sblandrus’s BodyBlog

Wow, I haven’t been this sore in a long time!! Which is both a good thing and a bad thing; good because it means that i shook it up enough to give my muscles the wake-up call they needed, but bad because I wasn’t feeling anything for a few weeks there, and therefore not making any significant gains. But GREAT, AWESOME, I’m happy and hurting! LoL.  I talked with another one of the gals on this site about leg exercises, and she suggested 1 leg-leg press, and standing cable kickbacks for the upper glutes, AND BOY DID THEY WORK!!! It made me very happy because those are some difficult areas for me to target, and I could feel it (and still can ) in my glutes and hams.

Today is my mid-week cardio/stretching/abs day, and I think I’m gonna start throwing in some triceps.  I noticed the other day that while my biceps and deltoids are pretty well developed, the back of my arms are SERIOUSLY lacking.  There’s like no shape to them whatsoever, and here I was feeling so full of myself because I can see striations and veins in my bis and delts, yet the backs of my arms are pure mush. yuck. Well, I guess I should give them a little more attention.

Anyhow, enough for now,  I’ll catch ya later.

So, I had an excellent work out today and yesterday.  I added some stuff and switched out some exercises.  I can tell I’ve lost a lot of fat, my shape in my thighs etc has changed a lot.  Vascularity is improving in my delts and forearms.  I really want to work on shaping my arms a little better, mostly my triceps, and also continuing to lean out.
I have decided also to shave some things out of my diet, mostly salt and artificial sugars (already don’t eat regular cane sugar etc). I’ve just decided that it will help a lot with the overall look and function of my body, and also, I’ve read some studies that consuming a lot of artificial sweeteners disables your body from being able to naturally identify calorie dense foods in the right portions (sweets, that is) and it also keeps me desiring sweet food, and I want to change my tastes. I know you can manipulate your tastes and train your body to have a taste and not have a taste for certain foods, and I want to train my body for better success in that, and I believe this will help to curb my cravings for foods my body doesn’t need.
I love making new, challenging improvements.

So the caribbean was AMAZING!!! Our ship was wonderful!! I went with my amazing boyfriend Josh, and his family, and we had a great time…I actually ate pretty well, and worked out on the ship with Josh, although I missed a few workouts, and my diet was a little less than perfect, I think I actually slimmed down a bit…I don’t know how that worked out, but I do know that I was constantly running up and down flights of stairs, and this ship was like 1/2 mile long or something ridiculous like that, and my boyfriend and I were roomed at opposite ends, and he was on floor 6 and I was on floor 10…needles to say, I got some exercise
Anyhow, now I’m back, and it has been almost a week and a half *gulp* since I’ve been to the gym…I know, I know, it’s terrible, but I am hitting it today, and I think I needed the week off, because I had a LOT of catching up to do in my classes, and I just started a new job…anyhow, excuses aside, I am back in today, and I am excited ’cause I’ve missed it….
This is a new sarah, because a year or so ago, 1 1/2 weeks off would be the end of me, and I wouldn’t return for like 3 or 4 months, but something has changed inside of me, my commitment is running a little deeper this time, and I like it.
See ya at the gym! (haha, a nice cheesy ending…)

So, tomorrow’s the big day!! We fly out to Miami tomorrow evening, and board the ship sometime on saturday…I really have no idea what the itinerary is going to be, but I guess i’m just along for the ride…I don’t know why, but I’m kinda nervous…I guess I just don’t know what to expect…all I can think about is just laying on a reclining chair, basking in the sun, forgetting about every single responsibility that I have…if that’s all I do, then I’d say that would be an excellent vacation……….

Ok, so maybe this will be a series…a rant series about the women who defame the  "art" of exercising/body building…
So, don’t get me wrong, I love body space, and I want to give props to the women on here who TRULY BUST THEIR ASSES and deserve to post pictures on this forum, but then there are the women who are rotating their bodies to just the right angle, and getting that camera in just the right position to make them look like they do something at the gym…

A CLASSIC: the ass shot.  The derrière, in my experience, and from all the information I have gathered from several other women who are honest hard-working lifters, is one of THEE hardest areas to shape for the female population…I know for you boys those dimples formed by the glutes and the hip flexors are just second nature, but us women, boy it takes some dedication to get that fat magnet into muscular shape…so when I see these women who take pictures of their behinds, popping them out with there backs arched concavely, as to avoid any detection of the sag that is really happening back there, it really gets under my skin!!! You can tell, by the overall composition of their body if the shape they are presenting is truly legit…if your tummy is soft, and there’s no definition in the rest of your body, then it’s A CAMERA TRICK!!!

That’s right ladies, I’m callin you out!! 

