6 Week Fitness Challenge: Week 2

Well, this last week was a semi-success… at least for me. The dieting of this challenge wasn’t a “challenge” until I attended a private conference here in town. This lead to all sorts of disarray. Nevertheless, I’m still on track for shedding 1lb per week. Some days are better than others. Ironically, the thing I have the most challenge with is the strength training at moderate intensities and high reps… well, maybe not so ironically as I’m used to high intensity, low repetitions.

What *IS* ironic is that I’m starting to enjoy my runs. Yup, burning a couple hundred Calories via running is actually becoming less terrible, LOL!

The thing I like about it most is the measurability of it. It’s not hard to launch my running app and go until it says my aimed Calories were burnt. The same could be said for a treadmill… however, I find the small hill trail around my home far more difficult than the same caloric measures given by the treadmill settings.

All in all, it’s going really well. I’m definitely not starving and still struggling to finish all my meal plans. The workouts are taking longer than I’d like. And, while my body feels super tired, in general… it’s manageable and the results are enjoyable — looking forward to the soon to be grueling pace! 😉

6 Week Fitness Challenge: Week 1

So, I decided to take up a fitness challenge for one of many reasons this year. In short, I was sick and tired of being *insert whatever you’d like to improve about yourself here*. The truth is, I have all the knowledge and skill set for fitness and burning the fats off. I mean, I’m published on the matter when it comes to the specific use of kettlebell exercise. I even demonstrated an 8 week program that lost me 2 belt loops without more than 15 minutes of exercise a day… no change in diet.

Why jump on a program now?

Motivation.

The thing is, having such a busy lifestyle of being a work at home dad, startup entrepreneur x2, and being co-founder and c-suite to both companies… you “lose” that focus and motivation on yourself. And, there’s the saying: “If you pay, you pay attention.”

So, with encouragement from my coach and good friend, Professor Jeff Baldwin of Rebellion Martial Arts… I signed up with a nutritionist that he signed up with a year or so back… and, had SCARY amazing results.

All that said, I’m a week in. And, it’s been quiiiiiiite interesting.

  • There’s an entirely changed level of dieting. I used to have a keto-esque diet of high fat, high protein, low carbs. Now, I’m on a revolving diet of various macros as prescribed by Brian Martinez of Local Fit.
  • I’m also on a daily exercise routine, which I love…
  • That includes true cardio… which I hate… but, have always wanted to get good at. I’ve always gotten my cardio via HIIT, but this time, I’m running. And, I SUCK at running — LOL!
  • Oh, there’s a LOT of food to be eaten. I’m still adjusting, but MAN… 6 organized meals a day is a lot of food, volume-wise.
  • I’m loving the organization of the program.
  • And, I’m definitely seeing a small trickle of consistent weight loss.

It’s been an exciting week 1 and I’m hoping to ramp it up for week 2!

Nathan Turns Four Years Old (and, some other stuff!)

I’m ridiculously embarrassed to see how infrequent I’ve been posting here. #NoExcuses


Nevertheless, it’s a good time to share some good times. Here’s a snippet:

  1. I’ve been trying out this Modified Ketogenic Sports Diet
  2. I got my 1st armband promotion for Muay Thai
  3. Nathan turned four years old
  4. And… woke up at 3am last night and got violently sick… threw up everywhere 🙁

Dad Fit

So, the general idea of the “Keto diet” is that you are changing the way your body burns calories. Instead of just calories in vs. calories out, the keto approach is burning the right calories out. In this case, the theory goes that our bodies process high carb diets to a detrimental fashion with blood sugar spikes, insulin issues, type II diabetes, etc.

The keto approach lowers the caloric profile while satisfying the body’s nutritional needs with higher calorie profile fat and carbs; and, within the approach I was following, as long as I held to my macros (ration of macro nutrients broken down by carbs v fats v proteins, I was good to eat whatever throughout the day).

BTW. My macros were <30g carbs; 120+ fat; 120- proteins. No cheat days for 7 weeks. The first week was AWFUL. I felt like I had no energy whatsoever. I lost 8lbs in 10 days, all water weight. Then, the weeks passed by and started noticing a rapid decline in my waistline, losing two belt loops within 4-5 weeks.

Due to Nathan’s birthday festivities, I’ve given myself a small break. However, I will be jumping back on this diet soon after.

