Making_A_Change’s BodyBlog

The whole family overslept this morning. We lazily got out of bed at around 8:30. We must had needed the sleep. My daughter missed soccer. But we are all in such a good mood, it didn’t matter. She still came to the gym with me and jumped in the jumper, so all was okay in her world.  

Today was a great workout. It was more aerobic than heavy. I got in six circuits of 4 excercises: squat+lat raise with bb (20# bb to 30#bb (these were nice to keep the quads warm, also stretched the glutes, my knees felt GREAT); bicep curls (25# to 30#), shoulder presses (20#, went light shoulders are sore), lat pull over on the bench to a stand (slight squat) up to a front lat raise (30#). I ended it with some abs. I am probably going back this evening for 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of abs.

My body looked really good today–full and strong. Like alot of people, I think my legs will be the last to ‘come in’ so I tried to incorporate squats whenever I could, even if it was light weight. I’ll be doing the same with calf raises. You know, I really like the vibe at the ‘new’ gym. I went to the old gym last night and there was alot of socializing. Men worked out in groups of 2 or 3 taking turns and talking. A man could be waiting for upwards of 5 minutes to work in. I was working the lat pull down, cables, and a 60# bb–circuiting my butt off. But this morning, at the new gym, I was in the free weight area between this lady with her hair thrown in a sloppy bun with fantastic vascular forearms and another lady pushing heavy free weights and who had great pecs and a really nice back. That was so inspiring and so refreshing. Seems like the new gym has seriousness that the other gyms doesn’t have. At the old gym people casually workout and at the new gym, people train.

I am going for another evening workout tonight for abs, biceps, and back. I am slowly adjusting to the new training–I’ve got to keep telling myself that. It’s not getting easier, but I am starting to figure out what works for me. I am currently up to about 1800-1900 calories. I have been diligent in my fitday journal for about three entries, so that is getting better. I am going to eat at around my 8 sets of back/bis and see if that helps like it did on leg day. My body feels tired so I took the extra sleep. I have also been getting to sleep a little late. I am hooked on this animated series, Frisky Dingo. It’s hilarious. If you have a somewhat odd sense of humor and find the mudane amusing–you may like it!

I have put on about 1 1/2 pounds over the past few weeks–and I don’t think it’s premenstrual. I think I am a bit bigger. I am going to take pictures this weekend and make some comparisons. My size 4 pants are snug in the thighs. When I was doing my leg press and leg extensions, I am beginning to see a few new lines. Yep, I am definitely fuller. Should be interesting to see what I look like in a few weeks. Luckily, I have pants ranging from a size 10 to a 4, so I am covered no matter what size I turn out to be. Although, I want to stay at around a size 6. But knowing what I know now, as I gain more lean mass, this shouldn’t be a problem.

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 This evening I went to the old gym and did back and abs. I am going to see how I feel tomorrow. I didn’t take a rest day this week and tomorrow just may be it. My lifts were a bit lower, but I stayed focused. This guy walked up to me and said, "You are serious, aren’t you?" You’re darned right, I am. I want to make the most of this time that I have to prepare. I am going to make mistakes. I am going to make gains. I am going to have alot of questions. I am going to have some lucky guesses. I am going to do my best. It’s as simple as that. I am going to eat some eggs and get to bed. More tomorrow.

I almost forgot to add that there was a double-man baby shower at work. And as much as I wanted the 7-layer dip and homemade chicken enchiladas (and believe me when I tell you, my co-worker makes the BOMB enchiladas)–I passed. I had the fruit salad and the chicken from my lunch.

I had a good leg workout, a far cry from this morning. I got 10 sets of leg pressess, calf presses, and deadlifts. dvsness mentioned that evening workouts are effective b/c you have alot of meals in you and I think this is really going to work in my favor, especially on leg day. And I also began nibbling on a banana at around my 8th set. I got three sets of leg curls and extensions, but then I had to get my daughter from the children’s zone. I need at least 1 1/2 hours to complete a leg routine. It may also just take practice to get through it. I was in a zone, though. I focused on my breathing and how I was feeling. On the leg press, I felt really warm at 230#. I pressed 90#, then 140#, then 180# I pressed 230# for my final set. Next leg day, I am going to just start with 140# and work my way up. How on earth are people pressing 400 and 500#? That is superhuman!

