Q&A with my Physio

For those who have read my blog, in particular over the last week, you'd have been aware that I've been treading a fine line between training effectively and injuring a recalcitrant shoulder. Now that I'm well into Week 5 of 12, the role of my physiotherapist is going to become even more critical. Not just for the physical treatment of my aches & strains, but for the sound practical advice on injury prevention.

As they say, prevention is better than a cure and for me, getting an upper body injury that would stop me from training would be pretty devastating right now, especially now that I'm on a roll.

So for a bit of Q&A this week, I've pulled in a gentleman that deals with my whingeing as well as my wife, my physio, Mr Rob Brandham from Evolve Sports Physiotherapy...


DB2B: Boxing is quite a physical sport, especially for the upper body. What are the best steps to take prior to a session to try and prevent injuries?

Rob Brandham:  An appropriate warmup is certainly the best place to start. This doesn't need to be anything too complicated but should contain some upper body and lower body components.

Physio Rob Brandham APA Sports Physio, BPhysio, MPhysio (Sports)
Physio Rob Brandham

For example a really simple exercise could be to spend five or 10 minutes on a cross trainer to get an increase in your heart rate and to start to use your upper and lower body muscles in a functional way. Static stretching as a warmup has in more recent time been debunked as a way of preventing injuries, a few large-scale studies have shown that stretching before exercise does not reduce your risk of injury.

I think the best thing we can do to prevent injuries is to know our limits, what I mean by this is if you are starting from quite a low base of fitness ensure that you build into your sessions quite progressively over a number of weeks, steadily increasing the overall volume of the session and frequency of sessions as the body adapts.

We need to allow adequate time for recovery between sessions, usually at least two days in the initial stages otherwise we accumulate fatigue and this is a bigger risk for injury in my opinion than any particular warmup or warm down.

DB2B: Hmmmm, yes, knowing my limits is a failed pastime of mine! Do you often see patients with boxing/combat sport injuries? If so, what is the most common injury you see?
Rob Brandham:
 We see quite a few boxing related injuries, both from the fitness side of the sport as well as from the contact side of the sport. Obviously the shoulders are the most common as this is the area that receives the most loading. As boxing is a repetitive activity the most common injuries then usually relate to overuse.

As you do any particular activity repeatedly you can develop muscular imbalances associated with this, and especially around the shoulder it is quite susceptible to changes in the muscle balance. The rotator cuff is a very important group of muscles around the shoulder, and if they cannot work as a team then the risk of injury increases.

As most of us are otherwise quite century in our normal life (i.e. sitting at a desk) we often have a degree of muscle imbalance built in already. Boxing can accentuate this if not managed properly.

DB2B: Ok, now what about my niggles? How have you tried to manage the injuries I’ve sustained during this challenge and what’s the prognosis for being able to continue training?
Rob Brandham:
Load management is the key for you at the moment, due to your past history of shoulder issues we need to make sure that the muscles around the shoulder girdle have adequate time to adapt to the increase in the load you are placing on the.

We also want to complement this with some targeted and specific rehab exercises to continue to improve the strength of the rotator cuff. As long as we can maintain this strength and muscle coordination then you can continue to train at your current levels, as the strength increases then your training can increase in tandem with that. I think the prognosis is quite good as we are not dealing with a significant structural problem.

dry_needling_pinhead
What Rob did vs. What I felt like

DB2B: You’ve used the slightly unpleasant experience of “dry needling” for one of my shoulder injuries. Could you explain a bit about what that does and how it promotes healing?
Rob Brandham:
Dry needling is a great adjunct to some of the other manual therapy is that we can use as it allows us to target particular muscles much more specifically. The idea behind dry needling is to treat the trigger points within the muscles, aiming to get a twitch within the muscle which is often related with the trigger point. This allows the muscle to essentially “reset”and relax some of the tension it has been holding. To be honest we still don't completely understand all of how dry needling works as it is a very difficult thing to measure. We suspect there is some degree of central change associated with it, what I mean by this is it has a neural affect backup in the brain as well changing how the brain perceives those muscles.

By reducing the tension around the muscles this allows their strength to improve as they are less inhibited to contract.

DB2B: We’ve discussed that Remedial Massage is going to play and important part on maintaining my body physically. What is the purpose of this type of massage and how will it benefit my training?
Rob Brandham:
Remedial massage is great for keeping some of those problem areas in check. For example around your shoulders as you do fatigue and overload them you will develop some areas that become tighter than others. If we can reduce this tightness through either massage, dry needling, stretches, and posture education, then we can hopefully keep you training at your higher intensity for longer. It also does assist with muscle repair following the bouts of high intensity training.

