Bodybuilding and traveling while living in Japan (GetFitJP)

Hey guys, I know you haven't heard from me in awhile, sorry about that. A lot has been happening and I've decided to move my blogs to my website. If you'd still like to keep up with my blogs and what i'm doing then shoot me an email at:  getfitjp.bv@gmail.com and i'll add you to the mailing list.  Thanks again for all your support and look out for the site launch . 

Okay, so you've drank the protein shakes and done the reps. You've replaced the burgers with asparagus and broccoli and now you're shredded. Your veins are bulging and your body fat is below 10%. It's summer and you've hit all the beaches and shown off your physique to people there, but something is missing. You start thinking to yourself if this is as far as you can go. You didn't spend all those days at gym just for a few splashes at the beach and to cover it all up at the end. No, it's not enough and yes, you can go further. Let me introduce you to the two biggest bodybuilding organizations in Japan, Japan Body Building Federation (JBBF) and the National Physique Committee Japan (NPCJ). These two are the two main bodybuilding organizations in Japan. Now if you are like me you'd want to sign up for both because coming from a sales background it's all about numbers right? If you compete in more contests then your chances of winning in one increa...

We've all been there, maybe you tried out for an event but failed, or you tried to set a new personal record on a lift or in your chosen sport but failed. Maybe it was even a job interview or you failed to get someone's attention that you liked. We all experience setbacks, rejections and failures in our daily life. So how do we deal with them when they happen? What I can tell you right out front is that we don't eat away at our sorrows hoping they will somehow magically go away. That will only compound the problem and create more problems for you. We also don't avoid the problem and runaway either. Nor do we try the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. We certainly do not go running after whatever or whoever rejected us, no. We pick ourselves back up and we asses the situation and change tactics. Notice I didn't say "give up", I said we "change tactics", we try to accomplish our goals using a different method than the ...

It took awhile for me to write this article, the reason being that it was hard for me to wrap my head around just how demanding the Spartan race was. I had watched videos and seen clips on social media but that did not do the race justice. Let's rewind a bit and first look at why I signed up for the race in the first place. It was in the summer of 2018 and I had just finished my bodybuilding contests. I'm a fitness junkie so I was looking for my next high when I saw a post on Instagram about a Spartan Race in Sendai at Kobo Stadium. That is 10 mins or less from my gym on foot, so it was perfect for me. What pushed me to join it even more was that my friend also called me to say he would join it and he wants to build  a team. I didn't know how signing up as a team vs. as an individual differed so I just signed up for a specific time. Sadly this time was different from my friends. We ended up doing the races one hour apart. Getting back on track after signing up for th...

To be fair, let me first state that I have always had a Fit-bit. I had the fit-bit Surge 3 years ago and then I upgraded to the fit-bit charge one year ago. Now I am currently using the new Nike series 4 Apple watch. I initially got a smart watch to help me with my dieting. The reason being smart watches track our calorie usage throughout the day. They generally give us an overall picture of the calories we use and with that information we can then calculate how many calories we need to consume to lose fat. I opted for the fit-bit at the time because it seemed geared towards athletes. The Charge 2 was a great upgrade to the surge in my opinion because it was a lot less intrusive. The surge felt big and bulky on my hands while the charge 2 felt like a regular band or a fancy bracelet not so much like a watch. When I had both the surge or the charge two I would always keep them on. I trained and slept in them and I would only take them off if I took a shower. In my opinion fit-...

Most people only tend to stick to one of the main styles of training, bodybuilding or functional training. When I say functional training i'm referring to training styles like cross-fit, zoo fitness or other styles that follow that general trend. Rarely will you see someone that mixes both styles. Why is  that though? Bodybuilders tend to look down on cross-fitters mainly because cross-fit training styles don't fall into the strict forms of bodybuilding. However what most lifters fail to grasp is that cross-fitters go through a rigorous process of learning each exercise. The coaches at the cross-fit boxes as they are called know that the movements are dangerous so they take their time to make sure you have the basic form right before throwing you into the deep end of WODs (work out of the day). The same sometime can't be said about lifters in the gym. I've witnessed many people in the gym that have no idea what they are doing but they are the ones walking around wit...

With the new year rolling around I have been getting a lot of messages from friends and people from the internet about where and how to start a new diet or workout plan. Normally the new year is a time to reflect on your past year and see what changes you can make for a better one. My advice on breaking whatever cycle your currently stuck is to first assess where you currently are and don't lie to yourself. Be brutally honest with yourself and then and only then can you make changes that will last. We aren't talking about changes that you'll start in January and then you forget them in March. We are talking about changes that you can stick to and build on. The problem that most people make is that they try to bite off more than they can chew. You have to start small and work your way over time. Take for instance what I tried to do a few months ago. I signed up for the spartan race after my bodybuilding contest were through. At the time I signed up for the spartan ra...

