Melinda F’s BodyBlog

Today was a really hard leg workout for me, my legs were shaking as I left the gym, had it not been for the sake of some dignity I’d have crawled out. I started with 2 warm up sets of front squats 25kgs, moved unto barbell squats of 4 sets of 40kgs, tried to go as deep as possible, man that was tough. Moved unto hack squats and did 1 set of 30 reps at 40 kgs, 2 sets of 15 reps with 50 kg, 1 set of 12 with 60kgs and 1 set of 15 with 40kgs. Moved to walking lunges with 11kgs in each hand, 3 sets of 25 reps.Leg pressed really light as at this stage I could barely walk, did 3 wide deep sets at 15 reps, 80kgs, finished with leg curls, 2 sets of 12 at 15kgs and 2 sets of 20kgs, 10 reps and 7 reps to absolute utter failure, I was seing stars at this stage and felt like I would puke at any stage, tried to walk out the gym gracefully, got home and ate, ate ,ate, ate!

I think maybe some cardio will loosen up my legs, will try for a light run tomorrow. I think I have finally found my secretary, interviewed a lovely lady today and I think that I will give her the job, oh I’m so glad, this makes it easier for  her to take care of small stuff whilst I have some time to work out in the morning.

So I got a question regarding how I feel about losing breast size as I increase my muscle, and I have to tell you that I am absolutely proud of my strength gains, Like I said to him, I breast fed two beautiful children for 2 years each and weight training allowed me to stay perky and firm and retain beautiful shape, I dont have the same 36b that I was, but to me there are loads of other parts on my body to make me feel sexy, femine and beautiful, I actually love the look of an athletic body and truly treasure what this body can do for me.

 I also love kicking ass in the gym and ladies dont be concerned, I still have an enormous amount of guys hitting on me even though my breast size is considerably smaller (not being vain). So remember that being sexy and beautiful is an internal mental thing and has little to do with over exposure or big boobs, but if you’re one of those that have them, enjoy and celebrate the body you have, we only have one, love it enough to do the very best for it.

If you want to have some silicone in, go for it, its your body, and your life and nobody should judge you. I am just one of those that are happy without any extra size in my breats that is, for now. I would however like enormous size in my bi’s tri’s and quads, lats, delts……..oh the list goes on!

If there is one part of my body I can definately see definition, it would have to be my chest, as I build more solidly I seem to be losing my breast size, I have come down three sizes since the beginning of last year, I guess much of my fat stores reside there!

So I started with 3 sets of barbell chest press, 17kgs, 20kgs,20kgs (10 reps), actually I did 20 pushups first. I move to incline barbell press and did 3 sets of 14kgs, 17kgs,17kgs 10 reps, moved unto 3 sets of decline dumbell press and did 10 reps each with 10kgs in each hand. Finished with 3 sets of flyes, 10 reps, 8kgs, 9kgs and 10kgs.

I was pretty much shaking after that and needed to refuel asap. I hope I’m making progress, its so hard to tell with ones own body, I guess when I take the progress pics this weekend, I’ll be able to tell! I know I havent lost body fat, but I hope to atleast have gained some muscle.

"Imagination is everything, it is the preview of lifes coming attractions."

I use visualisation quite a lot in business and this year I started using it with my body, I try to look at my body and see all the muscle already there, I even imagine what it feels like to touch all the ripples of muscle, I use visualisation with my bank account too!

After church this morning was able to go the gym to catch up on some ab and calves. Did cable crunches and rope crunches, weighted crunches on ball, and woodchoppers. Did seated calf raises, standing and on the leg press.

At this stage I havent really been doing much cardio at all, I’m not sure if this is going to take me further away from achieving a lean muscular look. I really upped my carb intake in the hope of attaining better muscle mass, I’ve obviously kept the protein intake high.

My abs dont feel as tight as when I’m limiting carbs to before and after workouts, for me I find its such a fine line this carb thing, I know I need them but I’m not sure if I should be eating throughout the day. I still try not to eat it at my last meal.

When I read interviews with fitness people, they hardly ever consume enough carbs in my opinion, alot have just oatmeal and then veggies with protein. How do they grow such fantastic muscles?

