I'm moving all my blogging antics over to a new home.
I feel weird writing about non-figure stuff here and feel weird about writing about figure stuff on stubbornlikeamule so I've set up a new stomping ground at http://www.michellekoen.com. I'll see y'all over there!

However, if you plan on making a whole week's omelette's and you've locked your keys in the car, had only 5hrs sleep and bruised up both your shins until they're purple where in the heck do you go from there!?

Well, you discover that you wouldn't make a very good car thief but that a change of plans doesn't mean a change of attitude.

I didn't get to bed until after 2.30am last night. Not because I'm a wild party animal, I was trying to finish testing a web design in Internet Explorer 6. Cripes! My body still woke up just a little later than the usual time and my brain had dreampt up a mean and nasty plan of a not-cardio workout that it thought might be fun. I couldn't go back to sleep so I got up made a lazy breaky, still hungry so an hr later I gave into the "i'm sleep deprived feed me carbs" siren and had a small serve of buckwheat and some rice protien. YAY! no sniffles! No probs I'll pick up my tray of eggs and vegies and head straight to the super-gym, then back to bed for a nap before cook-off. Green bags; check. Phone; check. Shopping list; check..... erm where's my handbag, Kev? No, Kev they're my shoes. Maybe Stephen didn't spot it last night when I asked him to bring my stuff in..... doh! Handbag in the car, Stephen 40km away on a day long motorbike ride.

Just that second the train the markets goes past. So that's out too! Change of plans, grab the cobweb riddled pushie, spare key and petty cash. Intentionally don't brush off cobwebs as I've got no way to lock up my bike when I get there so it better look like a wreck. Round the markets in record time. $8 for 30 free range eggs, why would I buy anything else! On the train with my bike and goodies and back home only 1 hour behind schedule. Feeling: relaxed and thankful for the change of pace. Not yet sleepy. Time for round 2.

Watch videos on YouTube on how to break into cars, but I'm no good. Toss up between the tiny gym and the non-airconed gym and choose tiny. 35mins bus ride later (a 12min drive) I'm wondering what my strange idea of fun is. Loaded up a bench with 3x20kg plates and push there and back the length of hte tiny gym. Straight into farmers walks, walking lunges and sprint there and back. Repeat x 5. Urgh maybe some db swings, snatches and abs as a finisher. In and out in 25mins. Another 30 min bus ride back. Get off early at the butchers for meat. Glutes struggle and complain all the walk back but I my mind just can't be brought down. Even when it starts raining I feel peaceful.

Treat myself to a nice bath with my new Lush porridge soap. Yum!

Not everyday is this upbeat for me but lately I've been finding so much more peace in the everyday. It's been great. It brings me such hope and confidence for later in the year when I'm prepping for comps. Once upon a time I would have curled up in a ball and cried and yelled at the dog for the day.

It's days like today which remind me why I love being strong.
Had to help the boss shift couches and a board room table out of the office and new ones in. The boss is a former state level football player, mean footy coach ... and great guy. Our office is on the first floor of some very steep stairs. I had 3 offers from people in the street to carry my end of the furniture, poor boss didn't get any. This is the kinda thing I would never have been able to do a few years ago. I didn't even raise a sweat (though I did change from heels to sneakers). I felt a bit sorry for him as I think he was a little embarrassed.

Food was spot on today. Got an awesome walk in the National park as the sun rose and did extended drop sets for shoulder in the sauna gym. Also knocked off a major project at work.

I love my life

I've got 3 what the?'s

Firstly my scales: Erm why is it I lose 4kg over night? It happened on Saturday morning and I thought they were just being weird but I got back from Sydney and got the same number. Not complaining. I'm actually seeing a pattern. It's called carb-cycling. I switch up my diet, throw in some treats and woosh, down they go. By treats I mean sweet potato, rice, fruit and soylati. These have actually been slip ups, but I'm thinking I'll see how I go with 2 high, 2 low for a fortnight.

2ndly: While in Sydney I trained at Market St FF and again experienced an annoying phenomenon. All the dumbells where just randomly scattered around the gym. The 5kg spot had a 22 and a 12 in it. The ez-curls and straight bars were all mixed up. No one seemed to care, and I got weird looks when I started to tidy up. The same thing happened when I trained at Melbourne Central FF late last year. I don't know how you East Coast people do it! All 3 FF's here in Adelaide are spotless in comparison. I do however, love that I can train anywhere in Australia.

