Buffy Buffington gets Buffer

So, I’ve decided to do 6 weeks or so of ALL compounds on my leg day (this is week #2).  Can I just say, OUCH!

BB squat:  4 @ 145# 10, 10, 8, 8

SLDL:  3 @ 95# (WAAAAAAY) too light  12, 12, 12

ATG front DB squats: 4 @ 60# (total) 10, 10, 9, 11 (longer rest before set 4~jaw workout) (started to feel nauseous during set #2)

Reverse Lunges: 3 @ 40# (total) 10, 10, 10 (still nauseous)

Walking Lunges: 3 @ 50# (total) 12 w/ pulse/12, 12 w/ pulse/12, 12/12 (I do 12 one way, and then turn around after BRIEF rest (and cursing) and do 12 back)  (pretty sure I WAS going to hurl; wondered if I should try to make it to the rubber floor in the weight area or just do it on the indoor/outdoor crap where the cardio equipment is?)

And there it is.  8 hours ago I completed the workout, and I’ve had DOMS for about the last hour.  TOTAL BLISS (but no HIIT tomorrow)!

Why? Is it because you LOVE it; killing yourself, I mean?  I wonder if I am hindering my results by NOT killing myself in the gym?  In all honesty, I’m a pretty sedentary individual.  I mean, I always intend to be active, and I was raking and bagging leaves like a madwoman last Saturday, cuz I knew it was a great full body workout.  I occasionally take an evening stroll with my husband.  Take about a 10 minute walk with my pug in the morning.  Occasionally go bowling, batting cages, hiking, mountain biking…Eh.  That’s about it.

 I have two FIFs (Friends-in-Fitness) whom I love and respect for their passion for working out.  I’m not saying that I DON’T have the passion, cuz when I’m in the gym, I’m IN.THE.GYM, but these cool chicks live for the sweat, the challenge, the nausea, the DOMS (I love me some DOMS too), and I’ve watched them workout and they look like they could die right there in the middle of the session (one does MMA, the other works with a trainer at my gym). Just drop dead. Unable to catch their breath, sweating profusely, stinky, red-faced, etc.

See, to me, that ain’t no fun.  No joy.  No redeeming factor other than going for the caloric expenditure.  Are my FIFs "buff", "muscular", or even, God forbid, "TONED" ?  Nope.  Un-uh.  Not even CLOSE.  HOWEVER, they WANT to be "buff", "muscular" and, at the very least, "TONED" ;)!  I keep saying to them, "You really love killing yourself like that day in and day out, huh?"  And they’re all like "Uh-huh!  LOVE it, live for it, gotta have it!"  And do you know what I say (and I’m NOT saying I’m right, just different) in response?  "Huh! Not me, FIF!  I would much rather lift heavy for 45 min., 3-4 days per week, toss in 1-2 sessions of HIIT, pack up my water bottle & head home for some whey."  But that’s just me.  I’m just sayin’.  I get my kicks in the kitchen, sister.  THAT’S where I get my results.  In the kitchen and in the bedroom, people.  =O  And, by "in the bedroom", I, of course, mean 7-8 hours of quality sleep, with a nice lil nap thrown in 1-2 days a week.

Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT dissing the peeps who LOVE the thrill or the challenge or the kick they get from grueling workouts.  I am also not saying that I want to take the easy way out.  I’m just asking if it’s a certain type of personality that thrives on these workouts?  My worry is that they feel that their hellacious workouts are somehow, somewhere going to make up for the lack of control and/or cleanliness in their diets.  I like to keep it real.  My workout are intense, my progress is slow, yet steady.  I know it would even be much quicker if I ate clean 100% of the time, 7 days a week.  But I can’t do that.  Not right now, anyway.  I eat 100% clean for 30 out of 35 meals per week, give or take…When and if I stop progressing toward my physique goals, will I "step it up" in the gym?  Probably not.  I’ll just kick it up a notch in the kitchen. 

That’s just me.  Tell me I’m doing it wrong, or I should be doing something different.  I’m in no hurry though.  And what works for me may not work for someone else.  I guess if I was observing noticeable, significant results in my peers, I would give their way a whirl, but until then…

I am down to the wire in my 40+ group challenge…standards are high, diet is STRICT, workouts are intense.  But, in all honesty, it’s the diet I’ve concerned myself with the most.  Especially, getting enough protein.  It is not easy, and I stumble and make mistakes here and there, but I can tell you, without a doubt, that I am seeing DAILY improvement in my physique.  So, when people tell you "abs are made in the kitchen" and "it’s ALL ABOUT the diet", listen.  Believe.  My pics will be up within 2 weeks.  The proof is always in the pics.  True story.

Seriously.  I KILLED my legs today.  And, seriously, I didn’t eat very clean this weekend.  And I don’t have time to be eating dirty…so I suppose this was my penance.

BB squats to parallel:  4 x 10 @ 140#

Split squats: 3 x 10 @ 40# (this is TOTAL, not per DB~I’m not a masochist!)

Elevated lunge: 3 x 10 @ 40#

BB front ATG squats: 3 x 10 @ 60#

Walking lunges: 3 x 12 w/ pulse/12 w/o pulse @ 50#

SS w/ SLDL: 3 x 12 @ 50#

No isolation exercises; all compound movements…calves’ll have to wait for another day.

Now how do I parlay that passion into making a good living, so that I can leave my adequate, yet passionless, job as a legal assistant, in the dust?  I am not kidding.  I eat, drink and breath lifting, nutrition, nutrition, lifting…thinking about my next workout, my last workout, why that person works out like that, and that person works out like that, what book to read next, what information from that article to forget cuz it’s crap, why that person eats like that, but says they want to look like this, should I be a personal trainer, a nutritionist, I’m OLD…Ok, not really old, but pushing 42, and NOW I want to embark on an entirely different path, careerwise?!?  Am I fleeping nuts?  Off my rocker?  Could this be a passing fancy? 

You would think with my passion, that I would look like Jamie Eason, Monica Brant, or Mandy Blank, but I don’t.  Not yet, and perhaps never.  But I have a picture in my mind of my dream physique that I see almost every minute of every day.  It never goes away, it does not fade, and it doesn’t waver.

Yes, I plan to become certified as a personal trainer, but I’m not really sure I WANT to be a personal trainer.  I definitely want the knowledge.  I LOVE learning, tweaking my knowledge, applying my knowledge, tweaking again, and most of all, I love SHARING my passion, my knowledge…

Where do I go from here?  All I really know is that right now, right this minute, I have realized that this life is my passion.  It was ALWAYS my passion.  From when I was climbing trees as a 7-year-old, being picked before the boys to play pick-up football, throwing the ball harder than all the boys during dodgeball, being ALMOST voted "most athletic female" in junior high, to when my parents told me that I would not be allowed to participate in sports, because they took too much time away from "family"…it was my passion then, just as it is now.