All or nothing
This blog and challenge was started for many reasons, but the big two were:
- Personal improvement
- Setting a goal and reaching it – even when it’s outside my comfort zone
Without a doubt, I’ve achieved #1, but 2 is still “out there”. What I’m realizing is this – I’m pretty black & white when it comes to some things. When I was doing this everyday, I was “doing it”. But now that I’ve slipped, I’m “not doing it”. I think that is an awful way to view it. Even if I don’t do everything I need to do each day – doing something is worse then doing nothing.
Astute readers will notice that I’ve echoed this sentiment in the past – it takes me a while to learn things sometimes!So I’m just gonna do what I can do each day and log it – no matter how bad. I know for my own sanity that I can’t focus on the 8.5%, or even if I hit all my goals for the day – not yet. I just need to wake up and do what I can do for that day and that day only.
I know that some of you are rightfully disappointed in me and how I’ve dropped the ball. If you want out, feel free – no hard feelings. But if you want to help me get to the next level in my life – I need feed back… a lot of it. Phone calls, emails, etc. The most important thing for me is to do SOMETHING each and every day. Push myself, make the right choices (food and drink, getting out of bed, etc).
I’m buying a voice recorder today, and swearing off sweet drinks. I did pushups and sit-ups and I’m going to write a script to trigger them throughout the day (3pm, MORE PUSHUPS, etc).
I also need some outside perspective on what I’m talking about here. Am I saying I can’t be black and white – then being black and white?
!
Don’t focus so much on your weight. Also, don’t look at junk food as some huge obstacle to overcome. Sure, it is way, way harder to find something healthy for lunch or dinner when you have hot dogs and pizzas blaring at you from everywhere…but if you look hard enough, you can find some healthy choices out there. Don’t be afraid of carbs either, they are your body’s main energy source…focusing too much on protein is just as bad as having too much fat…your body converts ANY protein that it doesnt need at the end of the day straight to energy and fat.
Also, the number of total number of pushups or situps you do during the day really doesnt mean anything when it comes to losing weight (in fat). By doing these exercises, you are simply training muscle (which DOES help you burn fat in the long run, however, if your aiming to do anearobic exercise to lose more fat you need to use a different method)...try to do them in a concentrated period of time rather than spread out all during the day, and i suggest focusing more on the time you spend doing these exercises than the actual number that you do…
Just some thoughts of mine, good luck!
nice job bro
hey i saw da pics below n well i have dat problem too
after exercising for over 10 months ( i been doing cardio n strentgh at da same time ) n well i sitll have dat nasty curve u know like da one in da pic doesnt look ugly
men im tired of having that curve looks like a girls body doesnt it????
anyways if u get rid of it plz dude tell me how plz i will really apreciate thanx bro
Less talk, more doing.
Do any exercising this weekend?
The problem is, the photo’s that you’re comparing yourself to, and trying to reach; the guys in those photos don’t just do a lot of situps, they do a lot of seriously-heavy weight work.
You could do 2000 sit-ups in a single session, every day for a month and still get nowhere near a six-pack like those photos.
A six pack is achieved in two ways. Firstly, low body-fat, especially around the stomach area. This makes the six-pack so much more visible.
Secondly is the muscle definition. This is what you’re aiming for with all the sit-ups you’re doing. If you do lots of ab-crunching with weights too, then you can work towards the [semi-unrealistic] six-packs that we’d all love to have and can see in the photos lower down in your blog.
A realistic goal is to firstly try and get your body-fat down a little (although I hasten to add that you look completely normal in weight terms). Maybe take up jogging and aim to run a half-marathon in a three or four months time?
Then secondly just keep up with the sit ups as you currently are doing. Ensure that you work out the lower and upper abs, followed by twists to give a nice even muscle framework.
Work the upper abs to failure, then lower, then twists. Five min break and repeat.
As for the press-ups…unless you’re paranoid about man-boobs then i’d drop them and focus on your goal.
I just found this page while googling for an art project.
I am EXACTLY THE SAME WAY.
In everything I do in life, this is how I am. It can be an asset but in this case, for me, it has been a drawback.
I would LOVE to be a goal-buddy. I NEED someone and you sound totally motivated despite your recent posts. I really think we could help each other. I don’t know if you’re interested but if you are, email me.
