My Crazy Obsession with the Gym

So I’ve been following the olympic lifting / pyramid strength-focused training plan for the past 5wks or so I was given…. it worked, I’m bigger, harder, stronger…. but bored! And I’m really, really starting to get annoyed with the gappy waist - tight butt/thigh jeans issue. SOO… I’ve decided to copy and use the workout of the fitness competitor of the week on here…. it’s very, very different than what I was using… try it for 2-3 weeks, then add back in the heavy until around 4-5wks out. Should keep a plateau far away.. just worried about my knee, it’s a lot of lunging and that never goes well here.

So far today: 20min biking intervals. Have her quad/calf workout to do in a few hours, then a 30min run session. I am slightly intimidated.

Missed posing yesterday - was sick. I hope I’m not getting the flu, on top of a cold and getting sick, it added in joint aches and chills. Damn timing.

Either have a bad cold or worse allergies. It blows.

Thurs: shoulders + cardio - DB shoulder combo (1/2 bottom-mid, 1/2 top-above, full lateral raises) 15lbs, 3×10-10-10; rear delt press: 60lb 3×12; front barbell raises 30lb 3×10; military press drop set 40lb-30lb-20lb  3×5 each weight; cable lateral raises 10lb x 3 sets of max (about 12) each side… 10min heavy bike resistance, 10min run, 10min elliptical. Not feeling too hot so today is probably going to be 30min of biking/incline walking… tomorrow is back to normal.

What a week of weird dreams. Waking up a lot because of them… doesn’t help my not feeling well.

I’m sick of eating already; my own fault because I’ve been doing the same damn diet since December. Also doesn’t help that most of the time I’m scarfing it down cold in between analyses at work… no time to heat and make it taste bettter. To hopefully "get over it" I’m doing a higher fat/protein and low low carb day today, then cheat meal tomorrow. After cheating (which has been a month??? since) I can’t wait to get back to my boring broccoli/cauliflower and turkey. Since this week was fairly crappy due to being sick I’m waiting till next week to add in 1/2C of carbs… workouts and cardio were a little week.

Happy to see though, that at 9 weeks I have what I had at 5-6wks last show. Still have some fat to remove, no kidding especially in the legs (need to find a good yohimbe supplement, was told that this will help lean out legs due to blocking beta receptors… suggestions welcome) but my upper body shreds fast. Abs/serratus: already can see the different oblique "sections" from the side and top 4 are very visible when flexed. Yay! I haven’t gotten measured or anything yet so I’m going on blind faith alone.

Time for cardio, have a great day.

20min am cardio on bike -  intervals sprint w/ heavy climbing… finished up back/tri’s/abs and 10min step mill in evening. Cranky. Good news is, bonuses and raises at work. Bad news… all the girls at golds and I are throwing men in the gym and lighting it on fire. Heehee.

Hope my mood improves tomorrow. My cardio needs it.

Mondays and Fridays are usually swell in my job-world; I schedule them to be. Today wasn’t, and kept getting worse: instrument malfunctions / problems / repair, someone was late making my solutions for me that I needed asap, training a new person, department and group meetings….. testing was cut by 2/3rds which gives me a superlong day to look forward to Thurs. Nevermind that it’s a female’s favorite time and I was super-emotional to begin with.

Food: good. Workout: barbell snatches 3×10, single-leg deadlift / rows (heavier barbells are easier): 40lb x 10 ea leg, 50lb x 10ea leg, 60lbs x 8 ea leg.; pullups 25 w/ 32lb assist, bar tricep pressdown on cables 35lb 3×10, DB rows 30lbs 4×10, 10min cardio plus 5 min extra for warmup. I was not focused. I told myself I’ll just make up the remaining back / tri exercises tomorrow AM at 6 with my normal cardio session…. can’t keep doing that… everyday counts….

Miss my LS. Had just started hanging out for about a month, things seemed to go really well, then went from hot to cold almost overnight. Says it’s work buttt… call it an icky feeling. I don’t think I did anything..? I shouldn’t worry about it and I’m pretty much "whatever-ing" it now, but… dated someone who did the similar and look what happened with another girl.

