My Crazy Obsession with the Gym

Haven’t done a show, not really wanting to in the near future, haven’t been on in a while and sorry if I missed / didn’t reply in a timely fashion (not that I haven’t been on quick to check people who inspire me). It’s been a year with lots of positive changes and huge work projects…

Following the current diet plan listed on my page - same one that I did since last Aug 2008. Think I may have plateaued / stopped responding to it yet? haha. Surely. I’m on the fence about modifying ones I’ve seen on here (to my ht/wt/etc) and giving them a shot… or forking over the cash again to have one rewritten. I’ll prob choose the latter option because the more diet theories and foods I can make available on a diet to myself, the worse it will go.. Troponin nutrition is one of the places I’m thinking of going to.

Look at Mikiko’s page if you need any idaes on how to buy / cook / store food. She gives great examples of how to cook yams, chick/trkey, fish all at once and refrigerate or freeze conveniently. Maybe it’s not rocket science, but it can get hard to reinvent the wheel of organization - and how easy can it get when someone shows you an easier method? Not that I didn’t loooooove spending 3hours every Sunday afternoon grilling and baking and boiling (the dog did)… but now I spent 3 hours doing the same which will last me 3-4wks. She mentions that Costco has tilapia for $5.99/lb; BJ’s has the same for $3.88 or $3.38/lb… FYI. 93/7 lean ground Purdue turkey is still $3 cheaper at walmart.

Most likely buying the Egg Whites International. Really took the time to read over it and you CANT beat the convenience or simplicity. And it’s cheaper than buying all those damn eggs at the grocery store.

I NEED to put up a new photo(s). Things have really changed - no, I didn’t go all-out on a junk food and gymless binge, but just different and "show day becky" isn’t how I walk around the rest of the year. I am putting muscle back on and working to get leaner; with school starting in Jan, it’s doubtful I"ll be able to manage my 6x/wk gym habit on top of 2 labs.

Training schedule kinda looks like this: Mon - Sat, 20-25min cardio at med/high intensity. Hven’t been running because bought all new workout gear and the dryer can’t shrink my pants enough. Will change. Back and shoulders get worked 2x/wk; chest once a week; biceps MAYBE every other week (they get big on their own from a LOT of heavy back work); legs once or twice a week for full-days - other days I put in a random few sets of deadlifts or squats or presses (etc) with another bodypart; abs get worked (for 6-9 sets max) pretty much everyday… what else… triceps get worked 2-3x/wk…

Yes, I need to put some structure in there. I really like Danielle Reutter’s diet (she was a transformation of the week). She looks phenomenal now, and I don’t think it would need ‘tweaked’ too much for me to use it since she’s almost as tall as I am and started off at a much higher bf%.

What else… the new show "Mercy" is addicting… I DVR-it every Wed and watch it Thurs morning at 5am when I wake up… like a "Happy - it’s almost the weekend" present.

 later.

Haven’t been doing my best - training is great, not many double cardios but I’m 9weeks out from a USBF … they don’t like competitors to be as lean as NABBA, so not too worried. Still getting leaner though it’s hard to see post-PMS… have to wait another day or 2 for that to subside, HA. The problem has been FOOD - not eating crap, but I’ve been missing a lot of meals…. cooked a bunch yesterday so that will change. Just not hungry lately

Found Cabot 75% reduced fat cheese - MUCH better alternative to the real thing, and still tastes pretty good. Even comes in a block, not those individually wrapped plastic floppy things that the fat-free cheese is sold in.

Today was an unimpressive tricep and ab workout. I won’t even post it!! Energy was low (lack of food, duh) and my shoulder was nonstop aching… my buddy is going to school to be a physical therapist and says it’s definitely a rotator issue, but it’s not torn because I can still use it. Sh*t. Didn’t do legs this weekend - tried plyo for the first time in months on Thurs (didn’t fall over thank god) but my knee was shot all weekend. Couldn’t even bike, but was able to get some timein on the elliptical Sunday. Added 30min of running tonight too, that was fine… running never bothers it for some reason. I like running when frustrated, just too bad my ipod ear buds always fall out of my ears…

