What to do when life gets buzy...

I am shortly to have a month off from my day job following the accumulation of a significant amount of time owing. I have also received some news from the day job I am not entirely happy with and so I am considering making some life changes during my time off, that if they work out, will take me back to my own world before the year is out and make me busy again.

In thinking about this, I have been considering the effects of day jobs on training.

I have come to the conclusion that there are 6 things to do to keep training when life gets busy, these are:

• Make your training time an appointment in your diary as you would any business appointment.
• Do a variety of different types of training. I have always worked on the army's theory of 2 runs, 2 swims, 2 bikes, 2 gyms.
• Do compound exercises.These are the kind of exercise that work more than one muscle group and although compound exercises are harder to do they have a bigger payback
• Increase your training frequency, but reduce your training duration. 6 days of 20 mins are day are far more useful to the corporate warrior than three 1 hour training sessions.
• Leave your gym feeling refreshed. This links to the above. When I was at the top of my career this was a mistake I would commonly make. I'd hit my very nice private members club, kill myself for an hour and a half and then be unable to train for a week. You see, its not the training time that is a problem when you are very busy, its the recovery time.
• Use deloading periods. A deload period should simply be a back-off period from normal volume or intensity. Some people find 5-9 days to be ideal, while other times it may take up to two weeks to get rid of all residual fatigue. I have to admit, that deloading is new to me, despite my years of training and represent a significant improvement on my past "stop - go" training patterns of the past.

What do you think? Have I missed anything?

Workouts this week

None!

This week has been a disaster from a workouts point of view. I have done nothing and am bored with the whole process of eating and training. It doesn't help that I am still full of a cold and am drowning on my own flem!

So, to get myself back on, I am going to half the weight next week and do the usual "A" and "B" for 3 sessions with a yoga session and a 1.5 mile run.

The week will look:

Saturday - Yoga
Sunday - "B"
Monday - off
Tuesday - "A"
Wednesday - 1.5 mile run
Thursday - "B"
Friday - off

The menu this week for evening meals will be:

Saturday - Chicken Gratin
Sunday - Chicken Balti
Monday - Goats cheese and leek tart (recipe published on the day)
Tuesday - Lasagna with roasted vegetables
Wednesday - Cannellini bean and red onion risotto (recipe published on the day)
Thursday - Chicken Milanese
Friday - Slow-cooked Chunky Chops with Beans and Chorizo (previously published here)


This is my last working week for a month (as I have accumulated a lot of time owing) and will be working on the house from next week and will have no kitchen from next sunday for a week

Breakfast Bake

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bread, crusts removed
• 4 bacon rashers, cooked crisply
• 1/2 onion, sliced finely
• 1 diced tomato
• 1 cup Cheddar
• salt and pepper
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup milk 
• 1/4 teaspoon chilli
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Method:

• Tear bread into small pieces and sprinkle in bottom of a lightly buttered casserole.
• Sprinkle with onion, tomato, bacon and cheese.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Whisk together the eggs, milk, and remaining seasonings. Pour over. 
• Bake at 180c for 30 minutes, until set in middle.

Week of workouts

Okay, this week has been mixed. From a personal view, its been great; from a training view, pretty lousy. I have been dying of man flu since the flight back from Munich and have felt as week as a kitten so have just about scrapped myself into the day job and collapsed into bed when I got home.

I am getting going again from Sunday (hopefully) with the standard "A" and "B" workouts with a bit of yoga on one of my off days, but I am dropping all the weights 10% just for this week as an ease back in.

Will report back next week.

Week of workouts

If you are following this blog for general fitness, I would suggest having a look at the workout of the day on http://www.crossfit.com/ whilst I continue with my strength and size challenge.


Travelling this weekend, so a short break from training has been enforced.

Tired most of this week, which isn't surprising given that HR rang me to say that I had worked 68 hrs this week (I am only supposed to work 40hrs) and that they were "going to have to do something about it", but I have lots to do to get the store into the shape I want it to be in, so that my job become easy and I can be promoted again to bigger and better things (I will get back again)

Its been another good training week. I am still adding weight to everything and this week have again done the heaviest overhead press I have ever done for 5X5 (64kg).

I haven't weighed myself yet, so don't know how the body weight is going, but visually I know I am changing shape and my clothes are feeling more snug in places.

Which remainds me... yet again I have only good things to say about milkandmore.co.uk (I have no link to them and get no money for this recomendation). I left feedback on their website and I was called the next day to see what the problem was and then had the problem fixed and a hand written apology through the door! What about that for customer service!

I increased the lifting again this week to three sessions of "A" and "B" , didn't manage the swim but did manage and the yoga.

