Day 61 Pics: Let The Shredding Begin!

12 Week Fat Loss Challenge

Start: November 8, 2006
Finish: January 31, 2007

Day 61 of 84

Status: Round 7: Phase 1: Day 1

G'day,

Burn baby burn! That's my motto for the next 24 days. Today was Day 1 of 24 of my shredding phase. Everything I do from here on in is to "destroy the pooch" located between my 3rd row of abs and my belly button.

However, today was only a mild shred due to circumtances beyond my control. Check this. I went to my Osaka gym at 7.30 pm this evening for some HIIT treadmill cardio, ab training and swimming. At the check-in I had a small query about my previous bill as I had been charged for 2 months instead of one.

Well, judging by the staff reaction you would have thought I owned the place and their jobs were in jepoardy. They were running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to find someone to help me. Even though I stated my problem clearly in Japanese, mentally they see me (a foreigner) and just freeze up.

Anyway I got shuffled through 3 different people and then I was told to take a seat as no one could help me. Meanwhile, I'm thinking "What's the big deal?", it was only a small bill query after all.

Ten minutes later the manager came out to see me. He did a lot of bowing and apologizing and then eventually explained to me what had happened. By the time we were done it took another 5 minutes. I then went to get changed into my workout gear and made my way onto the gym floor at 7.58pm.

As I was kick-starting the treadmill a staff member came over to tell that gym floor was closing at 8.00pm tonight instead of the usual time of 11.00 pm. Can you believe that? The manager rambled on for 10 minutes and then watched me go and get changed for a workout without thinking to notify me that the gym was closing in 5 minutes time!

Something like this would have really got the better of me 2 months ago. But these days I am much more centered and don't let petty things like this stress me as much. So I just smiled and walked back to the change room. However, when I was in the change room I noticed people going up to the pool for a swim!

Could it be that the pool remained open while the gym was closing? Yes it could! Don't ask me why, I have no idea. So then I quickly dumped my shirt and joggers and headed straight for the pool upstairs. Not knowing how long it would remain open I did the fastest 10 laps of my life. I then hopped out and did some abs on the floor next to the pool.

So, in the end I got a mild shred, not the hardcore one I wanted but better than nothing.

There's probably some moral to this story I could write about for the next half an hour, like being flexible in your approach and not letting stress or negative thoughts affect you. But that's a story for another day as I have to go to bed now and get my 8-hour "muscle recovery" sleep.

Here are Day 61 pics for January 8, 2007.

Peace, AJ

P.S. I just thought of a sign-off motto, here it is:

Eat Clean,
Shred Hard,
Think Big!