"but why is the RUM gone?"

I should have my ethnicity tattooed on my face. Maybe that’d stop the weekly grilling I get on it. “Are you sure you’re not mixed race? Not even a little bit Filipino? Chinese? Malaysian? North African? Spanish?”

At least stick to one god damned continent!

Yum.

So to confirm the start of my summer, I ate my first mango of the season. Mangos get me through the heat, I absolutely love them! Definitely needed it too as my legs were still sore from yesterday.

Back In Black!

Sorry for the long absence, I had some exams to crush!

Finished them today and I’m pretty sure I did what I needed to, luckily had some easy papers in the computer science topics I was already confident in to balance out what I’m sure was an abysmal showing in the electronic engineering papers. Fingers crossed!

So yep, I’m back! Back as an active member of life, throwing myself into all my usual mischief but hopefully with a bit more to me.

Don’t know why, but the last couple of months have had a strange effect on me. I’ve had plenty of revision periods in my life but this was the first time I actually put in a 100% (well, for the most part, there was a bereavement the week before my first exam and my mum was in hospital the week before my last) and it’s been refreshing. I’ve sort of found this optimism I thought I’d lost a while ago.

I think it’s made me rediscover what I can do when I put in a little effort; I know I’m not dumb, I’ve just always been very lazy and despite dreading a life half-lived, I’ve never been able to find strong enough, lasting motivation. Now, it’s just there again, back like when I was a kid, just this hunger to prove myself.

As I wrote that last sentence, I remembered I’ve my school’s five year reunion coming up. Perhaps that’s it. Everyone else seems to have taken huge steps forwards over the last few years: graduated, travelled, started establishing careers, etc. I just seemed to tread water for a few years, and despite some personal growth, on paper, there just isn’t much I can show in terms of achievements. That makes me both embarrassed and angry.

I know I shouldn’t compare myself to others, everyone has a different path in life and all that, but surely your peers are your measuring stick? What’s the harm in being competitive and having aspirations?

When I go back to uni next summer (touch wood), I want to be able to say I used my summer productively. I want to get back to learning Spanish, I want to practise my programming, get started on Muay Thai, make more gains in the gym and smash the back doors off this internship!

So here’s hoping…

Had a decent leg session this afternoon. Was short on time, so only did deadlifts, squats, hamstring curls, calf raises, the plank, and some mobility exercises and stretching.

I also realised I can’t front squat for shit. I can do it when you cross your arms and rest the weight on your shoulders, but not the variation where you have yours elbows up and palms under the bar, as in the photo below.

I’m going to look into it tonight, see what I can do to address it before next week. If that fails, guess I’ll swallow my pride and ask an instructor!

I’ve been babysitting an eighteen month old baby today. So far I’ve tried to teach him how to kick a ball, thrown him up in the air a few times (and caught him, don’t worry!) and fed him a couple of satsumas. He promptly threw up half of a satsuma all over me, but that’s cool.

Chasing him around all afternoon, lifting him up and down and generally keeping him entertained has almost been a cardio work out of its own, but as soon as his mother picks him up, I’m off to the gym. Where everyone will love me because I smell of satsumas and baby.

Plan to go hard at the gym tomorrow. Big leg and abs session. Hopefully it won’t be impaired too much by just four hours’ sleep!

Good god. I really slipped up this bank holiday weekend. No gym and a shiteload of bad food, awful sleeping schedule, and binge eating at silly hours. 

Atrophy scares the crap out of me. Will have to fix up tomorrow.

Couldn’t hack the guilt, set up the treadmill and knocked out some tabata on it. At least feel like I’ve done something positive today. First time doing cardio in many moons too… hit me like a wall.

Yay :)

Uh oh

Today was a bad, bad day. I don’t usually fuss too much about eating a bit of junk, but today was awful!

I had to do some last minute shopping for a wedding, so missed my gym session. On top of that, I’ve eaten for bags of crisps (potato chips) -which even though they’re baked, aren’t at all what my body needs- and I’ve had two chocolate eclairs.

Not good.

It had started so well, my typical breakfast of OJ with creatine, three boiled eggs and either fruit and nut muesli or porridge with banana and honey (went with the muesli today). 

Apple and some cheese for my midday snack and then some tuna pasta for lunch.

Then I was meant to go and help my cousin pick out a suit and shoes in an hour and head to the gym, but three hours later, we came back to mine only he’d armed himself with bags of crisps, fizzy drinks and other total shit.

And me being the weak bitch I am, started tucking in.

It’s only going to get worse tomorrow, food at Asian weddings is anything BUT healthy!

Luckily for me, I am trying to put on weight, just a shame this weekend’s going to be all the wrong weight!

A little something on supplements..

1. How often do you exercise?
2. What supplements do you take?
3. Why do you take them?
4. What success have you had from them?

1) I exercise between three to five times a week. Usually 3 or 4 sessions of weights and 1 cardio, either something low intensity like a run, or high intensity like football (soccer) or squash.

2) I’m taking whey protein, creatine monohydrate, amino-acids, selenium, and zinc.

3) The protein is to help build mass, I need to bulk up a lot over the next few months.

Creatine kind of helps do the same thing, obviously have to cycle it; I read that it also helps boost your memory, so I’ve timed it so I’m taking it during exams too -two birds, one stone and all that!

Amino-acid tablets are meant to help increase your body’s protein absorption and help regulate your hormones, give you a boost really. I’ll admit I’m a bit sketchy on them, but whenever I’ve been on them, I’ve seen quick gains.

Selenium has a lot of controversy around it, so I don’t take it as regularly as the others, but its anti-inflammatory effects are what I’m after, to help aid recover after a brutal work out. Apparently it also helps prevent certain types of cancers, so who knows, perhaps another double kill there?

I take zinc purely because it’s meant to help boost testosterone levels, which are both important in making muscle and making sexy-time!

4) The protein helps, I would have to eat so many more meals if I wasn’t taking it.. and to be honest, I don’t think I’d have had the appetite.

The creatine I can feel the most. I can sprint for longer, lift for longer, always have more fuel in the gym and put on weight like a beast. Admittedly it’s mainly because of water retention, but any big number on the scales is all good in my book!

The amino acids and selenium, a bit harder to tell if they’re consistently effective. Some periods of heavy intake, I feel like they’ve made a difference: I’ll recover faster from sessions, pile on the pounds quickly, but it’s hard to tell if it’s a real physical difference, or just my mind acting on a placebo.

The zinc, again might just be mental, but I do feel like I’ve got a lot more oomph in me. I’m ready to hit the gym at any moment and can get into the right, aggressive mindset needed to hit the big weights.

Anyway, that’s my take on them. As you can see, I don’t really take that many crazy supplements. I’m also prone to a few protein bars every now and then, and I might take some Lucozade energy shots before a session if I’ve had little sleep as they’re full of caffeine and B vitamins, but that’s pretty much it!

• The questions above were asked by  http://erinexercises.tumblr.com/ , check out her Tumblr and give her your answers for a little survey she’s putting together. Thanks for reading!