Archive for November 29, 2009

Never again!

It’s been a few days!! Sorry about that.

I think I left off on Wednesday with my Fat Goggles as April put it. I like that term 🙂

Thursday I was supposed to go to LA, but what a shocker, my plans got cancelled. The girl I was going with backed out at the last minute. I was pretty bummed. I ended up spending the day at my dad’s house. I decided to take a nap at around 5:30pm….14 hours later……………..

Yeah, talk about a good night of sleep. Friday, I absolutely worked my buns off in the gym. And ate like a champ. I needed it, seeing as I ate PIE on Thursday. It was planned, but still, Pumpkin AND apple pie.

Friday’s workout was Chest/Triceps. I am really sore today from it, too. I also did 30 minutes of incline walking, 15 minutes of ellipticizing(i prefer to call it that these days because i want to :-D), and sprints at the field.

Today was just Shoulders and a little Biceps. I kept it short and quick, but my shoulders were quivering as I was leaving. It actually surprised me, but I’ll take it!

Today was the NPC Western Regionals in AZ. A lot of girls from my gym were competing today, and I was “helping out” at the show for my coach Ernie. I use that term loosely, because I didn’t do much besides talk to people backstage that I hadn’t seen in a while and watch the show. It was fun to watch. One of the bikini girls tried the whole “sex appeal” tactic. There is always at least  one of those. People, this isn’t a stripper/play boy contest 🙂 It was funny though, I’ll give  her that.

We sat in the audience and picked out who we thought won their class. I’m pretty sure that some of our girls will win or place pretty high. I’m excited for them!!

Being there made me wish I was competing. I know my turn will be soon, but the smell of tan was definitely bringing me back to my first NPC show. Looking back on that show, it was SUCH an awesome experience. I think that was the best day of my entire life. I had so much fun, I felt amazing, I felt that all of my hard work had paid off, and getting 2nd place just topped it all off. I can’t think of any other day that I felt better about myself.

That is why I am SO frustrated with the way I let myself go. I know everyone (not everyone, but many) does it at least once in their competition career. I learned from my mistakes big time, and can’t wait to get back into my lean mean shape.

Things I DON’T miss…

-Not sleeping

-Waking up hungry all the time

-Not sleeping!!!!!!

That was honestly the hardest thing for me. For 3 months I didn’t sleep more than 3-4 hours at a time. That truly sucked.

What I DO miss??

-Waking up in the morning to a LEAN body.

-Working out in a sports bra and seeing rock hard abs

-Being comfortable in SHORTS. (That was the first time in my life i was ever comfortable in shorts. Another one of my weird complexes that I have.)

-Feeling so good about myself and what I was doing.

 

I’m getting back to that, but it takes patience. Working on having patience, but it’s hard! I can’t help but be a little pissed off at myself for letting myself get to this point. I have 10 weeks to lean myself out, which is totally doable, but i can’t stop myself from thinking about what I would look like if I hadn’t let myself gain weight. No use looking at what I could or should have done, though, and I know that. Forward is the only way to go from here. (Can you tell i’m trying to give myself my own pep talk? haha)

Re-losing weight you have already lost in the past is not that cool 🙂 Never again! But, it has to be done, so i’m doing it. I know you might be rolling your eyes at how much I relate my happiness to a lean body, but although I know there is more to me than a body, I just am a much happier person when I like how I look.(I’m pretty sure we all are, it’s human nature.) It doesn’t mean that having a good body automatically brings happiness to my life, but it is a piece of it.

Anyways, i’m done rambling. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! I’m getting excited about competing and anxious to fit back in my skin 🙂

Am I blind? Body Dysmorphia?!

Okay, this just goes to show how SKEWED women’s brains (or maybe just mine) are when they view themselves. I was looking through old pictures, and absolutely SHOCKED at what I saw. I saw something TOTALLY different than what I saw right after these pictures were taken. I can remember thinking to myself “I need to get leaner” Looking at the pictures now, I am thinking “i looked pretty good!”

I am honestly in shock at my skewed view of how I looked. This was in May. I WILL get back to this body, and even better, just gotta be patient…….

 

I remember looking at this picture and thinking that I needed my abs to be more defined, and that I looked bloated and not lean enough. Maybe this isn’t a “show ready” body, but now that I am looking at it, I can honestly say that I think my stomach looked good!

