FeralGoth’s BodyBlog

Whew… finally got around to taking the test and passed it on the first try!   Now comes the hard part - getting set up for clients - but I’ve got no fears (and a flexible day-job to keep me from rushing it)

Looks like I need to update this thing - new pix would be good too!   I also ran a 5k this past weekend to celebrate taking the test, I don’t train for cardio too much, so I was surprised at finishing 4th in my age group.  Here’s a link to a picture of me crossing the finish line:

http://www.beautifulyou.smugmug.com/gallery/6511740_ZLAFi#414812148_kXAGx

And starting out a little slow:

http://beautifulyou.smugmug.com/gallery/6511876_SrcPK#414942077_GyEzV

Yay for alternative fashion, where short, 31 year old people like me can actually be of use… well, I was wearing the patent leather version of these, so I think that makes me 5′8.5″ which is fun for an evening.  OK, enough about shoes…

Everybody together now:

Makeup - but after the show and in questionable air conditioning - normally I am not so very shiny.

On Stage, mid turn

Backstage, just before the “oh $#!#, is this shrug going to fit?!?!” moment. Thank goodness it was stretchy…

In other news, I got my CPR training/certification yesterday so I’m one step closer to sitting for the big test!

As soon as the British houseguests continue on their journey, I will be picking test date for the ACE certification and paying the fee.   I’m considering taking the online version of the test review as well - just to make sure I didn’t miss anything in that big freaking book.

Ordered the "Protein cookies" book from bb.com and tried the oatmeal chocolate chip ones - they are even "boyfriend approved" (he’s very picky about food and has eaten 3-4 of them voluntarily).  I modified the recipe to use Smart Balance instead of butter, and less of it by adding more applesauce.  Also, the only thing we had resembling chocolate chips in the house were 3 squares of baking chocolate, so I chopped those up into vaguely chocolate chip size chunks and tossed them in - it made for a nice bitter chocolate taste, which is something I like better than overly sweet chocolate.  I caught him spreading low fat cream cheese on one of the cookies this morning though….

Having discovered the joys of lump charcoal this past weekend, I had the idea of making grilled chicken "strips" ahead.  You know how they have bags of them in costco/sam’s club etc. the factory grilled and stamped with grill marks and infused with extra salt?  I thought - why not make my own - at least for a few day’s supply.   Chicken breast w/o skin/bones etc. was on sale so I picked up a 4 pack, rolled them all in a small bowl half full of Vietnamese Chili Garlic Sauce then tossed them on the grill, wow were they spicy!   I let them cool then put them in a ziplock bag in the fridge for this week… I also grilled some asparagus (lightly spray with Pam first and add a little salt/pepper) afterwards and did the same.

Over the past few days I have been slicing and reheating the spicy chicken and making impromtu quesadillas with fat free cheese etc.   Today I made the "mega taco"

Slice up 3.5 oz of the grilled chicken and reheat it in the microwave with 1 oz of grilled asparagus (in a bowl, covered for less than a minute, stir it up after 30 sec.)
1 Tumaro’s low fat, low carb multi grain tortilla goes into a skillet on medium.   Put 1 oz of fat free shredded cheddar on the tortilla and spread out evenly.   Dice up 1.5 oz of tomato and add it and the reheated chicken+asparagus to the tortilla, fold it over and lightly brown on both sides (copying Tijuana Flat’s "Grilled Tacos")  Get plenty of napkins and EAT IT!

