So this is a new thing for me, I had never heard of or participated in Movember till last year, I started at a new company and found that most of my colleagues in the department all had these large moustaches, was interesting to see and then I heard the story behind it. This year I have decided to join the cause.

The goal of Movember is to raise awareness to men’s health issues, specifically Prostate Cancer. The goal of the program is to grow a mustache for the month of November to bring awareness to the cause  of Men’s health which is often ignored and raise funds via sponsors and donations.

As such I have registered to participate this year and have joined a team of my fellow colleagues at work. you can check out my personal Movember page here and our team page here. If you would like to help the cause, please click on the link below which will bring you to the donation page for me.  Will update this at  the end of the month with my Movember moustache.

It’s Movember, the month formerly known as November, which is dedicated to growing moustaches and raising awareness and funds for men’s health. I have joined the movement and will be donating my upper lip to the cause for 30 days. My Mo will spark conversations, and no doubt generate some laughs; all in the name of raising vital awareness and funds for prostate cancer.

Why am I so passionate about men’s health?
*On average men live 4-5 years less than women
*1 in 7 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime
* 25,500 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year in Canada

I invite you to support me by donating to me http://mobro.co/rickymartin

You can even go old school and write a cheque payable to “Movember Canada”, reference my name and Registration Number 1604972 and send it to: Movember Canada, 119 Spadina Avenue, PO Box 65, Toronto, ON M5T 2T2

All donations are tax deductible.

We only have a month to grow Mos and raise awareness and fund, so please come along for the ride.
Funds raised will help make a tangible difference to the lives of others. Through the Movember Foundation and their men’s health partner, the Prostate Cancer Canada, Movember is funding world class awareness, research, educational and support programs which would otherwise not be possible.

For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please click on the links below:

About Movember
Prostate Cancer Foundation research
Global Action Plan

Please donate here – http://mobro.co/rickymartin

Thank you in advance for helping me change the face of men’s health. Go the Mo!

Ricky Martin

Moustache Season. Now Open.

http://static.movember.com/uploads/images/Global/2011/Donate_to_me_Sprite.png

Well with everything going on lately staying in shape and exercising has been low on the priority list. But now we have decided to stop the excuses and get back into the routine. Right now the plan is to exercise in the mornings before work.  So the first challenge to be able to accomplish this goal is to get up at a time that allows us to complete a workout and still have enough time to get ready for work, a tough balancing act for many.  So right now we decided to be able to accomplish this we will be getting up around 5AM, this is a big change especially for my wife, I can manage with a few hours of sleep, I used to do it all the time working at the airport, getting up at 4AM and going to bed at midnight or later. But my wife on the other hand has a hard time without enough sleep, so the challenge for us is to get to bed at a reasonable time to be able to get enough sleep.

So right now this is the first challenge just getting into the rhythm of going to bed at a decent hour, and getting our bodies used to it. next will be the workout schedule.

We will be re-visiting the P90X workouts. we had done them several years ago, the beauty of them is you can do them at home, you don’t need much equipment if any, and they are fairly intense. With that said the drawbacks are the commitment you have to make, basically your working out for an hour to an hour and half for 6 days a week, which is more than most people are used to, especially if you have not done any exercise routine for quite some time this can be a challenge in itself to stick to it, and is probably one of the reasons why many people quit the program early on.

Right now the plan is to start things off on Saturday….will let you know how we do.

Well we tried to stick to the raw diet, which in all honesty was not that difficult, the hardest part was probably not eating the meat that is usually a staple in our evening meal. Well we were doing pretty well once we finished off everything we had left in the freezer. But since having to travel for work, and not really having access to fresh fruits and vegetables during that time we had to deviate a bit, as result we have now modified the diet a little bit, we are eating a lot of fruits and vegetables during the day, with the exception of having some kind of meat usually at dinner. we try to stick to something healthy usually lean turkey, chicken, fish, and we usually have some kind of vegetable with it, usually a salad or combination of raw vegetables. for example this weekend on Saturday we ate fruit for breakfast, and for lunch as well, for dinner, we had sea bass, that I filleted and cooked in the oven, with a little olive oil and some herbs and lemon, and a splash of wine. And on Sunday we had fruits for breakfast, for lunch we were craving some vegetable soup, so we picked up all the ingredients and made a wonderful soup from scratch, we added cappelletti to it, and I used pancetta when cooking the vegetables before adding the water to make the broth. And for dinner we had risotto with pancetta, nothing too fancy. but we were hungry this weekend as we finally managed to get back to the gym on Saturday after a long absence as a result of being sick and holidays and travel all combined together. But we’re getting back into the routine, and with the gym routine broken out it works out nicely with work, and keeps the evenings from getting too boring.

trying to get back in the groove, and get back in the gym, am trying to come up with a soundtrack for my workouts. I like to listen to uptempo high energy music when working out. not specific to any one style or genre. some of the songs I like right now are Saturday Night Is Alright (For Fighting) from Nickelback, Live Your Life from T.I. & Rihanna as a couple examples, looking for some additional tracks so if you can post suggestions would be appreciated.