Overcoming Fear of Heavy Weights

I don't mean people like me- "heavy weights", I mean the fear of lifting weights that are heavy.

I feel fear more often than you would imagine. I think it's part of the thrill of training, part of what makes it all so very exciting for me.

I have explained it over and over, lifting weights is a mind game for me, it's mind over matter. Look at me- I am big and I am strong, I CAN lift the damn weight. But sometimes, sometimes I think I cannot.

I talk to myself, sometimes it's inaudible, sometimes I can hear myself, I zone out, I really don't pay attention to people around me, they don't matter. In fact, they don't even belong in my "world" at that moment. 

Unless of course they are Roy- he does, I need him, I trust him, I like the reassurance that he is there, ready to catch the bar, or lift it when I am stuck at the bottom of a squat, as I squeak out a weak "Roy - help"...

I shouldn't need him though, I can do it without him, without anyone.  But I like him there, just to be sure.....

I have injured myself many times at the gym, the injuries have ranged from minor to major. I have suffered a few instances of over-use, when my physician had to tell me to stop lifting for several weeks at a time; developed bones spurs and deterioration of the shoulder joint; developed amenorrheoa due to losing too much body fat, which resulted in many other issues; slammed my fingers in between plates, (that is a regular occurrence unfortunately); dropped plates on my toes; tweaked my neck (lifting heavy, not paying attention and moving incorrectly); smacked my forehead with a 25 pound plate (drawing blood, it was dripping down my nose); broke a rib (performing a reverse hyper with a band and too much force on a Glute Ham Raise ); and now my most recent injury, one that was not serious but it set me back mentally. 

I was performing split jerks, an Olympic lift, and I pretty much shoved 115 pounds up my nose with as much force as possible.

Ouch

I will back up a bit. I train all body parts twice a week, except the magnificent Back which gets it's brutal workout only once, and due to the intensity of this workout, it really cannot be completed more than once a week!

When I hit the shoulders with Roy on Friday, we review my plan for the next shoulder day, which is on Tuesday and on my own. We set sets, reps, weights. I am not one of those people who only works out with their trainer.....

It was 5 am at Gold's Gym, I was warming up properly and slowly. I was supposed to do 5 sets of 5-6 reps of split jerks at 115 pounds. It scares me, that's a lot of weight, explosive movement and my body is never fully recovered, my lats are still aching on Tuesday from my Sunday pounding. It's also a lot of weight! Almost as much as I weigh and I am supposed to heave it up over my head many, many times.

I completed two sets, then on the third, on the 3rd rep, I pushed the bar up, with as much force as I could muster, and shoved the bar right into my nose, the pain was incredible. I wavered, placed the bar back in the rack as quickly as possible and looked in the mirror wondering if just broke the damn thing. I watched as the blood slowly seeped into the skin, it wasn't broken, but it was pooling up under the skin. I was done with that for the day and moved onto the dumbbell shoulder press where I had a stellar set of 5 (9 reps the first then 10 the next 4) at 45 pounds in each hand.

I did the usual pictures on Facebook, texted Roy and felt humiliated and sorry for myself. But I was also angry. I screwed up one of my most important days.

Friday I met Roy and it was....shoulder day again. I told him I was afraid, I didn't want to knock another tooth out. I already did that once and have an implant - my eye tooth- (not weight training related) and don't want to go through that again.

He assured me I could do it, and said he would be there for me. I launched into it and my head was chattering more than I can recall in ages.

The self talk is amazing. It can make or break me, it's a powerful force that I know should not have the influence on me that it does. 

I stood at the bar, my head nodded up and down a bit, I tend to do that as I go through my 'self talk" and convince myself that I can do something, I was staring straight ahead, I talked to myself. I lifted the bar and rested it on my clavicle, I felt the weight. It's not that heavy, not quite my body weight. I can do this I tell myself.

I did all my sets, sometimes my legs wobbly underneath me as I held the bar over head in the locked out position, Roy standing behind ready to help.

I overcame it. After the fourth set I told him I was really feeling the fatigue, I wasn't sure if I could go on. He agreed, we would rest then move to the dumbbells.

I walked over to my log book as usual and asked what my plan was for Tuesday, and dutifully recorded it in my own pattern and method that only I understand.

I will not be afraid on Tuesday, I did it today, I can do it again. I must look the monsters in the eye.

It's not easy, I need to remind myself all the time, if it were, then everyone would do it right? My mother taught me that I could, and should, do anything and everything that I wanted in life, and I believe that to this day.

If you are ever afraid, know that I am there with you, we are all afraid, one day or another. We must all choose to fight those monsters inside of us.

Lift strong!

Symmetry and Proportion

I am torn....torn between wanting to do what is right for my overall physique, and wanting to do what is right for my own ego.


