LilMogul’s BodyBlog

Finished third week of 5 days cardio/ 30-45 mins, 4 days strength. Wanted to pull off 6 cardio days but it ain’t happening yet. Today I did free weight arms at home, then headed to the gym (30 secs from my home) and the Stairmaster was open! Yes, I am able to get my bearings enough now to look down at the logo while stepping- lmao! So now I know what it is called and can stop saying the ‘moving step thingie’ in my blogs. Just doesn’t sound like I am serious about this.

Stairmaster, level 5, 20 mins

Circuit, Arms and Back, 30 mins
Rowing, 30 SPM, 15 min

Tomorrow, a follow up fitness assessment at the gym. It will be 6 mos. (yup, thats how it took for me to find someone to take care of it at the gym- wtf?) Fingers crosses, I hope I’ve had some kind of improvement…

Yesterday was a good day. After doing my glute workout at home for the third time, I only had 40 mins avail for cardio. Had to meet my boyfriends mom for an event. There was hardly a soul at the gym and first instinct was to get on the treadmill for 20 mins. Instead of doing manual today I chose the Alpine Climb. It kept my heart rate in the high zone for almost the entire time which was different (I usually do intense HIIT or a casual walk) but I survived it.

Then I noticed no one was on the "moving staircase" - woohoo. I wanted another shot at it. I chose too high a level before and almost killed myself. This time I chose level 5. I thought "wow- I am such a punk to do 5 out of possible 20 levels". But 5 was no joke. This machine too brought my heart rate up -even higher- and kept it there 20 minutes. And boy did I drip sweat. A new thing for me the last couple months has been "breaking" a real sweat. I used to think I was doing something when I just "glistened". But THIS thing right here? This thing right here? This was entirely new. I was sweating like the boys on moving day in the summer time. I kept doing what they would do - pulling up my tee to wipe the sweat from my face.  By the time I was done, I had this big wet spot at the bottom of my shirt and it looked like I wet myself. You absolutely must cool down on this machine. When I got to the locker room my face was flush all over- even my nose and forehead. Didn’t know if that was a good thing.

So I got my glute workout in and my 40 minutes of serious cardio. Today will be arms and core.

So the past couple days I have been having ‘the rut’. All last week I was on top of the world, my core was suddenly melting my calves were peaking through.I strutted around, feeling kinda cute and even bought a new wardrobe of shorts.
Then I endured a holiday weekend of being tied to other people’s schedules and menus. I did workout Sunday and Monday. It affected when I could workout, and for how long. Just when I had it under control they would delay or push up times on me. Or stay out later than planned. I was squeezing in 2 hr meals here, dropping them there, having small portions of "un-clean" foods. I was forgetting to take my vitamins and minerals at proper times. On Saturday, I failed miserably in a spin class and walked out flushed and lightheaded after 15 min.  I went home and took a nap. After all I had tossed and turned the prior night from 11:30 - 3:30 AM. From a personal maintenance standpoint, my weekend…uh…sucked.

So I have been trying to right myself. I started off taking some progress picks in a bikini with my new tripod. Uggg…. All I can say is, I will NOT let the way I look and feel bully my willpower to continue.

I ate squeaky clean today and reported to the gym promptly after work. 20 leg raises on the captains chair, 15 min ab lab class, 30 mins on the rowing machine, 20 mins on the treadmill and did my full leg circuit (extension, curl, leg press/ calf press, glute raise).  Today I added the seated calf raise, 50 lbs/ 3 sets of 8 reps, for the first time. Had to have someone show me how to use it. This seemed to call attention to me (which always makes me self conscious and I need to get over that). I also added the 4 way hypextension machine and got the form right today. Thanks youtube.com Did another 50 lbs/ 3 sets of 8 reps.

Afterward I had half a baked potato, spoonful of peanut butter, and a protein/fiber shake. I will have cottage cheese with honey and cinnamon for my casein dessert. I am spent.

Tomorrow is a new day. Judging from my progress pics (not yet posted), I seriously need to focus on back and arms… and more cardio.

Stay motivated girl!

You have already started to make some strides:

Your arms aren’t grazing your sides any more.

You don’t have to "suck in" as much.

Summer clothes fit so much better than last year.

Calves have grown.

Back fat gone.

Glutes developing.

Face is slimmer. Hey, you have only one chin.

Your skin is clear.

Haven’t gotten sick since, like January, that’s saying something. Not even the pollen is touching you this year.

SPM are much higher on the rowing machine.