DB2B: Any other advice you’d like to give Rob?
Rob Brandham: Listen to your body, if it is telling you it is feeling fatigued and tired, then to rest when it needs it!!

DB2B: Yep, pretty sound advice and you haven't let me down so far! Thanks Rob!

So there you have it. Yes, I do tend to whinge a little, but honestly, it's more out of frustration. At least that's what I tell myself!

Weekly Measurements - Week 4

The weeks seem to be flying by so quickly now. Into a good routine in terms of diet and training, and we're back to our weekly measurements. Week 4 now and there have been quite a few changes that I've noticed. Some of them obvious, some of them I've noticed on reflection of my daily life of the last few years.

Generally though, the measurements show more consistent losses which is awesome! The total losses since Day 1 are the following:

The only measurements that haven't fluctuated much are my upper thigh, still at 62cm and upper arm at 33.2cm (down 3mm). But that's OK as I am starting to put more load through my upper & lower body now and am also building some lean mass. As I've said in previous posts, I'm not weighing myself until my next Dexa Scan next week, but I expect to have lost quite a few kilos already and this has at a really positive impact on being able to train without the aches and pains.

quote-Muhammad-Ali-i-hated-every-minute-of-training-but-88358

Visibly I am starting to notice the difference in my body pic photos and even when I'm standing in the mirror. Even my wife said "Wow, I can actually see some obliques!". I hope she just wanted trying to float my boat, but either way, my body shape is definitely changing.
I actually feel lighter and fleet of foot to be honest, which I haven't felt for quite some time. I can now consistently run now without aching hips, knees and ankles! So that's one of the very obvious changes I've noticed. The changes I've realised in hindsight are things like I get from place to place, upstairs and downstairs. I used to get palpitation like symptoms known as Extrasystoles, not I don't get them at all. And my headaches that I would usually get every couple of days, well, I have had probably two of them in 4 weeks.

To me, this is already a big turnaround. My diet is a breeze, the training is slowly getting easier, though is always hard (have to ensure I never say that training is easy in case my trainer read's this!). I feel like I'm really conditioning my body, but it has taken the full 4 weeks to get this far and it has been pretty torturous.

I think about others who might read this or be starting the same journey and thing about that "torturous" comment and conclude it's too hard. The thing is, there's no easy solutions here. It's hard work to get healthy and fit again after carrying those extra kilos and not having any base fitness at all. But one thing I can guarantee, is it get's much easier to train and recover as you go along. In fact, I'm now at a point where my body is handling the training, so my mind is really enjoying it to the point where I'm almost bouncing between sets of work during my one-on-one sessions. It makes you keen and eager to get stuck into the training. Simply put, and believe it or not, it becomes fun!

(cm)NeckChestUpper ArmWaistHipsUpper Thigh
Week 141.5110341009962
Week 240108.533.598.596.561
Week 339.510833.597.59562
Week 439.5104.533.2979362
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 4 Body Pic
Week 4 Body Pic

Day 24 - Now a 12 week challenge

Now into Week 4 of the challenge and just coming off another Saturday morning session with my one-on-one trainer Dave Trotter. With the echo of what head trainer Paul Fyfield said to us in our post 90 minute thrashing session he gave us the Saturday before, there's no doubt that he's ramping it up now and he want's to see results. It's clear with Paul that he doesn't want to see failure and his post session pep talk leaves us all under no illusions about what he wants to see at the next session this coming Saturday. Nervous? A lot! Maybe just a little. So from this week, my training sessions are now going up a notch and I'll be having 4 sessions a week. It's clear that it's the only way to build up the conditioning to pass Fight Fit Training Camp.

A note from head trainer Paul - gulp!
A note from head trainer Paul - gulp!

This biggest challenge this week has been managing the injuries. The shoulders, both of them now, tend to play up every few sessions and I put it down to too much enthusiasm and not enough technique. I'm slowly starting to get that in check now and hope that at some point soon they'll both meet in a marriage made in heaven (or at least somewhere where it's nice and sunny and the people are friendly!). The hands are taking a beating though, aching thumb joints, skin off the thumbs and a case of boxers knuckle on my right hand are making training complicated and frustrating. For now, trainer Dave and I are just trying to manage it with some extra foam in the hand wraps and trying to ensure I strike flush with the bags, especially the heavier bags.

perfectionist

I don't mean to sound like I'm moaning, but I am. I honestly thought this boxing biz would be easier than what it is. But it's not. The technique and mental aspect is so critical that you really can't get anywhere with this sport unless you're switched on, it's just that mentally taxing. The physical punishment comes with it and is part and parcel. But lately I have been getting frustrated not so much with struggling with the burn from the training, which there is plenty of, but screwing up my punch, block, duck and weave combinations.

