Coming along nicely---

As of today I feel amazing. Well maybe as of this week I feel amazing. The PCP workout is more of a morning routine now and if I miss my routine, I can feel it both emotionally or physically. Sure its not great waking up at 5:00am everyday leaving behind the gorgeous blonde that is still fast asleep but as soon as I start jump-roping or running I instantly feel better. I really notice a difference in my muscle tone now and I can see improvements almost daily. Having this visual motivation is encouraging and I cant wait to see what I look like in 40+ days. My only concern I had was the fluxuation of my weight over the past two months. I seem to be hanging around the 175-180 range and havnet really budged since than. However I talk to P-Dogg (Patrick....he calls me C-Note so I felt obliged to give him a name) and he assured me that things were fine and I shouldnt be concerned. I hope everyone is doing as well as I am and I look foward to celebrating with you all when we are finished. Cheers.

rules to live by

I have to say I am a bit disappointed. Not in the work out or how my body has reacted to the extreme work out that we are all participating in. What I am upset with is my food budget and how it is a lot higher than what I thought it was going to be. Before I began this journey I thought that since I was cutting out all the junk food and focusing in on simple veggies and fruit that my budget was going to be well below what I had currently been spending. However after 30+ days of buying a ton of fruit and vegetables I have spent fifty dollars more each week than I was before going on the PCP. Why is that? Well the answer is what is known as the “western diet” and how the American food system is designed to provide cheap and easy food that will give you nothing but diabetes and heart disease later on in life.
Over the past year or so, the American agricultural system has become sort of a passion of mine. In fact I have switched my current degree in education so that I can pursue this passion even further. I became interested in what I was eating and how it got onto my dinner plate and after months and months of reading and studying the American food system, I set out with a list of rules to eat by…

1. Stay away from corn. Corn has found its way into almost everything American’s eat. Without going into an extensive scientific lesson into how and why that has happened, I will say that Corn is bad and it must be avoided at all costs. This includes high fructose corn syrup, confectioner's sugar, dextrin, malt dextrin, invert sugar or invert syrup, xanthan gum starch, food starch and modified corn starch. These are all major no-no’s.
2. Buy local. Purchasing foods from a farmers market or the local section at a grocery store is a great way to support your community and promote a sustainable food system.
3. Eat actual foods. If you see something on the ingredients list that sounds like something out of a science journal, most likely it is not food and more of a lab concoction.
4. If a food item has more than five or six ingredients, something in there isn’t right and probably not very good for you.
5. Eat food. Vegetables, fruit and foods that are untouched by man and will give you the best nutritional value for your dollar.
6. Try your best to make sure the meat you are eating is free-range grass fed beef. Most meat, whether it is chicken, beef or pork was most likely fed a diet of corn and protein supplements and if that is the case you can count on the fact that the animal you are eating spent the better part of its life standing in a dark holding sell in a pile of its own shit. That animal suffered and all the marbling in the world is not worth the suffering of an animal.

Sticking to these rules can be tricky in American but it is indeed very possible. However if you plan on spending the same amount of money that you did before, you are just lying to yourself. In order to eat a healthy you must accept the fact that your food budget will increase. You just have to ask yourself is it worth it. It is to me.

Hello PCP

Surprisingly I found that going to my gym to do the same excercises has been beneficial to the workout. I need to be able to seperate this project from my home life and doing such excercise in my living room while my daughter is three feet away watching the rhinestone clad Jonas Brothers doesnt exactly pump me up. So I go to my gym now in the early morning and it gives me a sense that Im going to go work out and when I get home....it will be time to do home things.

I took a week off of work so that I could focus on my studies and being so dormant at home has made it hard not to want to pig out. All in all its been going ok but I have made it a goal to focus more time on creating meals different than what I have been eating previously. I need to use my natural talents and I haven't been. Time for things to change...

The Gym.....

