Putting in Work

Yes I work hard for whatever I look like right now. I don’t always look in top shape. It’s very difficult for me to stay ‘swoll’ or ‘cut’ but I try all the time. Many times I fail but sometimes I win. My key focus is to try.

I’ve been working out for over 15 years. There were a couple of instances that triggered my desire to get in shape and both instances involved the word ‘fat.’

I’ve grown up being a nice plump and chubby boy. I’ve never had any problems being one. It was just me. It was how I was born. It was how I was raised. Always have two plates because it’s disrespectful to just have one. That was my Filipino household. It was normal to me. I ate as a sign of respect for the food and the people who made it for me, especially my mom.

First instance I started taking dance classes. I was a bigger boy but I had moves. I joined the top teams in San Diego. Talking to the director of my dance team I asked if I had a chance to do it professional and go to Hollywood. My director said “honestly I don’t think so because you don’t look like the those people.” The director said I was too fat.” That was the first time I’ve ever been called fat and it turned on a switch in my head. I started taking more dance classes and started doing more cardio to lose some weight. My diet was shit. I didn’t eat anything but rice and tofu. I got extremely skinny but was happy I lost the weight.

Second instance, a friend of mine started to do P90x and built a nice body. He was so happy with his transformation that he went even further to boost his confidence by putting me down. He called me fat and told me I’d never look like him. That’s when I took up P90x too and introduced weight lifting. I just wanted to show him I can change too. In his defense he said he teased me because he had a crush on me but it still hurts to be called that.

Both of these instances made me want to work hard and it became the foundation of my motivation. To never be called fat again.

Now that you know where my motivation stems from here’s what I did.

I tried many diets. Read many books. Got educated. Tried all of them. From Atkins to Organic foods. It gave me a sense of how my body reacts to certain foods. The longest diet I stayed on was Atkins for two years.

With everything I tried I found what worked for me was intermittent fasting with a balanced diet. I love food and can’t stop once I start eating so why not just binge once a day? I’d fast from morning to dinner where after work I’ll just eat whatever I want and it’s been working pretty well for me now. Yep whatever I want. Pizza, fried chicken, etc. I don’t want to miss out on the good stuff! Also look into the benefits of intermittent fasting such as anti aging. Probably why I still look so young at 38.

As for working out I stuck to the basics of P90x. Yep for most of these years I’ve done the same routine. I’ve modified things here and there. Added workouts I’ve learned. Took some away. Increased weight for more resistance. Etc. I try to modify my workouts to make them hard. You always have to try and push to make your workouts harder.

I’ll throw in some cardio here in there but not too much. I didn’t want to lose muscle which can happen if you do too much. My favorite cardio routines were the Insanity videos. They were hard as fuck! Still can’t get through a full video to this day! Shaun T is a beast!

I take the bare minimum when it comes to supplements. I drink protein shakes. Take bcaas for when I’m fasting. Sometimes add creatine to bulk but I try to stay off it because it makes me bloat a lot. My main supplement if eating a lot of protein.

So bottom line you gotta find what works for you. Try different diets and workout regiments. Track how your body reacts. If it works then continue. Everyone’s body is different and not one diet or workout works for everyone. If you aren’t gaining muscle or losing weight, work harder, longer. If your diet isn’t working eat less bad stuff and more good. I think we all have an idea of whats generally good or bad so make changes. The best thing to do is educated yourself and work with what resources you have. Find that groove and just keep pushing. I didn’t have a miricle. It was 15 years of hard work and tweaking everything. Stay motivated and find what works best for you! You got this!