Heather129’s BodyBlog

I’m nearly six weeks out from the day I had surgery. I was supposed to be able to return to the powerlifting routine I had gotten six weeks into before I had my gallbladder attack.

I have decided to utilize my tax return and sign up with Max Muscle in order to start training for the Bluffs Classic. It doesn’t take place until September, so that gives me plenty of time to get ready for it. The powerlifting program I was shooting for takes place at the end of March. I will not be able to train for THAT meet. However, the Iowa one usually takes place in late October, early November. I believe I can lean up for the Bluffs Classic and then turn around and train for the 100% Raw Powerlifting in late fall.

I refuse to be set back by this surgery. I will meet my goals. I will compete this year in both powerlifting and body competitions.

Right now, I have been keeping up on light cardio work. My busy schedule ends at the end of February and that’s when I should have my tax return and ability to meet with Max Muscle for assistance in nutrition and training. I do not return to school until fall semester of this year, so I have plenty of time on my hands to dedicate to training.

Wish me luck!

Well, I can’t get back to the powerlifting program I was 6 weeks into before surgery…but I have returned to the gym this week. I plan on going 5 days a week to start doing 45 minutes of cardio. I’ll increase that after week two. I don’t want to jump back in full tilt because…well, because the doctor told me to take it easy getting back into it. Today will mark the 4th day of my return to the gym.

I suppose I will take this time to lean down. When I can return to powerlifting, I’ll start that program over again. This time, rather than just eating anything I want to gain mass…I’ll eat a little more wisely.

I’m doing my best to get over my disappointment. I was gaining mass nicely and I’ve been out of the gym for at least 3 weeks. I know that I have most of what I had gained because my legs were getting bigger and not fitting into most of my pants anymore. They fit now.   It’s not like my gym career is over, by any means. I just have to switch things up for awhile.

I’ll keep posting on the progress.

I had surgery on Wednesday - yes, New Year’s Eve. I’ve got three little stiched incisions in my belly and I’m less one organ now. Thank god the gallbladder is something we can live without.

I have been told that I can return to cardio after two weeks. I can’t return to powerlifting for at least 4 weeks, possibly 6. That puts me in the middle of February. The powerlifting competition I was hoping to enter was at the end of March. Hopefully, I can whip myself into shape. If not, I may just have to catch the next one.

I am trying not to freak out about losing strength or the gains I’ve made being for nothing. Maybe just concentrating on cardio will give me a chance to lean down. A friend also suggested that I concentrate on doing yoga and pilates…things to help me stretch and become more limber.

I’ve returned to the nutrition plan that I had before I threw it out in November in favor of increasing calories and protein to add mass. Changing my diet could’ve very well contributed to the gallbladder attack. The night I had it, I had eaten A LOT of food. Overeating can bring on an attack. Well,  I don’t have to worry about that anymore. No more gallstones, no more gallbladder.

I’ll be back soon.

Well, it’s official…I have to have surgery! DAMN IT! I was plugging along so well with this routine. The doctor wants me to lay off powerlifting for at least 4 - 6 weeks after the surgery. I can possibly get back to light cardio and maybe some light lifting but absolutely cannot get back to powerlifting. *pout*

My friend says I should take this opportunity to lean down. Since I have added some size with the powerlifting I’ve already done, I might get some good results from leaning down. I’ll keep y’all posted…

Anyway, I wasn’t feeling well on Tuesday, so I skipped my pump day. I figured I pick up on Thursday and just be short one pump day this week. *sigh*

Thursday morning at 2:30 am, I had to go to the hospital. I was in excrutiating pain. It was located in my right upper quadrant of my abdomen and was shooting through my back. It hurt like ****ing hell! The hospital said its likely that its gallstones. The ultra sound today confirmed that. On Monday, I go in to discuss my options. I may be having surgery.

****! Well, I’ll keep working out until then. This week, however, I’m going to pick up and complete  next week. Unless my doctor tells me otherwise on Monday, I’ll just move this week’s numbers to next week and keep at it until I’m told to take a break.

I’m bummed. Hopefully, if I have surgery, I won’t have to stay out of the gym for too long. I would be sad. All this work would be for nothing and I’d have to start from step one!

