I tried Blue Bottle cold brewed coffee yesterday for a pre-workout. Tasted good, also sugar free. But too expensive($3.48) for the small can. Pretty strong though.

My sauce arsenal

Thought I would share this picture, it's really cool. I don't know who the artist is.

Usyk Beats AJ.

Interesting fight. AJ is clearly not comfortable fighting southpaws.

I'm sending all of you Peaceful Vibes today.

(Photo by me)

Om nom NOM NOM!!!

Hard boiled eggs are one of my favorite protein sources to eat after a workout because they contain 4-5g protein per whole egg and also digest well(for most people). I usually eat 2-4  whole eggs at a time for a "meal." And it's also good because they dont fill your stomach up too much, so within an hour or two you should be hungry again. You dont have to eat the whole egg, but the whites have about 2-3g protein and the yolk 2-3g protein, depending on the size and quality of the egg.

Just because you have money doesnt mean you are a good person. And just because you are a smart person doesnt mean you are a good person.

Interview with Renee Acuna: The Bikini Champ

What made you get more serious about your training? 

A few years ago my main motivation was to look a certain way... Now, I simply want to push myself to the limits and become the best version of myself physically and mentally. 

How did you first get into working out? 

Growing up my parents always went to the gym. I knew it was something I would do in my life as I got older. I started lifting at 16 in the women's weight room at Gold's Gym in Modesto, CA. Back then, I would do very light weight, a lot of reps, cardio, and I knew nothing about nutrition so my physique never really changed. I also partied a lot and ate fast food. In college, I continue to dabble with the weights and took up running... again, my physique didn't look like anything I was ever proud of. In fact, I got very skinny and my weight was constantly up and down. Fast forward to my early 20's I figured out the missing link which was nutrition. When I started to eat whole protein sources, my physique began to change and every year I learned more about changing it through both nutrition and lifting. I got a lot more intentional in the gym with every lift and that is what I continue to do to this day. 

From the time I first met you. How did your training change after that? 

I jumped ahead in the question before... but back then I would lift weight unintentionally and the weights I was lifting stayed the same year after year so nothing would change. Fast forward to 2015/2016 I began to lift much heavier and more intentional in addition to dialing down my nutrition.

When did you first think about competing? 

I first thought about competing in 2015 when a friend of mine mentioned I should do it. I thought he was crazy but he saw something in me I couldn't see at that time. It stuck with me and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I went through a really tough break up that year and it was then I shifted my focus, hired a coach, and never looked back. I wanted to completely reinvent myself and I thought taking on a bikini prep was the perfect way to do that. 

Who or what were your biggest inspirations for getting into fitness? My parents definitely planted seeds as I watched them go to the gym growing up. They always made it important to take care of themselves, at least that was my perception then. Though I would say pain and myself have been the biggest driving force behind my success and inspiration. Pain propelled me forward in a lot of ways. When I accomplished things through fitness, I experienced myself in a different way, it was a catalyst for positive change in other areas, and the knowing I could push my limits made me feel like I could do ANYTHING I set my mind to. 

As far as diet goes, were you always a health conscious eater? How did your diet change from the time you first started working out to when you got more serious with your training? And, how hard was it dieting for your show?

I always tried to be mindful of what I ate, but I did go through phases where I just didn't care and ate whatever I wanted. I thought the way to be fit was to eat very small portions of low fat foods, yogurt, fruits and vegetables... I wasn't a meat eater until 2013. In fact, I did not like meat or eggs... and I forced myself to develop a liking to them. Now, most of my calories come from lean protein sources and eggs. The biggest change starting back in 2013 was the addition of sufficient protein to my diet. Dieting down for a show is only as hard as you make it. I enjoy everything about bikini prep... the good days, the bad days, the hungry days. If you aren't hungry or tired you probably aren't doing enough and when I feel tired and hungry I know I'm on the right track so it makes me happy. I get more motivated when it gets "hard."

What was your training like leading up to the show? Did you keep the weights heavy? Higher volume as far as sets and or reps? Or did you rely more on cardio? And how much cardio did you do? 

