Archive for March 31, 2010

Hike+Heavy Lifting+Nap!

Wow today was awesome. Last night I didn’t post because I was hanging out with friends. I got home at about 11 and just crashed.

This morning I got up and did back and biceps. The past two days I have been lifting HEAVY. 6-7 reps heavy, and I forgot just how much energy it zaps from you. After the workout today, I headed to Camelback Mountain. So did about 3,000 of my closest friends. I had to wait my turn to go down certain parts of the mountain. It sucks that it gets so busy sometimes, but I think that a lot of people are in town for spring break. The weather was 85 degrees, so I can’t blame them 😉

After the mountain I was supposed to hit up some hot yoga, but since it was so crowded on the mountain, I didn’t get done until the class was starting. Oops!

I came home, made my new mexican feast(see below),  and then proceeded to take a 3 hour nap. I had some wild dreams and didn’t want to get up, but I needed to get some things done.

CLEANING. Our apartment is….well….it’s a wreck. So we are in the midst of cleaning the hell out of it. We’ve already made progress. We threw out about 12 tubs of empty protein and my roomie had about 6 gallons of empty water jugs. We are ridick.

Mexican Feast

Okay, so it isn’t exactly mexican, but it IS a feast. It reminds me of eating a taco, minus the shell. And actually, it is nothing like a taco other than the lettuce and hot sauce, but whatevsky.

Ingredients:

-chopped onions

-chopped mushrooms

-shredded lettuce

-shredded purple cabbage

-as many egg whites (or yolks) as your heart desires

Directions: Put the chopped onions and mushrooms in the pan first…then add in the egg whites and cook them until they are about halfway done. Add the shredded lettuce and shredded purple cabbage. Add some pepper and red pepper flakes if you’d like and top with hot saunce!

It. is. delish.

That’s all I’ve got. Tomorrow is leg day and I’m pretty stoked about it!!

Side note: I’m leaving for LA this Thursday!! 🙂 No reason for this trip other than to get away!! Woo hoo!

Sunday Sprint Workout

Yo!

I got up today to do a sprint workout. I haven’t done a good sprint workout in over a week and a half and my body was ITCHING to do it. I pretty much jumped out of bed this morning with anticipation 🙂

I texted my friend June last night to see if she wanted to go with me. She ran track in high school, and I knew she would be a good candidate. When I choose someone to work out with, I like to workout with someone that is stronger, better, faster  or at least equal to me. That ensures that I will push myself hard.

June and I met up at the track and warmed up with some light jogging and dynamic stretches. Then we got to work.

4 laps: sprint the straightaways, walk the curves (100s, 8 sprints total)

4 sets: 50 yd. sprints

5 sets: 10 yd sprints

1 set: 400 meter dash

June kicks my butt. I have a quicker start than her, but after a few strides she is way ahead of me. She is someone who pushes herself to the limits and doesn’t give up and I love that about her. We are going to make sure to do sprint workouts together 1-2 times per week. We also hadn’t seen eachother in a while and ended up talking for like an hour after the workout.

Good friends+good workouts = Good times.

I met with my coach today and we took measurements. Kinda scary, but they can only go down from here 🙂 I’m staying positive and having faith in the process.

My cousin is getting married today so I’m off to get ready for that! Here’s to a great week!!

Try this:

Throw in some high intensity intervals into your weights routine. Do a set of your usual strength moves, and then do a set of jumping pull ups, sled pushes, tire flips, a sprint or anything else that gets your heart rate up quickly. You will find that you can get your workout done in a shorter time, and can even shave off some of your steady state cardio time.

It’s Friday!!!!

This week seemed like it flew by. Actually, the past few weeks seem to fly by. I think I like it, but I’m not sure….

Also, sorry I haven’t been commenting much, I’ve been pretty busy and I’m still reading, but just not commenting as much.

Last night I went to bed insanelllyyyyy late for me. 1:30am!! I actually went and hung out with friends I haven’t seen in a while. It was well worth it. The 4 of us were in tears of laughter throughout the night. Gotta love having funny friends. Those boys keep me happy.

