Fit Lizzio Fitness

It’s Wednesday. AKA Hump Day, but better known around here as LEG DAY! 🙂

I love leg days. The past few weeks I’ve been doing the workouts on my own, but decided to do them with Ernie today.

The workout was good, and he added in a pull up to burpee into the mix. New favorite exercise! Love it!!

I’m exhausted and sore. The sprints from yesterday fired up my hamstrings, and I’m already feeling the quad work from today.

On leg days, I only do 30 minutes of light cardio, so I did that and then decided to spend money at Ross buying things I don’t need. Lovely.

Can’t wait to go home, eat and go to sleep. I’m feeling a cold might be coming on but I’m determined to fight it off! I’ve been drinking tons of water, will be upping my vitamins and getting plenty of rest. That’s the best medicine in my opinion.

Have a good one!

Today has been awesome. I’m on cloud 9 and I’m loving it. I need to hit up facebook study for a test so let’s get right to it.

Workout

I skipped boxing this morning. I woke up in time to go, but I had other plans in my head. I grabbed my food, and headed to the gym early to get in 30 minutes of cardio before breakfast. Just a light session on the elliptical. I’m pretty sure I didn’t start sweating until the last 5 minutes of it. I really don’t think I am going to do that thing anymore.

Anyways, I finished that, ate my quinoa/wheat bran surprise(1/4 cup cooked quinoa, 1/4 cup wheat bran, 3 egg whites, 1 scoop protein powder) and then chilled for a while to let my food digest. Then it was time for chest/tri’s!

Chest/Triceps

-barbell flat bench/wide grip pushups

-pec deck/incline pushups/kettle bell swings

-kink bar pushdowns/bosu pushups/kettle bell swings

-reverse grip pulldowns/decline pushups/kettle bell swings

-overhead cable extension/bench dips

I threw the kettle bell swings into the mix last minute to get my heart rate up. It kinda worked but for whatever reason nothing was really getting my heart rate up this morning. I was pushing hard too, so not really sure what that was about.

After that workout, i hopped on the treadmill for 30 minutes of incline walking. Started at 3.5mph 10% and moved it up to 15 % incline. This got my heart rate up and made me a sweaty mess 🙂

Drank my protein shake, chilled a little, ate my food (chicken/green bell peppers/broccoli w/ cucumbers and walnuts) and headed to take a test on the  complete other side of town.

I finished my test, ate more food(ground turkey, more cucumbers and walnuts) and ran a few errands. Then I hit up the park to do a Sprint workout

I pushed myself hard today. I was just in the zone. The kind of mental place where you feel like a warrior ready to battle. I did 8 80 yard sprints, 8- 40 yard sprints, 4- 20 yard sprints, and finished off with 2 sets of suicides. By the time I got done I was shaking. Twas good 🙂

Now I’m just facebooking studying for another test and going to cook some food for the rest of the week when I get home. Then it’s bed time!

Lata!

Just finishing up my shift at the gym. If every day was like today, I’d be insanely happy 🙂

Woke up, and tried to go for a run. It was raining, which oddly made me even more excited for the run. I started and about a mile into it my left shin started cramping up. I ignored it for another half mile or so and then had to walk. It was like it was being flexed the whole time. Not cool. I tried running again a few different times, but finally I gave up and started walking home. Fail!!! It was probably the awesome sidewalk surface I was running on. Note to self: stick to the canals next time. Noted.

Afterwards I headed to my little apartment gym and did 30 minutes on the rugged elliptical. It wasn’t that bad, but the way it’s positioned forces you to lean forward, which makes your knees constantly pushing past your toes. Awesome design Life Fitness, I can see why you don’t make them that way anymore 🙂 It also made a ton of noise, extra awesome with a side of awesome.

I finished up the 30 minutes and it was time to EATZA PIZZA.  I actually just had 6 egg whites with 1/2 TBSP coconut oil. Forgot how good this combo is. Sounds weird, but its gooood. Just ask April.

I took an energy mint sample that I had. It’s only 120mg caffiene, no big. HA. For someone that doesn’t drink caffeine, it might as well have been straight CRACK. I was talking 600mph, and was stoked for my back/biceps workout.

I did:

Lat pulldowns superset with Cable low rows

Straight Arm pulldowns superset with one arm rows

t-rope superset with ez bar curls

side arm cable curls

It was a good workout and I was already feeling it by the end. 4 sets of each and reps were 15 for most sets.

