Joshua Wang

Our cool team from  Fight Fitness  recently started a challenge to conquer the morning. Here's the challenge: Conquer your mornings to conquer your days to conquer your life! The #30daymiraclemorningchallenge starts tomorrow!  Rules are simple, wake up 5-30 min earlier than you normally do and complete one or more of your S.A.V.E.R.S., post your win here with the hashtag #miraclemorningday .... let's see how many mornings you can do it in a row. Ex. #miraclemorningday1 I completed 5 min of silent reflection and meditation! Here's the cheat sheet for S.A.V.E.R.S. 1. Silence 2. Affirmations 3. Visualization 4. Exercise 5. Read 6. Scribe Source:  http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2015/07/how-to-win-the-day/ Since the start of the challenge, I've been waking up at 5 a.m. and including some combination of hot/cold shower, coffee, high-protein breakfast, and movement. Our team posts each day in our Facebook group. Mine are cross posted below. If you'...

I woke up this morning at 5:30 a.m. and walked over to the gym. Having missed my last two workouts, I took it light today. 5x3 Back Squats @ 185 lb -- Kettlebell circuit ++ The past few days, I have been experimenting with "ice baths"--no ice, but used coldest available water. The mental barriers are slowly fading. The two benefits for me are: improved recovery instant wake-up! I used to have a coffee first thing. Now, I've been having my cup of coffee around 10 a.m. Today's coffee is Tim Hortons grinds brewed with an Aeropress . ++ Most recent podcast: How Facebook’s #30 Employee Quickly Built 4 Businesses and Gained 40 Pounds with Weight Training ,  The Tim Ferriss Show Key takeaways: important routines: making your bed, read take action, now. elaborate plans not required. start simply. start with your first client, subscriber, etc. say no to things that do not align with your goal. consider productivity apps  stop wasting time, e.g...

Jireh, Carmelina and I went to CrossFit Ark Tuesday night for a fun workout. This was one of those rare days where I beat my brother (Jireh) in a workout. He still remains dominant in virtually every other workout, including repping out front squats at 305# for 4 and blasting through those prowler pushes. Today is definitely a rest day. I've been squatting and prowler pushing for the past 4 days. As much as I want to go into the gym again, my body needs to reset and recover. Rest is a beautiful thing :) I've also started drinking my own version of Bulletproof Coffee ( link ). If you're a coffee lover and haven't tried it out yet, I highly recommend it! I used some organic coffee, goat butter (recipe calls for grassfed unsalted butter) and coconut oil (recipe calls for MCT oil). Here's a picture of my first attempt! Anyways, here's what we did at the Ark yesterday: Warm-up: 3 min row @ 75% 1 min single skips 1 min Samson stretch 1 min squats (2 s h...

6 a.m. is not normally my "sleep in" time. You see, Carm and I have been going to CrossFit at 6 a.m. the past two days and were hoping to go again this morning. This morning, it was me that slept in, sleeping right through two calls from Carmelina an hour earlier! I definitely appreciate the extra hour and will sleep earlier next time. Waking up early, being consistent in my workouts, remaining focused at work, being fully present ... all these are small goals I have more myself. These successes come from smaller successes, like avoiding that extra coffee late afternoon/night, saving the Facebook for later, and not giving in to small indulgences like I did last night at Timmy's. It's very true that the bigger successes come from consistently making the right choices over time. First ask yourself, What do you want to achieve? Who do you want to become? Then, map out smaller achievements of how to get there. List some habits of the type of person you want to ...

I made it out to the 6 a.m. class! Measurements: Hips: 41.25" Waist: 32" Scores: Push-ups (1 min): 30 Back squat (1 RM): 265 lb Push press (1 RM): 155 lb Morning coffee: black medium coffee (McDonald's) Key verse(s) from this morning: "Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money." --1 Timothy 3:2-3 This morning, I'm thankful for, ... a smooth commute ... a cool girlfriend ... an interesting job ... fun coworkers ... friends from small group ... life and ability to move ... food to enjoy Interesting quote: "Chasing meaning is better than avoiding discomfort." --Kelly McGonigal ( TED Talk )

Spiritual Juice "What refreshes you?" This was asked to Jill Briscoe from the radio program, Telling the Truth . In her reply, she says the people she serves refreshes her. Expanding on her point, she mentions how we are often refreshed when we give of ourselves  to serve others. We are refreshed when we refresh others. Despite my selfish nature, I find that I can trust God for strength to serve others when I choose to submit my will to His. On another note, I read this blog post by one of my mentors. The title caught my eye of course! As I was reflecting on his words, I realize how much I need to learn to give out of the abundance that comes from God. To learn to be a channel, able to give a lot only because I've been given much. Nutrition Today wasn't Paleo. Lunch I had some awesome noodles with pork goulash. Dinner was Paleo though! Pulled pork + watercress + yam. It was super amazing! (Mom = awesome) And I just made an awesome shake (almond milk + cookies ...

