Back From Vacation

Raffles Hotel Singapore

After taking most of the summer off for camping, backpacking and my trip to Mt Everest, I'm finally back at it again. This photo was taken on the second floor of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore where the Singapore Sling was invented. They charge $27 for a single Singapore Sling and we had two, so $54 for two drinks. The ONLY reason I did that was because it was where they were invented. Been there and done that now, so moving on. Darlene and I spent the day out and about visiting the Merlion on the harbor, the Raffles Hotel, Clark Quay and various other sights around Singapore.

I successfully made it to Mt Everest Base camp at 5400 M on Oct 13th after 8 grueling days climbing from Lukla. What an experience, holy shit. I can't begin to tell you. I'm saving the photos and the trip log for a very special release coming very soon.

You see, I've been working on a re-design of this website for quite some time, but yet to actually make it available to the public. I've hesitated in doing an new blog posts because I wanted to use the new blog instead, but because of travels and other delays, that never happened either. I realized that I should at least let everyone know what's happening.

So the Mt Everest trip log and photos will not be released just yet, but soon enough.

In the mean time, here are a few more photo's to share with you.

First is a photo of Dar and I on the beach at sunset. This is in Koh Samui Thailand, on the west side of the island one night after a day of scooting around on a scooter.

Koh Samui Sunset

And this final picture was taken after Israel from Fat Man Unleashed sent me a t-shirt with his website logo on it. Israel, if you're reading this, I have a very very special treat for you, but it'll have to wait a bit until I release it. I'm itching to tell you, but it'll have to be a surprise. In the mean time, a photo of me from early this summer with my sledge after I was doing some sledgehammer work on the tractor tire.

Sledgehammer Training and FMU

I did the Mt Everest Base camp trek with 5 of the people I climbed Kilimanjaro with back in 2006. Darlene doesn't like climbing, so she stayed home for another 3 weeks. We were joined by another Canadian for the trek, along with 4 from Australia and 5 from the UK, including one fellow just beginning his year long trip around the world. Great bloke.

I spent 8 days going UP towards Base camp, and 4 coming down, along with 2 days prior and 2 days post in Kathmandu. After leaving Nepal, Darlene joined up with me in Bangkok where we then flew to the island of Koh Samui and spent 4 days. From there we next went to Singapore and stayed with my sister for 5 days, then on to Kuala Lumpu Malaysia for 2 days, simply to go up to the observation deck of the Petronas Towers. Then we went back to Thailand and spent 6 more days at a Thai cooking school with Koy and her family. Check out River Home Stay Thai Cooking School in Bangkok for excellent accommodations and wonderful Thai food.

Petronas Towers

The Petronas towers are the worlds tallest twin towers and the bridge is at the 41st and 42nd floors.

The new blog design will be released very soon now that I'm back in Canada. I'm hoping to have it out for the new year. Might even wait until Jan 1 for that matter, just for fun. Until then, I'll be publishing new content into it, so that it's ready for release, but still drop the odd bit of health news or fat loss news here.

Thanks for your patience, and Lyn, Yes - I came back.

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[Source: Former Fat Guy - Weight Loss Blog]

Tips And Advice For Bodybuilders

by Bob Paris

1. Training with weights is much more than just swinging weights around. In order to be successful and avoid injury, you must learn to feel muscles being focused on.

2. Perfect exercise form is more important to your progress than lifting the heaviest weight you can pick up.

3. The combination of weight training, aerobics, good nutrition and motivational exercises is synergistic - the outcome from the combination far exceeds the result that would be experienced if any of the elements were left out.

4. Dietary supplements cannot make up for a poor diet. You must first develop a clean, balanced eating strategy that suits your goals and metabolism. Follow it diligently before even considering adding supplementation.

5. If you break your workout or nutrition plan, you should get right back on track. You shouldn't beat yourself up over it. Just pick up where you left off and move on.

6. There are several different ways to grow stronger in your workouts.
Increasing the amount of weight used is only one.

7. All of your goals for a flawless body should be rooted in the reality of your body structure and your ability to invest time and effort.

8. You've learned how to visualize your flawless body in action. That vision is the drawing board on which you can sketch further images of success.

9. "Just do it now" is a personal rallying cry that will get you to push forward when you feel like doing anything else in the world rather than training and eating clean.

10. Through perfecting your exercise form, you've learned the difference between appropriate pain, such as the burn in the muscle, and injurious pain.

11. Positive thinking can plant emotional success messages. The process has begun to replace negative body images with high self-esteem.

12. You know now that you can do it. You have the ability to physically control your body through exercise and nutrition.

13. Rest and recuperation are as essential to your gains as the exercise itself.

14. Yo-yo, crash dieting never works.

15. You've learned to use positive failure as a guideline for when a set is complete. You've used focus and concentration to give your fullest power to each set.

These 15 tips for bodybuilders are from Bob Paris' 1993 book Flawless. I especially like tip #7 "All of your goals for a flawless body should be rooted in the reality of your body structure and your ability to invest time and effort".

Many times we beat ourselves up for not getting to our goals fast enough, when in reality, we really don't have the ability to invest the kind of time to training that is required. I believe we have to work with what we've got and set realistic goals based on our ability to train the way we need to and to supply our body with the raw materials needed for growth.

If we can't afford the quality or quantity of nutrition, nor the time to invest in training, set new goals.

I also like #12 "You know now that you can do it. You have the ability to physically control your body through exercise and nutrition". You KNOW you can do it, it's just a matter of actually taking action and putting in the effort. Nothing happens until you take action on that which you want and desire. How much time do we spend getting ready to do something, or thinking that we need to know more about a subject before we actually begin. Taking action has power in it. You know what you need to do and you know that you can do it. Simply begin.

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[Source: Former Fat Guy - Weight Loss Blog]