G’day,

Oooh man…I’m gonna have to hire a graphic designer one of these days! I am so tired, not from today’s workout but from designing these Mission 3 graphics. I trust that these graphics explain the basic concept and goals behind Mission 3.

Anyway, I really have to get some sleep now so I’ll go into much greater detail behind my thinking process for Mission 3 tomorrow…and why I have set yet another six-pack goal!

In the meantime if you would like some perspective on what has happened since the end of Mission 2 just check yesterday’s post below.

I have some big ideas on how to implement my “real-time accountability” concept throughout Mission 3, stay tuned for details on how you may be able to benefit from my experience.

Before I sign off I’ll leave you with my official M3 starting pictures along with the mandatory Japan Times newspaper.

Until tomorrow…

Eat Clean,
Shred Hard,
Think BIG!

Peace,
AJ

G’day,

Today is Day 229, it has been exactly 95 days since the end of Mission 2. I regret to say that somewhere along the way after Mission 2 I lost the essence of what this blog was all about.

In this post I will outline exactly what has transpired since M2, my successes and my failures.

Where I Have Succeeded

Even though my pre-M3 “muscle gain” training has been a success in terms gaining muscle (2.5 kg’s added) it has come at the expense of increased fat levels. To be specific, below is a comparison of my raw body stats between now and the end of Mission 2.

Mission 2 Stats: Day 136
Bodyweight: 74 kg’s
Bodyfat %: 6.5%
Fat Weight: 5.5 kg’s
Lean Body Mass: 69.5 kg’s

Pre-Mission 3 Stats: Day 229
Bodyweight: 80 kg’s
Bodyfat %: 10.0%
Fat Weight: 8 kg’s
Lean Body Mass: 72.0 kg’s

As you can see I have added 2.5 kg’s of muscle while also adding another 6 kg’s of bodyfat to my frame. This is inevitable as a major part of gaining muscle requires that you increase calories to create a caloric surplus and reduce cardio to preserve muscle.

The truth About Why Mission 3 Was Delayed

While I am happy to have increased muscle in this pre-M3 training period I am not satisfied with the big increase in fat levels. In hindsight, I took too much time off from the end of Mission 2 (while my bodyfat levels were still low) before I started hard training again.

At the time I had valid reasons, like a relationship break-up, a legal threat on my skincare site and the general exhaustion factor of training and dieting full-time for 136 days straight. Added to this was the wrist injury I sustained on Day 169 which put me out of action for 21 days.

My Critical Error Of Judgement

As I mentioned above I now realize that I took too much time off before starting Mission 3. I should have started after I returned from Phuket but I instead decided to take additional time off to deal with those issues that came to a head on my return.

The single biggest error I made was to stop taking daily pictures of my progress on Day 146. This decision really hurt the real-time aspect of this blog and took the pressure off me to hold myself accountable during my “down time”.

I believe I have also paid the price with my physique due to not continuing to take daily pictures. As I have blogged about many times before, taking daily pictures was the cornerstone of my early success as it made me push through the pain barrier each and every workout.

In a nutshell, the act of taking daily pictures was the major component of my accountability structure by using “positive pressure” to force myself to follow through every single day.

Conversely, I can see a direct correlation between my physique progress of the last 95 days and not taking daily pictures. I believe this has negatively affected my intensity in practicing my training and diet discipline.

Regaining My Confidence & Intensity

Upon reflection over the last few days I have come to the conclusion that right now I just need to “get back in the game” to re-discover the intensity of my M1 & M2 training and start holding myself accountable daily through progress pictures and real-time reports on my daily action plan.

Truth be told, I am not happy with my current fat levels. A major part of this is psychological, as I was overweight for so long. So when I start to creep back up to 10% bodyfat (like I have now) I get nervous! I feel like I am on a slippery slide in the wrong direction even though I am increasing my muscle mass.

Therefore, my thinking goes like this. Get back into top shape AND then immediately start Mission 3 while my confidence is high and my bodyfat is low.

This will give me the mental clarity I need psychologically to gain muscle mass without the danger of having of my bodyfat blow-out to 15 – 20% while on the caloric surplus that is required to gain mass.

In short, I want to return to the core of what this blog was all about in the beginning (way back on November 8, 2006). That being a real-time blog that documents my progress through daily pictures and training & diet reports, along with insights into my feelings, thoughts and struggles as I progress.