Spiritual Juice "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." --James 1:2-4 WOD Random stuff with Iron Dragons during practice, including some 1 K repeats and deadlifts. Nutrition Paleo ... check! Coffee ... survived the whole day without it! Marble Slab ... went with my mom / sister, and watched as they ordered and savoured delicious ice cream :(

I forgot to drink coffee yesterday :) Oh horror ... For those who can't read the sarcasm, I've been fighting a losing battle against coffee. Yesterday, I simply forgot.

:( Drank coffee today ... 2 cups in the morning, 1 cup in the afternoon, and a short double long Americano in the evening Need to stop stress-eating at work ( I'm talking to you, Chocolate Chip Muffin! ) Gave in to Popeye's Friday special: Popcorn Shrimp, only to realize that it is mostly batter. Palette experienced instant gratification, body paying the interest on the "cash advance" Injured wrist / forearm - probably from lifting without warming up :) Oh well, I'll just use the weekend to get off coffee. I need to get continue waking up early and find a way to get some exercise in the morning - perhaps a light run in the crisp air. Had Vega for breakfast and as an afternoon snack :) I can feel the difference quality nutrition makes Went to CrossFit today and had so much fun, even though I came in feeling drained My smile is returning =)

A Quick Tangent First, to follow-up from my previous post, Moving On , here's a picture of what looks like a cup of coffee. This is actually a cup of 24 herb tea that my mom got me from Market Village in Markham. It's supposed to be a tea of awesome :) ... helping with immunity, health and stuff. In fact, I'm going to pour myself another cup! This was after my morning Starbucks. Yes, I know. I'm supposed to be getting off from coffee by moving away from said drink and moving towards to bigger and better things. I'm working on it :) I had a Tall Bold today, instead of a Tall Pike (Mild). The websites show similar caffeine content, but I'm led to believe that the Bold has less caffeine - so I don't feel so bad! Calling 911 Okay, back to the main topic - calling 911! This topic was inspired by a radio show en route to work (Pastor Jack Graham , PowerPoint Ministries). In the program, Pastor Graham talked about how to deal with fear . And to do t...

How do you move on? How do you move away from something or someone? This could be a relationship, a bad habit, destructive behaviour, or temptations. Case Study: Quitting Coffee As a case study, I'll look at how to move on from the temptation of coffee, even though I practically survived on that drink today! To move on from coffee, I need to avoid it - or gradually reduce my intake levels. But  moving away  is not enough to move on . To move on, you also need to move towards  something greater. You need to be driven by a vision greater than yourself. By quitting coffee, what is the point? What kind of lifestyle am I pursuing? Where will I get my source of energy? What will fill the void that coffee once filled?

Nutrition is a funny thing. I can stare it right in the face and know what to do. But when "un-nutrition" appears, its allure is virtually irresistible! For example, today I had "all-you-can-eat" sushi. The end. More seriously, I am dialing in my nutrition. I still have a lot of work to do, including cooking my meals more  frequently and eating more wholesome foods. However, I made a previous post of some supplements I picked up. I'm not sure what is helping (probably the vitamins and the greens), but I am feeling better. I feel I have more natural energy and less dependence on coffee! To follow-up on the most recent post , I did not end up doing my long run this morning. My body told me to rest and recover for the long week ahead. While the sleep helped, I need to be careful of resting too much. I need wisdom to discern which fights to fight, and courage to fight.

A tricky photo to take this morning :) Left to Right: Boston Cream, Large Coffee - Black Ahead: Traffic :) Excited for the start of a new week! Smiling from the inside out :)

I have had several attempts of quitting coffee. Many of my friends get quite sick of following my drama with coffee, while others find it quite entertaining. Previously, I had gone cold-turkey for a month. After that month of no-coffee, I decided that "life's just better with coffee" and started drinking again, but with much better control. More recently, I've been drinking (coffee) too much. With low amounts of sleep, coffee has been my primary source of energy. Today (Feb 24) was the first day I tried not drinking coffee. This resulted in splitting headaches and multiple naps throughout the day. But no pain no gain right? So am I getting off coffee? Not necessarily. I do not like making commitments that I cannot keep. My long term goal is to get off coffee and to get my energy from a healthy and active lifestyle. Day "One" represents the 1st day of no coffee - "one" being in quotations since I've had many "first" days of this "...

