THOUGHTS OF A FITNESS FREAK

I have been super busy lately, slacking on the blogs, but working, working, working.  The day job, the kids, packing, writing an article on "getting started", taping video, training, shows, shoots, shot girl……….I’m nuts.  Sometimes I wonder what the Hell I am doing to myself.  BUT it’s better than sitting on my duff watching stupid Tv and moping about being bored. I start the shot girl job tomorrow night and am pretty nervous.  My shyness tends to set in with new surroundings.  I’m not really a drinker, but may need to do a couple shots myself to relax.  I just have to find my groove as I used to be a bartender, so it’ll come back.  Its only 3 hours a on saturday nights……but money is money and I need money!!! 

My last workout I didnt blog was abs.  I took this 24 year old through my abs routine.  No, he couldn’t do some of the weight I do.  Poor baby……..heheeeeee.  So yesterday he tells me it doesnt hurt and today he says he is really hurting!!  haha……..Im sooooooooo happy!  I tortured someone without touching them.  he doesnt do abs, but lets see what happens when he starts to get results.  I took him through my bench crunches, hanging leg raises, kneeling cable crunches, side bends on cables, incline situps and serratus crunches.  If he can laugh today without pain….he is not human.  He’s a great sport though!

Tonight I went in and did some lame shoulders.  I say lame because My shoulders are a little tired feeling and I am not sure why.  maybe I was just tired?  I need a vacation.  I was supposed to get out to CA, but my schedule is really tight right now and I can’t get away.   I’m looking for a few days with no kids, a couple beach visits, a trip to Venice Beach’s Gold Gym, dinner out………grown up stuff, ya know?  No, vacation does not mean totally not working out of course.  Its like breathing………I have to do it.

Oh, and if you noticed I suddenly have bosoms in my photos, I was messing with a photo editor and wanted to see what I would look like with some……….no biggie, I did not get surgery……….I swear.

Talk to ya later

Sorry I haven’t posted.  I have alot going on.  Last night I had to meet with the bar owner of the Pheonix Sports Bar and I am now their shot girl on saturday nights.  I’m a little "bar rusty " though.  Also, they are using one of my photos in the newspaper ads……….heheeee….ok, I’m flattered.  Its only for about 3 hours from 9-12, but that’s ok.  I also got a new stars and stripes bikini for the round card model competition.    Thats in one week and I think it’s going to be well attended.  If I don’t get this slot its going to be a major dissapointment because I am really looking forward to it. 

Anyway, I did abs the other night and had someone who never does abs, shadow me.  Poor kid, hope he is ok.  I’ll write more later.

Back and bi’s, kinda lame tonight.  I had alot of strength, but my daughter was with me and she can be quite distracting because she is 18 and all they do is say, "oh my Gawd, look at that guy".  I don’t wanna look at any guy….I’m busy for cripes sake. Then she kinda mopes around and makes me feel like she wants to leave so I have to rush through everything because after the guys leave, she sits there and kinda sighs like a lost puppy.  I want to smack her sometimes.  THEN I have to listen to her piss and moan about her belly looking HUGE and having no butt………but she is in a gym……….she has all the tools and needs to use them. .stop complaining….brat.

I did some 35lb dumbbell curls, 50 lb barbell, and curls on cables.  Fotr back all I did was seated rows, bent over smith rows, single arm dumbbell rows, lat press downs and pull downs.  Thats probably about it.  Thats so lame…………so not me.  I guess, like I said before, I am happy with most of my size, so Im at a maintenence level anyway.  Tomorrow I am going to do some light legs and abs.  Legs are really going to be light because right now, I am still soooooooo sore from sunday.  Mostly in the glutes and my tie in area.  the "tie-in" area is right below the butt and into your hamstrings where you probably need to work to raise the booty up a little bit.   I kill this are with super deep leg presses and deadlifts.  When you are leg pressing  even with just a couple 45’s on the sled, keep your feet high and wide and when you come down, try putting your hands on this area (screw who night be looking) and feel it stretch fully and contract as you press upwards.  This is one of the best ways to get to know what is working where.  Where the point of contraction is , is important! You have to learn when you are working the front of your legs as opposed to the back of your legs.  Don’t go in there to "work your legs".  You will shortchange your workouts.  I swore my quads were going to kill me, but my tie ins kill me more, so tomorrow I will concentrate on what I missed.

Okay then…..babbling is over.  I had to moderate my comments due to the high amount of spam I have been getting, so if you want to comment and it doesnt show up…thats why.

Im training with a guy from my gym.  He’s 25 and I work with his mom actually.  He has a totally different perspective on workoing out.  I do push/pull and do chest and tris…he will do chest and back on the same day.  So, today we kind of did it my way and now I will have to let down my stubborness and try it his way next time.  This is going to be so hard!Its like I have my mental reasonings why I prefer push pull.  So, we did chest/tris.  One new thing we did (for me) was kneeling pec flies with the low cables.  I liked them and usually do standing crossovers, so tomorrow I should be dying and possibly unable to raise my arms over my head without feeling like Im caught in a mammogram machine.  Oh, yeah I had one of those on Friday, did I mention that?  Frankly, I didnt see the point cus I am thinking if I had a lump I would just think my boob was growing and be happy about it.  Oh, yeah I had hooters once.I got up to a D while breastfeeding as a matter of fact.  I got to find a picture of me when I had my "girls".  Anyway, imagine your pec muscle in one of those vices at the egde of a workbench in your garage.that was ME on Friday.  She goes ,"do you workout alot?" and I was terribly tempted to say, "nah, I just wrastle hogs for a livin’" or something funny…didnt happen……..

