On the Run 9/29/12

Holy legs, Batman! So Thursday was my legs strength training day and that went really well! The new rep/set structure (see below) is working out great. It's kicking my ass but I think it's going to get the job done. :)
New Structure:
Set 1: 15 Reps
Set 2: 15 Reps
Set 3: 20 Reps (drop weight)
Set 4: 20 Reps
Set 5: 20 Reps
Set 6: Burnout (drop weight)
For those that aren't familiar, 'Burnout' just means to do as many reps as possible until muscle failure. It's probably my favorite set, I like lifting to failure because then I know I've exhausted my muscles to their max, thus giving them a good workout.
I completed week 1 with this new structure and I really liked it, so I'll keep it at least until after I get back from Phoenix. The only downfall with doing things this way is that it takes a LONG time to get through 1 circuit... like at least 30 minutes. Before, I was completing 3-4 circuits but now I really only have time for 2, so I'm having to decide which exercises are the most effective and cut out some of the others. I'm okay with it.
The structure of my lower body strength training is different than that of my upper body because I'm still lifting more for strength with the lower body, so lower reps with higher weights and no burnout.
Here's an example of my Thursday workout:

DAY THURS		DATE 9/27
	SET 1		SET 2		SET 3		SET 4
EXERCISE	REP	LBS	REP	LBS	REP	LBS	REP	LBS
LEG EXTENSION	20	90	15	115	15	115	15	115
LEG PRESS	20	180	15	210	15	210	15	210
SEATED CALF RAISE	20	45	15	70	15	70	-	-
DEADLIFT	20	75	15	95	15	95	15	95
STANDING GLUTE KICKBACK	20	50	15	70	15	70	15	70
BIKE - RESISTANCE INTERVALS	30 MIN
ABS - MEDICINE BALL TOSS	25	7LB BALL	25	7LB BALL
AB COASTER	25 FRONT	20	25 RT	20	25 LT	20

Twas a good workout. I'm still kind of playing with the weights and I make note on my workout sheet while I'm in the gym of whether I need to increase/decrease/maintain for the next workout.

So after a good strength day on Thursday, Friday was cardio day. I was feeling a little burned out on the typical gym cardio stuff... elliptical/bike/treadmill, so I decided it was time to hit the streets! I did my old 5mile trail; I walked 4 times for approximately 1/4 mile each time so in total I ran about 4 miles. I felt pretty good for the most part! Later in the day, my hips were hurting pretty badly which tells me that I obviously need new running shoes. Unfortunately, they're not in the budget at this time but I'll get some soon. I proposed to my immediate family that we should all train for the Yuengling Shamrock Run in Virginia Beach that I was supposed to do with my brother last year! I think it will be a great opportunity for the family to work on our health and have a lot of fun together!

Nutritionally, I have been trying to stay on track. Yesterday (Friday) wasn't the most successful day but other than that, I think I've been doing relatively well.

My goal for this week is to focus on nutrition. Now that my workouts are more organized and I'm feeling better about those, I'm going to focus on keeping my nutrition in line.
I've noticed this week that I've been lacking water. My finger tips have been extremely dry, I've been a little puffy and just thirsty all the time. So, another goal is definitely to be conscious of how much water I'm drinking this week!

As far as my actual weight, I haven't lost any this week. I'm totally fine with that, I can see my body changing in the mirror and I can feel how differently my clothes are fitting and I'm perfectly content with that :)

Well that's about all I have today! I hope everyone has a happy and healthy weekend :)

Until next time...

Friday 9/21/12

Well, hello friends!
It's finally Friday and I am pleased as punch to see the weekend!
Things have been going pretty well, I've stayed pretty committed to my workouts and working on the nutrition. (on-going battle, obviously) Up until this week I've been doing Sunday - Friday workouts, taking Saturday as a rest day. Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday are lift days w/ 30 minutes of cardio and Monday, Wednesday Friday are strictly cardio days; every day doing abs. I'm loving this rotation! I've been doing some heavier weights but I just talked to Mike (my trainer/coach/friend) and we re-worked my workouts so starting this week I'm going to be doing higher reps and lower weights... trying to keep my heart rate up as much as possible and burn some calories! I'm going to Phoenix in a month and want to look my best. :)
School and scheduling has made it pretty difficult to blog. I either don't have the time or don't have the energy, so I apologize for the lack of posts.
I've been trying to track my weight weekly and honestly, there hasn't been much change. I'm hovering right around 239 (+/- 1lb), but I'm okay with it. As long as I'm not gaining, I don't mind maintaining the number on the scale because I'm able to see (and feel!) the change in my body! All too often I think people (especially women) get fixated on the number shown on the scale and don't consider what actually happens to your body when you introduce exercise. Keep in mind: muscle weighs 1 1/2 x's the weight of fat so when you start to build muscle, you may actually gain weight. It's important to take pictures to document your progress, measure yourself (something I always forget to do) and just take note of the fit of your clothes... these are all more important than the scale.
I took a picture in August and then again 2 days ago for September. I actually had the same clothes on in the pictures (not planned) but you couldn't see much of a difference from the front. The back, however, I was able to see quite a difference in my body, and only over the course of a month! I'm excited to continue with my workouts (the new ones will be harder :) ) and see where I am for October!

Here's the picture:

I don't know why the above picture won't upload in the right direction? Oy, that's annoying.

Anyway, you can still see the difference. The bottom picture is from September, top from October.

