fitdiva83’s BodyBlog

So January has come and will be gone by the end of today . I am one year older, as a result, and hopefully wiser . If you’re like me right now, you may be looking at your tax returns and may be wondering how on earth do you earn that much a year, but can’t account for most of it? Hellooooo, living in New York City. This is where the Capricorn in me starts panicking and tries to get things in order, pulling out old bills, bank statements, etc, etc. Because eventually, I will have to answer to the accountant who does my taxes, who happens to be my father.  Where did I spend the bulk of my money in ’08? Um, ski trip to Montreal, food and supplements , gym clothes and kicks. Lol. That is so sad. My Aquarian side says phuck it….let’s get ready for V-Day.

But aside from my minor finance woes, the month has been quite fulfilling. I truly enjoyed celebrating the fifth anniversary of my 21^st b-day and I didn’t even eat cake or make champagne toasts. I’m roughly two to three weeks behind on my prep because training just wasn’t happening as consistently as I’d planned it. Nonetheless, one can only look to the future and put his or her best foot forward. And despite these setbacks, I am not disappointed in myself at all. I think I needed the break from all the training and dieting that I had been doing this past fall and into the early winter.  And I am happy I did so. I’m feeling more content than I have in a while .  Sometimes, the responsibilities and commitments in our lives cry out for a re-prioritization.  And alas, that is what I did.

For those of you who have asked about my back/ my back workouts, I’ll post a sample workout soon when I get the chance. To be honest, I do change my back workout every week, but my staples are pull-ups (assisted of course), close-grip pull-downs and rows of various sorts. I love training back, therefore I really push myself during these workouts. I like to skip rope between sets, experimenting with various footwork. Combine the lifting and the rope for a superior strength building and heart pumping session.

This morning commenced the first day of my prep….yup. I woke up, had my egg whites and oatmeal then headed out to the gym to hit back and abs (my favorite split) and jump-roping in between sets. Yes, it was a hell of a workout, but what a better way to start off 16 weeks of competition preparation? Hence, the theme song of my prep season– Brooklyn Go Hard featuring Jay-Z and Santogold. I’m in love with the song and had it on repeat during the vast majority of my workout.

I’m back to my diet, except I don’t have to eat fish 3x a day if I don’t want to. My protein choices are still varied, though my complex carbs are still limited. I can also have two servings of any fruit I want, for now. The same applies for veggies. So for now, I am focusing on maintaining my upper body mass (I don’t have to build, yes!) and leaning out my lower half. I have a day where I train my glutes and hamstrings and then a day where I’m doing plyometrics (jump squats, walking lunges, bench jumps, jump lunges, squat thrusts)…you know the workout that makes you want to vomit afterwards. Every other night, I’m doing an old stretching routine that I used when I danced to help with my flexibility in the hips and glutes. My quads are pretty overpowering. Therefore, I’m leaving them alone until I diet down some more to see how they’re looking. Shoulders and rear delts; back and abs; light chest and arms (every other week) are the remaining splits. And of course, cardio, cardio, cardio, 6x a week, 45 mins in duration. Two of those sessions have to be interval training in nature, the other three moderate intensity and one steady-state. So that is the plan for now. Time to go hard.

besos,

LolaJ