; it was the last time I stood in front of a group to delivery material. I am sure leading up to the presentation day, I was anxious, nervous and a bit overwhelmed.

The reason why I bring this up is because nearly 12 years later, I am again anxious, nervous and a bit overwhelmed. As part of a software pilot program at work, I will be facilitating up to 180 people over a three week period with four other facilitators. The sessions will be up to 3.5 hours at a time with groups of ten students. When I was told a few months ago that I would be participating in this training venture, I was concerned. I am considered an expert in the training material, so why the angst? Standing up in front of a class and training is out of my comfort zone, not by just a few feet or yards, but MILES. Every possible bad scenario ran through my head:

• I will go blank and nothing will come out of my mouth
• I will forget my train of thought mid-topic
• I will get that one student who is a constant pain
• I will be nervous
• I will be nervous and the students will notice
• I will lose control of the class
• I will make a presentation that will be horrible, I’ll get bad reviews and my career will be ruined

After thinking about the prospect of training and running the scenarios over and over in my head, I am now very excited to train. Why? Because I need to step out of my zone of comfort. I need to make mistakes. I need to be tested. Whether it be speaking in front of a group of people, trying to start your own website or even hooking up a DVD player, we all have areas we do not feel totally at ease in. It feels good to be comfortable. It feels good for a task to be simple.

And that begs the question: If I am only doing the easy things, how can I expect to grow as a person? How can I expect to ever reach my potential? How can I expect to achieve my goals?

P.S. On a side note, I highly recommend The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking to help out with your fear of public speaking. It helped me quite a bit.

Yes, I am back. It has been almost a year since I last made an entry in here. I became frustrated with some technical issues with the blog at the time. After asking a few Wordpress “pros” for help, even they could not figure it out. I decided to just throw in the towel and not bother with it anymore.

This weekend, I has some free time and decided to sit down and not get up until I got this blog fixed. It took almost three hours, but I believe I go it working properly.

So what has the last year looked like for me?

October 3, 2008- I got down to 292 pounds. While playing basketball that day, my left meniscus tore (knee) while trying to make a jump pass.

October 10, 2008- Surgery on left meniscus, parrot beak tear.

May 1, 2009- Knee was still not right, went back to surgeon. I did not agree with his opinion calling for no more surgery, so I sought out a second opinion. The second doctor found a tear that got caught in the knee joint which hindered my ability to fully straighten out my knee.

May 15, 2009- Second surgery on meniscus.

June 1, 2009- Calf was swollen and sore, diagnosed with a blood clot in my lower left leg. Rushed to ER. Had to take blood thinner via stomach injection (Lovenox) for two weeks and I am currently on Coumadin, another blood thinner, for up to six months.

In short, it has been a rough year. Yes, I have put back on more weight than I would like, but I have been rehabbing everyday since the second, and hopefully, final operation. I have high hopes for my recovery.

One thing I learned about myself from these trials and tribulations is that I do not respond to adversity as well as I thought. I used the knee surgeries as an excuse to stop eating properly. I still went to the gym regularly, even with crutches sometimes, but eating is the key to everything- and I know this.

So where do I go from here? Forward. That is all I can do. Put my head down, toughen up, and keep marching ahead towards my initial goal: dunking a basketball.

Perhaps when I encounter adversity in my life next time, I can recall on this experience, learn from it and make better choices for myself.

14 Day Cycle (Abs twice a week on random days, random routines)

Wednesday- Upper
Thursday- Plyometrics (Vertical Jump Bible Beginner)
Friday- Lower
Saturday- Cardio
Sunday- Upper
Monday- Plyometrics (Vertical Jump Bible Beginner)
Tuesday- OFF
Wednesday- Lower
Thursday- Plyometrics (Vertical Jump Bible Beginner)
Friday- Upper
Saturday- Cardio
Sunday- Lower
Monday- Plyometrics (Vertical Jump Bible Beginner)
Tuesday- OFF

Current Eating Plan (200 grams protein daily, 20-25% calories from fat, rest from carbs)

Upper Body Day- 2750 calories
Lower Body Day- 3000 calories
Cardio/Plyo Day- 2500 calories
Off Day- 2250 calories
Cheat Meal- Once a week between 1000-1500 calories, mostly protein and fats consisting of sushi, shrimp and crab.

Current Supplements
Controlled Labs Reduction
Controlled Labs Green Mag
Controlled Labs Purple Wraath
Animal Pak
Animal Flex
AST Micronized Creatine