Getting “Back In The Game” Starts On Day 230

On Day 230, I will outline what exactly it is I have planned over the next 50 days and how this will affect Mission 3. I will also start posting daily pictures of myself again and hold myself accountable to my new real-time accountability structure I talked about yesterday.

See you tomorrow,

Peace,
AJ

G’day,

Back on Day 224 I asked the question, “Why do I have a real-time accountability clock in my right-hand nav bar?”.

This question provoked a lot of response, below are the 10 responses posted as comments to this blog entry (including mine).

10 comments:

Karlos said…

so people know what time it is in japan

1:23 PM

Diane said…

Adam:
I think doing this is a motivational tool to help you “see” visual – as to how much time is left…taking you closer to your fitness goals. Used for encouragment as you gauge your progress?

5:55 PM

Mark said…

Whether you’re working towards your goals or not, time marches on.

The time we have in this life is precious, make the most of everyday.

7:39 PM

Karlos said…

now that i see the clock it reminds me that i’m having so much trouble waking up early….. thats the hardest thing.. at what time do you wake up and eat your first meal?

8:00 PM

Adam Waters said…

Thanks guys for your comments.

I’ll reply to each person individually.

karlos said…
so people know what time it is in japan

Not quite, but yes it is the current time in Osaka, Japan.

diane said…
Adam:
I think doing this is a motivational tool to help you “see” visual – as to how much time is left…taking you closer to your fitness goals. Used for encouragment as you gauge your progress?

Hi Diane, definitely a motivational aspect to it, gauging progress over the course of 1 day (very close!).

mark said…
Whether you’re working towards your goals or not, time marches on.

The time we have in this life is precious, make the most of everyday.

Hi Mark, extremely good point, I actually didn’t have that in mind but very true, I have discussed this “living life in real-time” in previous posts.

9:30 PM

Adam Waters said…

Hi Karlos, I get up at 7:20 AM and have my first meal at 7:30AM. I think the key is getting at least 8 hours sleep.

9:37 PM

Kristiina said…

I would say that in M3 every hour, minute and second counts and progress is made 24/7

2:10 AM

Adam Waters said…

Kristiina said…

I would say that in M3 every ho
ur, minute and second counts and progress is made 24/7

Hi Kriistina,

You are right on the money, a transformation takes place literally every second of every minute of every day; etc. I’ll discuss the accountability part of the equation tomorrow as to how the clock plays a role in making sure I follow through.

Cheers,
Adam

8:02 AM

Rayden said…

Hey Adam, I see you’re on Tom Venuto’s BFFM blog as well. Wow, that’s great to see. His post today about Maintainers is interesting. I too want to get there, so I will be posting my questions to you using that ‘Ask Adam’ link on the right shortly..

1:28 AM

Adam Waters said…

Cool Rayden, Yeah Tom has been a great help to me personally and through his books. I’ll get back to you ASAP.

Cheers,
Adam

As you can see, Kriistina was the closest to the mark in terms of my own thought process and the resons why I put up the clock. However, all comments were well thought out and raised additional points that I had not even thought of.

What “Amazing Before & Afters” All Have In Common

Here’s the truth, every “amazing” before and after 12 week transformation had this in common. While the 3-month before and after pictures are a spectacular way of displaying your progress the reality is that a transformation was made every single day.

Change The Way You Mark Time

So, why do I count in hours not days? Well this is real-time baby! I am not kidding around, if you want to transform your body you need to change the way you mark time.

I have documented every single day of my 2 fat loss missions. I took daily pictures and updated my blog every day throughout these two missions.

My success has been due to the way I mark time.

Instead of thinking in months or years I now think in seconds, minutes, hours and days. This is because a successful physique transformation takes place on a second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day basis.

24/7 Committment

As I have said before, transforming your body is a 24 hour a day comittment. You must schedule your 8 hours sleep, you 16 hours of nutrition, your 1 hour of mind power and your 1 hour of exercise. Then you must put it all together with absolute precision on a daily basis. Because if you don’t make gains every single day when are ever going to?

A lot of people like to make 1 year, 5 year and 10 year plans. This approach is destined to lead most people to failure because of the human condition known as procrastination. The only time you have is the present, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

Remember this, once you have mapped out your success plan the steps you have to take to acheive your goals are the same whether it takes you 12 weeks, 12 months or 12 years. Please hear me on this, I do not write this from a judgemental perspective.

Putting It All Together

Now all of this theory is great but how do we implement this concept in the real-world on a daily basis? Well, the answer is quite simple. We keep ourselves accountable by making sure we follow through on the daily actions that are necessary to make a physique transformation.

