cjk302’s BodyBlog

:-( unfortunately, due to some financial hardships I will not be competing nationally in the NPC this year.  However, I will do a couple smaller shows and I will be competing in Las Vegas for Women’s Tri-Fitness World Challenge.  I am continuing with my contest prep as if I were competing May 24 so that I can do some shoots and whatever local shows I decide to do…

 Cardio has been going well.  Worked on my routine a little on Monday and my back starting hurting again (or maybe it was the weekend in miami LOL), anyway I will give it another week or 2 off…

My back felt pretty good when I was teaching group fitness this morning so I’m hopeful …Still holding back for this week to be sure.  So here is what I did today:

Versa climber: 4×60 sec sprints (1:1 rest) - 3min break - 6×30sec sprints (1:3 rest)

Can you say buttlock?! lol

Bench: 2×20 @75lbs

Definitely couldn’t lift my arms after set number two (the versa climber requires both a push and pull action with your arms as well)

I just hope I can keep the intensity up all week.

One positive thing about having back pain that prevents me from lifting is that it has forced me to do cardio and eat clean.  Sometimes when I have good lifting sessions I fell "justified" in treating myself to extra servings (not junk food, just too much of the good stuff).  Since I didn’t know when the next time I could lift would be, I forced myself to eat smaller portions to compensate for the decreased activity this week.  Doing that actually motivated me to kick up the intensity of my cardio this week, so I’m actually starting to look like this is what i do for a living again LOL.  Hopefully I can keep it up this week and start back working on at least flexibility skills for my routine.  I’m right on track with my progress to compete at Jr. USA’s in May but I might wait for Jr. Nationals just to be safe.  We shall see.

 Nutrition for yesterday (Satuday, mar 15), and basically all week:

meal 1: protein shake (with 1tbsp peanut butter, 1 light and fit yogurt, 1/4 c oatmeal)

meal 2 and 3: 1/2 c brown rice, 1/2 c carrots and corn, 3-4 oz chicken breast

meal 4: 1/2 c brown rice, 1/2c carrots and corn, 7-8 oz lean steak

meal 5: 4 oz chicken

…I woke up late so I didn’t get 6 meals in yesterday.  o well, i’m right around 1500 cal with ~100g carbs, ~160g protein, ~32g fat

For the next 2-3 weeks I want to stay around ~120g carbs and ~140g protein so I will have room to cut when that time comes.  Last year, my carbs got under 50g/day and I think that was too low.  I want my lowest to be about 80g this season.

After 60 min on the bike this morning I was feeling rather pumped and wanted to do more.  However, I did manage to contain my energy grab something to eat and rest a little before heading to the gym to do a higher intensity workout.  I would love to do actual sprinting outside on the track but I want to be careful with my back for at least another week (and yes it is feeling better, praise God).  SOOOOOOO I did the versa climber which we have affectionately nicknamed "versi" (or the devil, or "that bullsh*t" depending on who you talk to LOL).  For those of you who don’t know what this is I will do my best to explain.  Its kinda like a stepper except you have to push and pull with your arms as well (imagine your body position if you were rock climbing and apply that position to this machine).  Anyway, most people don’t do more than 1 minute at a time on this machine (gives you a little idea of the intensity). 

I did a slow 2minute warmup (199ft)

4x 60sec sprints with 60sec rest (avg 145ft)

3min break

6×30sec sprints with 90sec rest (avg 90ft).

2min cooldown (203ft) 

Felt like I was going to puke on the last 2 30sec sprints which I have decided is a pretty good gauge of intensity …Now the real task at hand will be repeating this workout Friday after lifting tomorrow.  I will not lose because someone my competition works harder than me!

my back is still bothering me so i did bench:

8 @95lbs

6 @115lbs

6 @135lbs

4x 3 @155lbs

1 @175lbs!!!!

3×8 100lbs lat pulldowns

3×8 dips

3×15 @ 25lbs decline sit-ups

Well today wasn’t exactly my best day for training.  I had a lot on my mind so I wasn’t really focused when I got to the course today.  I hurt my back at some point this week, plus I was running back and forth between the track meet and work so when I got to the course I can’t say I had my head on straight.  I did ok, got some conditioning in.  Had to put some ice on my back when I got home tonight but I will be in the gym doing cardio tomorrow!  We will have to see how this back pain progresses… I finally got some music so I had planned on choreographing my routine next week, but i might need to put it off another week… Diet was clean today… National stage here I come!

After a little lapse in motivation (see previous blogs) I have had a great week so far with training and diet.

Monday I taugth boot camp for 50min then did 30min of routine work.  I don’t know which was harder.  Since I haven’t choreographed my routine yet, I am just working on skills.  So 2-3 sets of each skill, plus "over" stretching along with plyometric training was a beast.

Tuesday I did 30 min on the stepper in the morning before meal 1.  Later at the gym was a mean chest workout:

med ball throwing to warm up

bench press 10 @ 115lbs (warm up)

giant sets: bench (135lbs)-dips-pushups

set 1: 8reps-8reps-8reps

set 2: 6-8-10

set 3: 5-7-11

giant sets: stationary lunges (30lb DB)-lat pulldowns (100lbs)-abs

set 1-3: 8each leg-8-20

leg press (burnout): 20 reps @ 460lbs OUCH!!!!

Wednesday: (same as monday)

Thursday: 35min on stepper

Friday: same as mon and wed so far… lifting later this morning