WILDSTRENGTH!

Read about my WILDSTRENGTH! program here.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

ZICS!

For any of you indy comic and magazine fans out there, I'll be at the Zine and Indy Comic Symposium at The Edge, in Brisbane this weekend. If you're in the area Saturday or Sunday afternoon, come and say hi. I'll have a small table and will have a mini comic sample of my 'MOULD COAST' title. Below is a cover image from my next story (hopefully a full-length comic, 24 pages) I hope to have ready by Supanova Brisbane in November. See you there!


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Transitioning to Paleo

Hi All,

As a strength coach I get asked lots of questions about training and diet. While I try to answer as many training related questions as I can, I don't usually give advice on diet because it's a highly individual thing. I can only offer my experiences on different diets I've tried for myself.

Since going Paleo a few months ago, I've been asked how I did it. This I can answer with some degree of confidence, but it may not be the way everyone else in the Paleo world has done or is doing it. You see, I'm not one to go cold turkey on anything - I need to warm up to it first by adopting changes gradually.

I started by replacing my usual breakfast of yoghurt and oats with boiled eggs. On Sunday night I boil up enough eggs for the next two or three days, and eat two each morning with my cup of tea. I did this for weeks before I felt ready to include more changes.

I then replaced my lunchtime sandwich with meat, 1/2 avocado, tomato, and carrot and a few nuts. I stuck to this for another few weeks til I was ready to eliminate carbs from dinner too (usually potato). I also cut down on beer during the week until I was only drinking a few on Saturday. I substituted beer with black tea in the late afternoons.

I would love to say it was an easy transition but it wasn't so smooth. Some days I'd eat a wrap for lunch or a muesli bar for afternoon tea. But I found reintroducing yoghurt and fruit as a snack helped. And I didn't experience a great deal of weight loss as touted by the Paleo gurus. I did notice I needed less sleep and I felt generally more comfortable in the belly (without the hunger pains), so I'm still committed to the Paleo way. Time will tell.

I hope these suggestions help you if you're struggling to transition to Paleo. Speak soon!

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

All things Paleo

Hello everyone,

I started this blog as a place to write about strength training related information I didn't (for whatever reason) get published. But when my cartooning took off and my first website was launched, the content I posted was more art/cartoon/comics based and less training related. Well for all of you who read my stuff and would like to see more of the latter, I'm finally getting around to doing just that.

I launched my book 'Wild Strength' in June and since then I've been experimenting with all things Paleo. I guess you could say my 'slant' on training is paleo-based, so I thought why not go the whole nine yards and try a Paleo diet.

I'm glad I did. It took me a few weeks to transition to Paleo, but once I did, I found it quite easy to follow. A typical day looks like this:

Breakfast: 2 x boiled eggs, handful of cashews, almonds or macadamias

Lunch: Piece of meat, tomato, carrot, 1/2 avocado, and capsicum

Dinner: Typical meat and veggies minus the potato

I snack on fruit or dried fruits and seeds if I feel like it and occasionally I'll have some yoghurt.

Now I know the diehards will say this isn't strict Paleo. I'm well aware of this but the few foods I include don't bother me in any way. And I like the 100% Paleo 80% of the time theory.

At first I missed bread (and beer, love beer), but now I don't notice it so much (still miss beer, but I have one or two on weekends, I'm not perfect!) But I like the fat loss I'm experiencing and a general sense of wellbeing. I've been on extended rehab for my shoulder and my lifts are going nowhere yet but soon I'll be zooming.

Some of the better books on Paleo are 'The Paleo Answer' by Dr Loren Cordain (who I reference in my book as a great source of paleo-based training too), 'The Paleo Solution' by Robb Wolf, and 'The Paleo Coach' by Jason Seib.

Some of my training-based articles will soon be appearing on a few Paleo sites in the near future. Stay tuned!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Welcome back!

Hello everyone,

Have to apologize for the delay in posting. My website got hacked and everything crashed. My book 'Wild Strength' is now live on Amazon as a print and kindle book. My website at bestwordsandpictures.com is now repaired and updated with new content and a purchase link for my book.

On the comics front I'm busy as every. So far I've been to Supanova Gold Coast and Oz Comic Con Melbourne.  I met up with all the great creators and friends and had my portfolio reviewed by Wolfgang Bylsma of Gestalt Comics.  Got some great feedback and hopefully made an impression. Wolfgang and the crew at Gestalt are doing some great things in comics both locally and internationally and I hope to someday team up with one of their fabulous writers and do a kick-ass book or ten. Fingers crossed!

I'm finishing artwork for two stories in the upcoming Ashcan issue #8, one for writer Cameron McDonald called 'Bad Ass' and my own 'Stealthmode' 12 pager. This issue will hopefully be launched at ZICS (zine and indy comic symposium) in Brisbane at the end of August, and I'll have a table there with copies of my works for you to check out. Very excited about this event!

In the past few months I've also completed two three-page storied for Decay, issue #15 and #16. And I continue to do 'Gym Follies' and write articles for Aussie Ironman and MILO. Whew! Can't stop now though, I've applied for funding to get to Armageddon Expo in Melbourne in October and get my stuff reviewed by Kevin Eastman of TNMT fame. Doing some cool new artwork for him to scrutinise. Then I hope to get to Coffs Harbour for the ACA Annual Awards where I'll meet the man himself Tom Richmond, who is coming all the way for the US to be here. And November is Brisbane Supanova.

Anyway here are some images of my recent works.  Thanks for hanging in there with me,

Ken


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Happy New Year

Hi All,

A little belated I know, but happy new year anyway.  I've been busy doing lots of writing and drawing over the break and am in full swing again this year.  I finished the 11 page script for Killeroo which will be published in June/July (three pages are displayed on my deviantart site).  I've also just finished a three page script for Decay which should be out in March.  I'm busily redoing my 12 page Stealthmode comic for issue 8 of Ashcan due out late this year.  After advice from The Soldier Legacy's Paul Mason (thanks Paul!) at Brisbane Supanova last year, I felt the original six pages of art weren't up to standard so I've redone them and am adding six more pages.  I've attached the superseded pages here.

Also, I've completed my manuscript for Wild Strength and the cover artwork.  Just need to get it proofread before I launch it on Kindle in June.  At the moment, I'm busy writing articles for Aussie Ironman Magazine and MILO as teasers for the book which will hopefully be both published in June to coincide with the book launch.

I'm also working up concept artwork and thumbnails for a six page comic script for Home Made, and another eight pages for the Ace Comics competition.  Phew! A busy few months ahead.  Couple this with full-time work, training, and Supanova in April and Comiccon in July, and my head is already spinning.  Anyway, got to go...Be well!