So day #1 is closely coming to an end. It consisted of double cardio, and one weight training session for Shoulders. I was tired today, but got through it!

I’m just getting ready to eat my last meal and then it’s beddy-bye so I can get up at 4:15 AM for my morning cardio.

For those that don’t know, I’m prepping for two shows this coming November. They are on the 1st and 8th, in Ottawa and Toronto, respectively.

I would blog a heck of alot more right now, but I’m seriously tired….

Good night to everyone … and btw, I’m planning on posting a 12 week challenge to anyone that wants to join me on this journey… so stay tuned!

Cheers, Nke

I’m addicted to blogging, and completely forgot how much I enjoyed getting my thoughts into print … or whatever you’d call this.

I have another day off… so rather than sleeping in, I decided to get to the gym early and get it over and done with for the day. I love my morning workouts!

Today was back, delts, and abs. I’m doing abs daily only for a short while as I want them to look good for my trip. I try to make sure I do them every 24 hour period. Probably a bit of over-training there, but so far I’ve been seeing the progress so I’ll keep it going.

Today, I started with seated rows, then super-setted straight arm and close-grip pulldowns. For the straight arm, I kept my hands closer together. Normally, I opt for a wide grip. Following that, I did rear delts, then super-setted cable crossovers (for delts) with alternating db shrugs (a Shaun ‘Muscles’ Campbell spesshy). In between the sets, I did abs and some glute work.

I switched up my cardio, on my hubby’s recommendation, and did one hour of the elliptical. I’ve never really been a big fan of that machine, but I have to say today I got a really good 60 mins cardio session. I was impressed.

Now I am home. Just finished up my first meal (a meal for champions - eggwhites and oatmeal). I picked up a great Flax & Oat bread yesterday at Sobhy’s which I had a piece of today, dry … It was nice. Especially with my eggwhite & broccoli omelette. Nice switch from my eggwhite and oatmeal pancakes. I had fruits with my oatmeal, which was quite nice; strawberries, blueberries & blackberries!!

Anyhoo … off to cook some protein for the hubby and then off to bed!!!! Did I mention i am OFF today!!! Yippppeeeeee!!!!!

Have a great day!

Cheers. Nke

I trained with my hubby today. We started late, coz’ we went out last night and did not get home until the wee hours of the morn. Of course, I was up first … of course…. ha-ha. So I decided to go get groceries out of the way so we could come straight home after our workout.

We started with hamstrings, and ended with leg extension. We did a superset of lying hams and deadlifts, then leg press, then hack squats, then leg extension … I threw in ad & ab-ductors at the end, while he did calves. We did hit cardio for a good 30 mins sesshy. What made this workout so good was the burn I experienced with each set. As hard as it was, I used very light weights, but did alot of reps. I aimed for 25-30 for each set. It was a KILLER!!!! Felt DAMN good tho’. We ended the workout with stretches and abs. Definitely a good 2.5 hours of our time!! ha-ha

Now, its time to get busy with the cooking … gonna try some different healthy meals this week. Plan is to stir-fry (using cooking spray), spinach, onions, peppers and zucchini. I’ll use some to include in each container as the veggie portion, and then I’ll make up some wraps using it, chicken breast, or tuna with some mustard. I bought these whole grain flax wraps that are really great!

I’m also going to make some Whole Grain Healthy Banana Bread. I believe I shared that recipe with you earlier this year … you’ve have to search the archives. However, if you don’t have the time to do that… holla, and I’ll share with you again.

On another note, I’ve been looking at the compeition schedules for 2008 to figure out what shows I will do. I’ll have to hook up with Muscles … remember him??? For those of you that don’t, his name is Shaun ‘Muscles’ Campbell, www.shaun-campbell.com, an awesome trainer and friend that I had the best fortune to work with last season. Anyway, I’ll have to hook up with him to figure out the plan of action for 2008. I’ll let you in on my plans as soon as I’ve figured it out …

Anyhoo … blogged three days in a roiw… that quite a feat for me these days.

Have a blessed Sunday!

