heidismommy’s BodyBlog

I ended up doing about 25 minutes of HIIT (sprinting intervals), followed by several miles of walking.  My already slightly sore legs ended up getting really sore, esp. my hamstrings and glutes.  I’m really getting back into HIIT.  I was doing it quite a bit last year, but then stopped because my shins kept hurting.  It was a cumulative effect too, the more HIIT I did, the worse the pain got until I finally had to stop.  I’ve eased back into it this time, starting with once a week to now doing it twice a week.  I’ll probably work up to 3 times a week, though I’ll listen to my body and if I’m feeling bad pain (bone aches) then I’ll stop the HIIT for a while.  Sprinting outdoors is the only option I have for HIIT since I don’t workout at a gym and don’t own any cardio equipment.  I either have to do a video for cardio or I have to take it outdoors (I normally prefer to take it outdoors assuming the weather is at least somewhat decent).

Today is my day off from strength, but I’m sure I’ll do cardio.  Either a long walk or a cardio video, I’m not sure which I’ll choose.  My legs and glutes are still a bit sore for a couple days ago and now my chest and triceps are sore from yesterday’s workout (I did chest and arms).  So I don’t think I’d be able to do a strength workout today even if it weren’t a scheduled rest day.  That’s what is so cool about doing a 3 day on, 1 day off split—I can be sore and I have some time in there for my muscles to recover.  Tomorrow I’ll work back, shoulders, and abs.  I love back day, back day means pull-ups and I’m getting good at those.

My workout yesterday prompted me to take a few pictures today.  It’s harder to get leg pictures when your legs are sore, but I managed .  My legs are looking fairly defined, but they don’t measure as big as they look.  They’re about 18.5" around widest part of dominant quad (left).  But you have to keep in mind I’m short and have a small frame, so what would look tiny on a larger, taller frame actually looks significant on mine.  My arms, for instance, are less than 11" flexed.  To a big guy that’s tiny, but it looks substantial on my frame.  I’m still working on gaining more size so that when I do lean out I’ll still have a decent amount of muscle.  I actually kind of like the way my legs look now, though more of a quad sweep would be even better.  I need to work on my delts and upper back as well to create the illusion of more of a taper.

Yep, I’m sore.  Legs, glutes, hammies, and lower back are feeling it today.  I’m getting ready to work chest, arms, and abs, but I’m going to skip cardio today because there is no way my legs can take any significant impact.  I may take a short walk later, I’ll have to see.  I need to get some cleaning done around the house and not doing cardio will give me more time for that.

I teeter back and forth a lot with what my goals are, but now that winter is here I really want to work on gaining as much lean mass as possible…naturally of course.  I know as a woman I’m not going to gain much and not very fast, but slow is the way to go so to avoid gaining too much fat.  I do expect some fat gains, but I do want to keep them to a minimum.  I can always cut later.  Eventually I’d like to be a very lean 105 lbs.  Right now I’m a fairly lean 99 lbs.  Which means I’ll probably have to overshoot (to 110 lbs or so, then cut back, then go from there).  It may take several clean bulk/cut cycles to get to where I want to be and that is okay.  I have no plans to compete anytime in the near future so there is no rush.
I may keep everything just as it is and add 100 calories a day initally.  Cutting back cardio and keeping food the same is probably ideal, but I’m not sure if I can do that.  I’ll just have to see.

So this morning I worked legs and spent about an hour training them intensely.  I always do the compound lifts first (squats, SLDL’s, plie squats, good mornings, lunges, ATG squats, etc) and then fill in the rest with isolation work.  I superset everything and nearly always to 3 sets of every exercise.  I then had a snack, rested a bit, then did HIIT for 20 minutes, followed by a few miles of walking.  I always end up with DOMS after legs day, but always end up with DOMS in my glutes and quads whenever I do HIIT (sprinting intervals) so it makes most sense to combine them on the same day.  I’m going to get DOMS anyway, may as well make it count, lol.

My husband had to work the late shift today which is rather nice now that our daughter is in kindergarten.  We’re able to spend some time together before he has to leave for work in the afternoons that he works late.  He has to work every other weekend, but that means one day off every weekday.  So on those days we’ll go on a "date"—out to eat, or to the park, or to a movie, that sort of thing.  Oh, and it’s his birthday today, he’s 47 (yes, he’s 16 years my senior but age is only a number).

I just got done working back, shoulders, and abs.  I spent about an hour working back and shoulders with very little rest between sets.  I do a lot of supersetting.  And then I topped it off with about 5-10 minutes of ab work at the end.  I haven’t done any cardio, I’ll probably wait until a bit later in the afternoon and then may take a walk or something.  My walks are long, about 6 miles, but my walks are "me" time.  Sometimes I walk for cardio (but I walk fast), sometimes exercise videos, sometimes HIIT.  I actually do HIIT after I work legs on leg day, otherwise it gets in the way of my legs workout (because HIIT causes muscle soreness too).  I always have to eat between my strength workout and cardio, otherwise I’d never be able to get through.  And that is especially true for HIIT.

