Euro4Ever’s BodyBlog

So we’ve made some slight changes to the program as we’ve gone, but now at the end of the second week, I think we have it all set.

1. We started out with cable crossovers at the beginning of week 1. We changed this to pec flys halfway through week 1.

2. We got rid of all of the "hell stairs", in favor of weighted calf raises on leg day. Much more benefit from this.

3. Hubby added the butt blaster (??) machine to his legs day for the second week. I am considering adding it to mine, but I dunno. I think my butt is big enough.

4. Today we decided to add cardio 3 times per week - Monday mornings after "chest day", Wednesday mornings (with legs day in the evening), then Saturday afternoons.

I’d given updates to the end of Wednesday, here are my Thursday/Friday reports:

Thursday PM: Shoulders. Met failure at each target # of reps (12/10/8/6)
Lateral Raises (each side): 5/10/10/10 (Last week: 5/5/10/10)
Bent lateral Raises (Each Side): 5/10/10/10 (Last Week: 5/5/10/10)
Military Press (each side): 10/17/17/20 (Last week: 5/5/10/10)

Friday: Biceps/Triceps

Dumbbell Curls (Each side): 10/15/17/20 (Last week: 10/15/17/20)
Barbell Curls: 20/25/20/25 (Last week: 20/20/20/20)
Single Tricep Extension: 10/15/17/20(Last week: 10/15/17/20)
Skull crushers: 20/25/25/25 (Last week: 15/20/25/25)

Shoulders and Biceps/Triceps seem to be progressing MUCH slower than everything else, which is pissing me off and making me feel like a big wimp!!!

This coming week is the last week before the change in tempo. I’m dreading the change. Not so much dreading doing it, I’m dreading the numbers I’ll have to post. My numbers are so low as it is, and you really have to decrease them to pull off the slow count, 4 up, 4 down. Ugh. Yay, more feeling like a big wuss!

So, I’m feeling pressure to just pile on as much weight as I can this week and hope for the best! Still looking forward to week 10 - going back and redoing week 1, just to compare for progress.

I am a HUGE (in more ways than one, LOL) fan of the X-Men movies, particularly the Wolverine character. Never read the comic books, but I’ve had May 1st on my calendar for 6months +. He appeals to me in a unique way - I can *relate* to the character, lol. I’ve always healed ridiculously fast, and healed from things I wasn’t supposed to. The fact that it’s been almost 11 years since I’ve been told I’d never walk properly again (major car accident, "permanent" back injury).. and probably 7 since I healed completely without even a sign of the slab of scar tissue that took over my back.. yah.

So of course, when deciding that it’s time to get my shit together and get back to my pre-accident shape (that hypothyroid piled 100 lbs on in the 3 months aftr the accident!).. I did some google research on Hugh Jackman’s routine. Then BB.com came out with a story on it, and I’ve been following a slightly tweaked version for the last week. My husband is also doing it, and that really helps - egging each other on in the gym has been wonderful!

The basics: We’re doing 9 weeks of each set of exercises, broken down into 3 weeks each of 3 different tempos/style of lifting. The first 3 week set is regular tempo, next 3 weeks is 4 count up, 4 count down, last set of 3 weeks is "explosive power", heavy weights.  4 sets each exercise, aim to failure on each set (at 12/10/8/6 reps, respectively), adding weights each set. 5 Days of lifting (Mon-Fri), aiming to do some sort of fun activity on the weekend.

First off.. holy crap. If you look at the chart, it seems like a really easy workout… but it beat the shit out of both of us BIG TIME last week!

I’ve made sure to get every rep I’m supposed to, so I’ll just be posting the weights for each set.

Here’s what my week looked like:

Monday: We were busy, and didn’t feel like doing our workout. Both agreed to get
up early and do Monday’s workout (chest) early Tuesday morning.

Tuesday AM: Chest/Abs.

Incline Dumbell Press: 40/45/50/55 (This week: 45/50/55/60)
Bench Press: Bar Only/5/10/15 (This Week: 5/10/15/20)(I SO seriously hate benchpress!)
Pec Fly: 40/50/60/60 (This Week: 30/45/60/75)
Cruches (reps only,unweighted): 12/10/8/6 (This Week: 12/10/8/6)
Leg lifts (reps only, unweighted):12/10/8/6 (This Week: 12/10/8/6)
Side Bends (25lb weights each hand): 12/10/8/6 (This Week: 12/10/8/6)

Tuesday PM: Back / Calves.

