Spaceship Belinda

Some people energise you, some are like vampires that suck your life blood! And it’s great when you meet those that inspire and energise you to push harder, dig deeper - like heaps of people on this site!  Today at the gym I got invited to join in encouraging someone towards lifting their personal best.  It was a great feeling!  And then I went away and trained even harder.  A win-win. Oh yeah, and I am getting used to the pain.  I never thought I would say that!  Come on little baby abs…keep growing….and get showing!

Well I did a lot of perspiring today, soaked to the skin with a heavy elliptical session, and spot training on calves, butt and abs.  I thought it was gonna be a go easy day, but before I knew it I was generating my own hydroelectric energy!  But I was exhausted afterwards.  I am having this phenomena where I feel like falling asleep straight after my session.  Maybe I need to really pay attention to my diet to I have enough fuel……any thoughts or suggestions welcome….

OK, since I joined this little family of fanatics at the begining of May I finally have some progress to report.  My bodyfat% has dropped to 17.5 and I have put on 2 pounds weight.  So I guess that means: ta da: more muscle! Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  Well I hope it does.  Who cares, I feel a new surge of motivation.  This site is awesome - I can’t believe it is free. What a fantastic resource! Thank you BB.com

What’s happening??? Procrastination! Drinking coffee, getting ready to do morning crunches.  OK, I have a new folder of music titled "crunch", I have the mat out, I have my hair up….only one thing missing….OK, digging deep here, yeah I need to visualise those abs.  OK stop procrastinating and just DO IT.

After 5 days away, today’s workout was #$%&(¨*:; hard work!!!!  And then came the crunches.  I am determined to add to my abs and apparently that means, lots of burn, and lots of reps.  Morning, noon and night.  I guess I can manage that for a few weeks……gotta tell ya, I have so much admiration for those females sporting ripped abs.  Any advice is welcome!!!!!!!  Tomorrow, crunch time begins.

I am a big one for listening to my body: what to eat, when to rest, when to push hard, when to try something new.  But, I always remind myself, I am the BOSS! OK, I know it’s sounds  bit schizo, talking to myself but it works.  My body is my buddy, it gives me feedback, responds to my kindness, works hard when I tell it too.  But I need to stay on top, deciding every morning what it is going to do, how hard and how long.  Right now my body is saying….take a nap….and you know, I am lucky enough to be able to!!!!  So off to zzzzzland I go to let myself recover from a great lower body work-out this morning.  I am feeling the POWER!!!!

I have never been a big one for pain, especially when it came to exerting myself.  But a few weeks ago I bit the bullet and decided, no pain, no gain.  So I have been working out with heavier weights and feeling that burn like never before "#$/¡[:.  I have kept up with it, worked on my mental coping skills and then suddenly today I realised…..hey I want the pain!  What is THAT?  I guess my body has adapted and realised that pain isn’t necessarily bad, and in this case it’s good, a sign that things are changing for the better.  I never thought I would say this but, hey I am looking forward to tomorrow, pain, bring it on!

Once I step into the weight room I try to get tunnel vision: me, my program, my goals.  There may be grunting, farting, joking, or whatevering, but I try to maintain my focus no matter what.  Today I discovered there are different kinds of focus: preparing to work out, relaxing between sets, getting ready to release the power, enduring the pain, pushing harder than I think I can, it goes on and on.  And I discovered there is a kind of rush that comes from pushing the body to it’s limits using weights.  I think I am starting to get it………

Sunday is rest day for me, total indugence.  Now it’s time to refocus on training again!  I am really happy with my progress.  For me training hard in something like this for the first time, is like unwrapping a present - you are not sure what you will discover about yourself!  I am not putting on weight despite eating well but I have become a lot more defined and stronger.  I seem to have a lot more energy, waking early etc.  I am happy with my results so far in the last 3 weeks and all that crunch burning is working, I can see some little abs!! Work out week…here I come!

Just a few weeks ago, after a long surf with an aussie girlfriend we found a few cold beers. But no bottle opener!  “No worries”, she said, and took out her cigarette lighter, leveraged the end of it against the top and “pop” off it flew across the room.  OK, I was mightily impressed and spent the next few days practicing until my strong little fingers were sore, but eventually I did it, mind you with a lot less finesse than her!  I got to thinking about life in the weight room and realized it’s not just about power but technique.  Then I remembered what my old boxing trainer in Oz used to say “when you don’t do the exercise properly the one your cheating is yourself”.   Yeah, I am off to the gym now for a lower body training session…….no cheating!