My husband is off work today so we’ll probably go to lunch in a bit.  Our daughter is back in school today after a long holiday weekend.  Other than that, not much going on.

So I had actually gotten up intending to do a cardio video.  Jillian’s Burn Fat, Boost Metabolism video to be exact.  Unfortunately about 30 minutes upon awakening we lost power and it stayed out until early afternoon.  I’m just glad I had gotten in a couple cups of coffee in before the power outage.  My husband had to work and I was with my daughter so outdoor exercise was out.  So I just decided to take today off as I’d originally planned.  Tomorrow is back to my usual stuff, assuming I’m feeling well (I started feeling achy and fluish this evening).

Just a random thought that popped into my head this morning:  all my pants still fit me from when I was sick with anorexia only now I actually fill them out.  But I don’t even own anything bigger than a size 1.  I’m a 00, 0, or 1, depending on brand and store, but in general I still almost always where the smallest size on bottom (I’m only 5′1" with a small frame and weigh just under 100 lbs).  On top is a different story.  I cannot wear some of the jackets I wore even a year ago because they’re too tight in the shoulders.  I can put these jackets on, but not if I expect to move my arms.  With cottony shirts it doesn’t matter, but with structured material I have to go a size up on top for most things.  It’s weird though because whenever I’d gain weight in recovery in the past, I’d outgrow my pants, but never my shirts or jackets.  It’s just weird how body composition affects the way things fit.

My sister and brother-in-law picked Heidi and me up late this afternoon to go to a light-up festival at a local park.  It was a bit chilly, but fun.  I got took some pictures before we left and I’m going to post them here.  I took a bunch more pictures from the festival, but I’m not going to post those (with the exception of one photo).

She was not screaming, she was making faces, lol.

carriage ride—we didn’t get to go because the line was too long

So my plan to not work out until Monday failed.  I woke up this morning really motivated, but also wanted to stick to my plan of not working out.  I still wanted to lay off the heavy weights until Monday, but decided to compromise and do a full body workout video instead.  So I did Jillian’s 30-day Shred, only I did all 3 levels because 20 minutes isn’t nearly enough time.  I could never *just* do her videos because while I use different sets of weights for the various exercises, it’s more of an endurance type workout.  When I was done with it I felt like I had done a great cardio workout, but didn’t feel the muscle fatigue that I normally feel from my lifting sessions.  But it was fun to do the video just to switch things up.  And it was unplanned so I didn’t feel I was missing out on my normal routine.  But I do look forward to getting back to my usual routine.  And I do still need to schedule myself a break of more than a day or two soon.

No strength tomorrow, but I may do some cardio.  I won’t plan on it though, I’ll just see how I feel.  Then Monday it’s back to my usual heavy split routine.

My husband has to work this weekend so it’s just Heidi and me.  I took her to Target a little while ago and we picked up some more ornaments for our tree (she picked them out), a Christmas villiage, and a pair of footed pajamas for Heidi.  Oh, and some Christmas cards that I’m going to mail out soon.  We’re getting ready to eat lunch, then watch a movie or play or something, then I’ll pick up around the house.

I hate doing this, but I’m going to take off from strength training until Monday.  I just have so much going on and it is going to be hard to fit everything in with my daughter being off school for the holidays.  I want to spend time with her.  Plus I’m feeling really burnt out and just need a few days to breathe and think.  Then when Monday rolls around I’ll feel more refreshed.  I keep getting sick and I think it’s my body telling me I’m doing too much.  I will get some cardio in today when my husband gets off work.  He works retail and had to be at work at 4:45 this morning.  He’ll take a nap when he gets home, then I may go for a walk before we have to be at another family get-together tonight.  I’m not going to plan for anything on Saturday or Sunday, but I may do some cardio if I’m feeling up to it.  I haven’t taken a planned break of more than a day in a LONG time and I think it’s overdo.

I got my chest/arms/abs workout in this morning and it felt great after having taken the full day off yesterday.  I also got my walk in, my usual 6 miles.  It’s pretty chilly outside, I should have worn gloves.  But I just stuffed my hands inside my sleeves and I was fine.  It was hard to type when I got back though.  We’re going to bake some cookies to take over to the get-together tonight with family.  Other than that, not much going on.  I’m going to another get together tomorrow night where pizza will be served.  So I’ll have 2 cheat days in a row.  Not a huge deal though, most weekends tend to be cheat days anyway lol.  But my husband has to work this weekend and on the weekends he has to work I tend to just eat my "usual stuff".  So my "cheat weekend" just won’t be on the weekend this week .