Lat Pulldown: 50/60/70/80 (This week: 60/70/80/90)
Deadlifts: 40/50/55/60 (This Week: 40/55/65/75)
Rows: 50/60/70/85 (This Week: 60/70/85/100)
Calves: Did 4 sets of "hell stairs". Decided to change this to weighted calf raises for all future weeks. (This week: 100/110/120/140)

Wednesday PM: Legs.

Leg Extensions: 70/85/100/115 (This Week: 85/100/115/130)
Leg Curls: 80/95/110/125 (This Week: 105/120/125/140)
Leg Press: 230/280/330/380 (This Week: 280/330/380/430)

Thursday PM: Shoulders. (We were SO sore from Tues, we felt like total wimps with the small amount we could pull off!)

Lateral Raises (each side): 5/5/10/10
Bent lateral Raises (Each Side): 5/5/10/10
Military Press (each side):5/5/10/10

Friday: Biceps/Triceps

Dumbbell Curls (Each side): 10/15/17/20
Barbell Curls: 20/20/20/20
Single Tricep Extension: 10/15/17/20
Skull crushers: 15/20/25/25

So,overall… I’m proud of the fact that we stuck it out for the week and a half, especially given how sore we were all week last week. Even when tired, we’ve been really good about egging each other on, I’m loving this arrangement. When I don’t want to do the work, I still force myself to, partially because I don’t want to let my husband down. We’re very codependant in the gym,LOL.

So far this week, each day has been much easier than last week, and we haven’t been anywhere near as sore afterwards. Monday and Tuesday this week, I couldn’t even "feel" the workout that evening/next morning!

I’m also happy that I’ve managed to pretty consistently stack on the weight, and that everything this week has been an improvement over last. Oh, and I’m kicking ass on the leg press. I’m almost certain that the "add weight after each set" wasn’t talking about adding 50 each set, or starting 50 lbs higher this week. LOL.

I feel pretty good!

Next week is the last week of this 3 week stretch, then we change to lighter weights and slow tempo. I cannot WAIT till the 9 weeks are up, and we’ll go back to week 1 and see what kind of a difference we’ve managed to come up with!

Ok, it’s not really "day 2", but I’ve lost track of all the starts/stops, so I’m hoping that posting here will help keep me on track and motivated. It’s a really stressful time - personally AND professionally - so that hasn’t been helping.

I wasn’t really feeling like working out yesterday, but then I checked my log to see what "day" it was. "Cardio and Stretching". Ok, I figure I can do it, and we get to the gym.

One thing I didn’t mention was that a couple weeks ago, I injured my hip. I’ve been working on it since, but it’s really starting to get me down.

Well, I got on the skating cardio machine, and couldn’t even do a minute! I even tried leaning way over towards my right hip - no go. I couldn’t hold my leg in place, and it HURT. Ugh.

So I went and stretched, and that was ok.

Today is "Shoulders, Triceps, and Abs", so that’ll be fine. I haven’t done any regular weights since I injured the hip, because I’ve been so focussed on rehabbing that every time I’ve gone to the gym.  I’m not going to bother going to the gym today, as I have all I need for my Weds workout here at home (mostly dumbells).

Diet wise, something I may not have reported, as it’s a fairly new development - Turns out I’m allergic to gluten. That’s been a HUGE roadblock in losing weight, so it’s good to know. I’ve been totally clean from gluten since October, aside from an accident a couple weeks ago. I was sick for a week, all because I didn’t think there was gluten in the meal!

Gluten’s not the only problem, I also have to low carb in order to actually lose anything. I restarted low carbbing this past weekend, and have been clean with that since then.

So, I haven’t kept up on blogging, AT ALL.

Since my last post, we moved to the cities. Hallelujah! Out of redneckland!!  Our next door neighbor is a chemical engineer, and no one has anything up on blocks in the yard, nor do any of their cars have gun racks!  Also haven’t seen hoardes of people wearing camo to the grocery store, and using it as the big central social gathering place.

Whew. Anyway, it’s been a crazy year.

I haven’t had any great weight losses lately, but I HAVE been maintaining at 20 lbs under my high point, so that’s good at least.