Cheers, Nke

First, let me tell you how yesterday was truly a ‘me’ day…. In all honesty, the only interaction I had with the outside world was when I blogged yesterday. After that … it was me, my couch, and a bunch of taped shows on my PVR!!!! Can I say how the PVR technology is so amazingly AWESOME! If you don’t have one … GET ONE!!!

Okay, I digress …. back on track….

So, woke up this morning…. somewhat refreshed, but a little sluggish from being a couch potatoe yesterday. Got out of bed, and headed out to the gym. Today was arms, calves, and abs day. Finished all that up within an hour. As I was making my way through my sets, I kept looking over to the Steps. First, I was hoping that no one would be on them when I was ready for my cardio. Then, I had moments, where I was hoping both would be in use and all the treadmills would be in use, and all the elipticals and all the bikes .. you get the drift …. So, when cardio time rolled around, it was not the latter will that presented itself. In fact, not only were the two Step machines available, but my favorite treadmill and several bikes and ellipticals were also available. Needless to say, the choices were endless …..

Don’t know what happened to me today, but I was dreading the cardio!!!! I never dread cardio! LOVE cardio. Today tho’ one hour seemed like an eternity to have to get through.

Oooohhh… I forgot to mention that my iPod was not completely juiced up. So, I had to pull out the ever handy charge cord I have and plug it into the gym computer. If there was ever a time in my life I needed an hour worth of juice in my iPod, it was today.

So, I prep the machince, retrieve my iPod, get atop the Steps, enter my weight, the minutes (a reluctant 60), set the level and started moving …. I told myself before I started that 60 mins was really 30 mins. That’s a mental trick I use. On the Steps, when you select 60, each bar interval is 2 mins, making it 30 bars I need to get through. Hence 30 mins. Easy breezy right!! haha So, with the feeling of only 30 mins to get through, I challenged myself to beat up the machine! I said, I’m going to work this machine today so that when I come to the gym tomorrow, it’s going to have an ‘out of order’ sign on it!!!! ha-ha Can I tell you how I WORKED that machine for 60 mins!!! I kicked it’s butt!!! 

That was 9:35 AM. Now, 11:54 AM, just over 2 hours later … I’m feeling on top of the world … y’know why …. coz’ I got through it.

Y’know, I could have packed it in at 9:35 AM and just gone home. Or opted to do 30 mins, or chose a different and less challenging machine. But I was like ‘hell nah’, I’m here and I’m going to make the most of it. I can feel tired and lazy later today … there’s still 12 hours for that… Now that I got through it, I’m not lazy at all. In fact, there is nothing I can’t do today after getting through that!!!! ha-ha

Hopefully, this has inspired you to set a goal and achieve it today. Or, at least get you through something today that you really are not up to doing.

Have a wonderful Saturday and blessed Sunday … I just may find some time on Monday to holla…. Until the next time.

Cheers, Nke

Can I tell you how I did not realize just how tired I have been. I have today and Monday off. I went to the gym early this morning, around 5:30 AM, worked out for about 2.5 hours and then came home. Since then …. can you believe, I’ve done nothing other than sit on my couch!!! It feels totally AWESOME!!!

Okay, I lied somewhat … before I made it to the couch, I seasoned up some chicken and lean pork sirloin and popped it in the oven. Figured I’d prep some of my protein for the next week so I can really chill out on the weekend.

I’m going to be hitting the gym 4 days straight. Went today, going tomorrow, Sunday and Monday. I may even pull a Tuesday evening workout, and then rest it up on Wednesday before I start up again. I believe I mentioned in my previous  blog that I am prepping for Xmas vacation in the hot and sun. So, got to get the bod beach ready!!! haha

So today, I trained chest and delts. I focussed on high reps, lighter weights. Made sure to select a weight that would have me at failure at 25 to 30 on each rep. I did 4 sets for all my chest exercises and 3 sets for my delt exercises. I’ve kicked my ab workouts up a notch, and tend to train them at each workout session. I see them coming in, so that’s good. They should be ready for Dec 23rd … at least hopefully … haha

Hey, got something for you to try … when you do Cable Crossovers for your chest, at the end of each set, superset with penguin claps. If you don’t know what these are, holla and I’ll explain. It’s wicked. Work right down the middle of your breastbone and creates really nice definition.

