What this blog is and is not

As of tomorrow I'm starting on a self-designed and self-inflicted program of fitness, exercise and nutrition. I'm going to write a blog about it and this is it. This first post will just be explaining what the blog is and is not; I'll later explain what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, and why I'm blogging about it.
First, a little about myself. I'm a 36 year old man living in Sydney with a beautiful wife and a fulfilling IT job at a major bank. I was always one of the nerdy kids at school who wasn't strong, fit or good at sports. I did some years of kung fu after I finished high school which gave me a lot more strength and confidence. In my late 20s I pissed it away a bit and put on a bit of weight. Starting in my 30s, I started getting back into exercise and semi-regularly going to the gym for a bit of weights and cardio. That's where I've been for the last few years, though my interest and fitness level has increased a bit more recently.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to ramp it up. I'm going to start taking it more seriously, applying a fairly strict diet and exercise program, to see how far I can take it. I've been reading a lot and doing some experimentation and research and am confident of what I can achieve. I will use this blog to outline my program, and record my efforts and results. This blog is therefore going to be a combination of a diary and a program outline. I'm not going to record every detail of every exercise, but at the end of each week I'll put up a brief rundown of what I've done, how I'm feeling and what results I'm achieving. Although I'm going to describe the plan I'll be using and why I'm using it, this blog is not a general guide or program on how to exercise or become fit. I've read some books and some internet research but I am not a physical trainer and this is not an exercise program, so don't try it at home etc.

Finally, a quick note on my main influences. I've read a bunch of books on this stuff, some great and some not-so-great, but my two main influences, and books I can unequivocally recommend that anyone with a slight interest in this stuff read, are In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (nerdy looking guy to the left) and The Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss (other nerdy looking guy to the right).


In Defense of Food is probably the best book I've read on food and nutrition, and The Four Hour Body is probably the best book I've read on fitness and exercise. I'm certainly not treating them as bibles (in fact there are some chunks of each book that I will disagree with and/or ignore), but both are still excellent books and major inputs into my plan.

Over the next week I'll be explaining more about what I'm trying to achieve and why.