I Was Not Expecting This

Welcome to today's video. We have in store a chest workout. We're going to take some pre-workout, we're going to get a massive pump, and then you know what, okay, we woke up today and the weather is absolutely amazing as always, but it's particularly hot before it starts to cool down, so we're gonna go on a road to a place that we've never been before. It's called Tarifa. It is about an hour and 20 minutes away from Marbella. Meant to be like white sand as far as the eye can see, and meant to be good kite surfing. Not sure if we'll try that out today. It's meant to be a really cool place. So we're going to go hit the gym. We have joined up the IO, probably the most amazing and expensive gyms, uh, in Europe. So definitely interesting for you guys to check that out. Go there now, hit a chest workout, and then do the road trip. So give video a thumbs up and let's get into it. So good. That's my favorite pre-workout flavor. Bubblish is all out illegal in Spain. I know how this made it past customs, but if you're in the US, UK, you can get your hands on this. How much caffeine per scoop? 400 milligrams. No wonder I act the way I do. Okay, I don't know if you can see this, guys, but there's been a lizard up in the corner for, I'd say, maybe 3 weeks now. And so we document his movements. Like, you know, yesterday he was kind of like a little bit more above the door, now he's up in the corner. But either way, he's been in this porch for many weeks now. This guy needs to like hit me up, start paying rent or something, because this is a big porch. Like, this is like a studio in Dublin. This would go for like, I would say, €1,800 per month in Dublin. Oh, he's moving! Oh, he's moving! So if you were to give some top tips for someone who wants to move to Marbella, what would be, if you plan on moving here and actually living here, not just a holiday, I would say do not come here during the summer months. So right now, this is my favorite month by far, September. You still get amazing weather but without the crowds and less insane prices. So for example, when we were renting our place, I think it was like 2 summers ago, our usual rent for like a nice big townhouse was 2,000 during the year, and then in the summer months it shot up to like 4.5, if not more. So if you want to come live here, go in— I think it's called the shoulder seasons. The months just before and after summer. Less crowds, less chaos, just kind of like a calmer time to be here. It's easier to focus. So that's tip number 1, would be to come in the kind of not so peak months, June, July, and August, to see if you really love it. Yeah. And then, so that brings me on to my next tip, is just start off with 1 month. So when we— oh my God, that's actually where we, we first started, the hotel right here. So when we first moved here, we just got an Airbnb for 1 month, and we were just finishing up in London Gyms in Dublin were closed because of lockdown, same in London. So we said, where in Europe is open? And then we ended up choosing Marbella. And the plan was just to come here for a few weeks until like normality resumes. Of course it didn't. Lockdowns kept going, all the restrictions were still in place all over the world. Marbella was fairly untouched, so we ended up just extending. And so we did Airbnb for like months, and then we decided it would be a great place to live. But I would just say jump on Airbnb monthly. If you actually set the duration to a month, usually you get a big discount off. Just do one month on Airbnb or whatever. My next tip would be in terms of what are you going to do for a living. Ideally you want to work online. So my work, whether I'm in London, Dublin, or Marbella, does not change. I've been doing this thing for— it's coming up to 8 years now, so it really didn't make too much of a difference. But if you are coming here, there's a great fitness scene, there's so many new businesses popping up. But in terms of work, ideally it is best if you can do what you do online, and so then you can just work remotely from here. Another piece of advice, and you know, this kind of bad for me to say, but it's true. A lot of people ask me about the language barrier or speaking Spanish. I am ashamed at how bad my Spanish is, you know. I really need to get better at it. But Marbella is more or less an international community. It's more or less English speaking. Everyone here speaks perfect English. Like, you go into a bank, a shop, anything, everyone speaks perfect English. So that's the main concern that a lot of people ask me about, and it really does not matter. So I tried a lot of apps. I can actually understand it all fairly well, especially when it came to building the house. That was probably the biggest Spanish teaching lesson I learned, and kind of having to read all the documents. So I can read it perfectly. That's crazy. Like, Linda's always shocked when I'm like reading a document. I can