PAX Prime 2013 is in less than 6 months. Last year, I cosplayed The Kid from Bastion with the help of my lady friend (who went as the Scythian from S:S&S EP). This was my second big cosplay undertaking - the first being an old FFXI Red Mage costume. This year, I plan to dress up as Yurnero, the Juggernaut from Dota 2.
There's just one problem:
FAT.
As a generally out-of-shape motherfucker that spends all day programming and all night playing Dota 2, staying in shape doesn't come naturally. Obviously, being overweight is problematic in more ways than one. So this year, to get two birds stoned at once, I'm starting PROJECT BATTLE FURY. PROJECT BATTLE FURY is a plan to motivate both my fitness life and my creative life by getting in respectable shape for the concrete goal of putting together a totally slammin' Juggernaut costume for PAX Prime.
The Game Plan (A Draft)
PROJECT BATTLE FURY is to be executed in three phases.
Phase 1: GET DOWN
Right now I'm 200 pounds at 5'9. This BMI is unnaceptable. So, to hit an aggressive target of 175 pounds by the end of May, I'll be making diet changes and ramping up my exercise. This includes:- Judo, twice a week (Monday/Thursday) for two hours each day to keep myself mentally stimulated while burning some fat. My body weight makes the Judo warmups insanely intense.
- Cardio, 2-3 times a week (Tuesday/Friday/Sunday?). There's a local gym near my apartment, but regardless the idea is to run for upwards of 20 minutes to burn fat and get my heart in shape for judo.
- An as-yet-undetermined weight lifting routine at the gym, once a week (Saturday mornings). Moderate on the intensity for this phase. Bench presses and other upper body exercises will be emphasized, thanks to my unusually weak upper body strength Ab strength could also use some work. Again, the exercises at judo also include some strength training, so I don't feel too guilty about planning weights for just once a week for Phase 1. (My friend has informed me that if lifting weights on Saturday seems difficult, I should try doing a second day to stay in shape. I'll have to test this.)
- Slashing sugar intake. This is going to be tricky, but the idea is to drink water at every meal instead of whatever fancy drink I might lean towards first, and to snack exclusively on fruits, veggies, or nuts. Or maybe jerky, if it ever comes back to the company snack shelf.
- Skipping rice/bread/etc as "necessary meal components." We have catered lunches at my work, and often times they are delivered with a big tray of rice. For these meals, any rice I would normally grab will be replaced with more meat. If sandwiches or burritos get catered, if practical, I'll remove the carbs. I figure this way I'll get enough carbs in my system with the "unavoidable" meals. I'm still not particularly sure this is a great idea, so feedback would be more appreciated.
- Shrinking portions and chewing thoroughly. I eat crazy fast. I intend to pay more attention to chewing meals thoroughly from here on out, to give my body more time to react to being full.
So, to reiterate, this is all with the goal of hitting 175 pounds at the end of May. That's about a rate of 2 pounds per week, but I'm hoping that after I burn off the water in the first couple weeks, the burn rate will be less stressful near the end of this phase.
Phase 2: GET HYPE
Hopefully, by the start of June, I'll have hit this goal. At this point, costume design and construction begins. My lady and I will start scoping out the types of materials we'll be using (likely lots of plastic, again, maybe even wood for the mask). Designs will be forged. Materials will be gathered. Focus will be tested.
In addition, my exercise routine will shift from a focus on rapid weight loss to a replacing fat mass with muscle mass. The cardio routines will be replaced with more heavy lifting. Ideally, by this time, my judo's body weight exercises will not be as painful, and I will need to push myself with real strength training workout routines. I'm currently looking at this Breaking Muscle article on judo-related strength training, but after feedback from Phase 1, I may come up with another plan.
Phase 2 "ends" one week into July, at which point, at the very least, I should be able to do a good set of pull ups, and all plans for the costume should be finished.
Phase 3: GET RIPPED
This is where the fun really begins. For the next six weeks leading up to PAX, the costume will be assembled. The most important part of this is getting my upper body to dudebro levels of "beach muscle". I don't have to make it to Schwarzenegger-tier, but I should at least look good with a shirt off. Which means:- An incredibly cliche strength training routine, with the following goals:
- 0% Manboob. Those should actually be pecs, at this point.
- Legit arm muscle. I may have to resort to the dudebroiest of dudebro exercises for this: the dreaded curl. Among other things.
- No belly fat. I've been told 6-pack abs are not necessarily genetically possible, but at the very least I should be able to see where my pants begin. Muscly things are a plus.