What was the 3rd thing again?
Blah, I'm tired and have over done the carbs tonight so my brain is loopy.

Did an awesome leg workout tonight. I forgot to bring the program I'm working on with me so I winged it. Best lower body effort in ages.

Modified Fit-tribe warmup/activation- added clams for my glutes and scapula pushups for my wing
SS seated hams/seated curls 2x12
Front-squat (really ATG- how low can you go?): bar x 16, 27kg x 12 x2, 32kg x 6 x 2, rest 90 secs with hanging spinal rotations
Standing bb single leg DL- 15kg x 8 x 2 rest 90 secs
BB Walking Lunges: 20kg x 12, 20kg x 10 rest 90 secs
Forward thrusting jump swats (for calves) the length of the gym x 2, rest 60secs(curl up and die and do it again)
Cable fitball crunches + 12 burpees x2
Seated calves (40kg) + standing calves(90kg) + 10 burpees x 2

A HEEEEUGE Malaysian meal afterwords. Tomorrow is R&R and lean mean and green.

I've actually had a big learning and thinking couple of days and will hopefully get fingers to keys and get it all down tomorrow.

Everyone seems to have a bit of Pauline on their blog at the moment.
She's a truly inspiring lady. I just read this post and it ties into a lot of stuff I've been thinking about and working on of late.

http://fighterdiet.com/blog/?p=830:

Imagine waking up and first thing you do you smile. You smile because you’re grateful to start a new day and make it worth remembering. No dark thoughts, no worries, your mind is clear, nothing is there to put you down. On the street you see all these people who smile back when you smile. It’s amazing… No task is too tough, no burden is to heavy, no problem too big, you’re at ease, enjoying the very moment. And even though the world around you struggles, you are taking one step at a time, set on making it. Today, tomorrow and the day after that.

This is how I feel. I am in charge of the movie of my life. I’m the director, the d.o.p, I write the dialogues and I am the leading lady. I’m excited about not knowing the end, I’m excited about feeling and sensing what is to come. I trust my intuition, I know what is right, I know what I’m supposed to do.

When someone tries to push me down, I see beyond it. You cannot beat someone who does not compete!

I believe all has a meaning, I get hit and I try to see it was for the better. Or that I needed to learn a lesson. All happens for a reason. Good and bad. Isn’t it amazing how we all get stronger from being weak sometimes.

I am so grateful, so happy I always choose to follow my heart and go for my dreams. So far so good! There is no impossibilites, just incapabilites of going for what you want. Nobody can stop you if you believe in your success and happiness.

When the days are gone, all I want is a feeling of being thankful and happy. And I want to share those feelings with those who share that desire. So, I will keep on having my heart on public display. I love my life.

I love all the little avatars everyone's done. so I'm in:

I've been hiding from my blog a little and just posting over in LindyOlsen land instead but I thought I should drop in and get things back on track around here .

I've had a few curve balls thrown at me in the last week and I'm sure glad that my goal setting was done the way it was, as it looks like things might not turn out the way I've planned (and it's only January).

Consequentially my training was thrown out of whack for a few days and then a few family events totally jumped in..... and guess who didn't have a plan!?

To fix the upset in training I've switched to full body workouts. I thought I'd hate it but I really find it refreshing. I'm working through another PN members program. This time by my hero, Krista. Her website was what really got me training hard so I'm excited to be doing her Next Level program. I really do recommend the CT program too and will go back to it at some point as I've seen massive results.