Workout

Being as tired as I was, I didn’t really want to spend hours in the gym today, but wanted to get in a good workout. Answer? Conditioning workout.

Today I superset some glute/ham strength moves with some quick bursts.

SL Deadlifts/ Burpees to Pullups

Reverse Hack Squats/Sled Pushes

Swiss Ball Leg Curls to Hip Thrust/Tire Flips

Quadruped Hip Extensions/ Jumping Split Squats

Bodyweight Split Squats

It was a good, tough workout. Loved it. I did about 10 minutes of elliptical to warm up, but other than that, no steady state.

Now I’m rotting sitting at work and then going to go home and get to bed early! Booty camp in the AM!

Ooops!

I guess I forgot about blogging yesterday. My bad.

To recap, I tried my first hot yoga class on Monday! The verdict? LOVE. Well, REALLY LIKE. Haha, i wouldn’t say i’m in love, but who knows it could grow.

I love the fact that you sweat like crazy. Literally more than anything. I’ve lived in AZ my whole life, and even played outdoor sports in the 120 degree heat during the summer, but 105 degrees of HUMID heat is a different story(AZ is a dry heat.). The studio I go to is tough, but manageable. I went again today.

The only downside of the hot yoga is that it DRAINSSSS me of any and all energy. All I want to do is sleep the whole rest of the day. Granted I have been doing other workouts before the hot yoga, but still, it kills me. I am going to keep going until my two week pass is up, and then I will probably just go randomly, seeing as it’s pretty expensive.

Workout

Tuesday: Back and Biceps + 60 minutes incline walking on the tready.

For the back/biceps workout I did: Rack Pull ups, DB curls, Lat Pulldowns, Preacher curls, Seated row, cable side arm curls, t-bar rows and cable hammer curls. I went pretty heavy (8-10 reps with drop sets for the last set of most exercises)

Wednesday(today!) QUAD/PLYO Day. + hot yoga

leg extensions, squat press, hack squat, decline leg press, step up jumps, db walking lunges, in/out box jumps, cable squats, sprinter jumps, anddd frog leaps i think. It was a circuit that i did with a group. Friday I will do a glute/ham attack on my own.

I’m really tired right now, but don’t have to be up really early tomorrow. Of course, I’m sure I’ll end up waking up at the crack of dawn, but I’m not going to set an alarm. I’m trying to down my fiberlyze right now(wheat bran/psyllium husk mixture by Species) but i’m having to do it in shots and chasing it with water haha. It tastes like lemony-death water. Jealous?!

Hontest Yoga

First of all thanks for all the comments on yesterday’s post. I know I’m doing the right thing and it was good to hear you guys support that. I know that it is my choice and everything, but the outside pressures definitely influence me, and you guys made me feel a lot better!!

Okay, so I think I slept about 3 hours last night(if that.) and finally couldn’t sleep any longer by 3:30am. I decided since I slept so much on Sunday, I might as well get up and get my day started.

I got to the gym at 4:40am and it’s a good thing I did. Apparently nobody was on the schedule to open up the gym at 4:30, and there was a line of, no joke, 25-30 people waiting outside. I saved the day with my key and got to work!!

Workout

I did good with my goal and kept cardio to 40 minutes. I made sure it was tough though! 15% incline at 3.3 mph for the whole 40 minutes. Twas shweaty.

Afterwards, I ate my first meal and worked for a few hours until the next person came to work. Then I hit up Shoulders and Abs

Barbell Press/ Hanging Leg Raise

Cable Front Raises/ Lying Leg Raise to Hip Up

Cable Crossovers/ Decline Sit ups

Lateral Raises/Rear Delt Machine

Good stuff.

Afterwards I went to my first hot yoga class. They aren’t kidding when they say you sweat everything out. It was awesome though because my skin has never felt so clear! It did make me INSANELY tired the rest of the day, but that probably also had to do with my weird sleeping cycle, and the fact that I’m still a little bit sick. I am feeling a little better now, though.

I worked for another 4 hours and then came home and took a nap for an hour. I was literally falling asleep while driving home(not good, i know). I woke up and ate my dinner and now I’m about to hop in the shower and sleep.

