Pump hard……. Pump often

Last night I finally hit 135lbs on the bench. I’m still in shock.

Last week when I was benching my boyfriend decided I should try to "feel the weight" as in the 135lbs. I bench 115lbs usually two sets for 5 reps so I wasn’t "feeling" the idea of "feeling" 135lbs but after 5 minutes of convincing me that with him spotting me I would not be holding the weight by myself, I gave it a try. Not as hard as I thought it would be. And he told me he didn’t have to touch the weight that much. Whatever. Just glad he was holding onto it.
Last night he wanted me to "feel" the weight again.  So while keeping his hands around the barbell but not actually touching it I did one rep. When I racked that weight he was more excited than I was.  All he kept saying was "I didn’t even tough it!  You did that by yourself!!"

I think he’s more pumped about me hiting 135 than me. I was too much in shock to react LOL.

Another milestone under my belt. The first was me leg pressing 270lbs.

Alisa

Finally got my pictures uploaded to the net. Click on the link below to open up my pictures in photobucket.com
My pictures

Alisa

Read, read, read!!

Spending a week walking the streets of one of the most beautiful cities in the world around people who curiously enough always seem to be (during work hours of all times) sitting in cafes sipping wine and eating bread and never getting fat created a very "cardio me".  That seems to be the thing over there. Cardio. Even when I looked up gyms in Paris on the net their facilities are very heavy oriented towards all types of dance classes and body sculpting classes (in my book that’s cardio with a few weights). They bike a LOT and walk even more. In short the hard core mentality we have in America about weight training and bodybuilding seems lacking over there.  I didn’t even read my bodybuilding magazines I was so lack. And upon careful people watching while walking Parisian streets I didn’t see any hardbodies either.

So I’m back home and I’m on a cardio kick. Good for me as I needed a good swift kick in the cardio. But I needed to get my Do Work mindset ramped back up. I hit the gym on Saturday and was glad to hear some clanging on the iron and some good old fashioned grunts. It felt good to be back on the bench and pushing up some weight.  But I was still all blahs blahs and searching the web for real French crepes in Atlanta while thinking how wonderful it would be to munch on some French bread and wishing we had a river that ran through Atlanta that I could sit upon during sunset and eat some pastries.

Yea…time to wake the bleep up.

So I’m back on my reading kick. Reading my bodybuilding magazines and reading on bodyspace and reading the hardcore bodybuilding websites I like to visit. Feeling that hardcore energy I was missing on my vacation and in need of a refill now I’m back home. And it feels good. My motivation level is starting to move upward and tonight it’s back and biceps. I’m looking for a good pump tonight. (Yea yea I know some of you snickered like 10 year olds on a playground!)

I still want a good French crepe with sugar inside.

Alisa
There’s a reason it’s called a WORKout!

I have finally gotten past the jet lag from landing back in Atlanta this past Friday. Paris is 6 hours ahead of EST and my body was awake and asleep on Paris time from Friday to Sunday morning even though I was back in Atlanta. I was awake when I should be sleeping and sleepy when I should be awake. By Sunday my body got it all back figured out. Did cardio every day I was there except that Thursday and Friday. By Thursday I was exhausted beyond belief and Friday morning I was on a nine hour flight back to Atlanta. Sitting on a plane for nine hours requires a lot of onflight movies to pass the time. Or some sleeping pills.

As far as my trip here are a few thoughts.

Because I knew I would be getting back to the hotel late in the evenings  I always did my treadmill 20 minute jog in the morning which developed an unplanned habit of morning cadio. I loved the effect. I was energized, awakened, refreshed and ready for my day after a good 20 minute jog, shower, smoothie of protein powder with orange juice and cereal with soy milk. So I decided when I got back to Atlanta I would keep up the habit. This morning was my first morning trying that out. And my goal is to make this a habit Monday through Friday mornings. So on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays that gets me into two a day workouts.

I walked a LOT during my visit. Paris is very much a walking city. Traffic is crazy from about 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. I have never seen traffic this bad in the states. So walking was the way to go to get from place to place in the city. Plus seeing all the cafes and how Parisians enjoy their afternoon and evenings was fun. I’ve got to find me some cafes in Atlanta to just sit and read a book.

I visited the Louvre museum, Palace of Versailles, Notre Dome, took a dinner cruise on the river that runs through the city, took two bus tours of the city, and visited the Eiffel Tower. Ate at different places and saw many amazing buildings with incredible architecture. The one thing I was not able to get into was the breakfast of bread and jam and juice and that’s it. Seemed everywhere I looked that’s what people were having for breakfast. They eat a LOT of bread and drink a LOT of wine in Paris. Yet they are a very thin people. Must be all the walking and climbing up stairs. Obesity is NOT a problem in Paris.

This is one very old city and it amazes me to see everyday buildings older than my own country. I loved the colorful, exciting, sad, revolutionary, beautiful history of that place. Too much to see in one week but I saw more than I ever thought I would see of Paris. I’m still amazed I was able to go.

Gotta load up some pictures to show you!

Alisa

My flight leaves this afternoon and I’ve been running around today like a mad woman trying to get last minute stuff done. But you know what? I still made it to the gym for some cardio this morning.

Do Work Crew stand up!!

Did 50 minutes of cardio with HIIT and then made it to the punching bag to try out my new gloves. Found out why hitting a punching bag is good carido. I felt that all in my back, abs, and glutes. Did that for 15 minutes and was out the door to race home to finish packing.

I think I have free web access at the hotel. If I do I’ll drop in and post a blog about my trip.

Until then I’ll catch up with all ya’ll when I get back at the end of next week!

au revior (good bye in French)!!

Alisa
There’s a reason it’s called a WORKout!

