Informative – Dad looks confused

Don’t overthink it

By: Alejandro Rodriguez
There is something everyone does that can kill motivation and turn any situation into a nightmare. What is it? “overthinking,” this can cause serious anxiety for some people which can prevent them from truly living in the moment. In my experience I have found that the root of my overthinking has always come from fear of what “MIGHT” happen, which means that our mind tends to create fictional worst case scenarios. I have learned that overthinking is wired in to our brains and is part of out basic instincts. In times when the human used quick thinking as a survival tactic overthinking helped with staying aware of what might happen in a certain survival situation. At this point the question is why do we still do it if we don’t rely on our instincts for survival? Well, the speed that societies have evolved and become more modern has been so fast that our brains are still trying to catch up and become aware to the fact that we no longer have situations in which we have to survive based on instincts.
For me it is something something that I have needed to overcome and along the way have found a few techniques that help me.

Write it down- dissect the situation is the problem real or just something that has been blow out of proportion
Talk it out- talk about the situation and get different perspectives on the topic
Meditation: meditation is a great tool that helps refresh your mind so that you can look at whatever you’re overthinking about with a fresh mind
Exercise: working out just like meditation helps me clear my mind because for one hour I am only thinking about my workout session.
Look at the positive side: what good can come out of this situation, I feel like when we overthink about something we tend focus on the negative what ifs instead of the positive ones, most of the time the outcomes are really not even close to what we imagined them to be.
Read a chapter of your favorite book: I find this one to be very helpful because not only do you read a good book but you allow yourself to temporarily think about something else, it’s like taking a break from hard labor in order to recharge.

Reset button day 47 of 100

Have you every felt like there needs to be a reset button on our life? No I do not mean like start over from the birth, what I mean is maybe you feel like you have too much going on in your life and you are starting to feel burned out. With our very hectic and busy lifestyles now a days it is very easy to get burned out and become a sad tired person. I for sure have times when I am in desperate need of a mental vacation, or at least one hour to myself away from everything that makes me so busy. As I have mentioned in my last posts I have started a 100 day journey to create better habits and I have focused on trying to find some type of routines that will help me improve in more than one aspect of my life.

Aspects such as:

🌞 Positivity
✏️ Creativity
🏋🏽‍♂️ Exercise
📖 knowledge
🛏 Relaxation
These are a must:
☀️ Sunlight
💧hydration

In this journey I have found that there are more than one way to do something, I already knew that there were different methods to meditation and exercise but that is it. I have truly realized that there are more than one method to vacation, be creative, learn and stay positive and yes I understand that there are some of these that are obvious. Won’t go into all of them but I will go into the vacationing method that has really helped me and that is taking time off of work and staying home (Staycation) although there were some boring days i really enjoyed staying home and doing nothing. I didn’t have to worry about breaking the budget by having to spend on a bunch of activities or following a schedule to get these activities done I just worked on myself.

My staycation went like this:

Exercised twice a day
Watched tv
Worked on trying new vegetarian recipes
And my favorite spend time talking, reconnecting and spending time with my wife
And obviously play with my puppies

This was my biggest reset button that I have ever experienced at the end of my time off I was recharged and ready to go back to my busy life.

Don’t let the pressure of having to go out to have a “fun time” prevent you from enjoying the ability to do nothing and just truly relax.

The struggles are real: Nightshift (Repost)

For this week I have decided to repost something from last November, Why? Well because just like taking care of ourselves emotionally and intellectually I strongly believe that we should be taking care of our body and having a schedule that is somewhat consistent is something that helps with keeping healthy. Based on my experience having a schedule that doesn’t change very much has helped me with managing stress.

Having a nine to five job and trying to stay healthy can be difficult trust me I say this based on my past experience. When I was between the ages of 20-22 I had an office job and yes I do understand that it can be draining because even though you are not very physically active, stress and a busy day schedule can lead to making not very good food choices. I do understand that at the end of the day all you want to do is go home relax and forget about work for a few hours before you have to get up and it all over again the next day. I look back to those days when I weighed 350lbs and to be honest I am embarrassed at the fact that I had all of this free time before and after work and I still refused to make any healthy choices. I would wake up at 7 in the morning and get ready for work without eating breakfast at home but I wouldn’t completely skip breakfast because on the way to the office I would stop and get myself a monster with a muffin every morning. If I would’ve made a better healthier breakfast at home I would not have gained so much weight and my other meal choices were not any healthier. I realize now that if I would have actually sat down and made a schedule for myself that included healthier food choices and waking up earlier to get at least 30 minutes of working out, my life would have been better. The crazy thing was that the time that I decided to make these changes in my life was when I started a different job where I had less free time in my day. I realized that the only way that I was going to start feeling better about myself was by making a lifestyle and yes it was hard at first because I was not very educated in this health and fitness world but all it took was doing some research to get started. Today I still am learning everyday obviously it is not the same as when I started because my endurance, strength and most importantly my goals have changed, now I feel like my situation is what most people would call odd because I work 12 hour night shifts and well the way I see it my day is backwards and it is does take a bit of work to get it right but it is possible to reach your fitness goals and still hold a job Night or Day.