Yes, it is harder to make time to get in the gym almost every day or time to do long bouts of cardio on non-HIIT days. But remember: it is worth it. If you have accomplished this much, imagine what you can do from here. You are getting healthier and looking better. Fat will keep melting. Muscles will keep growing. Stop micromanaging and over analyzing your body. You know what you need to do.

Now go do it.

I recently got this Bowfix Fit Trainer Plus because I was interested in getting a combined heart rate monitor and pedometer. I didn’t want to have to wear a strap. I didn’t want a complicated, big or expensive watch. I ordered it from www.isokineticsinc.com for $79.99 because I could only find one review (which did have very high praise) of the item online and this website offers both free shipping and a generous good will return policy.

It is been about a week and I am really loving this watch. I am not a pro. This is just me speaking from my personal experience. First of all, it is a descent size that people aren’t stopping me to ask me what it is. To get a reading you need only hold two buttons on the face for a few seconds. So I don’t call a lot of attention to myself.

The directions are simple to follow. In the small booklet there is a flow chart of the monitor functions and pedometer functions. To set up, you enter your information, such as age, weight, etc. For the pedometer, it tells you how to measure your gate for a more accurate reading. Once set up you have a watch, alarm, dual time zones, hi and lo target zones (you can set your own or use recommended zones for your age/ body type), % of mhr, rest hr (to see if it improves), pedometer, calories burned, stop watch, chronometer, and backlight. You can turn the beep sound off/on. I leave it on because it isn’t loud at all. You can set the sensitivity to hi or lo (hi may drain battery faster but I keep it there- watch batteries are cheap). Water resistant to 30M.

The only issue I have is that the small (ladies?) watch only comes in this light blue. The larger (mens ?) watch is black.

(box it comes in is in the background)

Okay, so I am a bit on edge today. This, following a brief series of successes and feel-good moments. I don’t know what it is. I had a discouraging attempt at the spin class Saturday morning. I didn’t last 15 minutes before getting flush and lightheaded and bowing out of the class. How…. humiliating. I realized, I have not taken my iron in weeks-it has been so hard to balance between everything else and must be taken without other interference. And, no, I have never been a bike person. My ass still hurts. They haven’t figured out how to make these seats cushy yet?

To be fair to myself, I do see and feel a difference in my appearance. My muscles are not bigger yet, but they are hard and dense and the fatty areas like knees, ankles, elbows, waist are leaner, a bit more defined. My biggest "bloat" is nowhere as huge as it used to be. (I know, ewwww, but hey I am a woman and it’s a fact of my life) Subtle stuff to people who are just casually observing me. Yesterday my innocent sweet mom said "you look great honey, now all you need to do is an arm workout to slim them up"…I was like "whachu talking bout Willis???"and she started back tracking…So I am feeling really "average".
When I feel like this the only way I get through is to say "maintain, don’t turn back, keep moving". Yes, I have been eating clean today (following ordering in Chinese with a sick friend Friday/ weekend BBQ Saturday/ family gathering Sunday- i think i made decent choices though). And I worked out the last two days. Yesterday it was straight walking on the treadmill and rowing after doing a serious glute free weight workout at home. Today, I got in a leg strength workout- raised the weights this week; and 35 mins cardio (rowing and treadmill/ hills- someone else got to the stair climber thingie before I could finish wiping down my treadmill!) it is not a lot, but I am committed to 30-40 mins/ 5-6 days.
I FINALLY found somebody in my gym that was willing to schedule me for a Fitness Assessment. They are very nice people, but no one seems to know much- how to operate machines, what is included with my membership, how to print out my old assessment. I haven’t had one since January and I need something to work with, to compare against. So after several attempts on other days, a nice lady at the desk this morning interrupted a girl in an office several times for me to get my questions answered about getting a fitness assessment done. The lady finally got up out of her chair and came out to schedule me for one. But it won’t be until June 1. Wow, I have been at this for almost 6 mos. Hmmm….I don’t know how THAT makes me feel from a progress standpoint either. I have seen so many people pull off amazing feats in less time.It is one of the things about this site that encourages me, pushes me to keep trying.
So for now, I am headed to Target to get a tripod. Maybe if I can take some honest pics of myself all the way around I will really know what’s really good and what’s really not.  Dun, dun, dun!!!