I finished off the workout with 30 minutes on the treadmill. 10% at 3.5mph – 15% at 3.3mph.

I made chicken with green bell peppers, broccoli, and onions the other night and have been eating that today. It’s mUY buenoooo 🙂 Fresh veggies are so much better than micro-juevos kind. I just am a lazy chick.

Now i’m at work, studying and playing around on facebook/twitter. I do about 1 minute of studying for every 10 minutes on facebook. Not too bad right?! Haha. 😀

Getting ready to head home and shower, cook, pack up my food, do a little more work, not study, and eat mo food. Yum Yum burgers.

Aloha.(Rainn wilson tweeted the other day that when he sings Hello, Goodbye by the Beatles he replaces hello and goodbye with the hawaiian langauge. Aloha, Aloha i dont know why i say aloha aloha) I thought it was funny 🙂

The first step to living a healthy life is to eliminate the negative.

When negativity surrounds you, it is no wonder that you aren’t leading a happy, healthy life. If you eat a perfect diet and exercise daily, but are surrounded by negative things, you will not be healthy. Stress can really take a toll on the body.

There is, obviously, no way to eliminate all of the negative things out of your life. There are some circumstances that you just can’t control. You can’t control other people and you can’t control things that happen. You  have to take control of the things that you ARE able to take control of.

Today, for example, I was told this: “When you grow up, you’re going to regret all this working out shit and wish you did more in life” 

It’s funny how one person can perceive my life. This “working out shit” is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, so screw those who think otherwise 😀

Tips for Eliminating the Negativity and Attracting the Positivity

1. Surround yourself with positive people that support you.

2. Believe in what you are doing and do it with your heart.

3. Turn your negatives into a positive. If someone makes a rude remark to you, turn it into a way to fuel your fire to get better.

I can’t tell you how many people have done nothing but try to drag me down. Since I’ve gotten into competing and fitness in general, I’ve had to give up a lot of things. I turn down social events, and I put sleep and training as a priority. This might seem selfish or extreme, but it’s my CHOICE. I CHOOSE to live like this and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. This doesn’t mean that I have no social life. I still hang out with friends and go out on occasion. Last summer when I competed I went out almost every weekend, but lately I just don’t feel like it. Like I said, I’m living my life the way that I choose to and not allowing others to let me feel guilty for it. Why do I choose this? If I don’t get enough sleep, my training suffers. If my training suffers, I’m not working to my potential. It’s as simple as that, and this is my passion so I’m following it. Maybe someday it won’t be (doubt it) but if that’s the case, then I’ll switch gears and do what I want to do then.

I spent years doing what OTHER people wanted. I was a total pushover and put everyone else before me. I’ve changed gears and I try to live my life for ME. I still go out of my way for people I care about and would do anything to help people. Helping people is one of the greatest rewards in life and I find a lot of satisfaction in helping others. I just also know when to say no. Those who don’t accept me, aren’t worth having around. I have lost a lot of friends over the past years, but I have gained so many new ones that appreciate, support and understand me. I also still have those that have stuck by my side throughout my transformations in life and you better believe I appreciate the hell out of those people. THOSE are good friends. THOSE are the people that you want to keep around.

I used to live in a little box(not literally ;-)). I didn’t want to try new things, I just did what I was doing. I also had bad anxiety that kept me from doing things that seemed cool. I  just stuck to my routine. Now, I try new things. If i don’t like them, i don’t do them. Simple as that. People can criticize me for that, but I have experienced more things than most. Both good and bad, and I think it’s a great way to live. You have one life, why not try something new? If you hate it, then don’t do it. There are no contracts in trying something out! I wish more people would understand that.

In a nutshell: Learn who is there to support you in life and find out who is going to be against you and try to drag you down. As I posted on Facebook yesterday…..

There will always be people who support you and people who are against you. Instead of fighting those who are against you, use that effort to make time for those who support you. If you surround yourself with happiness and positivity, it is inevitable that your life will become just that.

The ups and downs that come along with the lifestyle I now lead are worth it. There are times in your life when you just know it’s the right thing to do. Since embarking on this journey 3 years ago, I’ve never been so sure that I am on the correct path in my life.

 

So yesterday was awesome!! Talk about being in an inspiring environment. Every single one of those athletes on stage looked incredible. The work that they have put in to be where they are today definitely shows.