I think things will be getting better. For one, I am about a month into a new gym membership, and a gym I LOVE!!!!!!  I am so picky about gyms, and I always end up at a "eh, it’ll have to do" gym because of convenience, and hate it, then stop going.  I think I went to Curves (if you call that a gym) twice before I gave up, that was my shortest record

Anyway, this one is awesome! It’s so awesome, in fact, that even my husband has become addicted, and now we go together. That’s huge for me, and it’s really made it easier to keep up on, as we look forward to going, and kicking our own asses.

I love that this one has a stretching cage, as it’s almost impossible for me to get a good stretch without one.  It also has a weird cardio machine that’s sort of like an elliptical, but down and back to the sides - like you’re skating. LOVE IT!

Hubby is in love with the "Expresso" virtual reality bikes, and has been tracking his progress / racing / etc with it. Excellent.

That’s about all I have to report!

So, I’ve pretty much written off the past few weeks. They’ve been pretty tumultuous.. some pretty high highs (a gold medal in baking!), and some pretty awful lows (unexpected death of a friend). Monday, I finally got back to business.

Today, I went back on the DHEA, and I’m feeling pretty crappy right now.. like I’m overclocked. I forgot how crappy it was when I first started. Hopefully this time I’ll remember this feeling enough to not just go off it and back on, LOL!

So far I’m back down 2.5 of the 10 I gained back. I’m aiming to be back down 5 total by Monday, and 10 today by next Monday.

Right now, I’m really looking forward to moving in June. I laid out my new gym, and uploaded that as a photo to my gallery. It’ll be so much nicer to have equipment like a leg press (SO stoked about that!!! My favorite piece of equipment ever!) and a rowing machine. It’s sort of hard to get jazzed about a barbell, dumbbells, and  the multi machine, ya know?

In other news,  I sent off my registration for an inline marathon.  Gotta get started on cardio endurance now!!

I wrote this as a response to a thread, but realized it would make a good blog entry too.. so I’m posting it here to keep track of my progress!

Feeling kinda sheepish as I post this..

Up till this point, I’ve had NO real direction when it came to lifting. I’d lift what I wanted, when I wanted. As a kid, this meant leg pressing everyday.. sometimes twice a day if challenged to (dared to lift heavier, asked to show someone how much I could lift) or bored. I still have HUGE quads under the fat.

Lately, I took a bit of an addiction to shoulders/biceps, so I’ve been doing that whenever I felt like it or was bored. No set exercises, just grabbing some dumbbells and going at it.

I’ve been MEANING to get together a program since I started mid Jan.. but I’m a horrific procrastinator.

Anyway, this weekend I opened up word perfect and set out a daily plan from Yesterday till the end of June. Each day has the body parts, the exercises, etc. Each monday has a spot for weight and measurements. The back page has a chart of goal weights, and spaces for me to enter dates reached.

I feel so organized now!

So Monday I started.. it was Back/Hamstrings/Calves. I realized I’ve never actually done anything to target back - and I felt it in places I didn’t know I would, lol. At first I was thinking I screwed up, so I looked it up - nope, seems like I hit everything where I was supposed to!

Today is Shoulders / Triceps / Abs. Yay for everything but abs! LOL.

So, I have about 18 hours till my follow up appointment.

The interesting (annoying?) thing is that by late yesterday, the pain was almost all gone - my shoulder blade had gone back to almost normal. It’s good that it feels better, but the "no uncertain terms" about not doing ANYTHING till the follow up appointment.. that sucks. I almost caved and did an upper body workout last night, hubby talked me out of it.

Can’t wait to be given the clear!

So, I’ve had a pretty crapola week.  well, crapola past 3 days, but it SEEMS like a full week.

It started when I woke up on Wednesday morning. I had screaming pain in the side of my face and back of my head, and shooting down the left side of my back. I was nauseous, threw up a few times, and couldn’t even open my eyes. When I did, it was like someone was shining a bright light right across my eyes. UGH. I had migraines from time to time when I was in my early-mid teens, but haven’t had one in over a decade. This was a bit different than those were, but HORRIBLE nonetheless. Bawling your eyes out at 4am is NO way to start the day!!!!
By Thursday morning, the pain had subsided into a low grade headache, and I was able to get some work done. It was a looong day - supplied some goodies for an industry event.. and it ran late. Given the lack of restful sleep since the "migrane" type pain that woke me up the day before, I was really looking forward to sleeping.

