The Diet & Workout Plan of a Full-Time Traveling Family — HIS
***NOTE*** I originally wrote this on January 1, 2015 ..and it has been a work in progress ever since. Each year, I make updates with new goals, progress pics, and lessons learned from the past year.***CLOSE NOTE***
INTRODUCTION : We are a full-time traveling family. Over a year ago, my wife and our 2 children sold everything and left our home in Provo, Utah for an adventure around the world. Before we left, and throughout our travels, health and fitness has always been a top priority for our family. Of course, eating clean and working out is difficult, especially when you travel full-time with kids! So here is our diet and workout plans that we travel with! Mine is different from my wife Jessica’s, so we wrote them separate. His and Hers ;) Below is mine. Here is the link to hers : https://goo.gl/IVtuLR
[Jan 1, 2015] Here’s the plan : I’d love to get more fit. Like the absolute most fit my body is safely capable of. I don’t know what that fully means but I’m curious and motivated to find out. What does my body feel and look like at its very best?
[Jan 1, 2015] I currently work as a mobile app designer and spend a giant block of my days sitting behind a computer screen. Not ideal for a healthy body but I make special efforts to work it out. Ever since my early days in design school, it confused me why other designers (*stereotype alert*) seemed to care very little about the shape of their body. In my mind, our body is a “blank canvas” for us to shape and care for.
Perhaps the best project you will ever work on is you.
Let’s Start with the WHY..
For me, there are generally 3 reasons for my health efforts:
• General health
• Athletic performance
• Body shape/aesthetics
Thanks to active hobbies and a progressively nutritious diet, my general health has been very good. As a collegiate soccer player, most of my workouts are based around performance. So really, for the first time ever, I’m giving more focus to the 3rd point : Body shape and aesthetics.
Obviously, achieving a bigger/better body is only going to get harder as I get older. I’m 25(ish;) now and feeling a “now or never” self-induced pressure. The nice part is, the sooner I’m able to achieve a higher level of fitness and health, the more of my life I’ll be able to enjoy it.
So, here we go. 2015 is the year! This decision to change now will surely change my life forever! Some buddies are joining me and if you’re feeling motivated, you can too. I’ve done my best research and work to prepare..
The Research
I’ve done crazy research in preparation for this. Side note : back in 2010 I actually got certified as a personal trainer through NASM. That gave me a good general foundation but that’s about it. The body building industry is filled with debate. There are definitely numerous paths to similar end results. It seems every day there is a new trend, a new supplement, or a new “ground breaking” discovery. I spent most of my time focusing on the basic principles that seem to be proven and agreed upon across the board.
3 Proven Principles:
- Diet : Diet makes all the difference. It can fully boost or fully block all your hard work and development. Here are lists for good supplements and also other good foods to shop for. Also, here is a rough idea of what I’m eating on a daily basis : Meal Plan /// 4–5000 calories (based on my goal of clean healthy weight gain).
- Variation : No matter how high quality a workout is, if you never switch things up your body will eventually plateau. Variables like sets, weight, muscles, speed, intensity, lifts, and rest. Here is the list : The 7 Variables for Body Building
- Rest : This may be the most difficult part for me. Honestly, my body functions and feels good off little sleep. 4–5 hours and I feel good to go. I enjoy waking up early and having long busy days without a nap. But, I need to remember my goals and the importance of quality sleep. Here’s the recipe : Muscle growth is stimulated when you workout. Muscle growth is fueled when you eat. Muscle growth happens, when you sleep!
Here is My Plan
No crazy shortcut supplements or fads. Just a consistent pattern of the right nutritious diet, hard work, enough sleep, and then even..more..hard..work.
I have constructed a specific MON-SAT workout plan that evolves every month. The variables and exercises change to stimulate progress and avoid plateauing. I have a dietary plan to properly fuel growth and recovery in the best ways using only natural and organic supplements.
Below is the template I designed for my monthly workout sheets.
I specifically designed my workout sheet so that each week’s numbers would stack on top of each other. This makes it quick and easy for me to see what weight I lifted the week before, giving me a clear goal to beat. Having such a solid plan helps me be more efficient in the gym, pushes me to do more, and helps me appropriately space out days for rest between muscle groups.
Here is a link to view and download each month’s workout sheet : https://goo.gl/oiH7Pw
Progress Pics
A lot of the resources I studied emphasized the importance and benefits of “publicly declaring your goals and plans.” So..I guess I’ve officially talked the talk :/ My resources also suggested posting my “BEFORE” pics. Not reeeally sure how I feel about some of these pics floating around the interwebs so we will take it slow and see how it goes. Unfortunately I definitely care about the opinions of others..so be nice! I will continue to add more as the year progresses..or until someone leaves a rude comment..
2015 : After 8 months of consistent hard work were rewarded with an adventure to Tahiti with my best friends/workout buds!! [video above]
Fitness as a Full-Time Traveling Family
[Jan 1, 2017] We started this fitness journey on Jan 1, 2015. At the time, I was playing soccer in school and working on my startup company. After selling my company and dropping out of school, we decided to sell everything and travel the world as a family. Although our lifestyle greatly changed, our dedication to fitness and health has remained constant. We prioritize every where we go to make sure we have a gym and healthy food available. Some places just don’t have any sort of gym available but we still exercise first thing every morning using body weight and bands. We travel with 1 suitcase (of our 4 total) dedicated to a blender and supplements. We don’t see it as exercise getting in the way of our travels. Rather, we find exercising in different countries a unique way to further experience cultures all around the world!
GOAL for 2017 : >180 lbs and <8% body fat.
A work in progress
This project is going to take me a good great long while. I’m hoping the rest of my life ; ) I‘m definitely a rookie in many ways so please do send any advice, resources, encouragement or help my way.
Sincerely,