Winter can b e a brutal month.  Ever felt tired for no apparent reason. It's just one of those days when you woke up on the wrong side of the bed and your energy levels are just so low that you have no motivation to even get out of bed or go to work. I think we've all experienced these days some of us a bit more frequently that we'd like to admit. External factors can also play a role in influences when we have these low energy days. One major factor that affects a lot of people is the season. During the warm summer months or fall and spring, people are much more likely to get out of bed and go for that morning run. People are more motivated to leave work and head straight to the gym because the weather isn't screaming at them telling them to find shelter. Winter is a very hard month for a lot of people, myself included. It is painstakingly hard to find the energy and the willpower to face the cold and do what needs to be done. During this season your body ...

Macros is a term we use in the bodybuilding and sports sphere to refer to the macro-nutrients we consume. macro-nutrients can be broken down into three categories, they are; protein, carbohydrates and fats. When it comes to building muscle, your macro-nutrients matter. They need to be checked and rechecked as you progress. A bad macro-nutrient profile will lead to weak or no gains while a good balanced macro-nutrient profile will lead to you maximizing your gains. To put this in perspective, I was always going to the gym and exercising but I had never had a solid six pack or shredded muscles. That was no fault of my workout plan, because while I was always a gym rat I was also a very active sports player. I did rugby, track and mixed martial arts growing up. In my younger days I thought eating a lot of food would translate to better muscle gains, but I was wrong, yes the bro science you here at the gym is crap. Eating a lot of the wrong foods only resulted in me gaining a bigger ...

Bulking vs Lean bulking It's that time of year again where bodybuilders magically transform into soft round Pillsbury Dough boys. You'll see them walking around the gym looking over weight, don't be shocked. Winter or as body builders call it is bulking season. It's the time of year were bodybuilders put away their food journals and food scales and replace them with carbs and snacks. But why do they do this? What is the reason why bodybuilders would sacrifice their hard earned abs. Well the answer is simple, muscle. They do this to put their buddies in a favorable state to gain more muscle for next year. Bodybuilding is an art and if done currently can produce beautiful results. For bodybuilders instead of paint and pencil our tools for sculpting our bodies are food and dumbbells. We use these two things to manipulate our bodies to grow. During bulking season otherwise called off-season we use this time to bulk up. During this bulking phase our bodies are not in...

As a personal trainer one of the most frequently asked questions I get from clients is "How can I lose fat from my stomach and thighs". If I had a dollar for every time I was asked that question I could probably afford a new plane ticket to my next vacation spot. With the majority of my clients being women I can see why they would want to know if this is possible. Especially with photoshopped images running rampant on the internet with beautiful women with curves and with women with just the right amount of fat in all the right places. Women see these images and aspire to be like those women. Sadly it always breaks my heart when I answer them that no, you simply can not lose fat from specific areas in your body. Belly and thigh fat are notorious for being the most stubborn and difficult to lose. If you or any of your friends are struggling with this then don't worry, you are not alone. Both men and women struggle with this problem. Even I struggled with this issue w...

  Supplements are a tricky issue for many people looking to start their journey towards a healthy life style. I get it, with the new wave of organic eating and living a healthy life style taking pills to assist your progress seems a bit like cheating. However that is not the case for all supplements. Science has come a far way and we would be robbing ourselves of the benefits of these supplements if we decided to fear them.  That being said I do believe in first educating yourself first before you consume anything. Do your own research and make your own conclusions first before moving forward. That is what I did. When I was younger and even now I read up on many supplements out there now on the market. I tried many of them as well. Some worked and others were just a waste of money. Here are the supplements that I currently take. Creatine: Creatine is a substance found naturally in your body especially in muscle cells. Creatine can improve health and athletic pe...

I was asked to write about this by one of my personal training clients. She wanted to know how she could make oatmeal mainly for her breakfast. So I decided I would write about it here and share some of my top recipes with a larger audience. Oatmeal in my opinion is one of the most versatile food items you can have in your pantry. There are several types of oats to choose from, some of those types are rolled oats, instant oats, quick oats and steel cut oats. With all these types it might be difficult to chose the perfect type for you.  From a nutritional point of view I recommend eating steel cut oats or rolled old fashioned oats. Steel cut oats also refereed to as Irish oatmeal and is the type that is most closely related to the original oat groat. If you like your oatmeal a bit chewy and nutty in flavor then steel cut oats are your best bet. They have a coarser texture than other forms of oats, they also take a longer time to cook. I tend to eat a lot of rolled oats ...