Here are some tips that I use on how to make it so that you don’t overeat while working night shift or any shift:

1. Make sure your first meal is at a scheduled time for example on my days of work I eat my first meal 5:30pm make sure that is is filling and healthy

2. Make sure you carry a snack with you or make sure it is easily accessible during your shift for whenever you start feeling a bit of hunger. I like carrying around a granola bar from hidden valley it is 180 calories per pack I love them.

3. Make sure that you eat your second meal at the same time everyday or at least within the hour (I like my lunch between 1:30 am and 2:30 am) that way you get your body used to the idea that there will be food coming at a specific time and trust me it is easier to control hunger once you get in a routine.

4. If you are still hungry and don’t go over your calories you can have a snack 11/2 to 2 hours before you shift ends and not right before you go to bed let it settle a bit. I have got to the point to where I just consume the majority of my calories with my meals so they are pretty big but they are healthy choices.

I get seven hours of sleep everyday and I am able to make it to the gym for one hour

• Wake up 3pm

• Brush teeth and do my morning stuff 3-3:30pm

• Meditate and take pre-workout 3:30pm-3:45pm

• Gym 3:45pm-5pm

• Eat 5:30pm

• Get ready and leave for work 6pm

So all it takes is some scheduling and you too are able to achieve your health goals.

At first it seemed like a burden but once I got used to it this became something I did without putting too much thought into it.

Bigger, better, more

Hello everybody and welcome back to my blog. I have been gone for a few weeks not because I didn’t want to post but because I have been working on expanding my topics. After a few weeks of self reflection and much thought into this I have decided to change up the content on this page from health and wellness to self improvement. I will still be posting workout tips and recipes and more on fitness and dieting, which in itself is a form of self improvement. Any tips that I post will be something that I have personally tried, of course with some added research.

Here are some of the topics I will be posting about:

1. Health and wellness tips that work for me

2. Self improvement book, that I would recommend

3. My stress management techniques

4. Journaling

5. What keeps me motivated

And many more great topics that I really enjoy learning about, these topics because it helps me learn a bit more about myself and find more things that challenge me.

I will be moving my post days back to Fridays so make sure to check in for more great content.

SHAKE IT UP

I’m not much for meal replacement shakes but in my journey to weight loss I have tried them and like I said I am not a big fan but I have stumbled across some pretty delicious shake recipes, that I still enjoy. When it comes to shakes my advice is to replace a snack instead of a meal because in my experience with shakes, hunger was always around and it felt like I was starving myself even though I was meeting my calories for the day.

Here are some great recipes for shakes that not only taste great but will help give you a boost of energy.

Cacao protein shake

one scoop of whey protein the one that I use is the optimum nutrition chocolate flavor

one medium banana

one table spoon of chia seeds

5 grams of organic cacao powder

and 1 tablespoon of instant coffee I use nescafe you can use the one that is your favorite

add desired amount of water

Throw all ingredients into the blender and enjoy

the calories in this delicious drink is 308

vanilla coffee shake

1 medium banana

1 tablespoon of coffee 1/2 cup of almond milk

vanilla protein powder

throw all ingredients into a blender and enjoy

the calories in this drink is 240

Green smoothie

one scoop of vanilla protein powder

1/2 of a large cucumber

1 cup of spinach

and 1/2 of a medium avocado

add desired water and blend together and enjoy

the calories in this drink is 321

green veggie drink

1 1/2 table spoon of chia seeds

1 large cucumber

1/2 cup of spinach

1/3 cup of strawberries

add desired water blend and enjoy

calories in this drink are 311

this drink is not for everyone it is kind of sour but I like sour my wife does not think it is very good she actuall thinks it is gross

berry shake

1 cup coconut milk unsweetened

1 tablespoon of chia seeds

1/3 cup of blue berries

1/2 cup of strawberries

Blend and enjoy

the calories in this drink are 142

Meditate on this

By: Alejandro R.