That’s right! I refuse to think of myself as dieting. "Diet" is not in my vocab. After all, I am just not putting crap in my body. I am not starving my body- I am feeding it all nutrients, all the time. I eat more than ever and only the good stuff. Every time I reach for a bite of my mediterranian/ asian faves, I am showing myself some love. I can’t fall off the wagon- I can only cheat myself. Well, there is no joy in that for me. I am not a cheater! To me cheating is a sexy full-sized caramel, covered chocolate brownie banana split or large malted banana chocolate shake of my past. That’s my Duane "the Rock" Johnson of delicious desserts. My boyfriend (who is both good for me AND delicious) knows I love me some Duane, but I have self control. Look, don’t touch.  Anything that delicious can’t be good for you. Just even talking about it now is emotional cheating- lol! So maybe one day I get a small malted shake or banana slit and adjust my other intake and exercise accordingly. That’s how it should be and I am happy with that.

I’d like to think I was a beast today. Did my free weight arms this morning, ate right all day. After work I did something I haven’t done in at least 10 years: bought short shorts! 4 pairs! Yup, I’m kinda feelin myself a little bit today and the newly found shape of my legs outweigh their flaws for the first time since my teens. Yes, it has been at least 20 years since I haven’t felt reluctant to don much less than some cute capris. I had to kill some time so that the rush hour crowd would clear out of my gym.

BTW, I am hungry more than usual and not quite sure how to handle this. I want to gain muscle and want to get rid of belly fat. Despite my late night high protein/ high carb post work out meal last night, I woke up for the 4th day in a row with a hint of hunger. I was fine with my small meals throughout work. But while shopping for my shorts after work, the hunger creeped back. Usually I can wait til after my evening workout. So I came home and had an apple and a spoonful of peanut butter.Then I went to the gym.

My focus tonite was cardio. I intended to do 30 minutes non interval- because I don’t want to overdo it. Well…. I might have overdone it. First I spied that moving stair stepper thingie (I don’t know what it is called- but it IS a beast). I eagerly climbed onto and flippantly set the speed too fast! Oh it was comical! I could not even get my bearings enough to LOOK at the screen to figure out where the hell the damn stop button was!!! LMFAO! Anyhoo, I figured it out and stopped it and reset it- but I was so WINDED from that first 3 minutes I didn’t even last another 4 minutes. Soooo embarrassing.

So I humbly moved to the familiar treadmill, trying to play it cool. Warmed up and then started speed walking (I completely forgot about the HIIT issue and did 6 sprints in spite of myself). I returned to speed walking and continued until I hit 45 minutes (which I have never done before- thank you very much Prince for taking me there). So now it was time to go home and I wiped down my machine and …. and turned to the rowing machine. What? Yep, I got on it and just started ripping away for another 25 mins.

On my drive home I noticed I had a slight wheeze. (I have asthma and rarely have any kind of attack).  Now I am home and having nursed my asthma and eaten half a potato (it was supposed to be a sweet potato but I did not pay attention in the supermarket and pick up the wrong "Bakeable" package), a piece of salmon and a protein shake. I am gonna struggle through some cottage cheese again for my casein intake. Bleh. Just a half serving.

Well, I am proud of myself. For what I am not sure yet. Braving the shorts? Trying out and knowing when to get off the moving stair thingie? Pushing my cardio to new limits? Whateva. I am sure I did something right today. And I will probably feel it tomorrow.

(I CAN be, I am just a little delusional right now, I am sure!)

Yes!! Just got back from the gym for workout number two. Did the ab lab class- put my all into it and felt the burn, but not convinced its all that. So again, I hopped on the captains chair before and after ab lab for a little insurance. Then did the rowing machine for 20 minutes interval. I shocked myself with my highest RPM ever during my "sprints". Moved to the leg machines (this morning I did free weight glute exercises) for leg press, leg extensions, glute kickback and leg/ calf presses. My knee is feeling a little agitated right now. Hope it is nothing. Tried to do proper form, but I am struggling with that. Tried to find someone to show me the 4 way hyperextension machine but, for all his politeness, he was clueless and I couldn’t get the pad aligned to move along my axis. I remember the name of the machine so I will see if I can google some instructions later. FInally I got on the treadmill and did hills for 18 mins.
Now I am home and for dinner drank my protein drink and heated up a sweet potato and ate it, skin and all. Trying to up my post strength-workout low glycemic/ high fiber carbs. Before bed I will have 4 oz of cottage cheese (with lots of cinnamon and a hint of honey) for casein protein.

Free weight arms in the morning. After work, I would like to try that moving stair stepper thing at the gym. But we only have one, and someone is always on it!

I hope I feel this great tomorrow.  If the weather is gorgeous again I may hula hoop at lunchtime. No, that is not normal for me. My sister threw some kids toys in the back of my car and it’s just tempting…

Woohoo! My new Bowflex Fit Trainer Plus! Ain’t she purdy? Hopefully I will learn how to use her before my workout tonite!