Just checking in

So I didn't manage to get up early, but slipped out of the office at lunchtime and went through a thoroughly satisfying (and painful) PCP set at the gym.  Bumped into my old personal trainer who was wondering why I've stopped seeing him. Two reasons:

1) There's really no need - there is motivation and guidance aplenty from PCP
2) He charges HKD 800 a pop

Loving the fact that protein (in the non-egg white form) is back on the dinner menu.  Wasn't looking forward to dinner much before then.  There is something about a bit of meat that just completes a meal for me. More please!

Tough going

Think I might have overdone it slightly at the weekend cramming in squash, tennis, yoga, swimming and of course PCP with added 8 mins of you-know-what.  Started today's exercises, but just didn't have anything left.  I know that that's the time I really need to push and thus maximise the benefit of the exercises, but I was spent.  Gonna have an early night, get up early and hit the gym first thing with hopefully renewed energy.  Definitely not one of my best PCP days - onwards and upwards!

I've got your back...

...or so said the PCP-sceptic who's in town for while (you know who you are...), which was comforting given that Ricky, who usually puts me through my PCP-paces at weekends, is out of town for a while.  Turns out wiping the floor of the squash court with said sceptic was indeed comforting! 

Definitely feeling the positive impact of the project when doing sports - no longer gasping for breath and looking for the exit a short while in.  Makes a nice change.

'This will never hurt you'

the man in lycra says... well, maybe not injure me, but 8 min abs after kung fu and sit-ups does hurt.  A lot.

Nevertheless I like the way the exercises a structured allowing more focus on a given muscle group on a given day.  Still finding the shoulder days the toughest.  Easter gonna be all about PCP (when isn't?).

Magic mushrooms

Went on a veg chopping binge tonight as the new diet has a 'all you can eat' veg for lunch deal.  Found these suspicious looking shrooms:

Should I dry them out for a few weeks and make a nice shake or just steam and hope for the best?

Had a good PCP day ending with an hour's worth of tabletennis (when in China...) down the local sports centre - had quite a few onlookers as they don't get many tabletennis-playing gweilos round these parts. Shoulder exercises today were tough but got there in the end... and as for the v-sits...

Hollowed out

Weighed in at 78.5 kgs for the weekly pic - that's down from 86 kgs in week 1.  I knew I had some excess fat, but 7.5kgs?!  Feels great to the lose the excess and I have a little spring in my step after coming off the scales, so I decided to do the 8mins abs for good measure...let's go gang!

Extracurricular activities

of the PCP-compliant kind of course...  Did lengths in the 50m pool in Victoria Park (highly recommended for any HK-based PCPers out there), followed by PCP with taskmaster Ricky, followed by tennis and yoga.  I'm spent. It's Saturday night, but even if I fancied going out there's no chance of mustering the energy.  Instead, I'm blogging and steaming veg.  Must dash, or the bell peppers will over-cook.  Oh yeah...

Morning Glory

Well, the Jekyll and Hyde scenario continues to play out - exhausted yesterday, killing it today.  Looking forward to the day I'm consistently killing it... Did my first morning peak walk today - glorious start to the day.  There'll be more of that for sure.  Halfway guys - keep it up!

Weak

Up at 6am ready to rock today's exercises only to find that I inexplicably am completely sapped of any strength - could barely get through one set of reps let alone 4 on all the  exercises....  Just typing thsi blog seems to take a herculian effort.  Is this one of those downwards cycles and i'll return shortly with renewed strength and vigour...?  Let's hope so!

Business as usual

Back in HK and plodding along the PCP path.  Got a couple of yoga studios to try out this week which should complement the exercises nicely.  Gonna take my training gear up to the peak tonight for hilltop workout.  Other than that not much to report -oh, apart from a double yoke in this morning's egg - what a treat!

Mentalist

Lying awake (again) at 5am and the mind wandered onto some of the mental or psychological aspects of the PCP. Ok so I only did one psychology semester at uni, but for the most part it seemed like common sense - at times disguised by psychobabble.

One of the things I like about PCP is that it's based on common sense with clear and rational reasons for doing what we do and eating (or not eating) what we eat, leading to tangible results, and relatively quickly. This is crucial when eating/doing this things we don't like (more eggwhites anyone? and would you like a few more floorjumps to go with that?).

Anyway, back to the mental side.  While I don't doubt that achieving the physical improvements we're seeking is largely driven by diet, the mental aspect of this whole program is huge. One of my main reasons for entering into it was to test myself mentallly.

The PCP is a welcome mental distraction from work and helps put things in perspective i.e. wellbeing comes first.  That said, the program has boosted my effectiveness at work as I find my energy levels increase (I believe that's what they call a win-win...)

There have been the occassional transgressions of 'the rules' (a glass of red here, a bit too much olive oil there, a skipped exercise etc.) invariably followed by remorse.  Turning this it into something positive by telling myself to re-double my efforts and then acting on it rather than saying that the occassional trangressions won't do any harm is a mental challenge and significant benefit of the PCP (assuming the test is passed of course).

If this makes no sense, blame insomnia...

Holiday snaps

The little turd-like thingys in the middle snap are tofu with homemade PCP-conformant condiment...

Lengths

Loving the fact that my cardio is improving.  Where before I used to do 10 or so lenghts of freestyle in the pool before capitulating, I now put in a seemingly endless number of lengths and stop due to boredom, not lack of fitness.

Not being able to get properly stuck into the awesome thai food is a test indeed.  That said, the food they churn out here (apart from the absence of meat) is straight out of the PCP dieting manual:  Steamed veg (lots of colours), egg white omelets with bean sprout salad, kale with garlic and sesame seeds etc etc - you get the idea. Looking forward to seeing what tomorrow's new menus bring...

Pink eggs anyone?

Found these bad boys while out searching for eggs of which there is a shortage due to the recent floods here.  Decided against pink and just got some regular ones from the resort restaurant (3 days in and the Thai staff still giggle over the raw egg request).

Having a good time with the exercises, feeling pretty healthy & relaxed, but still not sleeping well for some reason (hence the blog update at 5:30am Thailand time).

Hope all are well.

A tree branch

I've found to be a pretty effective substitute for a pull-up bar .  Got a fairly full-on daily routine going: PCP regime, yoga (3 times), swimming, massage...beats the hell out of working though!  It feels a little odd to be on 'holiday' and not have a few beers, cocktails etc. but the resort is strictly booze-free.

Ventured into town last night and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to sink a few cold ones, but settled for a wheatgrass juice - not quite as satisfying but hey...better stick that on this week's thread for any tips.

Good weekend y'all