Do you practice meditation? I haven’t always, let me tell you about my experience with meditation. When I was told about meditation I though it was a religious act like praying, I was wrong my lack of knowledge kept me from even trying it. As time passed my curiosity towards meditation began to grow, the more I heard people tell me about it the more intrigued I became. I did my research and I learned that meditation was not a religious act but a method used to relieve stress and how effective it is in the society we live in. A society filled with sensory over-stimulation that comes with the use of phones, watching television and our everyday busy schedules. When I decided to give it a try it was a bit difficult because I was not able to clear my mind, there was too much going on up there. I tried videos, music and a few podcasts but nothing helped I thought that meditation was not for me. I did not give up on it instead I continued to do more research and I found some information that stated that I should let all of my thoughts flow. The key was to let myself engage in the thinking process but not to judge the thoughts that were flowing through my mind. The way that I saw it was that it was a type of purge and that I was letting all of my negative thoughts out. I started to feel a difference in my energy level and in my thought process, through out the day I felt amazing. With the success I was having in the way that I meditated I felt like I had it all figured out, that is until I sat down with my sister-in-law and had a “conversation.” (More like an argument) Her claim was that the correct way to meditate was to completely clear your mind, of course I told her that it was impossible to and argued that we have to allow all of our thoughts to flow. This conversation made me question my methods, so I did some more research and I found out that she was right! And so was I, at this point I realized that I had just began to scratch the surface of meditation and that I knew nothing about the subject. It turns out that there are different types of meditation and that the one that a person does totally depends on them and what methods work for them. Meditation is in my opinion an amazing way to not only get rid of stress, but a way to get to know yourself, and a way to get closer to nature and yes I know that it makes me sound like a hippie, but it is true. I have tried a few different types of meditation other than letting my thoughts flow, I have tried a method where I focus on sounds of nature and my surrounding which is why I said that it helps you get closer to nature.

Here are some types of meditation that I have tried:

1. Letting yourself engage in the thought process- this allows me to watch myself engage in the process. I just let my thoughts flow without judging myself for having any types of thoughts.

2. Focusing on the sounds of nature-this allows me to forget about anything and everything that might be going on in my life and return to basics, this allows me to attack any issue with an open and fresh mind.

3. Picturing myself in a calm place-in other words go to my happy place, this allows me to escape my current reality and recharge. This method always has me feeling fully energized and ready to tackle any issue with a clear mind (this one is my personal favorite.)

There are so many types that I have yet to try but as I continue to create a meditation routine I plan on exploring other methods.

I think that everyone should meditate and yes I do understand that we all live very busy lives but all I takes is 5 minutes and trust me the difference will be felt immediately. I encourage you to do your research and find the method that works best for you.

Please enjoy the step by step list I have created for you it is simple and it takes 5-10 minutes the length is completely up to you. The method I share with you is the mental imagery method in other words, the one where you picture yourself in a calm place.

Meditation for beginners:

1. Find a comfortable place to sit I recommend a chair or you can sit on the floor (make sure you are not too comfortable so that you don’t fall asleep)

2. Set a timer for the desired amount of time you wish to meditate (I recommend 5 minutes to start with)

3. Close your eyes and picture yourself on a quiet mountain top on a warm day, feel the breeze softly hit your cheek, let the sound of it soothe you as you stare into the horizon now let your imagination start filling in the surroundings allow yourself to hear the birds chirping or the sound of the rushing water of a nearby river. Enjoy the scenery use this time to recharge and clear your mind.

Please leave me your feedback on here and on my instagram page @blankstare_blog all comments are appreciated.

Refreshing AF!

Now that summer has fully hit us i would like to touch a bit on the subject of refreshing low calorie treats I have found a few products out there that can help beat the heat low cal style.

If you are into ice cream but don’t want all of the calories that come with it, you can always have something that is not made with dairy and made with either cashew, coconut or almond milk

My favorite type is halo top which which is made with coconut milk and only has between 280 and 380 calories per pint, that’s right PINT when I first heard of this it sounded too good to be true so I decided to give it a try. I went for the chocolate flavor because well chocolate is the king of sweets and to my surprise it was amazing I tasted similar to regular chocolate ice cream and the best part was that it only contained 320 calories this is a product that I would recommend to anyone that has a sweet tooth but also wants to lose weight.

Another great dessert that is low in calories and are delicious are the outshine fruit bars these only have 60 calories per bar making them a great snack for a hot summer day my favorite flavor is strawberry although the mango and lime ones are amazing as well the these do contain about 14 grams of sugar but I would still recommend them.