The gym wants to put up some pics of me from my last show to help promote the NABBA one coming in May. Since the photographer did I-Don’t-Know-What with the ones I had taken, all I have are some goofy ones of me mock-posing and smiling like a dehydrated flexed idiot into my camera. I don’t really want to be plastered on the wall there.

Saw a Popeyes commercial. It’s been 4 years - remember b/c I looooove their fries - since I had some. I could really go for it right now. MMM chicken strips.

OK, so they aren’t Aasics or however it’s spelled. Those were a different pair I was considering…. they are New Balances. Very, very comfy… running and plyometric approved; but the back comes a little high and rubs my ankle bone…. ouch. Time to invest in band-aids.

2nd cardio: 40min total: 20min run, 10min arctrainer, 10min heavy resistance biking. I am spent.

Sundays always are, and always will be leg day. There is something wonderful about this really, really tough and painful part to lift…..

clean high pulls: 85-90lbs, 3×10

lying leg lifts/also hanging: 3lb DB in feet, 5×10

leg extns w/ angle variety: 50lb x 25

smith squat, narrow feet: 90×10, 100×8, 120x 6-6-4

angled leg press, wide feet: sled + 90lb, 3×15

smith deadlifts: 90lbx10, 70lb 2×10

single leg smith lunge: 70lbs, 3×10 ea side

DB overhead press: 30lb x 10, 35lb 2×10

single DB lateral raise while leaning: 15lb, 3×10

cable lateral raise while leaning: 15lb, 3×12

shrugs: 80lbs, 2×12

cardio: 20min bike

Cooked some food, made plans, and getting ready for cardio #2 in an hour. Shooting for 30min of running - we’ll see - my legs are wobbly already. OH, FINALLY AFTER 16MOS IN MY SHOXX….. BOUGHT NEW SHOES…. I’m awful - I buy something I looooooove and then wear it until it threatens to disintegrate. I tried to find another pair of shoxx, but didn’t like the style or feel…. so the runner up is lime green aasics. They are comfy…

Saturday was kind of a bust - just AM 30min cardio on elliptical, meant to come back in but spent the whole friggin afternoon (and way too much $$) shopping with my girl. I shop "big" twice a year - spring and fall - and just pick out odds and ends the remainder…. so that day ended up being said Saturday. It was supposed to be back day, no biggie, I like doing back/tri’s on Mondays.

Have to train someone at work to takeover my old project so I can move to a different one… Not looking forward to slowing down and having longer nights because it postpones the time I get to the gym… at least this week it’s more of "show and tell", next week she’ll get more involved in the process.

Posing class starts next saturday for me….

Didn’t leave work until almost midnight… but I left for 2.5 hours in between to get to the gym quick. Diet yesterday was almost terrible; only carbs I got in was 1/4C oats in the AM … got in all my protein but missed 2svg’s of broccoli, 2- 1/4C svgs of oats and beans, 2T of fats…. I was exhausted. No energy to lift… I have no clue how I was able to workout AND do cardio, before, when I would go a day just drinking coffee without food. You really can’t afford to miss food when doing show prep or even generally trying to lose fat…

Chest & biceps: smith incline press, 80lb x 10-8-6-6-4, 25 pushups, barbell bicep curls: 40lbs, 3×10; incline hammer DB curls, 15lbs 3 x 10-8; cable ab rotations 20lbs 3×15, torso rotation machine 65lbs 3×15; isolateral decline press 35lbs ea side 3×10; ….. I think that’s it. I missed flat bench, flyes… and only got in 1/2 of my clean high pulls at bar weight + 30lbs. Won’t do that again. Oh, and I biked for 20min in the morning.

Taking off of the gym Friday so tonight will probably be cardio and abs and shoulders. Had a disappointment this week, but I won’t let it ruin my motivation at the gym… Kinda scary, 10wks out on Saturday already. In 2wks, it will be hardcore crunch time. I’ll begin adding more double cardio’s next week, already doing about 2 a week now but they’re fairly low intensity (biking for legs)… is it still considered less intense even though my heart rate stays around 160-170bpm?