Training leading up to the show is just like training in the off season. My coach expects me to increase the weights every week with every lift and I was hitting PR's up until the last few weeks, but my strength never went down. I was doing 6-10 reps on average for my working set. In fact, I gained muscle over the course of 16 weeks even though my calories were low through the cut. Cardio is a must in addition to lifting when going into a show. I did 2 hours of low intensity cardio per day, 6 days a week. 

What advice would you give to women who want to get in shape? Should they train light or heavy? And what diet advice would you give to them?

The advice I would give to women is it depends and do what makes you happy. If the goal is to gain muscle, eat a well balanced diet with sufficient protein, and lift heavy- 5-6 days every week. If the goal is to get shredded.. same advice and add in cardio. If someone simply wants to be more active, feel more confident and has less time on their hands I would recommend full body days 3 days a week with some added cardio. It really depends on goals, lifestyle, habits, and whether they have access to a gym or not. 

What's your opinion on getting in shape if you are vegan? I know a lot of women who want to lose fat but refuse to eat meat. I always tell them it's going to be harder. What do you think? 

I would find out why there is refusal to eat meat. I find that women and people in general think that being vegan is the key to weight loss; However, I see vegans eating highly processed food items high in carbs and fat and in that case being vegan is not that healthy of a lifestyle. Overall, like you, I think being vegan makes it very hard to hit protein goals and it is a staple in changing your physique whether you are trying to cut fat or build muscle.

What are your plans for your next competition? What are you trying to improve on? 

I am 27 weeks out of a National Show in Orlando Florida. My biggest focus will be fuller shoulders and fuller glutes. My coaches have me dedicating one full day to shoulders. 

Is there anyone you would like to thank for helping you with your prep for the show? And if anyone out there would like to get in contact with you for personal training/diet plans how can they do so? Any websites etc?

I would like to thank my coaches Johnny and Marisa Sebastian. My fiance, Benny Cortez. My posing coach Sarah Malone. Nikki at Bombshell Bikini's for my custom suit. Team Sebastian. FuelGood Team. Sol Tan. My neuromuscular therapists Larry Moore and Giovanna Mason. My family & parents for always supporting my dreams. 

I can be reached for coaching/PT/fitness plans via email R.Nicole007@yahoo.com or through IG @missfitnfearless_

Want to know how to keep me away from you?

Just annoy me relentlessly for months and months and months and months. A year, 2 years will definitely do the trick, especially if I don't know you. And if you try your best I wont even look at you, for the rest of your life. Try it and see how it works out for you, just dont come back to me crying with a sad puppy dog look lol. 

How many people do you think would look at my blog if everything I said made no sense?

" Not everybody thinks like you." - KR

Go back.

And read all my posts. And you too, will have the key to solving the bodybuilding puzzle naturally( for both men and women).

Due to Covid-19 and everything that has been going on I have given up on fitness for life.

Look for a connection with the Universe even if it sometimes may not seem like much.

I think now is a great time for Everyone to start connecting the dots in THEIR OWN lives.

What ever happened to that whole intermittent fasting craze from a year and a half/two years ago? funny how no one talks about that at all anymore.

It's so nice, seeing people being less fake these days. it warms my heart.

I was listening to a little bit of JRE yesterday when he had Kanye West on. Now I'm not a big Kanye West fan or anything but he said something that I thought was really good and I agree with. He said, " Telling the truth is crazy in a world full of lies."

IF it is EVER possible, try to turn something negative( could be a situation, person, some kind of issue, etc..) into something that is positive.

I have no idea where you guys are these days. But hit me up.

 

Think like the Best, not like the rest.

You know with my whole involvement in fitness and stuff since I was a kid. I just thought, okay, I want to be a bodybuilder. Trainer.. Blah blah. It was my life. All of my clients wanted to get the body they wanted for why?... so they could do what they wanted with their life. Listen people, I'm not trying to turn everyone into a hardcore fitness person(unless you want to be). When I was 22 it came to me that, you should workout so that you can live your life, and not live your life to workout.

" You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending." -C.S. Lewis

" The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease." -Thomas Edison. 1903.

Now this quote was written in the year 1903. Over 100 years before Covid-19. Take a second right now to think about how bettering your health before the pandemic and at the moment would help YOU personally.

" Life is like a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you only spend it once." -Lillian Dickson

Don't do preacher curls.