I’m doing the same thing you are kinda… well I have my own program that I devised. Not sure if you’re doing these things but I jog for an hour at what speed I can just as long as I can get enough air because after 20min you start burning fat, and the more oxygen the more of it is fat that is burned. I also take green tea pills, green tea helps burn 100 calories daily according to one experimental group at least. I take a bunch of other pills, like vitamin A,B,C,D, Calcium D, Magnesium, garlic (circulation), and also a multivitamin daily. I lost 10lbs the past year but not close to getting abs yet. I’m also using ab energizer because crunches hurted my lower spine, I can’t say for sure if it’s working or not (I wish there was an ab machine at the gym I go to…). And I recently bought some hoodia extract pills to help with dieting, I’ll let you know if they actually suppresses hunger. Oh and I’m giving colon cleansing a try to see if it’ll reduce any, plus I eat fiber candies to flush out my system in general as well. Hope this helps.
Also one more thing, I read that you drink Gatorade. Try to buy the powder ones and make them yourself, at least the one I bought didn’t least high fructose corn syrup on the container as it did for the bottled ones (they call it something else but it’s the same thing). High fructose corn syrup is synthesized and not natural, it needs to be processed by your liver first and then it gets stored as fat before you can burn it. The powder one only listed sucrose (normal sugar) which you can burn right away.
Also drink a lot of water everyday because your kidney needs it to work, if it doesn’t work your liver helps it out, but your liver deals with fat metabolism so you need to let it work its own crap and not deal with the kidney’s job.
Peace out~
Are we back to not logging again?
Pills? Programs? Goal-buddies? Gaaaaah!
The equation is simple: eat less, exercise more.
You either want to achieve your target or you don’t. If not then stop torturing yourself (and us) with your piteous whinings. If you do then stop being such a self-excusing wimp and get on with it.
Monsieur Le Clown
ps: If you don’t like chicken, don’t eat it. You do know that you can get protein from sources other than meat, don’t you?
M le C, if you’ve noticed, I haven’t posted a blog update in some time. That is because I am NOT on track and don’t feel like “whining”. As a matter of fact, my whining (publicly) was while I was progressing.
I’m glad you’ve achieved all of your goals. For other people, motivation helps from other places.
i actually started doing the same thing and it worked. i started a little before spring break because i wanted the perfect body for summer and i got it. in the beginning i was like you are now then i don’t know what happened but i lost a lot of weight and got a really flat stomach (i’m a girl so i don’t want a defined 6-pack). it sounds like you aren’t motivated enough but i’mm sorry if this is mean but i and all the girlfriends i have wouldn’t go out with a guy unless he had a REALLY good personality if he had a body like yours.
found this site doing a google search on something totally different but I was in this same boat. Two years ago I wanted a six pack summer. Didn’t quite get it even though I killed myself in the gym. This past summer (still killing myself in the gym) I concentrated more on dieting rather than situps, etc…. I cut out carbs and increased my running around the track. That pretty much did it. It doesn’t matter how great your stomach muscles are if they are hidden under a layer of fat (no matter how thin a layer of fat it may be). Diet…diet…diet…. Cut out rice, breads, pastas, etc… I was in pretty good shape to begin with at 175lbs. dropped down to 162.5lbs before I had enough and was happy. I lost a lot of strength when in the “cutting” phase but I got the six pax that I wanted. Now, I’m trying to bulk up to get some of my strength back. Go figure. Good luck with your diet and exercise. You can do it. Chicken, broccli, tuna, shrimp. that’s pretty much all I ate for 45 days with 2-3 hr workouts Mon-Fridays.
u keep sayin ur gainin weight and i hate to have to say the more u work out the more u will gain… muscle weighs more then fat so u have to go based on measurements
Hey! Hi from London! Hows the goals going? Im excited to read an update. Im a certified Neuro Linguistic Programmer and trainer. We help people a lot with goals and stuff. I’d like to offer you something – perhaps it may be useful to you. It sounds as though you have an internal struggle. (Now, please accept that I only know you through your web site and most of this is a mixture of conjecture and experience) The struggle seems to be a conflict between your goals, and what you want to REALLY do. i.e. not eat any more chicken! As I read your blog, im guessing that a huge part of you would rather do something else. I’d like to offer you a way to resolve this and to lead you into a path of “least resistance”. Here’s the instructions. Get relaxed somewhere where you wont be disturbed for 30 minutes or so. (It’s a bit like meditation ok?) After all, when doing something like this, the mind pays a powerful role. If you tell yourself you’re not losing weight (FAT specifically!!) then you probably wont. Anyway, sit comfortably. Hold you arms out palms upturned, as though you were carrying a tray of delicious chicken alternative. Your elbows at your sides, arms in front. Your elbows must be loosely hanging, that is unsupported. Ok, now the magic. Put a mental image of you in your left hand, that you with the six pack. Ask yourself “What does having a six pack get him?” What ever the answer you get, ask “what does that get for him”, or ask “for what purpose”. Do these 4 or 5 times. Then create the image of the conflicting you, the non-gym goer who has other things to do, and doesn’t want to spend the money or time at the gym (im only guessing but you know who he is) Create an image of this person on your right hand. Ask the same questions: ”What does not going to the gym and not dedicating effort to getting the six pack achieve”… and whatever the answer ask “for what purpose or what does that GET for him”. Repeat this 4 or 5 times. You may be surprised that if you ask enough times, the answer will come out the same for both sides. Then, Just relax with your hands upturned. Close your eyes and ask these imaginary parts to “talk to each other” Imagine them giving each other the strengths that the individually posses. Let them have a conversation with each other for 5 or 6 minutes. Keep them talking, mediate, ask the parts to pool resources. Keep asking them to share resources. Imagine your goal between your hands. Keep asking them what each can learn from each other…keep it going for 5 minutes. Ok? So, it sounds a bit whacky, try it, its for free, and I want to know what happens. Give me an update. Best of luck.