Yep, the perfectionist inside me is kicking my ass right now. But to play my own devils advocate, this is only Week 4 of picking up a new sport, maybe I should cut myself some slack?

In other news, and this is a pretty substantial announcement, this challenge will be extended to 12 weeks. There's a couple of reasons for this:

  1. Before I started, I didn't truly appreciate the subtleties of picking up the art of Boxing. This is taking extra time. If this challenge was purely banging out PT sessions, it would be a different story.
  2. In hindsight, it's become pretty obvious that you can make fantastic inroads in just 4-8 weeks. But I feel that I would be doing myself an injustice by measuring on just an 8 week program. In reality I believe a 12 week program will communicate the story better and will get me to my goal that I have set in my mind.

In addition, even though this journey will now be for the 12 weeks, I'm confident that I will be of such sound mind and body, that I'll likely carry on my own personal journey long after this blog stops.

Coming up in future posts, we have some more training video on the way and hopefully you'll be able to see a reasonable difference when comparing with my first training video. I'll also have a bit of light Q&A with the guy who's trying to keep my body from falling apart on a weekly basis, Physiotherapist Rob Brandham (he enjoys poking people with needles) and a summary on my 3rd Fight Fit Training Camp for this coming Saturday (29/08).

Till next time, Box on!

Weekly Measurements – Week 3

charlie-sheen

Wow! How quickly do the weeks fly by! Well into week 3 now and the great news is that measurements continue to drop and I am starting to notice a definite difference in my body shape. The stomach is looking less like a donut and from the side-on profile, my stomach is starting to come inline with my chest, rather than trying to race it to some sort of imaginary waiting line way off in the distance.

I'm starting to actually feel "lighter". Running seems to be much easier now, I have less action happening with my gut every stride I take and there's feels like there's much less pressure on my hips, knees and ankles. This just makes running now even easier and less exhausting, yet another win!

With my eating habits, the temptation to over eat or eat that odd little sugary morsel of food is dissipating rapidly and the food is becoming super enjoyable to eat. I would never have thought that a Quinoa, Cranberry and spinach salad would blow my mind, but it has and is probably one of my favourites. My diet has changed slightly in that there are now small additions of carbs, now that I've reached my ketosis state well and truly, my body should now know what to do with the carbs and burn them for energy, rather than saving them for a rainy day and storing it on my svelte frame as fat! I'm also having a second smaller meal after training, making it 4 meals a day, 3 days of the week.

The measurements are looking really good and since starting just over 3 weeks ago, I've lost a total of 4cm of my hips, 2.5cm off my waist, 2cm off my neck and 2cm of my chest. I really expect this to continue to go down, now that I am kicking in with more serious training based meals and I'm adding an extra 1-2 one-on-one training sessions a week starting from this week.

(cm)NeckChestUpper ArmWaistHipsUpper Thigh
Week 141.5110341009962
Week 240108.533.598.596.561
Week 339.510833.597.59562
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 3 Body Pic
Week 3 Body Pic

Day 15 - Injuries & Doubts

The last 3 or 4 days have been stressful and painful and I seemingly only have myself to blame. During my last one-on-one session with Trainer Dave, I was starting to open up a bit more and become a bit more fluid with my technique that is being drilled in to me (and I have no doubt it's for good reason).

oprah_shoulder

Wild enthusiasm eventually makes you come off second best however and this session was no exception as a sharp pain kicked me in my right shoulder after one of the many marriages between glove and boxing bag for the day. I did my best to try and ignore it and battled on through the pain. So for the next few days and with good support from one of the best Physio's in the business, Rob Brandham (St Kilda Rd Sports & Physiotherapy), we put a strategy in place to ensure no further damage is done, along with a course of anti-inflammatory pills.

It all seemed to do the trick it seems, roll on my Thursday one-one one session and things were looking good. I was still fatiguing pretty badly though in the shoulders from the workout, which during this session was working in weaves with punch combinations.