Both products can be found in any grocery store near you.

The Struggles are Real: Weight loss

This week I have decided to once again share my weight loss story and the obstacles that I’ve had to overcome. Just as a reminder to myself of why I started in the first place because there are days that I cannot summon the motivation to get out and get to the gym.

There are so many social media pages where people share their weight loss stories, myself being included. The content of these pages are only before and after pictures and recipes used or workouts they do to continue their fitness story. The type of content that seems to be missing is the kind that talks about or depicts all of the struggles that comes with the journey. Whether it is with self, family and friends and in your professional life as well. I mean with all of the offers of doing good at work in exchange for a pizza party (like what are we, five?) ha ha, just kidding. Let us begin with the obstacles that we put on ourselves, for example, my biggest reason to not put in hard work was the excuses of being too “busy” or too “tired.” Once I came to the realization that these ideas were just excuses to justify the unhealthy lifestyle I was living, it became easier to start pushing myself to get moving and eating healthy. These are reasons that I see the most with people in my life, with my parents, siblings, in-laws and some co-workers. What people do not realize, and is something I learned along the way, is that working out and eating healthier makes us feel more energized and increases our desire to be more productive. Another type of mindset that holds us back is the idea that the working out can become repetitive or even monotonous. I have found that if a workout has become boring it just means that the intensity needs to be increased, in other words, it is a sign that we need to push ourselves harder. The beauty of working on our fitness is that it should be a never ending journey of growth and learning, this advice also applies to life. I am not saying that I know everything about fitness and living healthy, I mean come on there are days that when I am researching new meal prep recipes or creating a new workout plan as I am enjoying the fluffy carbs and sugars that come in the form of a donut or two. I just do not let those type of days hold me back I just keep pushing forward learning, working, planing and bettering myself.

Another obstacle that I have to overcome has been my family and friends. Now this one is a tough one because it is disrespectful to turn down food that is offered, especially in my culture. (I am Hispanic by the way) At first I felt horrible because at my in-laws’ my mother in-law would a cook an amazingly delicious meal. You know, the beans, rice, and either beef or chicken with sauce that was made from scratch, sometimes she would even have home made flour tortillas and OH BOY! Was that hard to resist. Then there was my mother’s house she would make some delicious stew with beans, bacon and strips of beef, of course everything is fried before it comes together in a warm stew, that I am pretty sure can only be taught to make by angels, ok I might be exaggerating a bit but still it is amazing. As everyone feasted on what can only be described as Hispanic cuisine glory, I would have to stick to my healthy meals that were made of veggies and low sodium chicken. When I say low sodium I mean pretty much tasteless, of course now I have grown to like my meals with no sugar, sodium, oils or pretty much anything that made food delicious but also unhealthy. Both my mother and mother in-law thought I was sick all of the time because I had stopped eating everything that they knew I liked. To this day they still wonder if I am able to eat what they made which of course the answer is duh! They still always ask because they don’t know if I am on what seems to them a “crazy” diet. One thing that I find funny is that when my family comes to visit they first tell each other that they should get something good to eat because at my place there is only healthy food that they don’t like. The best way to handle your family is by informing them that you want to live healthier and hopefully they understand. In my case they didn’t, so I just had to keep pushing myself hoping for the best, hopefully I have inspired at least one of them to make healthier decisions and to be more active.

Finally work the aspect of my life with the least importance and the easiest obstacles to overcome, well at least for me. The reason this was the easiest is because if they have food at work I make sure to moderate myself or I just politely say no thank you and go to where my five senses are not being drawn to the food. Working on your fitness and having a social life can be possible everything just needs to be with moderation. Currently I am down 120lbs from 350lbs to 230lbs and still working on my fitness. I know that this is a lifestyle and it makes me feel good in all aspects of life so I will continue to work on myself.

If you take anything from this today I hope it is this; the first step to bettering yourself starts with you! Get out of your head and get to working on yourself. I promise you will feel amazing and of course you do not have to start of working out and dieting like professional athletes. Just get moving, figure out what your body can do, find YOUR limits and push them it will improve not only your health but every aspect of your life.

Get up and get moving checklist:

1. Get out of your head just get moving

2. Ignore what others have to say about you even if it comes from your family and friends.

3. Have fun, find things you enjoy doing. (for example I found Jiu-jitsu but that is a topic for another day.)

4. If you go to the gym remember everyone is wondering if what they are doing is right! And DO NOT compare your progress to the progress of others.