Probably putting too much effort into stocking up for my apartment - trying to get stuff to match and look cute, etc. Hey, I figure that I’m going to be spending a LOT of time there so I may as well like how it looks. The bathroom is 1/2 done, have all my kitchen appliances (major plus: bought the 80-inch george foreman grill…. <3 <3 <3) but still need more… the living room / dining room / foyer / bedroom is still too daunting. Went twice this weekend to buy for them and got so overwhelmed that I left, LOL. I still have like 6 weeks… no hurry…. yet

Lisa did the USBF last week… she is naturally skinny to begin with, not "show lean" though… but for show day, she was ripped. She took 5 out of 11 at her first - a great accomplishment - but was told she was too lean and hard. She said most of the girls there looked "very healthy" (wink) and were scarfing junk backstage. She said they really weren’t lean at all… is this how USBF is? I know they aren’t as lean as NABBA / NPC, etc…. but some of the pics I have seen of their competitors still look comparable to those 2 organizations. Who knows.. gues it’s like any other show: what ‘body type’ is favored is up to the org, judge, day, lunar cycle, etc. Being sarcastic, you get it. My plan is to just train hard, get as lean as possible, and not stress about it… as long as I’m happy with how I turn out, great.

My knee officially sucks - can’t kneel, lunge, wide squat, hack squat, or do any sort of high impact thing with it… or I pay dearly for days.

BUT… on the bright side… signed on for my first apartment! Less than 2mins away from my work (I commute about 45mins each way right now). PLUS, there’s a Gold’s less than 5mi from my place… and I absolutely adore the GM - she is super nice and does NPC shows. Used to manage the one where I live now. I can’t wait… Moving in June 13th - 2 months to buy furniture, kitchen stuff, stock up on supplements, … and it’s a week before my best friend’s wedding that I will bridesmaid in… and 10 days before the USBF show. Sheesh! It will be a busy month. At least now it will be EASIER to show prep without my mom’s amazing baking around all the f-wording time… AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY…. I get my very own full-sized refrigerator… byebye small college dorm fridge…. that thing will be STOCKED with eggs / vegs / turkey / chicken / etc. No more running out of cooked food and no more junk laying around the house!! It’s exciting and scary… worst part of moving (even though it’s not that far at all) is leaving my friends and fam in york and h-burg… will miss being away from the man the most… but we’ll make it work and he realizes that this is important to me so we’ll figure it out for the year

I have plateaued on the diet. Been following a 4wks out plan since Jan 1st…. think I need to switch it up fo ra week - I have a little over 10wks left, that’s enough wiggle room…

Lifting: good and consistent, chest and bi’s have been a little neglected but they have always been strong on their own. Will probably go back to heavy and powerlifting for a few weeks. Seeing improvements and looser clothing each week… but you know how it is… you expect to be stage ready ALREADY even 2.5mos out. Cardio is less, at least 20-25mins daily… doubles on weekends… that will have to change soon.

Just had to ramble for a bit.

Hamstrings, calves, abs - 5×20 seated leg curls, 5×25 laying leg curls, 5×20 deadlifts (lower back was numb [??] from back day so didn’t do the full 20 on each..wimp), standing and seated calf extns 5×15 ea., weighted bench stepups 5×10ea leg, high/middle woodchops, hanging leg raises w/db’s, pushups, bench crunches w/plate, …. 40cardio: 10bike, 20arctrainer, 10running, 10elliptical…. a few mins of that was my warmup.

Felt weak, cooked my turkey in the oven instead of the grill - it sits in a refrigerator alll damn day and i never have time at work to heat it up… so the fat inside (yes amazingly there is fat in 93%lean) congealed up into some disgusting gelatinous mass that i bit into… got grossed out and threw the whole damn thing away. Not good but i have no tolerance for "gross" food, LOL.

Mon was back, triceps and abs… haven’t been on superpump250 for a few months now .. just changed yesterday to NOXplode - oh my goodness, it rocks. i plowed through my workout and probably went heavier and longer than i could without it (not to forget i had some redline a few hours earlier). It didn’t give the "jitteriness" that I experienced with superpump either. It helped even with running too, I just wanted to keep going but it was almost 11pm and sleep was too appealing. Only down side: I think it tases like crap, but so did superpump - too sweet/thick/salty…. I only take 1scp of each… but I will have to deal with it and smile

Not much else, starting posing class this saturday. Tonight will probably be hamstrings, shoulders, abs, and maybe some biceps thrown in. Supposed to have double cardio today… but I slept…. need to work on waking up when my alarm goes off and not just ignoring it. I’ll just do a double tonight - 40-50mins.