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I think what I find the most frustrating is the mental fatigue, which makes you end up doing simple punch combinations ass-backwards. It's probably my number one pet hate and has been with me since the start. Effectively with the physical fatigue hitting hard late in my sessions, my concentration is all out of whack and I basically lose the plot and forget what I'm meant to be doing and in what order. Who said this wasn't a mentally challenging sport? I can tell you one thing is for sure, if it's not at least 90% mental fitness that get's you through a hard session, or even a sparring session or a fight, then I would be highly surprised. It's a drain on the brain, no two ways about it.

So now we arrive at Day 15, this marks the start of Week 3 and is met abruptly by another physically and mentally shattering Fight Fit Training Camp session with Paul Fyfield. My first session just over a fortnight ago was a definite wake up call. Out of my depth in so many areas and I was hoping that this time I was going in with some kind of form and the right mental state.

I'm happy to say that I was way more prepared than the first session. For instance, now, I can actually use a skipping rope without blowing out a calf or two. I can string a combo of punches together with a duck and weave. But this session really had a focus on bag work and we worked in groups of 2 and then 3. I happened to be partnered up with a great pair of Rob and Charlene. Very nice people, certainly less awkward than my pairing the first week and the sessions were generally made up of interval bag work. 20 seconds as hard and as fast as you can on the bag, followed by 40 seconds off, repeating that 6 times. And then there was trying to out punch your partner on the other side of the bag for a full minute, multiplied by 3 rounds. Rob hits like the proverbial mule, he made me have my work cut out for me.

Trainer Paul walks past the bag at the end of the first session of "Out punch your partner", "Did you win Brandon?", to which I replied cheekily, "Of course I did". I began to follow that up with a retraction and in the vein of good sportsmanship was going to offer that it was a draw. Paul cut me off and didn't want to hear that, "That's good mate, you won that round, now do it again! I don't want to hear you say your partner won.". And so off Rob and I went again for another 2 rounds and we well and truly spent all our tickets by the end.

beeth_mode

Next we moved on to a new group of 3 for some focus pad work. At this stage though, after coming off some pretty heavy group bag work, my left shoulder started to play up (yep, another overzealous hook did the trick...again) and I was paired with a couple of relatively experienced guys in Paul and Evis. My striking was fine, my pad holding was another matter. Both men punched with ferocity and my dicky left shoulder gave way trying to catch their shots. Bugger. I have been doing a fair bit of pad work in my one-on-one sessions and was hoping to captalise on the inroaads I've made here and go all "Beast Mode". Sadly it was not to be and after this pad work session, we rolled into the core exersises we need to get through to pass this course.

Cycle crunches, alternating situps on an already fatigued body was taking it's toll. I was spotted by the trainer being down the back of the gym and before I knew it I was shamed into moving to front and centre. Oh the pain. I could barely get through the pushups, burpees and commandos with the shoulder but tried to make a valiant effort without my body going one way and my shoulder the other. Whilst holding the always "fun" prone hold at the end of the session, I'd noticed that we'd been working the bags and the pads so much this session, the skin was coming off my knuckles. Yep, that's dedication for you!

The session ended with Paul highlighting that if what we're doing doesn't seem achievable, it can be done. Personally, I'll have to start racking up some frequent flier points with Trainer Dave and up the number of sessions I'm doing so that I am on track fitness and technique wise as it will be way too hard to play catchup if I slip now.

Until next time, Box on!

What Dadbod2Boxer Training looks like

Weekly Measurements - Week 2

So has my diet and training been paying off? The simple answer is yes! In fact I had a feeling it would, otherwise I would be so disillusioned with the challenge, I'd pack my tail between my legs, grow a mustache and hide out in Puerto Rico until this whole thing blows over.

As mentioned in Week 1 Measurements, I wont be weighing myself. At least not until I'm in for my next Dexa Scan at 4 weeks.

Kicking Ass

But the measurements I've taken are interesting. Definitely a drop in size, larger in some areas than others, but on the up side, I'm only about to finish week 2 and I have a solid 6 more weeks to kick ass in. To be honest, I'm pretty excited about the end result now that I am starting to see some solid losses at about Day 11. The diet and training are so far working better than I had expected, it's made the hard work to now worth it.

Here are this weeks measurements below.

