After high school, I moved home to Australia and I started to work in a pizza shop. This was the second time that I put on weight and I put on a lot. I went from probably about 85kg just after high school to 114-116kg by the age of 21. By 24 on my wedding day, I was pretty fat. I look back at these pictures and I’m not ashamed, but I’m very disappointed in myself. I was playing rugby at a high level and eating whatever I wanted to. 

I was about 22 when I first got interested in lifting. Julie made me get a gym membership and my boss at South Australian Rugby, Carl Jones, showed me the first lifts and started me on my way. I didn’t get serious until I meet Griff at Stanford University. He developed a program that, when paired with my dedication, got results. I dropped form 117kg to 104kg in a season in 2007. I was stoked with my progress, I felt better in every aspect of my life. But I had never lost my belly fat. Some of my friends told me this was due to stress and my cortisol levels. I think it is because I was really fat once upon a time and although I lost a ton of weight I never really dialed in my diet.

Since that time I have lost weight slowly and last year while playing for the Philippines I was at 94kg. This was the lightest that I have been since I was a teenager, but with the weight loss and the dedication to cardio-respitory conditioning with CrossFit (thanks John and Bruce at CrossFit Greensboro) I lost a little bit of my ability in the physical contest. I received some feedback from the Philippine National Team coaches that I was technically very good, but I struggled with the big South Korean pack. So this offseason I tried to put on weight between the fall and the spring season of the Glendale Raptors.

I followed the strength and conditioning coach’s (Nico) program and got stronger and bigger. I went from 95kg to 100kg. I was stoked all my strength numbers went up, but so did my weight. I struggled with this immensely. 

Now I look in the mirror and I wonder if I just got fatter. There are two reasons that I put on weight, the first I lifted to gain weight and the second I ate like crap over the holidays. With my new job in retail and the holiday season, I ate a lot of sugar and a lot of food. I am trying to curb the sugar addiction by eating palo, but I am still struggling with my number on the scale being so high and feeling that because I am heavy (where I wanted to be) I am fat.

So where do I go now? Well, if I play well and my performance improves I am going to keep the weight on, if not then I will work on losing the weight until I stabilize at a weight that I feel like my performance is maximized. The mental side, this is a little harder. The first step is to accept the way I look and BE proud. I am proud of the muscle that I have developed, the thickness of my back and chest, and the development of my quads, hamstrings and calves. I still struggle with the way my gut looks, but thats ok. I’m not perfect, but my gut is less than half the size it used to be and is stronger and more able to control my movements than ever before. The second step is to realize that weight is number and it is neither good or bad. It doesn’t determine how my opponent will play against me, whether my partner finds me attractive or whether I am healthy or unhealthy. It is simply a number. It doesn’t define me. What defines me is how I feel, play rugby and perform in life. 

So I will curb my sugar addiction (this is going to be hard because I love chocolate!) by eating paleo/primal and focus on my performance and be proud of how I look. Weight will not be a number that defines me.

Last year during the A5N, I had a player debrief with my coaches. They said that I had good skills, but lacked a little size. I struggled at tighthead against Korea because they were a big pack. I moved to Denver during the off-season and started a new job as well as joined a new rugby club, Glendale Raptors. 

During our off-season, the Glendale Raptors strength and conditioning coach, Nico, developed a program that was aimed at building size and strength. I bought into the program and have been following it for almost 16 weeks. I have noticed significant gains in strength across the board. My knee, injured in the Philippines in April, is back to full strength and I have made strength gains across the board. However my focus on strength led to diminished performance in my cardio-respitory fitness.

For the first time, my off-season goal was to put on weight. I got fat when I left college and started working in a pizza shop. I did well in rugby, but kept stacking on the kilos until on my wedding day I was around 255-260 pounds. Fortunately, I met Griff and he helped me get on track with lifting and running and I shed the weight. Since 2007 I have stayed under 225 and last year I played at 207-210. I wanted a bit more weight and strength to help in the scrum. So this off-season I ate, lifted and reduced my running. Also, since moving to Denver I have been eating like crap! I started a new job working for a retailer and I have been eating more candy and larger helpings. I am also completely addicted to sugar. I want sugar all the time from chocolate to sugar in my coffee to looking for fruit snacks instead of real food. 

The result of the lifting and eating, I am at 220 pounds a good weight for my body. So now as the new season is about to begin I am in pretty good shape. I feel very strong and my ability to run at training is pretty good, but my cardio is not where I want it to be. 

