Are you happy with what you see?

The body beautiful has always been high on most people’s list of things they would change about themselves. The Fitness and nutrition industry have made millions of pounds with diets, fitness books , DVDS  and anything they can think of to ‘help ‘ you get the body you want to see in the mirror.

Back in the 1950’s a body builder called Reg Parks, a mountain of a man, said that the supplement industry was being looked into by the IRS (taxman of America) due to the amount of money that the industry was yielding at that time; he would have a fit if he saw the industry today.  Mr Parks always trained well, rested well and ate good wholesome food to gain his amazing healthy body , with a mix of protein , carbs and fat.

The Fitness Industry is like Disney World compared to a swing set and a slide in the 50’s , and it is easy to get suckered into the easy route of steroids and every supplement  in the world plus tanning injections to finish off that boy band look (girls go for the Barbie on smack look).

The look of today reminds me of body-builders competing, which I admire what they do with their diet but frown upon their uses of chemical enhancements. The Body-building sport takes the average person to vast extremes of diet from sometimes up to 7-8000 calories daily to maybe 500 calories just before a show putting a vast amount of pressure on your heart and other organs, so when they hit the stage for the pose off they look in the best shape of their lives but inside they are borderline in the worst state a body can be in. They are malnourished, dehydrated and sometimes this leads to passing out or death in the most severe cases (and they say martial artists are mad).

Now everyone is looking for that toned body deep tan (via bottle, sun bed or injection) and they want to look good. A few years ago there were a few people when you went out that were the body beautiful type but now it seems to be the norm to have groups of lads and lasses like this. When I was younger there was a couple of girls that would try to stand out from the crowd but now most girls I see love themselves more than they did in my single days ( god I feel old ). The nasty by product I have noticed from this culture is the attitude that they think they are somewhat better than you or they look down on you due to your appearance. We seem to be breeding a group of arrogant obnoxious snobs! (Whose ideal date would be a mirror)

On the steroid issue, a lot of my friends have and will still use steroids or growth hormone to aid them in their search for the body beautiful. In this time I have seen them have cysts removed from where they injected themselves, they have had strokes and many other things they should not get until later on in live, just so they could lift more, look good or make themselves feel stronger than other lesser mortals. (Goodnight puny humans)

 When I was a young man I tried every way to gain weight as I always had a problem putting on weight. Everyone I used to tell that to would laugh at me saying they would like to have my problem but when you are a 10 ½ stone doorman you get picked on a lot for a fight, lol, at least I got loads and loads of practice!

I tried all of the weight gain products of the era like overeating (4-5 weet-a-bix for breakfast..) and gallons of milk and protein shakes ( I would be sick with them due to the vasts amount of sugar in them!)

I found out I was overtraining  by becoming so ill that I Infected my eye around and inside my mouth , my gums bled and I lost about 2 stone so I looked like I had just been saved from a desert island. I had to change how I trained!

Firstly I drank more water, and no it is not ” hard“ not to drink while you train, macho to the extreme; then I found when I did more research, through both trial and error, found out how much I should train with weights and do body exercises so that I could gain muscle, keep it and be fit with it . I have always wanted to use the best exercises to gain the best results but sometimes got too carried away doing weights or sit ups and found sometimes you have to do less rather than more to work out for the best. An example of how bad I was if I did conditioning with my classes - I would sometimes do 6-8 conditioning classes in a day as I felt I should because my class is , they would go home tired after 1 hour and I would change my t-shirt and start again and again until I mentally and physically burnt out!

Now I eat about 4- 6 meals a day (I eat like a kid giving myself fuel for the next 2-3 hours) and eat my last meal about 9-10 pm due to work commitments. I drink a pint of water with this meal and take another pint of water to bed for through the night.  I eat chicken, rice, pasta, fish, burgers and curries and I drink mostly water but also drink coffee, lager and lambrini, so I am not a teetotal, and my body is a temple type person! I have a real diet for a active person.

Speaking of real people my lovely wife Kerry, has medical conditions that effect her in many ways yet with only a phone app she has dropped her body weight by 3 stone in little over a year. She has to be careful with her diet due to Crohn’s disease and she has arthritis in her left knee, top of right foot and has tendon replacement and joint removal on her right foot (and she can’t /won’t swim) she has done an amazing job of shedding the weight in her own unique style , beating all the odds of her medication and dietary problems and walking /exercise issues  and she has do it all by herself with no magic diets, no stickers, no outlay ( the app was free) just hard work, dedication and her own self belief that she can do it. I dedicate this blog to her because as Reg Parks says good food and the right mental attitude you can achieve anything you set out to do!

Proud of you Kerry and I love you always

Until next time

Eat well

John Atkin

To find out more about The Advanced Fighting Centre visit:http://www.advancedfighting.co.uk/ or e-mail John Atkin at johnatkin24@btinternet.com