wallstcutie’s BodyBlog

Apropos of my toilet post….  Or watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-JmArQEgc0

Yesterday I did cardio in the a.m. but rested in the evening - instead of going to the gym, I took the dog for a walk all throughout the little streets and shops of Tribeca.  I bought him a cute argyle sweater.  Man, he must hate me!  To make up for it, I also bought him a huge smoked pork bone and a new toy.  LOL!

My hamstrings and glutes are feeling the DOMS from Wednesday.  Yay!  Thanks Al for the Romanian Deadlifts.  It only takes small changes to really trick the body! 

My doc never called me yesterday (as she promised she would) to set up the CT scan…  I also made an appointment for Monday over lunch to visit a different doctor - he specializes in gastroenterology, internal medicine, AND alternative and complementary medicine.  He is only 3 floors down from my current doc, but hopefully will have a fresh perspective, rather than pushing drugs down my throat w/o a diagnosis.

It’s FRIDAY people!  YAY!  I just want to thank you guys for really making my week productive and on-track.  Thanks for your support. 

xo Rachael

One of the pictures features "the Beast" whom I’ve mentioned before.  He is such a hottie!! 

http://wheelchair-bodybuilding.com/2007_wheelchair_nationals

One of my very first blog posts was about how I was going to start taking L-Glutamine, as it promotes the anabolic state, and can cause natural production of HGH.  Well….tell me if you think I am crazy, but I’ve grown over an inch taller since supplementing with aminos and L-Glutamine.  As my profile states, I am 5′2".  Lately, people have been questioning me whether that is really the case, as they say I "seem taller" than that….

Well, this morning, I had a portamedic lady over early in the a.m. for a personal insurance exam.  And guess what???  I am over 5′3"!!!  She asked me if I knew how tall I was.  I indicated that my husband measured me earlier in the year (when I put my stats into Bodyspace), and that I was definitely 5′2".  Well, she measured me "just in case" and said "You are over 5′3".  DEFINITELY not 5′2"."  Hmm…. This must be why everyone looks surprised when I tell them I’m 5′2".  ‘Cause I’m not!!!

I just read a couple of articles on the internet that basically verify that a rich diet in amino acids (umm….in my case, diet + supplementation) can cause an extra growth spurt in women, even past the 30s!   

Do you think it was the aminos/Glutamine, or just a delayed growth spurt?  All of my brothers are over 6 feet tall, and all of my sisters are 5′4" or taller…

Wow, I didn’t even think of the height implications of increasing the natural production of HGH in your system.  Incredible.

On another medical note, as I told you, I visited the Dr. last night, and she is ordering me up a cat scan.  meow.  She also loaded me up with antibiotics to treat me for diverticulitis, "Just in case…"  I am not going to take them.  Who takes powerful antibiotics, just for fun, without any hard evidence of infection??  Come on!

Last night’s workout was great.  Legs and shoulders.  My husband went with me, and didn’t even complain about wanting to go home!  In fact, I was the whiny one, saying everything hurt.  But it hurt in a good way…   

I am full of observations today!  I know other people have made this observation as well, but there sure are a lot of guys who stopped working out after they got a girlfriend…….  It is kindof like the old joke, "How do you turn a fox into an elephant?  Marry her!"  OK, that is not nice. 

I knew a REALLY great snowboarder once.  He was, like Shawn White caliber.  A college competitive halfpipe snowboarder, and a virgin.  I think all that pent up "energy" helped his game, because after he married the girl, he couldn’t go as big!!  I am serious!  We used to joke around that the wedding ring must have been made of kryptonite.

And…guess what?  Years later, they get a divorce, and he starts competing again…and WINNING!  Started going big, right after he ditched the kryptonite….er, the RING, not the girl.  lol!

I go to the Dr. again re my right quadrant abdominal pain.  My blood results were good, so was my sonogram.  I am not happy with my Doctor’s Rx to simply take Pepcid and Advil to mask the pain.  I want to find the underlying cause and fix it!

