HawaiianSiren’s BodyBlog

The Friday before the Superbowl, I was lifting pretty hard.  Muscle group for that day: CHEST.  I had read an article on bb.com that the 3 largest areas are your legs, back, and chest.  Knowing that for every pound of muscle you gain, you’ll burn an extra 50 calories. Goal: Build the largest muscles!

I must not have been lifting properly because the next day, I was sore! It was hard for me to lift my hands in the air, especially on my right side. I began icing and stretching it but the pain would not subside. 

I went to a doctor who recommended that I not work that muscle group for a while.  Problem was, I couldn’t move my right arm, period!  I had trouble doing my hair, getting dressed, everything! I did accupuncture, massage, heat/ice theraphy, physical therapy, everything!  At the end of February, the pain subsided a bit, but not without having to pretty much ride the bench for 4 weeks.  I basically had to start back over in March, taking the first 2 weeks easy.

So today I thought I’d do chest. Hell, it has been 8 weeks.  I took the smallest bar I could find and after a 5 minute warm up on the elliptical, I hit the incline press.  On rep 3, I could feel the tightness coming back on my right pectoral.  Rep 4 was worse, and rep 5 I had to stop.  I got up and stretched my right prectoral out and the pain went shooting down my arm.  I sat down in the gym and just cried.

 I cannot believe this is happening. I’m glad it’s my pectorals over let’s say my legs, but still, I cannot believe I’m injured this soon into the game.  I had to stop just because I knew I’d hurt myself and be sidelined for another 4 weeks and then ALL of my muscles would go catabolic.  Not what I wanted.  So after pouting for 5 minutes in the corner, I got up, grabbed the cow balls (aka the rope thingy) plugged in 40 pounds and did some tricep pulldowns.  Felt good. So I did some more at 50 and 60 and then I finished up with 3 more tricep exercises.  First time I’ve cried in the gym, hopefully the last time.  Hopefully my chest heals well and SOON!

I AM F**KING MOTIVATED!!!!

I have not had any slip ups in 3 whole weeks. I don’t crave, want, even look at CRAP and I’m content with this.  I AM F**KING MOTIVATED!!!!

My job has put me in a new detail for a while. This is a pretty CRAP infested place!!  There are cupcakes all around, a gdman chocolate cake, and seems like everyone has a candy jar on their desk.  I don’t want any of it.

Yesterday, this fat lady at my new assignment said “there is some chocolate cake that so and so brought in.”  I told her I wasn’t interested.  She apparently was appalled I didn’t want the fat and she kept pestering me. She must have sat there and asked me a million f**king times if I wanted some cake. “Are you sure? It’s so decadent!”  I finally snapped, “YES! I’m positive! I don’t eat sugar!” She was pretty pissed off but wtf do I can -  I am f**king FOCUSED.  I AM MOTIVATED.  NO BAD DAYS. NO TIME FOR NEGATIVE VIBES! To be polite, if someone offers me some CRAP, I’ll accept it but turn right around and throw it in the garbage.  I don’t want it. 

I’ve been slammed personally with having to pay out my butt for taxes when I lived in Chicago.  $2300 for living there only 3 months in 2007! GRRRR.  Normally, I’d grab a pint of B&J, grab a menthol, and eat and puff away. I cannot believe how long I’ve gone without slipping up… and I won’t.  I CANNOT.  I have to seriously give big ups to ChickenTuna’s website right now.  I see the world in a whole new perspective now because of it.  I spend probably too much time here on BB.com but the people who are so positive and inspirational make that time worth it.  I read at least 2 articles a day and make sure I understand what I’m reading. 

