As you can see, in-keeping with the motto of the blog, as the person progresses so will the visual aspects of the blog and we have progressed. This blog started as a Lifestyle blog, showing people how to get the most out of their lives, be productive and achieve goals. As my own goals progressed so did the blogs topics and we ended up on health and fitness, which dominated a good few stages.
I've gone over all I learned about fitness and nutrition I'm going to have to surpass the heavens and shed the shackles of the physical for a bit and talk and discuss things like philosophy and my take of it, this is of course subjective unlike the fitness aspect which is mostly science.
This section will still be about my personal training, be it the body-building or my new return to something else...
Dance games.
I've been playing dance arcade machines since 2000, and had slowly stopped playing by 2010. The last time I in fact had what I'd call a session was summer last year. During my birthday, which was a few days back. I started playing ITG (In The Groove) again and thoroughly enjoyed it! Since it had been a long time, I was nowhere near as good as I used to be but thanks to the extensive training in the gym everyday I was decent for a comeback!
All I need now is to find someone willing to train me, teach me and help me take myself further than I was, ideally I'd like to comfortably pass 14's (it's a difficulty number).
I'll keep the blog up to date with any training and progress as it's all part of who I am trying to become, a better version of the person yesterday.
A short one for today, I'll post soon you beautiful, beautiful readers!
For a while now I've been opening up a new post, typing a title and sat staring at a blank page.
When I first started this blog in early 2011... wow... 3 years... *ahem* I had no problem writing articles because the information was fresh to me and as I learned various tips and fell into many pitfalls I was able to talk about it. The last year I've been looking into personal training and have stepped up the bodybuilding and healthy living aspect, I have nothing else on the basics to share with exception to some more advanced topics like training various muscle groups and detailed analysis of particular exercises.
There are, however, many other aspects to my life other than fitness and the business stuff.
For example, I'm a writer and currently nine chapters into my latest novel which I hope to get published. I build board-game mechanics and last but most importantly, I'm a philosopher.
I would like to discuss my theories on human behavior, on my stances on religion, politics and ethics.
I've always known this Blog wouldn't cover my personal life too much and would avoid ranting but I never even considered that I have much more to give than just fitness advice, so I'll give it a whirl in the new up-coming version, 5.0!!
We have come a long way since the start, so thought I'd share a timeline of the current headers for each version, for nostalgia purposes.
Each header had it's own theme and the colour scheme's and background all worked in harmony (I do not have a back collection of the backgrounds sadly.
"The ocean is violent but a good sailor can weather the storm"
It's been a long haul away from this Blog, I needed to focus a bit more and now I come back to you a different person.
The last 8 months I stepped up my training, hitting the gym almost daily, cut down on high saturated fat foods, cut down on consuming carbonated drinks and tried to eat a bit cleaner, not clean, but cleaner.
I focused on improving myself and I can confidently say I've achieved that, I lift over double what I could, run longer and generally feel a lot better in myself. My goals in this department are far from over, I have other ambitious goals to meet and when spring appears I'll go into my first clean eating cut (which will be difficult).
Aside from my physical appearances what else has changed?
My attitude, I'm more willing to believe in myself, I did this health change all on my own off research I did about the various items I wanted change. Christmas approach's and I'm going to share my knowledge for all the people wanting to make lasting changes on their health and fitness, so expect me to be back to regular blogs again.
How about the rest?
I'm STILL trying to find work in London, and while this has been almost a laughable experience the country as a whole is beginning to recover from the economic depression and employment rates are slowly on the rise, so I'm quietly confident this marathon is reaching it's end.
I'll be working hard to get job applications out and see where I can get, then finally move to London.
I've been visiting every month for a week or two and really feel integrated into a city environment, I still adore the countryside, the wilderness and the oceans call but I've got to make this move, and it's taken longer than it should. It has been a very long war, but one I will win.
So what's next?
Step up the resistance training program.
Build a stronger cardio base.
Move to London
New business ideas.
Think about my long term plans, and start setting some in motion
When working on a few small business ideas or any ideas for that matter, some will fail others will work, the trick is not to give up, pick yourself up, ten, fifteen or even a thousand times and carve out the world YOU want.
So make big audacious plans, make goals that terrify you, push yourself to the edge and beyond of your comfort zone, think, fight and live.
"If you can't fight for the life you want then you don't deserve to have it any other way." - Kiko
I'm still struggling to find work in London in the job field that I wanted (Digital Art / Graphic Design / Image re-touching) so I've got to make a decision.
The weather is starting to get good, and I'll have only a few months oppertunity to get the models on location for a shoot. This will also take massive planing, so I've got to stop and make a stand.