Did I already tell you that after I did abs, it got all numb and tingly?  The most pain I had was yesterday after eating 1/2 of a Granny Smith apple.  I was in sooo much pain!  Then, the dumba## I am, I ate the other 1/2 a while later, and almost died again!  I swear, I am not very bright sometimes. 

My week’s pre-prepared meals of chicken breast, broccoli, and couscous kills me shortly after I eat it.   Apples and broccoli can make people gassy, but I’ve never had a problem before… 

Today for lunch I had 1/2 a turkey sandwich on whole wheat and homemade plain yogurt with oats and fruit….and I feel pretty good!  Just a little bit of post-eating pain. 

What could be manifesting itself as both muscular and digestive?  I am thinking hernia???

I’ve noticed an alarming amount of pictures here on bb.com of women on toilets!!  What is up with that? 

Maybe bb.com needs to post a new category.  They have men under 20, women under 20, competitors, etc… Now they need a category of "Girls on Toilets…and the Men who Love to Photograph Them." 

Chest and triceps yesterday.  I’m keeping the weights moderate, but it sucks.  I’d rather be lifting heavy - lol!  But I have to tell you, I am sore.  Sore from yesterday and sore from the day prior.  So changing things up a bit helps. 

I did not do cardio yesterday, but I did the day prior.  I will do shoulders and cardio tonight.  Legs tomorrow. 

I posted some pics from my latest photoshoot.  

120, give or take.  This is what the scale tells me.  It feels WAAAAAAY different than me at 120 lbs a few months ago. 

My husband comments the most on the difference–the way I "feel" to the touch.  Harder, stronger.  It is like the difference between touching 120 pounds of jello vs. 120 pounds of lead.  OK, I’m no superman, but it definitely feels different. 

I am going to get my BF% measured (not just with my Accumeasure, which says I am still hovering at 14-15%) just to accurately tell how much of this weight is lean muscle mass.  My rough estimate is that of the 10 lbs I’ve gained, about 6 lbs is muscle, and 4 lbs fat.  Hmph!  That is not very efficient…

I am surprised at how my body was able to create so much lean muscle.  I wasn’t consciously bulking, but I guess when you make a goal to put on muscle mass, especially in the biggest muscle group (legs and glutes) that is technically bulking, right? 

How long do you guys usually bulk before you start leaning out?  I’m starting my lean out phase now and am going to try to keep things more consistent from here on out, meaning I actually want a little less mass (*gasp*) and more lean definition….

So, yesterday I did back and biceps under my *new* routine.  It felt weird not trying to push the weight to the limits as I have been doing for the past 6-8 weeks.  Instead of pushing the weights to the limit, this routine basically just tires the muscle out.  I did feel a good burn, but somehow in a different way…But, my back is already getting sore, and this is a GREAT feeling…one that I actually haven’t had in awhile!!   

Here’s what I did:

lat pull downs

15×2  @ 60 #

15×1 @60, then dropped to 40 #, 10x

close grip cable rows

15×2 @ 55 #

15×1 @ 55 #, then dropped to 40 #, 10x

back and oblique hyperextensions

20×3 for back and each side

one arm db row

15×2 20 #

15×1 20 #, dropped to 15 # for another 15

Now, here’s where it gets tricky.  Biceps.  I did an amalgamation of the routine I was doing before and some new stuff.  The 20# barbell just seems too light for me to fatigue on, so I went with the same ol’ 30 pounder and did:

7×7x7 (x3) for the bb curls

concentration curls

15×2 @ 15 #

15×1 @ 15 #, then dropped to 10# for another 10

 Then I went downstairs in the gym and grabbed a protein shake, then jumped on the treadmill and did moderate cardio (HR ~130-135) for 50 min.  Any cardio experts out there to let me know if this is an appropriate HR?  I used to keep it around 140-145, but then got scared of burning muscle….