SixZebra’s Workouts

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. 

After a visit to my trainer today, it was decided that I would take a long break from weightlifting and switch over to crossfit workouts.   Specifically, no weighted leg workouts which is just fine by me.  I need the break; I’ve got injuries that need to heal and I don’t need anymore muscle. 

So I signed up for organized crossfit workouts starting tomororw.  Other than that, the only workout my legs will be getting will be in the form of track work/stairs/etc. 

This will definitely be a very nice break from all the years of weightlifting. 

Yesterday’s workout went as usual.  Chest and a very rare bicep workout.  Even though there was a crossfit class going on all around me I was able to escape into my workout with the help of my ipod.  Then it hit me.  Why the hell am I working out like I’m trying to build muscle?  So I got to dwell on that for awhile. 

It’s taken me about 5 years to get to a size that I’m very happy with.   I’m not about how big I can get but rather, how big can I get but still look good and not look to "out there".  So I’m pretty happy right now.  What I"m not happy about is my conditioning coming into shows.  I’ve only really come in supremely conditioned one time;  I won that show.

I’ve decided to make some radical changes to my training.  As much as I love to throw the weights around, I’m going to switch over to crossfit only training for awhile.  I just don’t seem to get the energy from lifting weights like I used to.

I’ve done crossfit workouts before and they definitely kick your butt if you aren’t a slacker.  A crossfit trainer at my gym who is a competitive bodybuilder does only crossfit workouts now.  I asked him about muscle loss and he told me he only lost about 7-8# overall, (crossfit trg for 1 year) but his conditioning is just plain sick!  He just recently competed in the Northern Ky show and won his class handsdown.  This with only 5 weeks of dieting! 

With doing crossfit 3 on 1 off,  he was able to maintain seriously low bodyfat levels without dieting.  So, with that in mind, since I eat pretty clean in the off season, that is now my new training goal.   I’ll be laying off the regular weight workouts for awhile and getting seriously in shape now!  I’m tired of coming into shows in less than stellar conditioning. 

So what’s a good way to relieve some pent up frustration?  Yeah, that’s right, pick on someone smaller than you and get a good butt kicking in the process.  AKA, defensive tactics training at work.  Although, physically, I’ll probably be the smallest person there - strength wise - well, somebody is gonna get hurt! 

They deserve it though.  I figure what comes around goes around.  I got my ass beat at the Northern, so now I’m obligated to beat somebody else’s ass.  Right?   Figuratively speaking?  It’s not that I’m a violent person because I can be sometimes, it’s just nature’s way.

So I’m up at zero dark thirty, to get to class on time, then direct from there go to work my real job where hopefully I will not have to find out if the stuff works. 

Glad I did it, glad its over!  I managed to place 4th in my class for which I’m grateful.  Could I have done better?  Its really tough to say.  There are several things going on that may have prevented me from placing higher.  I think the biggest thing was that I had scheduled a photo shoot the day before the show.  I basically peaked for the shoot, and then afterwards, it all went downhill.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  I’d say in a week or so most everyone will forget about the Northern results and move on to the next show.  The pictures - well they are here forever.  No doubt I put more importance into how I looked for that than I did the show.  I didn’t peak on purpose,  rather accidentally.  It’s taken me 15 contests and reading Layne’s articles on water to finally figure out that I do not need to cut back on water thursday into friday. 

My trainer keeps pretty meticulous notes on my diet/training so he is well aware of how my body works now.  Let me back up a bit though,  I’ve always prepped this way with dropping water.  I’ve always come in hard and dry.  What probably made this a little different was the amount of stress I put upon myself in regards to doing the photo shoot.  So stressed that I did not sleep the night before the show.  Of course, having no sleep was an additional stress and I just went down hill the rest of the show day.

I started competing in bodybuilding, so that is definitely another factor that affects me now as a figure competitor.  Several girls at the show commented that I still looked like a bodybuilder.  After having looked at the comparison photos, another glitch is my particular physique.  I have very long legs and a very short torso which totally throws off any symmetry I might have.    I think subconsciously when I pose I tend to still want to look big as I did in bodybuilding. 

Its something I need to work on - that is, trying to hide/fix my flaws for the next contest.  Yeah, I already have my next show planned. 

Overall though, I can’t wait to get my pics from the photoshoot back, the show, well that’s history.