Well, woke up early this morning in a TON of pain! It was a light headache, a bit of neck pain, and screaming pain in a C shape around my left shoulder blade. Couldn’t lay on my back, couldn’t roll over, couldn’t move my arm. Yay!

Called the chiropractor I haven’t seen in a year. Well, turns out he’s not open on Fridays. UGH!!! Scheduled an emergency appointment with a chiro at the local hospital. Got hooked up to electrodes and shot up with electricity… massaged a bit, adjusted.. and now it’s a bit looser. still painful, but not nearly as bad.

I still have NO idea what I did. I haven’t been able to find 5 minutes to lift this week, and I didn’t *do* anything to it. No obvious reason for the injury, and that sort of pisses  me off.

So, I have another appointment for Monday, and I’m not allowed to do ANYTHING to aggravate it in the meantime. If it’s a lot better by then, he said he "may" clear me to start lifting again. AAAGH!!! With this week being as crazy as it was, I was really looking forward to some hardcore training today/this weekend to blow off some steam!!!!!

So I was browsing other blogs, and was inspired by MissNfinity’s  Ipod playlist post.  Here’s what I listen to when working out. I don’t really differentiate between "cardio" music and "weight" music.. I just listen to stuff that gets me ready to MOVE, no matter what I’m doing:

Hang on, Here We Go - Jet Fuel
Rhythym of Love - DJ Company
Take her Home - Fito Blanco
Alive - Da Buzz
Take me Up - Amadin
Captain Jack - Captain Jack
Touch the Sky - Cartouche
Emotion - Anaklein
Drill Instructor - Captain Jack
Rock DJ - Robbie Williams
Paradise - E-Type
Me and You - Alexia
Think about The Way - Ice MC
Dr Love - E-Rotic
Freedom - DJ Bobo
Gotta Get it Groovin - E-Rotic
World Hold On - Bob Sinclar
Rock This Party - Bob Sinclar
Do it All Night - E-Rotic
Take Your Chance - Fun Factory
Got To Get It - Culture Beat
Self Control - Infernal
Sixteen Tons of Hardware - Bodies Without Organs
Por Que No - Martillo Vago
Poison - Groove Coverage
Cotton Eyed Joe - Rednex
Swamp Thing - BKS

I’ve got hundreds more (300+ CDs of this stuff! Been a collector for years), but this is my current rotation.  It’s all very uplifting, fun, happy and energetic music. LOVE it!

So now I have no idea what to say. I guess an introduction is in order?

Well, let’s see.. I’m a chef. Pastry chef, specifically. I know what you’re thinking, I’ve heard it a lot - it actually had nothing to do with my weight gain. About 10 years ago, my thyroid decided it hated me, and I gained 100 lbs in 3 months. This was all long before I arrived in my career. I’ve never liked junk food, and I don’t eat the stuff I make. I’m not really a sweets person
After years of every kind of cardio (in crazy amounts!) not doing anything, and being on crappy thyroid meds.. I’m finally on the right track. I’ve found the best diet for me (paleo), I’m finally on good thryoid meds after finding a good Dr (FINALLY!), and I recently gave up on the "cardio to lose weight" myth. The diet helps - I’ve always eaten pretty healthy, but giving up the grains (turns out I was allergic!) and dairy have REALLY helped.

I used to weight train (lower body only, though) all of the time as a teen,and my legs were pretty damn buff - it was really easy to pack on muscle back then, and I’m hoping it still works that way. Both my Dr and I have decided that cardio just doesn’t work for me, and that I need to go back to what I know worked.. our theory is that only me slabbing on muscle will REALLY work against my thyroid to lose the weight I’ve been fighting to lose since this happened.

So, in mid January this year, I got serious. I’ve since lost 20 lbs! I have an overall goal of 105 lbs to lose, which I’m considering to be a tentative goal until I’m closer and can reassess. At this point, no one can really guesstimate what my ideal weight will be. I used to think that it would be nice to lose the fat AND some of my remaining bulky muscle (quads and glutes are still prominent, despite the fat!) and have "normal" long thin legs. I’ve really come a long way from that thinking.. I want muscle, and lots of it.

So here I go! I’m finding that I actually really enjoy the upper body training I shunned in my teens. My biceps are getting bigger and LUMPY! (WOo!! You can SEE muscle through the fat!), and I’m excited! Hubby is very supportive, and if all goes well,I should look like I’m SUPPOSED TO by September!