To get this all rolling, I'd need a minimum of £1,600 but to ensure everything is PERFECT which is what I always strive for, Ideally would like £3,000 - £3,500.
SO my challenge is to go, all or nothing!!
Doubt killed more ideas then failure ever could.
GOAL:
- Gather £3,000
Why? To finally launch business at full speed, with a wide range of products, website, model shoot, promotional video.
TO BE ACHIEVED BY:
- July16th
Why? So that there is still time and good weather to have the shoot and promo video on location.
HOW?: - Phase 1 Sell various personal affects that have either less use to me or just for the monetary gain.
- Phase 2 Get some work, part time, full time not in the profession I wanted. Once the business is stable hopefully that can become my full time job.
- Phase 3 Freelance work, granted it will be in dribs and drabs but this will grant some finance.
-Phase 4 Any small scale business ideas that have a small capital start up cost that I might invent during this process.
I've had some great progress lately in my endeavor to get a better body and become more healthy.
I go to the gym five days a week, weekends are used to rest and sunday is the day that I'll eat a little worse than I should, mostly because I don't want to feel like I'm denying myself bad food as a punishment, its more of a case of clever moderation.
The biggest change is my massive reduction in bread, I now hardly eat it. Don't get me wrong, I love bread, LOVE IT. But it was just something I ate on a daily basis which I didn't need to.
I've found that its just being consistent and working hard (you know in yourself if you've not tried your hardest) sometimes you have to put in the miles to make it all worth it.
As I've become more healthy, and exercised regularly I'm starting to really enjoy my time at the gym, I'm getting more self confidence and can see from my documented progress that Ive improved in leaps and bounds. I will say this for definite; you really do need to put the work in to get the results you want, no point relying on supplements, drugs or surgery, if you've not made the mental changes in your approach you will never achieve what you want.
Eat well, exercise regularly and more importantly, make sure you learn a good variety of exercises, for each area of the body there are tons of exercises for each part and with the right ordering of the exercises you can spend a hour and a half on one body part without it becoming too tired after 2-3 exercises!!
I've got to go now, but I'm going to be updating more frequently now I have things to say, peace you beautiful, beautiful readers!
Spring is
here, the sun in out and the very gloomy and record breaking cold
winter the UK has just had is but a mere frosty fog on the lens of
our memories. I'm sure, like myself you've noticed a drop in
posts and to make this up to you and myself I'm currently taking a
train back from London to my home-town It only just occurred to me
that I could write my posts in advance to save me work in the
evenings which is my normal posting time. The main issue is simple; I've gone from a slow pace of life to what is now a constant stream
of things creating disturbance and distraction in my normal posts.
I’ll talk about a few of the things I've been up to anyway.
Things
I have to fit into a day on average:
Eating well
(breakfast, lunch, dinner).
1.5
Hours in the Gym.
Work
on my Business (Which includes):
-
Finances
-
Product Design
-
Marketing
-
Business Model and strategy
-
Streamlining workflow
-
Social media presence
-
Designing new products
-
Maintaining strong supplier relations
-
Email Sifting
-
Arrange photo shoots
-
Work on Shoots
-
Arrange, and edit images after finding right shots
-
Branding and Company Identity
-
Promotion
-
Setting and meeting milestones
-
Organising all documentation and filing
-
Conceptualising new directions
Work
on various Freelance design work.
Work
a job (at the moment I've got some intern work).
Host
game nights (most nights).
Attend
a hobby club on Wednesdays.
Work
on miscellaneous personal projects.
Visit
parents once a week
Skype
my girlfriend in the night when not in London
Skype
friends and family when in London
Update
Blog
Update Various Facebook pages and groups
Things I
have coming up that I need to find space for:
Birthday
of a good friend
My
own birthday
2
weeks intern work
2
weeks in a clinical trail testing Flu vaccines (It’s really
helpful for other people and I also get paid to do it)
Dental
Surgery
A
event at London I may be attending to set up a stall
Freelance
work creating designs, manufacturing and printing T-Shirts for
another event
Creating
a cheap range designs and prints to sell off old out-dated stock
So as you
can see, I'm pretty busy and updating the Blog isn't a speedy
system, I normally write it up, and upload the various images you see
on here like the headers etc, this all takes time! My average Blog
post takes just under 2 hours, which in the grand scheme of things is
a huge amount of time!
However, I
do not view it as work or even a service. I view this blog as a way
of relaxing and noting down things that (most of the time) will help
other people save money and time or just provide what I consider
invaluable information I've discovered or learnt the hard way.
Anyway as you can see I've got a pretty tight schedule, so from now on I'm going to have to put to good use any waste time(like the long train journey to London) to get things lower on my list completed.