I’ve kicked my cardio up and cut back on my daily protein intake. I wanted to look leaner during my vacation, so I’ve been doing this for about the last 2 weeks. I’m doing anywhere from 60 - 75 mins of cardio after my weight training session. On leg days, I do only 45-60 mins since my leg workouts usually have me beat by the end of them.

Well, I don’t really have much else to say, and I definitely don’t want to start boring you. So, until next time .. I’m out! Enjoy your weekend

Cheers!

Nke

Lemme see … To be quite honest, my life has been tres GRAND. I have absolutely no complaints and I find mysely to be very appreciative these days of all the things I have in my life.

Not sure if I shared this previously, but I was featured in the December issue of Oxygen magazine! They picked up my story April of this year, and interviewed me in the July timeframe. If you have not had a chance to read it, I think you can still grab it on the stands for a few more days or view / read it online at www.idfa.ca. This is the main site for International Drug Free Athletics, so while you’re checking out the article make sure to peruse the rest of the site. You will not be disappointed.

For those that followed my blogs closely this year, will recognize that site as belonging to my trainer, Shaun ‘Muscles’ Campbell.

As always, I continue to train and enjoy a lifestyle of clean eating. As I am off-season, I’m all about 80-90% clean eating and 10% earned cheats!! By earned cheats, I mean I have to work to earn it. That’s a combination of weight-training and cardio 4-5 times a week and dedicated clean eating 5-6 days a week.

I’m trying to add different stuff into my fitness training, so I’m back playing soccer, I’ve started doing alot of sprinting drills, and switch up my weight-training program quite often.

Well, I’m off to prep meals for the week so gonna sign-off…. I promise to not be such a stranger…

Cheers, Nke

My cravings are running made wild right now…. It’s the last days of summer and I’m feeling for a frozen yogurt treat from Baskin Robbins… hmmmmmm 

Tormorrow is going to be a good test of my self restraint. I’m holding a brainstorming sessions with some of my team and ordered in pizza. One of our EA’s helped me order two small pizzas. In the event I choose to indulge, I made one; thin crust, whole grain bread, easy on the cheese, easy on the sauce, chilli chicken, fresh mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. I’m bringing foil in my lunch bag, and will bring my slice home for my weekend cheat. Isn’t that a good idea????? Ha-ha I’ll have to blog and let you know how well that plan works out for me!  Have you ever tried a workout of Giant Sets? This is where you do several exercises for one body part in a row without resting in between exercises.  For example, on back day; modified seated dead-lifts, seated rows, straight arm push-downs, close grip pull-downs.  I suggest resting 2 minutes between each interval and repeat 4 times. 

Anyhoo, speaking about intentions…. Yesterday, I had every intention to make it a clean eating day. I went to a BBQ that was organized by my hubby, his brothers and cousin. From the top of the week, I told myself that because of this new goal I am working towards, I can not afford to cheat on the Saturday. I had every intention…..Even yesterday morning, I was so proud with the progress I’d made shedding 5 lbs during the week. I had a look of leanness when I woke up in the morning and I generally felt ‘light’. So, my intention was to keep with that momentum and make it through the day sticking to my meals. 

Somewhere during the day, something happened. I don’t know what that defining moment was, but suddenly the battle in my head began. It went something like this; Man, gurl it’s the last BBQ of the summer, how can you pack your food to bring. Man, gurl you’ve still got another 6 weeks (42 days) to hit your goal. Man, gurl it’s not going to set you back that much. It’s not like you’re going to gain back the 5 lbs. The best one was… ‘People might find you rude and ‘too good for the food’ if you pack your stuff and bring.  So, I’m unfortunately blogging today with the news that the inner voice won out! I did not go there with any food packed but rather with every intention to eat what was there. Oh, the kicker is my inner voice said; ‘Don’t worry Nke, we’re just watch the portions and make sure to stay away from the carbs and just focus on the chicken and greens.’