I didnt really want to do another body fat test as I really wanted to concentrate on adding mass and not worry about bf right now. Last time I did it, 1 year ago, it was 14%. So I may be rambling on about nothing. A year ago I based alot of my diet on the oxygen fitness ladies eating plans, but now I feel like I need more carbs than just one serving or even 2. I want mass but I want to stay lean. I dont really bother about the scale as I’m always showing different numbers, I go by how my clothes fit.

I want to grow faster, I thought that the creatine would speed things up but perhaps that seems to help more with my recovery and strength gains, I find that husband is able to make much faster gains than me(testosterone, I know), I really want more defined quads and bigger biceps with definition, so my quest for muscle continues……….

"Whether you think you can or think you cant, either way you are right."Have a splendid week ahead! 

I tried my lifting straps today for the first time and I was able to go up 5kgs in my deadlift, I did 2 sets of 13 reps with 50kgs and 1 set of 10 reps with 55kgs! I didnt feel like I was losing the grip and I handled the weight perfectly, I know for sure that I’ll go up in weight on my next back day, I did feel that I could go for more reps but I tried to keep my form perfect with the tension in my hamstrings and back, I wish I had always used the straps, try it if you havent as yet. I also used it with my lat pulldowns, 2 sets of 25kgs and 1 set of 30kgs, then dropped to 20kgs for 10 reps, immediately to 25kgs for 10 reps and 30kgs for 5 reps, wow that burned! I then moved unto lat rows and did 3 sets with 16kgs in each hand, 10 reps each, finished with 3 sets of back extensions 2 with a 5kg plate.

I would have done more today but my hubby hurt his neck when doing the deadlifts, I’m not so sure his form is the greatest, but I think he doesnt always appreciate me criticizing him when he is doing his best. I have to say this very non sexist remark, men put too much emphasis on increasing weights without always evaluating form. I truly believe that form grows you along with increasing weights as you go along. But he does get pains in the shoulder, neck, chest and back area quite often, almost like spasms as he keeps describing it. I realise that when he increases his weights, he gets more motivated and he is growing constantly so maybe I’m too critical or I place a bit too much emphasis on form. I also wish that he would listen and take the glutamine and bcaa’s, he only ever takes glutamine when he has an injury or pain. 

Maybe he’ll listen if a guy tells him, the fact is that I lift more than most men at my gym, ok maybe some men! I completely forgot to do pull ups today, i really need to focus on building my strength there.

"What you are thinking now is creating your future life. You create your life with your thoughts. Because you are always thinking, you are always creating. What you think about the most, is what will appear as your life."

So think all great things, have no fear, think abundance in money, muscles, happiness and the good life, have a lovely day!

I did my shoulders today, started with 3 sets of military press, 12kgs, 15kgs, 15kgs supersetted with lunges. Side lateral raises with 5kgs,  4 sets supersetted with step ups. Bent over lateral raises, 3 sets, 5kgs each supersetted with step ups. Front raises with 5kgs each supersetted with plie squats. Upright rows, 3 sets of 20kgs, did 3 sets of calves 40kgs. I used to use alot more weight with side laterals but I came to realise my form wasnt so great, so now I go slow, no jerking. I am working on upping the weight though.

So the supersets are really making me sweat, feels great. I’m really enjoying eating more carbs, I hope this is not to my detriment but I would really like more size and I hope that this is the right way to go. I do feel stronger and am recovering better. I am keeping my protein intake high as well.

Yesterday I tried freezing my bsn choclate dessert shake and it was marvelous, just like ice cream, even my kids were begging for some!

I made this fantastic dish yesterday.I made a cup of organic brown rice, chopped up an onion and fried in 1 tsp of olive oil, added sweet basil and added about 6 chopped chicken breasts, sauted that and added 4 chopped chillies and 1 cup of cooked brown lentils and 2 chopped rosa tamatoes, herb salt to taste and added brown rice when chicken was cooked, since I made so much I have quite a few meals left for my weekend. Preparation equals success! Yum!

I started my day with a wonderful morning 4km run, fueled up and went to gym to train biceps, did 3 sets of 12 reps barbell curls (15kgs, 2 x 25kgs), during rest periods did 12 reps of deadlifts with the same bar. Then moved unto 3 sets of dumbell curls, 10kgs each(10reps) supersetted with plyo jumps over bench (20). Did 3 sets of preacher curls 10 reps, 12kgs, 17kgs X 2, supersetted with pop squats and lunges. Did 3 sets of cable curls, supsetted with cable kickbacks, sweating like crazy, totally lovin each minute.

