June 23, 2009

Well, I was dreading this day and it has come. For some reason the cravings that weren't there at all over the last eight weeks have all of a sudden just shown up all at once. Last night I didn't care about food and it was pretty much the last thing on my mind. Until today winning the show has overcome all other thoughts. Today, thoughts about pizza, doughnuts, and chocolate ice cream all broke into my mind and wouldn't leave as much as I tried. I think I know the reason and it happened all at once.
Somebody please explain to me why people feel the need to watch the food channel while they do cardio. I always do my cardio on an empty stomach in the morning. My cardio of choice is the stepmill (the moving stairs) and I trained legs yesterday so it wasn't feeling very good anyway. To top it off there are about five T.V's in front of the stepmills at my gym and three of them were on food channels! What is wrong with people?! Why would watching chefs making delicious food on t.v make you want to train harder or make cardio any easier? I do forty minutes in the morning and today it felt like four hours because I had to watch people make gourmet pizza and some other stuff that I don't even know what it was but it looked so damn good...lol.
So I finish up and leave the gym and for some reason I couldn't get the food out of my head. It was like all the fast food signs were brighter, more colourful and actually were the only signs I could see..lol. Then I get home and I had mail, so I thought. In my mail was a Pizza Pizza flyer, a KFC flyer and a McDonlald's coupon book. Man when it rains it pours.
Well I am happy to say that the warrior in me was able to eventually (after burning my mail) get my head on straight and block any negative thoughts about food or anything else. There is only thing on my mind right now and that is winning this show coming up and I don't want to give anyone an easy road by messing up my diet and looking like shit.
People always ask me if I feel lucky because I don't have a normal nine to five job? I am always very grateful for my career choice and that I was able to follow my dream but today I actually felt like I worked eight hours in a factory. I barely got out of bed this morning, for some reason after a great leg workout my body needs lots more sleep. When I finally did get out of bed and made my way to the stepmill at the gym, it was a chore with every step since my quads were already burning after the first three minutes in. After coming home to eat I was out to the grocery store to stock the fridge and then cook more food. By the time that was done I was back at the gym for a forty set training session of chest and tris and before I could leave I did another cardio session. When I got home I sweaty and gross and I swear I felt like I did when I was eighteen and I was working in a factory. Just getting home exhausted and sweaty, getting into the shower all recalled those memories of real blue collar work.
Don't ever let anyone tell you what we bodybuilders do is easy, even if it looks that way from the outside looking in. When its done properly and pushed to the very limits it can be one of the hardest jobs on earth. All that being said I wouldn't trade it for the world! My dad was a blue collar man and if anything when I work this hard it makes me feel like him. That makes me proud...

Sacrifice Without Regret,
Fouad 'Hoss' Abiad