German Volume Training

Today was my last day of German Volume Training quads.  Tuesday we will do our final GVT shoulder workout.  I am gonna miss it.


Let's back up to Friday though. I was training with Roy and told him I was going out to Henry's Hi-Life with the boys to celebrate Cooper's high school graduation. Henry's is a fun place, guys love it. It is as far from fancy as you can get, it is a dark, loud and crowded bar where everyone goes before Sharks and Sabercats games. Henry's is in a very old building, that was originally a hotel built in the 1900's.


Henry's is a meat eater's restaurant and I told Roy that I wasn't sure if I would have the ribs or the prime rib, I go there about 3 times a year and the last two times I  had ribs. I also said I was not going to drink wine. "If I am going to drink wine with dinner it won't be cheap wine!" which is about all they really have there (it's a great place, but the wine list is less than desirable).


We started with a martini as we waited in the bar...The fellow at the front called our number to take our order- it's on a board in the bar, you stand there and look, then tell them what you want. Here are the boys waiting in the bar.

I ordered prime rib, rare. "Can I have a vegetable, any vegetable instead of the potato please?" I asked. "The potato is the vegetable" was the answer I received. David and Cooper laughed at me and David bent over to shout into Tom's ear: "Kristy tried to order vegetables at Henry's!!! ha ha ha"


They had a good laugh at my expense.


I looked up at the very limited menu and asked for a side order of grilled onion and mushrooms, I will not eat a one pound baked potato!

My dinner. The meat was great, I didn't touch the potato. They brought my mushrooms but ran out of onions, but I was happy and I ended up drinking cheap red wine, but had a fabulous time.

Saturday I woke up at 5:15, feeling not quite a good as I usually do, I had that martini and wine, I was kicking myself a little. It is my last day with German Volume Training quads and I was going up in my weight, up to 135. That's 100 squats at more than my body weight, all the way down to the floor.


I took my time drinking my shake, I really didn't have a specific time I had to be there, but I like to arrive when they open, it's not very crowded. Plus, I would need a squat cage and would have it for about 30 minutes, so I had to make sure one was there for me. That's right a half hour of non stop squats. Well, I would actually rest for 90 seconds in between each set of 10.


I got there about 10 minutes after opening and four of the five cages were already taken! What is this now Squat Saturday??! I quickly got the last one and started warming up, this would be hard today.


I started with 95 pounds, then 115 pounds. Then I took off the plates and put on "the big wheels", the 45 pound plates. I had done 130 with Roy on Wednesday and he said to go for 135- "Use the big plates- it will look impressive!" 


I started in with my first set of 135 and got through 10 squats just pissed off that I had any alcohol the night before. There would be no way I could do 100 squats, I was mad, but at the same time, who the heck would even know if I didn't do 100.

I would know and I am the only one who matters.

I kept plugging along, wiping the sweat off my face with my little dirty towel, huffing and puffing, talking to myself, I am sure I looked like a crazed woman.

After five sets I got a bench and pulled it up behind the cage so I could sit for 90 seconds when I rested in between sets.

I made my hash marks in my training book. When I got to seven I knew I could do all ten sets, I started zoning out, shaking my head, moving to the music. I was listening to the Beastie Boys "So What'cha Want"....(Email readers will need to navigate directly to the blog to view the video)

I finished my squats, all 100, then I sat on the bench for 6 minutes, just looking around and feeling pretty pleased with myself, and glad that I didn't screw this up. I walked over to the leg extension and did four sets of 10 at 90 pounds, very slowly. I could lift more, but not after all those squats, this was just the last thing to totally exhaust my quads.


Home, I had another shake with banana, coffee and got ready for wine tasting up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was a beautiful day and we would take MyRedRocket with the top down and drive through the redwoods.


Of course, I brought my food, a great big salad with curried turkey breast, I enjoyed it with some fantastic Pinot Noir from Windy Oaks Winery. 


Sunday would be Back and Biceps, and I am going to bed early!

