RockBunny Bodyblog

I LOVE fitness magazines. Not those sissy ones like Oxygen or Fitness or even Women’s Health (I don’t mind Women’s Health but it no longer suits my level of “gusto”). I’m talking about Muscle and Fitness Hers and Fitness Rx for women. I frequently come across those transformation articles and typically glean pointers or exercises to tweak or revamp my routine. While I was on my flight to NY I was reading one such article, Fitness Rx for women December 2009 “H.I.T – High Intensity Training This Holiday Season”. In pages following there was also a 30 day Nutrition Plan. I am already eating pretty closely to the Nutrition Plan and pushing the cardio very similarly to the HIT recommendations, but I wondered what if I followed this to the letter?! What would happen?… So I made the decision that upon my return home I would immediately implement this experiment. I arrived home too late on Monday to go grocery shopping, so after work last night, I made a bee line for the grocer and picked up my week 1 items along with my husband’s meal plan list (which is obviously very different…I am not a bodybuilder).

I have my foods and I have been totally enjoying the 3 hour eating. This is a change to my usual, which is eating every 2-3 hours in small portions…now I am eating larger portions (still small) but only every 3 hours. I need to tweak this because today I have felt way too full each meal and I am only on meal 3 so far.

You can follow my progress at musclemonkeys.blogspot.com where I will post the grocery list for each week. I will be logging (and documenting progress) my workout plan and meal plan here which is following the articles in Fitness Rx for women December 2009. See pages 60 & 82.

This will be a challenge to start right in the middle of holidays, but I am revved! This should be awesome fun.

Ack! Been sick with a cold and the silly cough won’t leave me alone!Yesterday, was speed training. I just ran 2 miles but shaved 6 minutes off my time. *awesome*  My legs were feeling pretty tight/knotty…I think I need to learn how to massage my muscles. Or get a membership to Massage Envy…

Friday night is my final run day before the race and is also the night before the early morning race. I am debating whether to opt out or to do an easy jog. I would prefer to at least jog, but I want to be as strong and rested as possible. *debating*

I’ve been eating a lot of fruits lately, which has probably increased my sugar intake, but oh well.  I have tweaked our menu to replace turkey for beef. I still will work in maybe 1 meal a week to have ground sirloin or grass-fed 98% or a super lean steak. Our meats have been mostly chicken and turkey - ground, sliced, whole, baked, sauteed, grilled, broiled, stir-fried…you name it! Going on 3 weeks of the meat transformation and haven’t had a boring meal yet!

I’m still secretly waiting for some *physical* signs of fitness improvement. ^_^ Would be nice, but interestingly, I’m staying motivated by the seeming lack of progress.

I really pushed it hard on Friday at the gym.  I love leg days.  I had so much energy and was able to really push myself with the intensity in my weight and reps. I was sweating like crazy!  The workout was amazing…*props sp250*…but yesterday I could barely make it down the stairs and today my hams are still feeling a bit sore.  I stretched really well on friday, but maybe not enough.  I wanted to do legs again today.  Is that a bad idea?  What else can I do to work this lactic acid out of my recovering muscles?…

I used pre-workout supplement, SuperPump250, for the first time last night.  I like to warm up with a couple miles on the treadmill.  I FELT LIKE I WAS JOGGING.  I felt like superwoman!  My muscles were like, " what. " I was running so much stronger and felt like I could go forever!  I increased my speed because it felt so good to run so hard and not feel a thing.  I ended up cutting the distance back a bit for fear of hurting myself because I was running like a beast.

Next was biceps and shoulders.  Not only did I increase the weight but all my sets were successfully completed.

I finished off with 20 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of abs.

I could have done more, but didn’t know what my true limit was since I had super strength pumping through my veins.

Overall it was a GREAT workout and cant wait to do it again.

Downside…I have been pretty sleep deprived lately and so I should have fallen right to sleep…I took superpump at 5:00p and didnt finally fall asleep till sometime after midnight…boo….

But I loved it too much…I WILL use it again.