Well, I have to get a load of workout clothes into the washer, or it’ll be no gym for me tomorrow. I go through them so fast–especially with the double workouts!

I want to tear up my abs tomorrow and do back and biceps–my favorite.

Oh, and my Muscle Milk is here! Mmmmm!

This morning I was entirely off!! I forgot to set my clock. I woke up in panic b/c it was ten minutes until 5 a.m. Oh, crap! I am going to be late for my sesison with Billy! I shove some wheat bread, power PB, and a couple of strawberries down my thorat and head out the door. Where’s my phone? I can’t call Billy and tell him I’m late–I’ve never been late! I am speeding down the street and realize it’s Thursday, not Friday. AND he is out of town tomorrow and we aren’t meeting anyway. I want to retun home and get an hour of sleep but decide to just workout. I usually eat 30+ minute before I workout, so my attempt was futile. I was so weak. I warmed up did three circuits of shoulders and went home and slept for 30 minutes. I will go back tonight. I may do legs, since I’ll have a few meals in me.

I can’t even lie–I feel tore up from the floor up. The combination of the new program and my impending cycle are doing a number on me, BUT that is not going to stop me from what I want/need to do. Believe me, it is a GOOD tired. It is a tired that lets me know that I am doing something new. And I think this is what this competition was about–a new challenge–and hopefully–a new aspect to my life! I had to kick myself out of bed and I got to the gym about 6 minutes after it opened. I did 10 sets of narrow-grip chest presses and got to about 7 sets of incline presses. I only had a few minutes and tried to throw in some tricep stuff but didn’t do nearly enough to have any sort of effect. So, it looks like I will be going back this evening for triceps, shoulders, and abs–as much as I can squeeze in in an hour.

I was going to take yesterday off, but decided to go for cardio. I stepped outside and the evening air was so perfect that I ended up running the lake (3 miles). I did that and stretched in under 30 minutes. Husband was impressed. That run used to take me over 45 minutes and it took a while to recover. I ran it comfortably, yesterday.

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I made it do the gym for triceps and abs. I lost count of my sets I may have done 8 or so, definitely more than 6. I got a nice pump. I circuited overhead bb presses, cable press-down, and v-sits. I kept the reps for the v-sits at 50–it was really tiring, but worth it. Billy is going to be out of town so we won’t be meeting this Friday, but he wants to figure out a make-up session–oh boy! Now, to figure out what to eat!

by any means necessary. I know I need to take a multivitamin and AP is supposed to fill in those nutritional gaps. I put the handheld blender to those bad boys and made a powder that looked like dirt. I threw it all in my morning shake and chugged it down. It wasn’t so bad. I am out of Muscle Milk and I know MM would have hide the taste of the vitamins better. But the job got done. And the vitamins turned my pee a festive, flourescent yellow.

 I am asking people about nutrition and preparing for a show. I am going to save the carb cycle for later and eat to grow for the next month or so. I actually used fitday.com today. I am not finished inputting everything b/c I am about to drink another shake and go workout. And there will probably be another small meal. But my ratios for the day are something like: 50/20/30. The fat was a little high because steak was the meat of the day. But eating this way is what I do normally, I am going to keep the ‘extras’ to my one meal per week.

I am also ovulating, which is making it a little more challenging that usual to control the sweet/carb tooth. I could really take out a couple of rolls of Ritz, right now. Mmmmmm…Ritz!

Tonight’s workout will be cardio for about 30 minutes. And I will probably do shoulders, triceps, abs and calves.  Now, I know my abs need really, really, high reps.

I began my circuit with the mindset of hitting those 10 sets: seated row, lat pull down, reverse lat pull downs. I was going heavy on the seated rows and moderately heavy on the other two excercises because I wanted to finish. I was zoned it and focused, until I got to my seventh set. Fatigue and dizziness set it–darn it! I ate the cottage cheese that I had in my backpack (oh yes, prepared for this sort of thing) and waited for the feeling to subside. I decided to break things up a bit and super set calf raises and the abductor machine. My forearms were so tight and full! I had veins that I have never had before–very exciting. My heartrate stayed up the whole time and I kept rests to a minimum, basically the time that it took me to change the weights, change machines, or readjust myself.