And make sure to look me up on instagram and follow so that you may join me in my journey. @alejandro.gets.fit

Gut feeling (kombucha)

Kombucha….. pretty nasty stuff I would have to say, but just like it is nasty it has its health benefits.

(Kom-boo-chuh) no it’s not koombaya this is beverage is a made of either green or black green tea which is fermented with bacteria and yeast, known as SCOBY the tea becomes carbonated as it ferments making it a fizzy drink

So my wife has been on a new kick about this drink and she claims that they are delicious and that the flavor makes a big difference but I swear they all taste like vinegar well, at least to me they do.

I know that there is a large amount of people that love the stuff and drink it casually and my question for them is as follows:

How long have you known you are a psychopath?

Haha just kidding haha

Apparently there are many health benefits to drinking the stuff, one of the benefits that I have experienced is the gut health and what I noticed the most was less bloating. It has helped improve the way I feel.

Here are the potential health benefits of kombucha

1. Gut health- the drink is rich in probiotic bacteria which is similar to eat healthful bacteria found in the gut, this may help improve digestion. Kombucha has been found to help treat diarrhea, ease irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to strengthen the immune system.

2. Infection risks- kombucha has the ability to kill microbes and bacteria that may cause infections making it easier for the body to fight them off.

3. Mental health- no this might seem like the odd one out of all of the other benefits but it has been found out that depression can be linked to inflammation so the anti-inflammatory properties of the drink can help with some symptoms of depression.

4. Cancer risk- in studies done in both 2008 and 2013 they found the possibility of kombucha helping to help treat or prevent the risk of getting cancer. The studies suggest that kombucha helps by preventing cancer cells to grow.

-2008 kombucha study on cancer

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/.18979556/

-3013 study

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221052391200044X

5. Heart disease- it has been found that kombucha can

6. Weight loss- Green tea is one of the main ingredients to kombucha, and green tea itself helps burn more calories, which suggests that kombucha has the same benefit for weight loss.

These are just some benefits of kombucha and there are still ongoing studies that I’m sure will uncover more benefits to drinking it.

There is also one other thing I want to add and that is that the suggested serving one should consume is no more than 12 oz in a day, one bottle contains 16oz which may lead to the consumption of excess sugars because well, (it contains fruit)as well as excess caffeine from the tea.

Before you decide not to try this drink based on my opening sentence, take a chance and give it a try I only wrote that based my experience who knows maybe you would like it.

The one and only brand that I have tried has been health-ade kombucha Pomegranate flavor .

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size:

8fl oz

Amount Per Serving

Calories from Fat 0

Calories 40

Total Fat 0g

Sodium 10mg

Total Carbohydrates 9g

Sugars 3g

Protein 0g

Snack attack!!

Switching to a healthier lifestyle does not mean you have to starve yourself and stop eating you’re favorite foods there are many foods that are high volume and low calories. These types of foods allow you to have a large amount at the same time as keeping you under your calories for the day. There is also a big list of healthy delicious foods that can be snacks and are filling as well.

Foods that help with fat loss:

1. Watermelon: 275 calories for 2lbs or a full 9 lbs watermelon=1355 calories

2. Pineapple: 453 calories for one that weighs 2lbs

3. Honeydew Melon: 162 calories for 1lbs

4. Strawberries: 302 calories for 2lbs

5. Grapes: 306 calories for 1lbs

6. Broccoli: 153 calories for 1lbs

7. Spinach: 104 calories for 1lbs (1lbs is a lot)

8. Cucumber: 136 for 2lbs with the peel

9. Nopales (cactus leaves): 70 calories for 1lbs

10. Egg whites: 17 calories for 1 large egg

11. Grey squash: 73 calories for 1lbs

12. Zucchini: 76 calories for 1lbs

13. Celery: 64 calories for 1lbs

14. Carrots: 186 calories for 1lbs

15. Bell peppers: 91 calories for 1lbs

16. Mushrooms: 101 calories for 1lbs

17. Dragon fruit: about 60 calories for a medium sized fruit

18. Water: zero calories

19. Sparkling water

20. Green tea always zero calories

21. Flaxseed

22. Oats

Great healthy desserts and snacks:

1. Halo top ice cream 280 calories for the pint (strawberry is the best)

2. Crunchy snap peas

3. Pea crisps

4. Banana chips

5. Dark chocolate

6. Larry and Lenny’s protein cookies

7. Jerky

8. Granola bars

9. Nuts

Best cheat day meals

1.pizza

2.pho

3.tacos

4.tortas

5. Donuts

6. Pizza

7. Burgers and fries

8. Ice cream

9. Fried chicken

The whole point of a lifestyle change is to live happier but how can you be happy if you are eliminating delicious foods out of your life, the key is to enjoy the foods you love but in moderation and do not over indulge. These foods combined with regular exercise will make you feel better in more ways than one.