Total Calories: 319.5
6g fat
17.5g carbohydrates
9g fiber
48.5g protein

So, there’s this small fiasco going on on the personal training forum, I posted a question asking how other trainers motivate their clients and nestled in with a bunch of good advice is someone telling me to "clean myself up" as if I am dirty or something?  (Dude, I gave up on that hippie deoderant YEARS ago… that stuff doesn’t work).  Some people continued to give some good client motivating ideas, while others chose to fixate on telling me things about how I look.   I know what I look like, and I know how people react to it… I’m 31 and this isn’t a freaking news flash.  The truth is, I’m not interested in the typical mainstream client, I may end up having a few, but the clients I’m most interested in helping are the ones who would never consider working with a barbie/ken looking trainer.  You know all those "fat girl" clients you don’t want?  Well, I don’t have a problem with them, and heck, I even want to help them improve their lifestyle.  They might not want to hire you because you’ll probably give them crap about what they wear to the gym… and since I won’t be constantly picking on them… they might do something crazy - like following my advice.
Which got me thinking… I was trying to remember why I hated P.E. back in school so much… it was because of the lame coaches always giving me a hard time about stuff NOT RELATED to my physical performance.  I would show up with a good attitude, never talking out of turn, never giving anyone even a slight bit of trouble.  For instance we had this one doofus who was supposed to be teaching us tennis, I had been taking private lessons on the weekends from a Dutch tennis pro and had developed a fairly wicked serve (he was not told about this), did he focus on teaching me other aspects of tennis?  NO, he gave me unending crap about the fact that I wore black socks to P.E.  This plus the blistering sun helped me to develop a rotten attitude about tennis.  Truth be known, I haven’t played since, which is a real shame, because I’m pretty ok at it and it may be a fun way to meet some new friends.   Socks aside, it seems like throughout my past, as long as there was some dang ex-football coach male teaching P.E. that same male was giving me a hard time about some aspect of my style (thanks for picking on my Chuck Taylors you jerk) which once again, had no bearing on safety or athletic performance.  I wasn’t even on a team for crying out loud, I was just fulfilling a graduation requirement.   At the same time, I sure *didn’t* have a rotten attitude about going to the YMCA and working out, or even participating in a step aerobics class (1993), no one gave me any bs at the YMCA…. and I got a better workout.
So…. what potential clients out there have had similar experiences?  As long as that client is wearing workout clothing that is safe, does not restrict their movement, and covers the legal areas then we’re good… I sure as hell will NEVER pick on anyone because of how they look when they’re my client, and if someone else does, I will support and defend my client so that they know I am on their side and want them to keep working out.  Would you continue going somewhere when you know that every time you went, someone would pick on you about something?   No wonder I keep meeting people who are afraid to ask others for help with fitness…

I was going through my bookshelf the other day and stashed inside the front cover of "Flex Appeal" by Rachel McLish were a collection of printout from May 5th 2003.  The first one was a body composition analysis done by a trusted trainer, and old school bodybuilder Raymond in DeLand who is still currently the only person on this planet who can call me "Little Lady" without offending me (it helps that he’s nearly grandpa age).  Anyway - that page has my body fat AND the mm measurements used to obtain the percentage.  I had been getting paranoid lately that maybe my calculations and measurements were way off since I’m approaching a (at least for me) low 16% while still eating the occasional cheeseburger.   Needless to say this should be accurate since I am willing to be seen at the pool in public on a weekend in a bathingsuit (the real test).   SO… here’s the comparison from then to now:

Then - 26 years old, 118.7lbs (clothed to workout) 19.7% body fat (and still not happy with the booty/cellulite issues)

Now - 31 years old, 123lbs (nekkid!) 16.5% body fat (significantly happier with rear end, thighs, upper body development, etc. etc. things are good)

Other fun things to realize is that at age 26 I had been a strict vegetarian for 3 years eating minimal cheese and having beans/tofu/grains as my main protein source.  Now I eat all sorts of things (steak burritos, eggs, turkey sausage, dark greens, broccoli like mad, brown rice, whey, yogurt, muesli etc.) - but not junk food unless its an "occasion" and that doesn’t happen too often. Yes, I will have the double cheeseburger and split the fries with you at 5 guys… but chances are its because I lifted heavy the day before…

The 2nd page is really interesting, it is a typed up mini report I did about my fitness goals at the time, and what I had been doing at the gym before going to see Raymond, and particulars of my diet.  I seriously need to find the old text file of this, because it is a complete 180 from what I do now.   I was doing loads of cardio, light weighted upper body exercises (12lb and 15lb dumbbells?!??! ! WHAT?????), yoga, belly dancing, aerobic kickboxing, tai chi (which I still do with some chi kung) not to mention loads and loads of crunches.

I can’t believe how far I’ve come when I look back at all of this.   Besides being so much happier with how I look now, I am so *significantly stronger* that its a little bit staggering.  This gives me great hope for my future personal training clients - I remember feeling so helpless back then about changing how I looked - like I would never get this sagging behind back where it needed to be.   Not everyone will respond to how I train now, but just knowing that there ARE ways to train that WILL make the changes you want to see is amazingly motivating.   I can’t wait to start helping folks on their way to fitness.   Ok, back to studying!!!