whatever it is, I still think you’re hot! HOT HOT HOT…
Look at this. No new posts in over a month and you’re still getting comments.
Give the fans what they want, Kastner. What’ve you been up to fitness-wise?
=)
Sorry, I came across far harsher than I meant to with my previous comment. The reason is that I’d only just come across the blog and it seemed (on reading it all in one go) a bit of a whine-fest.
The rest of it still stands, though. :)
Oh, and I agree with Snow – muscle weighs more than fat, so don’t even think about losing weight if you’re exercising a lot.
Hey-
I too have a six pack bet but for $8,000. Last year I bet these same friends I could lose alomost 60 pounds in 5 months and I won so I collected $8,000 so they want revenge this year. I have 5 months again and I REFUSE to give up. I started at 198 , now down to 188 and goto the gym 6 times a week. I f you need motivation just email me.
Rick
sigh, i hope you read this because i have some information im sure you could use.
You have taken the easy way in, thought you could get bruce lee abs in a few months and found it too hard so you took the easy way out and quit. Thats all there is to it, call it whatever you want ‘personal improvement, goal setting and reaching it’ but thats ridiculous, you set a target and you failed to reach it because you found it too hard.
Abs are possibley the hardest muscles to get, maintain and make look good. You have to WORK every single day to get those abs, if abs were easy to get every looser with no sense of will power or determination would have them, and they would mean nothing. Its the same as giving an olympic gold medal to somebody who has done fuck all to earn it, you cant just have such a prestigous reward as abs without working for them, and working HARD.
So, here is my advice for you:
1. Aim to have you abs by NEXT summer, you have 7 months.
2. Eat lots of protein.
3. Join a gym.
4. Watch your weight, tell the people at the gym what you want to achieve and im sure they will help you.
5. DONT QUIT.
follow those 5 steppes by next summer you will be proud of yourself.
if you dont, meh you tried, you failed, what does that say about you?
Hey Dude, ignore your detractors and the people who beg you to get going again.
What you did was awesome, be proud of yourself and recognise you’re one of some tiny percentage of people in the world who ever dedicate themselves to something with such perserverence.
Good luck with whatever happens next. Chris.
Yo, Kastner! Monoglot is such a fabulous title. (OK! I see that Monoglot uses your “Spell With Flikr”, good Xuan!)
I don’t know if there is a local Judo club near you, but if there is, may I suggest that you train there instead of just the gym. Judo requires so much from your core where your abs reside, plus you work the entire body, and a reasonable size club that trains well will give you more cardio work than you can poke a stick at…
Better still, no gym, lots o’ Judo, lots o’ running, no carbs after 4pm, the motto “I’m only as good as my next workout”, and the same tenacity with which you produce great looking sites and support for sites. You’re home and hosed…
You live in Springfield, NJ… I live in tiny Launceston,Tasmania, Australia…
Here is a listing of the Judo Clubs of New Jersey; one of them’s gotta be closer to you than my club (0;
Also, these blokes do one of the best books on abs ever… Check it out, I’ll even send you my copy if your too tight, er, financially challenged to buy your own (0:
Random House has a bit’o’blurb on them toooooooooo…
Don’t be so hard on yourself mentally, take it out on your body and the mind will become stronger, just do each day what you can; remember the fellas in the pics work at their bods full time, you and I don’t have that luxury. Don’t grasp for it and it will come to you! Seriously…
And if the entry by Snow is from my end of the world, then Snowman is a working testament to hard graft and persistence. He used to be a thin, gowky, smoking Snowman; know he’s onto patches, looking buffed, and as funny as a funny man…
Amaste
you…sad…bastard! x
you…sad…twatatt! x