Hey friends! For those who are new to my blog, welcome! My blog chronicles the journeys I've been having and the exploits along the way. I'll share some of my adventures from two of my recent journeys: Train for the Rome Marathon to raise money for blood cancer research and patient services. You can donate here . Living a Coffee-Free Life Journey to Rome I started off on this journey with a love for running, an excitement for travel (Rome!), and a desire to run for a cause bigger than my own. As I have continued to train, I am amazed by the stories I hear of people who have lost loved ones to cancer, friends who are fighting the good fight, and stories of survivors, who are the real heroes of this fight. As the cause becomes closer to home, I've been motivated to train harder and to do the things that my body doesn't always want to do. I realize that there are others who have it far worse than I. And the fight I fight pales in comparison to the fight many fight with can...

Preamble Saturday mornings are Group Training Sessions (GTS) with Team in Training. For those who are new to my blog, welcome! I'm training for the Rome Marathon and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you're interested in donating, you can go to my personal online fundraising page. I'll be updating my blog / site as my fundraising and training progresses. GTS We ran a 4km route starting around Yonge / Eglinton. It was my first time running in that area specifically. The weather was perfect and the people were fun. I woke up a bit late that day (i.e. 7am) so I didn't make it in time for the seminar on proper footwear, but I did make it in time for the run =) Basically, the way the training works is that we follow a training plan with group runs on Saturdays. It's more of a casual / fun run and a way to update each other on how our training and fundraising are going. I find this kind of community support to be pretty effective - the bulk of the t...

Fundraising Goal: $10,000 Fitness Goal: 42.2 km, full marathon The journey to Rome will be exciting! I'll be raising money for a good cause and training to run my first marathon. This week, I'll need to plan out my fundraising and also start training. The key to my training (and fundraising) is consistency . I missed the first Group Training Session with Team in Training this past Saturday since I was in New York for a Taekwondo tournament ( blog ). I'll be going to my first training session this Saturday (8:00 AM in the morning!! ugh > Today is my 4km tempo run. I'll do the tempo run for my "lunch break" and read through the fundraising manual tonight. This will help me get it done, as I have a tendency of wanting to do many things, but doing only a few. Ever since I started drinking coffee, I haven't really stopped. I haven't had a cup today and don't plan to. I'm working on breaking free from my dependency on coffee. I don't like t...

Greetings Yes, it's been a while. My apologies for being MIA for the past few weeks. Here's an update of my life journey. Coffee For those of you who are new to this blog, welcome :) The Coffee Purge Reloaded is my new journey with coffee, where my goal is to get off coffee eventually. The process is important. But cold turkey is not necessary. (My previous cold turkey attempts have failed miserably). Rather, my goal is to be free of this drink, pressing forward, nevertheless. As for some numbers, it's Day 43 since I started this Reloaded Coffee Purge (in previous iterations of the Coffee Purge, I wasn't allowed to drink; now, it's okay .. the count still continues until I'm free). Also, it's Day 28 of no coffee! During these 28 days, I had one week of no caffeine. I'm not completely free from caffeine, but the fight with coffee is going well so far. And it isn't so much fight as it is flight. Fighting has been futile. Trying to battle my cravings ...

Fresh Pot of Coffee I just got into work today and saw a fresh pot of coffee that has just finished brewing. In times past, this was a huge weakness for me, inducing tremendous desire to drink, and often times, breaking my iron will. This morning, I glanced over, smiled, then boiled a pot of water. Routine. New Energy Today I woke up early to catch the GO train. I got less sleep, but started my day earlier. I recovered from the weekend on Monday, but I was worried that I would relapse into more tiredness today. It was a fight this morning, however, I'm feeling strong right now. The Coffee Purge: Next Phase So to update you, in my last post, I mentioned how I needed to make it to Friday to "earn" my instant coffee. So I made it! And it's now just over a week of no coffee (I have been drinking tea on and off). I now have 12 "vials" of instant coffee, and can only take 1 per week! If I follow through with this, this plan will take me to Christmas, earning me a ...

The above picture is taken from Nescafe's website ( here ). This is definitely a smile-inducing page. So, as an update, I had coffee Fri, Sat, Sun, and Mon. One cup each day, but still. My coffee "fast" was great and I look forward to the next round, today being the first day. The goal? Get to this Friday. Without coffee. Why? Then, I will get packs of "instant coffee" by Nescafe. Okay, admittedly, they may not taste the best and it's much different than freshly brewed coffee. But the "prize" is from one of the "coffee police" and it's more the "idea" of the prize that makes this fun and exciting! Besides, I'd hate to see them disappointed / upset because I "caved". So here we go -- onwards and upwards! By the way, today.... was ... hard. As it always is. To fight it, I drank some Masala Chai Tea (I have a box of "Tea India" from a grocery store). And throughout the day, I had lemon water =) I'm f...