Making_A_Change’s BodyBlog

This morning was leg day with a focus on hamstrings:

• leg press (narrow stance); calf press; db deadlift
• leg extension; standing ham curl
• good mornings; laying ham curl

I did 3 sets of 20. I didn’t have alot of time this morning. I am already sore. Tonight, cardio was hard. The husband ordered another MP3 player for me and I had music tonight–what a difference. I did 30 minutes on the stair mill and I ended up walking on an incline for the second 30 minutes.

I managed to get my workouts done today on my cutting calories. Not having to work certainly helped. I am so excited about the prospect of bodybuilding. Once again, I am doing my research on this sport. I studied posing routines on youtube and bb.com, today. I wanted to become familiar with the mandatories and then try to identify them in the routines. My mind is swimming with ideas and I am titillated by the unknown. I have the next few months to learn what I can.

I have to admit, Facebook has been a great tool for meeting other bodybuilders. I will write more tomorrow. I am going to go to sleep. Tomorrow is abs, chest, triceps, traps–as much as I can fit into a circuit. That will be followed by an hour of cardio.

It may not have been prep-friendly but it was sorely needed. I had a cheeseburger. I haven’t had a cheeseburger in the longest. It was from In ‘n’ Out and it was perfect–crunchy lettuce, grilled onions, warm bun. My goodness. Needless to say, my session with Billy tonight was great. We did back and bicep with a strong focus on biceps. We did: db rows, lots of bicep work (seated bb curls/full curls); rope attachment pull downs (seated and standing), cable curls, pull-ups (close and wide grip). We finished everything with jumping jacks and burpees, Billy’s ‘one more thing’. I have been with him long enough to know that ‘one more thing’ may mean another superset or something that is going to wring your last bit of strength out of you.  

I am exhausted but I feel great. I am looking forward to finishing these last weeks strong I looked huge today. My delts were out, my lats were wide, and my quads were swollen. I’ve been having this itch lately…

October, possibly December in Culver City, will be last last figure competition. Then, I will emerge as a lightweight bodybuilder. I am going to take a year off and give myself an ultimate challenge. This is Alisa Allen. She recently crossed over from figure and is a middleweight female bodybuilder. Strong. Sleek. Full. This is what I want. When she told me her story–being told she was too muscular, not flexing on stage–I immediately thought back to how I felt when we were told not to flex too hard or flare to much. Mind you, I am still considered ’soft’. I haven’t been competing very long and I am committed to this sport in the long run. What will I look like if I train differently?

I am finding it very easy to maintain my current size, around 131-133. But I want a bit more dimension to my physique. And frankly, I want to eat. I think that I am just now tapping into my body’s potential. I told Billy of my plans, he responded I wondered when you were going to decided to to that! He said that he knew that I was going to want more. I know it is going to be a mind game–gaining weight, feeling big, lifting heavier, eating differently. A routine! New poses! All with the same grace and style that drew me to figure.

It’s a new journey and I’m ready…

Typing ‘18 Days’ seems so surreal–but it is just under two weeks that I will be on stage, once again. I am working these 1400-1500 calories to the best of my abilities. One strategy has been to just go to bed early. I woke up ravenous this morning, I couldn’t get my oatmeal fast enough. I did a short ab workout and foucsed on my posing today. I have DOMS from yesterday’s workout. Normally, it takes two days. But here I am–sore and throbbing. But at least the ‘pain’ is where I want it to be–in my glutes and hamstrings. I can tell that tonights cardio is going to be labored. Part of the reason is that my MP3 players don’t work. Boo!

It wasn’t motivation or even habit that got me out of bed this morning. It was just my looming competition date. I don’t recall pressing the snooze button so many times. I keep the alarm clock across the room so that I have to get up to turn off the alarm. I have perfected a move that allows me to pull back the covers, flip my body to the edge of the bed, put one leg on the floor, reach out, and smack the alarm, reverse the move back into the covers without opening my eyes.

I can call today a success. I did legs this morning. I did the thinks that I dislike: leg presses with a narrow stance/calf presses (knees locked), deadlifts (40# dbs), step ups (30# bb/40# bb);split squats, cable kickbacks. I did 5 sets and 15-20 reps. I am going to focus on hamstrings on my next leg day. Tonight, I eeked out an hour of cardio. I am tired but extremely pleased. I managed to do on on the lower calories. Now, I need to drink the rest of my water and get to bed fairly early. i am looking fuller lately and weighing a bit more, just a pound. But I think I might have cultivated a little muscle over the past few months. If that is the case–I’ll take it!

