The ultimate goal of any gym should be to change people’s lives, if your gym doesn’t have this focus then leave it.
Most people face a great deal of obstacles and mental barriers when joining a gym or making this change, whether it be time, financially, fear of change, or fear of failure.
We, The Gorilla Pit Team were blessed to have been given the opportunity to change another life in September last year (2014). Cam’s life. Cam, aged 25, came to us with his weight having blown out of control to 140+ kilograms. Just like many of us, Cam submerged himself in food. He found comfort and peace in it, and by having such a sedentary lifestyle he used to find nothing else to do other than eat, work and sleep.
Cam had decided to loose weight, but like so many didn’t really know what to do. He had tried and failed a tonne of different diets and exercise programs. So he half heartedly contacted us here at The Gorilla Pit to reach out for some help. From his initial consultation, he was nervous to say the least. However after understanding where Cam was at in regards to health and what he wanted to achieve we were able to draw up a blue print of how to smash those goals. He began to shift his mindset and see what an awesome opportunity this was to change his life.
The words following are from Cam’s Journal and over the next few weeks he will share the triumphs and challengers of his journey to health. The purpose of this blog is to encourage, inspire and motivate dreamers into action takers….
Week 1 – Training at The Gorilla Pit
Monday
Not a great start I missed the first day due to work. Unfortunately due to a quick turn around at work (which doesn’t happen often but can happen), could not attend but made the decision to start on my nutrition program that my trainer Nath had given me from our initial consult, I felt better for it too.
Tuesday
So I finished work at 5:00am and went straight to The Gorilla Pit and had a nap in the car while I waited for it to open. To be honest at this point I was regretting my decision. I was tired, I was hungry, and I just wanted my bed after 12 long hours at work. But I did end up wandering in a little before 6:00am and after my little nap I was feeling confident that it would not be to hard. I kept telling myself for a guy of my size I will be fine.
I was fine…until the warm up that is. So I managed to scrap through the warm up which then led to a circuit style training session which included lifting bars, pushing sleds, flipping tyres and slamming ropes. It wasn’t long into this portion of the program when it happened! I had to charge into the toilet and throw up. Thankfully having started my nutrition plan there wasn’t the usual amount there could have been. The best thing was when I re-emerged no one made a big deal out of it and I continued on. Now I would be lying if I didn’t say that the first session was the hardest workout of my life. But I got through it alive. Afterwards I went home and straight to bed. When I woke up it would be fair to say I was in some major pain. But surprisingly it felt good, a feeling I hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
Wednesday
Up at 5:20am and needless to say I was not as confident as the day before. I was sore, scared and didn’t know what I had gotten myself into. But I dragged myself into The Gorilla Pit where my trainer Nath was waiting. Wednesday was a much better day. We focused on lifting weight. Although just as hard, I felt much better during the exercise’s. I was pushed hard thou, so hard that my muscles did fail on me several times. But I had Nath and my training partner I was teamed up with to spot me and spur me on. I enjoyed Wednesday more than any other day of the week. But after training it started to hurt a lot. I spent the rest of the day hobbling around the house. Thank god I had that day off work, I don’t think I could have lifted the phone.
Thursday
Again alarm went off at 5:20am but I was not dragging my feet and I was not scared. I was however still very soar and wasn’t sure how I would go but I was keen to get into the gym. It’s funny, but after only a few days I was actually looking forward to going into The Gorilla Pit. We did a similar routine to Tuesday, and again it hurt. But I felt great doing it and got little bursts of energy throughout the session…something I didn’t get the first day. Also I didn’t vomit (yay for small wins). I discovered burpee’s are not my friend but aside from that I really enjoy all the exercises. I went straight from the gym to work and was expecting to be stuffed, but as of writing this I feel fantastic. I’m keen for next weeks training. Again probably don’t need to mention it but I am very sore.
Friday
Friday is recovery day in my program but having missed Monday’s session I was keen to get some extra training in by myself. The plan was to hit the oval for a run and some boxing pad work with my brother. Unfortunately the weather had other plans, so I sulked around home most of the day. I will say it was nice to have a sleep in.
By afternoon I felt increasingly motivated to do something. So I cleared some space in the lounge room and my brother and I did 3 x 3 minute pad rounds (which included combos etc) and we did it twice. So it wasn’t much but having previously been an amateur Muay Thai fighter it was nice to hit the pads again.
Today was also the day the CRAVINGS started. I was ferocious, I was hungry and I was angry all I wanted was some carbs…bread, potato, chips etc but I settled for some grapes. Another small win from not giving in to temptation. Weirdly, I wasn’t graving junk food like the regular McDonalds or KFC I just wanted a nice home cooked dinner that I was used to. Side note…I may or may not have also had a square of chocolate.
Saturday
Nothing to report really just a 12 hour shift at work. Again struggling with cravings and today I didn’t give an inch. Stuck to my nutrition plan 100% of what I was supposed to. I am noticing it’s a real fight when I am craving and it can make me very agitated. I’m told this will pass thou.
Sunday
Again no training today, nutrition was awesome right up until the time I had meatballs for dinner. I was disappointed for not following my plan, but at the end of the day I can’t dwell on it forever…I am doing my best.
Today was also the first time I jumped back on the scales after my initial measurements. I told myself when starting I only want to weigh myself once a week. So today I got on the scales at 134.8kg, a 6kg drop, which is good but I am not reading to much into it being the first week. I have trained before and I have lost a little weight before and generally there is a bit of water weight to be lost the first week. In saying that I’m still happy with the results. Keen to do my next ultra sound body fat tests etc to see my body fat %, lean muscle mass and other areas rather than just weight loss.
Cam M
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