Muay Thai

You all know I’ve been studying Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Rebellion Martial Arts. Well, around April of this year (2017), my professor/instructor/coach, Jeff Baldwin, was able to open up a Muay Thai program under the World Thai Boxing Association flag. As a Jeet Kune Do instructor, he’s also studied Muay Thai for many years… it’s just never become a formal element at Rebellion ’til recently.

I was also privileged to attend a recent seminar held by Ajarn Chai, the founder of the World Thai Boxing Association.

All together, I’m loving the Muay Thai experience and hope to dedicate myself to getting some form of assistant instructorship in the coming years.

This will be amazing ?!! Come join us for the best Muay Thai training with an amazing teacher!

A post shared by Nathan Archambault (@ng_archambault) on

The Boy Is Four

 

From Nathan’s epic #birthday at #Disneyland. #DisneylandAP #dadblogger

A post shared by DrBenFung, Work@?Dad (@daddyintheraw) on


It’s CRAZY how fast time flies. Suffice to say, Nathan is four and he’s a big boy now. AND… He’s apparently tall enough to ride all but two of the big kid rides at Disneyland.

Yup, on his actual birthday, we went on Star Tours where Nate was the secret rebel spy!

E-PIC! There was a lot more to the day; but, that’s family times 🙂

My Boy Got Sick 🙁

And, then… last night at 3am, Nate woke up violently sick and threw up… everywhere. And, this kept happening. Over… and, over. The poor kid was a total champ. He’s always been so brave and emotionally contained, particularly when he should be freaking out. LOL, which means he freaks out over nothing from time to time. It’s a balance 😉

What my wife and I learned last night is that teamwork best happens not when everyone member has the same role. No. It’s best when each team member has specific responsibilities that compliment the situation and each other — that way, you’re not redundantly strong nor redundantly weak;  your bases are covered and your family is cared for.

#OhAndNateLeftMeASixFootVomitTrail #IveBecomeAMasterAtCarpetCleaning


Oh, yes… in the meantime, I’ve been traveling all over the place, booked to speak at multiple conference — even an NIH sponsored event. It’s kinda crazy that all this is working out. But, it’s almost expected with the support I have from my family, friends, business partners, an encouraging collegial community, and my rebel-fam at Rebellion Martial Arts… a special shoutout because they mean the world to me!

Back On The Mat

So, maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago I got my thumb “popped” in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). In all honestly, it was an accident / mostly my own stupid fault. I was wearing my looser gi and my hand got stuck. While address that and not actually paying attention to the match, my hand finally got free. However, in doing this and being all distracted… I allowed my partner to take mount. But, I was a dumb dumb and let him kinda sling shot into mount.

In English, I was keeping him at bay from establishing a top position where he basically sits on top of my torso. However, by doing all that nonsense with getting my hand free out of my gi and not paying attention… he suddenly launched into that position at the exact same time my hand came out.

Result: His knee/thigh slide over my torso and straight onto my left thumb.

POP!

I exclaimed for a sec… but, decided to finish the last minute of the match. No harm done… I thought.

Well, I thought…

It appeared to be a typical hyperextension sprain. I’ve had these before from basketball in my faaaaaaar younger days. I thought things were going great 24hrs post injury. That was, until my son heel kicked… more or less like this:

Yeahhhhhhh….. suffice to say. IT HURT A LOT. I mean, it hurt SO BAD… I don’t remember such pain except for when I broke my arm… that one moment when my nerves still worked before I broke my arm.

I didn’t think my thumb was broken. But, if it wasn’t before… it was SURE TO BE after Nathan flipping axe kicked it. *sighs* Diaper changes… it’s as dirty as it is dangerous.

In any case, the whole next day… it hurt like hell. I mean it just kept hurting. I finally set up an appointment, got it x-rayed… and, had an office visit with a savvy DO. Films were clear. We agreed on a ligamentous injury. And, he was pleasantly respectful of me being a DPT.

He came into the room with me reading some sports med journal that was in the magazine pile. The DO never knew it was there. Ironically, it was his subscription! *LOL*

In any case… super pleasant visit. I was glad to know there was no fracture. I got hooked up with some braces via a family member… and… tonight, I was brave enough to finally hit the mat again.

Thanks to some awesome training partners who are beyond respectful of each other and that much more cognizant of their training partner’s safety, I felt comfortable enough to spar. When rolling, I realized that I could still survive with just 1.5 arms available. It was a pretty cool experience to the fact that I was still able to hold my own and even sink some armlocks. #ThankYouFundamentals

In any case… it’s nice to be back on the mat 🙂