I also get a spot now, so numbers are back up.  

we did:

Incline press decline press and flat bench.  I got 145 on my flat bench, but it hurt my back a little, so I didnt go higher.

pec dec/ flies 115  , dumbbell press 35’s, single arm crossovers 70 per arm, kneeling I only did 20 per arm as they are new to me.  For tris we did, pressdowns with the rope, chest/tri dip machine and thats about it.  We did about 4 sets of everything and on the 4th set, dropped down to the starting weight and mass repped.  Aftyerwards we hit the pushups til failure.  I can’t do pushups on the floor because of my wrists, so here is a tip.  One of our smith machines has the ability to drop the bar almost to the floor.  About 4-6 inches from the floor, so i drop it down and do my pushups there.  It really helps and no worry about the wrists at all.  We all did some pull ups.  I had fun, really felt like I pushed the envelope.  My daughter also went with me and hopefully she will actually start loving the gym like I do.  She likes cardio better, but she did a few sets on chest to make me happy.   She is actually stronger than she thinks.

Anyway, happy monday!  Hope it was good for you!

Im not talking about the weather, I’m talking about my personal stuff.  A couple weeks ago I was going through a rough patch with my house, my direction, etc.  So today, my house is sold, but I signed it away right before it did oddly enough and lined up a rental.  Then last week, met a guy at the gym who wants me to be a "shot girl" at his new sports bar and today he tells me he wants to possibly use me in some newspaper ads and stuff to help promote me.  Last but not least, I am very hopeful about the roundcard model competition and my figure show coming up as well. I think perhaps I get bored and always need 10 things going on to keep me motivated.  I have a need to be busy!   I also have some possible clients coming down the pike to train…ok, I am not certified yet, but it’s still there if I want it. Ideally I would love to quit my day job, but thats a long way off.  I want to be doing what I love all day long and the more I put myself out there, the closer it becomes. I guess life is about taking chances…. just have to get the balls to do it.

I totally killed my legs today.here’s my routine

leg extensions,

 seated leg curls and laying leg curls,

leg press on the smith machine

dumbbell romainian deadlifts

glutes on cables, standing and with a bench

adductor and abductor machine

linear hack press

standard leg press

squats on smith

how much weight?  I get asked this as well as how many sets.  I go moderate weight until failure and add weight with each set usually.  Even if its just a couple 10’s, its still more weight. I believe 12 sets of moderate weight is as effective as 4 sets on heavy weight if you are totally hammering yourself.  I get tears in my eyes sometimes at the final rep…I try to push the envelope without causing myself any abnormal physical pain like in my joints…..just the normal burning of course.  There is no way I want to risk blowing out a knee or tearing a hamstring.  That will obviously put you out. I do 3 or 4 sets or more and go back to a machine if I feel like it.  Today my legs were shaking a little and I know tomorrow I will be FEELING it……..or i hope I will anyway.  I hope everyone had a great weekend as well.  Just remember that even if things look bad for you today…tomorrow is coming!!!

I didnt charge the video camera, so I only taped 4 moves, but as you can see, none of these moves are a danger to the back or the neck like traditional crunches and sit ups.  The bench crunches is with a 15 lb dumbbell, incline situps 35 lb plate, serratus crunches 80 per arm and kneeling cables 140.  You can see the mat I am on starting to slide because I am trying to hold onto it with my toes.  I had added this video last night with another song, but apparently the artist had it on their copywrited list on youtube, so I got blocked.  I added Korn, they don’t seem to mind me using their music!  It didnt fit as well as the flyleaf song, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. 

I didnt charge the video camera, so I only taped 4 moves, but as you can see, none of these moves are a danger to the back or the neck like traditional crunches and sit ups.  The bench crunches is with a 15 lb dumbbell, incline situps 35 lb plate, serratus crunches 80 per arm and kneeling cables 140.  You can see the mat I am on starting to slide because I am trying to hold onto it with my toes.  I had added this video last night with another song, but apparently the artist had it on their copywrited list on youtube, so I got blocked.  I added Korn, they don’t seem to mind me using their music!  It didnt fit as well as the flyleaf song, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb5DJEYQBDM[/youtube]

Ok, this is embarrassing, but you have to see the REAL stuff.  I was smooshy, pasty and probably looked older than I do now.  I haven’t had plastic surgery but it is odd how my face even looks different.  Perhaps its a bodyfat issue, a healthier lifestyle or just a better outlook on life that makes us look younger and healthier? Whatever it may be, I encourage you to post many progress pictures and watch how far you have come. When you get discouraged…..post them just like I have.  Remember you were lying on the sofa every night after work, remember how you were covering up at the beach and how you WISHED you looked different and felt better about yourself. Do not quit and 2 years down the road, WISH you had kept going.  There is only one of you, you have only one life……….so live dream and feel good while you still can.

smile……

Fern

I wrote a whole blog about back and bis and the Olympia figure and something happened and it all erased.  Im not doing it again…………sorry………..I hate typing……..Im going to go cry now

THIS IS WHAT I LISTEN TO ON MY MP3 LATELY.  THIS IS ONE BY FIREFLIGHT CALLED UNBREAKABLE AND ITS ACTUALLY A CHRISTIAN BAND.  DONT UNDERESTIMATE CHRISTIAN MUSIC BECAUSE THIS STUFF IS SERIOUSLY JAMMIN!  ALOT OF IT IS ABOUT STAYING STRONG REALLY…….CHECK IT OUT

as you can tell, non training day.  I’m really sore for some reason anyway, so back and bis was out and honestly, I ATE too much to do abs.  My calves are still sore as well, so I figured I would get in a nap and catch up on some stuff. 

Remember, if you are in the CT area…come watch the US fightleague round card girl competition at the Radisson Hotel in New London.  The winners get a modeling contract for a year, carry cards in MMA fights and boxing matches and appear at promotional events. They are a family oriented league, so its all good, clean fun!  Wish me luck!!!