Back in the Saddle Again!

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

Back in the saddle again! Yesterday was my first day training after 4 weeks and god did it feel good! Shoulder day, an hour in the morning with a new program, and at lunch run up 125 stairs, and down 125 stairs, then jump rope 100 times. 3 sets.

Actually, I got so excited that I did my 350 stairs and my 300 jump ropes on Monday and Tuesday at lunch too...I couldn't wait.

The picture above was taken just a couple days ago, I guess that taking a month off weight training didn't hurt me too much huh? I think it was more of an emotional distress than anything really. My delts will pop again soon, very, very soon!

My shoulder and ab workout Wednesday:

Barbell Military Press SS w Leg raise	4x10 70 lbs
Arnold Press SS w crunches	4x10 27.5 lbs
Front DB Raise	4x10 17.5 lbs
Lateral Raise/ Burns	4x10 17.5/35 lbs
Leaning Lat Raise	4x10 17.5 lbs
Seated Bent Over Raise/ twist	4x10 12.5 lbs
Butt Floss	4x10 25 lbs
Poliquins Twist	5x10 BW
Combo	3 x 4 x 3 25 lbs

It felt so good to lift again that I found myself dancing in the weight room, dancing to this song on the video below and I didn't give a damn who saw me! Actually, when people saw me they smiled, I think they were as happy to see me lifting again as I was to BE lifting!


Isn't life wonderful!?

Steven Tylers look doesn't do anything for me, in fact it is obvious the only weight he has ever lifted was attached to a bottle of something....but he says it all and it's just how I feel. Turn up your speakers and feel it with me!

Email subscribers will need to navigate directly to the blog to see the video below.

Roll with Me

My quads were tight and sore on Sunday, as I have mentioned this is unusual, so I needed to take care of them.

Saturday is leg day- I train legs twice a week and I may need to move to one, as I am not recovering fast enough. There are some who will say that if you are training right, meaning as hard as possible, you should not be able to train more than once a week.

I train hard, even in my own eyes I am a certified beast and have been told that by many men who are qualified to know a beast when they see one.

This workout could easily benefit a man or woman, just change the weights a bit. I would like to hear how you do like it and how you feel afterward.

Here was Saturday's training:

Reverse Crunch on an incline 3x10 bodyweight
/ superset with
Hanging Leg Raise from a power rack, tilting pelvis back 3x10 bodyweight
Deadlifts 5x10 155 pounds
Front Squats 3x10 125 pounds
Back Squats 3x10 135 pounds
Glute Ham Raise 4x10 10 pound weight
Reverse Hyper 4x10 with 2 pound ankle weights
(I am pretty tired now)
Seated Leg Curl 3x10 70 pounds
Standing Calve Raise 3x10 135 pounds / superset with
Seated Calve Raise 3x25 70 pounds

Then a short break and 30 minutes on the stairmill.

If you can train twice a day I would recommend doing the cardio in the afternoon or evening instead.  Studies have shown that sessions lasting longer than 1 & 1/4 hour really are more detrimental to muscle building, so try to keep it right about there. I will talk more on that at another time, but for now you may notice that those who seem most successful are not necessarily those who train the longest!

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I will do my cardio after work. 20 minutes..that's it.

The deads and squats alone are enough to work over many people.

I don't usually do many machines such as the leg curl and extensions until I get close to a competition, as these are not considered "mass building" and are associated more with cuts and definition. I will do extensions and RDL's along with lunges on Tuesday.

Soon I will take the deadlifts out as these are  not really a "Figure" type of exercise...but they do your entire body good!

Rolling is important, it can help you stay healthy and recover faster. This picture was taken Sunday evening and rolling was so painful I felt nauseous doing it, I had to stop and come back several times. SC taught me to roll through the pain, until the pain stopped, then roll 30 more times. I couldn't, it hurt too much.

Two weeks of my diet

I have been on my diet now for two weeks. I have been good, although I did eat a couple things I shouldn't have.

I took a bite of my husbands rib eye, just needed to compare it to my flank steak. I had a very tiny piece of fried potato slice. That's it, other than that, I have not strayed.

I feel good, and I look good, this will not be as difficult as I was thinking this time around, unless of course my vacation in Mexico totally derails me!

I decided to take pictures with my competition suit on, so I could see just how I look right now. I am happy with my progress. Now my weight has not changed since last week, but I only weigh myself on Sunday and I am in the cycle of my month where I tend to retain some water, so I would not be surprised if I weigh one pound less in a day or two.

I am just back from the gym, after 2 1/2 hours, haven't even hopped in the shower yet!

My body changes so much, I recall when I used to train with an IFBB Pro, that she used to tell me "Every prep is different" and I didn't understand, now I do.

I know I have no definition, but I shouldn't yet, it will come out in good time, after I have dieting for a while, I mean two weeks is really nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I can see that my backside looks a bit soft, and again, that is to be expected. I have a nice V taper, once I lose the fat, the waist will come in and the glutes will be more pronounced and not so "womanly"...they will be hard and tight!

The glute-ham tie in is looking good, no saggy stuff here! Again, when the excess fat and subcutaneous water leaves, the definition will pop.

What I noticed this time around is my body composition is very different. I don't know my actual body fat percentage, SC used to do that for me every week and I haven't seen him in a while, he will check it in March though. And that doesn't really matter yet, it's higher than it should be to compete, so I just have to diet for a while.

But the interesting thing I have noticed is that I seem to have gained a great deal of lean muscle over the last 6 months, and hardly any fat. Totally every one's goal, I know, so I am doing the happy dance.

Just how do I know this? It wasn't difficult to figure it out.

When I compete, I weigh between 118 and 120 pounds, at that time I wear size 0 pants. When I am not competing, and trying to add muscle I get between 126 and 132 pounds and wear size 6 pants (yes I have lots of clothes to accommodate these changes!)

My abs are already starting to show some definition, and this is usually the very last area to show it.

This winter, I got up to 130 pounds and never got into those size 6, I stayed in my 4's. Right now I am at 126 pounds and I am wearing size 0 and 2 pants. I still have 6 pounds to lose, so where is the fat? I am thinking that some of that "fat" is not fat at all, but hard, solid, muscle and I won't have to drop as much weight as usual.