MamaBall’s BodyBlog

We are about 4 days from closing on our house….so I have been crazy busy getting everything packed and ready to go.  Tonight will be our last night sleeping here, but we will still have a little work to do cleaning and so forth.  

I am missing the gym, but I just haven’t had the time to get over there.  Also, I have a pretty nasty cold.  I have slowly been developing a pain in my chest when I breathe.  I have had this one time before, and I had to take some really potent meds to get rid of it.  I have a lovely cough….not the worst ever, but irritating.  So, I will have to wait and see what happens with that.

I feel a little discouraged about missing so many days, but there is just not anything that can be done about it.  But, I look forward to getting back there again.

I had a really good week in the gym.  I got all my lifting days in and also a few cardio days.  I am tired, but it’s that good tired.

I have to take the baby to the oncologist tomorrow for another check up.  That will take a good portion of the day since it is an hour drive there and and hour back and then the visit in the middle.  I am not planning on a trip to the gym unless I get back early in the afternoon, and then I may head for some more cardio.  I will take Saturday off too, as we are heading over to meet with the realtor that is going to be helping us find a house in Winston-Salem.  We are going to be walking through a few places to see if anything tickles the fancy.  We’ll see, though.  We are in no rush, and are willing to wait for the right place to come along.

My diet has been alright.  In the last few days, I have been so busy that it has been hard for me to get my snacks in.  This leaves me weak and cranky by dinner time, so I am going to have to come up with some small things that I can carry with me as I am running errands.  I also had a few beers with the hubby this week.  That’s not something that we do very often, but I really really like beer, so it was nice.  So, I have some work to do there, but we are getting better.

So, in the past few weeks that I haven’t been here on the space, things have been interesting.  A lovely snow that kept the kids home from school for 2 days.  Many showings of our house, and now and offer!

Despite all that has been going on, I have been consistent at the gym.  I have had to put an extra rest day in between a few workouts, but I have been pushing it really hard.  

I feel like I am making some nice progress again.  I have been mixing things up each workout and my muscles are really responding nicely.  I am trying to add at least 2 days of cardio in between heavy lifting days, but this has been my challenge lately.  I try to at least do something at home if I can’t make it to the gym, but sometimes that has been hard.  

But, all that to say….I am hitting it hard, and I feel really good.  I am doing well with my diet, and also with drinking enough water.  TTFN!

I think my routine is getting a little stale, and I am ready to switch some things up, but I’m not sure what I am going to do.  I have thought about keeping the same split, but doing a few weeks of lower weight and higher reps.  But, I really like lifting heavy and don’t want to stop.  I have also thought about going to an all body workout.  I don’t know.  More research will have to be done.

I went to the gym with my hubby to give him a spot on a few exercises.  Then while he was finishing up his workout, I did the elliptical.  I don’t generally like this machine, but with my shin splints and all, I thought this would be a better choice.  I still felt the shins, but it wasn’t terrible.  Just knew they were there.  I think I did about 12 minute warm up on the recline bike, went to spot Rob, then did about 22 minutes on the elliptical.  It wasn’t super high intensity, but I got my heartrate up nicely and was sweating good.  

Diet today so far:

Breakfast:  One mug coffee with milk/sugar, one Chick-fil-A chicken biscuit (no butter) with egg. - this is my one cheat food

Post Workout:  Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein Shake mixed in water

Lunch:  3 eggs scrambled with one piece Wassa bread, one mug herbal tea with no sweetener., 1 orange

My husband has been trying to get me to keep a log of what I eat each day to make sure that I am getting the proper nutrition and not getting too many calories.  I think this is a great idea, but it is also a lot of effort.  Partly I feel like it would be unrealistic because I don’t get out measuring cups to measure everything I eat.  That would be a real pain, but I am going to give it a shot.