(cm)NeckChestUpper ArmWaistHipsUpper Thigh
Week 141.5110341009962
Week 240108.533.598.596.561
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
bodypic_week2
Week 2 Body Pic

Day 8 - Not easy, this boxing caper

So I'm just going to outline the last two one-on-one training session's I've had since the Day 1 Training Camp grind. After my first session I felt horribly exposed, I guess for good reason, but I've pretty much been a perfectionist at everything, so the fact that I am coming unstuck so quickly is frustrating. I need to keep reminding myself it's only just been 1 week out of 8.

Straights, hooks, jabs, uppercuts, crosses, ducks, slips & weaves. This is where I'm completely out of my comfort zone and it's so far showed. For my 1-on-1 sessions with Dave, I may as well have brought two left shoes with me, because that's how I felt I was moving. And hey, who would have thought that skipping was so hard? I mean, despite the fact I've probably not done it since high school, and even then it had an element of "girliness" that precluded me from doing it too much: this was hard.

The champ showing how it's done

I quickly found with the skipping, that my weight and lack of conditioning, my calves aren't going to last more than it takes to cook a soft boiled egg, such is the soft boiled nature of my calves. I watched others in my last session from the weekend, as people seemed to effortlessly bound from side to side, alternating the leg they push off on. Clearly that was my ticket to marathon solo skipping sessions, but the rope may as well have been glued to my shoes. I was going nowhere fast.

Step in trainer Dave. He breaks down the movements and it makes me think about just that, the movements and not so much about getting the rope through. By my second session, it's already improved considerably. I'm even going to the lengths of practicing at home so as to not embarrass myself in front of Dave with my feeble foot placement and lack of co-ordination. So on the skipping side of things, we're on our way. I'll be doing "cross overs" and "double unders" before you know it.

Our sessions start with the skipping and then move into fast and furious core work. Cycle crunches and Alternating situps are a struggle as the as my small oak-barrel (smaller than a full keg) of a stomach get's in the way and resistance is almost futile. But I crank out the sets anyway, again, feeling as uncoordinated as someone....extremely uncoordinated. Other core exercises are made up with Commando's and Push ups, followed by full Squats and a set of burpees. These were all done in an ascending set of reps.

This ascending set of repetitions is known as "Progressive Resistance Exercise" and it's punishing (created by an Army doctor named Dr. Thomas L. DeLorme in the 2nd World War) . If you're spent at the start or midway, you're going to be fighting a very real physical and mental challenge to get through the rest. At the end of a couple of set's of reps, I've then be asked to focus on a series of punches to my trainers focus pads. Remembering the combinations of punches, with ducks thrown in was one thing. Doing it with the right body positioning and technique was another. I was being corrected time and time again, I still need to remind myself this is early days still and the form and technique will come. Or so Trainer Dave assures me.

The middle part of the session is focused purely on boxing technique and combinations with ducking thrown in it for good measure. Till today, ducking was ducking. In boxing, ducking is ensuring you are doing it away from the leading hand coming at you, getting your body weight and positioning right and using the momentum of ducking from one side to the other to your advantage when you come up to strike on your opposite side. No, this aint easy either.

Left jab, right straight, duck, left hook, right straight, left hook, duck... 15 minutes of this and I was spent. What's that you say? Only half way through the session? Oh crap!

We then moved back on to some more progressive resistance exercises and this one was a killer. 20 uppercuts, 2 pushups, 40 uppercust, 4 pushups, 60 uppercuts, 6 pushups.... just about thrown in the towel at this point... 80 uppercuts, 8 pushups, 100 uppercuts and rounding it out with 10 pushups. I've done similar to this where you work your way down the count, but working your way is absolutely devastating.

I didn't look this tough for too long

I didn't say as much to the trainer, but right there I wanted to give up, but there was 5 minutes left, so why quit now? The last 5 was spent doing bag intervals. Basically you punch the suitcases out of a punching bag for 20 seconds and then 20 seconds rest. Do that 5 times. But it needs to be done with the best form that you can muster. This is where boxing is so mentally challenging. When you are absolutely spent and your pushing your body and you still need to ensure you keep your hands up in a guard. Roll your arms over with straight punches. Keep your hook hand flat or open, but not in between. Keeping it together mentally is so, so hard!

In any case, what I did find from this session is that there is promise with my skipping and boxing technique in general. I'm clearly seeing more challenges ahead of me than I first thought. And as I type this, I can tell you that I have been very well reacquainted with my transverse abdominis muscles.

Rest now until Tuesday, for session 3 where I'm sure Dave has more darts of pain in his blow pipe of torture.

Weekly Measurements - Week 1

I've made a promise to myself that I wont be getting on the scales during this challenge. I've gotten my head around the fact that the scales are a pretty useless tool for this exercise and in the past I've been way too "scale weight" focused.