I was sitting in the audience wondering how the hell a judge could pick top 5 out of the 23 or so figure competitors. They all looked really good! There are definitely a good amount of politics at these shows. With everyone’s body being in such great condition, there kind of has to be. I won’t mention any names, but there were a few competitors that were in the top 5 of their division before the show even started. Everyone knew that.

The figure girl from our gym made top 15, so that was pretty good. It was a TOUGH competition, and like I said, it would have been really hard to judge.

I ran into a lot of familiar faces at the show. It’s funny how once you get swept into the world of bodybuilding/figure/fitness, you meet SO many new people, and then it is always those same people that you encounter at all of these types of events. Whether I’m here in town or out in LA, I feel like I see the same people. I’ve made such great connections and I’m thankful for all the wonderful people I’ve met. 

When I first got started in this, I only knew 1 or 2 people in the industry, but now that I’ve met so many more, it just shows me how many people have such  a similar mindset. The extreme lifestyle is tough both physically and mentally, and knowing others who do the same as you every day is really cool.

A few years ago I never would have expected to be going to bodybuilding shows, or competing, or anything even close to that, but now that I am in this world, I wouldn’t change it for a thing. 

The show yesterday lit a fire under my ass and I can’t wait to compete in June. 

Eat, train, sleep, repeat.

LA Fitness, Gold’s Gym, Pure Fitness, Bally’s, Mountainside, 24 hour Fitness, the list goes on and on.

These are the most popular gyms in AZ. You can’t pass too many intersections without seeing at least one of these. I may piss off a lot of people with this post, but it’s my blog and my opinion. So there 🙂 (Note: this is just my opinion of corporate gyms. I’m exaggerating a lot of this, and it isn’t true in ALL cases, obviously. If your experience has been different then that is great and you are lucky. In that case, enjoy the laugh :))

I incorporate these gyms with fake smiles, women wearing no clothes, guys staring at women, guys wearing too many accessories, guys with too much gel in their hair, women with too much hairspray and makeup on, and a training staff that knows as much about fitness as Tiger Woods knows about staying faithful.

When I walk into one of these places, I am greeted by the fake smile, and see sales associates everywhere. It is much like walking into a car lot. You feel as though the salesmen are eyeing you and racing to catch the bait(aka new member.) So you sign up at one of these gyms, after they explain to you how wonderful of a deal you are going to get because they are SLASHING the processing fee in half!!! This only means that instead of paying an extra 100 dollars that is just going towards the sales associate, you are only paying 50 dollars of that. Phew, I thought I was going to get ripped off.

Next, you are set up with a COMPLIMENTARY FITNESS ASSESSMENT! How wonderful, a trainer that got his certification at Walmart is going to walk me through the gym and tell me that I am fat. He will know I am fat because he is going to use calipers and pretend like he knows what the numbers mean. Then, he will come up with a body fat percentage that is a little higher than the truth, that way, even if you make zero progress, you will think you made at least a little bit of progress and continue to workout at the gym. Gotta keep that monies comin’!!

So you finish your assessment and this “trainer” tells you that he will give you a special discount on a training package because he just likes you so much. Instead of the normal $75 an hour, you will only have to pay $65. Wow, I am a lucky son of a bitch.

Next, you will meet your trainer for your first appointment. He will walk you to the leg press, then the chest press, then the shoulder press and finally the ab machine. He will tell you to do 15 reps on each machine and he will probably be texting his girlfriend while pretending to listen to you babble. Truth: he has no idea what you are saying because the nudie his girlfriend just sent is probably a little more interesting. Just sayin.

You will finish the workout using your core, and then he will shoe you away to the cardio machines while he grabs his next victim client.

Meanwhile, I will be at my independently owned gym, studio, or community center. I am greeted by name at the door, put my game face on and train my ass off. I sign up for my membership when I want to without being pressured, I don’t pay very much for it. I also don’t get a complimentary towel with my workout, though, so there is a downside……

The trainers are usually people who are passionate about working out. There are still definitely some trainers that I wouldn’t trust to walk me down the street, but for the most part, these trainers are skilled and knowledgeable in at least some type of exercise/workout niche. They are nice, truly care about their clients because they realize they are putting food on their table, and since they don’t have to make sure corporate is happy, they are free to have a personality. Imagine that!

The other members in the gym are there to work out. They aren’t paying for a fancy membership so they can get the free towel and water bottle, they are just paying to be able to come in at their convenience, get in whatever type of workout they want, and leave feeling better.

