California International Marathon

Posted on Dec10th 2019
I could probably write for hours on my experience of running the marathon. It was something like I’ve never done, with only training for 4 weeks of preparation for this I can tell you that having 8-12 weeks of prep would of been ideal.

Start and First 6 miles

The start was great! I had food that morning and ate well at night. Stomach was good and not really nervous, was actually trying to sync my watch and phone up for the 30 mins before the trace, good little distract-er! haha

I was huddling behind the 3:45hr pacemakers and would of been happy with a 4hr time mark. My goal was to use the first 6 miles as a warm up. Just jog and enjoy it at a nice pace. Then I would have 4 sets of 5 miles intervals to focus on, 5 miles at a time. Making sure I refueled and drank enough water during those 5 miles bursts.

Things were going great! Got to Mile 11 and felt good, first set of 5 done! Refueled with energy gels, water and electrolyte drinks. Push onward to 13.1 miles half marathon done! Was looking forward to the 2nd half of this race!

Mile 16 - Finish!

Was feeling great at mile 16 and was thinking 10 miles to go, lets refuel again and push hard through to the finish. Just after that thought, I stopped running as I felt something in my quads. I’d felt this before, I got angry, I couldn’t figure out why I was cramping up again!! This stopped my last attempt at running a marathon. This couldn’t be happening again!

So I walked, until my legs were almost cramping up from walking. I sat down for a second and massaged my legs, made a decision that there was NO QUITTING this race and I’d have to figure this one out on the go.

I realized I had 9 miles to go by this point. I had just drank an electrolyte drink, had some gels that had amino acids and some caffeine in them, a protein bar and a lot of water. I thought If I can walk for a bit, this might help me recover a little and I can run towards the end of the race.

It worked!! It wasn’t a pretty run, in fact it was ugly! Running on my heels because the chance of cramping up could come at any time and I didn’t want to put extra strain on my calves. I hobbled for 6 miles, running, walking, stretching out the cramps when they showed up. But I remember telling myself in the race, “You wanted this, You wanted something tough to push through, so enjoy it because this race is over soon”

That pumped me up, truth is, I did want something to struggle through, I didn’t want cramps but I guess that is the mother load of problems when doing endurance races. I saw a couple other people hit the deck with cramps, poor guys I felt their pain and was only keeping mine at bay.

Race done!! I ran 26.2 miles in just under 5hrs. It was an hour off what I wanted to finish by but I had to go through something I never thought I would. It was a physical and mental battle that I frustratingly look back on with pride. Was I happy with the time? No! Was I upset that I couldn’t just run all the way? YES! Am I proud that I pushed through miles of cramps, pain, cold, rain and doubt, to run the last couple of miles.. Yes I’m proud of that!

Like always I trained for this event for 4 Weeks. NOT enough time at all! I’m pretty sure I might give this a go next year with at least 8 weeks of training. I really want to just run non stop and see what time I get. But onto the next one! New challenges?? Lets see what we can come up with, until then, I’m giving my legs a rest!

Talk soon
AC


Breaking Through Fitness Thresholds
Posted on Dec 6th 2019
Being 2 Days away from running a marathon, I need to know that my preparation has been done. There are always doubts that you’re not ready, or maybe you could have done more. A year ago I attempted to run a marathon and around mile 17 I almost hit the deck as my quad and hamstring both cramped up.  

I’ve had my fair share of muscular cramps, but this was the mother load! I had to stop, walk it off and regroup before I ran the last 8 miles. But walking got to a point where I could feel my legs cramping up again. Basically I walked myself into both legs being fully cramped and I was in a world of pain. CUT, that marathon was over for me.

Failing the marathon left me pissed off for weeks. What was more annoying was that I had the energy, I wanted to keep running. But no salt in your body, means no water retention which equals cramps in a matter of time. My 4 Weeks 2 Failure project ended in FAILURE!

REDEMPTION!!

The California International Marathon is held at the end of the year in Sacramento, and I have been waiting all year to get revenge on this endurance race. It broke me last time, but now it’s what inspires me. Again I’ve given myself 4 weeks to train for this event. You might think that I need more time, as some folks train for months. But all I can say to that is, It’s my project and I’ll challenge myself how I please!

