My journey from Fast food, vanity and the step machine to free range meats, performance training and kettlebells

PART 1

I would like to share with you how I have evolved from burning a 1000 calories on the step machine, vanity and a hot wings and chips post workout meal to free range and organic eating, getting faster and kettlebell training.

I have been training for a long time now, I started taking my training very seriously from the age of 13 in fact. However, I didn't have the same approach to my diet. AT ALL!

I was a typical kid, fast food, fizzy drinks, chocolate and ice cream were all part of my daily menu but I guess as a teenager you don't know any better.

I was like clock work with my routine (slightly OCD actually), I had a structured split body weight training program which i done after school 4 days a week. I would also follow every workout with 10 hot wings, chips and a can of coke from the chicken shop opposite the gym for my bus journey home.

CAN YOU BELIEVE I USED THE STEP MACHINE?!

I then decided I wanted to be ripped and thought it would be an amazing idea to burn 1000 calories on the step machine after every weights session. Yep, I know what your thinking, I must have been in the gym for ages. You would be right, 2.5hrs to be precise. But it was my routine and no one was gonna make me do any different. Coz I knew best right!

I kept this going somehow until I was 16 but I was now at a stage where I wanted something completely different and knew my current routine just wouldn't cut it. I wanted to get big, really big.

I have never been someone who has to watch what they eat, I have always been naturally lean and never had a problem when it came to training and playing rugby etc, but I did my research and knew that my training was never going to build me up and my diet was more likely to send me to an early grave than make me look like Arnold.

It was time to cut out the crap and get a new training regime. Yes I may have only been 16 but I took my training very seriously, you could say I had built a reputation at college as being "hench" and I can't lie, I liked it :-) and it was a reputation wanted to keep.

NOW I WAS OUT OF CONTROL.

I took things to the extreme. Over night I cut out all junk food, 6 days a week. Every Friday was my cheat day to eat whatever I wanted. As you can imagine, I went to town. My post workout meal on a Friday was 4 piece of chicken, chips, battered sausage and a can of coke......amazing. I was happy with my results but I wanted more, soon I told myself "surely if I cut out my cheat day I will get even better results".

This was when I developed an unhealthy relationship with the gym and my diet. Looking good, training hard and feeling good had taken over my life. I could not skip a workout for anything or anyone and I literally cut out all the s**t from my diet. Between rugby and the gym I was now training everyday, hard out too.

HOW DID I KEEP IT UP?

I didnt.

I managed to mantain this for under a year. My body simply said no. I had no energy, my training was going downhill. I was training too hard, eating too little and not recovering at all.

THIS IS WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENED.

I was 18, full of testosterone and I wanted something different. Not a bigger chest, not bulging arms nor did I crave an 8 pack. I wanted to be.........BETTER.

Gone were the vanity workouts, I wanted to be stronger, quicker and run rings around my opponents on the rugby pitch.

In came TRAINING FOR PERFORMANCE. No longer was I looking to get a pumped chest, I wanted to lift heavy weights, I wanted to knock seconds off my 100m sprint time and I loved it. I had a focus I never had before. It felt amazing. I reduced my training to 3 times a week and would be done and dusted in under an hour. I was loving my training and it started to show on the pitch, and the best bit - I gained a massive amount of muscle in essence without even trying.

Bosh