Tomorrow I’ve got my workout, have to drop a paper off at school, and then working 1-7:30 at the supplement store.

Can’t wait to get in bed!!!

Oh boy.

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Can’t believe it’s already Sunday night! I feel like this week/weekend flew by!

I’ve been feeling kinda sick the past two days, so I took it easy today. So easy, in fact that I pretty much slept the whole day. Whatever “sickness” that was coming on, better be gone! I’m feeling better now, but it explains why I’m still awake at 10:30pm on  a Sunday.

So things are changing a little bit around here. And it’s going to be extremely hard for me.

I have to cut down on exercise.

Those words make me cringe. I’m a workout-a-holic if you hadn’t noticed, and cutting down is NOT going to be easy.

My weight training will stay the same, but cardio is being cut to 40 min. per day, 6 days a week. That’s not an outrageous change, but it means on days that I box, that is my cardio. On days that I do sprints, no other cardio. To some this might seem like a good thing, but for me it is going to be a difficult  thing. Mentally, I feel like I need to do a lot of cardio, but I KNOW that isn’t the case. It will be an adjustment, but I think it is a GOOD thing overall. Plus, the cardio will only go up after a few weeks so I guess I should enjoy this while it lasts.

I’m also hopefully trying out my first hot yoga class tomorrow. A friend from the gym is taking me to a studio nearby, and told me to prepare to sweat my ass off. Noted.

Other Shizzzz

I’ve been in such a funk lately. I’m trying not to let it get to me, but sometimes I feel like the gym and training is all I’ve got. Everyone says their early 20’s are filled with ups and downs, but the downs are getting old 😀 Can’t argue that there are a LOT of ups though. I guess that’s life. A lot of the “downs” are things that I can fix on my own, so I gotta get to it. It’s mid-March and I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished too much this year. I’ve kinda just been going through the motions. Being in California spoiled me a little bit, because I get bored doing the same thing over and over. Either way, I’m excited about the future and will keep working towards my goals. I try to look at every hiccup and fall-back as leverage to move forward and come out on top. I am thankful for my “glass half full” attitude. 99% of life is NOT what happens to you, but how you deal with it. Each day I’m working on dealing with these things in a better way.

You can’t get better if you don’t try, you can’ t try if you don’t take chances.

Competition

Let’s see, how many competitions have been in the “plan” but not happened yet? I feel like a broken record, but I also haven’t been doing this for myself. (Mayjuh confession coming up…)

I LOVE competing. The high I get being on stage is incredible and the self accomplishment that it brings is like nothing else. With that said, the more you compete, the more people expect you to compete. Or at least that is how I’ve felt. The Fitness America show in November that I didn’t do, was something that all of the other girls were doing, so I felt like I should too. My heart wasn’t set on it, but I thought it would be fun to do anyways. When you’re heart isn’t into something, it doesn’t feel like the same journey. Or at least in my case, I felt like I was training for other people and not myself. I ended up not doing that show.

Then I began training with a new trainer, and he wanted me to do a show in February. Again, I didn’t necessarily want to do that show, but he thought I should, so I started training for it. My heart wasn’t in it, and so I didn’t work to my potential and decided not to do that show.

Jr. Nationals. My heart WAS/IS in this show. After I qualified for nationals, I decided that I definitely wanted to do a national show. Jr. Nationals is the first NPC National show of 2010, so I picked that one. My one goal for this entire year is to compete nationally. Of course, I have other smaller goals, but that is my BIG goal of the year. 2009 my big goal was to compete, and this year it is to compete nationally. I’ve had a ROUGH off-season that I could blame on a number of things, but in my opinion, life is always going to get in the way and it is NO excuse. I have that goal in my sights and nothing will stop me.