Guys out of all the bicep exercises this one tops the charts of what you should NOT do for bicep growth. You've probably seen people doing this in magazines and videos. Horrible for bicep growth and too much stress on the bicep tendon, great way to fuck up your bicep tendon. You see it so much because it looks cool for photos and videos. Don't do it. And dont do the preacher curl machines or preacher cable ones either, don't even do concentration curls on a preacher bench. Not good, there's plenty of better bicep exercises to do. That's my final opinion. I haven't done these since I was 16 years old, and that was before i realized what actually worked best for bicep growth. 

No time for cardio?

That's no excuse. Buy a jump rope, it's great cardio for fat loss and overall health and you can do it pretty much anywhere. I like to do 3min rounds. 

Set a timer for yourself and try it. If you have to take a rest during the 3 min that's fine, but try to work your way up to where you can go the full round without stopping.

( I did 2- 3min rounds first thing when I woke up today. Took a total of 8min with a 2min rest included in between. You can't say you dont have time for that!)

" Health, contentment, and trust are your greatest possessions. And freedom your greatest joy." -Buddha

A person I want to give a special mention to on here is someone I used to train with at the east palo alto boxing club, Aaron Katzman. This guy is one of the most inspirational fighters I know. He taught me so much in that gym and out of all the fighters I know, he deserves some of the highest respect.

Here's a link to one of his fights with an interview included. You can also search him on youtube.  :   https://youtu.be/N0fjs0DvBgo

This has always been one of my favorite bodybuilding motivation videos:

" Better to lose count naming your blessings than to lose your blessings by counting your troubles." -Maltbie Davenport Babcock

" The future is unwritten." -Joe Strummer

I can't do any of this stuff, but this video is very motivating.

Here's an interesting boxing video where Muhammad Ali boxes Denver Bronco's defensive end Lyle Alzado in an exhibition match in 1979.

 Heres the link:

https://youtu.be/3t5h4wtPwBo

" I take my desires for reality because I believe in the reality of my desires." -Paul Brown

One of my favorite boxers:

" If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it." -Jonathan Winters

" Don't let yesterday use up too much of today." -Will Rogers

" All times are beautiful for those who maintain joy within them." -Rosalia de Castro

" There is nothing that cannot happen today." -Mark Twain

Love watching this stuff:

" Don't go through life, Grow through life." -Eric Butterworth

" Deep in their roots all flowers keep the light." -Theodore Roethke

I just want you all to know that I am working on some good posts right now, but they aren't going to be ready for a bit, and I spend alot of time on my best posts. So, just so you know I am not going to turn my blog into just sharing videos and posting quotes, but right now I think we all need words of positivity and motivation. And of course we can all use some motivational and entertaining videos during this time of lockdown, I'm pretty sure everyone is a little more bored than usual. Hope that helps.

" Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers." -Rainer Maria Rilke

If you think the Corona virus is going to stop me from motivating all you motherfuckers out there to get in better shape, you are wrong.

" Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." -Steve Jobs

" Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?" -Friedrich Nietzsche

One thing alot of people don't understand these days is that it's hard to ACTUALLY train hard.

" Have patience with all things. But first of all, yourself." - St. Francis de Sales

" Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant." -unknown

" Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." -Albert Einstein

" Never let success get to your head, and never let your failures get to your heart." - Anthony Joshua

The Corona virus and the Next big fight I want to see.

What's up motherfuckers! Hope everyone is doing well in quarantine and staying healthy and having a good time. I know me and my friends are. Seriously though guys I'm loving the positivity I've been seeing from people lately, it's great. Shit alot of you are nicer than before, kind of funny. Anyways, as you know, alot of things have shutdown. And the fitness industry is certainly taking a fall right now. And professional sports and all sports in general. Gyms are closed, we can't go out much, blah blah. My favorite athletes that I follow on IG aren't posting about today's training routine, instead they're posting today's handwashing routine. I'm literally serious. Anyways I believe we will make it through this, it's a small setback in our lives. 

Anyways back to sports. The next big fight I want to see when this shit clears up is... can you guess?    It's Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury. And yes I saw some article today talking about it so that made me want to talk about it, but everyone already fucking knew that is the next big fight. 