As for my food, I've decided to stop giving myself an inch and running a mile. I'm hitting it mean and green. Eats are gonna look something like:
AM sups: Vital Greens, xtend, green tea, calcium, chromium, glutamine, creatine
M1: Salmon/beef/3 eggs + greens + 1 ts nut butter, fish oil
M2: roo/fish greens, walnuts, fish oil
M3: chicken/tuna salad with ginger, lemon, olive oil, walnuts and red capsicum, 3 fish oil
M4: PN mixed nut bar/shake (pea protien, almond milk, hemp seed, vital greens), zucchini/cucumber, 3 fish oil
In-weights: Xtend, 20g Malto
Post-weights: Whey, 20g malto
HIIT: Xtend- during and after.
M5: beef/lamb/chicken, vegies (rice/sweet pt if weights day), 3 fish oil
M6: 100g quark, walnut butter, plum, licorice & peppermint tea
Bed: ZMA

Friday M5+M6: freebie

Training:
Tues: Weights, 25mins LI-SS cardio
Wed: HIIT
Thurs: Rest-stretching, dog wrangling
Friday: Weights, 25 mins LI-SS cardio
Saturday: Rest- epsom bath, foam rolling, beach
Sunday: Weights, HIIT, sauna

Water: 3L plus training.

Recovery: Sauna, epsom salts bath, stretching/pilates.

I've been working on kicking my own butt back into gear and decided that it was time for new desktop wallpapers. Rae and Tank are gone (sorry ladies)

These are images my lovely sister took of me the day before my the state titles last year. I love them so much. They are going to keep me motivated to be even better this September.

Nutrition and exercise can be confusing subjects, so when you first get started, the
initial challenge is that you don’t know what to do. ...... However, gaining
knowledge is only half the battle. The far greater challenge for most people is applying
that knowledge and taking action. There is a big difference between knowing what to do
and doing what you know. Goals are the bridges that span this gap.

I'm just reading through http://burnthefat.com/ and the above quote just jumped out at me.

Hi All,
It's been ages since I've blogged. I've been hiding/ burying my head in the sand a bit. Time to come up and face the music though. (An ugly mix of metaphores if ever there was one!).

Just like everyone in the universe Christmas was full of temptation and I thoroughly enjoyed myself (and my dads macadamia and sultana turkey stuffing). Food that doesn't do good things for me was eaten and I'm seeing numbers on my scales I'd rather not. Hence the hiding from the world. It's probably not as drastic as it appears as my shoulders, chest, arms and back are showing some serious signs of improvement.

Rather than getting down on myself I thought it was about time to do some thinking and planning. I know everyone else did this week's ago but I've been churning a few things through my skull still and didn't feel ready for new year's resolutions. Sometime last year I drew up a single sheet of A4 paper with priorities, goals (short, mid and longterm) and actions and nailed every single one of the 1 year goals. I've never been a goal setter before but it worked. This year I tackled things a bit differently and started with the 3 trates/values I want to prioritise in my life. The top corner of my page has:
T rust
L ove
C consistency

To move forward and reach my goals these 3 things are going to be crucial.

I then divided the page into thirds and left the middle blank, and titled it actions. The final column was for this year's goals. The top one is kind of overarching of the other three.
1. To be at 12% BF while gaining muscle, maintaining a mental, spiritual and physical balance.
2. I will compete in all 3 federation's (WFF, INBA, WNBF) state titles in September at 8% BF and my best physique ever, allowing me to qualify for national titles.
3. I will maintain a calm and focused mind
4. I will stay in my new job and be a focused and productive team member

I jumped back to my 1st collum and wrote:
I am...
an athlete
an artist
a lover
a friend
a listener
a thinker

To join everything up I was now able to fill in my actions
Relaxation and recovery
Fortnightly massages (I can realisticly afford this financially and time wise)
Weekly Saunas (free at my gym, I just need to prioritise the time)
Daily visualisation or mediation (crucial!!!! I seem to talk myself out of this daily though)
Diet and Exercise
Prioritise vegetables, preferably organic in my diet (protein is 2nd nature to me, but if I don't eat enough GFV's I snack)
Follow PN strategies
Listen to and trust my body
Create a strong mind/muscle connection allowing me to train with maximum focus and intensity
Creativity
Make time daily to read, write, draw and nurture my inner artist
Weekly visit a gallery or see a band, movie or play
Lover, listener, thinker, friend
Listen with intent
speak mindfully
love infinitely
share openly

Lots of thinking, but I believe the at with Trust, love and consistency I can combat my fears, doubts and uncertainty and become the person I know I can be.

Look what one of my colleagues did for me!

