Join me as I set forth on a personal journey to put a check mark on my bucket list by becoming a warrior class athlete in 365 days. I’ll be joined by a whole host of characters from my community, primarily my personal trainer Marc Mazzocchi from Titanium Crossfit in Courtenay, BC, Canada.

For the duration of the challenge I will be completely reforming my lifestyle to achieve my goal. Instead of doing it alone I thought it would be helpful and motivating to document the journey online and in video blogs so people can follow along. I’m a firm believer in the saying “what gets measured gets managed,” and I’d be documenting this stuff anyways. Be sure to connect with me on Facebook and tell me what you think or at the very least throw some encouragement my way.

Motivations

I’ve never been proud of my body image – I’m built like a rectangular tank so achieving the V-shape that bodybuilders are famous for is difficult without putting on tons of bulky (impractical) muscle. I’ve come to terms with that but now I’m starting to get pretty pudgy in the midsection and that is worrying me. I was a successful athlete in High School but have gone through many cycles of poor exercise and nutrition since then. When I turned 30 my body started going South without me. I’m 35 now, a father and a husband – my life is in order but my fitness goals are not being met. I have a media company and work as a professional speaker/presenter for different agencies. I spend all of my time thinking about how to do good in the world and very little about my own body. Being physically fit is the one thing, I feel, that can unlock my full potential the fastest. It’s time for my mind and spirit to justify a healthier physical lifestyle.

Expectations

1. Become a lean machine.
2. Learn new techniques to strengthen my body, improve my flexibility and focus my agility. I have really terrible knees and hips from motorbike accidents, basketball, volleyball and football injuries and recently a pinched nerve in my back (a computer injury – ha!). These injuries have held me back from training for over a decade. I want to negate these aches and pains with muscle, flexibility and sound training practices.
3. Improve my daily nutrition and eating habits. If it eats like a god and it moves like a god; it must be a god.
4. Crush pull-ups all day long. I haven’t even tried to do a chin up in over 10 years and doubt I can even do one. I watched a movie called 300 a few years back and on the bonus footage DVD there was a clip showing the actor’s training sessions. I was mystified by the guys doing full-on psycho pull ups, not just once, but repeatedly. I’m hoping to be able to do that after a year.
5. Cut my body fat percentage in half and pack on more lean, functional muscle.
6. Meet new people in person and online through the process. I don’t get out much so this will be a great outlet for social interaction in different circles.
7. Run a 50km solo at the end of the year.
8. Learn to swim again. An endurance swim might be in the cards too. We’ll see how it goes.
9. Have fun.

Reservations

I’m scared shitless about this whole project.

Day 1 – January 18, 2012

Age: 35

Height: 198 cm (6’6″)

Weight: 127.5kg (281lbs)

Body Fat Percentage: 27.5-28%

4000m Run: 24:16

Sponsor

Titanium Crossfit