 

This picture, I remember thinking that I would NEVER be ready for my show in time. THis was about a month out from NPC. I thought that my legs didn’t look good and that I had love handles on my back. HA.

I am in no way saying I looked perfect, and there are definitley some improvement areas, but what I am getting at is that I am WAY TOO HARD ON MYSELF.

I need to ease up and give myself some slack. Know that what I am doing WORKS and know that I just need to be patient, and see my body for what it really is at the moment and not what I think it needs to be in the future. It will get there, I just have to let it.

 

Now, with that said, I am going to practice this whole patience thing because I absolutely know I’m not looking like that these days 😉 In due time…….

Sedonut

Perry and I left at about 9am on Saturday en route to Sedona, where the beer flows like wine, where the women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano…..

Anyways, 2nd time is a charm. Not only did we miss the first exit to Sedona and have to turn around, once we got to Sedona, we had 3 different destinations. A “float” excursion(which only Perry did. It was $50 bux to float in epsom salts, no thanks.), a hike, and shops. We got to all of those places on the second try. We either missed the turn because we were ogling at half of a deer sticking out of a trailer not paying attention, or because of bad directions that we had to figure out on our own.

Either way, we had a blast. He’s a really good friend of mine and we acted like 6 year olds the entire trip.(Including narrating an episode of Bear Grylls Man vs. Wild, and using a hiking stick as a light saber. For 2 hours.) I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m a kid at heart and don’t plan on ever growing up.

By the way, I had my phone, keys, and a bunch of other crap in my jacket pockets, so the answer is no, I don’t have a pyramid or any other weird objects growing out of my stomach. Also, the first picture is of a trailer. What was inside the trailer you ask?? The obvious…a mattress, and half of a deer. I’m assuming this guy was moving. Mattress? Check. Half of a deer? Check. Ready to go!

 

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Two’s Day

Ahhhnold was on Jay Leno last night and I’ve been fighting the urge to talk like Arnold all day. 🙂

Thanks everyone for the feedback on the new layout and new additions.  I appreciate it!

Let’s get to it….

Workout

Part Uno: Back/Lower Abs

Assisted Chin Ups, Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns, Close Grip Cable Rows, and T-Bar Rows. Haven’t done those in a while and I missed them. For abs I did Hanging Leg Raises in the captain’s chair(last set hanging from the chin up bar), Hip Ups, and Russian Twists.

I kept reps at 8-10 today and thinking some DOMS is in my future.

Finished that workout up with 30 easy minutes on the elliptical. I went easy because I knew that there would be more to come….

Part Deux: Sprints and Hammys

Sprint workout at the park, followed by Romanian Deadlifts, 45* Hypers, Single Leg Hip Thrusts, and Quadrupled Hip Extensions underneath the Reverse Hyper.

Did 155 for deadlifts. Last week I did 165, but for whatever reason I was just being a big [insert your own word that might reference a female body part here] today.

I would have loved to have a video of those exercises to show you guys, but I’m a genius and left my camera battery at home. Perfect.

Nutrition

Okay, so food wasn’t different today like I had planned. I just love what I eat so much. Sorry if it’s boring.

Meal 1: 1 egg, 1 cup egg whites, 1 apple, 1 TBSP Almond Buttah

Post Workout: 1 scoop protein+1 tsp glutamine

Meal 2: 1 c. spinach, 1 c egg whites, 4 oz. sweet potato, 1 TBSP Almond butter, Asparagus(This meal was super feeling and i had to force down my next two meals.)

Meal 3: 4 oz. chicken, 1/4 avocado, 2 TBSP Salsa, Grapefruit, Green Beans

Meal 4: 1 egg, 1 cup egg whites, steamed kale, sriracha

Meal 5: Same as meal 3 …but minus the grapefruit and green beans, add more asparagus.

Only got 5 meals in today, but it was a busy day as far as work. I got home from the gym and was sending out invoices like it was my job.(Oh right, it is my job.) Then had to deal with some bank stuff for the company, not fun, but oh well.

Question.

Which bear is the best bear?

Bears

Beets

Battlestar Galactica

Reverse it.

Blog fail. I meant to update you guys last night, but I was busy cooking!(Yes, you heard saw that right.)

