SixZebra’s Workouts

I don’t get to excited about a supplement, except for my Beverly Proteins of course.  But a month ago I went and tried out a sample of ALRI’s Venom Hyperdrive. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/alri/hyper.html The motivation being that this supplement supposedly curbed cravings/appetite.  The sample contained two doses.  Ignorning the directions (that’s bad mmmkay), I took one pre-workout and one again at around 5pm.  My cravings came to a screeching halt! 

So, I’m currently in off-season mode and have been snacking more than usual.  So I went ahead and bought a bottle from bb.com.  Started yesterday with the same doseage (worked for me the first time).   It difinitely did its job.  Not only did it curb my cravings (still got in all my good meals), but I had a killer workout!  I’m a serious cake/pastry addict!  I mean, the type where if its the day before a show and you put it in front of me, I’m going to at least take a bite!    So when a product comes along that literally makes this craving disappear - well I get excited!

I put on some serious fattage during vacation so I’m back into my crossfit workouts and with the help of venom, in a couple of weeks I should be back to much trimmer me. 

I can honestly say, its good to be home. Having spent the past 9 days in Cayman Brac, diving, caving and rock climbing, it’s still nice to be back.  Its a beautiful island.  Very little in the way of sandy beaches; more iron shore.  Wicked, sharp, jagged, death-is-a-step away iron shore.    Caves everywhere.  We did quite a bit of exploring and found caves where there were no footprints inside except ours. 

Some of the caves have been and still are used by islanders during hurricanes.  We went into one called Peter’s Cave that was probably the coolest cave we went into.  We were suprised to see it stocked with a few items.  We quickly got out our flashlights and took off.  I don’t know how deep it went because we kept finding little crannies that opened up into bigger rooms; on and on. 

Another interesting thing about the Brac.  Welll, first off, there’s something like 1200 residents.  There were days where we would be on a beach looking for more caves in the bluff and see no one.  Ok, either there’s something funny going on with the currents there or something.  On the beaches, hundreds, maybe thousands of shoes litter the shoreline.  All flip-flop style shoes.  I do not exaggerate when I say you could probably walk one particular stretch of beach (iron shore) for 1/2 mile and step on a flip-flop all the way.  We contemplated this over several beers one evening and decided they were killing the tourists and all that was left was their shoes. 

Night life.  Forget it.  We did find one little local bar in a place called Spot Bay.  We pulled up to get a beer but after surveying the area decided they’d probably had enough of tourists as their high season just ended.  So we left.  There were a couple other lively places, Edd’s place.  We drove past it numerous times; loud music thumping; and dominoes being the attraction.  We rented a house on the north shore in a place called the Bight but spent a lot of time at a Reef Diver’s Resort.  Not only because they run a great dive, Thanks to Chris and BJ!  But the food there is no less than phenomenal.  The absolute best bar food I’ve ever eaten!  They also served meals buffet style; for $12-25 you could eat like a king!    I don’t think I ate one disatisfying dish there.  And trust me, I tried it all!

We met a lot of great people.  Bruno and Sophie from France.  Steve from Florida.  Too many others to name.  Diving was spectacular.  Although we did not do as much as we had planned (tanqueray not good mmmkay), we still got some exceptional dives in.  We all agreed we loved the place, no droves of tourists, very well run dive boats, great food.  But we already decided we are going back to Honduras for the next trip.   Roatan here we come - again.

For the love of God, I thought the end of my work day would never come!  How the hell can a 10 hour shift seem like an eternity?  Well, it can when you know that there’s a place in the sand and a beer with my name waiting for me. 

So I’m taking a little break from the weights and storing the chicken and broccoli in the freezer for a week.  I still have a full day tomorrow as I’m working at a local bodybuilding show.  Namely the Cincinnati show.  Great show!  This is one of my favorites as it is not only in my hometown, but the winner gets the title Mr or Ms Cincinnati.  At one time I wanted that title more than life itself.  After having competed in it twice, the third time was the charm!   Now I help out with the judging.  I think I enjoy that as much as actually competing. 