read it really well, I can listen to it really well, but I can't speak it well. And I kind of get like embarrassed when I'm trying to speak it, like, because it just sounds so silly, like my Irish accent. But I'm gonna get sit-down lessons as a pairney. That is like the only way to do it. But the apps are decent, but just kind of getting immersed and trying to learn something new every day is a better way to learn. Enough. In terms of like it's stopping you from living your life, not an issue here in Marbella. In other parts of Spain, probably. We are just arriving to the gym now, and another tip is do not worry about meeting people here. I have to say, Marbella is one of the friendliest communities I've ever been to in my entire life, and I've been all over the world. Like, especially if you join a gym, go down to the beach, everyone's in a great mood, everyone's super friendly. It's not pretentious at all. There's a lot of like super successful people here, then there's a lot of people who are just, you know, starting out and they're trying to it themselves. So really do not worry about that. It's a very, very nice place and nice atmosphere. Everyone's very friendly. But let's go to the gym, let's lift some weights. What the hell has been going on with my training and nutrition? Well, I'm about to tell you while you look at this beautiful training footage from the IO. This is one of the most beautiful gyms in Marbella, if not the world, honestly. I just joined up again because I'm staying put for the next couple of weeks, if not months. So this is going to be where I'm training for the most part, but I'll still dip into other gyms as well. But in terms of my training nutrition, okay, let's bring it back to the start of the year. Let's look at January. Okay, so January to May, we were in monk mode, we were in prep mode, and safe to say that was the best period of training and of course nutrition in my entire life. Training was perfect, and nutrition— I did not skip a day of tracking for the entire prep. It was crazy. There's been times where I've been like cutting down and, you know, I'd skip a few days, or maybe I'd go over. It was just crazy. I don't know what got into me, just super dedicated, and the results showed. So that was an amazing time. And then we competed around May 15th, and then afterwards the whole Alfley gang, they flew to Marbella and Ireland to film this kind of docu-series that we did for Alphalete. I'm going to link the finished YouTube video in the description box. It's on the Alphalete channel, and it would just mean the world to me if you go have a look at it. Like, the cinematography, the opportunity to tell my story— it's honestly a video that means a lot to me, and I'm just very grateful to Alphalete for making that happen. If you rewind back to young Rob starting out, if you told him he'd have a video like this on YouTube with one of the biggest fitness brands in the world. I just wouldn't be able to believe it. So it's crazy, and go check it out. But so after I competed, we filmed that, and that kept me on track. How could you not be motivated when filming something like that? And then we had summer, which I wanted to stay in shape for. At the same time, I also planned on relaxing and enjoying my summer, as I think I earned it, you know. I felt like I put in the hard yards leading up to summer, and so that I did do, you know, June, July I would track maybe once or twice a week, went to the gym less often, ran an upper/lower split, and had a good time and recharged the batteries. The only time I let it go a little bit too far was the Italy trip, as there was no gyms. I was in pure celebration mode as I just got engaged. There was of course no food labels, there was no macro tracking, but that's good. You gotta take some time off. And so that was an amazing time, and now we're gonna get back to it. I am on about 2,300 cals now and just doing the post-summer shred that I do pretty much every year. So I hope you enjoyed this little update from me. I'll go more in depth on it in some more videos, but that's the update from me. Enjoy the rest of the video. Look at these bicep curls, my God. Peace out. So we are in Algeciras, so we're about 25-30 minutes away from Tarifa. I'm very excited, so we're stopping for a little gas Station Break. I haven't had one of these in years. I love a Moscow Mule, like the actual drink. So I haven't eaten today, running off caffeine and liquid. So when we arrive to Tarifa, we're going to get a massive meal. I'm very excited for that. It's our first time in Tarifa. My top 3 road trips from Marbella, they're all within about an hour from Marbella, is number 1, Nerja. I would describe that as a Spanish Amalfi Coast. The cliffs, the water, crystal clear. Insane spot. That would be my number 1. Number 2, Malaga City. It's kind of like another Spanish city, like maybe Seville or kind of like Barcelona, but smaller and more beachy because it