Today was my daughter’s great grandfather’s homegoing. It was what I would call a contemporary Catholic ceremony–traditional Catholic elements with African-American traditions, like the calling of our ancestors. Funerals always make me think about my own mortality and my decisions. Am I living the best life that I can live? Have I made the right choices? Will I get a second chance to right a wrong? What will I be remembered for? What contributions will I make? What impact will I have on my community and the people around me? The funeral wasn’t sad, at all. In fact, it was quite joyful. At 93 years old you have learned alot of lessons and have met alot of people. I only knew him as an old man. I didn’t know the man that he was–a husband, teacher, photographer, naturalist. It made me think of the aspects of myself that I have yet to cultivate and discover. It think fitness has been a door–I just need to open it.

I did chest and triceps. I used the flat bench and some 30 pound dbs for chest presses. I supersetted those with flyes. I also pumped out: one-armed db tricep kick backs, bb skull crushers; leaning lateral raises, tricep presses (knuckles out), plate raises, etc. I did 5 sets of 15-20 reps. I got a great pump this morning. Maybe it was the salmon and brown rice from dinner last night. But I had great energy and saw a lightweight bodybuilder. I saw her. It was one of those moments when you look in the mirror and you ask, "Is that me?" I closed it all out with 45 minutes on the stairmill–no hands. I had an hour of cardio to do this evening-but I have to reschedule it. Husband has to make some preparations for his grandfather’s wake and funeral tonight.  

I am determined to get in at least 10-11 cardio sessions in this week. Morning cardio for 45 minutes and evening cardio for 1 hour. This is, by far, the most that I have done.

Tomorrow, we are taking our older students hiking. So, I am going to lift in the morning, hike in the afternoon, and cardio in the evening. It is going to be a long day also a low carb day. I’ll have to have extra fats. This reminds me that I need to pack my backpack tonight instead of my

The last few days I have felt worn down and on the verge of getting sick. I can’t have that–especially being so close to my day. SO, I have had a few more carbs slept a bit more and now I feel brand new. The next three weeks are going to be grueling, and all self-inflicted! THAT is the part that I makes me laugh to myself. There is no one telling me to do this. It is just me doing what I love to do. I am doing a final cut to 1500 calories and doubling my cardio efforts. I really didn’t go that low on my first or second show. It’s new territory for me.

I posted a few photos from my last session with Weiferd. We did more action shots and I wore gymwear. It was alot of really dynamic. And as I look at the pictures I realize that there are things that I need to work on. I need to learn the angles, poses, and flex that looks best on me. Right now, my abs are underdeveloped. They are improving but in the meantime my skin is really loose and it makes my bellybutton look like a pair of lips. I have to learn to keep my chest lifted and abs tight and, right now, any slightly bent over is out of the question. It’s all lesson that I’ll take with me in October. But I also look at them and see how fair I have come and about what I want out of this fitness journey–the competiting, the writing, the photos. There are so many possibilities.

I have decided to cut to 1400-1500 (on leg day), keeping my protein high. It is going to be interesting to see how I can spread out these meals. I’ll be drinking water to keep the hunger at bay, but that only works for so long. I am so thankful that I will not be working beginning July 1. My intake will match my daily activity level. My daughter will be taking her summer classes early in the day. I can get in extra training or a little bit more sleep. I’ll need it. One of the things that the head judge said at the last show was to look at my last month of training. And if you don’t try something different, you’ll get the same results, right?

 June 18, 2009

My body is tired…really, really tired. But I am going to try my hand at training through it. I think it will be a good excercise for me. I can already tell that all of my weights will be significantly lighter, but I want to see what I can do. I came home early from work and ended up sleeping for about 5 hours. It was welcomed and needed. My appetite is a bit on the low side, but I am still eating on schedule. This morning I did 40 minutes on the stairmill. I am still at around 131 and have been for mnost of my prep. I do look leaner. I think I am going to compete at around 125. I decided to put on the suit and see where I stand. I may post pictures, tonight.

I took yesterday off. Becuase of end of the year activities, I decided that it would be best to sleep on those days as I’ll be at work for about 14 hours. I also stayed at home because husband lost his grandfather, yesterday afternoon. He was 93 and went into the hospital the previous day for pneumonia-like symptoms. The next day he was hooked up to a ventilator. The family decided to let him go in his own time and let go about an hour after being unhooked. My husband and his frandfather were alot alike–quiet, slow to anger, mellow. The loss is great but so was the span of great-grandfather’s life. He had seen many things and experienced even more. And when there was nothing else to see he closed his eyes. This also marks a first loss for our daughter. It was easy to tell her the truth rather than make up some story. The depth of her understanding is unknown, but early on, she was the one to ask if he would die when things were looking bleak. Children are intuitive and accepting of the truth–more so than adults at time.

He will be missed.

Tonight, I requested legs and glutes with Billy. Again, it is not my favorite part to train, but it is a necessary evil. I’ll be sure to blog about it when I return.

