Jonahgirl’s BodyBlog

I admit it. I cried when I turned 30. It was depressing. Forty didn’t bother me much. Today I am 47. With all ego aside I know I don’t look my age. I can live with that.
If you told me a year ago I would be lifting weights nearly everyday. weigh 106, and wearing a size 0 I would have laughed in your face. So much has changed in the past two years I feel I should be celebrating my second birthday of a healthy life!

I am wonderful what is "normal". What is the expected weights I should be able to do based on my size, weight, frame, and experience.

I workout six days a week and have since November only missing three weeks to a broken rib back in April. I have no other woman to compare it to as the only others who seriously lift are guys and I don’t even come close to the weights they use.
I am five feet two and weight 106. I have a small frame (five inch wrist and wear a size 3 ring to give you an idea how small boned I am)
Here is what I can do:

Dumbbell Curl - 15lbs each hand. I can do a few reps at 20# but it hurts my wrists
I have done up to 60# on the curl machine. Started out at 5# dumbbells

Leg Press - 300 - (290-310 last week 10 reps) Started at 60#

Barbell Squat - 120. Started with 45#

Shoulder Press - 55 - definitely a weak area. Started at 15.

Bench Press - 70 (I’ve done 75) Started out around 25# on the chest machine until I could press the empty bar (45#)

Lat Pulldown - 100lbs. Started out at 50.

Seated Row - between 60-70. Started at 25.

One arm row 25lbs. Started at 8#

Tricep Overhead Ext. 35# Started at 12#
Tricep Machine Up to 60#

Push ups - Most at one time 55. Ave about 36 in a row. STarted at doing them on my knees (girly pushups) not sure how many I started with.

Pull ups - 10 in a row…none at the beginning.

I’ve obviously have made progress but I have a feeling I am being limited by my frame. My wrists are definitely my weakest point. I haven’t tried wrapping them for support yet.

Yesterday was a great day in the gym. Hit all my target weights and exceeded in reps in some working back and arms. I didn’t think I could top that until today. I did 290 on the Leg Press. Ten months ago I started at 60. 300+ here I come!

Oh, other things….posting those issues tomorrow. Still too upset to write about it.

Finally got around to getting some new progress pics posted. It has been two months since the last ones. I’ve been focusing on arms and back and can see some more definition. Going back to working legs more. Someday I will be happy with the thighs ….until then….

Got the call this afternoon. No work tomorrow to give everyone a chance to clean up their yards and repair any damage. Lots of small branches and leaves in the pool but no problems at my house. We still have power. I know it was off at work because email went down for a while and I had to remote in and restart voice mail. I missed my workout today but will go in tomorrow. It does pay to have a master key to the building.

Luckily, (for me) Gustav will be west of Mobile, Alabama where I live. It is still so surreal to see the weather channel forecast as rainy and windy until you see the wind speed at 40 -60 mph. That is all we are expecting here (besides torrential rain and possible tornadoes). I say that is all for wind since Katrina and Ivan (at 90+) makes is all relative.

Hurricanes make a good excuse to load up on junk food and snack your way through a storm. There isn’t much else to do. You watch tv until the power goes out then switch to other things (like reading or sleeping) all the while eating. Instead of soda, chips, brownies etc. I have fruit, yogurt, tuna, and water.
For obvious reason I won’t be able to make it to the gym tomorrow. Depending on the power issue Tuesday may be doubtful. Otherwise, I am all ready with supplies. Hurricanes always make for an interesting week.

I couldn’t resist posting this. I thought this was hilarious .

That is the title of the presentation on living a healthy and fit lifestyle I am doing Wednesday evening at a Women’s Bible Study at my church. I will tell a little of my story and spend the rest of my 30 minutes talking about nutrition. The following Wednesday we are taking a field trip to the gym.

Mondays can go either way. They can be bad or good. But when they go bad it tends to be epic bad. First off, heavy, heavy rain all night. Get up around 3:30am to back pump the pool to keep it from over flowing. Second, over sleep and running about 45 minutes late for work. Thirdly, phone call as I am leaving (late) for work to inform me that Voice Mail isn’t working at work.
Arrive at work and fix voicemail. Data entry calls to tell me she can’t scan checks into her computer using the check scanner because it is jammed.
Head down to remove ancient check scanner and explain she will have to input the checks manually. After a brief exorcist like moment from the data entry clerk I head back to my office to a ringing phone. Head graphic artist computer won’t boot. Quickly followed by a call from an assistant who uses a small database program that needs updated today….asap.
It is 6pm and the database is updated, the part is ordered for the check scanner, and the graphic artist is up and running as I type.
I will miss my workout today as I am just starting my work I need to finish today.
The silver lining today…a coworker stopped me about an hour ago and told me her son’s friend (22) was looking at her facebook friends and asked, "Who is this Melanie?" Can I meet her? She told me, "I drew a blank. I couldn’t think of a Melanie I knew in her twenties. I realized he was talking about you! He didn’t believe me when I said you were my age."
At least I can go home albeit much later than usual with a smile on my face.

Fay is paying a visit this weekend (or what is left of her). Hard to believe since it was so beautiful today. You have to love the weather forecast; rain and windy. It was exactly the same forecast when we got Katrina. No kidding.
I’ll go to the gym early tomorrow then curl up with a book for the weekend.