So oddly enough my jump rope and resistance band broke on me within 24 hours of eachother. I think the jumprope broke because of smacking the concrete alot but the resistance band broke because fate wanted me to look like an idiot. While doing the curls the band broke mid storke and I smacked myself in the nose....no im not kidding. I punched my self in the nose and it bled for at least thirty minutes. Needlless to say I had to find a quick fix because I didnt want to fall behind on sculpting myself so I decided to head to the gym at my apartment complex for a few days until I can get some replacement equipment.
I never liked the gym for a variety of reasons. First I dont like talking to people why i work out. Im a social person but its hard for me to focus on working out and talking to some guy about his biceps at the same time. Of course when I get there at 5:00am the gym already has a farley large man working out on the bench. Now let me just say this. The human body is a beautiful wonder that should be appreciated for the complex orchestra of systems that all work together to form who we are as individuals. However, sometimes you should wear proper clothing that hides certain areas that may not be so wonderous. I have no idea what that guy was hiding in his gut and just below but it looked like two armadillos were fighting over an apple insides his shorts. Dont' get me wrong I wasn't staring at his junk but when you walk in and his business is standing up and whistling dixie, its hard not to notice. I just turned my head and worked out on the treadmill for thirty minutes and tried not to notice.
I think I am at a point to where the food that I cant eat on the PCP diet is of no longer a need to me. I enjoy eating pure simple foods that are untouched by preservatives and all the other junk that one normally injests. Tomorrow is my B-Day so will see what I can eat instead of cake. Any ideas????

Whole Foods

I was always thought it would be nice to start using a place like Whole Foods as my regular grocer as oppose to someone like Kings Soopers or Safeway. I am a huge supporter of buying local and using only what is sustainable to my surrounding neighborhood but when you are living in the dead of winter, you’re local farmers market is most likely not in circulation. So during the off season, as far as produce is concerned, Whole Foods would seem like a lateral step. So last night my daughter and I walked over to Whole Foods since one is now in my backyard. I have been to a few in the past but this would be my first time actually shopping. First impressions…….awesome!!! However you can’t be fooled by what is thrown in your face as soon as you walk in. You have to practice some detective work and really get down to the nitty-gritty of what goes on inside the store. The first thing I noticed was the cost was much higher than at other grocery chains. I would say almost double. This is ok with me because I know that in this country, you have to pay a little more to get good products. Americans have slowly had to put less and less into their food budget because over time, products have become surprisingly cheaper. Why? Well the quality is much, much worse. From produce to meat, American manufacturers have found ways to cheapen the cost of food by limiting the amount of nutrients and filling in the blanks with cheap un-edible corn. So by going to a place that offers products of a higher caliber, spending the extra dollar is of no question. I will say once I took a look around I became more and more disappointed with what I saw. Don’t get me wrong the food,well at least the produce and the seafood, looked really nice but the whole local thing seemed to be more of a way to drag people into the door instead of actually coming through with the idea. So for now I think ill stick to my regular store and than wait for the Farmer's Market to reopen.

The workout is going great but I have been finding it alot harder to wake up in the mornings. The world is a quiet place at that time of the morning so music is essential for waking my brain up at that hour. Here is my current playlist....

Dweet Disposition- The Temper Trap
Dark & Long [Dark Train Mix] - Underworld
Elecktrobank- The Chemical Brothers
Start the Dance - The Prodigy
Triumph- Wu-tang
1901- Phoenix
Double Down Under- The Crystal Method
Family Business- The Fugees
Shelter From The Storm

Day 17

So I haven’t updated in a few days because I am in the middle of moving. Yet I have discovered a small window of time between moving and work to say hello to you all and update you on my progress on the PCP. One thing I will say is I feel great. I haven’t really noticed a difference visually but since we’re only at the end of the second week I am not too worried. I think I am over the hump where tasty sweets became a dirty vice that teased me to the point of insanity. It’s funny because I never have been much of a “sweets guy” but when you are put on a peddle stool in front of the public and told that by no means are you to eat anything with sugar ( at least for ninety days), all of a sudden sugar becomes a forbidden euphoric drug. I had dreams of snorting sugar on a toiled seat in some dirty hotel room. OK I didn’t but that would be amusing, wouldn’t it?
Even though things have been busy, I still wake up and do the exercises that are mapped out in my diet and for the most part I have stuck to the diet 100%. I am looking forward to getting settled and beginning a new year, at my new place. Everything is getting much easier but I am sure the time is coming where alot more is demanded from us. Take Care and Cheers!!!

