Cnstnce’s BodyBlog

Waking up to a beautiful mountain day, and I have no idea what to do with it.  I am going to the gym, for sure, but I have no idea what to work on.  Through boxing (jumping rope) yesterday I have sore calves, so a leg day may be out of the question.  Just did chest and bis on Monday, so thats off.  Shoulders are also sore due to boxing…so it sounds like HIIT and abs.  My off day is Sunday, I’m not even halfway through the week!

So I have a lot of people ask me what the work based competition is that I am involved in.  Here it is:

Teams of 4 have 12 weeks to improve their overall fitness.  We were tested on flexibility, strength, cardio, blood pressure, cholesterol, and body composition in Feb., then given a score based on a percentage of our health as compared to the national average for our age group.  May 2, my team, "Wyld Stallions" (10 pts if you catch the movie reference) gets retested.  Member of my team are: Myself, my boyfriend Stephen, Bradley, and David.

Stephen and I are doing awesome, we have changed our bodies.  We eat clean, do tons of cardio (HIIT for me) and lift as often as we can.  We took one day off last week.  Bradley has told us he has lost 16 lbs, I see him in the yoga classes so I know that he is tryin.  David I haven’t seen in the gym once, but he says he goes later in the day when I am working. 

Now for my personal conundrum.  I want someone else to win.  There is a guy that Stephen and I tried to team up with at the beginning, but he already had a team, who is kicking major butt.  I see him regularly working harder than anyone else in the gym, ever.  He is on an eating plan, not one that I agree with, but it seems to be giving him the results that he is looking for.  If anyone in his team is working at all, they will win.  The other side of the coin is a team that I don’t want to win.  They cheated.  During their initial evaluation they held their breath for the cardio test, pretended that they couldn’t lift or stretch as far as they really could.  They cheated their way to a super low score, knowing they wouldn’t even need to try.  They do work out, so I can’t be too down on them, but cheating!  I wish there was a more fair way to analyze this competition.  Last years winners were cheaters too.  I am a really competitive person, but when the playing field isn’t even it makes it really hard.  I test again soon, and we will know the winners in June.  I just hope an ounce of what is fair shines through.

Saturday night, after a long night at work, I decided to have some beer to celebrate the beginning of my weekend.  Not the same as everyone elses, I know.  So it’s Monday and I am bloated tired and just all around feeling down on myself.  Why do I drink?  I can go for weeks without it, but when I finally do drink its like a tornado.  I feel like a little Tazmanian devil just flying around.  It just makes me feel gross.  My weight changes 3.5 lbs everytime from all the water weight, and I am put 2 days behind.  I am not going to drink for the next 3 weeks, it isn’t worth losing this competition over.  Its so frustrating.

I just want to say thank you to all of you on this site.  I’ve only been an active member for about 3.5 weeks, but I find all of you amazing.  I never thought that a site like this would work the way this one does.  I love to help people with their goals and to give advice, but sometimes I feel like I need some support or some questions answered, and I have all of you for that.  I love it.  I bought a Bodybuilding.com T-shirt to wear around town and to the gym so that others can join this fitness revolution that we are all a part of. (at least I hope its a revolution)  I read so many profiles from people who are or want to be trainers, nutritionists, or educators, and it just makes me giggle at all the positive energy.

 Thank you all for showing me that there are those out there that don’t nay-say, and believe in each other.  Cheers to our protein shakes!

I wrote in my blog earlier about heading to the boxing gym today for my first workout with a class.  I was nervous and excited and couldn’t wait to dive in.  I have been back in the gym for some time now, and I am one of those people that pushes extremely hard, so I was prepared for anything.  I think I may have been over-prepared.  The guys at the gym treated me like I had no idea what was going on.  ("Do you know what a crunch is?" I’m serious) 

My question I guess is….What is it with guys?  Why do you see us women in gym or at nutrition stores and assume that we don’t know our A$# from our elbow?  It happened at GNC the other day too.  I was looking through the array of products, reading labels, and some tubby kid came up (not an employee) with this, "that is for guys that want to get big."  Ummm….What?  It’s not just for guys nit-wit!  And you may think about fat burners for yourself tubby.  I have nothing against people with weight, I understand your struggles, but I have a hard time with some kid telling me that I don’t know how to shop for my supplements, when he clearly needs a lot of work.

I guess we chicks just need to continue to prove ourselves…So much for the 21st century.

After watching Valerie Wayguman (spl?) training for the Arnold video, I have been inspired.  Today I am joining a boxing gym in the hopes of getting my muscles more cut and improving my endurance.  If you haven’t watched any of these videos, girls, you should.  She really kicks butt in the gym, and it is awesome.  You can see what it clearly takes to be a top competitor.  Off I go, first day at the boxing gym, wish me luck.

Constance