He got stopped for speeding and said he was a police officer. He produced a badge and after checking the records it was revealed he had not been a licensed officer since 2003. So they arrested him for falsely identifying himself as a police officer.

Hate to see that mug shot of him.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/052309dnmetbodybuilderarrest.c9ebd29.html

Alisa
There’s a reason it’s called a WORKout!

I kid you not. ROFL.

www.bodybuilding.com/fun/incredible_hulk_training.htm

Yep I remember the Hulk from 2003 and then how he looked a few years later. Oh yea his new workout plan created a MASSIVE transformation.  HUGE difference.

BB.com even has before and after photos.

The Hulk’s Incredible Transformation.
Before: 2003. After: 2008.
© 2003-08 Universal Studios.

Look at those striations on the pecs. Look at those traps. Oh my!

ROFL…love it.

Alisa
There’s a reason they call it a WORKout!

Last night I went to Dicks Sporting Goods to purchase some workout gear which included some gloves for hitting a punching bag.

So I’m on YouTube looking up videos on how to hit a punching bag and wanted to know the difference between using boxing gloves and these punching gloves I bought. But I forgot the exact name of the gloves so I decided to go to the Dicks Sporting Goods website to look them up.

Well not knowing the exact url of the website I thought it probably would be dicks dot com since everyone calls the store Dicks. So I type dicks dot com and right before I hit the enter button my brain said STOPPPP!!  Try looking it up in a search engine first.

Sure enough I was wrong the website is dickssportinggoods dot com. I don’t even want to know what would have popped up on my computer screen here at work if I had hit that enter button.

Common sense is golden. ROFL.
Alisa
There’s a reason it’s called a WORKout!

I’ve had such a mind transformation this weekend concerning fitness. I might have had a spiritual moment in the mix of all of it as well considering how enlightened I feel.

Ok…maybe that’s a bit overstated BUT I do feel much more aware.

Especially concerning the concept of having a relationship with food. My moment of awareness came when I went to the movies on Sunday and did NOT GET ANY BUTTERY POPCORN. Guess what? I survived it. Ohhhhh the amazement of it all. I purposefully stuffed myself at dinner with veggies and steamed soybeans so that by the time I got to the movies there was no way I was eating anything else including popcorn. And I still enjoyed the movie. Who knew? LOL.

I have to see food in a different light. I have to  realize that I need to eat the amount needed for a given time. And yes for a little while I will have to endure some hunger pains as my body adjusts to not eating the amounts I’m used to eating. But I can handle it. I remember when I stopped eating meat and felt hungry ALL the time until my body adjusted to no meat. I have done two diet adjustments in my life (from meat eater to vegetarian and from vegetarian to vegan). Getting adjusted to eating less food in a day should be a piece of cake.

Speaking of cake…well carbs anyway….I’m trying out carb cycling.  The idea being to eat more carbs on the days I need the extra energy and less carbs on other days. The days I do cardio I’ll need less carbs than the days I do weights and I’ll need even less carbs on my rest day. So instead of eating the exact same thing all days I’ll adjust my eating to reflect my energy need for the day. I’ll probably start this in full effect when I get back from Paris.

Went into Dicks Sporting Goods store today. I love this store. It inspires me. The store and the indoor rock climbing wall. Tried that once and made it to the top. I need to do that again one day. Anyhoo, I’ve been thinking of how to vary up my workout routine. What can I add different? Decided I wanted to start punching on the punching bag in my gym. I don’t know a lick about boxing but I figured I’ll just punch away until I’m tired. So I bought a pair of punching gloves. Not boxing gloves but punching gloves. Guess what? I got them in black and pink!!

I needed a new pair of lifting gloves as my current pair was wearing through the leather and I was beginning to get blisters. So instead of getting the pretty black and pink pair like I did before I got a set of "pro" pair that were better made (and cost more) with better padding and got them in black.

Add to these two pairs of gloves new workout top and that completed my shopping at Dicks. I’m so excited about trying out my new punching gloves on a punching bag. Just bam bam bam away ROFL. I probably look up an instruction video online so at least I have something that looks like a form LOL.

Here are my new gloves

Alisa
There’s a reason it’s called a WORKout!

Yes I am going to be in Paris for a week beginning the end of next week.

I can’t wait!

Been looking forward to this trip for months. And now the real excitment begins.

What to pack? Where will I eat?  (funny question to be asking about Paris huh).  So much to do how will I decide?

Will I take the elevator all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower? Ahhhh no. Don’t like heights.

I’m going with family so this will be a great trip and I can’t speak a lick of French. LOL. As always I’ve done some research on the exercise room where I will be staying and it looks decent. What I’ve decided to do this trip is give my body a week’s rest from the weights and do daily cardio and abs. Just do intense cardio and work the abs for a week to get my fat burn on.  Which means weight training for this week is on HARD core.

Upping my bench tomorrow to 115lbs to get closer to my goal of 135lbs. Upping the reps on everything this week to crank out as many as my body can produce.  Last night’s leg day will be my last before I go to Paris so no more legs until I get back.

In Paris with the daily cardio with HIIT AND the amount of walking I will be doing I should get a nice workout.

I refuse to let my eating blow out like that man’s stomach in my last blog post ROFL.  So my goal is to keep my eating as tight as possible and as regular as possible. I eat about every 3 hours and I’m trying to figure out how to keep that schedule. My family is like most people. Three meals a day and snacks in between. So I know eating those three meals will be easy for me. It’s when they are grabbing a quick snack from a vendor and I’m trying to figure out where to get a quick modest healthy meal that will be interesting.  And I’m hoping (praying) I can take an unopened canister of protein powder through customs to have my daily protein shakes. If not it’s going to be interesting trying to find a health food store and I can’t speak the language enough to ask somebody.

Any tips?

Now what to pack?……….

Alisa
There’s a reason it’s called a WORKout!