Making_A_Change’s BodyBlog

I worked abs today–but the workout was pretty-crunchless. We’ll see if I’m sore tomorrow. I’ve got to get these abs together. I keep thinking about that two-piece. I plan on doing a smaller cut for the bottoms. I am using tomorrow as my ‘off day’. That works out since it’s a holiday. Saturday, I’ll hit the back and calves–HARD. I am looking forward to it. This Saturday I will be 17 weeks out. I am going to have to reduce (but not eliminate) the peanut butter.

At 16 weeks, I am going to start doing my 30 minute, post-workout, 5x per week. This means no more sleeping in. I’ve got to be in the gym at 4:30.  At around 14 weeks out I am cutting the sauces that I use–the curries and things like that. And the stairmill is my friend… I have to keep saying that. I have also cut my carbs a bit in light of the holidays and my TOM. It’s only been a few days, but I am going to keep my refeed days to around 175. I noticed that, while I really like my green beans, they leave me little room in terms of my carbs.  I can eat mounds and mounds of squash, spinach, and asparagus. I was also thinking about the properties of asparagus. I ate asparagus to help me with water, I wonder if eating it around my TOM would help. It’s worth trying.

Additionally, stretching has gone by the wayside, so I am committing to doing that nightly.
Morning Weigh-in: 139

I got a nice pump today while doing biceps and triceps. I did:

• bicep curls (35#; going for a few reps with the 40’s next week)
• bb curls (went light with the 30# bar)
• bb overhead extensions (two positions)
• db overhead tricep extensions (15# but alot of work!; bot a great pump with these)
• standing tricep kickbacks (15#)
• cable curls (PR of 100#)
• overhead tricep extension (8#)
• unassisted tricep dips (3×5)

I felt like the workout was productive. I did some abs at the end, but not enough to call in an ‘ab day’. My chest is still sore. Tomorrow may be shoulders and a real focus on abs and calves. I am actually looking forward to leg day so that I can try the variation on hack squats in GoddessAthlete’s video.
Morning weight of 141.0 (TOM).

This morning was legs and glutes. It seems like I am taking longer to warm-up. I spent alot of time on the leg press. I did get to 270# on leg press #2. I was able to do three ses of 10+ so I know I am stronger. I also did several sets of single leg presses, as I really feel those in my glutes. I did lunges, split squats, good mornings and wall presses (the ones that make your utt burn). I also worked on calves. I couldn’t go as heavy on the good mornings because my shoulders felt weak and there was a point where I had a bit of trouble lifting the 50# bb up and over my head. I am not trying to injure myself. The next leg day will focus on quads and hamstrings–favorite. I don’t dislike working my glutes directly, but you can’t watch them work like hamstrings or quads.

Tomorrow morning may be biceps, triceps, and abs. I didn’t do any cardio today. Tomorrow is 30 minutes on the recumbant bike.

I’ve been getting alot of inspiration by looking at national level competitors. There is so much that I want to accomplish physically and can’t wait to achieve my goals. I am finally feeling my brand of ‘normal’. My foods have been my own and clean and it feels so good. My scale weight on the 26th was 144. The following day was 143 and some ounces. Yesterday it was 142. And this morning I am at 141. I expect to level out at around 135-136 next week. My goal is to remain 10-15 pounds within my ‘competition weight’–whatever that may be.

Yesterday was nothing but good foods. I don’t get as many meals in because I am waking up later (on Holiday Break). So, this week I am going to get up an hour earlier and add a few more calories to my meals to get them in. Next Monday, I resume my 6-7 meals. Earlier in the day, I found that I wasn’t hungry but ate on time. Yesterday’s workout was also much improved.

This morning I did my chest and shoulders. I finished everything off with 30 minutes on the stairmill. I’ll be doing either the stairmill or recumbant bike for cardio. I am seeing some improvements in my hamstrings, but the glutes still need alot of work. I incorporated a few sets of walking lunges (25# dbs) today. It is my TOM, now, with is contributing to the bloating. I am typically my weakest right before. So, I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s and Tuesday’s workout. Tomorrow is going to be leg day. If I am sore from today’s lunges, I’ll do abs and calves.