The 4 Week time limit puts a sense of urgency into the training. Running 6, 8 and 12+ miles each week taught me A LOT!! It made me grow, physically and mentally due to the work I had to put in. Times when I told people I was running the Marathon, people sighed, looked disgusted like i was crazy and said “well, good luck with that.” I realized a lot of people don’t like running, exerting themselves or even pushing through things that are tough.

While running, I made an effort to enjoy those moments for a few different reasons. I can have a bad attitude towards running, but that’s a waste of energy. To be honest, I ran in the sun by the river and listened to books about fitness and nutrition. Working out, educating myself, enjoying it and getting a tan! Sounds like fun to me!

By the second run I did which was 8 miles. I was getting sharp pain in my right knee’s LCL. I had partially torn it in an MMA fight years ago. It hurt a lot! Like someone stabbing me in the knee every time I landed on it. After the run, I rehabbed my knee, body and wondered when this pain would go away.

Fast forward to the next week. I still had pain, I thought about cancelling the Marathon. Postponing until next year and letting my knee problem heal up. But after realizing that my LCL wouldn’t be torn and probably wouldn’t tear on the run, and that maybe I had some scar tissue that was getting aggravated when I ran, I told myself to get over it. I’m doing this race with or without pain! Once making that distinct decision. My knee became more bearable to run on. I could still feel it but, It wasn’t slowing me down.

Doing my longer runs 12-16miles was my favorite! For a couple of reasons.

1. I would feel like crap starting out, had pain, and didn’t feel the best. But after 4-5 miles, I started to feel great! I got into a rhythm and just enjoyed it!

2. Having knee pain disappear after a few miles gave me confidence that I could control my bodies sensations, move past pain and into a comfortable zone.

3. I like running longer miles because others didn’t! I’ve always found joy in doing things that others don’t want to. Mentally it gives me an edge and allows me to feel superior when it comes to related activities.

I’m not going to lie, I was beat after running 12-16 miles each weekend. I know running another 10 on top of that isn’t going to be easy. It’s going to hurt, be painful, and force me to dig deep. But in doing so, I achieve something I haven’t. What that does for me, my confidence and my limits in the future is something I’m pumped up about!!

Making sure my food prep before hand and during the race is key as that was what caused me to gas out and cramp up a year ago. Preparation has been key, recovery has been great. I haven’t felt any pain in my knee after my last run and I’m excited to get this done!

Pushing through you own limits and barriers, especially in the fitness world has a ripple effect for the rest of your life. Knowing you can get over and through things that caused you doubt ultimately grows your confidence. Those tough things become laughable and you set your fitness, life and mental threshold to a higher level.

But you must be willing to go through the things others won’t to reap those rewards.

Update on how the marathon went next week!

Chat soon, AC



The Truth About Your Belly
Posted on Nov 14th 2019
One of the most frustrating things is trying to get rid of that last little bit of belly. You’re always working out, diet is on point but there’s still a little bit of unwanted belly fat that drives you crazy.

I’ve coached people on this, fine tuned their diet and pushed them hard with fat burning exercises. Still, there remained a belly on my client and a sour taste of ‘humble pie’ for me to deal with. I couldn’t figure it out in all my years of fitness and nutrition.

Until it happened to me!

Truth is, a couple years ago I wasn’t quite myself. Dealing with things I never had to deal with, working with people that didn’t see eye to eye with me or the company's vision. I had some problems, life problems, work problems, now I had some body problems.

I didn’t realize it until a UFC fighter I coach squeezed my stomach and laughed. YaDong Song is a young Chinese fighter on the rise in the UFC, his english is very limited so we usually communicate with a lot of sign language. After he grabbed my belly and walked off, I thought “You cheeky little shit.” Then I looked at my belly sticking out on a slim and out of shape body, then glanced back at Song still laughing at me.. I realized he found it pretty funny, he’s got an infectious grin, so laughed back at him in defeat. I realized I needed to do some coaching on myself.. ASAP!

So life was getting the better of me, I went strict on my diet, started working out and still I had a belly!! I was upset, confused and disappointed that I let myself decline. I realized I was STRESSED OUT!! I wasn’t in control and now I’m a fat skinny guy!! AWESOME!