I've been training hard, but the training is only going to get harder. And I am fueling my body correctly, so fat loss will and I'm sure has been happening, but at the same time, being on a protein based diet, I'm also building lean muscle mass. So for example, if I lose 3kg in fat, but gain 1 kg in muscle mass, the net loss is 2kg, instead of 3 kg. So this is where the scales can be off-putting and should be used as a general guide only. This is why I'm looking towards the Dexa Scan every 4 weeks to reveal precisely what I have lost and what I have gained and from where (fat vs. lean mass).

Another great way of seeing your improvement over time is by taking simple measurements. I'm taking 6 measurements on a weekly basis every Wednesday. They are:

I'll also be taking body shots, both front on and side on and am just going to hope like hell there's a substantially different look to my physique, from wobbling to rippling!

So here are my measurements for Week 1.

(cm)NeckChestUpper ArmWaistHipsUpper Thigh
Week 141.5110341009962
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
bodypic_week1
Week 1 Body Pic
 

Day 4 - DOMS, Diet & Determination

DOMS

As expected, a day or two after completing my first training session, I'm struggling to lift an arm, to turn to my left, or my right and there are muscles somewhere in my mid-section that clearly haven't seen any of this exercise for some time. That's DOMS for you, or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, and I got it bad!

But strangely with every ache and every whinge to whoever will listen, it so far seems worth it. These are the beginnings of the journey and this soreness has to happen. Allow me to quote Mr Wiki:

The soreness is felt most strongly 24 to 72 hours after the exercise. It is thought to be caused by eccentric (lengthening) exercise, which causes microtrauma to the muscle fibers. After such exercise, the muscle adapts rapidly to prevent muscle damage, and thereby soreness, if the exercise is repeated.

Delayed onset muscle soreness is one symptom of exercise-induced muscle damage. The other is acute muscle soreness, which appears during and immediately after exercise.

Yeah, thanks Mr Wiki, duly noted.

guard-dog
Guard Dog Aslan

So today has been the first day I have been able to move relatively freely. So under the watchful eye of our ever alert guard dog Aslan, I've managed to push out a number of the set core turbo-charged exercises expected of us during the Fight Fit Training Camp, which consisted of:

The fatigue set in quickly, but knowing that most of this journey is mental, what else can you do, but push on, right?

So that's where I'm at today training wise. Yep, so far, so good! Not had to reach for the bucket of shame (I'm sure that's to come).

DIET

So on to my diet and as you will see from my intro image to this blog, it's protein and and it's greens/veggies. As noted in my first diet blog, Stu from Primal Food was expecting the hate on Day 4 (personally I was thinking more like 3 days, but what's 24 hours between a person and your diet mentor). But I must say, that so far the diet and the food has been pretty good. I've had to get used to eating at a certain time.

The diet is well on the way, I'm totally stoked that Stu has made this diet completely do-able and so far, I still like the guy. No we're cookin'!

DETERMINATION

dadbod-so-hot-right-now

So I find myself thinking a lot about this journey and what lies ahead, it's almost consuming me. But I still have to work and carry on a home life. There's no question it's a bit of a juggle, but I've never been so determined to succeed at anything. And it just so happens I'm a perfectionist at heart. In the past I know deep down that I often look to easy out's and excuses to why I can't do the hard work. Putting myself out there like this is probably the self deprecating kick I needed to finally do what I know is right for me from a health and well-being standpoint.

Sacrifices will be made here and there. There will be some mornings I wont get to wave my kids goodbye before school. There are going to be evenings where I am home late when I know my wife needs the help at home. And to that end I feel selfish. But at the end of the day, I want to be around in 20, 30 years time for my kids and my grand kids. There's no more important time than right now to change my lifestyle for the benefit of my family and obviously myself.

For those DadBod's out there, who say they don't have the time, I think you need to pull out all the stops to make the time. And it doesn't have to be 3-4 days a week of high-intensity exercise or adhering to a strict diet that throws you into a ketosis firestorm. Walk where you can, do it at lunch time at work, get of a stop earlier for your tram and walk, get outside and kick a ball around and reminisce about the good ol' days when you were the main man in your local football team. Skip that breakfast can of soft drink in the morning and replace it with water, drop that extra sugar from your coffee.

All these little things add up over time. Exactly the same way you got your "beer gut", so now try and reverse that. That's determination and so far for me, it's all in the mind.