Like I said before, this is just my take on the two different situations. Many of you have probably had completely different experiences, but that is just mine. At independently owned gyms, there is no pressure to meet sales minimums. At a studio, you are going to be with a group of people that you see very frequently and will become close to, since you are sharing a small space. It may be more expensive, but the quality will be there. At a community center, you are probably going to be using recycled equipment, but the people there are usually very friendly and appreciative. The staff is even better, as they aren’t getting paid much and likely just love the atmosphere, and that is why they are there. 

I’m not saying every single corporate gym is bad, but I have trained at a studio, two different community centers, an independently owned gym, and 2 corporate gyms and between my experiences and what I’ve heard from others, that is where my position stands. 

What is your opinion? Corporate or other? What is your worst gym experience?

I’m up early on a Saturday, not for boot camp, but for the Phoenix Pro Show!! I’m REALLY excited. I have never been to a pro show and it will be so cool to see so many accomplished athletes in the sport that I’m pursuing…all in one place! As I mentioned in another post, I have seen a few of the pros that will be competing this week at my gym, and it will be cool to see them up on stage with the other competitors. Not sure if I will make it back for the finals tonight(hopefully I will!) but I’m heading out to prejudging to watch.

Workout

Friday, I woke up extra early to head to yoga. My mind was totally somewhere else for the entire class until savasanah(chances are I butchered that word :)). That is one thing I really like about yoga is it’s one of those things that takes your mind to another  place and lets you focus on “fixing” yourself. Or at least, it does for me. But yesterday, my mind was going a million miles a minute! Oh well, I still got a great stretch. I would say there are two major reasons that I have continued going to yoga.

1- The stretch! Most people know I  am extremely inflexible. With all the time I spend in the gym, you would think that extra 10-15 minutes at the end to stretch would come easily, but for whatever reason, I just have a really hard time staying consistent with doing it every day. I’m working on it, though. I’ve been becoming better friends with the foam roller and making sure I stretch after my leg and sprint workouts. It’s a start, but I’ve got a long way to go.

2- Mental clarity. A good yoga class allows you to reflect on yourself. Your good choices, your bad choices, and your direction in life. It sounds kind of like therapy, right? In a way, it is. It’s getting in touch with your body and what it is capable of on its own. Then using those capabilities to strengthen other areas of your life. That is not the textbook definition, it’s just my take on it.

After yoga, I headed to the other gym for a half hour of cardio. I did incline walking with various inclines(10-15%) and speeds (3.3-3.5mph).  I was really not feeling like doing cardio, but after procrastinating for a few minutes I told myself to shut up and just do SOMETHING instead of standing around. Sometimes, you just gotta give yourself a little kick in the ass to get yourself started.

No lift, since I had lifted all body parts M-Th. Today I am resting because of the Pro show, and tomorrow will be doing a nice long track workout before work.

I’ll keep you posted with Pro Show details!! I’ll see if I can figure out how to do a post from my Blackberry…

Hola!!

Long time no talk eh?? I’ve been busy, and I thought I’d just let you guys see the “athlete” posts. I will update my workouts for this week if you scroll down!

I just wanted to put it out there that I am officially launched!  My website is www.fitlizzio.com so feel free to check it out 🙂 I’m pretty excited about it!

Workouts

Okay, let’s see if I can remember 🙂 I’m really sore this week and they’ve all been good!

Monday: 20 minute jog, 10 minute incline walk (15% 3.3mph), 30 minute elliptical sesh. For whatever reason after that cardio session I was shaking. Very bizarre, seeing as it wasn’t the hardest workout, but i’ll take it. Afterwards I hit up back/biceps. I did assisted pull ups, EZ bar curls, Neutral grip lat pulldowns, db hammer curls, t-rope, round house curls, t bar row, side arm curls and i think i did something else but i can’t remember what it was….(all sets were 20-25 reps)

Tuesday: 3.5 mile run through my neighborhood, followed by chest/triceps workout: DB bench, cable flys, rope pulldown, overhead extension, skull crushers, reverse pulldowns. Each set was superset with a variation of pushups, so a total of 130 pushups were done in that workout as well. I really dislike doing chest, but i love pushups (the difficulty of them and the mental push that comes with it, not to mention the great benefits) so I find that picking 2-3 weighted chest exercises and doing a ton of pushups is my favorite way to do it. Plus, i’m not really trying to build my chest up….or at least not in that way 😉

