Archive for December 12, 2009

Midnight blogging

I would say the one things I hate most about contest prep is that I can’t sleep. During my last prep, I slept for 3-4 hours at a time. If I slept through the entire night, it was a God-send.

Apparently my diet is taking effect, because the sleepless nights are back. Last night I woke up and was able to fall back asleep pretty easily, tonight, not so much. Instead of laying in bed wishing I was sleeping, I got up and made some tea and am going to blog. If this makes no sense, then I must be sleep walking 🙂 Speaking of dieting……

Nutrition

Things have been going really well. 110% well. I love  it and I am not feeling deprived what-so-ever. The carb-cycling works well for me and I’m already down 2 pounds from last week. I have to keep it at this rate in order to be ready for the show, but I’m feeling confident.

Most of yesterday’s meals were Twittered, but here they are…

m1 at 430 am :-o: 1 egg, 5 whites, 2 T salsa

m2: 1 scoop protein

m3: 1 cup spinach, 5 egg whites, 1 T chia seeds soaked in water and mixed with stevia/cinnamon.

m4: 4 oz ground turkey burger, 1/2 cucumber and mustard

m5: 1 cup spinach, 1 can no salt added tuna, 1/2 avocado, a few slices of tomato/cucumber, 2 T Salsa

m6: 4 oz. ground turkey burger, 1/2 T coconut oil, 1 med. carrot

m7: Protein Ice Cream and a bag of green beans

Yes, 7 meals, but they were all pretty small and my calorie/macro count came in perfectly.

Workout

Got to the gym bright and early, and did a light shoulder/tricep workout(20 reps). Afterwards, I headed to StepMill for an hour at Level 7. It was pretty tough and talk about a sweaty betty(yetti?).

Other Nonsense

As I sort of mentioned, I was up at 4:30am yesterday to workout. I was covering a shift at work starting at 7-ish so I needed to get my workout in before hand. I turn into a pumpkin in the afternoon and my workouts always SUCK if I wait.

I got off work at around 2:30pm, headed to my dads to pick up a few things, and came home. Completely. Exhausted. I sat around and drank some tea, ate, and watched The Office. I won’t give anything away, but there was one part that I kept watching over and over and couldn’t stop laughing. Maybe one of the funniest things that has happened this season, in my opinion.

I crawled into bed at a whopping 8PM, and slept until just a little bit ago. Speaking of The Office, maybe I’ll watch that again.

I’ve got boot camp at 7am tomorrow, and then working 12pm-6pm. Sunday I’m doing a bleacher workout with some fitness gals (and guy!) and then working another 12-6pm shift. I need a day to myself! I’m thinking Wednesday will be the day that happens. Only 2 more finals(one is online) and then I’m done for the semester. I have a lot of things to get done over break. One being getting to my office and getting through a ton of paperwork and re-organizing things. I have been working from home for the last month or so, so the actual office needs some TLC. That will be at least a 3-5 day project.

Other things on my agenda for break are to:

– clean out my truck!! If you saw it, you might thing a family of 4 with 3 dogs lived in there.

-Re-organize my new room..it’s pretty much a disaster right now. What a shock! and get the last few things from my Dad’s house.

I think that’s it, but I’m determined to get those things done. I also started working on a bucket list for 2010. It lists all of the things I would like to do/accomplish in 2010. I’m excited for the new year!

Anyways, now that I’ve rambled like a stalling pastor, I’ll wrap this up. I guess I should leave you with a picture to spice things up…..

Why this picture? Well because my sister’s boyfriend in the background makes the picture haha.

Chestaratops and biceptasaurus-rex

Hola! (Do you ever find it awkward to be writing a hi, hey, or hello, at every single post. Maybe I will stop. Rebel blogger.)

Today was a really good day. I was in a good mood for the first half, and a bad mood the second half(due to being tired mostly.)

Workout

I started off the day with some boxing!! It was SO much fun. We sparred today for the first time. A 60 year old man kicked my ass, but it’s cool. I also sparred with 3 other people, one of whom was my instructor. He started talking shit to me at the end to get me to hit him harder, he knows me too well haha.

We started off with 2 minutes on, 1 minute off, and then half way through the class, we had no more breaks.  I seriously had no energy left by the time the 60 minutes was up. I felt like I had gotten hit by a stampede, and then reaped of any and all awakeness that I had prior to the class.