I got to work and researched my problems to find a solution! Here is how to that ‘stress’ belly is formed and how to get rid of it!

Stressing out too much in life whether it’s work, relationships, kids, friends and sports activates your adrenal glands and releases cortisol into your system. Cortisol is your stress hormone and is activated during your flight or fight response. We have this hormone for desperate times when we are in desperate situations, like fighting other tribes/wars back in the day, running from animals that might be trying to kill you etc.

When Cortisol is active, it releases stored glycogen to be used for energy so that you can run or fight off whatever your under attack from. Unfortunately today, we don’t have many of those battles to fight, or animals to run from. We have too many bills to pay, a relationship that doesn’t work, a job we don’t like and friends that may or may not be supportive.

All these things can keep your adrenal glands active, which means you’ll continue to have glycogen running through your body. When the glycogen isn’t burnt off, it turns into Triglycerides which is a triple sugar on a fat molecule. These fat molecules get stored in your organs, your organs mostly sit in your stomach area. Hence the little belly I was dealing with!

So how do you fix it??

Firstly you need control back in your life. The number 1 thing in your life is YOU, so start putting yourself first. Plan your days, mark out times you can spend on yourself. Workouts are proven to help with stress, not only that but you get a dopamine release that will make you feel good and confident. This time should be non-negotiable! This is going to help turn switch off your adrenal glands and lower cortisol.

Secondly you need time for yourself to clear your mind and recreate your life how you want it. This can be done through goal setting and meditation. Meditation is a powerful tool that can get you in the right place of mind to deal with things in life. Have a gratitude tool or diary handy at this time. If you can focus on the things your grateful for and be present in those moments when you think about them, it’s hard to be stressed out afterwards.

SLEEP!! Couple things happen when you sleep, your anti aging hormone starts to work to repair your body. It’s released in deep sleep but your Human Growth Hormone can help work away the extra fat on your organs. HGH can also be boosted from intermittent fasting. Women can increase their HGH production by 1200% if they fast for 14hrs or more. Men can increase HGH production by 1500% of they fast for 16hrs or more. Sleep is very important, fasting can add to the recovery process!

Lastly eating a healthy nutritious diet will always help with this problem, so make sure you feed your body some highly nutritious veggies and leafy greens. Take some B Vitamins and get some vitamin D from the Sun while walking, which will also help deal with stress.

Remember this isn’t going to happen overnight or in a week. It might take a few months, but getting back in control of your life, your stress and emotions and eliminate anything that isn’t there to help you and push you forward.

Need any help with anything.. Let me know!!

Talk soon - Adam





The Real Reason it’s Hard to Stay Fit & Healthy
Posted on Nov 10th 2019

Heavily involved in sports and fitness my whole life, I’ve noticed a couple trends that have come full circle. One of them is the reason people do things or not, workout or not, stay dedicated to a healthy diet or not. All of this comes down to an individual's mental space.

You hear it in the changing rooms, you hear guys make excuses on how the other team is so much bigger, or how their undefeated, they’ve been sleeping crappy, they didn’t wear the right socks. The list goes on!!

As outsiders we can look at sports teams and athletes and see the body language of an already defeated team or person, before the game begins. As an athlete and a competitor it was the main thing I paid attention to. Taking someone's confidence away with a slick side step, or hard tackle, or great counterpunch was the most rewarding thing to me, it was addicting too!

NOW, If I can take away someone’s confidence in a flash, or in a round, or half a game. How long does it take to grow someone’s confidence??

Keeping fit and sticking to good food choices is the difficult battles you have to deal with these days. But It’s only your mentality that will hurt your progress. Strong mentalities will always prevail, just like in sports the strong minded person will usually find a way to win in desperate situations.

Here’s the deal. You either want to be in shape or not! So you have a couple of questions to ask yourself. These questions come up usually when you want to skip the gym, or eat foods you shouldn’t.

Questions to ask yourself when you don’t want to go to the gym:

Do I want to be fitter or stronger?
Do I want to avoid sedentary injuries & keep my body strong?
Do I want some ME time and spend an hour on myself?