- A tan. Preferably a natural one. I do have Filipino blood, so I do tan, if I actually bother to go outside. That's going to have to happen to get the part down right.
All of this might come at the expense of judo-related optimizations (unnecessary muscle mass will muck with your competitive viability), but for Phase 3 and PAX, it's all about the character. And the character demands a shirtless dude.
What's the gold medal for this phase? To walk into a 24 Hour Fitness in costume the day before PAX and geek it the fuck up.
A Leviathan Task
Obviously PROJECT BATTLE FURY is not going to be easy. This is where I need your help. Since this plan is kind of a rough sketch at this point, any input you guys have on relevant fitness, costume making, scheduling, or motivation are super welcome at this point. Specifically, any knowledge on dieting, exercise, and staying motivated would be a great boon to this guy. Any positive thoughts or encouragement to keep me on track would be awesome, too. And hey, if it inspires other lazy-ass geeks like me to get in shape for a thing they love, then that's some bonus points right there.
Switch the amount of cardio you do in phase 1 with the amount of weight lifting you do instead.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be the recurring mantra. The primary reason I didn't list more weight lifting for Phase 1 was because I'm already out of breath going through Judo warmups (30 counts of pushups, of which i hit 40%, 20 counts of divebomb pushups, of which I hit 100%, 3 or 4 pull-yourself across the mat exercises).
DeleteIf I train judo Monday/Thursday, where should I fit in, say, a 5x5 program, if I want to avoid flopping on the warmups?
Just a couple diet tips:
ReplyDelete1. In order to cut back on over eating, I suggest that whenever possible, eat meals without any distractions or entertainment within eyesight. This forces you to focus solely on the food you're eating, making absentminded overeating impossible. Fair warning, this is boring as fuck to do but it works.
2. Don't skip meals. Ever. Skipping a meal will kill your metabolism.
3. Most important one: Remain consistent with everything you're doing. Getting into shape and losing weight is hard work and there really aren't any results to be seen until like 3 weeks into a consistent routine. Just stick with it and you'll get there.
Oh, and bodybuilding.com has loads of good information for weight lifting, most of it is free.
Good luck dude!
Got here from r/fitness. I'm an avid Dota2 player, gym goer, and biochem major (soon to be dentist). I've learned a few things I thought I'd share with you/clear up some misconceptions.
ReplyDeleteThere's 2 kinds of weight training, hypertrophy and strength training. I won't go into it more than I need to, but look them up for explanations if you want. The long and the short of it though, is that it's shown that if you lift about 5-8 reps (such as in stronglifts or something) you gain strength, while if you lift 8-12 reps, you gain size. It looks like you're going for size, so go to r/bodybuilding for more tips.
You COULD do cardio, or you could eat less. Obvs it's easier to eat less, and if you're only trying to look good and don't care about being able to run any distances, you could save your energy from cardio and put it into your weight training to prevent burning yourself out.
At one point I got really into Dota (when it was still a custom game in wc3) and got involved in CAL-i tournaments and basically got a little overweight eating burritos and playing games all day. I found the easiest/cheapest way to eat less calories was to buy frozen chicken breast and frozen veggies (supersweet white corn is p. awesome) and just eat a huge portion of that for lunch so that I'd be so full and have a tiny dinner. Just put a frozen chicken breast in a covered pan with some olive oil on a pretty low temp and then go about whatever you're doing. 20-40 min later, take it out (there will be chicken juice) drain, and sautee veggies with the cut up breast with some honey/sriracha/salt whatever.
Anyway, just a few helpful tips. Hope it goes well!
Awesome, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI recommend trying out this weight training plan:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beginner-to-advanced-bodybuilder-in-12-weeks-phase-1.html
I put on 10-15 pounds of muscle in a matter of a couple months. It will kick your ass if you're not used to working out, but you'll see insane results very quickly. As others have said - skip the cardio, go with the weights. More muscle means more calories burned when you aren't working out.
It also happens to be very time efficient - about 1 hour per workout 3-4 times weekly depending on the phase.
Protein shake, push some weights, scrim at 8, life is great.
ReplyDeleteAs a wrestler, I know some great ways of losing weight quickly (I lost about 20lbs in 1 month) the best way of doing it is cardio, cardio cardio. On top of that, drink water. Lots of water. A gallon a day, at least. This flushes the salt out of your system and basically "cleanses" you. Also, go on a fruit diet. Eat only fruit for a few days, you'll see an amazing change. Finally, snack. But healthily. Whenever possible, eat carrots, peppers, tomatoes, any vegetables you can think of. Good luck!
ReplyDelete