I’m going to do things a little backwards today because I’m a little bit backwards in general.

Shenanigans

Yesterday afternoon, I should have had a class at 2:20 and another at 6. After the gym and doing some work, I decided that a hike seemed much more fitting. I was right.

I hiked this mountain on Sunday morning, and the weather was so perfect yesterday, that I thought I should go again. I pushed myself hard and was sweating like Mike Tyson in a spelling bee. I didn’t time myself, but wish I would have because I’m pretty sure I shaved off at least 3-4 minutes from the day before.

When I got to the top, I sat there and just relaxed for a good 20 minutes. It was so nice up there and I didn’t have a care in the world. I contemplated not even coming down, but realized I had no food, so that was out of the question.

At one point, a police helicopter came by and was probably a good 30-40 yards away just hanging out and waving so people could take pictures. It was actually pretty cool. Thank you hard working tax dollars 🙂

Nutrition

Meals were pretty much the same as every other day. The only difference was that I had coconut oil with tuna at one point…and other than that it was pretty normal. I’ll post today’s eats because they are a little different.

Like I said earlier, I pulled a Martha Stewart and started cooking last night (while I should have been in class.) I made steamed Kale, Asparagus, a shlot of green beans(seriously like pounds of them), and 2.5 pounds of chicken with salt free fajita(pronounced fa-jy-ta) seasonings. It smelled good, hopefully it tastes good to.

That doesn’t seem like much cooking now that I wrote it out, but I had 4 pots going at once and coming from a girl who just learned to use a microwave a year ago, this is good.(Kidding of course, it was 6 months ago.)

Workout

Shoulders and Bicep Destruction. Hoo-ah!

Standing Barbell Military Press:

50lb x 15   50lb x 15   60lb x 6 —>40lb x 6 (that means a drop set)  50lb x 10

DB Lateral Raises:

15×15   15×12   20×8   20×6–>12×10

Seated DB Miltary:

25×12   25×12   25×12   30×8–>15×8

Rear Delt Raise:

15×12   15×12   15×12  

DB Bicep Curls:

20×15   25×6–>20×6     25×6–>20×6   25×6–>20×6

Incline Bicep Curls:

15×8   15×8

Preacher Curls with Resistance(had someone pulling resistance throughout each rep)

2 sets at 25lbx8

2 sets of 21’s with 10 lb DB’s

Cardio: 30 min. stepmill, 15 min. elliptical, Hike

 

Are you still with me? If you are, God bless you. Thought you might like seeing the weights/reps I use. I did a lot of super sets too, so the military press and lateral raises were supersetted, along with a few other things.

Hoping to get some videos out soon, I didn’t forget. And a Sedona recap should be ready within a day or two. Still waiting on pictures/video. The video is worth the wait,  I assure you. Although, you may look at me in a whole new light haha. (Get your minds out of the gutter, not that kind of video.)

Layta!

 

Productive-ish

Yesterday I got to spend the entire day in Sedona. It was absolutely gorgeous. I’m going to save the full recap for when I have the pictures sent to me. Good times though 🙂

At the moment, I’m at work. There are 2 people working out right now. Sundays are just DEAD around here. During the week, this place is poppin’ like a night club(okay, exaggeration) but weekends, especially weekend afternoons: Nada.

This morning I hiked Squaw Peak with my future roomie. It was a good hike, and wow do we have some pretty cool plans(both training and business) that we will be working on together. We will be unstoppable!

I have a lot of homework and stuff to do this week. So far, I got an online quiz, online test and part 1 of a 3 part paper finished. Also got a workout plan out to one of my clients and in the process of writing another one. I love my work 🙂 So rewarding.  I still have another assignment I need to do(on a different computer, so not while I’m at work) and need to put together a study guide for a test I have a week from Thanksgiving.

Trying to get as much done as possible before I leave for L.A. on Thursday morning. Going to be a really quick trip. I’m driving up Thursday morning, staying the night and leaving Friday morning because I have to work at 5pm. It will still be a good time with good friends.

This weekend was the Fitness America Weekend in Vegas. I am so proud of my friends that participated. My amazing posing coach, Tiffani Bachus took the WIN for fitness, another friend took 1st in her Figure Class, and 2 others placed 4th and 5th in their figure classes. The classes were 30-35 girls each! Absolutely incredible!! Our team of girls kicked some major ass in Vegas.