Go ahead and keep posting these falsely representing photographs, but me and the women who are actually putting in the work, i.e. lifting HARD 3-4+ days/week, eating clean day-in and day-out, MAKING SACRIFICES, are going to be the ones with the hard glutes you are trying so hard to emulate….
Listen, I know I’m an attractive girl myself, so this is not coming from someone with a complex about her looks, this is coming from someone who would actually like to see some women really put in some work at the gym, and not live your lives to please men…don’t get me wrong, I love my man, and I love the attention he gives me for my body, but don’t make the reason for your existence getting flattering compliments from men on a body you haven’t even earned…

TAKE SOME PRIDE IN YOURSELVES, PUSH YOURSELVES, WORK HARD, AND THEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO BRAG AND SHOW OFF WHAT YOU’VE WORKED SO HARD FOR!!!

…

Lol, I know it’s cheesy, but I am totally addicted to the veins on my abdomen, I keep seeing more of them…every once in awhile a new one will pop out, and it reminds me of my progress…in fact, they are starting to pop out on my lower forearm, and I’m even starting to see one on my bicep…and mind you, this is not during or after a workout when I’m all pumped up, this is just me, standing, in regular life.  As long as I didn’t eat crap the night before, and I’m not bloated, the veins make their glorious appearance… I love them so much, and can’t wait to see more as I get leaner and leaner!!!

…just a thought

So last night was my boyfriend’s 21st birthday, and he lived it up!!! We hit up a few different bars, and I was the ….(drum roll)- DESIGNATED DRIVER!!!!!

It was a fun night, but I was obliged to be the DD, because, simply put, I do not like alcohol.  Only been drunk once, hate the taste of the stuff, and to the "Well, maybe you should try _________ (fill in the blank with whatever beverage you think I would enjoy)" comment, let me break it down for you:
1. never have i ever enjoyed the taste of alcohol, not even beer, I know it’s somewhat acquired, but to acquire it I’d have to burn off all my tastebuds

2. I don’t like the sugary-sweet drinks because I’m a water  drinker…no coffee, no juices, no sodas, no margaritas, just water (and sometimes crystal light if water is getting boring, but very VERY diluted)

3. I don’t care for the way alcohol makes me feel…I always feel  bloated, and have this overall feeling of my body screaming at me "That’s not something I like you putting in me!!!" … I  just feel gross, and sluggish

4. I really could live without being drunk…not having control is not on my top ten of best dispositions.

All in all, I could live the rest of my life without drinking another drop of alcohol, and not realized I had missed a single thing.

So, I didn’t drink, and I ate all of my meals, with NO CHEATS. So, after my little weekend binge, I am back on track. You may applaud if you like…

Also, I decided that on my cruise, for the sake of simplicity, I am going to continue eating my 6 meals/day, and each one will consist of a protein (mostly steak and seafood) and lots and LOTS OF VEGGIES!!! 1 or 2 meals/day I will substitute a nice piece of fruit for the veggies, or in addition to, and for the first meal of the day, I will have something similar to eggwhites and oatmeal, but prepared very gourmet, I am sure…. and on saturday night, and friday night when I am there I will have my cheat meal
Caribbean…I am SO  ready for you!!!!

3 days, wohoooo!!!!

Ok, so this weekend I officially overdid it. It started friday afternoon, and didn’t end ’till sunday night.  My one "cheat day" got out of hand…now, mind you, my cheat days didn’t last ALL day long, and on saturday I actually didn’t do too bad, but  I’m starting to let these days get too expanded and too out of control…I mean, c’mon, after all my hard work, if I let it get so out of hand like this, then I have to play catch-up, and that is a waste of energy, time, and sets me back that much further from my goal.

The problem isn’t the cheat itself, the problem is that I too loosely defined my cheat days…like "oh, I’ll just ease up on weekends", well, that could mean that I eat one cheat meal on saturday, or I spend the entire weekend pigging out and overeat so much that I take a couple step backwards on my bodyfat progress.

So, here it is: here is my new ultimatum, and plan for success…structure is the key.  I am now going to limit my cheat meals to ONCE A WEEK on weekends, every weekend for a month…So, more specifically that is THROUGH MARCH 2ND, I will be having one and ONLY ONE cheat meal a week, then after march 2nd, it will be once every two weeks consistently from there on out…if I feel like I need to cut back to once a month to make better progress then I will, otherwise once a week every two weeks will be IT!!!!  And, I am going to be planning an eating schedule for while I’m in the caribbean (LEAVING IN 4 DAYS!!!!) so that eating is not an issue…

seriously…I can do this, shouldn’t be a problem at all…

FAIL TO PLAN….PLAN TO FAIL!!!