The verdict? Most fun boxing class to date. I shall return 😉

Afterwards, my friend talked me into going to tan at her work. If you know me at all, you know I do NOT do tanning beds. I am against them in every way, shape, or form, but maybe the boxing lowered my inhibitions. I am not against tanning in the sun(although I am aware of the skin cancer dangers and try not to over-do it), but I live in amoxil-info and paying for a tanning bed is just dumb. We have sun almost every day of the year. Talk about stupid spending. Anyways, i tanned for free and I’m pretty sure my arm pits are burnt. What is hotter than that? The sweet zits that keep popping up on my face. 🙂 Are ya still with me??

I dragged my toasted body to the gym afterwards to lift. Today was Chest/Biceps.

Chest was mostly machines. Chest flys, cable flys, hammer strength incline press, EZ bar curls, DB curls, Preacher curls(machine). Why so many machines? My trainer chose them, not me. I let him take the reins of my workouts this week. We finished up with some ab work.

This afternoon I did a sprint workout and realized how dead my legs are from yesterdays Stump Day. It was still a good workout, but I was just exhausted in general. I may or may not be getting faster with my sprints. Most likely not, but a girl can dream right?!

Nutrition

Meals were good today, but the balance was a little weird. It still turned out good in the end.

M1: 1 egg, 5 whites

M2: 4 oz. ground turkey burger

M3: Protein Shake

(all protein, not ideal.)

M4: 4 oz. ground turkey burger, 1 carrot, green beans, and a Flax Cracker(just flax and water)

M5: Protein Ice Cream

M6: 4oz ground turkey burger, 1TBSP PB, mustard, and a broccoli/cauliflower mix.

M7: Protein Ice Cream(addict much?)

It seems like a lot of food, but only 1658 calories worth. It was also a low carb day if you didn’t notice. Two more low carb days and then carb day is Sunday!

I’m off to go pack food for tomorrow and then be in bed by 9. I am working out at 530am and then working until 1 or 2pm. Should be a good time 🙂

Good night!

Stump Day & NEW meals :)

Not too much commentary from me today. I’m about to hop in the shower, and finish writing a paper. Jealous?!

I will however fill you in on my eats and stumps leg day 🙂

Workout

Heavy Legs + Plyos

Heavy(10 reps): Leg Extensions, Leg Press, Decline Leg Press, Hack Squat, Smith Squat, DB Walking Lunges(around the whole effing gym three times. Good gravy. (my teacher was saying that today and i thought it was funny. who says that?! Andy Seagle does. He’s a cool dude.)

Plyo circuit: Sled of Death Prowler(70lbs), Toe touches, bench jump overs, plyo step ups, box jumps, more box jumps, cable squats, up and overs.

It. was. brutal. That’s all I have to say 🙂 I was a sweaty mess afterwards, and most definitely did  NOT do cardio afterwards.

Nutrition

It’s almost effortless to eat perfectly now that I’m out of the sweet factory my dad’s house. I was up against cookies, ice cream, cakes, pies,M&MS!! etc. on an almost DAILY basis. I have a weakness what can I say? 🙂

I’ve also been eating some NEW and EXCITING things, thanks to my savvy roomie.

I have been doing a low carbs with high carbs on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Today was Wednesday…carb day 🙂

Meal 1: Sweet Potato Pancake + Amazing Grass

Meal 2: 1 scoop Protein after workout

Meal 3: 1/4 c. wheat bran, 1/4 c. rolled oats, 3 egg whites, 1 TBSP Pumpkin, 1 TBSP Peanut butta, pumpkin pie spice.

Meal 4: sweet potato pancake (made with only 2 oz. sweet potato this time)

Meal 5: 6 egg whites, 1 bag o’ green beans and sriracha

Meal 6: Protein Ice Cream.

My breakfast made me SUPER full, and it was only 250 calories. All day I’ve been getting full pretty easily. Probably means tomorrow I will be a bottomless pit. Bring it 🙂

Agenda for tonight is to finish this paper and then maybe watch some stupid shows on Hulu, since we decided not to get cable. Cheap-o’s ova heeyah.

Have a good night!