Next Saturday is the NPC Southwest Regionals. A bunch of girls I work out with are competing, and I will be backstage helping them.

So, with all the events going on and coming up, I am really trying to get homework out of the way. That way, I just have work stuff, my own workouts, and maybe some relaxing(yeah right) to focus on.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend. 3 short days and then Thanksgiving!

The Truth.

Here’s the truth.

Life isn’t fair.

I’m not saying that in a “Oh, poor me, my life sucks!” kind of way. I actually LOVE my life. I have so much to be thankful for and I appreciate SO MANY things in my life.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have problems, just like everyone else, though. I’ve dealt with things that I should have never had to deal with, and am STILL dealing with those issues. That’s beside the point, though.

The point is, we are each given different problems in life. Some people’s problems don’t stray far from having their car break down or a flat tire. Some people are constantly dealing with things you only see on Dr. Phil and True Life. (You know when you are watching those shows and your jaw drops because you can’t believe that ACTUALLY happens..)

Regardless of just how bad you think your problems are, THOSE ARE YOUR PROBLEMS. THAT is your life. It WILL NOT change.

You have two options:

1) Dig a really big hole in your backyard, crawl inside and never come out.

2) DEAL WITH IT.

I’ll choose option 2.

Make the best of what you have. If you don’t have much, get creative. Realize and ACCEPT the fact that this is your life. You can dwell on what you DON’T have or how you WISH things were, or you can learn to accept that “Hey, these are my problems, this is my life, and it’s up to me to make the most out of it.”

No, life isn’t fair. It never will be. Happiness doesn’t just ‘happen’ to people, happiness is EARNED by WORKING FOR IT. But to test the true character of a person, watch how they push through their own barriers. Those who are constantly happy, aren’t people without problems. These are people that have found a way to push through their problems and navigate their way to a happy and good life.

The hardest part of doing this is the acceptance. ACCEPT your life and your surroundings, and begin to APPRECIATE what you have, WORK for what you want, and ENJOY the happiness that YOU CREATE.

Tan everywhere

Jan everywhere. (I watch way too much of The Office.)

Moving on…

Today was..interesting.

Started out pretty normal. I decided to let myself sleep in today. Sure enough, I was wide awake at 5am. I got up had breakfast and headed to the gym.

Workout- Back/Biceps/Hamstrings

This week, my trainer has been doing all high rep sets because a lot of the girls are competing next week. I have been doing my own workouts most days this week because I’m not competing, but didn’t really feel like thinking today.

We had a circuit going on involving SL deadlifts, One leg SL deadlifts, DB SL deadlifts, lying ham curls, lying bicep curls, seated bicep curls, EZ bar curls, hammer strength seated rows and lat pulldowns.

Pretty good workout, but I just don’t really like high rep workouts. I like 8-12 reps for my sets, but also know that high reps have their benefits as far as building muscle endurance.

Afterwards, I did a little over 3 miles outside for cardio.

I went home and ate, watched the Fitness America live webcast and dealt with some crap. I got really stressed out and happily accepted an invitation back to the gym. The cure for any and all bad things??? SQUATS. They made me feel muchh better.

i <3 squats and deadlifts. end o’ story.

Nutrition

Bored with this yet? haha

Meal 1: 1 whole egg(omega 3 enhanced), 1 cup egg whites, 1/4 cup wheat bran, 1/4 rolled oats, 1/2 banana, 1 TBSP almond butter, cinnamon+1 shot amazing grass

Meal2: 1 scoop protein+1 tsp glutamine

Meal3: sweet potato, 1 TBSP Almond butter, 1 cup egg whites

Meal4: 4 oz. chicken, 1/4 avocado, sriracha, 1 TBSP almond butter

Meal5: 1 banana mixed with 1/4 cup organic pumpkin and 1TBSP almond butter(this wasn’t planned, but i was such a bottomless pit today and i wanted something sweet)

Meal 6: 1 cup spinach, 1 cup egg whites, 3 slices tomato, 2 TBSP salsa and Green Beans

Shim Shimminy Shim Shim Sharoo!