So far today:

Breakfast:  approx 1 cup shredded wheat w/ 1/2 cup 1%milk, one mug coffee with 1.5tsp. sugar and 2 Tbsp. 1% milk, one cheerio fed to me by my son who wouldn’t take no for an answer

After workout:  Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein Shake mixed in water

Lunch:  1 can tuna w/ mustard and 1 Tbsp. jalepeno bits, 2 pieces Wassa Bread, 8oz Organic Unsweetened Orange/Pineapple Juice, one mug green tea - no sweetener

This is pretty similar to my diet everyday through lunch.  Dinner varies daily since I try to make it interesting for the kids, but I also try to make it healthy and all that.

My workout today was pretty good.  I mixed up my different bench exercises for variety.  It was good, and I was spent by the time I finished.

I have been doing well at getting some nice cardio in on my off days.  However, I am now developing shin splints again.  I know I need to go and get a new pair of shoes, but they are so dang expensive.  I will bite the bullet and do it anyway.

I am determined to have perfect attendance at the gym from now until we take David back to the doctor at the beginning of April.  That may seem like a very short time, but it seems that things keep coming up and I can’t make it to the gym.

My leg workout today was really good.  I kicked it hard.  By the time I finished legs and went to work on shoulders, I was already near throwing up.  I had to take the intensity down a little for shoulders in order to keep my breakfast down….but it was still a really great workout.  

I really love upright rows.  They feel great, and I love the way they make my arms look.  I am getting up to a weight where my grip is failing before my shoulders, so I think I will have to take my hubby’s wrist straps with me on these days.  

I was able to work in some nice cardio yesterday.  I tried to do it in a way that wouldn’t tire my legs out for my workout today.  I think I did a great job.  Tomorrow, I will probably hit the cardio just a little harder since I have chest/triceps on Friday.

Well, I have a headache, so I am going to go and take care of that.

….one step back.

That’s what it always feels like.  

All five of us were sick again last week.  I went to the gym on Monday, and then came home and started running a fever….along with all other members of my family.  Thankfully the fever waited until after we took David in for his eye exam - they won’t do them when he is sick.  This was a doozie of an illness.  Fever, cough, sore throats.  Not the flu, but something similar.  Thankfully, once we hit the bottom, the rise back to normalcy was not too hard.  We all seem to have improved yesterday and today by leaps and bounds.  But it was not a fun week.

I made it back to the gym today.  Back and Biceps.  

I have been somewhat frustrated with my biceps of late.  I have hit this crazy plateau that I can’t seem to get over.  So, today, I increased in Lat Pulldowns, Deadlifts, and Seated Rows.  I try not to increase weight in so many exercises at one time, but that is how it worked out this time.  So, I decided to just go all the way and increase weight in my biceps excercises anyway.  I want to see if forcing more weight will break the plateau somehow.  So, I worked out with the 45lb EZ Curl bar and was actually able to get sets of 8, 6, and 4 respectively.  I was fairly happy with this.  I finished out with hammer curls until I just couldn’t lift anymore.  Maybe that will do something….we’ll have to wait and see.

I want to be as consistent as possible getting to the gym.  It is really hard with the kids and all the things that come up.  It is very likely that after David’s next exam at the end of March/beginning of April that we will have to remove his eye to get rid of the tumors that don’t seem to want to go away.  This will throw a different routine in the mix, but I know that being as strong and healthy as I can be physically will help me to get through all the emotional stuff that will ensue.  All that said, this outcome for David is not unexpected, and in some ways I am ready to do this.  I would hate to delay and have the cancer spread somewhere where it is inoperable.  I think I am as emotionally ready as I can be.  But I do understand that physical health can make coping emotionally much easier…so that is what I am aiming for…..for now.

Legs and Shoulders today was really great!  I increased weight in almost all of my exercises and was still able to crank out a good number of reps.  I usually try to move up in weight in only 1-2 exercises at a time, but sometimes you are just ready, and today, I was ready.  