So I made a sign for my office that says “NO JUNK FOOD ALLOWED” … one of the agents came in and said “define junk.”  So I did. I put a list of only the acceptable items allowed in my office.  (for a complete listing, see CT’s plain foods list). That’s it.  This morning people gave me attitude for it, tempting me with yummy goodness but in the end, I think they get it. They get that I am truly f**king motivated and I’m on a rampage. Nothing is stopping me now.  I’ve gone this far and haven’t made any excuses and there will be no more ever again. I’ll never make an excuse again for slipping up.  I am the only person in charge of me.  I am motivated beyond anything I ever thought I could be.   Never again will I allow myself to say “maybe this beer just this once…” or “perhaps I’ll just try one piece of pizza…” What for?  Do I enjoy eating clean and waking up at 4:30 every morning? HELL NO. I hate every piece of food I put in my mouth (except sweet potatoes, haha) but I choose fit over fat.  I have pinpointed my faults and realized what I need to do to fix them. NO MORE EXCUSES 

I went to the gym this morning… Found that me getting up at 4:45 a.m isn’t early enough so I think next week I’ll set the alarm for 4:30 a.m.  Taking tomorrow, Friday, off because 1) I’m sore as sh*t 2) It’s Friday. Gonna see a Doug Benson in Arlington (SOBER!!!)

Today was leg day and I am exceptionally impressed that my legs are becoming so much stronger!!  :-D I started in December doing leg presses ending on 8 reps at 80 pounds. Now I do 90 at 12, 110 at 10, 120 at 8… with total COMFORT! Well, not total comfort but I’m sure I could do one big leg press at like 200 but I’d rather just do my sets to “the burn” and build it up.  That’s the advice I’ve gotten from many - may not be the end all be all piece of advice but I’m happy with it and seeing gains so why not?!

My hamstrings, once the weakest part of my body, are now gaining strength! I may not be the strongest but I am making personal gains and I’m starting to realize that is all that matters!  I have always been doing this for me and I’m so proud of all the strength I’m making! I used to only be able to BARELY swing by 10 pounds at 8. Now I can do 40 pounds at 8 and know I can do more (but again because of my history of injury from pushing myself, I am so scared to do this too quickly!). I will add 10 pounds to what I normally do to my leg routine. I hope I can handle it and am excited to see if I can!  I noticed that my quads aren’t gaining strength as quickly as my hams…hmmm… will try to do more squats? Not sure yet. I’ll consult the meat heads I get black coffee with every morning post-gym for advice.  (Hey Chris!) I’ve also started the Smith Squat machine since in the morning a lot of the more serious builders are using those bars for other exercises. Maybe one day I’ll work in with them

On happier notes, my calves are starting to separate! WTF!! YAY!!!  Last month I had ZERO calves and now me thinks I see them. So very happy. 

After injuring my right pectoral quite badly back in February, I am VERY apprehensive about doing my chest exercises.  I have decided to do them next Tuesday in the AM. I hope I don’t screw them up again.  So mark it: Siren’s workout for Tuesday APRIL FOOLS day will be the bane of her existance!

I’m almost to Goal #1.  Better haul ass because I cannot wait to start shooting for Goal #3 (which I hope will occur in Summer 09!)

Thanks to my friend Stormi for everything, too!

Per my last blog, I actually did manage to awake at 4:45 in the AM and slowly slug outta bed.  I prepped my coffee maker so my morning protein shake & coffee would be ready to go in a heart beat.  I WAS SO BURNED A THE GYM!!!! I actually don’t remember working out I was that tired.  I used to wake up at 6 a.m. to go running but since I’m upping my cardio to 2x a day 3x a week (than once a day on the other days), I need to fit my weight training in somewhere!! 

Today was BACK DAY. Trained HARD. I’ve been reading up on John Wooden and one thing he said was “don’t mistake activity with achievement.”  Now anyone can interpret these words but I interpret them as I can say I’m fit b/c I go to the gym every day but BFD if I don’t put 110% into it!! 

So back to today, um, yes… this morning was the worst day for me but I did it.  I found myself hungrier than normal and I’m questioning if it’s because I did more activity this morning or lack of protein.  I started eating egg whites but I whoooo knows what it is.  I’m exhausted from a lack of sleep thanks to my amazing job but I hope to recover this weekend.

I had a lot more cleaver things to say in my blog but I’m too tired to function. I’ll try to write later. I’m heading for a run at 1330 today despite my exhaustion. I hope to get on a normal schedule where lethargy won’t take over my life   I know it’ll happen, just gotta recover this past weekend’s vacay to Philadelphia and the 3 hour drive and complete lack of sleep. 

File this under “sleepy not-making-any-sense blog” BLAH!