I was at the gym last night with my friend whom I work out with frequently. I was doing shrugs and I was looking at my forearms and started thinking, "My forearms look so much smaller than my upper arms! *gasp* I’m deformed!!!!!!" I ran over to my friend with my dilemma and he just looked at me like, "So?" He explained that your upper arms are supposed to be bigger than the forearms. He said only Popeye had big forearms. It didn’t comfort me in at all though.

So, then I started flexing my arms in the mirror. I flexed to see the development of my triceps and noticed dimples above them. I freaked out again! "WHAT’S THIS!?!?!?" I squeaked to my friend. Again, he shrugged unconcerned, "maybe it’s fat?" My eyes got all big! NO! Then he suggested that maybe its the muscle developing and said the only way to see if that’s the case is to keep working out. But I stood there in the mirror flexing each arm and looking at my arms and what I saw were all their imperfection and then I stopped. I asked my friend, "I’m turning into one of those people, aren’t I?" You know, the ones that stand and flex in the mirror and stare at themselves and their physique or lack thereof. He said, "you might as well".

Now, there are those who stand there and flex a few times and move on, then there are those that stand there and make love to themselves in the mirror. I don’t think I’m quite to the making love to myself stage…but I’ll  have to tell my friend to make sure he lets me know if I turn into THAT person.

Then there’s "bendy woman". We call her that because most of her workout consists of standing in various positions and using some piece of cloth to bend her body in various contorted stretches. She also creates some of the oddest positions while working out. Bendy Woman wears a lot of make up, hair spray, and perfume…I’ve seen her apply it generously BEFORE she leaves the locker room to go and workout. We can’t decide if Bendy looks bad for age or good for her age. She’s so tanned that it’s hard to tell. Her skin is almost leathery looking, but she works out a lot, so it’s not that hanging leathery look. She CONSTANTLY watches herself in the mirror. She’ll do her little stretchy poses, staring at herself in the mirror, singing out loud and WAY off key to the music on her IPod, then she’ll walk across the gym to get some weights, NEVER looking at where she’s walking, but rather she keeps her eye on herself in the mirror the entire walk across the gym and back to her spot. I watch just waiting for her to trip. She’s quite the spectacle. Most the older men in the gym tend to flock to her suggesting that she is at least in her mid 40s - early 60s. I know, big leap…but it’s really hard to tell. She spoke to me once in the locker room about the ear plugs for her IPod. She was nice. I almost felt bad for labeling her as "Bendy" but, she’s not the only one at the gym I have nicknamed.

There’s grunty man too. Grunty man makes LOTS of noise. He’s a big guy, I completely understand making noise when you are pushing a lot of weight. When I do strict curls, I get loud myself. However, grunty man grunts all the time no matter how big or little of weight he’s pushing. I mean - REALLY LOUD. You can hear him across the gym…even when its packed and there’s lots of noise. Grunty mans he-man sounds break the gym noise in pieces.

On my heavy days, my breaks between sets are long. During that time, I do a lot of people watching. I have also started stepping out a bit and talking to others around me. I’ve been going to this gym for nearly three years and I haven’t really made any "gym friends". The one that I work out with occasionally, we’re friends outside the gym too. What has helped is that I need spotters on my bench and on the shoulder press days. There’s always someone willing to help. Then, sometimes there’s also someone completely eager to help!

I added some more workouts to the workout tracker. I feel so pumped this week. The 5th week of this program is the first week where there are a lot of sets on the heavy days. I think the next week of many sets is at the 10th week. I’m 3 weeks away from reevaluating my program. I’ll take one week to go back in the gym and get my numbers again. That consists of throwing weight on each exercise and if you can complete 6 reps with no problem, throw more weight on. When you hit a set where the 6th rep is nearly impossible to complete…take that weight and multiply it by 1.25% and that gives you your one rep max.

The 100% Raw Federation powerlifting competition for Nebraska is in March. I have to join the federation and then pay my entry fee for the competition. There are only so many entrants they’ll accept so I should try to get that completed as soon as possible. Then, that will also make it real. Now, it’s just an idea.

I need to make an intention board. What that is is a large poster board or cork board or something similar. To this board, I will attach everything I want to achieve. I know someone who has one and had a calendar cut out with a statement about how a home is important. He closed on his house on the same day that the calendar cut out was dated. I would put pictures on there of a BMW, I want one of those! The house I want, the degree I want to achieve, the body I want to have. I hear that those intention boards have worked wonders for people. I’d like to try one.

