Kayla’s BodyBlog

So, I went to the gym on Saturday and worked out with my friend and her trainer…I decided to start training with him 4X a week for at least the next 4-5 weeks.  We only did about 30 mins of legs and less than 24 hours later, I’m having difficulty walking! 

I always thought I was giving myself decent workouts, but Saturday proved to me that I have definitely NOT been pushing myself and my intensity has been pretty pathetic.  I’m looking forward to getting my ass kicked by someone else though!

My short term goal is to look AMAZING for my boyfriend’s boxing match on September 13…however, since that’s only 3 weeks a way, I can’t hope for a miraculous transformation by then.  However, I really want to train hard and consistently for the next year…maybe even consider competing in either fitness model/figure division in 2009.  We’ll see!  Will keep updating progress pics!

So last week, I did pretty well.  I did 4 days of cardio and 3 days of lifting - I was SO sore!  By Wednesday, I was in so much pain, I made an appointment for that night to get a massage

I’m a lot weaker than I used to be - not that I should be surprised.  I got up at 5 and did my cardio, then lifted in the afternoon and kept my diet through the week.

BUT, my boyfriend drove to Phoenix (he lives in Tucson) to visit me this weekend, and I totally ended up blowing off the gym, eating out, and drinking.  He’s fit and actually training for a boxing match in September, but the problem is, he and I have completely different body types and goals.  I want to get super lean and he wants to gain about 25 lbs.  I have a decent metabolism, but he is a true ectomorph and can still maintain a six pack eating breakfast burritos, In-N-Out, and drinking 2 dozen beers a weekend.

I don’t settle for mediocrity in any other part of my life - I always strive to excel and be the best.  So, I don’t understand why I’m willing to settle for less than the best for myself physically.  I find it easy to excuse binge drinking and eating unhealthy because I can do those things and still look decent - but I don’t want to look decent, I want to look like Jamie Eason!   And even if I stay consistent and clean during the week, I will definitely be working against any progress I’m making if I blow it on the weekends. 

Anyway, my goal is to come back with a vengeance this week - now that I’m getting acclamated to waking up early, hitting the gym twice a day, and prepping my food the night before, I really need to up the intensity/duration of my cardio and tighten the diet up even more.

I will be driving to Tucson this weekend to be with my boyfriend - he got an LA Fitness membership so that we could go together, but that has yet to happen!  I need to plan in advance and stick to my plan - if that means I go to the gym by myself while I’m in Tucson or that I have to go grocery shopping and keep food at his place, then I just need to do it!

I’m not feeling up for posting progress pics yet - next Sunday I’ll put some new ones up.  Until then!

So, I just had my 23rd birthday last weekend - I feel old!  Now that I have no more excuses to eat, drink, and be merry, it was time to get down to business this week!

So far, so good - today and yesterday I woke up at 5 AM to hit the gym for some pre-breakfast cardio and then hit the gym again in the afternoon to lift - man am I sore!

My manager had a quote by her desk this week that I really like: "If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always gotten."  So true!  For so long I have been inconsistent and making the same mistakes - and look at me, I’m exactly the same!  It has really helped motivate me this week. 

I also have a little mantra that I repeat to myself throughout the day "Smaller Leaner Faster Stronger."

I’ll check progress once a week and post pics starting Monday - I’m committing myself to giving it all I got for the next 6 weeks and I’ll re-evaluate my goals once I’m there!

Well I guess it’s not REALLY starting from scratch…I went a little crazy after breaking up with my ex and re-connecting with some not so health conscious friends….been eating out a lot, drinking a lot, and going to the gym intermittently at best.  The pictures don’t lie!  Anyway, I have rediscovered the joy of cooking (and eating) healthy food and how great it feels to be sore for days after a good workout.  I’m turning 23 on August 2, and want to be in amazing shape (the best of my life) by then.  So - weekly pictures from here on out!  And I think some tanning is called for too   That’s a little over 10 weeks…making my goal of 110 lbs more than attainable. 

I appreciate everyone’s support and feedback!

So, this weekend I met with fitness model/figure competitor Alicia Leombruni. We talked for about an hour and a half and she gave me some good feedback.

I realized that I need to eat more and to eat more frequently…I need to make sure I always have enough food with me at work, so even when I work a ten hour day I’m not forced to either starve or raid the vending machine.

At her suggestion, I’m also going to try switching to circuit style full-body workouts instead of the 4 day, 2 muscle group per day split I had been doing.

More than anything, I just realized it all comes down to how badly I want to change - if I want it bad enough, I will pass on going out to eat, I will get up at the crack of dawn to get my workouts in, etc. 

I will be heading on a road trip to Iowa for about a week, so I’m a little bummed that my eating and workouts will be nearly impossible to manage for that week - hopefully we can at least go hiking or something.