Day 13

I am a fan of juices. I never was much of a breakfast eater (do to time constraints) so plawing down a banana and a gatorade was my means of getting some kind of nutrition to start my day. Ever since I have been reading labels and such I realized that 90% of the juice I drink is nothing but sugar water. Even my most favorite, Fearce Grape Gatorade, is actually terrible for you. I did find one drink that has zero calories and is naturally sweetened but it tastes like the backwash of better tasting juices. So these past two weeks I have stuck to water (natures fruit juice) and I can say it has been really really hard. Other than that I love the food I have been eating so far and love the feeling of eating something that is un-processes and mainly untouched by man. Quite delicious.

Day 10

It’s been well over a week now and everything has been going as good as I could hope. I knew there was going to be some challenges as far as my diet and not everyday’s exercise routine would be as painless as the previous but overall I can say I feel great about how things are going. Most of my lunch and dinner protein intake has mainly consisted of fish and seafood and already I can tell you that I regret not moving somewhere closer to the ocean. Denver, Colorado isn’t the greatest state to live in if you’re looking for the fresh catch of the day. If I were to order such a thing at my local restaurant, most likely my dinner plate would consist of a frozen piece of fried cod that had spent the last 6 weeks hibernating in a dark walk-in freezer. Colorado does produce nice trout during the peak season but if it’s a nice piece of ahi tuna that you crave, at best it’s has been two days since that poor bastard was hooked and gutted.
Luckily I happen to work at a place where “the fresher” of the seafood in Colorado can be purchased. Once and a while I will purchase my proteins from a chain grocery store but most of the time I would rather order the seafood special on a Monday at Village Inn. Either was Ill be praying to one toilet or another very soon.
I have been rather surprised at the amount of food that is asked of us to eat. Last night I could barley finish the food that nested on my plate and I would still have another apple to eat.
The workouts have been pretty consistent as far as difficulty but I have noticed that the push-ups are getting easier and easier to do as each session passes. I guess we will see how this week goes and I am ready for anything…..

..........

Aint love grand......

Day 7

Parenting definitely has its stresses. Regardless I enjoy the time I have with my daughter. Though I’ve been there her whole life, I feel like mentally I was only partly there. Times are better and watching her grow has been a as much of a surprise as it has been a joy. She seems to mature every day and I realized that she is old enough for me to really screw her up with my parenting….lol..no not really. You do think about it though.
This week has been what I believe to be a slow and steady drop into hardcore diet and workout regime. I am definitely sore at times and even my chest muscles ache enough to when I am running down some stairs, I feel like I have sore breasts. What is that about??
Patrick gave me my diet restrictions for the week and they seem doable. The portion sizes are actually larger than I thought which is good cause at times I actually have to fight to put weight on. Tomorrow I am going to the store and my goal is to be creative with what I have available to eat. Lately I have been eating more fish than anything so the only difference in my diet is I cant have a have my way with a piece of cake…..like at all.
Must remind myself to post my week 1 photo on Flickr tomorrow. I can definitely tell that my winter retention is falling off of my belly. Soon I will wash all my clothes on my dynamic stomach muscles.

Day 5

Nothing really eventful today that is worth writing about. Had a nice workout today but felt like I needed a little more cause I didnt even break a sweat. However I can really feel my body responding to the repititve workouts. My energy level is higher and my confidence seems to be increasing as the days go by. Excited to see how this all progresses in the upcoming weeks.

Day 4- All on my own

“It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”- Muhammad Ali

From a young child up through today I have always loved the sport of boxing and I champion myself a bit of a boxing historian. I played team sports all through my younger years but what lost my interest was having to count on someone else to succeed and even win. In Boxing you are alone. Sure you have a coach in your corner, as well as a large entourage and a overly hot blonde in a sparkling dress staring at her cell phone but for the most part its you and you alone. Thats what grabbed me immedietly to the sport. There is no one to count on but yourself. If you fail, it's on your shoulders. If you win, it is your victory and your victory alone. As a child I always wanted to be the first Irish champion in his generation. You had Jack Johnson in the early years of boxing, Jimmy "The Cinderella Man" Braddock in the 30's and 40's, Mickey Ward in the 80's and 90's and than Cory "The Hammer" Hardison in the 21st century. Obviously that never happened my my boxing career turned into a chef career but if I could take it all back and actually try it again, I would in a heartbeat.

