2007 Transformation Contest

Just thought I would inform all of my decision to take off from the gym until next Monday. That will be atotal of two weeks. I sat and thought about it the other day. I’ve been on this crazy weight-loss journey for almost the last year. It’s hard mentally to stay focused or even more inportant, motivated, after such a long time of denying myself the greasy and fried foods of this world. I figure this shouldn’t do too much damage to my little progress in the long term; especially since I will be on the beach very Soon. I gotta get (atleast get close to) those ab’s working for me. Anywhoo, hope you guys are having a great time out there eating. You don’t realize how good something is until you haven’t had it in three months.

I have a few admirable persons who deserve to be recognized.

1) The most obvious is my Almighty GOD- I would not have been able to come as far as I have if it were not for my strong spiritual foundation. I look to HIM for strength when I feel like I can’t go any further. When I feel like I want to give up on myself and say forget it, I Pray! Thank you Lord for being my mother, my father, my confidant, my patience, my understanding, and my strength.–Amen

2) To the contestants- You all are a big bowl of laughs. You kept me entertained as well as educated during this comp. And as I’ve stated before, I will continue to look to you for the same. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to share this experience with you all. I will never forget you.

3) To my shipmates, who consistently tried to convince me of how hard it is to get fit Underway-You all were and are still a big part of my motivation to get fit and prove you wrong. To prove to you that no matter how many obstacles that are thrown your way, it is possible if you if you really want it. Talking ain’t go get it! You got to be the one to go for it, to sacrifice for it, and to put in the work for it. Cause if it weren’t worth having, it wouldn’t be so Damn hard to get.

4) To my family members-(you know who you are) who actually kept up with the contest and showed a keen interest in the things that I’m interested in, thank you for broadening your horizon and even following in my footsteps of health and fitness. My case may not be as extreme as Nit’s–But thank you for understanding and blessing my goals and aspirations no matter how much of an improbable career it may be. You have been and continue to be my backbone. I am blessed to have you in my life.

5) To all the supporters of this contest- the BB.com community, readers and commentators of our blogs, the Sponsors, and everyone else who shared their support for what were doing here, Thank you! You more than anyone else has made this possible.

6) BB.com- I have commented numerous times on how I appreciate BB.com and all of it’s subsidiary sites for providing such a wonderful place for people who share the same interests, love, passions, and/or calling a playground to grow and learn. The very day I discovered this site, my whole life changed. Thank you! I can’t say that enough…Thank you!

I have finally had the chance to take these long anticipated pictures.-LOL- I have to once again express how difficult it is to find someone to take these pictures for me. It is a challenge that I am happy to be done with. I am however sad to end this journey and sort of scared to start the next one. You get comfortable doing something one way for so long and to be doing anything different will be very weird right at first; especially since it has been the highlight of my days for the past three months. When I’m not on Bodyspace, I’m thinking about being on Bodyspace.- LOL-I know this sounds pathetic, but it’s the closest thing I got to the real world. Anyhow, my study materials for my ACE exam should be arriving in the mail any day now, so I guess that’ll be my next obsession.

Enough of my sad stories…. My last weigh in, which was a few days ago, I weighed in at 152lbs. and measured in at 21% BF. That’s all of 11-12lbs. down and 4% BF down from where I began. I honestly think I put on some muscle weight, but because the Navy’s method of finding body fat is so off and the only thing I have to go off of….ehh…I’m going to keep up my self made diet and training split until we get back so that I can attempt to get as close to my goal of 15% BF as possible. When we do hit San Dog, I plan on consulting with my very own nutritionist and PT to begin contest prep myself. I’m only interested in something local, very local, to get my foot in the door.

Here are my pictures!

I didn’t have the energy to do the 5 mile jog yesterday, so I stuck with some Interval training and the StairMaster. I workout on the treadmill for a total of 40 min; 1:30 min./0.0 Incline/6.5 MPH for exercise time and 2:30 min./3.5 Incline/ 3.5 MPH for recovery for a total of 10 Intervals. I did the StairMaster for an added 20 min. on Level 6. I was pooped!!! One of my shipmates was trying to talk to me during my last 3 min. on the StairMaster. It was totally weird cause I could hear her but I couldn’t understand anything she was saying. She could have easily been speaking Chinese. That’s just how tired I was. LOL Tomorrow, Tomorrow! I love ya. Tomorrow! It’s not like anything changes for me after this is over. I must admit though, that it has been sort of nerve racking. It’s not like we’re famous or something, but to put yourself out there for public scrutiny…it’s gonna fell good to just relax and not feel like I’m being watched all the time. Til’ then…

My stregnth has decreased drastically. Lifts that were once unthinkable to workout with cause they were too light is what I was working with last night. My shoulder throbbing from so much pain was not helping my workout either. And of course, I tried to keep the intensity up but it was really almost none existant from me stopping and rubbing my shoulder in hopes of completing the next set. I may be moving shoulders from Chest/Tri to Back/Bi day. The stress it all is really too much to handle.

Warm Up
Elliptical Machine–10 min.