One of the easiest exercises to do is running or walking it does not matter if you start off with a slow long walk or a short run start at your own pace as long as you start

Paleo Approved

I’m going to start off with an update on how I am doing with the paleo diet and well I’m going to be honest it did not go well. I stuck with the diet for the first week of the month and even though it was a short run I must admit that I felt an increase in energy. But just because I did not stick to it for march it doesn’t mean that I’m giving up on it. The great thing of self improvement, is a lot like using the jump rope if you hit you foot and it stops just start up again until you find your rhythm. Due to my work schedule I have not had the time to sit and do my research to better understand what the paleo diet consists of but now that it is going back to normal I can get back at it

I have found a more comprehensive list of what foods are allowed with the paleo diet and I have found that the list is actually not as short as I thought it would be. There are the basic meats vegetables and fats.

But what types of food are all in these categories? This is a common question that has both a simple answer as well as a difficult one because there is a huge variety of foods and all we have to do is weed out the types that are accepted.

Here is a short list of approved foods:

Meats: try to make sure they are lean instead of fatty

My go to’s are beef, turkey and chicken

Other options are: rabbit, organ meats like liver, elk, deer, venison, quail, pheasant

Fish:

Wild salmon, mackerel, tuna, bass, tilapia, halibut, cod

Shellfish:

Oysters, crab, crayfish, lobster, prawns, mussels, scallops

Vegetables:

Artichokes, zucchini, squash, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, kale, celery, onion, pumpkin,

Broccoli, tomato, eggplants, cauliflower, radish, carrots, cabbage

Fats:

Fruits:

Apples , Passion fruits, lemon, blackberries, strawberries, papaya, pears, pineapple, kiwi, apricot, banana, grapes, plums, watermelon, melon, mango, guava

Nuts and seeds:

Almonds, macadamia nuts, pecans cashews, walnuts, pumpkin seeds

Sweeteners:

Raw Honey, palm sugar, Agave syrup

Now a short list of non-approved foods:

Starchy vegetables:

white potatoes, tapioca yams

Cereal Grains:

Barley, rice corn, wheat, wild rice buckwheat and any processed foods made with cereal grains.

Legumes:

Beans, garbanzo beans, lentils, snow peas,

Fats:

all seed oils trans fats bad saturated fats

Dairy:

no dairy products such as cheese, yogurt, ice cream

And absolutely no processed foods such as candy or anything containing too much sodium such as hotdogs, salami or deli meats

Working out With Fresh Tattoos

This week I have been able to have a bit more time to work on posting so here is this week’s first of two posts (yay double the content!!)

Last week I went to get a tattoo and I thought it would be great if I posted some tips on going to the gym with a fresh tattoo. This was not my first tattoo I was have a few and the only one that I had a different experience was with the first one but that was because of cultural reasons and I was new to the whole being tattooed thing. To start off, I grew up in a house hold that was very religious and highly against tattooing or piercings, naturally I tried to hide it which was not the best of ideas because it did not help the healing process and it took longer to heal.

That was a mistake I was not willing to do any of the rest of my tattoos otherwise if I were to get any, and I did. The way that I schedule my workouts around the healing of my tattoos is by not working out for the first full day to make sure that the healing process starts properly. I also make sure that my workouts do not involve any thing that pushes pulls or rubs on it so any having abdominal workouts are not an option at least for the first week. As for jiu-jitsu, I take a whole week to a week and a half break that way the chances of getting infections are reduced skipping the week also reduces the risks of tearing it (yes I said tearing) because the skin is still tender during the healing process. For the week that I am healing I wear sleeveless shirts at first and long sleeves up until it is fully healed well depending on the placing of the tattoo mine starts on my shoulder and goes down half way down my bicep but also wraps around to my triceps.

Tips for working out after a tattoo:

1. Don’t workout for 24hr (take a rest day)

2. Don’t let anything rub on it and so make sure to choose your workouts accordingly

3. Do not let it get dry I use Aquaphor or Vaseline

4. If you do jiu-jitsu or any full contact type of activity wait at least a week before going back.

5. Wear loose clothes fitting clothing to avoid unnecessary rubbing on the tattoo.