I hope everyone is well, oh and on the fitness and health front, I'm doing ok!
Good day to you!
I'm here, yup I'm not going anywhere are you?
I'll be serious for a moment, that last sentence is relevant to some of today's tropic, where are we going?
I'll level the playing field for a moment, my personal ambition in this life, amongst the obvious (marrage kids etc) is to travel the world, and more specifically I'd like to sail certain parts.
Another object of desire I have is to live out of the UK, somewhere warmer with dynamic climates so I can go on different types of adventures.
Most of all I enjoy culture and learning about different cultures, I've found myself at a position where to achieve these things I have to put into account other aspects, in other words its not as simple as getting money, and in all honesty it never is!
It's never money that people want, money is not real, paper has little value, it's the concept of using it to trade.
We don't want money, we want a greater pool of things available to us.
Money is always a means not something really worth anything, remember money has a economic trade value, and this can grow or shrink by government and large scale corporations movements, now one could argue what's the point in this argument? without money in today's society you cannot get any items / services; and you'd be mostly right, but you'd be surprised how many people say they want to be Rich, or famous, but fame is only good for increasing your ability to trade, and rich could mean many things (we all know they mostly mean money).
Anyway, just remember money is not what most people actually want, it's the options to get other items / services.
Now I mentioned where are we going, well I'm interested in how many people think about their dreams? I mean if dreams were instantly achievable then most of us would have acquired them, and they would not be dreams! Dreams are mostly peoples extremes believing that achieving them to be difficult or impossible.
Well depending on the dream this is true, however I thoroughly encourage all people to try and chase their dreams, to not try at all is in my eyes worse than trying and failing.
I don't really know quite where I'm going with this, I guess I feel like times wasting away and I've yet to get into a position to make these dreams a reality.
Something I saw on my facebook feed I thought I'd share with you, not exactly healthy, but for its size I think its a nice treat for breakfast!
Something I thought I'd also mention, as a part of my new years resolution, I've given up ever eating (and its not that often) at a fast food place, and only eat at one Chinese takeaway once a month.
My weakness was Burger king, when ever I'm at Norwich picking up my girlfriend from the train or going for a shop / see friends, I'd always pop in and have something, and as I did this more frequently I realised that all this trips where building up. Now I'm not addicted to fast food, but I can see how somebody might be! so I thought I'd nip this in the bud, no matter what, no fast food (and I know technically Chinese takeaway is) but I love it so much and sometimes don't want to cook at home, this way once a month is a treat.
So I guess I'll cover my resolutions next!!
Resolutions of 2012:
No Fast food for the year.
I will have the body I want by an event I attend in summer.
I will make my business work, while working on another business.
I need to lose my ability to automatically trust people and make it something earned.
Go abroad, it's been too long since I was last away from the UK.
Get in contact with other friend groups.
Finally Evolve.
Seems a lot huh? Well I think if I can achieve half of these I'll be a happy man!
Got some reassuring news from someone working on this buisness with me, and with it a new hope that the website might finally be on its way to completion, I've been looking into various couriers etc, it's getting pretty exciting, Tomorrow I need to gut this office and get everything back to a smooth workflow.
Also have a pretty solid marketing strategy, so lets hope all go's to plan!
Since Christmas I'd been a bit down about all this buisness junk, but recently I realised, I am going to make this work and thinking about it anything that was my responsibility I've cleared with ease sorted out the initial Equipment mistake, sorted and built great rapport with the supplier, attended multiple buisness meetings with banks, attended buisness link free seminars just so I might learn 1 or two new things!
Anyway I've realised I have the drive, the commitment and determination (as well as stubbornness) to not only see this through but make something of it, and I assure you once the position comes back to me and I'm free to make my place, I will.
Anyway it kinda for some reason reminded me of this song, and after listening I got re-energized and seriously up for making my name, re-gaining my pride and honouring my family who have helped support me financially. I can't wait!
Recently I've been having fun by playing boardgames, this is a new past time for me but I've already amassed quite a few boardgames in my collection, Risk was my first game, it was the orignal risk from some age long lost, its a simple and enjoyable game but a bit too broken on dice rolls.
Anyway my current two favourites are "Munchkin" series (Card game where characters fight monsters and collect items to race for the first player to become level 10)
And Runebound Second edition (out of print and hard to find, as well as costly)
Runebound says on it's back average 240 mins gameplay, we always seem to take 7 hours!!
It's a fantasy RPG boardgames, where players work against the game, racing to have adventures and beat the end boss.
Its a fun game, lengthy and should be played with alcohol and snacks etc.