And yes I was disappointed with the Wilder vs Fury 2. But hey Wilder didnt step his game up and got his ass kicked and Fury certainly deserved the belts for that fight. So I'm glad to see the better fighter get the win and no bad judging or that bullshit.

Ok so with AJ vs Fury we have all 4 world title belts on the line. And Anthony Joshua can actually box well, when he's in shape at least. Shit I was amazed when Ruiz knocked his ass out, but AJ just looked horrible. And then I thought Ruiz was gonna win the second fight and AJ came back in shape, so I dont know, sometimes these guys just dont train hard enough. And that's where I'm almost always impressed by the lower weight classes because they always train harder, usually.

So now we have AJ at 6'6" 237lbs vs Fury at 6'9" 250-275lbs. I dont think AJ ever fought anyone bigger than himself as far as I know. So this fight could literally be crazy. And remember AJ beat Vladimir Klitscho after Vladimir's 8 year reign holding all 4 world heavyweight championship belts. That's fucking crazy. And btw AJ and Klitscho were pretty much the exact same height, same weight. So the AJ and Fury is really going to be something different. 

" Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle." -George R. R. Martin

" Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." -Mark Twain

If you want my opinion on what's going on right now... let's just take it one day at a time people.

" Don't let one cloud obliterate the whole sky." - Anais Nin

" Keep your gaze upon the light and you cannot possibly see any darkness. When you are looking toward the light, shadows fall behind you." - Myrtle Fillmore

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust

Don't allow the world to make you stupid, let it make you smarter.

"Learn from yesterday, Live for today, Hope for tomorrow" - Albert Einstein

Biceps today.

62 year old man planks for 8hrs.

And I thought 5 minutes was strong..

Link:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/25/planking-guinness-record/?outputType=amp

We all miss you already man.

Fury vs. Wilder post fight analysis

Now this fight ended in the 7th round with Deontay Wilder's corner throwing in the towel. Fury had been chasing Wilder around the ring since the start of the fight connecting good punches while barely getting hit himself. Wilder took a lot of strong punches too soon and by the 4th round was already stumbling around unable to regain full balance. Although Wilder caught Fury with a few good hard punches, he was still out boxed the whole fight. Through the 5th, 6th, and 7th round Fury literally beat the crap out of Wilder to the point where there was no way Deontay was going to comeback during the fight. I think his corner probably did the right thing stopping the fight at the time they did. Wilder was taking too many hard shots and was unable to punch back with anything much.

Well I was wrong about that one for sure.

My predictions for the Tyson Fury vs. Wilder rematch.

On Saturday the rematch is happening with these two. Now I'm gonna admit I was disappointed with the last fight outcome and the judging, I'm sure everyone was. 

    So, the last fight I bet on fury to win and I'm not even a fury fan. It was mostly just that I was believing he was going to make a come back from his drug problem or whatever the fuck was going on, I dont think any of us know the full story. But still, bad judging with the whole thing. I dont know how the judging wasn't better, but I also dont know how the fight wasn't alot better on one side of either. Honestly I saw good reasons for a win on both sides, so maybe the draw made sense. I'm not going to analyze the whole fight again.

This time I'm picking Wilder to win, hopefully by a good knockout and an obvious victory. I know that he has enough skill and the power, and I am more of a fan of him than Fury. And I do get annoyed by bad judging with any fight, but at the same time i get annoyed by the best of the weight class fighters that dont make the win obvious. And especially with rematches. They should have been training harder and doing at least something  different.

Like for example, this last AJ and Ruiz rematch, I mean obviously AJ came back in shape and took Ruiz out. AJ knew he fucked up and underestimated Ruiz for the first fight, so he obviously had to change something. Btw I didnt think there was bad judging on either of those two fights.

Life can only prepare you for so many things, so you have to prepare yourself for life.

If you knew that you would be dead in 2 days...

Pick 2 people(other than your parents) that you would want to spend tomorrow with.

And ask yourself why you chose those two people.

Change SOME things in your training and your diet, a little at a time. It's not all going to happen overnight people, it can't and it won't.

One of my favorite bodybuilding motivation videos

I don't aspire to be as big as these guys but it still pumps me up. Here's the link to the full video: https://youtu.be/xg4X29QLZrY