Quads

Quads....we did that on Wednesday and my hamstrings and glutes were still sore from Monday.


I walked over to the squat rack, the chains are there waiting for me. I kept bugging Roy to get them and now I get to use them all the time! I love the sound of the chains clanking against themselves, and the sound of the metal links slowing piling up on the floor.


I may be getting these weights wrong, some days my training is such a blur, I get home and eat and then just go to bed.


We started with front squats this time, I warmed up with 100 pounds, then Roy increased it to 115 pounds.

20 reps. 

If you do front squats you KNOW that's quite  a bit, and it's heavy too. I weigh 131 pounds currently, so its close to my body weight and don't forget these are front squats, not back squats!


After the second set I think I kind of stumbled out to find something to sit on, it wouldn't be much rest, I recall that Roy announced time when I was still breathing hard, but what can you do? 

Back in the rack.


4 sets

I see Roy stacking up the wood panels like he does for split squats. Surely we aren't doing those nasty things again? I looked at Roy with disbelief "I thought we were done with those?!" "Really?" he said "No, we are still doing them but less reps! um...and heavier weights." Then he goes over and picks up the 25 pound dumbbells, "oh that's not so bad I thought to myself" then the next set was 35 and the next 40. Then he slapped the little micro weight magnets on to bring it up to 42.5 pounds each.

4 sets 

Time for the sled. Roy said it will be a little different than the last few weeks, the weight is reduced, there is only 90 pounds on the sled. But instead of pushing it up and back I need to push it up and back two times before I rest.

4 sets

The last set he tells me to push hard, beat my last time of 57 seconds, run fast. Well, I can hardly run bent over pushing the damn thing and especially after all of this, I am wiped out. But I push as hard and fast as I can, breathing hard and collapse at the end. I think I did it in 47 seconds. Beat my best time!

Kickboxing Day 2

Thursday Cooper came home from training with Jerome. They have been kickboxing together almost three years now, Cooper is good, really good.

"Mom! Jerome said he is gonna teach you to kick on Saturday." "Cooper," I said, "How can he teach me to kick when I don't even know how to punch yet?!"

"You do- he said you were really good, he said you are a natural athlete and caught on fast. You just need to loosen up, it's not precise like weight lifting, it's more like a dance."

I smiled, I have always considered myself an athlete, and outside of my competitions where they refer to all of us as "athletes", no one has ever called me that. I felt good, accomplished.

He then told me Jerome asked him to come to Friday's "Fighter's Nights", a coaches invite only of full contact boxing and kickboxing for aspiring fighters, Cooper is to start training on a more serious level.

My heart skips a beat, but I am the one who pushed him into this, so I cannot stop him now. Thank goodness he is into kickboxing and not boxing. Not as dangerous.

Saturday I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and got to the gym at 6:00 for legs. I felt good, strong and excited. There would be no need for cardio since I was taking Jerome's class at 10:00.

I trained hams and quads. I did kneeling leg curl, RDL's, squats (100), split squats and GHR. I was there 2 hours, longer than I had planned, but I did sit around quite a bit waiting for the GHR, seemed everyone wanted to use it today, although not one person used it right. One women even came up to me and said "I am so glad I saw you doing this, I have never known how to use it properly!" She asked me how to adjust it, I asked her height and then adjusted it and showed her what to do. I then sat and waited while she readjusted it and used it completely wrong, doing sit ups like most people do on the darn thing!

I got home and ate, 1 cup egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1 slice of my favorite spelt and rye bread from Acme, with peanut butter and jelly. Coffee, but not too much as I remember last week having to pee the whole time during kickboxing, not fun.

9:50 I arrive and take off my shoes, pad across the mat and say hi to Jerome. There are only about 6 guys there and then he tells us to "run!" so we start. Now I learn not to arrive early. 

The class started with me and 10 guys (no Cheddar) and then a few more guys and one wicked looking gal joined in later.

