JOE gets ripped in eight weeks: Week 5

JOE’s resident videographer and Photoshop genius Peter Cooney wants to get ripped in eight weeks. With a lot of help from Raw Condition Gym, here’s how the start of the second half of the regime went.

You can check out Week 1 here, Week 2 here, Week 3 here and Week 4 here So five weeks down and three to go. If the end result was where I currently am, I would have been very pleased with my hard work over the eight-week period. However, having dropped another two per cent body fat since last weeks blog, I feel like I really can work harder and achieve even better results. I met up with Ant in Raw on Saturday morning to check that the new diet is taking effect and to get my body measurements. My body has continued to drop fat whilst I'm putting on size in the right areas (see above). I was a bit worried that I was over eating on the updated diet, so the results were a breath of fresh air. In the past five weeks, I have managed (with a lot of help from Raw and of course Courtneys) to get into the best shape of my life. Hard work does pay off and pushing yourself every day really can make a difference. I might start making them really cool and totally inspirational 'inspirational' photos on the Facebooks. At present, I feel like I will actually keep this up when the eight weeks are done. I've never really been this motivated about health and fitness before and whisper it, I think I actually enjoy going to the gym. Only Raw Condition though. Never enjoyed any other gym. All rubbish. If I can see this much change in the space of five weeks, I'm very curious as to what can be achieved over a more sustained period. In saying all that, I'm off to Graspop on June 26. That's right, the day after the last blog. So after eight weeks of hard work I get to undo it all at a metal festival. I don't think those lovely Belgian vendors will take kindly to me asking for 200g of turkey with a side of green veg thanks. Instead I get to eat a delicious Mexicano. Don't know what a Mexicano is? Well basically it's a Rustler's Pork Rib without the bun served in a cardboard sleeve but just less microwavey. If I'm feeling really wild, I'll get a cone of mayonnaise with a side of chips, as is the way they do things there. Also my belly won't be the only six-pack, wha? Also if anyone want's to buy some fantastic merch designed by yours truly, just give me a holla. It only comes in vest form. So the past week... I expected the long weekend to be somewhat challenging. But in reality it was fine. Friday, I ended up a party but didn't even dream of touching a drop. I can have all the sober fun in the world, even if those around can't :) So Saturday after the gym, I arrived home on my wonderfully high horse to my hungover fiancé. She didn't seem to want to listen to me talk about how great I felt. So to make her feel even better we went shopping, well I went shopping and she had to come along. I hated shopping previously. But with the need for a new wardrobe - size small thanks very much - I had to man up and just do it. But, I was in heaven, or Dundrum to be more correct. I'm sure some people think it's heaven. Personally I think it's an adequate construction that features useful shops laid out in a very inconvenient way. It's not The Square, Tallaght, that's for sure. I've also had very random cravings over the past week. The following is an idea of what my belly has been calling out for:

• Bowl of Special K
• Glass of ice cold milk
• Nachos with garlic dip
• McDonalds chips with milkshake dip, thats right DIP!
• XL Bacon Double Cheeseburger
• Rake of pints
• Jaffa Cake
• Anything that's not turkey or fish

The only way I can escape the cravings is to make sure my food is fully prepared for the day. As soon as I pick up my meal from Courtney's on a Saturday, I get straight home and start cooking my meals for the next two days. That's an awful lot of meat in an oven I tell's ya. But it works and reduces the chances of my hand reaching for something not on the diet. So week five down and into the sixth now. I can see the finish line in sight, but is it really the finish line or just another milestone along the way. Peter (You can, and probably should, follow Peter on Twitter here).