The workings of a bipolar mind.

Last night I started warming up for legs without my training partner. I wanted to get some lunges in since I knew I couldn’t do squats. My partner worked for an airline and he did something to his ankle last year jumping out of the plane. He’s been out on disability since last year so he can’t really do anything that will put pressure on his ankle. He got there just as I was done warming up. So I tell him I was getting ready to do walking lunges. He says ok, than he goes no let’s go here and do these first. I must have had a nasty look on my face cause he said, we’ll do lunges after. Ok, that’s cool. So we did supersets for hamstrings. Standing machine for 10 reps and than lying leg curls for 20 reps. He says go light so you can do 20 reps. Now my hamstrings are really weak compared to my quads. So I put it on 20lbs for lying. Curled my legs up and the bar went flying up and smacked me right in the a$$. Opps, too light. So I put it at 50 and it was comfortable. Didn’t feel any pressure on my back. Than we hit quads and calves. While we were doing calves he says ok lets do shoulders next. **GGGGRRRRRR** Where are my F~n lunges!! So he went to the restroom and while he was in there I got in a set of lunges. When he was working on his set of shoulders I was doing lunges. Tomorrow I’ll be training at my old gym with my girlfriend…..thank goodness. She’s like me, love to do more than 3 freakin exercises. So I’ll make up for what I missed this week. I am definately more of a leader than I am a follower so having someone "train" me is really hard. He’s going to change his days that he works out so I won’t have to train with him for much longer. Maybe a couple of days a week. **sigh of relief** He’s a great guy, he’s been training for a long time…..which I think is why his way of thinking is old school. Women with light weights. I’ve been doing my cardio before weights lately because I’m waiting for him to show up, but it drains me. So I’ve decided that I’m just going to go in a little later when I train with him and still do cardio after. This may sound stupid but I’ll be going to my old gym after for the cardio. They have a stair mill where this gym doesn’t. It’s only down the street and next door to my apartments so it’s not like I’m going out of my way.

 So I bought my soy protein last night to add to my regular protein. No fat or carbs in this one. And I really need the extra protein. But it has the same effect on me as tofu…….peeeeuuuuuuu! Even my dog looks at me with teary eyes. (I think it probably burns) Adding to my diet yesterday helped to bring my calories up to 1400 (instead of 1000), my carbs were at 100, and my protein at 150. Much better. I’ve built up some good muscles and I really don’t want to loose it all.

When I got home last night I checked my email and I had an email from a rep from Controlled Labs (love their stuff). They want me to test and blog about their new product REDuction! I was soo excited. This will help me with losing weight. I really do love their products. They’ve worked great for me. So I was so excited last night I could hardly sleep. I can’t weight…get it wait…weight…..uh, yeah. This is what lack of sleep does to me.

I was in a mood last night. Got to the gym and was feeling ok. My training partner was late. He didn’t get to the gym til 6:30. I got there at 5:30. Usually he’s there by 6 but he had a flat tire so it wasn’t really his fault. But I hate waiting for people. So 45 minutes of cardio later I was a little miffed. I went to do some abs but wasn’t really able to do much because of my back. Finally he shows up and here’s what we did:

 Chest ~ Supersets

Incline, Decline, Flat Bench ~ 3 sets (10xbar; 20×20bb)

Butterflys ~ 3 ~ 10×30

Triceps ~ Supersets

Decline bench ~ 3 sets(10×20bb french curls; 10×10db skull crushers)

Tricep machine ~ 20×30 ~ 20×30; 20×40

I was dead tired and my mind was preoccupied. That and when I picked up a weight he’d say, get something lighter. That was really frustrating to me. I want to tone up for the summer but I think that’s why I never hired a personal trainer. I don’t like being told what to do when I don’t want to do it. I don’t know if it was the diet and I didn’t have enough to eat or that I wasn’t using my Purple Wraath but my focus was not on my workout and all I wanted to do was go home. I really think all that cardio before my weight training is what zapped me. So todays diet will consist of a little more real food than yesterday to see if that’ll help.

I started talking to him about how much protein I should be taking. I was under the impression that more protein is better. About 1-2 grams per pound? Yesterday I only got in about 98 and 108 in carbs (too high). He said I shouldn’t be taking more than 75 grams of protein a day. ??? So last night my mind was spinning and I’m thinking his goals for me are different than my goals for me. You hear about the trainers that think woman should go light weights and high reps. And he’s like that. But I have to remember that we’re trying to cut and tone up for the summer. But still, isn’t that a little low for protein. Next time I’m going to try the Lean Dessert Protein. It has less carbs than the Syntha-6. But I like the fact that the Syntha has BCAA’s in it since I’m not taking the Purple Wraath.

My friend the personal trainer/minister is joining my gym today! So I’ll have a training partner again. I’m excited. He wants me to go high reps to tone up for the summer. If I don’t have someone pushing me to go light, I won’t. I’m all about as heavy as I can. Now this also means another $20 gift certificate for me, so last week I got the Syntha-6 (chocolate) which I love!!! So yummy, but I read to mix regular protein with soy protein and it’ll help reduce your waist size. (I believe it was in Oxygen Mag) So I think I’ll give it a shot. I need to add more protein into my diet. I’ve cleaned it up alot but I’m still not getting enough protein. I may need to do 2 scoops instead of 1.

I’ve been keeping track of everything in fitday. Feel free to take a peek and tell me what you think I should change. I’ve lost 2lbs this weekend and I think I’ll keep this diet until I plateau.

