First steps.

So, another blog.
Actually it's more for me then it is for you.
Think of this as me keeping tabs on me, and we'll be fine.
It's not you.
It's me.
Maybe I'll even keep up with this one!

Since returning from the magical land of Australia, I've been hitting the gym primarily for strength gains and mass gains. That's a fairly easy thing to do. Eat big, lift big. These past four weeks have seen me, Monday to Friday, consume in excess of 4000 calories, with a heavy carb bias for recovery.

However whilst increasing mass and strength (to frankly stupid levels) I've also had an increase in body fat and retained water, which was kind of inevitable. So, whilst I have no issue with looking like a 5 foot something or other tank, a lot of my hard gains are being masked by excess water and fat...which I do have an issue with.

My aim is to spend the next 8-12 weeks doing some extensive re-composition. It's not going to be simple, or  for me at times very enjoyable as it means diet wise I'll be eating a lot of the same stuff a lot of the time. However, as well as being interested in the physiological aspects of this, I'm also interested in the psychological aspects as well.

I, like many others, have a very intimate relationship with food, in some much that what I eat and when I eat it can have a direct effect on my mood. This is something I wish to knock on the head if I'm honest, as it can go either way.

So I have a number of aims:

• Reduce water retention to a minimum.
• Reduce body fat to a maintainable, year round figure.
• Preserve muscle mass as much as possible.
• Increase my anaerobic capacity.
• Increase my aerobic capacity
• Maintain a positive hormonal balance.
• Psychologically rewire my perception of food.

In order to get there:

• No grains (not because I'm a zelot or anything, simply for reducing inflammation and water retention)
• No simple carbohydrates.
• High fibre.
• Low fat.
• High protein.
• A wide of aim of 2000kcal a day, reducing over a weekend where I'm not training.
• No dairy. None. Nada. I'm lactose intolerant anyhow, and lactose free milk in the amount I use in a week does not come cheap.
• Replace my protein shakes with BCAA's...post, pre and intra workout.
• High intensity, short, strategic workouts. 

I'm using this week as a transition period to drop my calories gently, and eak out some bugs in my training to make the most of the way my time in the gym and keep my cortisol levels in check.

I'll be using this blog to:

a) Log my workouts

b) Log my mood

c) Log my meals

d) Log my progress