Now getting back to the beer thing.  Its been a while since I’ve actually consumed a considerable quantity of beer so I need to rekindle my love for the brew.  Yes, this is a bodybuilding site; all about fitness and health.  Well a healthy mind goes with it!  And I think my mind will be healthier once I’ve imbibed in vast quantities of local brew for a few days.  And indulged in the local carib cuisine. 

Cheers!

About the only time I really pig out and enjoy food  is during Christmas and vacation.  This waiting for vacation to start is just as cruel as waiting for a show to be over.  I want some good food dammit!  I’m still planning on packing some protein powder with me as we get to our destination on a Sunday.  Where we are going, we might have a hard time finding a decent meal on a late Sunday night. 

I’m guessing I should, while in the airport,   buy some cinnabon roles, sub sandwiches and a bottle of good liquor.  Cause you never know. 

I’ve been so busy past several weeks I haven’t put much thought into my upcoming dive vacation in Cayman Brac.  Everything seems to have settled down now.  I’m done competing for a while.  My current diet is very enjoyable and I’m able to maintain a single digit bf.  Of course once we get to our destination I don’t believe that single digit will be around for very long. 

I have no intention of trying to eat a strict healthy diet.  If its healthy and its in front of me and I’m hungry, I’ll eat it.  But other than that, worrying about calories, fats, protein and all that crap - ain’t gonna happen.  I’m a big chicken eater so I’ll not have a problem getting the protein in.   I love to cook, so we’ll be cooking a lot of our own meals, it just won’t be healthy   But it will be good.  PLus the more beer you drink, the better food tastes.  That’s a plus.

Ok, I have to say, loving the crossfit  and all, but I’m just a little bit sore.  So no workout today.  Besides I worked out 5 days in a row so my body deserves a rest.  I seriuosly considered going into work an hour late so that I could go to the noon crossfit class.  Did I mention I was hooked?  But I have to take my own advice and give it a break.

I splurged some last night, which may account for some of my desire to work out this morning.  So it was my husband’s birthday yesterday and I always get him his favorite, a carrot cake.  Well, crap, what the hell??  I can’t look at a freshly baked carrot cake sitting on my kitchen counter and not have a piece.  So I had a couple pieces instead. 

Man, that stuff is good!  And, it was still good this morning when I woke up!

Just finished up my last workout for the week.  This was my first week of doing nothing but crossfit and I have to say I enjoyed it immensely.  I really can’t imagine going back to straight weight workouts for awhile.  I think I’ve probably explored everything I could in the freeweight workouts.  What a great refreshing change this has been for me. 

I highly recommend it if you just need a change for a week or so.  You still get a kickass workout - my muscles can attest to that!

Well after today this will be my first week of nothing but crossfit workouts.  No weight training, no benching, seated presses etc etc.  I like it!  One of the goals in doing Crossfit 5 x a week was to helpl maintain my bf below 10%.  That with my diet I seemed to have leveled out post show.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, there is a huge blip in that plan.  That being vacation. 

Sorry Mr Trainer, but there’s no cottage cheese and broccoli in this kid’s diet that week.  Meals 1-5 will mainly consist of chicken (gotta get my protein), oreos and beer.  But as my diet is really nice right now, I do not forsee any problems once I get back and get back into diet mode. 

So anyway, love the crossfit stuff.  I have done it before on my own, but doing it with a group and for real,  its great!

I highly recommend it!

As it was decided between my trainer and I that I would not do weighted workouts for awhile, i made the switch over to crossfit.  I’m took my own advice to everyone else and signed up for classes, a whole bunch of classes.  I’ve done these on my own before but there are so many different exercises and form is very important.  I’ve gotten enough injuries from freeweights!

My first group training was yesterday.  I think my energy output was greater in the 16 mins it took me to complete the workout than in any weight workout I’ve done lately.  I think I’ve found my new home for awhile.  So my new training split will be a circuit routine with my trainer on mondays and crossfit for four other days during the week.  I’ll do this for a few months and re-evaluate then to decide my next action.