The next game I REALLY want to get my paws on is "Super Dungeon Explorer".
Another thing I've taken a lot of solace in is Extending my photoshop ability, making new pieces daily, sharpening and learning new skills and improving workflow, since my buisness is very reliant in it I want to be at a high standard to provide great products consistently, I've used photoshop since my first year of college (2001) So I've been at that program for 11 years, much longer than anyone I know, of course this doesn't equal better, just more experience.
Anyway this post has become massive, and I apologize for taking too much time out of your day and hope this has somehow got at least one useful thing inside its plump contents.
Thanks for reading, and please comment, I know lots of people view this page, but without feedback it's hard to know what people appreciate and what people hate from my posts!
Have a great day you beautiful, beautiful readers.
I'm BACK!!!
It's been a long time, as a matter of fact, too long. Since the shift to Stage 3.1 there has been little activity online for multiple reasons, but what you should know is I'm back!
Not just back, but better, I have started better time management so I can get back to daily posting, but something I noticed from my other (some what less serious blog) http://winds-of-fate.blogspot.com/ that it has a total of 30 something posts, and yet has double the views.
It occurred to me that this blog, as highly informative as it is, was also too heavy, too much content with little entertainment, so During this Stage 4.0 I will be mixing information with general entertainment.
If it fails I'll revert back to pure information in Version 4.5 or 5.0 depending what I reach first.
So the two new sections are:
Training will cover actual exercises, since I've only loosely covered it, I started with covering the mentality and the foundations to getting a successful routine for healthy living, but I'd like to talk about the actual training people might do, I'm not suggesting I'm going to have all the answers here as daily I'm learning new things myself, so this section will be just analysing and discussing what I'm doing and how helpful I'm finding it.
So, Christmas is over, and people are starting resolutions, if you've not made one or are interested I personally think the generic "losing weight" resolution should be avoided.
Being healthy, fitter and stronger should always be something we strive toward, I think personally resolutions should focus on your weakness in other fields and try to strengthen yourself as a person.
For example, someone might suggest to give up chocolate or alcohol, but without addressing the reasons why you do these things in the first place you will find it very difficult to stop them.
How can you do this?
Well firstly look at what resolution you wanted to make, think, WHY are you making this resolution, what effect do you get from this.
Secondly look at the cause of you already doing this action that you want to resolve.
For example, Jo wants to stop lose weight and be fitter.
He is over weight, and when he thinks about it the reason he wants to diet is to attract a partner. (easy to understand when you look at how the media bombards us with how it thinks people should look)
So what causes his unhealthy lifestyle?
After thinking about it he eats too much, and not good food at that. also his job means he is expending little energy.
==========================================
CAUSE: Bad diet - Lack of exercise.
EFFECT: less attractive / low confidence.
==========================================
FIX: Good diet - Exercise.
EFFECT: more attractive / confident.
==========================================
Now this example might seem straight forward, but without looking into the cause and effect, he could have come to the conclusion that he needed to quit say, chocolate, or go running once a week, which frankly would have little effect.
This can be applied to any aspect in life, I suppose I should have said from the start that all you needed to do was critically analyse your life's aspects, and you will find out the source of the problem, and also the solution.
Another quick example, somebody wants to stop drinking alcohol, but just stops without looking into their problem, in this case the persons looks to alcohol as a de-stressing therapy, as soon as that person gets stressed they will find the temptation of drinking hard to bare.
Had they addressed the issues that cause them to be stressed and how to better deal with stress, they would find quitting a lot easier.
When you are training, if you have any 1 song that will kick you into shape and make you work harder what is it? For me it's this!
It's not much of a post for today, more of a recap and introduction to the 2 new sections.
Until tomorrow, good luck you beautiful, beautiful readers!!
First adventure post, I went on a 16 mile ride, through an Estate that is situated 5 minutes ride from my house.
But first I needed fuel, and that came in the form of a cup of tea and a plain scone.
After that I had a score to settle with the arcades claw machine, I'd been winning these Angry bird plushy's and needed one last one to complete the collection, the fat yellow one! It's tricky to grab and I've had a few failed attempts to successfully capture him. I have a luck app on FB where it randomly seems to tell you how lucky you are, I was 100%, so I knew if a random percent generator believed in me, that I could not fail!
So I went, and won it, made me feel happy it was over, no more levelling up on claw machines for me!
After that, I began the bike ride to the woods outside the estate, and from there onwards I think I'll let the photo's do the talking, enjoy!
Nice and fun, stunning day temperatures of 28, got to give my new bike a through test, verdict, it's amazing, smooth joints, no lost energy and lightweight, I think all my long trips on my last tank made me realise I have phenomenal leg strength.