—————

Incline DB Flyes
1 set 10lbs. DB’s for 20 reps

4 set 15lbs. DB’s for 15 reps
—————

Cable Cross Overs
4 sets #2(lbs.) for 15 reps

—————

Low Pulley Lateral Raises
3 sets #1(lbs.) for 10 reps

—————

Rope Pulldowns
1 set #3 for 15 reps
1 set #4 for 15 reps
1 set #3 for 15 reps
1 set #2 for 25 reps

*Supersetted* w/

Overhead Extensions
1 set #3 for 15 reps
1 set #4 for 15 reps
1 set #3 for 15 reps
1 set #2 for 25 reps

—————–
Stationary Bike
30 min.

I know some of the reps look a kinda crazy, but most of them were forced. My stregnth was just not there but at the same time I still wanted to get that burn. I’ll feel like I’m wasting my time if I don’t get that burn. Anywhooo, my shoulder is killing me today. It’s cardio and ab’s, so I should be fine by my Back and Biceps day Friday night! Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend. Enjoy the sun for me. GOD Bless!

Here are a couple of fun pictures that one of my shipmates took of me during the Weightlifting Contest. You can see all of the the spectators in the background. I was crazy nervous that I would be embarrassed and not be able to put it up, but how wrong I was…

I look a little crazy in this one. Had to take a deep breath and prepare myself for the task at hand.

In this one I realized it’s true weight and knew I could do it.

….And there she goes!

One thing I really thought about today was the fact that when I become a personal trainer, my clients are gonna want to know various exercises to target those hard to reach places. Because of this I really need to start doing my research so that I can give my honest opinion based off of my own experiences AND what I’ve been taught. So today, I decided to pop on my knee braces and give those lunges another try. I try various movements of my arms, various ways to go down into the lunge and come up from it, how long my legs could truly withstand making the movement, and how deep of a lunge to go into work the different parts of the thigh. Needless to say, I had a great workout. From now on, if there’s a way for me to work a body part more efficient thru movements other than machines, that’s what I’m gonna do. I’ve found that I rely on machines for far too much of my workouts.

Warm-up on Stationary Bike
10 min.
——————-
Lunges on Step (Thingy) (Focusing on the Hams and Glutes)
5 min. (Straight)

25 BW Squats

Lunges on Step (Thingy…LOL)
5 min.

25 BW Squats
——————-
Leg Press(Focus on the Quads)
1 set for 15 reps w/90lbs.
1 set for 15 reps w/70lbs.
1 set for 20 reps w/50lbs.
1 set for 20 reps w/40lbs.

*Supersetted* w/

Seated Calf Raises
4 sets for 20 reps w/35lbs.
——————–
Adductor
3 sets for 20 reps w/#4(lbs.)

*Supersetted* w/

Abductor
3 sets for 20 reps w/#5(lbs.)
——————–
25 min. on Elliptical

Today, onboard we held the Captain’s Cup Weightlifting Competition. We had one before sometime last month, or maybe the month before. I honestly didn’t want to participate because I, of course wanted to hold up my repuation. I can’t go down there and allow myself to be blown out of the water by one of these chicks who don’t even know what the inside of the gym looks like.LOL Anyway, I totally surprised myself. Even though I came in second, I put up 135lbs. with ease. I lost to this CWO2 onboard is a weightlifting competitor. She put up 175lbs. She’s competed all over San Dog. Because of her past record I didn’t feel too bad about the whole second place thing. During the competiton each participant got three attempts. My first I put up 95lbs. just to see what it felt like. Of course it was too light. The 135lbs. was my second attempt. On my third attempt I tried for 145lbs. I got it half way up and couldn’t go any further. It felt as if someone was pushing the weight down. I just shoke my head for the spooters to lift it the rest of the way before I pulled something. All in all I was proud of myself.

BTW, before the competition everyone had to weigh in. I weighed in at 154lbs. That’s down 2lbs. from last week. Wish me luck on the other 14lbs.! If I stay on course, I’ll meet my goal right before we’re due back home. I can’t wait! It’ll be summer and I for the first time in my life want to be comfortable wearing shorts outside of my home.

On yesterday, my all cardio and ab day, the intensity was crazy. During my ab workout, I decided to workout amongst everyone else instead of in the little room normally used for ab work and stretching. Because of my reputation of being this "FitQueen" onboard, I had to make it look easy. I was moving like a mad woman. I went from Leg lifts, to Obliques on the hyper, to Reverse crunches, weighted crunches, amongst other things for the entire 30 min. Usually, I’ll take a few breathers here and there cause the tightness in my ab’s gets to be unbearable, but not last night. I just kept thinking, don’t break. It’ll make you look weak! LOL. Anyhooo, afterwards I did Interval training on the treadmill. –0.0 Incline/ 6.5 MPH for 1 min. and 4.5 Incline/ 4.5 MPH for 2 1/2 mins. for 6 Intervals. Then on to the StairMaster for 30 mins. I must admit that I don’t look forward to Cardio days, but I love the effects of it.