I don’t know if i’m getting sick or if 3 weeks off of boxing totally kicked my ass, but I’m TIRED today. Like, insanely tired.
Tired enough that I took a nap after boxing, skipped my lift, and took another nap tonight. And I’m STILL tired.
I’m going to take the night off blogging and try to just get to bed early.
Hey!!
I’m back from California. I had such a good time and the weather was awesome! I soooo want to live there. I’m trying to scheme up a way to make that happen, but until then I will be visiting often đ
I got to work out at Iron gym in Santa Monica while I was there. It’s a small gym but has good equipment and was in walking distance. I also was able to hike Runyon Canyon in Hollywood….beautiful!!!
We walked around a TON there and my calves were So sore from it. It’s funny, just regular walking makes my calves sore haha. We walked at least 6+ miles on Friday and a good amount of time Saturday as well.
Today’s workout was legs with my trainer and 40 minutes of cardio. We took my measurements and I had a REALLY good week. I don’t want to throw out numbers, but we had to measure a few times to make sure it was right. I love progress đ
17 weeks away and feeling GREATTT.
Tomorrow is boxing, hiking(maybe), Back and Triceps and then off to Tucson for the day. I am a little travel bug lately. I love it:)
I’m enjoying LA this weekend! I probably won’t be able to post but I’ll be back Sunday night or Monday!!!!
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 đ
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!! đ No reason for this trip other than to get away!! Woo hoo!
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 đ
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 đ 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.
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!
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?!
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!!!
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 đ 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.
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 đ 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.