is beside the coast. Number 3 is Ronda, where I went with Joey D. I would describe that as historic— all the old bridges, the old buildings, absolutely beautiful. And we're very close to Tarifa, so let's see where it ranks on the Marbella road trip scene. That's solid. That's one of my favorites. So one thing, like I've said this before, I'll say it again, Linda calls me the walking podcast. I have a lecture, a podcast, just some form of information, some even positive reinforcement. Like I listen to some fucking Tony Robbins the moment I wake up. I don't listen to music unless I'm in the gym for like, that's an hour a day I'll listen to music. Anytime outside of that, I'm listening to positive reinforcements, I'm listening to information, and it's one of the best habits I've ever done. I started doing it maybe like like 5 years ago, and it's huge. It's a game changer. And especially if you like live on your own, it helps combat the loneliness. So that's something I do, and it's funny how that came on there. First impressions. All right, so we are in what looks like the town. There's loads of like surf shops and hostels and like nice little smoothie bars. It is so cool. Like, I saw it, like, of course I had to look up what to do in Tarifa. Yeah, I always research somewhere before I go there, and it said like how it was like a hippie surf town, and I was like, oh, you know, I'm sure they're just saying that, but it really is. We're gonna go to a place called Waikiki now for lunch, meant to be really good, and it's right on the beach. So we're in a place called Waikiki. We just went for a swim. First impressions, the sand, it is like Maldives sand. I cannot believe it. The water, crystal clear, and the beach is like huge. Like, we just sprinted all the way to the beach. It's got to be a couple hundred meters. I'll show you guys in a little bit, but we are so hungry. We're gonna get some food. I'll show you guys what we order. But first impressions of Tarifa, very good, very chilled. And also the prices, not half, a fraction of the price. Okay, cocktail here is like €9. In Nobu, where we were last weekend, €25 if not more. We're gonna order now and then see you guys in a bit. So for starters, we went for this prawn dish. Not sure what type of sauce it is, but it smells absolutely delicious. And then these, these look insane. So these are fish Goes to the taco test. No way, look at that! Oh my God, that is one of the best tacos I have ever had in my life. Wow, 10 out of 10. That's yours. Yes, perfect. And the other one. Thank you. Amazing. Thank you. I ordered sea bass, he brought the steak. I don't even mind. All right, so we ordered sea bass, but for some reason they brought the steak, and I don't even mind because that looks unreal, and it actually looks like Really healthy as well. And I think it's cooked how you like it. It's cooked exactly how I like it, I'm like perfect. I said like grilled sea bass, they brought this, I'm happy. So we've got some veggies and then a burrata salad here as well, but this is just unbelievable. Meat, veggies, sun, beach, guapo! Look at this guy, this makes you want to get a dog. We should! Old head, he's retired, he's chilling on the beach. Steak test. See how it's cooked. Cooked perfectly. Let's get some veggies on there. Mm, super good, especially for like a place that isn't a steakhouse. It's not a steak place. Really good. Waikiki, Tarifa. Excellent. We're trying to shred up after summer, so my friend here, he's going to eat the fat for us Come on, buddy. He eats the fat, I eat the protein, and that's how it's done. Ah, so last on our tarifa list— excuse the backwards hat, it is very windy here, so this is keeping my hair in place. I took a picture there a while ago, it looks like I was wearing a toupee. This is called Tombao, and this is obviously the place to be. This is obviously the vibe. Vibe. Yeah, we were like, oh, it's a little bit quiet, but this is obviously the main kind of beach area of Tarifa, so everyone's chilling out, having a good time. Like, what a relaxed vibe. Like, people are asleep on these big cushions. It's so nice. And check this behind me as well. So look at that, absolutely insane. So we're gonna chill out here for a little bit, maybe we'll catch sunset. I might have another meal, I'm still pretty hungry. There's a burger bar up there. It's calling my name. Just forget the Miami cut, bring Tarifa. So we're gonna chill out here for a little bit, music's good, and yeah, see you guys on the way home. Oh my gosh, it's hot. Is it hot? Yeah, it's a very like salty beach, but this is what you want after a nice day. So we're gonna shower here and then go straight to dinner. All right, sun setting on Tarifa, that is a wrap for today. We've got a long long drive home, but I'm looking forward to it. Gotta put on a podcast, you know how we do it. So see you guys in the next one. Keep real right here. Hope you enjoyed the roof vlog. Peace.