We go through a half hour of conditioning, it's not the same as last week although very similar. We do the same routine of running around the facility with four stops to perform an exercise, starting with one push up, run, one high knee jump, run, one jump sprawl, run, one squat. We do 2 of each, then 3, then 4, and on and on till we have done 10 of each.

It was much easier this week. Then jumping jacks, jumping jacks with one kick, with two kicks, mountain climbers in between, jogging in place and jabbing, jogging and cross, jogging and jab cross, jogging and drop sprawl, jogging and block kick, down on the ground and crunches, side crunches, frog crunches.

30 minutes later done! I survived.

Jerome shouted to everyone to get a partner and he gave instructions, I didn't understand what it was. He grabbed a guy  by the name of Jay and told him that he would be working with me on kicks. 

Crap! 

Last week I was in front of  a mirror practicing punches, this week I guess I am one of the guys. But I didn't have my gear, only my gloves, I wasn't expecting this. No wraps, no shin guards, no mouthpiece, no headgear. 

This too I shall survive.

Jerome told us what kicks to practice, demonstrated with Jay and then left us. Jay kicked me and I kicked him. I could tell immediately that I would have a very bruised left shin the next day.

Jerome would come watch and critique, then show us combos. Jab, cross, midkick, jab, block. High kick, cross, hook, low kick, block.

On and on for a half hour, Jay was good, he really helped me improve my hook.

11:00 and the class was done, I was dripping in sweat, my hair was plastered to my head and face, sweat everywhere, I felt high. Everyone shook Jerome's hand or got a slap on the back. I talked with a few of the guys, they are all very friendly. 

I left walking out in only my tank top, shorts and flip flops although it was probably 40 degrees out at most. With the top down and Citizen Cope blasting on the stereo, I drove home. My hands were shaking, my wrists hurt, my left shin was throbbing and I started crying. I wasn't crying from pain or sadness, it was just a wave of emotion that overcame me.

I have been wanting to do this for years, and last week I finally started, but last week was easy; it was play. This week was hard, I was the attacker, I was attacked. I learned to kick with all my body force, it was hard to do at first, I was afraid of hurting him. I learned my leg can kick up to someones chest, soon up to their head. I learned to block with my legs (my poor, poor unprotected legs), with my forearms.

If I was ever to be attacked, lord have mercy on the poor slob who makes that mistake.

Home, all I want is a long hot shower and a big glass of ice water. I take off my shirt, it was soaked, here it is.

I told Cooper about it, about my surprise at the difference between last week and this week. "Why are you surprised mom? You assimilated fast, just like I thought you would."

Nice.

Shoulders and Musings

There are days when everything flows, and I feel great. Today was one of those days, and of course, it was Friday! I still keep wondering how I will be able to manage to work only half time (at some point) every other day of the week and not just Fridays...

I work hard to sculpt my physique and frankly, I think that it is probably a bit harder for a 50 year old woman than an 18 year old, I mean, they look good as soon as they roll out of bed every morning, complete with tousled hair and sleepy eyes!

I trained with Roy and enjoyed every minute as usual. We ended with boxing, this time Roy hit me in the head, but it was the back and not hard so no big deal. But I was feeling strong and wailing on him, at one point I hit him so hard one of his punch mitts went flying off his hand. Ha! That was exhilarating.

Proper training makes the difference in any physique. People who insist they do not need a trainer just don't know what they are missing. Or maybe they do. Maybe they are afraid of working as hard as a good trainer will push them?

My shoulders look great today. Of course they are pumped and full of blood from training and boxing but regardless, take a person off the streets who does none of this, and let them train for one day, their shoulders won't look like this.

I had to go to Sephora and the grocery store and the pharmacy. In those three stores, four individuals asked me if I competed! Damn my shoulders must have looked particularly good!

As the fourth woman, the pharmacist, asked it I laughed and said "Yes, I compete in Figure and just finished training and boxing, so I probably look better than usual at the moment. And I must look really good today because you are the fourth person to ask me this in the last hour!"

She then started telling me how she was trying to lose some weight and we talked about diet a bit.