After meeting with someone Saturday, it was decided between the three of us that, rather than travel all the way to Chicago(which is only in 12 weeks) I should wait and do USA’s in Las Vegas on July 31st. There were a few reasons for this:

1. We want the healthiest lean-out as possible. I made some great muscle gains in the off-season, but also packed on a lot of weight. I also need to come in leaner than I did for my first show, being that this is a national show. I probably need to be about 5-8 pounds lighter than I was in July. That being said, my contest weight has actually gone up considering that I probably have added about 5 pounds of muscle to my frame. I stepped on stage at 123ish pounds in July and will probably be stepping on stage at about 125-128 pounds at nationals. I’m 5’7, so it may sound like a lot, but it isn’t on my body. I have a lot of weight to lose. But I also have a lot of determination and drive in me. I’ve been doing pretty well with dieting over the last few months and taken off a few pounds, but it hasn’t been perfectly consistent so I kind of feel like I gain and lose the same pounds over and over. When I tell myself that I’m in “full gear” though, there’s no stopping me. I’ve officially put myself in full gear.  Bring it!

2. MONEY. I’m a college student, and although it seems like I work a lot, I spend a lot of money. Food, supplements, and gas literally drain my bank account as soon as it sees money. Travelling to Chicago will be hundreds of dollars more expensive for me. Not to mention, driving somewhere makes the food situation SO much easier. For anyone that has competed, or travelled while training for a competition, you KNOW what I’m talking about. A simple 2 or 3 day trip seems MASSIVE because you end up bringing like 18 meals with you. Your big suitcase is filled with baggies of frozen chicken and fish, and you somehow manage to fit your clothes into a tiny litte backpack. Travelling by plane makes this even MORE difficult because you have to abide by their rules, and 9 times out of 10, they will throw at least SOME of your food away. I live about 5 hours driving time to Vegas. MUCH easier.

So, after bouncing those thoughts off to someone who really knows her stuff (if you’re curious you can e-mail me…), it was decided that NPC USA’s in Las Vegas -July 31st is the show for me. This is something that MY HEART is into. I am excited for this show, and can’t wait to put myself in high gear. It’s 19 weeks away which is a long time, but I need that time. Mentally and physically.

Speedy Saturday Boot Camp

YO!

Last night’s bachelorette party was a lot of fun. I headed home at about midnight absolutely exhausted.(I had been up since 4am. Coffee was used to keep me awake through the night ;-))

There were about 20 of us and it was a lot of fun. I’m sorry if I offend anyone who truly loves to go to the “clubs”, but I’m a total bar kinda girl. I don’t ever feel the “need to dance” and I most certainly don’t ever feel the need to meet guys that feel the “need to dance.” If I’m with people that want to go to a club, then of course I’ll go. And I’ll even dance too(my version of dancing is finding the worst dancer in the place and imitating them to my best ability) It always gets a good laugh and it honestly is fun.  I truly believe that pointing out the funny things in life is what life is all about. (i would never say something that would hurt someone’s feelings….its more of me walking up to the guy wearing a puffy vest and asking “hey are you planning on jumping ship anytime soon?” ) No worries, I make fun of myself more than anyone 😀 My best advice in life is this: Don’t take yourself so seriously. Laugh at yourself, laugh at others, and laugh often.

Anyways…this morning I woke up for boot camp. It was pretty tough today, but I was also really fast today! I dominated the bleachers and since I missed my sprint workout last week, my body was just itching to do them. I was speedy gonzalez today!

After boot camp, I got an americano at Starbucks. I got a cup of ice on the side and poured the coffee into it. Although I thought I was being creative, apparently I could’ve just asked for it that way. Hey, I’m a coffee newbie so lay off. I then added my protein powder into it and it was deeeelicious. Love love.

Afterwards I went and met with my coach. Without going into too much detail, competition plans were moved. I trust my coach and am doing what she suggests.

Jr. Nationals

Jr. USA’s!! – VEGAS!

Sad that I won’t get to compete alongside Genie and Becca, but I will be competing with other friends, so not all excitement is lost.

You know it’s a good workout when….

you leave the Stepmill SHAKING!!

Let me back up…..

Got up at 4am again this morning. I really think the earlier I workout, the more pumped I get. Weird, I know.

Today was a glute/ham day 😀

-Stiff Legged Dead Lift/Prone Ham Curl/Quadruped Hip Extension under the Reverse Hyper

-DB Sumo Squats/DB Single Leg Stiff Legged Deadlifts

-45 Hypers(glute focus)/Reverse Hack Squat

(Watch this video to see how I did these two exercises.)