Wow, I write a lot of blogs about being tired, huh! (tired physically and tired of fridiots, haha!) So yes, I had to push my wake up time back to 4:45am. Now to some, they might think that extra 15 minutes doesn’t really matter but think about it. How many times have you hit snooze 100000 times in the morning?  When Congress comes back from recess, I might to wake up earlier due to work constrictions but hell, this will do now!  The reasoning behind this is: DAYLIGHT!! I miss it!!  The entire month of January I hardly saw the sun. Between my AM dog walks, gym, lunch gym sessions, post work gym sessions, evening strolls with the dogs… NO SUNSHINE AT ALL! I want to haul ass over the next three months so that I can enjoy the summer.  DC is an AMAZING area in the spring and summer and I want to enjoy it.  So I think I’ll throw in more cardio sessions to break up and lose some fat.  My weight training is ON POINT thanks to the wonderful people on bodybuilding.com and their words of wisdom!  But cardio has to increase. I’m thinking AM weight lifting, lunch time - 30 minutes of cardio, than after work I’ll do either HIIT or 60 minutes of cardio or a little of both. Dunno yet.  Last time I did this I lost a lot of weight but got burnt out after about 3 weeks.  I’ve already lost 4 inches off of my tummy so I must be doing something right.  February was a rough month for me with an injury that kept me out of weight training for about 3 weeks. During that time I got lazy but I’m back now.  I really like ChickenTuna’s website about plain foods.  Eating try tuna rocks! (NOT!!) I’ve also cut a lot of sodium and I am seeing definition in my deltoids.  YAY!!

So I hope to haul ass over the next 3 months, enroll in Birkam yoga, and enroll in the Sgt’s program at Ballys (5:15am!). Tomorrow my alarm is set for 4:45. I must drink my coffee, walk the dogs, then haul ass to the gym for weights before getting ready for work and catching the subway.  I can do it!! I better!!!  This is the only way I’ll enjoy my summer!!!!!  Once summer hits, than I can switch my alarm time to 5am!! ARG!

I had to stay late late LATE last night at work getting an important document to Istanbul (um, that’s in Turkey). FedEx couldn’t do it (so much for being express, right?!) but anyway, I was at work LATE.  Now I sit, around 7am on a SATURDAY. I’m sooo tired. I do not want to be awake right now but my gym opens at 8am and I’m just sitting, waiting for my coffee to make, gonna pound a protein shake, walk the dogs really quickly, then BAM - it’s LEG DAY!!  Even though it’s been just a 15 pound weight loss, my thighs have lost 3.5 inches! WHOMP WHOMP! I love leg day! Hopefully no one will be hogging my favorite leg press or me thinks I’ll cry.  What is up with people hogging the leg press???  K, this blog makes no sense and it’s for my own eyes I suppose. Note to self "Jesus is with you through every step of this!  And always keep in mind that there is no time for negative vibes because you’re winning!!!!"

Better go pound some BCAAs now!

So I’ve bee on my magical journey of mine now since December 2007. I had to take February off due to an injury but since embarking, have lost (at this point) a total of 3% body fat and 15 pounds.  I have dropped dress sizes and gained much confidence.  However, with my personal success comes a price: FRIDIOTS
For me, FRIDIOTS are those people who make no sense at all when attempting to make a point.  Recently, I’m noticing individuals start to use their FRIDIOT-ness towards my working out and weight loss.  Here are some things I hear:
“Oh well I’m skinnier than her [me], so who cares if she’s working out” AND “She [me] might have lost weight, but she’s still fat!” AND “I’m losing weight faster than her [me]”
Are all these comments necessary? Perhaps to them, but I don’t see the relevance it has on anything!  My choice to lose weight came from wanting to be healthy and fit, not to appease FRIDIOTS.  Obviously you care enough about my weight loss to comment on it!!  I never have claimed to be fitter, faster, more shredded, etc than anyone. All I’ve done is encourage and support others if they wanted to lose weight/get fit (if they didn’t I shrugged them off – no sense in helping those who refused to help themselves).  So I say “kudos” to those men and women at my office and around America who have thought less of me for wanting to be better.  That makes me know my weight loss through hard work and massive gym ventures are paying off.  It’s okay if you keep calling me fat because I still am!  But I’m doing something about.  There is no time for negative vibes, because I’m winning!! thanks boos, have a nice day!

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