After the ride I sat at home, in a little pain, I had pushed myself a bit too hard, and I have a bad habit of doing that, I just feel I let myself down if I don't give everything in life 100%, stupid really.
Business wise? Well I've started drumming up interest online, using forums and chat IRC to mention products etc, but this won't go into large scale until the website is done.
Tomorrow I'm going to make sure the website's text is finished, as it NEEDS to be done.
Other than that, not a lot of news on that front.
Isklar Water.
Now I know what some of you are thinking "Water is water, there is no difference" I did feel the same way, but after drinking so much recently I do actually see a difference!
I was initially attracted to Isklar water about a week before I started this journey and was totally sold on the bottle design (I'm a bit of a sucker for good design being a designer) and the drink is just so light, no residue or that feeling of thick water, like volvic. I used to drink volvic, but in comparison I prefer Isklar for the reason that it tastes crisp, light and feels refreshing as well as being better designed and cheaper, no brain'r, I don't get paid to promote products so you know this is not some pointless plug, I tell you readers what I think is good and bad.
Another thing I'd like to point out.
Honey!
This picture is from a while back, when I made some weird health drink using fruit, trying to get the good alkaline substances out to balance the blood, anyway, honey is liquid gold.
For hundreds of tears, across the world honey has been used as a medicine in all kinds of tribes, why?
I dragged this up.
"Honey has been used in many medical applications over the years, but recent studies are now able to prove its benefits as a topical antibacterial treatment for burns and ulcers.
Known antioxidant compounds in honey are chrysin, pinobanksin, vitamin C, catalase, and pinocembrin. Unlike most other sweeteners, honey contains small amounts of a wide array of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants, which include a wide array of vitamins, such as vitamin B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and pantothenic acid.
In addition, honey contains essential minerals including calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and zinc as well as several different amino acids have been identified in honey. Dark honey has more nutrients than lighter varieties. Vitamin and mineral content depend on the floral source of the honey. Honey has less than 2% sodium.
Because of its antibacterial properties, pure honey can be preserved indefinitely."
So there you go, honey not only tastes great but has a ton of awesome stuff in it, it can apparently heal wounds and I have seen footage of tribes using honey as a "organic plaster" if you will.
Also dragged this up, because blue berries are delicious!!
Blueberries: "Blueberries are an excellent source of vitamin C.
In fact, a serving contains about 14 mg or almost 25% of daily requirement for Vitamin C. Vitamin C is needed for the formation of collagen and to maintain healthy gums and capillaries. It also aids in the absorption of iron and promotes a healthy immune system.1, 2
Blueberries are a good source of dietary fiber. Government surveys tell us that there is not enough fiber in our diet. A diet high in fiber contributes to heart health, helping to keep cholesterol in check. Fiber also aids in digestions and helps maintain regularity.1, 2
Blueberries are an excellent source of manganese. Manganese plays an important role in the development of bones and in the metabolism of protein, carbohydrate and fat.3"
YES, this is ADVENTURE section where I'll post pics or even sometimes videos of small daily adventures I'll be going on, showing off what my countryside has to offer and what kind of crazy things can happen.
If you remember the last adventure I ended up wrestling with a massive bird, crafting weapons out of driftwood and watching some birds of prey, as well as discovering a treasure chest (which was made of steel and padlocked with a sign saying it was for some event).
Anyway I've not been doing my adventures justice so thought I could create a new dedicated section just for it!
(I know you're as excited as me)
I can't wait, tomorrow if the weather permits I'll be going for an adventure back into the forest and taking pictures and looking for some excitement. If the weather is bad, then I'll turbo fail, and create an adventure in my house...
Business today has been ok, I took the designs and test prints to show my parents and let them in on the plan, they seemed sceptical but after showing the designs they seemed very found of the plan, my farther has also agreed to be the lead photographer for the photo shoot however seemed nervous as he has never shot models before, I told him "the pose's are sorted, you just need to make them look pretty and I'll touch up the small details in photoshop". Anyway now they seem to believe in the idea its starting to sink in that not only can I do this but I think I'm fairly good at it and can compete in the market.
So today my mood has been insane, I've literally been bouncing off the walls and listing to upbeat music, a welcome moral boost indeed!
The amount of work that go's into the process of printing the dark T-shirts is immense when compared to the light T-shirts.
I'd say it takes about 90% more effort to make one single Black design (Assuming its a complex cut) over the light T-shirts.
So I've just got to make a system that allows me to prepare as much as possible for the factory like process to work.
Still nothing more on the website, I'll see what I can get done, Ideally I'd like something even if only one page done before the weekend, but I'll have to see.