It made me think how the other day Stacy said I was looking like a "little fireplug". She said my legs are looking bigger and my shoulders look good as usual. I consider that a great compliment. I am little, only 5'3" and a fireplug is a sturdy, strong piece of equipment, functional. I am not overly fond of "fluff" or unnecessary things nor am I fond of skinny and helpless. So I am looking strong and muscular. My off season diet and training seem to be working. I am gaining, but not too much fat.

I finished my shopping and went home and ate. I had been thinking about food since I finished training, I never seem to stop. I had a bigger meal than usual, and I had starch. I have been limiting my starch to once a day and today I thought I would splurge. I made a burger on sourdough bread. It was a big lean beef patty on only one slice of bread cut in half with mustard and pickles. I was hungry after I finished it too, damn.

I had a spoon full of almond butter and made myself back out of the kitchen.

Tomorrow is legs. Those damn split squats again...but you know what? I hate them and I love them. I love the way they make me feel, I feel alive. And I love they way they make me look.

Wednesdays Quads

I was off work, it was the day prior to Thanksgiving and I was meeting Roy earlier than usual, 4:30 pm. It felt odd, like the day went by very, very slowly. Roy changes our training every few weeks, and today would be something new. It was very difficult and I am not sure if it was me that day, or it really was hard, but it was only the second time I can recall that I actually felt like quitting in the middle, it was that hard.

But I was sick, I had a cold and it was the first one I had had in a year I think. I was pissed off because I rarely get sick and here I was with a rotten cold that hit me Saturday and on Wednesday I was still feeling the effects of it. I hate taking medication but the evening before I had to, David and Cooper were mad as I had been coughing all night and I couldn't breathe. I succumbed to sudafed and I know it is why I had such a hard time training.

We started out with squats with chains. I love squats. These were fairly light, I think when you add the chains to the weight it was maybe 95 pounds. I might be off, it could have been slightly more. I really wasn't thinking clearly. But Roy said he would tell me when to stop, and he didn't say stop until 20 reps. That was intentional too. We would do set after set after set of 20 reps, all the way down to the ground and a very short rest period in between. I was breathing hard. We did 4  sets, which is 80 squats. And halfway through he doubled up the chains, which means the weight increased by 20 pounds.

Then we went into the killer- front foot elevated split squats. But by now you know Roy and it wasn't just any split squat. I had to make sure that the front knee extended way out front to his hand, but he kept pulling his hand farther and farther away. The back leg had to have a strong stretch, and I had to feel this all in my front quad while holding 20 pound dumbbells. My right adductor was tight, it pulled.

20 reps on the left leg and 20 on the right. I actually dropped the weights after the first 20 and begged for a break. I am not a whiner, these made me whine, I was angry at myself.

I had to find a place my head could be so I could get through this, I did, but it's not a place I want to visit again. 

4 sets on each leg, that's another 80 reps per leg. My legs were shaking, my quads were pumped and hard. Roy said he could see them swell from across the room, and I am sure he could, I could feel the blood gorging in my legs.

Roy said he wanted to see me collapse on the ground, I told him I would not. I refuse to lose the battle, I did all the reps as required. 

I joked about my upcoming night out- I had clothes set out to go straight out to dinner - I would need to get pants with bigger legs tonight, surely my regular jeans would not fit.

Rest...and I thought that I won't be looking forward to Wednesdays for the next three weeks. It only means heavier weights or more reps, either one would surely kill me.

Time for the sled, it would be 135 pounds added and I was to push it across the room and back, driving the knees up, powering as fast as possible. How many sets? Take a guess..4

The next day was Thanksgiving, my legs were tight and squatting down hurt, so each time I basted the turkey I hauled it out of the oven and onto the cooktop, it was easier. The following day both adductors were tight and sore and now for some reason bending over caused my hamstrings to talk back, everything was a bit sore.

At least when I woke up on Friday, my cold seemed to be almost gone, it lasted a week, and if all goes according to history, it should be another year or even longer before I get another. I started thinking about Saturday, it's leg day. I wonder if I can make myself do those split squats?

Next Wednesday is actually looking a little more interesting to me now!