Progress as of September, 2012
239lbs

 

Well tonight we have the Alumni Game for my high school cheerleading! I'm so excited. I looked at the pictures from last year and although my weight was actually almost the same, I feel like my body looks better. When we were practicing the other night, my flyer said that the stunts felt stronger than they did last time and I was happy to hear that! :) I'll post some pictures from the evening's excitement with my next post.

Aside from the game tonight, I have a workout with Mike and his daughter, Mikayla tomorrow morning and then I'm going out with a friend Saturday night. Sunday I've committed to homework but I may try to go to the gym and get a swim or something... my 'rest days' usually involve some sort of activity.

 

Well, that's about all I have for you dear readers today. I know I haven't posted any recipes in a long time and I've got a million up my sleeve here... Any in particular you'd like to see or any 'bad' foods you'd like to see have a clean makeover?? I'm always up for the challenge :)

 

Have a happy and healthy weekend, friends!

Happy Labor Day :) 9/3/12

Hello friends!
Well the past week and a half(ish) has been pretty crazy and stressful. I started school and, man, I didn't realize how painfully unprepared I was for the experience. Logistically, I am apparently a collegiate dummy. Financial Aid and everything that goes along with it just totally blows my brain and I've been having a lot of issues with it. Aside from that, lingering emotions from the Branden situation has had me kind of down this week but I'm working on getting back up and staying there.
Beyond the emotional/stress issues, my new workout plan has, well, worked out! Here's the schedule I set up for myself:
Sunday: Weights (Biceps and Triceps) and 30min higher intensity Cardio (short ab session)
Monday: 60min Cardio and long ab session
Tuesday: Weights (Chest and Back) and 30min higher intensity Cardio (short ab session)
Wednesday: 60min Cardio and long ab session
Thursday: Weights (Legs and Butt) and 30min higher intensity Cardio (short ab session)
Friday: 60min Cardio and long ab session
Saturday: Active rest day

This week went well, I just have to work on taking shorter rest periods during my strength days so I can make sure to fit everything in! I get to the gym at 5am and have to be out of there no later than 650am so I have to bust it! I swear, if I had the availability, I would easily spend like 5 hours in the gym everyday! I freakin love it.
I've been lifting in circuits, which has felt good and I've noticed my strength increasing. If you're not familiar with circuits, essentially I choose a group of different exercises (usually 3) and rotate through them. So, for instance, for one circuit I do Tricep Pushdown, Chest Flye and Rear Delt Flye.
So it goes like this:
Circuit 1; Rotation 1:
Tricep Pushdown: 20 Reps
Chest Flye: 20 Reps
Rear Delt Flye: 20 Reps
Circuit 1; Rotation 2:
Tricep Pushdown: 15 Reps
Chest Flye: 15 Reps
Rear Delt Flye: 15 Reps
Circuit 1; Rotation 3: (repeat twice for total of 3 rotations at 10 reps)
Tricep Pushdown: 10 Reps
Chest Flye: 10 Reps
Rear Delt Flye: 10 Reps

I like doing it this way but it has posed an annoying issue: interruptions. If the gym is crowded, it's pretty much guaranteed that someone is going to jump in and interrupt my circuit without realizing it. Whether it's jumping on a machine I need, changing the grip on the cable or whatever... it's an annoyance and slows me down. I'll usually wait for a minute to see if they finish quickly, otherwise I try to 'adapt and overcome' and just use a comparable machine or I'll move on with the rest of my circuit and come back to that particular exercise later.
I've noticed that since getting back into the strength training, I've gotten a lot more disciplined with it. I always finish the total set, even if I have to take a break before that last rep... I don't move on until I do that last rep. I think part of the reason I enjoy weight lifting so much is that it kind of feels like therapy. I love strength and muscles and my brain just feels like it's in the right place when I'm lifting weights. I've always felt like that, which is not the most common thing for girls I guess. When I was a sophomore in high school I tossed around the idea of getting into pro weightlifting... but cheerleading won the coin toss, so I stuck with that.
Speaking of cheerleading, I just received word that our Alumni night is coming up! Anyone who knows me knows that I look forward to this night all year! Every time I mention it my sister just says "Glory days." and I'm totally okay with that lol. I am really excited, mostly just to stunt, of course. I'll be sure to post some pictures :)

Nutritionally (up until yesterday) I've done pretty well. Yesterday was kind of a carb free-for-all so I can't say that I'm 100% proud of my choices. Aside from that, I've been having my banana sandwich for breakfast, snacking on almonds while at school, grilled veggies/rice/quinoa for lunch at home, something a bit lighter for dinner. Unfortunately, I have to pay for my school books out of pocket so I don't have a big budget for groceries right now and I can't do the work that I want with lowering my carb intake slightly, but it's working in my brain. I want to start replacing carbs with other clean options, but we'll see.

So I thought that it would be easy to jump back into my blog or that I was in better control of my emotions, but that's not the case. The whole marriage separation/on-going situation with Branden has proven to be the hardest thing I've had to handle. It's kind of like a roller coaster of fuckery and I'm just having a hard time trying to stay level-headed. I get depressed, I get angry, I'm sad, I'm tired... and then I feel better about things and then I realize how lonely I am and it all goes back to negative town. I'm trying to just stay busy with homework (not much of a problem there) and just focus on the present. I never really considered how much mental health plays into the pursuit of physical health. I always thought to myself that I could just push that shit aside and, if nothing else, use it to fuel my gym fire, but it doesn't always work that way. My goal is still the same: get healthy(er), not just for myself but for my little girl. I'm just trying to build strength of mind... mind over matter, right? Something like that.

Anyway, I know this has been kind of all over the place... that's about where my brain is right now (or always?) :)

Keep on keepin on, friends!