After the first ‘warm-up’ I sputtered, "What was that all about?!!" After the warm-up of squats followed by jump squats I was about to fall over. But that was just the frist 3 minutes of our hour and fifteen minutes together. We got on the squat machine for: reverse squats, good mornings, partial/pulsing squats, and regular squats. He through some shoulder work in–that burned. Then we finished everything off with leg extensions, leg curls, and more shoulder presses. I was so tired that doing leg curls was desireable because I got to lay down. He has declared that ‘we are about to get serious’. In Billy-speak it means he is going to conjure up new moves and combinations to stimulate growth, burn fat, and make me crawl out of the gym. And what can I say, it is torture while I am doing it, but in the end knowing that I am stronger than the previous workout, or one step closer to a first place trophy, or one workout closer to building the physique that I want is enough to keep going back. I love this sport and all that comes with it–the wincing, the sweat, the struggle, the soreness. I really do love it all. So much so, that I am going to do it, again. Tomorrow is a mellow day at work so I am going to do my back, biceps, and cardio. I am also going for broke with the extra cardio. I have three weeks left let’s see what I can do with it!

I had planned on doing back and biceps, but I could tell that my strength was low, so I decided to devote time to a smaller (and much deserving bodypart)–abs. I followed that up with 25 minutes of running @ 6 mph at a 2% incline. 3% left my hip flexors sore and my leg press and split lunges suffered. Tonight, more cardio. I am low carbing until around Wednesday or Thursday. I have to reschedule my session with Billy because of end of the year events at school.

I am dragging today, but I am glad that I made it to the gym. My neighbors decided to have a drumming circle and sing some sort of drinking song after 11 p.m. last night. Who does that?

Tonight, I had low carb meltdown. At least that is what I think it was. I felt especially moody and irritable. I cried because my daughter isn’t reading, yet. I’m a literacy teacher, for peets sake. And I just couldn’t hold it together. I was light-headed, too. One of the students even asked if I was okay. I must have been looking really rough in the face, today. But, I have another day down. I got 40 minutes of good cardio in–30 minutes on the stairmill and a 10 minute run at a 2% incline. And I also managed to get some posing practice in. I wanted to see what my physical and mental limits are, and I feel like I am finding out. It is an amazing ride.

I have been reading the inspiration section and I am speechless. This blog is ‘my baby’. Prior to bodyspace, I had never even kept a decent journal. I tried, but it just never happened. Maybe I just never found my life interesting enough or maybe I was afraid to be honest and that it would be found–revealing my secrets. For some reason, writing about ‘weight loss’ seemed safe.  I don’t think I expected all of the personal and internal changes that would ensue. I am a quiet and private person and I keep a small, very small, circle of friends. Keeping a public blog was uncharacteristic of me, but I knew I had to do something drastic. It is so amazing to think that something I might have written, said, or done motivated someone else to push past their limits, too. Fitness has changed my life in so many ways–so many positive ways. It’s theraputic and euphoric. I just want to share it.

Are photoshoots supposed to make you sore? They do when the photographer has you jumping and sprinting! I am trying to buiding up a portfolio and today we did action/gymwear shots. The weather in San Francisco was perfect. I am so glad that I scheduled a late shoot, the morning weather is too unpredictable. I got to see a few of the pictures in Weiferd’s camera and, again, I am so pleased. I believe that I am going to be able to get alot of use out of them. I will be doing another shoot in October after the SF Championships. I am actually exhausted. I worked legs and light biceps on Saturday. I did partial (’in the bucket’) squats and biceps curls; leg extensions, leg curls, hammer curls (under the chin). I did 5 sets of 20 reps and lots of drop sets. Then, i followed it all with posing. I just realized that that may be whie why I am a bit sore.

I did ‘diet down’ the passed few days, doing a mock deplete. I some some changes with Teraxatone, but nothing too dramatic. The results probably would have been the same with increased cardio. This morning, I actually had to adjust my posing, being careful not to ’suck in’ my abs. Otherwise, my midsection looked to thin and ‘ribby’. I have carbed up (two tortillas and turkey chili-YUM) and refed my body and I am ready to go back to training and my two a day schedule. Overall, though, I was happy with how I looked this morning. I did have lines in my quads, obliques, and shoulders. I just took an hour nap. I am not going to do into the gym tonight. I’m just going to rehydrate a bit, eat, and get to bed early!

Tomorrow, I am going to do back, biceps, and calves followed by 40 minutes of cardio. I am to get up at a little before 4 and get out by 4:15. I’m going to do an hour of cardio in the evening and abs.

I am looking forward to it and I have to hit these glutes hard over then next 27 days.

Some things that I am thinking is that I may want to deplete, then carb up two days before the show.