No more obligatory dinners and back to the cooler. Last night, my body said ENOUGH–10 pounds of water and probably some bodyfat because I have the beginnings of boobs, again. Last night I was bloated, nauseous, and felt ‘fuzzy’ in the extremities. My quads and calves were practically the same size! I hadn’t seen anything like that since I was pregnant. I am holding so much water that I have a muffin top over my underwear. It is not pretty. If I were any closer to competition I would have had to pass on those dinner and a few folks would have been disappointed (but understanding). This morning, however, some of the swelling is down and I had a good back workout. I was not going to have it any other way, actually. There was no way I was going to waste anymore time. I wanted to sweat and wake this body up.

10 minute warm-up

• lateral pull down/reverse lat pull-down (drop set for final 4th set)
• seated lat pulls/bent over flyes
• one-armed rows (40#)/squat+bicep curl
• lat pull overs (40# dbs)
• 30 minutes on the stairmill (without hands)

I haven’t had so many carbs in a while. And I am not talking about the 200 calculated grams on refeed days. I felt lethargic and sickly. I slept for hours and would sleep at the drop of a hat–almost mid sentence. It was actually amazing to be experiencing it and taking note of it–while I was awake. It was like my body had a mind of its own. My mind wasn’t clear. I couldn’t flex, much less see any definitition. And my clothes were fitting. I also noticed that my lips stayed dry.

I like having control over what is in my food. Salt and sugar and not friends of mine, anymore. Good riddens.

The cut begins now. I am not cutting calories, just upping the post workout cardio to 30 minutes from 10-20 minutes.

Yesterday was an abbreviated leg workout. I ended up spending alot of time at the leg press and I supersetted with push-ups. With my limited time over holidays I seemed to have been leaning mroe towards some sort of full body workout. I did have a personal best on teh leg press (machine #1). I pressed #320. I did that for two sets of 6-8 reps. And I think I can do more! I attempted to do some plymetrics afterwards and that was a bust. My diet has been a bit different that normal. For the passed few days, including today. I have had a ‘cheat meal’ because of a business dinner, Christmas Eve dinner with the husband’s great grandmother, and today I have Christmas brunch with the in-laws. While I made the best choices that I could, watched portion sizes, drank alot of water, and didn’t miss a workout–there is something to be said for my predictable way of eating. I like the way it feels. I like not being hungry and feeling satisfied. I like not being bloated and being able to see my hip flexors and obliques. Right now, I can’t see any of that. My gym is closed today and will re-open tomorrow at 6. I will be at the glass doors at 5:50 a.m. The additional calories will probably give me a boost and the break is good for me as well. I am going to stretch and do posing practice at home. If it isn’t raining when we return, I am going to take a quick walk around the lake. My body needs the emotional and physical outlet.

Today is my ‘off day’ so I just took it ‘easy’ and did abs, calves, and 15 minutes of posing practice. It been interesting. This time around my diet includes more carbs and more fats and I am losing bodyfat. My weight has remained in the low 130’s and I feel like I am looking leaner. When preparing for the first competition, I limited my carbs and my macros looked something like: 60/20/20. Now, it is more like: 50/30/20. And my fats and carbs fluctuate between 20-30 percent. My fats come primarily from my flax seed oil, peanut butter, muscle milk, and some foods. I have been really consistent with my water and that can sometimes make it harder to get all of my food in, but its getting better. I am doing to about 5 meals instead of 7 because of vacation. I’m sleeping later, thus there is less time to eat. BUT the additional sleep has been great for recovery and I feel great.
I was at the end of my workout and this woman stopped me and said: I want to be like you. And I am going to get there. I was floored and flattered. She had this determined look on her face. I hope to see her often. I hope that she won’t give up when the scale doesn’t tell her what she wants to hear. I hope that she is fed up enough to keep going.  I hope that she decides to do that extra rep or set even when it’s uncomfortable. I hope that she makes a committment to herself to change old habits. I hope that she begins to look at her body as art. And I hope that she sees that gym as ‘health insurance’–a means to drastically reduce those diseases and ailments (some we can control and some we cannot) that plague millions. That’s what happened to me–and my life has been forever changed.

