From Russia with Tough Love!

It’s a bodybuilding site for Pete’s sake. Most (not all) of the pix posted there DO NOT display any fitness progress and achievements. Are you using this site for a free promotion for your services???  There are plenty of sites on www for your pix. Stop flooding this bb site with trash!!!

This is what my Halloween costume should be..if I was into Halloween. But I am not.
Like most of ppl here on bb.com I eat a LOT of chicken (and egg whites). Not fried, no thighs, just boneless, skinless chicken breast…or like Archie Bunker said to Teresa: ‘Not a nice word! Call it Chicken Chest’

Today I had a cheat meal, and this time it was really a cheat meal (not sashimi, like last time). I was accused I do not know how to ‘cheat’ ! But it had to be chicken. Anyway, got me some chicken artichoke pizza at Hawthorne’s…yeah, sorry folks if I made you stumble. Be strong and go have a chewing gum. Plus, a 12oz of Sammy Adams. My veins are so full, I look like I just pumped some serious iron at da gym!

So, puck-puck to you, my fellow chicks and roosters:)

Oh, and my public FitDay diet journal is here.

"Hot legs, wearing me out
Hot legs, you can scream and shout.."

(Rod Stewart - ‘Hot Legs’) 

Working out any body part can be challenging, but I am sure the reader will agree with me that working legs is especially taxing on the body and mind. But since my hubby has the ‘Hot Legs’ ringtone for me on his cell, I gotta live up to the expectation:)

Haven’t done front squats in a while. Have not done box squats at all. Did them both today. Felt different and really good!

Here are the exercises I did for legs today:

Front squats….5 sets x 10….135lbs

Box Squats…..3 sets x 8….135lbs

Deadlifts…..3×12….95lbs

RDLs…..3×12…95lbs

Standing calves…..3×15

Donkeys…..2×15

As I wobbled out of the gym I felt like the time was not wasted. Gotta ge’em hot legs;)

Chest and arms today.  For CHEST: Flat, decline and incline bench presses. Then flys. Bis and Tris exercises were supersetted. Arms were so pumped at the end of workout - I had hard time straightening them:) What I great feeling! Please, don’t leave me…pump! ::::::

Food-wise: did well. Took enough protein, carbs and fats to sustain my rigorous training and to promote the muscle growth.:::::

Today  someone at the gym considered me rude. I am NOT a rude person. Some called me heard-headed before, but not rude. For me gym is not the place to participate in prolonged conversations, hanging out, and exchanging phone calls. When at the gym I don’t believe in wasting time. That’s why I try not to return eye contact I sometimes feel I am getting. I just walk around with the earphones in my ears quietly singing along….at times I might  sing a line or two out loud. ::::

Gotta get me a T-shirt saying something like "I am focused. Don’t break my concentration!"

I decided to change some things around in my training schedule. I still plan on hitting the gym only 4 times a week (doing morning cardio on those days)
Day 1 - Back/Shoulders

Back:

Pull-ups 3 x 6-9
Wide-grip pulldown 5 x 6-12
Seated rows 2 x 6-9
Wide grip hang from pullup bar: 60 sec

Shoulders:

Behind the neck press: 3 x 6-9
Seated lateral raise: 5 x 6-12
Rear dumbbell lateral: 2 x 6-9

Day 2 - Chest/Arms

Chest:

Flat barbell (or dumbbell) Bench press: 3 x 6-9
Incline barbell (or dumbbell) bench press: 3 x 6-9
Flat bench flys: 2 x 6-9
Incline bench cable flye: 2 x 6-9
Arms:

EZ bar curl: 4 x 6-9 (no cheating!)
Close-grip bench press: 4 x 6-9 (keep the elbows in on all tricep exercises)
Dumbbell concentration curl: 3 x 6-9
Triceps pressdown: 3 x 6-9

..and some cable work for bis and tris (supersetting)

Day 3 - Legs/Abs  (will write down the exercises later)

Day 4 - Back/Shoulders  again

Sunday and Saturday - off days.

When I started my journey to a healthier me 2 years ago 3rd level on my exercise bike was enough to bump my heart rate up to 160bpm (85% of my HR max). Today I officially ‘outgrew’ this machine. Had to go to the last, 8th level in order to start breathing heavy and sweat:) The bike is not THAT old. It’s EDGE that I got maybe 3 years ago…

(my daughter was kind enough to take this pic)

The good news is my cardiovascular health has improved. The bad news - I’ll have to come up with some $$$ to get a new cardio equipment. Gym’s machines are fine, but I like to do my cardio first thing in the morning at home.
The trainer with calipers measured my BF at 10.6% , but my Omron BF analyzer has a slightly higher number. Which one is correct?

Felt much better this morning and towards the middle of the day had a bold idea: "Why not go to the gym tonight?" I know the chiro said ‘lay low till the end of the week’, but..’I am a sensible woman, and I am not going to go heavy’, said I to myself.

O, the slamming of the plates against the barbell, the sounds of the lame gym music, the cardio bunnies, and the smell of sweat…well, maybe not that last one….everything was telling me I was home   After a short warm up I did chest, bis and abs. It was a good workout. One of those that you wanna talk to someone about. My dh had a hard time draggin’ me out of the gym tonight:)

So, thanks to those who sent their love my way when I was down (I feel a country song coming upon me)….and stay healthy by training smart!

Holidays are over! Back to the iron jungle, brothers and sistas!

Went to the chiro for the neck adjustment (the details on this ordeal are in the earlier blogs). This huge dude laid all his 200+lbs on me! Cracked my whole spine - never heard so much cracking noise in my life. One could have taken it for the 4th of July fireworks!  Came home and felt a lot worse than before I went in. I was told I’d feel a little sore. If you ask me I’d prefer the after gym soreness to the one I’m having now.

Had to force myself to eat today again. Slept most of the day –> the only time I don’t feel pain.

Good news is I FINALLY can turn my head to the left. The foretaste of my workouts next week keeps me sane;)

What do you eat on a cheat night? For me it’s either pizza or sushi. Tonight though I wanted to keep it clean. Went to our favorite Japanese restaurant NAKATO and had some tuna, salmon and yellowtail sashimi + seaweed salad. Chef Meeke outdid himself again. Pieces of fresh fish melted in my mouth!

Got a very good consultation from a chiro here on bb.com :

This is likely an upper cervical nerve impingement. Most likely C2 disc but could be higher. Good news is this resolves rapidly with a specific adjustment.

We saw one case today corrected with one occipital condyle adjustment (which again is a problem origninally discovered by Dr. Gonstead in the 1960’s).

Note: Be careful of your neck posture remainining neutral on lifts.

Looks like he knows exactly what’s going on.

On the pix below you can actually see something is definitely misaligned:

(sorry for the poor quality of pix. Had to bump up the ISO to shoot without the flash. Thus grainy file)

I still don’t know what caused it. Could that be the barbell with 45×45lbs plates on my squat? I’d love to know it, so I could prevent this from happening again. Hopefully, some of you will find this helpful.
Got my appointment scheduled for Monday. Let the neck-crackin’ begin!