It was nice to learn though, that at my work I can leave for a few hours if I want to - to get the gym in - as long as I come back. THAT will be a HUGGEEE advantage since our "busy" season starts in March and goes the rest of the year…. everyone gets their new budgets for the fiscal year and sends us super-loads of testing…. at least now if I want to leave at 7 or 8 to workout, I CAN and come back to finish up stuff, instead of grinding it out and not leaving until 10. Even though it’s late… I feel very peaceful and relaxed coming back to work after breaking to hit the gym.

More coffee time. Even though it was a late night… still woke up at 7am… woohoo…

Tues was leg day #2 - decided to throw in a higher rep day since lifting legs in the rep range of 10-8-6-6-4 will and has definitely added some size… I needed it (never thought I’d agree that my legs needed to be bigger) but… as I’ve complained before… it makes wearing jeans THAT much harder. Tight thighs/butt and a gappy waist…. great

Wide squat on smith with pulses: 80lb, 3×15 + 10 pulses

Leg extn - toes straight and turned out: 55lb, 6×20-25

Lying hamstring curl: 45lb, 3×12

Angled leg press, toes out: 90lb, 3×15

Standing calf raise: 70lb, 3×20

Smith lying 1-leg press: 80lb, 4×15

1-leg squat on bench: bodyweight, 3×10 ea leg

Cardio: 35min of run:sprint or run:run hills intervals, 6.5mph - 7.7mph. Felt a little sick… great… intervals always make me a little nauseated.Diet was good, didn’t feel like eating after 6pm for my last 2 meals….

Saw something on E! about the newest bachelor (gag) and how he "took back" his engagement to the girl he initially chose on NATIONAL TV. What an a-hole. I’m all for following your heart…. but damn, what about privacy? That poor girl was handed her ass while millions watched.

Today is just cardio. I’m shooting for 20min this morning and hopefully 40 tonight.

Heavy back day  yesterday and I’m happy to see the weights going up:

Barbell snatches: bar (55lbs?) 3×10… need to start adding weight soon as I can do the entire 10 for each set without stopping… before I’d get 4 and need a break

Bent over barbell row: 70lb x 10, 80lb x 8-6-6-4

Assisted pullups/chins: 50lb assist x 25

Skullcrushers: 40lb x 3×10…. need to increase next time

bench dips: 1×25

Isolateral high row: 40lb x 10, 45 x 8-6-6-4

Rope tricep extn: 30lb x 3×10

I feel like I did something else but can’t remember what. 20min cardio on the arctrainer, but that’s not it. Someone was VERY kind to me yesterday and cooked my turkey for me, so I won’t have to rely on scooping out cans of tuna quickly into a dish and taking it to work. It was messy.

Tonight is abs and cardio… wanted to make it a doubles day but a guy is coming out to look at remodeling the bathrooms AGAIN… geez…. they were only done 3 years ago…. so I have to be completely ready by 10 - my tired self got up at 8 instead of the scheduled 6, was up late watching "Quarantine" until 1am…. tense movie, not the greatest but it was worth it. Ew, never want to get rabies.

Yes the title is stupid but I had no ideas and since I lifted back…. there you go

Woke up to 2-3" of snow… WTF? Friday was very warm compared to winter standards; probably 50 degrees at least. Thought spring was here

Sunday: super-cardio day. AND on only 4 hours of sleep… that’s what happens when you DD for friends. Not that it wasn’t worth it…. ANyway, it lasted about 45-50min and wasn’t balls to the wall, but I kept my heart rate 160-170 and got in some intervals too:

Bike: 22min between level 9 and 13… couple 4min intervals at level 14 (I think this is really helping me get a teardrop shape around my knee)

Treadmill: 10min jog/run @ 6.5-7mph

Stairmill: 6min @ level 7… you don’t have to move too fast on this for it to be almost insanely intense

Elliptical: 10-13min (forget) with a steep incline, reverse and forward strides, level 10…

Yes, I "forgot on purpose" to train biceps. I’m soo bad heehee. They’re big enough anyway… Tonight is heavy back/tris so they’ll get hit enough.

Morning cardio time… ttyl