Solid diet and consistent exercise are proving their worth!  I love watching people’s bodies transform (and mine too!) and am just amazed.  I love that we can make our bodies do what we want and that it is all in our own control to make that happen.  I love that being fit is hard, grueling, miserable work.  I will feel accomplished when I reach my goals, because I have worked hard and not everyone can say they have done that.  Props to all of you who have reached their goals, cheers to those who press on when the going gets tough, and congratulations to those who have learned how to set a goal.  I am encouraged by everyone on BB.com because you all are willing to do what it takes to get there.  Motivation level: 1000 out of 10 (^_^)

After a long haul since November, it’s noticeable now that I am leaning out - which is exciting.  I just recently started hitting the weights pretty hard after a long phase of serious cardio (a partial method of a half marathon training style).  Now I am anxious to build some serious muscle.  I have been up and down the forums, but there is so much info out there.

I really want to know what would be good for me.  I looked into various N.O. products, but since I work out in the evening I am unsure if that is the best thing due to the caffeine. I’m willing to try anything.

I am leaning out but I still have fat to burn.  L-Carnitine?

Leery about fat burners because I have read some can cause a loss of effectivity on birth control…I don’t need that!

I love muscle…I want growth…*sigh*

I tested my caffeine tolerance last night.  Drank an entire monster and 30 min later I hit the gym.  I had a SOLID workout and fell right to sleep, but my brain was active all night - dreaming like crazy! So…if possible, I guess I should avoid late evening caffeine.

what to do…what to do…meanwhile, of course, I will continue pushing it hard.  I am looking for a supplement…not a quick fix to avoid the gym - OF COURSE! ^_^

Just ranting..

Today I weighed in at 118.2 after a 3 week plateau of 120.8.  My last post I was a bit at a loss.  My workouts are great, my diet was "ok", but honestly what could I really cut out?…Thanks to everyone’s helpful comments on the blog post and comments on my "wall" I have been able to tweak my diet to be cleaner and more balanced - not only that but I have been much more aware of situations where I could potentially "sabotage" myself.

 I have not been being unreasonable with my diet, I have not put myself on low calories that are unmaitainable for life, I have just stopped the crap!

Special thanks to Sharlott, schoico, Bunit2 and ArmdandFabulous.  You guys really helped get me the motivation I needed to actually make the change.  Thanks for the advice alongside the "it just has to be done" exhortation.  You guys rock!

Looking forward to another week of progress!

*sigh* Tuesday, Weigh-In day. I weighed in at 120.08 again. This is great and sad. It is great because that means my workouts are perfectly balancing my diet. It is also great because I have been still eating crap foods here and there, so if I just cut those out, I should drop weight without having to amp up my workouts. The only reason why it is sad is because I still need to drop 12 lbs. Plateau?? I hope not…

For this week, I will not eat sugar. A little bit of sugar in my cereal, ok. But no intentional sugar. By the way…caloriecount.about.com, cool website if you want to log your food. It will even keep track of the calories you BURN while you’re sitting at your desk. My handle is RockBunny. My motivation level is high. I am pumped about the no-sugar for 1 week only. I can DEF do that. I am also going to take this week to read up on women lifting rules and diets. Rock hard body is within my reach! I will be picking up a book entitled "New Rules of Lifting for Women" by Lou Schuler. I will let you know if the book is a worthy read.

Pressing on with ferver,

FK

This week I am cutting all sugars.  There is a tiny bit of sugar in protein powder, no big deal.  There is a bit of sugar in whole grain bread, thats ok.  I am doing this for one week as a way of reprogramming my brain to avoid certain foods.  I need to relearn the art of saying "no, thanks".  I need to learn that "no, thanks" does not mean "I can’t eat that", it means "no, thanks, I want a hardbody more than I want that".  Being fit will be 1,000 times more rewarding than 2 minutes of consuming a pastry.  After I run on the treadmill and I burn 360 calories, its way easy to look at a 340 calorie pastry and say "no way, jose!"

So here I go…let the reprogramming begin!

Yesterday I just drove back from a weekend trip (family wedding).  traffic was awful so we did not make it home till 6:45.  We had to leave our house by 7:00 to meet up with some family in town.  That meant we had one hour.  I am so proud of us because we used that hour–10 minute drive to the gym, abs, 35 minutes on the elipticle burning 390 cals and 5 minutes stretching, 10 minute drive home, quick shower and out the door.  It wasn’t the greatest, fat-blasting, muscle-building workout, but the point is, I hit the gym.  I got myself there and I utilized my energy.  The dedication to get myself there is half the battle.  Today I edited my "Motivation Level" to "10/10" - I’m on fire!  Diet and better intake of water is next on my hit list and it starts today!  Rock hard body here I come!