So, like my title says, I ache. I really feel the workout this week. My back is just pumped. I really focused on my lats when I did pull ups this week and I can still feel them burning. Its awesome!. My pants are getting tighter around the thighs. Normally, I would be FREAKIN’ out about that but I know what its from - killer squats. I’m looking forward to having more mass as this program goes on. That has never been my goal; however, now that I’ve come to some acceptance about my body shape and style and learned that the best thing for me would be to have more mass than try to get all slim and toned - that’s my aim. I can’t wait until after this program is up…that’s when I’ll post pics. I have until after the first week in February. It would be a week or so sooner, but I break from the program in 3 weeks to reevaluate my numbers.

One thing I need to add in here and there is some yoga and stretching classes. I am not as flexible as I used to be. The more pumped my muscles get, the harder it is to do things like sit indian style.

Last night, I left the gym and went home. I took a shower. I went to my room and got dressed. I sat down on the floor to put my shoes on and I laid on the floor on my back for a moment and didn’t want to move. Lying on the floor was the most awesomest place I’d ever was! Silly, I know, but that’s where I wanted to stay for the evening.

Oh and the best news EVAH - my IPod is working again. I mean, it never stopped working, I just lost the computer I had. The computer broke a long time ago and the only thing it was good for was charging my IPod, then I unplugged it and could never turn it back on (the power button broke) and I could never charge my IPOd again. It died about three months ago. So, I’ve been stuck with shitty gym music. It’s shitty more often than its good. So, what do I have on my IPod, a little Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch, Alex Harvey, some other metal that I like but don’t know the artist or the song and one Britney Spears song. I know, I’m weird, but I like some pop music occasionally.

Well, this is the longest post I’ve created in a long time. I better get back to work.

I have one workout from last week to add. This week, I strayed from the program I am on because I moved and its the holiday. This week, I went to the gym twice already just to do a little lifting. I really got a great work out moving on Wednesday. It was only me moving my stuff to my new location. I had to climb two flights of stairs…so, I got quite the workout.

I’m disappointed because I’ve gained 6 pounds. Oh well…I know I can lean up when I decide to. I think I’ll wait until after the new year. I’ll just make sure I don’t put on any more weight.

I can’t wait for this quarter to be completed. I only have two classes left then my Friday nights can be free so I can go to the gym when I want not after class when its really late. I have to be to work at 6am on Saturday mornings so staying at the gym late is not a good option.

I am already telling myself to skip it tonight. I’m on a role though so I don’t want to break my stride.

I am disappointed in myself that I messed up my numbers for yesterday. However, I’m sure that has happened to others at some point. It does explain why I felt that some of the exercises such as the seated cable row and strict curls were nearly impossible. I wasn’t supposed to be at that weight yet. Next week is my 80% week. Oh well. I can’t go back in time and change my numbers.

When I looked at the records for women powerlifting, I was looking at my current weight class - 132. (Which, I stepped on the scale yesterday and I’m at 136 - but it’s that time of the month where I carry extra water weight) Sure, the women in the 132 class have a record of 99 lbs for bench and I thought for sure I can break that. However, in the gym last night I was thinking about it and if I put on mass which I am sure this workout will do - I will not be in the 132 lb weight class. I suppose I’ll just cross that bridge when I get to it.

I also came to terms with another thing last night while in between sets. (You’re suppose to rest 3 - 5 minutes and that was giving me plenty of time to be up in my head analyzing my gym habits). I am not a tiny woman. Meaning, I am not ever going to be a size 0 or 1 nor would I want to be. I was that small at one point in my life, but that was due to some illegal activities and I wasn’t skinny, I was very unhealthy. I have larger hips and butt than some women. Rather than trying to get those parts down to some unrealistic goal, I just have to build them accordingly. Not make them huge, but realize that they are the shape they’re going to be and if I can make them shapelier and not worry about thinning them out, I’ll be better off. Not to say I’m going to work on those areas and no where else…that would look silly. I just have to be more realistic about my goals and more accepting of my body the way it is built. I also have to stop comparing myself to other women in the gym. Comparison leads to discontent.

Anyway…well, I’m still here. I’m doing my best not to fall off from posting as I always seem to do.