cjk302’s BodyBlog

I have been training hard the last 2 weeks but it was like pulling teeth to keep the intensity up.  I kept thinking, "I still have 2 months til showtime, no hurry" …Well now I have crossed the 2 month barrier and I’m thinking that I should be in show shape in 4 weeks so that I will have 2 weeks to "tweek" any details and then the last week before the show to recover.  That equates to kicking it up a notch!  I am still in my power cycle and have included one metabolic workout per week.  I also just learned a bunch of great kettlebell exercises that will help strengthen my routine.  So if you have already seen my routine, you haven’t seen anything yet!!!!  Routine practice has been kicking my butt, I wake up every morning with my hamstrings and lower abs sore from kicks, jumps, and press holds.  Dallas get ready!!!!

I’m doing 30min of cardio 6-7 days a week right now and I’m wondering if I should kick it up to 2x day at 30 min?  My theory is that I don’t ever need to be doing cardio for over 45 minutes because my routine, obstacle course, and fitness skills are all anaerobic so whats the point of training aerobic?  At the same time I need to burn as many calories a day as possible.  I can only kick the inensity up so much in a 30 min bout but I want to burn more calories NOW!  open for suggestions….

Strength phase is over …I started power training this past week and even threw in a metabolic workout as well as 2 hours of training on the obstacle course.  Generally I’m happy with the numbers I put up in my strength training and so far in my power (175-185 for 5-10 on deadlifts and 45lb DB for 8 flat DB press - 4 sets each).  I’m sure I can go heavier but unfortunately, doing so doesn’t suit my goals right now.

What’s next??

I’ve switched to cardio after my last meal instead of before my first.  And I have stuck to my diet this last week.  My body is responding quickly so I like that.  Going out to the obstacle course yesterday really got me pumped.  Sprints, hurdles, monkey bars, cargo nets… a great workout to say the least!  I haven’t felt like that since high school track.  I wish I could go every saturday but I have to work every other saturday so I won’t get to go back until October.  But I will be going to the track for sprint work this week.  For those of you following along, if you didn’t know I also compete in womens tri-fitness and will be doing the fall classic the week before npc nationals.  Last year I came in second by .07 points so this year I have some "unfinished business" to attend to

I bought some EAS advantEDGE carb control vanilla shakes today (17g protein, 2g carbs) in hopes that they aren’t completely disgusting.  This will allow me to have more portable shakes.  That whole making a lukewarm "shake" from powder and a shaker cup on the go just don’t do it for me.   I also started taking hydroxycut yesterday.  I’m taking one when I wake up and 1 with meal 3 right now.  I prob won’t go up to more than 4/day because my tolerance is pretty low.  I’m looking forward to seeing how my body changes these next 8 weeks.  I will have progress pics every week starting this coming weekend.

I’m only doing two weeks of pure strength training.  Then I will get into some power and metabolic work and really start burning fat.  I want to get down to about 104 (I’m at 116.6 today) and I don’t really mind if I lose muscle size to get there as long as I keep my proportions and my strength.  So that won’t be my focus.  A lot of explosive training and sprint training ahead.  But here is what my strength training looks like:

Tueday:

Squats: 10 @ 125 and 4 x 8 @205

Stability Ball crunches 5 x 20

Dumbbell Press: 10 @25 and 3×10 @30

Lunges: 20 @ 20lbs

Med ball pushups 4×10

Weighted Incline sit ups 4×15

Thursday:

Deadlifts: 10 @ 125 and 4×8 @175

V-ups: 5×15

Seated row: 4×12 @70

Side Lunges: 4×16 @ 15 lbs

Leg raises (sittingh back against the wall with 4 lb med ball between legs - brutal!!) 4×10

Doing 30min cardio before meal 1 everyday

After competing at the Florida State Championships (much love to Deke Warner for putting on a great show!) I took a week off to rest, start classes and map out a plan of action for Nationals this November.

Well times up and its time to get to work!  I have 3 goals:

1. lose 12-16 lbs

2. Perfect my routine

3. improve stage presence

At the moment my training regimen is as follows:

5 days of cardio (30 minutes on lift days and 20 min + 25 min routine work every other day)

3 days of total body weight training (2 weeks strength training, 2 wks power, 4 wks power/metabolic, and 2 wks metabolic)