Or wine, whatever is left to buy at the "bar" at the Northern Ky Show.  All hell breaks loose today.  Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating.  I have a photo shoot this morning with Rick Lohre, pro Julie Lohre’s husband.  I’ve never done one before so I’m anxious/excited.  Then come home, eat, try and get a nap, then get down to covington, ky to do my checkin and get spray tanned a couple more times.  Then get home, sleep, get up at 6am and get the show started!

I’m trying very hard to remember why I got into all this crap in the first place. 
What would I tell a rookie competitor? 
This is the best you’ve ever looked in your life?  You’ve come so far and made so much progress?  Just doing what you’ve  done you should be proud to be on stage?  You’ve earned the right to stand up there on stage?

AArrgghh!  How about, don’t worry, you can hold your own up there? Or, There’s nothing else you can do at this point so  enjoy the moment?  All your friends are working and you get to hang out with muscleheads and drink wine/beer all while being surrounded by some of the most incredibly hot people on the planet?

Sigh….I like the last one.  The wine/beer part.  And the hot people thing.  That’s very cool. 

WTH!  Not to often you get to strut around on stage in a really hot 2-piece bikini and 5-inch heels in front of 2000+ people!

"Vitam vehementer vive”.

Oh good God  I can smell the pizza already!  Stupid freaking butterflies in my stomach just increased in size, probably from all the freaking salt/water/carbs I had yesterday!  I cannot believe how many little things I have left to do before this friday!  Wheeew!  Where to start? 

Let the mindgames begin! As if they hadn’t already started right?  So I’m doing figure, I’m sitting  at 7% or just below, why the hell do I still look fat in the mirror??  WTH?  I’ve been looking at to many contest pics I guess.  Seriously, anyone who competes, are you really ever 100% happy with how you look??  I was one time, the last bodybuilding show I did.  I was happy with how I looked. 

Stupid freaking mind games!  Since I loaded everything on the menu last night, today is my first lo-carb day until Friday.
Nothing will really happen until thursday when I go to lo-sodium/lo-water.  I dry up quick so I can’t really totally drop water.  But I will decrease it friday/saturday.  It does make a huge difference in my physique.   Off to the gym!

With 9 days out from the contest I was starting to get concerned, ok, freaking out, that my suits I’d ordered from CJ’s were not in my hands yet.  Finally, UPS just pulled up and voila!  My suits had arrived!  Guys, sorry, I’m not sure you can understand the excitement in me as I opened up my little package.  Girls - you know what I’m talking about!!!

They are just gorgeous!  I had talked to CJ for sometime about cut, color etc etc.  But most especially my particular physique which has made it hard for me in the past to get a decent fitting suit.  My last one-piece, albeit pretty, was a disaster.  Not only did it NOT fit, ( it did however fit the manequin) but I think I had to reglue on almost every stone on the suit!!  So after fumbling around trying to open the package, I finally got a look at my one-piece and two-piece.  Gorgeous!

I’m contest ready so when I tried on my one-piece - it fit perfect!  I’m so happy - and relieved.  The stoning work is just beautiful!  Although I really detest the one-piece round in figure and I wish they’d do away with it - its still so much fun walking out on stage in it.  Buts is seriously overated and way way expensive.  NPC - get rid of the one-piece round, seriously.   No matter how you try to justify doing the one-piece round - stupid is stupid.  The one-piece round is just stupid.  Its about the physique - now how you fill out a one-piece suit. 

I should probably be a little more excited about having only 10 more days until showtime.  But there are more important things going on.  Like a little trip to the Cayman’s 4 weeks from now!!  Now that is exciting!!  Seriously, I’m getting pretty pumped about the show.  And I know the closer I get the bigger the butterflies in my stomach get.  I’m seriously excited that Saturday will be my last leg/cardio day.  Not that I’ve done a lot of cardio, because I haven’t.  But I’m happy none-the-less.

My diet got changed  this week.  One meal was dropped and my carbs got cut.  All-in-all, I lost about 300 cals a day.  I really feel the difference in the lower carbs and having to spread my 5 meals out a little longer.  I’m seriously flat.  I refuse to get on a scale though.  I know at this point all to well the mental games of daily weigh-ins.  Occasionally I’ve looked in a mirror.  I don’t even use a mirror for my posing at this point.  I’m totally going by feel. 

But seriously,  I’d rather think about post-show vacation.  A trio of us is going to Cayman brac for a little scuba diving and beer drinking.  Meals 1-5 will consist of oreos, beer and chicken.  Now that’s a good diet!