Buffy Buffington gets Buffer

Had vacation day, but went to gym as always at 6:30 a.m.  Anxious and excited for quad workout.  Decided to mix things up a bit and put walking lunges at END of workout instead of first, as usual.  Just a reminder, this week I’m high repping/lighter weights.  Next week, gonna go heavier/less reps…

Friday, 4/17:

Precor/15 min./Prog. 5/Resistance 8

Hack squats - 3 x 15

Split squat - 3 x 15

Reverse lunge - 3 x 12

Walking lunge - 3 x 12 w/ pulse

Hard, but so fun.  Worked up a great sweat and ready to take on the world!  Went home, took dog for walk…lots of energy!  The DOMS are setting in - glutes & quads.  LOVE IT!  Diet has been good, excluding the bar burger I had for lunch.  It was such a beautiful day here in Michigan!!  Gonna hit the gym on Saturday for some a.m. cardio.  Mood is GREAT!

Ok, ok, before I offend the CPT’s out there, let me explain myself.  First, I WANT to become a Certified Personal Trainer, so I may be dysfunctional as well!  Or, I’m making a HUGE generalization and I request your patience and forgiveness.

What has prompted this entry, you ask?  The fact that in my small, home-town gym, there are three trainers:  1)  A female who has competed in bb comps in the past, 2) A male who has also competed, and 3) an older male who ALMOST seems completely normal.

As to our lovely CPT #1, I have trained with her on various occasions throughout my membership at this gym, but not in the last 1 1/2 years.  Why?  Because she’s so much more interested in gossip, discussing drinking plans for the weekend, who’s dating whom, than in what I am actually needing and/or wanting from my workouts.  You cannot get a word in edgewise during your entire hour together, and it’s ALWAYS about said CPT!!  She doesn’t wipe down machines after her clients vacate them, she flits about the gym during your session, flirting & chatting with anyone who lets her talk about herself, she welcomes you into HER social circle UNTIL you cease training with her, then she doesn’t even look at you at the gym anymore, just "thru" you, if you know what I mean… I’m assuming you are getting the picture?  Crystal clear, huh?

Now, macho CPT #2, is really a piece of work!  He’s charming, good-lookin’, your regular "tall, dark & handsome" dude.  I have also trained with CPT #2, which entirely pissed off CPT #1, to the point where she quit acknowledging my existence entirely, even though I spoke with her about the switch before I made it.  CPT #2 seems to go about the training process correctly, but his personal life gets in the way - waaaayyy too often.  He can’t commit to a relationship for more than a week, and, when he does get back together with his on-again/off-again girlfriend OF YEARS, there’s always drama, drama, drama, which he LOVES to share with his clients during the workout.  I’m not bashing him nearly as much as CPT #1, because I had decent results while working with him, but c’mon already!  Leave the personal stuff where it belongs!

I think I’ll not comment too much on CPT #3, as I don’t see him often anymore, but I can tell you that while he claims to be "engaged" to a fellow gym-goer, if a woman looks at him sideways, he’d take that as an invitation to hit on her…

So, back to my title:  ARE all CPT’s dysfunctional?  Does it take an arrogant, egotistical, hedonistic personality to succeed in this field?  And I do mean SUCCEED!  None of the above trainers are hurting for clients and those that are with them, have been with them for YEARS!! 

Am I just too sensitive?  Expecting more than your average "Joe/Jill Gym-Goer" from my trainer?

I DO want to be certified as a Personal Trainer, but I’m just not sure I meet the prerequisites…

I’m at that "turning point" in meeting my physique goals - I’m soooooo close!  I have a small amount of fat to lose, but I have some good definition all over my body, so I’ve decided I’m ready to "carve it up"!  lol

In keeping with this goal, I decided to split my leg workouts into one ham day, and one quad day; thus, working legs twice a week.  I was wary at first, because I’ve had significant DOMS almost EVERY time I have done a leg workout - since I started hitting the weights 3+ years ago!!  I wasn’t sure if my recovery rate would allow me to work legs twice a week.

Well, I can!  And, I have!  I’ve only been doing this for 2 weeks.  So, 2 quad workouts, 2 ham workouts, so far.  I LOVE IT!!  I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with my leg workouts.  I dread them ’cause they’re so intense, yet I love them ’cause they’re so intense!   I’m recovering well, although not quite 100%.  I would say more like 97%…

I always write out my workouts the night before, so I am really nit-picking as to whether an exercise primarily hits the ham or the quad.  It seems to be working out great and I’m excited to lose that last bit of fat on my "bits", and see that definition in my legs!  Someday, maybe I’ll even post some pics of my gams! 