The Move

Hey! Sorry for leaving everyone hanging! (I’m sure you have just been pacing waiting for me to post right?! ;-))

Anyways, I just moved this weekend, so I haven’t been able to get on the internet.  The move went really smoothly(Smooth move ba da chhhh) and I’m all settled in. I LOVE my new apartment and I couldn’t be happier. My roommate and I have enough protein powder, supplements, and eggs to feed an army. We are both prepping for the same show and it is SO easy to prep when you live with someone who is also prepping.

She also happens to have her own cookbook and is teaching me some new amazing recipes. ALL CLEAN, CONTEST PREP APPROVED. If you want a copy of her cookbook, go to her website. I’m telling you, genius. I ate ice cream tonight. And it was totally clean and prep-worthy. 

Anyways, the workout:

I decided I need to kick my cardio up. Yesterday, I did back/hams with Ernie, and then hopped on the treadmill.

Treadmill Hell

10 minutes of running intervals: 2 min. 6.5 mph; 1 min. 8.5mph

10 minutes of incline walking: 10% 3.5 mph(go up .1 mph every minute until you get to 4.0 then stay there)

10 minutes of running intervals

10 minutes of incline walking: 15% 3.3 mph(go up.1mph every minute until you get to 4.0 then stay there)

10 minutes of running intervals

10 minutes of incline walking(10% one)

I was completely dead after this workout.

Today

Today’s workout was Shoulders and Triceps.

DB Presses, Upright Rows, Standing Military, Front Raises, Lateral Raises, Cable Front Raises, Tricep Pressdowns, over head extension, rear delt flys , dips, and I think thats it.

Everything was 3 sets of 8-10 reps.  i finished it up with cardio

Today was just incline walking. I did 45 minutes going from 10-15% and 3.3mph-3.7mph. It was a tough one. Not as hard as yesterday, but I still walked away a sweaty mess.

Neither boxing, nor sprints happened today, but that’s another story.

Hope everyone is doing well! I’m trying to get caught up, but it’s also finals week. I should have a more normal schedule next week!

Motivation

Let me start you off with a few videos…..

And one more…

I’ve talked about it before, but I’ll say it again. Losing weight, training for a marathon, prepping for a competition, or WHATEVER your goal may be is NOT about your diet, exercise or training plans.

Those things are about 10% of acheiving your goal. The other 90% comes from your motivation, drive, persistance and consistency.

Motivation is probably one of the hardest things to acheive. YES, we want to achieve the goal, but staying motivated all the time can be really hard. When you get your swing moving, things become easier and your motivation can become more consistent and apparent.

For anyone reading this that is stuck in a rut, we’ve all been there. Here, let me say it again: WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE. You are not alone. You are not a loser because you can’t keep your motivation high. Hell, I’ve been there. I would venture to say that I have been there the past, oh, 5 months? Yep, that’s right.

I’ve been struggling, but something clicked with me tonight. I realized a few nights ago that I was really unhappy with myself. Yes, I have been in a pretty good mood most of the time, but deep down: Not Happy. I wasn’t keeping up with my goals and was just letting time slip past me. My only explanation for this is that somewhere down the line, I stopped doing this stuff for me. I started eating well and training for my coaches, sponsors, and friends.

All of these people were “counting on me”(in my head) to compete and get better. I lost my biggest fan, though, ME.

I found her today. After some serious events that hit rock bottom today, I realized that I needed to get my happiness back. I was letting outside factors and simply, a lack of personal motivation get the best of me.

Let me put this out there, I LOVE my life. As hard as things get, and as ashamed of myself as I’ve been, I still love my life. I love training HARD. For some people, getting to the gym is a real struggle and eating right is pretty simple. Although I do LOVE eating healthy, I also like to eat a LOT haha. That doesn’t exactly work when you’re trying to slim down for myself. Not for a competition(although that is a landmark along the way), but for ME. I like my body lean. It compliments my training. It makes me feel good about myself and it reinforces my hard work. So there. 😛

Getting to the gym is easy for me. I LOVE lifting, i LOVE pushing myself to the absolute max. Sprints and running bleachers? Yes, i love it.(Although during it I swear like a pirate and grunt, but that’s just part of my sound effects. I swear one day I will make a soundtrack of myself )

I remember around this time last year, I  made a goal. I decided that I was going to get in the best shape of my life, and that when I was ready I would do a competition. March 2009 was in my mind, but when the time came, I didn’t feel ready. So I pushed on and decided on July. About 2 months before the NPC show, my posing coaches told me that I shouldn’t do it. The reasoning is that we were all planning on doing a show in August, and two shows in a row is hard to do.(Learned later, they were so RIGHT.) HOWEVER, I decided to do that NPC show because it was what I had been working for and I wanted to do a damn competition already!! So I did. And I placed 2nd. And had the best day/night of my entire life.