My two problems are: 1) lack of self-control in my eating; 2) cardio-respitory performance!

With this in mind, I am committing to eating paleo again and changing my focus from strength gains to strength maintenance and cardio gains. The first time I tried eating paleo I had great results, reduced inflammation in my joints and I felt better. I wasn’t strict as I had cheese in my salads and still drank my coffee with milk and sugar. This time I am attempting to change my palate and reduce my addiction to sugar. So I am going without cheese and sugar. My guide is Robb Wolf’s “The Paleo Solution” and I will be using a lot of his recipes and those from Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fargoso. As far as the cardio, I am going to complete my conditioning before I lift and my focus will be on 3-4 compound lifts to maintain my strength 2 or 3 times per week. 

The goal of this is to change my eating habits to lead a healthier life. I don’t want to be addicted to sugar anymore, I am coming to the end of my rugby career and I am at the start of my work career. If I choose to make a change now it will carry into the next phase of my life. A secondary goal is to improve my cardio conditioning so I can perform on the field the way that I want to. I believe these two changes will help lead to better health off the field and better performance on the field. 

I went to the DU women’s gymnastics meet last night. I haven’t been to a meet since I competed as a kid in Wanganui. but with Julie working with the team it is a great opportunity to get out and watch some amazing athletes. 

It is funny sitting in the stands and realizing the simplest moves that the ladies are doing are incredibly hard. The body control they exhibit, the ability to continually work on the same skills over and over again as they look to perfect the movement. The dedication it takes is similar to a pianist focusing on the same small section of music over and over again. 

I had a blast and was in awe of the athletes competing. 

soupsoup:

reuters:

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning holds the Vince Lombardi trophy (L) as head coach Tom Coughlin looks on after the Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game in Indianapolis, Indiana, February 5, 2012. [REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson]

Read more: Giants edge Patriots to win the Super Bowl

Deja Blue

There are a few food pointers on here. I’ve fallen for some like not getting enough sleep or doing too much cardio at the expense of sprints. Also I really like the part about being strong before metcons.

I have a problem leaving work. I say I’m going to leave and then 30-60 minutes later I actually say good-bye then 15-20 minutes later I leave! Huge problem because I don’t necessarily do any more work but I talk. Tonight that caused me to miss spending time with my family and my workout.

So what I call it a wash. A valuable lesson today. Prioritize my life. Work is important but not as important as family time. Also, if I want to achieve my goals then I need to give myself the time to train. When the day is done I’m going home!!

Lesson learned.

2012 and a season coming up with the Glendale Raptors rugby team. I’ve just completed the first phase of the off-season strength program. I had great results increasing my strength base. Now the focus on increasing my power. So to go with the new program is a resolution to blog about my progress.

This morning I did a workout at Front Range CrossFit with my mate, Crawford Miller. It was “Nasty Girls” and I completed it in 17:45. I was happy as I haven’t done muscleups since August,so to make it through without any practice was cool.

In the afternoon, I dropped in for the first lift. Tired from snowboarding and working out in the morning, my numbers were bad but I worked my tail off. 3 sets of 8 jumping barbell back squats. My highest weight was over 100kg. First time to do this and it was awkward. I followed up with 3 sets of 3 clean pulls. They were hard I only got to 110kg because my body was fried. The same experience with 5 sets of 5 front squats where I topped out at 90kg. I finished with a circuit and called it a day.

Last night I got into the gym before it closed. Day 3 of the weekly Glendale Raptors off-season program. It is all about dead lifting and shoulders. The only problem was that I was at the DU gym.

For some reason, the 45 pound plates have a smaller circumference than regular Olympic weights. This means the start point is about an inch lower than usual. When completing a 5x5 it requires a lot more effort than normal. I had to bend my knees a little more, lock in my back to maintain my lumbar curve, and push my knees back as I initiated the lift. My last set was at 385# and I was stoked. I maintained my form, while keeping control of my body and the bar.

The rest of the day was Romanian deadlifts, single leg deadlifts, seated shoulder press and core work. I was in and out in an hour. That has been one of my focuses…get in and out so I can spend more time with the family.

Grass feed NY strip grilled to medium-rare with an arugula and parmigiana salad dressed with a lemon vinegarette. Spent a little more on dinner with Julie but it was definitely better than eating out!

This is a great article as to why I follow up after reading something in the media.