Billy and I met today because the gym is going to be closed on Friday and the holidays are mid-week. I typically meet with him on Friday, have two long workouts on Saturday and Sunday, then rest on Monday. Well, Billy had a leg day planned today. I worked them yesterday. I thought that maybe I could go through with his workout, because let’s be real, while I try to give my all the fatigue that I normally feel post-workout is nothing on our training sessions. But, I must have done a pretty good job. Billy can change his plans at a moments notice (another sign of a great trainer) and we ended up doing a full body workout. The highlights were:

-a couple of moves I am going to call ‘hopping the fence’ and ‘jumping on top of a car’. It was 1 minute of jumping over a flat bench and it was brutal. I looked pretty athletic for about 15-20 seconds. After that–no so much. It was a more intense form of cardio that was more grueling than the stepmill–loved it. After 4 sets of that I was done!  But I love when he throws something at me that I can’t do. It gives me a challenge. I declared that I am going to be able to do a full minute and that is what I am going to do.

-I also had to do shoulder presses while stepping over the bench. It was an odd sensation. You are weak up top while you try to press the weight up. And my legs were weak from the leg work and just tired. Of course, I loved it.

I went home and helped myself to 1/2 cup of oats to celebrate! Tomorrow is going to be my ‘off day’. However, if I wake up and feel okay I am just going to do abs and posing practice in the morning. If I place in the May 2nd show, I will have to do a T-walk. I want to start thinking about that.

Today was a leg morning. I primarily used leg press#1 and could do 270# with relative ease. I liked the way that the machine #1 allowed you to go heavier, but there was a say place to stop. I felt like I could go deep and if the weight got too heavy I would be put in an awkward or unsafe position. So that is going to be the one that I use for those heavy days. I also did deadlifts/shoulder press, free squats (with bar, 50#), leg extensions (165# [PB], drop sets), leg curls [held contraction]), ‘around the world’ lunges, and I did some crunches in there. It was a respectable workout. I am on ‘vacation’ over the next two weeks, so I get to get more sleep and to extend my workouts a bit.

I felt like I had to force feed myself today. I have been good with my supplements and vitamins. And I have also been getting my water in. This, however, has made getting my meals in more challenging because the water is suppressing my appetite. So, 2 1/2-3 hours rolls by and I have to make myself eat. But I am going to keep it up 3/4-1 gallon a day-no excuses. I have 30 more ounces to go, tonight. Tomorrow, I am meeting with Billy. The gym is closed on Friday due to the holidays so we are meeting early. I wonder what isn’t going to be sore when I wake up–we’ll see.

Where do the ‘lost’ posts go? I wrote about my training session with Billy yesterday and it’s gone! We focused on chest and shoulders. We tried to minimize the work that the triceps would do because they are still sore! From what I recall we did:

cable flyes

kneeling cable shoulder presses

chest flye

db squat/shoulder press

bench seated–>standing shoulder press

db lat pull over (40#)

v-sit+10# bd flye
This morning I focused on back. I went heavy on my first three sets and did drop sets for the last. I had a personal best of 130# on the lat pull down machine for 5 reps. I supersetted with reverse pull downs. I also did:

bent db flyes (feeing stronger; able to stay bent over with little ‘cheating’

‘Billy crunches’ with 10# plate

seated single-armed rows

cable rows

cable lat pull downs (I got a compliment on my traps today)

and I ended it with assisted pull ups (I was finished by this point)

I did 20 minutes on the stairmill-no hands. And about 20 minutes of posing practice. I feel ready to plow through this prep, now.