To recap that passed few days:

Thursday: Back and biceps

Friday: Chest and triceps

Saturday: Legs

Sunday: Abs and shoulders

By the time 10 p.m. rolled around last night my abs, from top to bottom, were sore. Yes! So I did tear them up the other day. Could this be the thing that will finally get me my six pack. We shall see in a few weeks, right? Those July progress picture should tell the story.

Memorial Day

At the last minute, my daughter and I went to the in-laws. I ate green beans and ribs. According to a carb cycling article fattier pieces of meat are allowed for 1-2 meals. With that reasoning, my one meal of fatty meat was ribs. And it had my father-in-laws off-the-hook homemade sauce. I did have two pieces of German Chocolate cake from my favorite bakery. Then, I drank a ton of water. And that was it. I didn’t leave bloated or unsatisfied–and, of course, I had a great time.

This morning, I reached over to turn off the alarm and my entire body has DOMS. It is a great feeling. I feel like I have accomplished alot in the past few days–slowly but surely pushing through my confort zones a little more. Today, is my first attempt at a ‘no carb day’. We will see how it goes and because it’s early, I will be able to see what I need to have around to make it successful–groceries would be nice (I didn’t get a chace to go shopping). I am going this morning for sure!

It is 9 a.m. and my little one is still asleep, so I am going to let her get her zzz’s. Once she wakes up we have a laundry list of things to do, including: getting an oil change, getting the car washed (which she hates), and going to the grocery store.

Off to start my day!

So, I did massive sets of abs, seeing that they seemingly need alot of attention from to get them sore. I felt a burn on moves that focused on the obliques and more of a fatigue on other moves. I also had a really nice stretching sessions. I didn’t do cardio as planned, but will probably do 30 minutes tonight. I am on my way to wash out my car, a feat in itself–wish me luck!

This was the second day in a row that I have gotten postive comments from someone in the gym. Yesterday, a man comes up to me as says, "Are you training for something? You always train hard and seem to have such a positive attitude. You look great!" Today, a guy comes up to me and says, "Are you training for something–track or something? I’ve been watching you and I don’t think I could keep up." My eye is certainly on the prize and I guess it shows. My goal is just to keep the momentum going. I know that it is going to get tougher as the weeks pass and I get closer to ’showtime’. I am just go to give my best, whatever that is for that day.

Billy told me to do legs and shoulders. I didn’t even make it to shoulders after 10 sets of the following circuit: hack squat (increasing weight, same reps), deadlifts, v-sits.

Hacksquats: 70# (3 sets); 120# (3 sets); 140# (4 sets)

deadlifts: 70# x 20 reps

v-sits: 50 reps

From here, I moved to a leg curl, leg extension superset. I completed the 3rd superset:

legs curl: 60#, 15 reps

leg extention: 90#, 15 reps

I was going to increase the weight for the next 3 sets when the dizziness set in. Note to self: I may have to increase my calorie intake pre-leg days or expect to interrupt the workout with a snack before dizziness sets in.

I stopped and ate the apple that I had in my back pack and did one more set of leg curls and a set of calf raises. I still felt weird, so I went ahead and stretched (still need to do more). The normally, short ride home was long as I tried not to get sick and hoping that I didn’t cramp up. I made it home and had a nice bowl of oatmeal–mmmm.

I am in the process of putting together my carb cycling diet in which I am going to schedule my high and high+ carb days on days with the trainer and leg days. I feel great now, and I am going to take a nice long shower and stretch more. I am extremely satisfied with today’s workout. While I didn’t finish–I did 10 sets of leg excercises, as prescribed, and really pushed myself passed my limits.

My chest and shoulders are SO sore because of Friday’s session with Billy.

Tomorrow will most likely be a cardio day to keep the DOMS in my legs from getting too bad.

21 weeks to go!

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Update: I think I am going to really dig these high carb days. What a great way to put sushi into your diet regularly! I also get one dessert for my cheat meal. Tomorrow, will be a low carb day, which means that two of my meals will have a carbs and the other 4 or 5 will not. Monday will be no carbs. That will be my first attempt at this cycling. This day was pretty experimental, I had to grab whatever food was around (clean, of course). I am out of the Clif protein bars that I love to have around. I usually have a couple in my purse, my laptop bag, in my car, and in my workout bag. I’ll be going grocery shopping tomorrow!