When I first read about PCP I likened it to a fighters routine three months before a match. The workout is less intense but the diet is very similar and the excercises are very similiar. Regardless of my fellow PCP'ers support, I am alone in this and it is exactly the way I like it. If I fail it is my fault. I can't blame anyone else but myself. However if and when I finsih my 90 days, it is my victory. I put the hard work and sacrifice in and hopefully Ill have a new body and a new life as my just reward.

Day 2

Its odd the things that can motivate and de-motivate you in a project like this. I got into a fight with my girlfriend today. More like a mild disagreement at best but I instantly felt a since of irritation and annoyance that I had to go home and jump-rope after getting into it with my girlfriend. In the end everything ended fine and we made up for the most part but I realized that to stay motivated for 90 straight days is going to be a lot harder than once thought. Today was the first of many hurdles I will have to leap in order to finish on top and I cant let such events persuade the darker side of me to take over. The ultimate reality is I found someone to share these years with and for that I am thankful. I am truly thankful.

Man I was hunrgy all day. I mean all day long I thought about cookies and cake and beer. In my defense I work around this all day long and I have orgy of desserts and bacon covered bacon in my face none stop. However I just sneered at the chocloate desires and ate my apple. Temptation is a bitch and I hope I never succumb.

PS- I attached the "day one" picture of me. If you put me into water I would look like a bald, tattooed beluga whale......but just you wait. My day will come.

Day 1

Well Day 1 went off without a hitch for the most part. This week isn't a super intense experience because most of the focus this week is just cutting my diet in half. At first it didn't seem like a big deal but I love food and when you work around it all day long, snacking is next to impossible. So instead I just drank a ton of water to give my stomach a temporary feeling of being full. For lunch I had half a veggie wrap, one whole egg and an apple. Id rather have a bacon stuffed piece of fat wrapped in butter but this meal gave me a boost of energy instead of a guilty indulgence. More and more people are becoming aware of my effort so I know there are eyes watching me from all sides. I didnt like all this attention at first but knowing that people are looking out for me and cheering me on has only helped in the beginning of this journey. Tomorrow I plan on waking up at 5:30am to complete my excercises for the day and than have a nice healthy breakfast. Than my day will consist of a sold ten hours or making fatty foods for the posh crowd of Denver Colorado. Hoo rah!!!!

Introductions...

So here we are. The first day, the first hour, the first minute of the, or I guess I should say of my “Peak Condition Project”. First off I want to say hello to everyone who will be following me on this journey of self discovery. I welcome everyone who is participating in this project with me. From what I can tell I am only one of two Americans participating while everyone else is hailing from Europe, South America and parts of Asia. I welcome my family, friends and co-workers who I hope will support me in this endeavor and not only cheer me on but call me out during times that I feel I may give up. I am counting on you all and I thank you for all the support I have already received. Lastly I welcome the two most important people in my life, my loving girlfriend Siri and my beautiful daughter Kaori. You two will be my backbone through this project and at the end of this I hope that I can make you both proud.
I guess the next question I need to answer is what exactly the “Peak Condition Project” is. PCP was started by a kind gentleman by the name of Patrick Reynolds and his working partner Chen Zhongtao. The premise of the project is taking an individual (such as myself) and putting them through a rigorous exercise and diet routine that will last 90 straight days. I liken it to a boxer’s routine before an upcoming match. Along with the routine, I have to openly blog and take pictures of my progress so that everyone can hold me accountable. That way if you find me in the kitchen crying with cheesecake smothered all over myself, you can call me out.

So why did I decide to tackle such a challenging program. Basically it started out with the realization that I am on the cusp of turning 30. Now to some of my older friends this may not seem like a big deal but I have feared 30 for a long time now. I have started to take a look at my life and wonder what exactly I have done with my time that I have been given. Sure I have a great job, a beautiful daughter, the most gorgeous sweetheart of a girlfriend and am quite close to getting my degree from a respectable University. Yet through all of this I can’t say that I feel truly alive. There is so much I want from this life and in my thirty years of living, I have nothing personally to show for it. I know in my heart I was put here on this earth for something greater and if I don’t take action now, my time may very well pass. So PCP for me is a jumping off point to a brand new life and a brand new outlook. I know that if I can complete this project successfully, not only will I have a new lease on life pertaining to my health, but the ability to jump at any opportunity with a healthy heart and a clear mind.

So as of tomorrow (Jan 15) my journey begins. Don’t forget to sign up for my blog and I will keep updates on facebook as well. I look forward to all of your comments.