Back to Building

Well it's that time of the year again.
I finally got hold of my treadmill (ordered around New Year) and ran hard about 3 times per week for 20 mins each time to give myself a strong cardio workout.
This lasted about 2 months then I hurt my foot diving and missed running for 4 weeks.
OK, so one week was pure laziness but you can't rush these things!

I also noticed if I don't run then my healthy food ideals go out the window so I've gone back to full time training. It's the only way to keep focused when your will power is as lame as mine.
So it's back to 30mins light jogging everyday and lifting on splits alternate days with dedicated ab work every 4 days (part of lower body split workout).
Working on this programme with higher protein, lower carbs and a healthy mix of one day off for feasting I should be a 12lbs lighter without losing muscle mass within 6 weeks. Great for healthy diving and all things summer related.

If you're looking for great articles, photos, forum, products etc. check out the link. There's a lot of exceptionally useful info if you're into building your own workouts but there's also sample programmes and guidelines for healthy eating.
Most of the products offered are available in the UK if you hunt around the web but personally I stick to a multi-vitamin from Centrum, Milk Thistle Extract from Solgar when I want a detox and plenty of natural egg whites for pure protein.
I've tried Xenadrine EFX (the one WITHOUT ephadrine in it) but this was too high in caffeine for me (I drink decaf diet coke, no coffee, tea or anything else with caffeine so I'm not used to it!)
It does get good reviews though but I'd recommend building up the dosage slowly to see how your system reacts to it.

If you're looking at fat loss or mass building products using herbal extracts check these links out:
http://www.physiciansselect.com/herbal-supplement-dictionary.htm
http://www.health4youonline.com/
http://www.onlinefit.com/health/
http://www.bodybuilding-supplements-for-you.com/
http://www.slimhelp-uk.com/product_list.asp

And these are handy:
http://topendsports.com/testing/bodycomp.htm
http://www.jeffgalloway.com/index.html
http://www.mrtrainer.com/exercise.html

Summer Madness Youth Festival

Summer Madness, the Christian youth festival will be on from July 5th - July 10th in the Kings Hall, Belfast. As Ireland's largest Christian festival it promises to be another year of great fun and stunning work as speakers and campers from around the world converge to hear and share God's word.

As a volunteer for over ten years now I will be back on the security team and can't wait for another 6 days hard work in the service of the Lord. To help us out this year I'll be installing wireless CCTV to assist with crowd management and emergency control making it safer than ever!

If you're interested in joining us as a volunteer on the security team, you don't mind applying for the PECS check and you're over 21, contact myself at mike@bigbluesquid.com or go www.summermadness.co.uk for the all the details!
If you do apply through the Summer Madness website, drop me an e-mail anyway and let me know!

Catalogue Launch

The Big Blue Squid catalogue has appeared in the June edition of Dive magazine one week early. First copies arrived on Friday 13th May with the majority appearing on BSAC members doorsteps on Saturday 14th May.
There are still some copies due to be delivered throughout this week but so far the response has been stunning.

A number of Fantasea housings have been delayed due to production and high volume ordering issues but the first items will be in stock by early next week.
They will be appearing on the website on Thursday 19th May.

Prototypes are Complete

Woohoo!! (That's a technical term btw).
The Blue Reef project prototypes are now ready. Six models have been produced and will be presented to potential licensees within three weeks.

Results of that meeting will be posted here!

Life in the Tank Returns

'Life in the Tank' will return!
Life in the Tank was a computer drawn comic strip I designed many years ago and was very popular among the very few who knew about it.
Now, I finally have time to resurrect 'Life in the Tank' and will be adding it to the Big Blue Squid website.

It will of course have it's own website but in the mean time look out for it on www.bigbluesquid.com.

New personal website development

After half a dozen personal sites from diving info to travel photos I've finally dumped them all in favour of one 'super-site'.
From this week on I'll be working on a new database driven site comprising all my photography work from travel to combat, wildlife to diving plus new info on my other interests and hobbies including weather tracking, gadget building and other travel related info which hopefully will be of use to others.

It should take no more than about two weeks to design the site and a further week to build it followed by an ongoing 'deposit' of images into the database to finally catalogue them all.

While it's not designed to be a commercial site, the wildlife photos will be available for sale again for anyone interested in purchasing them.

Blue Reef Prototype Production Underway

The first Blue Reef prototypes have gone into production. The five SLA models will be cast and dyed by early next week with final units being ready for the following weekend. (14th approx.)

Licensing talks will then be planned for the third or fourth week in May.