I have been making some nice progress with my legs, and I am very happy with my intensity lately.  I have been taking my time to really move through my whole range of motion slowly and deliberately.  I feel like I am getting so much better.

I have also added a few exercises to my shoulder workout.  I feel like this has been helpful in reducing the amount of pain that I get in my shoulder.  Sometimes the pain comes from an imbalance of strength in the muscles, and I think that strengthening some of my stabilizing muscles has been really helpful.  I haven’t had nearly as much pain lately as I had been having for awhile.

I am also getting much better with my diet.  I am browsing tons of workout/diet journals to get ideas of things to keep variety in my diet (I am so easily bored by eating the same thing all the time).  I have especially liked XNick EdgeX’s journal.  His tastes in food seem to mirror my own…or at least that is the way he eats.  I have gotten some really great ideas from reading his journals.  Plus, I am shamed into discipline when I read it.  He never cheats - ever.  Intense.

So, that’s that.  I missed a few workouts last week because the baby was sick….again.  I think the chemo must have weakened his immune system.  He’s been getting everything this winter.  But, we’ll get through this too!!

Sometimes I feel like my lifting routine has the hiccups.  This usually happens whenever one of the kids gets sick and I can’t make it to the gym on my normal day.  Then once I can go back again, I tend to speed up my workout days to make sure that I haven’t missed out on too much.  It is really difficult, but maybe this is a nice bit of turbulence that keeps my body guessing.

I missed two gym days this week because the baby was sick with a cold.  I did some things at home, and really killed it, but still I felt bad about not being at the gym.  

I finally made it back today for leg/shoulder day.  It was really good.

Here’s my workout:
Smith Rack Squats - 3sets x 10rep at 80lb
Step ups - 3 sets (on each leg) x 10 reps with 40lbs
Unilateral Leg Curls - 2sets x 12 reps at 35lb **ready to move to 40lbs**
Unilateral Leg Ext. - 2 sets x 12 reps at 50lb **ready to move to 55lbs**
Calf Raises - 3 sets x 12 reps at 180lbs - I am going to try to make it to 15 reps before I move up
Arnold Shoulder Presses - 3 sets.  1st set - 25lbsx 7 reps, 20 lbs x 5reps  2nd set - 25lbs x 6 reps, 20lbs x 4 reps  3rd set - 25lbs x 3 reps, 20lbs x 7 reps
DB Upright Rows - 3 sets x 11 rep at 20lbs
DB Rear Delt Flys - 2 sets x 12 rep at 10lbs

I was very happy with this workout.  I feel like I am ready to move up on some exercises, and I can feel the gains in strength on others.  Also, I didn’t have any pain in my shoulder this week during Shoulder Press like I had last week.  This was encouraging.  So, even though my routine had the hiccups, I still felt good today.

I had my best ever back and biceps workout today.  I have had a little bit of a struggle working out my back.  I tend to use my arms most of all, but I have been learning some things, and trying out several different exercises.

Since I have been having trouble with my shoulder, back day is intimidating.  I have to really concentrate on my form and not using too much weight so that I don’t cause any damage.  I did lat pulldowns on a different cable machine than I usually use.  The angle was really comfortable, and I was able to load on more weight than normal.  I really felt it in my lats, and I didn’t feel any pain at all in my shoulders - just a nice muscle burn!  I was very excited about this.  Deadlifts felt great, and I think I am ready to move up in weight next week.  Rear delts were also strong, as were lumbar extensions.  I hammered my biceps, and did significantly better than I did last week.  I did feel a little pain in my shoulder while doing curls, but nothing too bad.  I have had far worse!

It was a great workout today.  Usually back/biceps day is the worst, so it was nice to kind of sail through it.

I didn’t get on the scales today.  I have decided to cut that out for awhile.  I had been taking my weight before my workouts just to have that to compare myself to each time.  But, I don’t think it is all that helpful, so I’m not going to do it again for awhile.  I need to get my body measurements, but that just never happens….someday when I have time .