cjk302’s BodyBlog

So I’m feeling pretty confident about my physique right now (which never happens)… So either I have tricked myself into believing that I look good by looking at pics from last year’s winners or I’m just so over doing cardio that I don’t care anymore lol…. Either way, I’m feeling good so that will do wonders for my stage presence.

As for routine, its great.  My costume is ready.  This nagging hamstring injury is making me really timid when I practice.  So I’m practicing at 75% knowing that when I get on stage I’m going to have to give it 110%.  Not sure how thats going to go.  But if I can just keep a smile on my face for the entire 2minutes then somehow I will make it through.  No turning back now, lets get it!!!

I’m OBSESSED with cardio!  I now do half my morning cardio before I practice my routine and the other half after.  So this morning I did 30min on the bike, 30min on my routine, then 30 more on the bike.  That works pretty well right now.  My hamstring is really starting to bother me so I’m going to lay off flexibility practice for a few days and see how it feels next Tuesday.  Until then I will have to step up the rest of my prep to account for that onstage.  Tonight I will do some posing practice and then more cardio.  My body is doing special stuff this time.  My legs are getting ripped as well as my shoulders but I can’t find my lower abs to save my life.  Ummm, yea I usually get them before my legs start showing definitiion.  O well, time for a nap before I go back to the gym

I performed my routine in Mobile, Al this past weekend at NPC Steel World hosted by Mike and Jan Horn and got a great response from the crowd and judges so I’m really excited about it …My hamstring is still bothering me a little so its kind of hard to practice my routine full out but I am pushing through.  My workouts have been going well.  Except for yesterday.  Yesterday I had the most pitiful excuse for a workout ever!  I think i was just mentally and physically drained cuz i didn’t feel like doing ANYTHING.  I did my 45 min of morning cardio against my own wishes then came back later for my workout.  It was a simple circuit of cleans, crunches, and jump rope.  I stopped two rounds short and every rep was like pulling teeth.  I finished with 45 more min of cardio which was possibly the longest 45minutes in the history of this planet!

Today I felt much better.  I did 25 min of cardio then routine practice for 35min.  Then I did a crossfit workout that included heavy deadlifts (I maxed at 230lbs for 3 reps!!!) and then finished with pullups, ball slams and renegades.  After that I did another 20min on the bike.  I will TRY to do 45 more minutes of cardio tonight but we will see.  O yea, there were some upright rows and box jumps in there too

I still feel like Chicago is a warm up show for Nationals this September but who knows, I may surprise myself

90minutes of cardio a day sucks.  I think I’m more drained then sore.  The only supplements I take are tight xtreme fat burners so I’m wondering if the extra cardio and all the water i’m drinking is just depleting my body.  Maybe I should start taking a multi vitamin.  All is well on the routine prep and my physique is coming along pretty well.  I can finally see my lower abs again (I swear they stay in hiding until I hit at least 60minutes of cardio/day lol).  I’m going to get a money order today and mail off my application.  Now if I could actually go to sleep when I lay down to take a nap that would be great

Sidebar:  I will be performing my new routine at NPC Steel World this weekend at the Mobile Convention Center!!!  I’m so excited.  Mike and Jan Horn put on a great show and this year is bigger than ever.  I can’t wait1

Today I didn’t make it to the gym for morning cardio (yea I know, I felt oober bad about that) so I did high intensity cardio in my workout plus cardio afterwards.  My theory is 70min/day of cardio for the rest of this week then add 20min/day each week until showtime (ending with 150min/day the week of the show).  How much cardio can I do and still get benefits?  Like would it be better to do 75min in the morning and 75min at night or 50min 3 times/day?  Does it matter as long as I get the total amount of time for the day?

Todays workout:

10 min versaclimber (1077ft)

circuit: bench press (30 reps @ 75lbs), leg press (30 reps @ 190-230lbs), and lat pulldown (30 reps @ 70lbs)

3 rounds with 1 minute of jump rope in between sets

routine strength move practice followed by 1minute jump rope (totalling 10 minutes of jump rope)

10 min versaclimber (1082ft)

***1 hour rest***

40 min bike

Total cardio time: 70minutes

but its to late to change my flight and i actually made it through 90% of my routine on Sunday so I’m going for it!  I’m at 114lbs right now and its 4.5 weeks from the show, I figure if I can get to 107 I should be ok.  Since its 50-50 routine to swimsuit now, I’m hoping I can score high enough with my routine to account for my physique.  Let’s see what kind of transformation I can pull off in 4 weeks!!  Chicago, get ready!!!!!

P.s I’m still competing in women’s tri-fitness this july and possibly nationals this september (depending on how i do in chicago)… Now if only I had sponsors   Suggestions?

I had been aiming for the Jr National show this june in chicago but do to my setbacks with injuries i’m not going to be at my best in time for the show.  So I’m aiming for the national show in new york this september instead

…in the mean time I am 9weeks out from Vegas so I’m doing a 5 day detox in preperation for the next 8weeks of insanity that we so fondly call "contest prep" …I’m having low sodium v8, high fiber veggies, and salad all day with as much water as I can consume (minimum 1 gallon).  I am thinking about doing 3 egg whites for breakfast.  I didn’t today.

…workouts will stay the same this week.  cardio and routine S,T,R with sprinting and plyometrics M,W,F just cardio on Saturday

1 more week of nursing a sore hip flexor, knee, and rotator cuff then I’m back to total body workouts.  I have been doing only legs for the last 2 weeks focusing on isolation exercises (single leg deadlifts, leg extensions, leg press, etc), cardio (bike), and versa climber sprints.  So my lungs are great.  Unfortunately they don’t judge anaerobic capacity onstage, lol.  But I did some light plyos and some routine work yesterday and nothing is hurting today so I’m happy.  I’m forcing myself to take it slow this week even though I’m feeling good.  It sucks.  But I will be ready

Maybe its the quality of the webcast but where the heck did the definition go this year in fitness??  I watched the 2 piece round and all I could think was "man these ladies are soft" …Don’t get me wrong, they look good aesthetically but they don’t jump out as looking contest ready (well you know minus that whole tanning thing).  Regardless, my favorites from this round are Regina, Oksana, Julie, Tina, and Jen (in no order).

 Catsuit round:  I feel like the IFBB should ban certain songs from use during these fitness routines.  If I hear "pump, pump, pump. get it, get it." one more time I might throw up.  And the finish with your head back, one hand in the air (standing or kneeling) is also quite overused.  Overall, these were some pretty good routines as 90second routines go.  They served they purpose (to demonstrate the required strength and flexibility moves).  Some of the veteran’s weren’t as clean as I would expect them to have been.  I wish I knew what the scores were from this round though because I don’t understand the overall results based on this round and the 2 piece so far. Jen delivered her usual energy but I don’t know how the rest of the contestants were placed.  With the exception of the few bobbled strength holds and incomplete kicks, the routines were pretty even.  For example, Oksana and Nicole Wilkins Lee in particular had really clean routines but they placed 9th and 8th respectively.

For some reason, I can’t play the finals footage right now, so I’ll post a seperate blog for that along with my final thoughts.

Whenever I don’t really feel like training it helps to come to this site and see what everyone else is doing… Today, I definitely wasn’t feeling it.  Kinda sick plus its cold.  Not a good combo for an intense workout.  But after going through some fellow bodyspacer’s pages I got it going for today.  Hopefully, its the start to a good week of workouts (or at least an injury free one