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time in the backyard hanging from monkey bars, climbing trees, hanging on to trapese swings, climbing rope ladders, accidentally doing a lot of what essentially were wacky forms of chin ups.   Recently I’ve discovered that through some of my training I am getting close to what I as a tiny 60 lb kid used to be able to do.  Thats right, chinups.  Most adults can’t do them, especially women, which of course means that I am morally obligated to work on such things, because I’m wired that way.   About 6 months ago I could do 2, 3 on a good day, Monday I did 9.  Wednesday I managed to squeak out another one for an even 10.  After jumping up from the ground to grab the bar (been working on vertical jump as well - YAY PLYOMETRICS) - that was really funny because I wasn’t honestly expecting to be able to reach it, I jumped from a squat position and the next thing I knew the bar was in my hands and I was off the ground.  Crazy stuff!!!   Now I’m trying to remember what else I used to be able to do - I will say this though, when you’re a kid, skipping rope is waaaay easier than it is now - seriously, it seems like jumping rope will KILL YOU the first few times.

Soo… my friend got laid off from her job, and her boyfriend is taking the next week off for his birthday (has too much vacation time saved up)- and I got a "free week coupon" for their gym in the mail… so we’re doing a week long gym swap.  Normally I work out at home, in the complex’s weight room, or at my alma mater - so a change up is always a good thing.  Granted they’re members at LA fitness, which is not my favorite, but its big , not crowded and has a lot of stuff available.  But there’s a dresscode… DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN!  Thankfully I actually have "athletic shoes" now, but they also require stuff that is not "street clothes" and that means I’ll be bringing out the "yoga pants".   Their gym is never fully prepared for my booty to show up, so I will be choosing the more conservative pants for this coming week - that and my friend is a bit on the insecure side so I don’t want to drive her nuts either - last time I was there, some guy walked by me about 20 times (not exaggerating).  I chalk it up to my weird hairdo and that seems to make her happy.   Hey, I don’t care, its all good.   I’m also always interested in checking out how people are at other gyms, what kind of goals they seem to be working on, etc. to add to my mental database I hope to use for personal training someday soon.  Also - to see what their trainers are like AND to have someone measure my bodyfat - see if I’m doing this thang right, you know??   Don’t worry, I plan on getting other opinions from the university etc. and not just from an hourly employee at a corporate gym.

So, yesterday was interesting, I had a couple of goals when I headed into the gym one was to manage to eek out *two more reps* on my first set of bicep curls so I could up my estimated 1RM for pure vanity’s sake.  The other was to up my weights slightly on wide grip lat pull downs (not in this order, obviously).   I get there and I’m all stoked about it, I had switched up the order of a few things to keep it fresh just in time to see that the couple of school teachers who occasionally confuse weight stack machines with cardio machines and/or gossip benches were holding court on the chest press machine… so I take my time putting things up, and generally getting organized…. and look up - they’re STILL there, not a muscle (literally has moved).   Okaaaaaaaay.  I would normally say something at this point, but its "that time" of the month and by this time I was starting to feel a little *too angry* to say something polite enough (I see them in there ALL the time, so we have to co-exist).  So I decide its POP QUIZ time, stretch out a little, warm up a little more and see how many un-assisted full chin ups I can do - that number used to be "2" I am proud to say yesterday I did a full set of 5!!!!   My eventual goal is 8+ but having not checked in a while, this was a nice surprise.

I was just poking around the internet and happened upon Gwineth Paltrow talking about her (and Madonna’s) personal trainer, Tracy Anderson and how she likes training for that "long lean look", adding that "that hard gym body look doesn’t look good on women" .  Why do so many women want noodle-like arms+legs?  To me that makes their waist, trunk, hips, etc. look so much bigger?  Has my perception been warped?  Is it because I think women with even a slightly developed muscular body should be the new ideal?  Or that I’m PROUD of my genetic propensity to put on a little bulk here and there?  Does Gwineth Paltrow think I should be ashamed of my new TOTALLY ROCKING SHOULDERS I’ve worked so hard on?  Or my superior ability to burn calories?  I think she can stuff it!  There needs to be some new "female ideals" out there, damn it.  I mean, I know who I look up to - and they lift heavy.
A note to noodle-appendage celebrities: shut up and look pretty.

On the flip side of this, I know, as someone who is studying to be a personal trainer that I am going to run into this many many times, and that I will be working with female clients who "don’t want to bulk up" etc.  And oddly enough, I’m ok with that.  One of my best friends is in that school of thought and we’ve put together a nice endurance workout that she can do at home with light weights.  I know I’m going to have several to many clients who "don’t want to look like me" and thats cool, I’m used to that, I mean damn I have facial piercings, over half my head shaved, and dreadlocks.  But I will tell you this - I think minds may be changing, when I show up at the club/around town in a totally hot dress, people are starting to think - hey, maybe muscles on a woman ARE attractive after all!