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=bull%2Edogz

 Almost forgot. I went to the doctor today for my back and he referred me to Physical Therapy, so I go Thursday for my evaluation. I can’t wait. My back still bothers me. Ok, I have a confession. Although I originally strained my low back with the hack squat machine and sumo’s, everytime it gets better I re-injure it with "domestic cardio". **blushing** I know, but what’s a gal to do? Cry out stop in mid…….no way!  Those are the moments when pain is good. **giggle**

The new gym gave me a $20 gift certificate for referring someone to that gym. So I picked up a bottle of Syntha-6 for $15. Not bad huh! I need to get back into drinking my protein shakes. I’m just getting way too chunky. I’m trying to convince the owner into buying a stairmill and Controlled Labs products. They actually have really good prices. I mean it comes out to the same if I were to order from bb.com. Anyways, this is my first BSN product. Anyone ever drink this stuff? How’d it work for you?

 Today will be the first day of my real diet. Of all days to start it on…Friday. It’s doughnut day at work too. Everyone keeps walking by me with one. So mean! I’m going back to my low carb eating. It just seems to work better for me. I’m going to try brown rice again. I tried it before but it didn’t taste good at all. Any good ways to make brown rice?

Squats and sldl, great for the glutes and legs, but so bad for the back. Yep, folks, my back is hurtin again. But not as much as my legs are. I can barely walk (hehe). Walking lunges are ok and leg curls seem to be ok. I trained with my friend the pt last night and he gave me the look over. He says I’m crooked. That my back or neck needs to be adjusted. So of course insecurities take over and all I can see when I look in the mirror is Quasimodo. EEEKKKKK!!!!! So I’m making an appointment with the doc today to have them take a looksie and hopefully refer me to a chiro. I can’t touch my toes anymore. When I try to do a straddle stretch, I’m completely upright. I can’t go forward one bit. Pathetic! He also thinks I need to ease up on the weights. No more heavy but high reps for more definition. I want definition but I love lifting as heavy as I can too. Why can’t I have both?

Formerly known as Secretary’s Day. So far I’ve received 2 bottles of tequilla, 2 bouquets of flowers (my favorites - tulips) and a $25 gift card. Sweet! The sad part is now I have a bottle of vodka and 3 bottles of tequilla in my freezer…oh and a package of chicken.

Happy Day for all you office people!

I am soo thrilled tonight. I did legs for the first time in over a month! I started with squats. I couldn’t go full atg but I was still able to do them with good form and close to my normal weights. I felt them after the first set for sure. My legs have definately been missing my leg workouts. Did walking lunges after with just a 40lb barbell and my legs were burning. I could have (and maybe should have) quit after the squats but I was just so happy to be doing legs that I had to keep going. I did sldl but went really light on these and not full range of motion yet. I could only bring the bar down to just past my knees before I hit that wall but that’s ok. As long as I can train again I’m happy. I skipped the leg press and did ab & adduction, leg curls and seated calf raises. Tonight will be a nice hot bath and hopfully tomorrow my back will still be ok.

I’ve decided to go back to a 5 day workout plan. One body part a day. Last night I hit chest with drop sets. Normally, I’d do chest with triceps but after chest lasst night I was spent. So tonight is going to be my first leg night in over a month. I’ve noticed that when I’m in the gym my back doesn’t bother me anymore. It does hurt when I sit at my desk all day. At least it’s getting better.

 I finally had to break down and buy some new clothes. I am just not loosing weight and I’m tired of wearing my yoga pants everyday. Although they are comfy. But it is depressing. I’ve been on a new kick. Peanut butter! I bought a jar of the skippy natural and I love it on toast or just a spoonful. Ever give your dog a glob of pb? Yes, that’s what I look like. (smack, smack)

When I go to the gym. I always think I’m just one of the guys. I lift the free weights and rarely touch the machines. Those are for the newbies. I squat on the squat rack with real weights and I sweat and stink just like the next guy. (ok, maybe I don’t stink) but in my mind I’m just one of the guys. When I train with my friend Danny every now and then he’ll tease me and say, those guys are looking at you. For me it’s instant paranoia. I mean, do I have a booger hanging out my nose? Did I split my pants and just haven’t noticed the breeze? Usually, he tells me I scare all the guys away. Of course to me that means because I lift so heavy the guys are all intimidated by me. **strikes a bodybuilding pose** So the other night I was getting ready to leave. Just got off the stair mill so I’m still beat red and really sweaty. My hair is partially up in a ratty bun with hair sticking out every which way. To me I look horrible but one of the guys I chat with sometimes says to me "you look sexy". Wtf! First off I thought he must be joking with me the way I look right now. But another part of me was like, how can you say that. I’m one of the guys. Totally blew my ego. Damn it, I’m still a girl!

Energy level was low last night. Wasn’t really feeling it. Think I was just tired, it’s been a long week. Did 10 minutes on the treadmill for a warm up. Hit triceps - dropsets. Started with a superset of bench dips and overhead presses. Was really feeling those, than moved to the cables for dropsets - reverse grip pulldowns, straight arm pulldowns (love those) and rope pulldowns (hate those). My triceps felt like they were going to explode. They were so full I could barely keep my arms by my side without looking like a gorrilla. Thought ok, I’d give the 21’s a shot with single arm cable pulldowns…….got to 10 and said f this! That’s going to have to be something I do on non-dropset days. Hit the stair mill for my torturous 20 minutes and took the pooch for a walk after. That was all I could muster. My legs are beat.

 You know I’ve noticed that my muscles are bigger than they were last year. I can see the muscles in my back and bicep that I couldn’t really see last year. So even if I’ve gained fat from a poor diet, my training has still paid off. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see these muscles soon.

 Have a great weekend everyone.