The I Love Carbs Blog

One of the female competitors that I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with is coming over to my gym to work out with me.  I’m scheduled to train my back tomorrow…which is one of my favorite days   But she’s scheduled to do arms.  Hmmm…I like training arms too.  So, we’ll see how it all plays out.  I’m excited because we haven’t seen each other since the show over 2 months ago!  We were supposed to meet up and go to the Bodybuuilding show this past Saturday.  She ended up at the Pre-Judging and I went to the night show.  The show was awesome by the way!  The super heavy weight will surely get his pro-card soon enough.  His routine was so put together, and entertaining, it was better than te guest poser.   I’m meeting some pretty cool folks.  I met one of the judges that judged my show.  Nice guy.  And it turns out, the photographer that asked if I wanted to do the photo shoot is a photographer for a magazine called Southern Muscle.  He said he’ll be the video tech for my show in November. 

I also meet with my trainer tomorrow to update my diet.  I’m now 11 weeks out and the scale seems to be going down.  What I’m worried about is that my lower half is very stubborn and wants to hold onto the fat.  WHY?!!! *shakes fists in the air!* So, I’m going to ask him to bring my carbs down.  I have a feeling my upper body will look lean early, but, that’s okay.  It will give me time to focus on the lower half and do what I must.  Hopefully that doesn’t mean 2 hours of cardio a day…but you gotta do what ya gotta do! 

I did chest, abs, and cardio tonight.  I felt pretty good.  I kept being interrupted by folks I know in the gym, and it got me out of the groove.  I drove on and even though it wasn’t intense as I would have liked it to be, (due to long "talking" rests in between sets) it was good.  I pushed heavy weights and knocked out 20 sets for abs, and 35 minutes of cardio. 

Okay…so this Tropical Storm Fay is REALLY starting to become annoying!  It’s been none stop torrential down pours for the past 3 days.  Streets are becoming flooded, and the winds are running about 25mph to 50mph.  Luckily, we don’t live in a flood zone.

I did make it to the gym…a little rain won’t keep me at home.  I had awesome workouts this week.  I started with chest/ abs/ and cardio on Tuesday…still sore from it.  And then yesterday I trained back and calves.  Both are sore, which is great because it takes a lot for my calves to feel it.  What I’ve been doing differently with it is I hold it in the contracted position for a few seconds each time I do a rep.  Instead of pushing it through quickly.  I got to 135lbs on my Cable Lat Pull downs for 5 reps.  I think that’s a new PR, I can’t remember. Today I worked out shoulders/traps/and cardio.  I have a bad habit of wanting to do extra cardio, not because I enjoy it, but in fear of not coming in lean enough for the show.  But, my coach ended up doing his cardio on the machine right next to me…so, no extra cardio today. lol.  My weight is dropping and I’m 11 weeks out this Saturday.  I got myself up to 143lbs this time around, and now I’m down to 136.  I’m wanting to come in at 115lbs for this show since they have 3 weight classes.  I want to make the light weights. 

I have some cool news to share.  A few of my girlfriends are thinking about opening up a business together.  The business is something that’s right up my alley, and I’m quite talented and passionate about it.  *patting myself on the back*  Each one of us brings a talent to the table and I think this could really go far.  Right now we’re just brainstorming and collecting ideas and researching small business licenses, and loans.  Realistically, this will take some time to bring it all together, but I’m so extremely excited about it.  (I know…I’m being very aloof about the information)The other news is I was contacted yesterday by a photographer about a photo shoot this weekend.  There’s a BB show this Saturday, (which I’ll be going to see…yay!) and this photographer took some photos of me at my last show asked if I wanted to do a shoot at a hotel.  I unfortunately had to decline.  I’m not at all close to contest form.  I’m flattered for the invitation.  I do have a shoot lined up for the November show.  It’ll be on the beach.  That will be interesting.

Well, to all of you guys who live on the southern east coast, stay safe from the storm!  Until later…keep training hard, and lift heavy!

Last night my hubby and I watched a show on MSNBC called, Hooked: Muscle Women.  It was very interesting listening to the Pro FBB talk about how they got into body building.  What an inspiration!  But, listening to MSNBC portray these hard working athletes as having a control problem, or an obsession was infuriating!  I copied the link to a short video from the web site.  Listen to Dr. Harrison…or I call him, Dr. Douchebag, talk about how these athletes have “an illness, a disorder; if it seriously impairs social occupational functions, he calls this “Muscle Dysmorphia”.  He defines Muscle Dysmorphia as a syndrome in which individuals develope an unrealistic occupation with their muscularity or fitness.  He also says in the program that these women have an obsession with muscles, that he described them as psychotic behavior, and that they’ve learned to channel it into bodybuilding. This is considered an illness to him because they will pass up an invitation with friends to go out to dinner for their obsession of dieting.  Hmmmm…now, to me that’s silly!  What about all these Olympic athletes that have waited for 4 years to compete!  I’m sure with their set goals, they didn’t go out partying with friends every time they were invited out.  They trained SO hard to reach their goals.  Would this Dr. Douchebag consider them obsessive? with  psychotic behavior?  Or take him for example.  How many years did it take him to become a Harvard doctor?  I’m sure many years of studying for his set goal to become a doctor.  Would he consider that obsessive behavior?  Now, I’m particularly frustrated with this program because it paints a negative picture of what I’m passionate about.  But it would equally frustrate me if they talked about other athletes this way.  Anyone with a goal to set, whether it’s for competing or just a personal goal, should be praised for their accomplishments.  The female body builders that were interviewed were wonderful spokes persons for this program.  Unfortunately, they weren’t given the props they deserve.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26075262#26075262