On the physical realm there are 4 major components that must be executed with absolute precision at specific times throughout each day: nutrition, training, cardio and the mental game.

Real-Time Accountability With The Clock!

So, what is the best way to ensure that you follow through on your daily action plan that incorporates the 4 major components discussed above? Simple…use a clock as a real-time accountability device!

That’s right! What better way is there to track your daily action plan in real-time than through a clock? None!

I will use this clock to hold myself accountable in real-time throughout every single day of my next mission (and subsequent missions) by uploading my daily action plan at the beginning of each day then place a check mark next to each component once I have completed it.

The Benefit To You

This not only holds myself accountable to my plan but also gives you a real-world look at what it really takes to transform your physique on a daily basis. In fact, I still get heaps of email regarding my exact training and nutrition plan so I thought that this would be a great way of showing people what I do.

RTA Example

Below is a sample from Day 70 of how my “Real-Time Accountability” plan will look in the coming missions.

I trust that this idea has given you a spark on how to implement real-time accountability into your physique transformation goals. It may even be the “missing-link” that you have been searching for to take your results to the next level.

Peace,
AJ

P.S. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the last few days regarding Mission 3 and the best way to implement my muscle gain goals. The truth is that while I have been successful so far in gaining 2 kg’s of muscle since the end of Mission 2, it has come at the expense of increased fat levels (which is inevitable). I may change my Mission 3 structure and do a pre-shred/partial muscle gain mini-mission before I kick-off M3. I’ll post more about this tomorrow.

G’day,

Now before I get to the clock I’ll briefly outline today’s training which consisted of Hybrid Cardio and abdominal training.

I went very hard with cardio today, as I continue my climb back to my peak cardio fitness on Day 136 (end of Mission 2).

I completed a 4 treadmill cycles of 7, 11, 13, 15 km/h for one minute increments with 2 minutes on the last 15 km/h cycle – at the end of M2 I was up to 7, 12.5, 14.5 & 16.5 km/h cycles.

In regards to my ab training I am also on the way back up with 3 sets of 15 reps each of lower, upper & oblique abs. The real test of my ab strength is the lower ab exercise…absolutely brutal, BUT I still managed to pump out 15 reps each time.

Now back to the title of today’s post.

Why do you think I have a Real-Time Clock in my right-hand nav bar?

If you think you have the answer just leave a comment on this post.

Peace,
AJ

P.S. Hint: The clock has to do with my M3 Accountability plan…

G’day,

Today I got hit with my second bout of salmon induced food poisoning – Day 74 was my first hit. I mixed 200g of salmon with my salad for meal 3 today and felt the effects in my gut almost immediately.

I went home early from work to get some rest, and to try and limit the effects of it. Once home I mixed up some probiotic powder & protein with some cold water.

Searing Pain!

With jabbing pains still slicing the insides of my stomach I laid down for 30 minutes with not much hope of completing my scheduled workout.

Once I got up from my rest the pain started to subside! I ate some more fruit and salad as another couple of hours ticked and gradually I was back to about 80%. At 7:30 PM I made a decision…my scheduled workout was back on!

Without hesitation I got my gear together, hopped on my bike and rode to my gym. By the time I started my “Core 6×6: Lower Body” Workout of 130 KG Squats supersetted with 80 KG Barbell Deadlifts I was in the zone!

Now Check This!

I actually increased the load on these exercises tonight and as a consequence had one of my best workouts ever!

Now, why is this important? Here’s why, the self-imposed pressure of my impending Mission 3 “Muscle Gain” transformation has me so focused and locked into my target that I don’t have time for pitiful excuses – like food poisoning.

To be perfectly honest, had this bout of food poisoning occured a month ago I would have taken the day off…BUT now its a different story.

The pressure of holding myself – and my physique progress – publicly accountable on this blog demands a “winning, no excuses mindset”.

Would You Like Some “Positive Pressure”

I firmly believe that public accountability is THE difference between my recent success and the 6 years of failure I experienced previously.

Now, how about you? Could you do with a dose of “positive pressure” to start – or complete – your physique transformation journey? If your answer is yes I have some great news for you.

If you sign up for my newsletter/free report at www.RTP-VIP.com you’ll get a nice surprise 4 days from now.

Would you like a hint? Ok, well just check out the RTP VIP Member’s Blog Roll in the right-hand side navigation bar of this blog…

Peace,
AJ

Eat Clean,
Shred Hard,
Think BIG!