Thank you for the well wishing!!! Each show gets  easier and more "routine" to do… but stil intimidating to be mostly naked in front of people.

Never thought those words would be said out of my mouth. But… it’s fun and brutal.

Did the leg workout again, all giant sets. Felt like I was going to blow out my Rt. knee - did the close angled leg press and on the 3rd rep it suddenly felt like somebody had whacked a hammer under my kneecap. I soooooo changed foot positions to a wider stance… after stopping for a minute. Ouch. This is the same damn knee that keeps me from doing plyo (as frequently as I should) and lunging. It bothered me again on smith machine lunges…. I’m starting to break and I’m not even 25 yet

Did legs in the AM, plus 20min heavy on the arctrainer… then 40min in the afternoon - 10min run, 20min bike intervals, 10min elliptical. Could have kept going but had groceries to get - I am NOT getting caught without prepared food this week again. You know sometimes how you can’t do 10mins of something, then another time you could just be in some "zone" and go forever??? That was today.

Can’t decide if I want to do RedLine again for the next month or cycle off and try something different. Anything that works well, that has a different "formula" or chemical makeup? I guess it all has to do with what receptors the product binds to, to be active - and cycling off with something that uses totally different receptors. Also wanted to try Yohimbe - any good ones out there?

Have a great Sunday, it’s beautiful here

self: supersetting arms is NOT fun. the ‘pump’ is actually uncomfortable. front plate raises with arnold DB presses, incline DB curls with skullcrushers (can’t do laying w/ Db’s, hurts the bad shoulder), standing barbell press w/ lateral raises, rear delt presses, tri rope extns with standing barbell curl and tricep pushups…. ran 25mins, i’m happy with how i’m coming in so far, so no huge cardio increases yet. sat and sun are still doubles, no doubt son…. appointment at the plastic surgeon tomorrow AM, won’t happen before may (can’t take time off in 9wks) but if all things go well - the summer. they are one thing i can never change through lifting or cardio… i think i gave up anyhopes of having them by doing this actually - which i don’t regret. just a "pair" of assets i wish i always had…. soon.

self: supersetting arms is NOT fun. the ‘pump’ is actually uncomfortable. front plate raises with arnold DB presses, incline DB curls with skullcrushers (can’t do laying w/ Db’s, hurts the bad shoulder), standing barbell press w/ lateral raises, rear delt presses, tri rope extns with standing barbell curl and tricep pushups…. ran 25mins, i’m happy with how i’m coming in so far, so no huge cardio increases yet. sat and sun are still doubles, no doubt son…. appointment at the plastic surgeon tomorrow AM, won’t happen before may (can’t take time off in 9wks) but if all things go well - the summer. they are one thing i can never change through lifting or cardio… i think i gave up anyhopes of having them by doing this actually - which i don’t regret. just a "pair" of assets i wish i always had…. soon.

Did her leg workout and was straight-up humbled. Not easy, volume training kills, and I loved it.

• a. leg extns @ 50lb: 5×20
• a. laying leg press @ 70lbs: 5×20
• a. bodyweight squats: 5×20
• b. single leg smith squats @ 50lbs: 5×20
• b. DB lunges @ 25lbs: 5×20
• b. smith single leg deadlifts @ 25lbs: 5×10
• c. seated calf @ 130lbs: 4×20
• c. standing calf @ 70lbs: 5×10
• d. front squats @ bar + 50lbs: 3×20
• d. smith stationary lunges @ 40lbs: 3×15
• d. bench step-ups: 3×20

I modified some of it; walking lunges hurt my knee so they were made stationary. Plus I was wobbling like a fool… and my gym is equipment crowded….. I was sweaty drippy and it exhausted my legs. Did 20min am biking and 20min pm elliptical afterwards, too.

Not feeling 100% yet but whatever I had is on its way out. Saw my friend Nate, he’s as frustrated with the whole grad school admission process as I am. Can’t it just be an application and transcripts?