The workouts continue as:

Workout A
Squat 69kg 5x5
Bench Press 69kg 5x5
Deadlifts 69kg 5x5

Workout B
Squat 5x5
Overhead press 65kg 5x5
Bent over rows 69kg 5x5
Deadlifts 69kg 5x5


I have no nagging injury problems at the moment - long may it last!

My plan for the week is:

Monday - Off
Tuesday - Workout "B"
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - Off
Friday - Workout "A"
Saturday - Off
Sunday - Workout "B"


Finally, a couple of links this week, which are not original, but are worth talking about:

• Chris over at the Garage Gym interviewed me this week and I thin captured me quite well. Thanks Chris!
• Also from Chris, this excellent article in Mens Journal was brought to my attention
• I found this excellent article about Bruce Lee's weight training at Mike Mentzer's site.
• I don't think I've mentioned Yogatic before, but it's my favourite Yoga website and Esther is very knowledgeable.
• And a nice little video for those you try to self massage:

Lamb with butter beans

New season lamb is starting to come through at the day job... here's an idea for it

Ingredients:

• 1 shoulder of lamb, bone in
• Salt and pepper
• 1 head of garlic, cloves separated and peeled
• olive oil
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped 
• 1 leek, finely chopped
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 3 sprigs of rosemary
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 2 bay leaves 
• one tin of chopped tomatoes
• glass of red wine 
• glass of chicken stock 
• 2 x 400ml tins of butter beans
• Zest of 1 lemon

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• Rub the lamb with salt and pepper.
• Using the point of a knife, cut across the skin side. In each one, stuff a clove of garlic 
• Brown the lamb in a frying pan - it'll take about 15 mins.
• In a roasting tin add the chopped vegetables, the remaining garlic, the tomatoes, wine and stock and bring to a bubble.
• Place the lamb on top, skin side down. Cover the roasting tin securely with a large sheet of foil and place in the oven for 2 hours.
• When the 2 hours are up, stir in the beans and turn over the lamb, so it’s skin side up.
• Replace the foil and return to the oven for 2 more hours. By now, the meat should be tender and easily pulled from the bone.
• Finally, remove the foil, and cook uncovered for 30 minutes to brown the top a little more.
• Pour off the fat, add the grated zest of the lemon. Serve.

Week of workouts

If you are following this blog for general fitness, I would suggest having a look at the workout of the day on http://www.crossfit.com/ whilst I continue with my strength and size challenge.


The challenges continue at the new store, but its still all good... and I have found a kindred spirit who is just starting out with the iron but "wants to be huge" and whom I am sure I am boring to death with my training philosophy!!!

Its been another good training week. I am still adding weight to everything and this week did the heaviest overhead press I have ever done for 5X5 (63kg).

I remain in the plateau for body weight continuing to be stuck at 14 stone; I am upping the milk this week (we have engaged a milkman at home this week and are having deliverys everyday, which is something I've not had since I was a kid... thank you milkandmore.co.uk!) so I'll report back how its going next week.

I increased the lifting again this week to three sessions of "A" and "B" , did the swim and the yoga, but not the run (didn't fancy it).

The workouts continue as:

Workout A

Squat 68kg 5x5
Bench Press 68kg 5x5
Deadlifts 68kg 5x5

Workout B

Squat 5x5
Overhead press 63kg 5x5
Bent over rows 68kg 5x5

I continue to have neck stiffness from my old injury which I am managing.

My plan for the week is:

Monday - Workout "A"
Tuesday - Yoga
Wednesday - Workout "B"
Thursday - Swim
Friday - Workout "A"

Saturday - D/O
Sunday - D/O

Leek, Brie & Bacon Quiche

Ingredients:

• 1 pastry
• 1 leek, pale section only, washed, dried, thinly sliced
• 4 bacon rashers, finely chopped
• 2 tbs wholegrain mustard
• 150g brie, thinly sliced
• 3 eggs, lightly whisked 
• 1/3 cup cream
• Salt & pepper

Method:

• Fry off the leek and bacon for 5 minutes
• Spread mustard over pastry case.
• Top with the leek mixture and brie slices.
• Whisk the eggs and cream together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
• Pour the egg mixture into the pastry case.
• Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until just set. Serve warm.

Pork and Paprika

Simple mid-week meal that I started last night and finished today...

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 2 large onions thinly sliced
• 800g diced pork fillet
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• Vegetable stock cube
• small tub of crème fraiche
• Snipped parsley

Ingredients:

• Fry onions in oil until a light brown.
• Add the diced pork fillet and cook until sealed.
• Add the paprika and lightly stir to coat the meat and onion for several minutes.
• Add the tomato paste and crumbled stock cube followed by enough water to cover the meat.
• Leave to simmer on a low heat for thirty minutes.
• At this point you can transfer the meat to an oven proof dish, cover and place in a low oven for several hours.
• Next, add the crème fraiche and parsley and cook for a further three minutes.
• Serve with mashed potato