Here’s to me re-committing myself to being healthy and happy. I have found the peace within myself that i have been looking for. All it took was for me to take a step back and remember why I do all of this. This isn’t for my coaches, or my friends, or my family, or my sponsor. This is for ME. If I don’t compete again until 2012 RIGHT before the world ends, then so be it.(1. I don’t really think the world will end but maybe it will! Who knows?! and 2. I DO still plan to compete this February. If I feel ready. If not, I will jump on March. End goal however, is June -Jr.Nationals. That one is in the books for sure.)

I’ll leave you with this commercial that my professor showed us last night. I dig it. I also dig him, he is amazing. I am planning on re-taking his class, because it is THAT awesome. Right now his 466 person class is already full…

Workouts

Life is really getting in the way of my blogging time 🙂

Wednesday: Leg day

I worked out with Ernie Wednesday. Here was our circuit:

Hack Squat Machine, Leg Press Machine, Plyo-step ups, Squat machine Jump Squats, Leg Extensions, Prowler, DB walking lunges, up and overs, Front squats, DB walking lunges, cable squats, Bench jump ups, DB walking Lunges

3 times through. Those walking lunges killed my glutes and my ass is still sore. 🙂

Thursday I did shoulders and triceps. It was a quick workout, but got the job done.

Single arm DB Arnold Press, DB Lateral Raise, Triceps pressdown

Rear Delt Raise, cable rear delt pulls, and one arm tricep pulldown

Nothing, crazy, but not a bad workout. Also did a sprint workout and 30 min. on the stepmill

Friday Workout

Back, Bi’s, some Glute(3 sets each circuit)

Seated DB Curls, One Arm Row, EZ Bar curls, assisted chin ups, hammer strength rows(2 different angles), Lat pulldowns, Cable lat pulls, Seated Row

Preacher curl, Side DB walking lunges, assisted GHR, seated ham curl, butt blaster, rope hammer curl

Did a quick 3 mile run after that and am going back to the gym to work for a few hours this afternoon.

Tomorrow is boot camp and boxing. Going to probably kill me softly 🙂

I also move on Sunday, so things may be sporadic for a while!

This should get your attention……..

Did it work? I hate naming posts. I really don’t have any clever names for them. Oh well, moving on….

If you haven’t checked it out, I’ve been posting my eats on Twitter. It’s easier than posting them on here because by the time I write this, I have to think hard about what I ate, and I don’t feel like checking my log to see. I’ll still probably post them here too, but if you want up to the minute news on what I last had to eat, Twitter should tell you 😉

Workout

Yesterday was Glutes and Hammys:

Stiff Legged Deadlifts, Full Squats/Box Squats, Sumo Squats(1.5 reps=Go all the way down, half way up, back down, all the way up. Yes it burns.), Lying Single Leg Ham Curls, Barbell Hip Thrusts, Hip Abduction and I think that’s it. Finished up with 30- minutes of incline walking(15%, 3.3mph)

Today was Back and a little bit of abs: Assisted Pull ups(pronated grip), Bent Over Rows(pronated, my right wrist hurts if i do supinated, which I prefer.), Cable Rows(low-high), Straight Arm Pulldowns, Hanging Leg Raises in the captain’s chair, Toe Ups w/ Lying Leg Raise, and Swiss Ball Crunches with the red band.

Did 10 min. warm up on the ellipticyclecizermill, and another 30 min. afterwards.

In a few I’m off to do a sprint workout and then boxing tonight! It’s been over a week, i’m sure it will make me sore.

In other news

I move on the 14th and haven’t started packing at all. I am a procrastinator and will probably wait until the day before. School is over in a few weeks, finally! I have a paper, an organizational analysis, 2 tests, a proficiency(hooking up reverb, compression and head phones in the recording studio), and a few other smaller assignments. Somehow I haven’t started any of this, and will probably do it the night before as well. I don’t know how I pull off good grades.

Quote for the day: Think less, Do more.

Sometimes its nice to just shut the brain off and do what you need to do to get where you want to be. Easier said than done, but what isn’t?

9.5 weeks.

Recent Entries »