I am really loving my workouts right now and feel 110% motivated.  I hope you are too!

To be honest, I’m not really sure why I’m posting today.  So far, it’s a good week, but it’s only Monday, so who knows what the rest of the week holds?  I had a weird workout this morning.  I workout at a gym about 10 minutes from home.  My husband and I drive to the gym together, but workout separately.  See, I workout MUCH harder than my husband.  He has become complacent and believes, mistakenly, I OFTEN point out, that at 49 years young, his physique peaked back in his 30s (before I knew him, unfortunately).  Therefore, he does his thing and I do mine.  This morning, I found myself wide awake at 5 a.m. and, knowing that hubby would have to sleep til the last minute before we headed to the gym, I got up and went about my morning routine:  brush teeth, hair in pony tail, don cute gym outfit I laid out the night before, feed and water The Pug, start the coffee (it was scheduled to go off about 45 minutes later), prepare pre-workout drink (White Flood aka nitric oxide), prepare workout drink (Purple Wraath - bcaas), take The Pug outside…yada, blah, yada…I decided that today, since I usually sip my N.O. and still have some remaining by the time we arrive at the gym, I had the time and would consume the entire 16.9 oz before I even had my coffee.  To put it bluntly, I slammed that bitch!  I was thinking to myself, "This is going to be a KICK ASS workout.  I finally finished all my White Flood BEFORE my workout!"  Well, as the morning progressed, my husband awoke (after my yelling at him that he had to get up, as usual - I’m a morning person, HE’S NOT) and I moved on to my coffee.  To put it mildly, by the time we were settled in the car on our way to "my kickass workout", my stomach started to rebel and I felt the tingling and shakiness start to set in.  I was "hepped up" on N.O. + caffeine and my guts were NOT taking it well.

I pushed through the nausea, started my warmup on the elliptical and thought, "Huh, maybe I’m feeling better.  I’m all good…"  As I walked over to grab my DBs for my walking lunges, my knees felt a little wobbly, but I had scheduled a leg day, and dammitalltoheck, I was going to DO MY LEG WORKOUT!!  I huffed and puffed my DBs over to my "lunge route" between the recumbent bikes and ellipticals, and set out for my first set.  I swear to you that within about 5 reps my heartrate was up to AT LEAST 145, and by the time I finished my 24 reps (the first 12 performed with a "pulse"), was AT LEAST 160!  Now, I don’t wear a HRM, but I KNOW my heartrate - I’ve been doing this a long time.  I felt queasy, shaky and SOOOOOOO winded - it was AWFUL, I tell ya, JUST EFFIN AWFUL!  But I HAD TO CONTINUE.  THIS WAS MY KICKASS LEG WORKOUT and by goodness sake, I was going to get ‘er done!  I continued on, completing:

 Walking lunges, 4 x 24 x 50lbs

SLDL, 3 x 15 x 95lbs

Split squats, 3 x 12 x 30lbs

Ham curls on stability ball, 3 x 15

1-leg standing calf raises, 2 x 15 per leg

45 nauseating/heart-wrenching minutes later, I WAS DONE and I HAD SURVIVED, but a lot worse for the wear.  At one point during my workout, I almost gagged when I took a sip of Purple Wraath and switched to straight H2O. The thought of now ingesting protein powder and egg whites was just sheer nauseating…  As my husband and I drove home, kvetching about our respective workouts (he did legs too, but, God forbid, would never consider lunges - they’re for girls), I was simply "spent".  As the morning progressed, my queasiness subsided and became a pounding headache instead, which then subsided (after ibuprofen), and returned to nausea.  By about Noon today, I was feeling good as new and I felt the first signs of DOMs setting in in my glutes, quads and calves. 

 I HAD DONE IT!!  I had survived my "kickass leg workout" and I was going to have killer DOMs to prove it.  As I write this, it is exactly 12 hours since I was in the middle of my walking lunge sets this morning, and my glutes are "yipping" at me.

Lesson learned and a word to the wise:  N.O. IS helpful and it does energize you, but don’t "slam" it, my friends!  Sip it and enjoy it and have your own "kickass workout" tomorrow!