Leg day…gotta love it.  Got to get those wheels growing! I went to bed late last night and woke up feeling the lazy Sunday afternoon.  My daughter and hubby got home from Jr. Cycling Nat’s late last night and we stayed up and watched some of the Olympic coverage.  Plus, they’re still on California time   Anyhoo, hubby and I made it to the gym.  He’s a great motivator.  I started with a couple warm up squat sets with the bar.  I did 4 sets of close squats, final 2 sets at 125lbs, 8 reps.  I don’t usually do close squats and it felt really good on my knees, no pressure at all.  I moved onto the leg press.  I did a PR of 450lbs.  After 4 sets of close stance leg press, I quickly moved to 2 sets of wide leg presses, high reps using 180lbs.  By this time, my quads are burning.  Next was high reps with the leg extensions.  I keep a lighter weight and really get a good pump going.  After that I did 4 sets of Stiff Legged Dead Lifts to give the hammies some love.  I kept it at 135lbs, 8 reps each.  My legs were shacking so bad, I hobbled over to leg press to work my calves.  I ended the training with seated calf raises.  I had to, but did not to do cardio.  I ended up doing 45 minutes on the elliptical. 

My awesome daughter raced this past week and got 7th in the Time Trial, 6th in the Criterium, and 5th in the Road Race.  She’s the top 15 year old in the Nation racing up against the Nation’s best 15-16 year old girls.  I’m very proud of her.  Instead of taking an off season, she’ll be keeping the race mode and do some fall races.  Next season we plan on traveling more around the country for her races. 

Train Hard, and Lift Heavy!  Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

This week I’ve been on a time limit.  Hubby and teen daughter are at Jr. Cycling Nat’s and me and my youngest daughter are at home.  She’s a gymnast and trains 3 days a week, 2-1/2 hours a time.  It’s pretty impressive watching those girls train.  It’s mostly body weight.  How can that be difficult when the girls weigh about 50-60lbs you ask?  They’ll do super sets of V-ups and sit ups.  They do pull ups and these things where they hang from the bar like doing bent arm hangs but they lift their legs almost entirely over the bar.  Right before they go completely over, they stop and then go back to the starting position.  Hardcore indeed!  They also climb a rope from the floor up to ceiling height, about 30-35 feet high.  Anyways, I digress.  Since I have my youngest and no hubby to tag team babysit, I go to the gym while she’s at her gym.  Since time is limited, I’ve super setted my workouts this week.  Back day was yesterday and I was so sore, I had to take some Advil because I just couldn’t get comfortable enough to fall asleep.  Today was shoulders/traps/cardio.  I felt a bit off at first, but once I got warmed up, whoa baby!  On my Cable Up-Right Rows, I finished at 130lbs for 6 reps.  I ended shoulders with doing the Reverse Pec Dec.  My shoulders were fried!  This actually works out great because I’m having to go during peak hours *YUCK* so getting my workouts over with is good.  I like my space in the gym and I can’t stand having to wait for equipment!  I’m officially leaning out now.  (I’m 13 weeks out!) I’ve reached a peak of 143lbs, 19% BF and starting last Saturday, my carbs are cycled with 2 High carb days, 2 Medium carb days, and 1 low carb day.  Since then my weight has dropped to 139lbs in a week.  Not bad.  If history repeats itself, I’ll drop the first 10-14lbs quickly, and the rest is SLOW stubborn weight.  I talked to my coach about the crazy cardio I did to lean out before, and I don’t want to visit that place again!  I’m going to have him adjust my carbs lower, earlier this time around because I just hold onto it in in my lower body.  My upper body came in very conditioned, and lean.  Now if I can have my lower half match it.  I’ll get some progress shots up once my hubby gets back to take photos. 

I’m still working on gaining size in the quads, hammies, calves, abs, and a thicker lower back.  I’m pretty happy with my back and arms right now and want to make sure the lower half catches up to give me a more symmetrical shape.  Oh, and my chest could be thicker   Aren’t we all our own worst enemies?! lol.