Tomorrow I’ll be up bright and early for boot camp and then abs class. Afterwards, like I mentioned yesterday, I’m booking it home to meet my friends Perry and Danny to head to Sedona for the day to hike and hang out by the creek. I am beyond stoked because I really NEED to get out of Phoenix for the day. Today was too stressful and I’m blessed to live less than 2 hours from such a beautiful place.

Here’s a teaser….

More pictures to come.

I have my food packed for tomorrow…here it is…

Meal 1: Usual (egg, egg whites, oats with the usual mix-ins, amazing grass)

Meal 2: sweet potato, AB, Egg whites

Meal 3: 4.5 oz. chicken, 1/4 avocado, red bell pepper

Meal 4: 4 oz. tuna, 2 tsp coconut oil, asparagus

Meal 5: 4.5 oz chicken, 1/4 avocado, red bell pepper, sriracha

Also packed some almonds with me.

Soap box shmoap shmox

I’m currently watching the Office and 30 Rock, so sorry if this post makes no sense. But then again, do i ever?

Rant

Someone at the gym today asked me why I was doing 8-12 reps because “why would I want to bulk up? Don’t I want to do high reps so I can build lean muscle?”

First, let me clear something up. All muscle is LEAN muscle. Fat is fat, muscle is muscle, k?

Next, women don’t just “bulk up.” Depending on genetics, women will put on muscle differently. YES, if you lift heavier, you can potentially put on more muscle than if you were to lift lighter weights, but muscle doesn’t grow like weeds people. It takes LOTS of hard work. You aren’t going to become the hulk by using heavy weights. Don’t be afraid. (Obviously genetics play a role and some women put on more muscle than others, but unless you are injecting yourself with growth hormones, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.)

Sorry, it got on my nerves. I’ll step down from the sudsy box. (What is a soap box anyways?? I’m only 21, i still get to pretend I’m naive and too young to know anything :))

Workout

I made it to boxing this morning and it was awesome as usual. I didn’t finish eating breakfast until about 20 minutes before boxing, so I thought I might be feeling it slosh around in my stomach, but it was fine. It was just me and one other guy with Steve, so it was pretty much one on one. Loved it!

Afterwards, I hit up the other gym for shoulders and abs. It was a pretty good work out, nothing to write home about, but I can’t really lift my arms above my head, so I think I did something right.

Seated DB Military Press, Lying Rear Delt Pulls, Cable Rear Delt Flys, Standing Barbell Military, Push Press, Front Raises, Swiss Ball Band Crunches(blue band), Planks (2 body weight, and one with 25 lb weight) and Hip Ups. I think that’s it.

I left there, grubbed it up, went to Walmart for useless bolog-na, got gas, went to the bank, and then came home and chowed down some more. 🙂

Afterwards, some more sprints at the park and then back to the gym for Triceps(i was too lazy to do them this morning). I got a pretty good pump going–i dug it.

I did Pushdowns w/ a turnover, Reverse pulldowns, over head extensions, skull crushers, one arm pull downs and assisted dips.

Nutrition

Meals for today……

Meal 1: 1 whole egg, 4 egg whites, 1/4 cup wheat bran, 1/4 cup rolled oats, 1 TBSP Almond Butter, 1/2 banana, and a shot of Amazing Grass. I’m actually starting to like the taste.

Meal 2: 1 scoop protein

Meal 3: 1 sweet potato+1 TBSP Almond butter+1 cup egg whites

Meal 4: 1 cup greek yogurt, freeze dried strawberries and slivered almonds

Meal 5: 1 scoop protein+1 tsp glutamine

Meal 6: 4 oz. chicken, 1/4 avocado, sriracha, 1 bag of green beans.

More Bolog-na

I’m insanely tired tonight and going to try to take it easy tomorrow. The last few days have been tough workout-wise and work-wise. I’ve been getting so much done though, so I can’t complain. Today I got a ton of invoices out for work, put together a portfolio for a friend for his new website, worked on a meal plan for a client, did some homework and got errands out of the way.

Tomorrow I’m planning on finishing up a few homework assignments, taking an online test, more help for the website guy, more invoices and pay some bills, and hopefully get in a run in the morning and a good ham/glute workout. Then Saturday I’m off to Sedona with my friend Perry. Hiking and hanging. Good times with Good people.

This is getting way too long, and I don’t have anything interesting to write about. Do yourself a favor and watch 30 Rock from tonight. It does not disappoint.

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