beautifullyambitious’s BodyBl

Well folks, its Saturday.. which for most of you means a day of rest.. For me its a day off from training but also the day I map it out for the week.

First, let me clarify when I say a day off from training, this means no pumping iron, no HIIT cardio but it also means active rest, which means my friends, I am still doing yoga or talking my dog on a very long walk. A lot of people I encounter in day to day life are truly unaware of what "active rest" is and its importance in any bodybuilders life. A lot of people have argued with the idea of active rest claiming then a person is not taking a day off. I disagree with them. If a bodybuilder takes a day off from intense training and does no form of light exercise yes, the healing process of the muscles start but it also makes them stiff. The lactic acid buildup in the muscles is far greater then it would be if one just did some yoga or some walking on their rest day.

Planning=success! Saturday is the day I figure out my training schedule for the week, what days I do what and what times of day I have open for my training. Today is the day I grill extra chicken, measure out portion sizes and make everything as easy as possible for meals. It is a lot harder to give up and give in to eating out or eating junk when you have an already prepped meal waiting for you.

So, my bodyspace friends.. use your rest day well!

Well, a very dear trainer friend of mine shared with me some workouts he received via email the other day.. SUPER AWESOME! One of them is a 300 workout.. it includes gator breaths, turkish getups (go to youtube if you are wondering what these are) another is crazy 8s.. it includes a group of exercises you do 8 reps/ a total of 8 sets.. madness!!!

On the one hand I am so stoked to break into this intensity.. on the other lies fear… excitement outweighs the fear so its on beginning next week!!!!!

The past week has been pretty stress filled! I have been working overtime with finishing up major school projects, just picked up a contract marketing job that I start today (projects more or less but good $$$) and just got my promotion with my current marketing company… All amazing things that I feel pretty blessed to have. In addition my daughter (2nd grade) has had some major projects this week and we go on vacation on the 21st (thank god!). Regardless of good or bad stress it is there this week and last week. The past 2 nights I have tossed and turned with very little actual sleep and I am watching all of this affect my workouts.. literally I get there and all momentum leaves me.. all the creativity I had with my workouts even just two weeks ago.. just not there.. its carrying over to eating to bc although I am not eating junk by any means absolutelynothing sounds good and its next to impossible to get me inspired to think about dinner..

Where I am at.. where I wanna be. I know the school projects will end.. pretty much after tomorrow. The work I will settle into.. but I could use some standby help (this is the time I wish I had a workout parter!) fast full momentum workouts.. easy dinner ideas anyone?

I have decided I REALLY  want to attend the Arnold Classic in March 2010! As it looks right now I am I will be flying solo since my friends just are not into this lifestyle.. Just wondering if anyone out there is planning on attending next year????

Although I am just not ready to discuss who or what hurt me so deeply yesterday I am read to write here.. Deff hurting.. wanting to do anything for distraction, or to kill it. (binge drink anyone?) BUT not this time. I am going to use all of this in my workouts…today I lifted chest and back and blew it out of the water.. jumped weights by a 10lb increase.. benched 60 without a spotter today (for me thats pretty good)…

It just goes to show you never ever give it up. Don’t give in and let any situation take your sucess!!!

In 2002 when I wanted to loose weight, I did a lot of things wrong but one thing I figured out was that cutting out refined carbs and grains made my body drop excess weight the fastest. After being re-inspired by a fellow bodyspace member I have decided that while I am incredibly impressed at how my body performs and I am in damn great shape I want just a little better (its that damn perfectionist in me).

For 2 days going on 3 all of my carbohydrate sources have come from fruits or veggies.. I am lean proteins and healthy fats such as avocados, raw almonds and natural peanut butter (in the right portions of course). I am also guzzling water like I haven’t drank in days and avoiding salty foods.

My plan is to stay on the no refined carbs m-f for another 2 weeks or sooner depending upon how fast I can get the look I desire (my body responds well and very fast when I cut out carbs)… the weekends: Sat I will allow myself grains at each meal in the right portion sizes of course and on Sun I will allow it in 3 of my 6 meals as well as make one of those meals my "cheat" meal.

This is going to take a whole lot of determination and willpower since I don’t have anyone who surrounds me who lives or understands this lifestyle.. wish me luck..here we go!!!!

For the past 6 weeks I have pushed and pushed and pushed myself.. much to my surprise  I did not give up and did not keep up.. I even made it past and injury and some junk food. My workouts have gone from standard to out of the box with each one improving my endurance, balance, strength and so on.. I am pretty impressed..

I have decided to take this to another level and while the rest of America is gaining their winter weight I will be tightening it all up even more. Have a photo shoot this Thursday and another in 4 weeks.. I’ll post pics in a month to see the difference..

Keep on training and break though the traditional!

So, I could go right on to blame the junk eating on my dad being in town and it being his bday or that i am depressed therefore I eat but who the heck knows the true logic between it!!! it seems every time i get hurt and cant train i just eat whatever in whatever amounts.. ridiculous!!

So, I have been kicking it up with 45 min cardio a day right now, and the other day I woke up to my left thigh completely swollen.. hurts to put pressure on or to touch.. I talked to a doc friend.. and have been given instructions to rest and ice it.. The swelling is down now, still hurts a bit but I just dont do rest very well my friends!!!!! I am dying to get back in there and train and fighting the urge to eat the junk around me.. some moral support please?!?!

Today I am 8 days until my b-day (goal day) but this past week has been super stressful and quite time constrained.. I am literally getting off work at 1 am.. up at 6:30 and at class by 8 am.. lame lame lame.. get out of class and do it all again.. I have napped 2 out of the 5 days this week but its really cutting into my time to meal plan and train.. I think I am going to have to get creative.. I have some time this morning and I am going to finally make it to the grocery store (this was tuesdays desire hahaha) and do some meal prep.. today I can get in about an hour and a half of training so I am going for full body circuit (plyo, bodyweight (pushups ect)) followed by some cardio.. I am noticing cardio helps me study better anyway so I might as well do it right?

This week I am cranking down the calories and cranking up the workout intensity..
There is the update… stay tuned!