Wednesday: Leg day!!!!! I am super sore from this workout. I did: Deadlifts, full squats, jump squats, bulgarian squats, quadrupled hip extensions underneat the reverse hyper, and banded hip thrusts. The banded hip thrusts were awesome. My old trainer taught me this. Click here for a video link. That is actually him doing them too haha. But definitely the best glute exercise in my opinion! If you don’t have a skorcher(most gyms dont) you can put two flat benches a few feet apart and rig it. It’s kind of annoying, but worth it! I do it every wednesday 🙂 I finished the workout with 30 minutes on the elliptical. I keep cardio light on leg days for obvious reasons.

Thursday: I hit up cardio first today again(when i’m not trying to build muscle, i do cardio either before or after my weight training, depending on how i feel. when trying to build muscle, i always do cardio after my weight lifting to ensure my weight lifting sessions are as optimal as possible.) I did 40 minutes of various incline walking. I was a sweaty and tired mess by the end=success. I hit up shoulders and abs afterwards and shoulders are already feeling sore! I did: seated smith machine military press(explosive, so i was coming down slowly and exploding up, kind of like when your on ecstasy. im kidding i’ve never tried ecstasy, but i imagine it might be something like that haha), hanging leg raises in the captains chair, db lateral raises, med ball decline sit ups, seated rear delt raise, med ball russian twists, cable crossovers, and lying leg raises on the decline bench.

It’s been a really great week of workouts and food. I also watched Food, Inc. yesterday and it made me re-think EVERYTHING. I am still not sure what I am going to do as far as meat goes. I am going to try to buy as much egg/chicken and produce at the farmer’s market from now on, but I don’t make enough money to buy it ALL there. So, i’ll have to do my best. But if you haven’t seen the movie, i suggest you do. It is unbeLIEVABLE!!! Seroiusly eye opening and horrifying.

Tomorrow is yoga, some car-dio, boxing w/ J-dizzle and that’s it. I’ve lifted all my body parts for this week, and i’m sore pretty much everywehre, so that’s good 🙂

Oh, almost forgot! I’m going to the Phoenix Pro Show on Saturday so if anyone will be there drop me a line! 🙂 I met one of the top photographers today, Ralph Dehaan. He was at the gym shooting a few pros(2 that workout at my gym, and the other was Felicia Romero. She’s insanely pretty and much tinier than i would have thought! ) Good times!

Catch ya later.

Finding my inner athlete again was a God-send. It IS my identity, it is something that I will ALWAYS have, and it makes my life feel right. Lifting weights turned into getting in the best shape of my life which turned into competing. Competing is my new baseball.

I get a lot of comments from many of you wondering where I get the energy, the drive, and the motivation for my workouts. I’ve gotten several e-mails from readers asking me what it is that I do to make sure I wake up every morning ready for a workout.

The Truth: I am not ALWAYS in the mood to work out. Sometimes, I get to the gym and I want nothing to do with lifting. Sometimes I walk up to the treadmill, and seriously want to punch myself for making myself come to the gym.

But I rarely will miss a work out. Because even in those times where I want nothing more than to plop myself on the couch for a nap, I know I need to push myself through it. So this is where the definition of an athlete comes to play, in my opinion. An athlete is someone who is willing to dig deep inside and push themselves to the limits. When they get to the limits, they push farther. An athlete does NOT give up. An athlete will stop at NOTHING to get to where they want to be.

Being an athlete is somewhat physical, but much more mental. Yes, you need to have skills. These can be acquired and practiced, some are genetically gifted, but none are impossible. But even with the greatest skills, if you don’t have the persistence to drive through the difficulties and come out on top, then you are NOT an athlete. If someone tells you that you can’t do something, and you simply walk away, then no, you are not an athlete. If someone tells you that you can’t do something, and you not only do it, but you do it better than ever before, then you better believe you are an athlete. Even if it takes you 348902384032 tries, if you continue to work towards it, you ARE an athlete.

Being an athlete is much more than being good at something. You must be good at training your mind. Your mind is what will take you farther than you’ve ever been. Practice motivation, practice patience, and practice perseverance. Don’t take no for an answer, and put forth your best effort in everything that you do. Inside and outside of the gym.

This is not to say that athletes do not struggle. In fact, Athletes struggle with MANY things. Stay tuned for the mind struggles that athletes face. You may be surprised!!

To Be Continued…….