I feel like I did something else too but I can’t remember.

Afterwards I headed to the stepmill. I did the Fat Burner setting(although I don’t believe it is any different than any other setting…just wanted a change intensity) at level 10. I put on my headphones and just pushed through it and when I get done I was shaking. Good stuff 🙂

Today I’m working until 1, hair appointment at 2, and then another bachelorette party tonight!! I’m so excited. I always have a ton of fun with her. We like to make fun of people together. Like drunk old men trying to dance with no rhythm. Then we imitate it 🙂 Good times.

Boot camp tomorrow morning!!

1,000 Gone + Lake!

Yesterday after work, I headed with friends to the lake!! It was 85 degrees here and a perfect day for some early wakeboarding.

Although the temperature outside was warm, the water was only about 45 degrees. Wet suits were involved.

It was a good time, and now I’m burnt, but I am SO glad lake seasons is starting up!!!!! It’s by far my favorite thing to do 🙂

This morning, I was up at 4 am again to get my workout on before work! I read articles in my new magazine about interval training and it inspired me to do just that today. I did a back/biceps workout with sprint(more of a fast jog in the tready) intervals in between each quadruple set.

Quad Set #1

5 minute jog at 6.5mph

Lat Pulldowns(20 reps)

Seated Row (20 reps)

Preacher Curl(20 reps)

EZ Bar Curl(20 reps)

Did 3 sets of this with 2 minutes at 8.0mph in between each triple set.

Quad Set #2

T-Rope (20 reps)

T-Bar Row(20 reps)

Cable Rope Hammer Curl(20 reps)

Side Arm Cable Curl(20 reps)

Did 8.0mph on the treadmill in between each quad set and finished the last one at 10mph.

544 calories burned in that 49 minute workout.

Then I hit up the treadmill for some incline walking. 12% at 3.3mph for about 33 minutes.

1,000 calories gone by6:45 am. I’ll take it 🙂

I’m working now, and then going to lay out by the pool and read the rest of the afternoon! 🙂

I made a protein brownie for my post-workout and it was GOOD. You can get the recipe from my roomie’s book: www.theezwhey.com

Leg Day + Great Magazine

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

I didn’t wear green today, but my drink was green. Does that count?

Today was quads/plyos! I was here at 5am for the workout and full of energy. I was rocking out driving at 4:30am haha It’s sick, i know.

I wore my HRM today for kicks, and burned 588 calories during my leg workout. Finished that with cardio and totalled about 1,000 calories burned in my workout. All before 7am. I’ll take it 😉

OnFitness Magazine

I stumbled upon this at the store last night. I am usual skeptical of  health magazines because they are usually a) geared towards the everyday average person who exercises because they should or b) full of “iffy” information that doesn’t really make sense or is just plain false.

I’d never seen this magazine before so I started flipping through. It is a natural and scientific based magazine and I decided to check it out.

L.O.V.E this magazine. Their articles are SO informative and are geared towards BOTH average people and athletes.

A few high points that I liked about this issue:

  • The article about shortening your workouts and upping the intensity. They had a sample of a 30 minute workout that was high intensity as opposed to a longer , less intense workout. The workout involved clean and presses, pullups, squats, etc.
  • The article about your brain chemical levels related to fat loss. Probably one of the most informative articles I have ever read
  • RUN don’t jog. This article stated that jogging is easy. It is somewhat hard, but not that hard. Running, on the other hand is hard. Shorten the distance, and up the intensity was the gist of this article. Love it.

In a walnut shell(do walnuts have shells? I’m an idiot for having to ask…) this magazine gave me some GREAT information on a lot of different aspects. It also had a section that compared different approaches to exercise(functional training, compound training, isolation training, and High Intensity Training) There were quite a few references to body building as well.

If you get a chance, check out the magazine, or I believe you can view it online. Click on this link for their website. Like I said, this magazine is for EVERYONE(from a newbie to a seasoned athlete) and filled with GOOD  & USEFUL information.

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