Loving Life

It always takes me a while, but I settle in.

I am talking about loving my bigger "improved" self LOL!

When  you compete in any physique based sport, you tend to develop a self image that is hard to live up to. For you and those around you. When you start to look closer to "normal", you start to freak out, things jiggle where they used to be hard as a rock, clothes are tighter, you all of a sudden move slower.

And who on earth would wear black and pink and polka dots all together? 

ME!

I like myself a lot when I get bigger, like in the picture here, I think I look more athletic, more "real", but it takes me a long time to get there. My head I mean.

I never let myself get fat. No one would ever call me fat, I know that. In fact, at my "fattest" I probably am still the envy of 90% of the female population, I look that good.

I know many competitors who do allow themselves to get too fat though. They gain way too much weight. That's their deal and their demons, I am not here to fight their battles, I have my own. 

It is about now when I start to realize how selfish my dieting can seem to my family. I try not to impact them, but it cannot be helped. They have grown accustomed, although it doesn't mean they like it.

I go through this every year, but this is the first time in three years that I have been this "free" for this long and I am really starting to like it.

This weekend I attended the Santa Cruz Vintners Festival with David. What was that? Actually two old farts driving around Santa Cruz drinking wine and listening to reggae on Pandora. I ate tuna out of a can still, and then enjoyed all the nibbles at each winery too! 

I made banana bread for Cooper and carrot cake cupcakes too, I even had (half) of one.

I went to Mark and Virginia's and had some sparkling wine while Sophie showed me her new room, and Timothy sported his new haircut. 

At one point Virgina leaned over to pull a hair from the rear of my pants, a long blond one, obviously mine. I thanked her and said "Everything is getting bigger" and she laughed and said "Yes, but it's very firm!"

Ha ha you can get big and stay fit, it is a balancing act for sure.

It sounds like a normal fun weekend, but when you compete, you cannot do these things, it's been a long time.

Oh, and next weekend? It's the second half of the Festival! We are going to Nonna's in Redwood Estates.

I will stay on track, and will still require time to adjust to my new bigger improved self, all the while enjoying life.

My greatest pleasure this weekend? A wonderful Greek salad David made. We went to the farmers' market, bought ripe, juicy tomatoes and cucumbers. I picked oregano from the garden and he drizzled olive oil all over the salad.

Sheer heaven. 

Dinner Out Back to Normal!

Lest you think I am always on a diet, here's a picture to prove I can eat with the best of them and hold my own too!

I had to go exchange some pants at Santana Row, so there happened to be a wine tasting at Vintage Wine Merchants, and then we had to eat too, so we ended up at Left Bank.

What did I eat? Steak Frites with Bordelaise Sauce and Aioli.  

It is important to learn to balance things like this. Some people eat like this all the time, and they look like they do too.

I know other people who are afraid to eat like this once in a while. I think that is really unfortunate, but if they are happy living like that, then that is totally their business.

People will look at me and say "well you adhere to a totally strict diet for months! What's the difference?" The key word there was "for months", then I am not obsessed with it. I have to stick to a rigid diet to get my body fat abnormally low, for a competition, not for life.

I will then choose my meals carefully, I don't eat garbage on a regular basis, I don't suck down alcohol all weekend long, then clean up my diet on Monday morning, that doesn't work, you have got to live fairly clean 90% of the time. 

Think about it, if there are 7 days in a week, and you drink alcohol 3 days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) you are drinking 42% of the time! That is hardly even close to 90% compliance. 

The same goes for the food you eat, if you aim for 90% compliance, then don't beat yourself up when you "fall off the wagon" or better yet, you get to a point where you allow yourself meals like this once in a while, not only will you feel better emotionally but you will probably adhere to the clean diet better in the long run.

By the way, Left Bank does an amazing job with their skirt steak. Did I tell you I had a Sapphire Gibson too? And my alarm went off Saturday morning and I got to the gym when they opened at 6:00 am for my Quadzilla workout.