Whey, bcaa’s, glutamine, p & b sandwich with fruit spread. I normally take lots of rest during my sets for biceps but found that I could still handle the same weight whilst keeping my heart rate up by doing other body part exercises inbetween. Anyway change is always a good thing.

So my thoughts for today are to truly try to think positive thoughts throughout the day, dont say negative stuff about yourself so that people can correct you and say the opposite. You are what you say you are, so confess great things. Believe that you already are what you want to be, I try to practice this everyday, I never allow myself to internally tell myself that I’m not good at something or that I look silly in something, I try to always think the best and be my best. 

I’m going a little crazy at the moment, I dont have a secretary as mine has decided to stay home as she is pregnant, I did appoint someone but she turned out to be not the most efficient and decided to start not pitching for work so I’m handling real nonsense at the moment and cant get to do my work. I have ads running and hope to find someone spectacular. As a result of this I couldnt make my bicep workout today, crap, crap, crap. I hate missing workouts, I am quite spoilt in having my secretary sort out my morning and I go the gym and then to the office.

I also feel like I over ate today, clean foods but just more than I needed, stress eating. I need the endorphin rush from my weight training please……….

I did my legs today, feels great to start the week working them really hard. Started with front squats 2 sets of 20KGS (12 reps) each. Moved onto 3 sets of barbell back squats 40kgs, 4 sets of 12 reps each. Did three sets of leg press 120kgs (12 reps) Did leg extensions 3 sets of 20kgs, 10 reps each, moved onto walking lunges 4 sets with 11kgs in each hand. Did three sets of sissy squats today, not the easiest exercise but I hear its really effective fot the glutes (no weights) 3 set of step ups 14kgs(20 reps) finished with hamstring curls 15kgs (12 reps each). Got home,  had my whey, bcaa’s, glutamine and a peanut butter and banana sandwich on wholewheat. Wow I also tried my BSN choclate dessert and it was like drinking a milkshake, really yummy!

I wish I had more time to work other body parts like abs and calves, I find that after a workout, I’m so exhausted and I need to get to the office, so I leave out those parts. I did go back on Sunday and do calves and abs but I cant always do this as I feel like I’m stealing family time.

Ciao for now……

I love working my back, I did 3 sets of pullups, 5 the first try, 3 the second and two the last, I’m really trying to improve here, I think I dont do them often enough. Did 3 sets of deadlifts, 45kgs, 45kgs, 50kgs. Bought myself lifting straps today as the barbell was slipping from my grip, I’m really proud to be lifting the 50kgs as I weigh 49 kgs! Progressed to 3 sets of lat pulldowns supersetted with cable rows, I dont like cable rows at all but do them for the benefits. Also did 3 sets of T bar rows with 20kgs, (10 reps), moved to dumbell rows, 16kgs each for 10 reps. Then finished with 2 sets of 15 back extensions with 5kg plate, after that my back was a numb as it could possibly get and I waddled my way out the gym.

 Also bought myself a new protein, syntha 6 BSN, cant wait to try it. I’d like to go back this evening to do my calves and abs but we’ll have to see if it impedes on family time. I also increased my dose of superpump 250 today to slightly over 1/2 a serving and I handled it fine, so I guess my body is adapting. I have increased my carbs considerably and am hoping to see good changes in the next two weeks.

I’m glad I took the progress photos and I’m a bit scared. I was procrastinating for a few months regarding the photos, I guess I really didnt want to see that I huge amounts of work ahead of me, but now that they’re up there in full view of everyone, the pressure is on to make sure those pictures are different when I follow up, different in a positive sense tho. I’ll be dissappointed if I dont see much change as I have been working pretty hard, needed to up my calories which I’ve done. Those photos kinda make you accountable to yourself, which is a great thing cause I dont want to be one of the thousands I see at gyms for years and years but never really change their physique.

 If you’re one those feeling very intimated by taking those photos, just do it, it may make you feel better or worse but the point is, that from there on your accountable and you also got the ‘full picture’if you know what I mean. So dont be scared, fear and success do not live in the same house, so send it packing!

Fact is I thought that I was a lot trimmer on abs and a lot bigger on my top half, the photos told me that my abs need lots of work strengthening up and my top half needs a lot more size and my legs need leaning out and muscle, so this may seem critical or vain but we all have things that we aspire to and these are mine. I am still very grateful to be a healthy women.