BOOM!! If yes to all of those, head to the gym my friend, this day is a winner!

Questions to ask yourself when you don’t want to stick to your diet:

Will this food help or hinder my body?
How will I feel after eating this?
What should I expect after eating this?

Obviously you want the healthy foods in your diet every time. The only reason you would choose a poor quality food is because of a weak mentality. Your body needs nutrients to function and operate good. 

The only reason you would put something in your body that isn’t healthy and nutritious is because you enjoy the taste of something more than you want to be healthy. That is were the mentality needs to be strengthened.

Good news is, that your mentality is like any muscle, with exercise you’ll be incredibly strong mentally and always be thinking about your well being around meals, and each day giving your body what workout it needs to remain well oiled.

Mentality starts with making a commitment to yourself, then following up on that promise everyday. Your confidence will grow, your self esteem will rise, and the strength of your mentality will remain strong.

Give yourself small goals to achieve, but follow it up with new goals every month. Don’t let anything get in the way of your goals. If you can do that 1 month at a time. Your mentality, along with your fitness and health will be heading in the right direction!

Adam





Lost in the Gym? Here is a Guide to Keep you Focused!!
Posted on Nov 5th 2019

Lost in the gym?? Here’s a guide!

There’s a couple problems with going to the gym, the main one being what to do!! I see a lot of people on the treadmill or bike day after day and wonder what they’re trying to achieve, especially when some of these people have ask me for advice on how to lose weight and tone up.

The trap a lot of people fall into is going to the gym and just wasting time, the gym is a place I like to put my headphones on switch off from the world and people and help achieve some fitness goals I have. But I’ll always have a plan when going to the gym, I think about how many sessions I’m going to do that week, I think about what kind of workout will be better at the beginning and what will be better at the end of the week.

Going in with a plan is the most important thing, otherwise you walk in and walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes and lie to yourself and your friends that you worked out. Now a 30 minute walk can be a good workout but probably won’t help you achieve anything except for maybe some sightseeing if you’re outside.

Let’s talk gym strategy! Say you work out 3 days a week (Mon,Wed,Fri) you're in decent shape, but not hitting your goals. (If you aren't in any shape then just get walking, but more info for you coming soon.) and have a goal of losing weight & toning the arms, here is what you should take into consideration and be focusing on:

• Cardio
• High Intensity Interval Training
• Weight Lifting
• Getting your heart rate up for a continual amount of time


An example of this throughout the week:
Monday:

• You’re fresh from the weekend, so push yourself!
• Cardio Intervals with Arm exercises in between.

Example of that – Go for 2 minutes on Cardio machine at good pace or level. Get off the machine and do 15 Bicep Curls, 15 Dips/Push-Ups and 20 Crunches. Then get back on the machine for another 2 mins.. Repeat 5x. That will probably be a 15-20 minute workout and have you puffing and arms like jelly afterwards. (Better than walking for 30 mins)

Obviously if you can't do 15 dips or push-ups have an even number goal 2,4,6,8,10 etc

Wednesday:

• Middle of the Week
• Good time to lift heavier weights to tone arms
• Lift 6 reps for 6 sets
• Choose 3-5 different arm/core/back/shoulder exercises to lift these weights at.
• These weights should be heavy so that 6-10 reps would be hard to do.
• 1 Minute Jog in-between sets to keep heart rate nice and high.

Friday:

• End of the week, you could feel tired or still sore from Wednesday.
• But we’re back doing cardio
• Cardio for 2 mins and 3-5 body weight exercises
• Burpees, mountain climbers, plank push-ups, get ups, crawl forwards, jump squats
• Do 5-10 of those above in between the Cardio
• Do 5-10 Sets

 Last workout of the week should always be full on and leaving you feeling satisfied and accomplished about achieving your fitness goals through the week. However it doesn’t stop there, achieving your goals is not a week long process it’s a week by week month by month process. So have a plan each week is important, if you keep up the training your body will adapt and you’ll need to increase the weights or running speed to become better.

If you need a tool to keep you on the straight and narrow 'Your' Potential Playbook and 'Your' Potential Planner are perfect for that. And they're FREE so please make use of them!!

Chat soon - Adam



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