We all had to pick characters for our website staff profiles.
I will have those shoulders and legs by the end of next year.

As a belated thanksgiving recipe from the far side of the pond I offer my protein pumpkin pie recipe.
It's crustless, but you could use a thin layer of filo if you wanted a bit of pastry action.

Ingredients
1 egg
2 egg whites
1/2 cup splenda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) canned pumpkin
120g (4 scoops) vanilla protein powder

serves 4
Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF
In a blender, place the splenda, eggs and salt and blend until foamy. Add in the remaining ingredients and blend until combined.
Poor into 4 silicon muffin moulds and bake for about 20 minutes or until firm.

Nutrition
196 Cals
2.4g fat
27.3g Protein
17.5g Carbs
2.1g fibre
4g sugar

Tips
In Australia, David Jones' Food Glorious Food sells canned pumpkin, as does http://www.usafoods.com.au (online or Moorabin, Vic).
To make your own you will need 400g (peeled weight) of Jap or Qld Blue, microwaved for about 10 minutes on med-high then pureed in the blender.

That's my boy. He could do that for hours. He has no interest in food, all he wants to do is run, play games and cuddle.

I've been reading a lot about CNS recovery so I thought this was particularly interesting.

One of the best and easiest ways to see if your nervous system is primed for a top-notch performance is to perform a vertical jump prior to every workout.

Start by testing yourself in a normal, well-rested state, ideally three to five days after CNS-intensive training. This will be your base value.

Test yourself prior to every workout, and if your test goes up two or more inches all of a sudden, your CNS is ready to rock. This day is a good time to include a lot of heavy lifting (even going for a one or three-rep max) or explosive training.

If your test goes down two to four inches, then it's best to lower the amount of CNS-intensive training, opting for less draining methods.

If your test goes down more than four inches, go home and forget about the gym for a few days.

If your test score is within one or two inches of your regular score, proceed with your regular workout.

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=2610203

A few ladies have been blogging about carbs and how they find they steam-roll their diet. On first reading, I tended to have similar feelings. In response, another blogger posted this was all baloney, that good low-gi carbs couldn't set you off course and that they were vital to function. I felt torn between both ideas and decided to put a bit of self-experimentation together.

Lately, I've been trying to stick to my blood type diet and include as many of the 'beneficial' foods as possible. This means regular potato and any form of wheat are out, and oats, spelt and rice sit somewhere in 'switzerland' (neutral). Most dairy is also 'out'. I'm used to this as I gave up dairy while prepping. I also gave up oats for about 8 weeks, I noticed when I added them back (on instruction from the big guy) I'd always get a stuffy/runny nose and they just wouldn't fill me up and leave me feeling 'snacky'. I'd been wondering why I'd been feeling like I had a head cold most mornings for 6 months, this was it! A biento oats. Sweet potato, adzuki beans and parsnip are just a few of the starchies which get the double-thumbs-up.

After competing I really wanted a few more starchies in my diet. I need them for mood/brain function and to perform better in the gym and in the real world. So I went for a search for starchies which suit me.

For breakfast I'm having a big bowl of red beans (adzuki bean) with splenda, hazelnut milk and a bowl of ground/minced beef/lamb, spinach and hot sauce on the side. Or I just mix in vanilla pp into my beans. The adzuki beans are a bean which is traditionally used in Asian pastries and deserts and is one of my personal favourites so it feels like a real treat every morning. Last night I went to bed excited about my breakfast.

I'm experimenting with having a big whack of starchies early in the day so my second meal is a sweet potato, goat ham (no pork for me), spinach and zucchini fritata. Again I find that, for me, sweet potato is another starchy which fills me up and leaves me craving free. Both the adzuki beans and the sweet potato are on the O-type beneficial list too!

How has my weight been affected? I'm still sitting only 2.5kg (5lb) over my stage weight. My muscles look strong and full and my abs are still smiling back at me in the mirror. Am planning on doing some skins and photos shortly.

What I'm suggesting is that the traditional "go-to' starchies for figure and bb, such as oats, might not be the ones for you. Whether you believe in the whole blood-type diet or not, I suggest you experiment with a few non-conventional alternatives and you might just find energy, recovery and training, as well as cravings, all take a positive turn.