So I’m thinking I want to start doing HIIT for my cardio…I’ve been looking at the articles for examples, but just wanted to know what has worked well for others.  If you have any advice or insight, please let me know!

I had a great week - I worked out every day except for one rest day and I’ve even gotten a couple of my co-workers to start going to the gym with me at lunch!

I’ve been keeping two journals - one for food and one for workouts - and they have really helped me stay accountable and always be mindful of what I’m putting in my mouth. 

I got Kim Lyon’s book, Your Body, Your Life and read it pretty much in a day.  Although I’m not really following her book, it did make me see some improvements that I can make…

I realized that there are really three components to a balanced workout schedule - lifting, cardio, AND flexibility.  Even though I used to be a dancer, I NEVER stretch after I work out…and the few times that I do, I usually just stretch my legs and neglect my back, neck, shoulders, etc. I realized that my lack of stretching may be contributing to my problem with injuries. 

Another thing I am incorporating is WARMING UP!  I never warm up - I always just jump right into the weight lifting, maybe doing one warm up set.  Now I’ve started taking the extra 5 mins to jump on a treadmill or elliptical to increase my blood flow and raise my body temperature before racking up the plates!

The final thing I realized is that just because things come up or your schedule doesn’t go how you planned, that isn’t an excuse to think the whole week is blown.  I am a very organized and efficient-minded person - I plan my week in advance, and in the past, if I miss a day of lifting or didn’t eat according to my meal plan, I would get really discouraged and lose focus.  Now I realize that if I miss a workout, I just have to find time for it on another day of the week, and if I overeat a bit, I just need to adjust my intake for that day accordingly or do some extra cardio.  I finally get that I don’t need to maintain a written-in-stone schedule.

I’ve also resisted the urge to weigh myself daily or every few days - I have decided that I am going to concentrate on my food intake and workouts and then check my weight and body fat after 4 weeks to see what progress I have made.  I know I needed to break myself of using the scale as a sign of progress, when I really should be using how I look and feel.  Along the same line, I also will wait until 4 weeks to take updated progress pics - February 1 can’t come soon enough!

On a final high note, my shoulder pain has completely disappeared - after having about a week’s worth of pain that prevented me from moving my right arm much at all, I was able to lift and play racquetball without pain!  They also did an ergonomic assessment on me at work and made some major adjustments to my work station, so I think that really helped as well.

Anyway, I’m feeling great and can’t wait to see where I am in another 3 weeks!

So last week, my right shoulder started hurting…to the point where I could barely move my right arm at all.  Any time I moved my arm, especially forward or laterally, I would feel a sharp pain in the joint at the front and side of the muscle.  This is the same thing that happened to me earlier this year with my left shoulder…that took months to recover from.  And both times, the pain just came w/o warning - there was no real moment of injury…I had worked out upper body on Wednesday, but the pain started on Friday when I was just watching tv at home.  It’s aggravated by working at a computer typing all day and it’s almost impossible for me to do things like brush my teeth, comb my hair, and get dressed.

I’m really depressed.  It’s frustrating to have limited use of my dominant arm anyway, but I have been completely unable to train at all.  My motivation is at an all time low and I’ve been eating like crap and not drinking enough water.  I never really figured out what happened to my left shoulder, so I really have no idea what is wrong with my right one now.  I just had to rest my shoulder completely, ice it a lot, get massage therapy, and physical therapy - I don’t want to go thru this again!

I’ve got to try to stay positive even though I can’t train.  I’m seeing my doc tomorrow to get his take on what’s going on. 

Wish me luck! :\

So, I’ve been sick since before Thanksgiving, but became really ill at the end of last week.  I spent the entire weekend sleeping, medicating, and coughing.  I want to get back to training, but I get up at 5AM to work out, which is the time my congestion, coughing, sinus pressure is the worst - and of course, it keeps me from getting a full night’s sleep.  I still feel like crap even though I’m improving - how do I know when I should return to training?  I don’t know whether I should give myself another few days to recover or if I should just suck it up and get back to it tomorrow bright and early.  I don’t get sick very often, and certainly not as sick as I have been all weekend.  I’m just not sure where the line is between being smart about letting yourself get well and when it comes down to just being a pussy and making excuses. 

Well, I was dreading putting updated progress pics up, but I knew I needed to.  I haven’t made much progress - I had a bad couple of weeks where I didn’t work out very much at all and ate sh!t.  I also haven’t been going tanning, which does not help my pics look any better!

Anyway, as some other bodyspace members previously pointed out to me, it’s nearly impossible to lean out while gaining muscle at the same time and that I needed to either decide to bulk or to cut.  I would rather start really lean and then try to bulk, so I need to get to my ideal body composition and then try to add muscle from there.

Anyway, even though my most recent pics are kind of embarassing, in 4-6 weeks I know I will be able to put up pics to be proud of!