We all know we need to train the whole body- look at the Men's Physique competitors, the newest division in male "bodybuilding". They all have ripped abs, great chests and.....nice hair? Their butts are usually non-existent, their backs are not trained much and their legs are typically pencil thin, Roy says that's why they wear those long board shorts! It has been jokingly called the "Mankini" division....


Not all of them look like that, some have fantastic physiques,I am generalizing as usual. But, if you have followed it since it's inception, most of the men do not worry about their overall physique and they don't need to, because the judges don't seem to be concerned either. That's a downright shame.


I like to think that most competitors are into the sport for the health aspect, but I know that's not accurate. Many are indeed into the sport because they want to show off their hard work as they maintain their healthy lifestyle, yet many are into it because they suffer self esteem issues, many because they have struggled to reach a goal of feeling good about themselves, and of course, you have the narcissists! 


I am very concerned about my health, and I also believe I have Healthy Narcissism! I feel that what I do on a daily basis takes a lot of hard work, determination, relentless drive, energy and internal motivation. I am not alone in what I do, I have a large network of friends and supporters who also practice the same "lifestyle", to varying degrees; some work full time making it harder, some have children, some don't work or have kids or even pets. Some get up at 4:00 am everyday 365 days a year like I do, and others get up at 9:00 am, but we all put in the effort. We are an elite group, there are far more people who choose to sit and watch TV, eat fast food and talk about what their dreams are, than there are people who go out and make sure their dreams are fulfilled.


So, I am talking about this because my training is changing and it has made me realize how focused I am on small things that really shouldn't worry me so much. 

Like my shoulders.

I do not have a competition planned in the near future, yet when Roy changed my Friday and Tuesday training, I got a little worried. Sure- it's my choice,and when he said we would be training chest, he even asked if that was OK, he knows I usually train shoulders on Friday and Tuesday but he added that I need to train my chest once in a while to keep everything in proportion, to make sure I train the whole body, to be sure I don't over develop one area which could lead to injury in another. I said it was fine, but when I got home I worried, what about my shoulders? 

He and I had a little chat on Face book. I told him that I need 10 days in a week to fit in everything I want to train...."What, do you think, might be the problem if I train shoulders a bit tomorrow (Saturday) after I do my quads? And then I can throw in some shoulders on Tuesday after my chest workout too, just like we talked about today?"

I told him I understood the need to train chest a while, but I need to keep the big, round shoulders, they mean a lot to me...

We reached an agreement of changing the training a bit, and I am sure it will include all I need and want.

Lesson and advice? Don't focus on parts of your physique at the expense of others, train everything and maintain proportion and symmetry, just what Figure is judged on!  Remember that you are a complete body, a whole person, not just a set of shoulders, or abs, or a butt. Focus on just one bodypart and although it may look great, after the first glance, the thoughts will be  "too bad the rest of the body doesn't look as good..."

And I need to keep in mind that my muscles will not waste away (what I said to Roy), but they may ebb and flow depending on training, yet I always know just what to do in the few weeks leading up to a show, so I can make everything "pop" the way it should.

Fridays Training

Woo Hoo! I love Fridays!


Monday, Wednesday and Friday are almost like "two a days" for me, but they aren't brutal like the "two a days" I do during competition prep, that will start soon enough.


In the a.m. it's "calves and conditioning" or it could be "calfs and conditioning", I have looked it up since I see them used interchangeably and when I did, I found this hilarious site called "Legs of Steel" and this is what they had to say:

Women's legs with muscular calves come from working out regularly. Often times they are found on women body builders. Some people prefer the saying "Legs of steel" and if this is what interests you then you can go to:www.legsofsteel.com to see lots of women in this category. The women are listed in alphabetic order so if you find one you like you can find them again easily. There are over 75 different woman listed here.

Ha ha, you know you can find just about anything on the Internet!

I am not promoting the site, and no, I am not listed on the site, It was just a silly thing I wanted to share.

So my Friday morning starts with a 5 minute walk on the treadmill then I go down to the back weight room to hit the calves. I prefer to start with the donkey calf raise, but I need the incline bench and just as I have my schedule, so does another guy and he bench presses (thats ALL he does) and he does it three times a weak. Now I am not the one that will tell him this is not effective nor is it a good idea, especially when I heard him telling someone about his sore shoulders that same morning!

So he does the flat bench then the incline, so I let him do his thing and I hit the seated calf raise first. Two plates, 4 sets of 20. It is easy to throw your shoulders backwards to give yourself a little help, don't do this, keep your back straight and work your CALVES only.

Then the incline bench fellow is done so I take the Olympic bar off the rack and set it up for Donkey Calf raises. I am up to three plates now, that's 135 pounds hanging from my lower hips on a dip belt. I am doing 4 sets of 20, slowly up, slowly down. I need more weight soon, but getting up into position is the hard part with that much weight, I have to push up with one leg and I won't be able to with much more weight. I may need to ask one of the guys to sit on my back soon, and I need to be careful who I ask. Bobbie would don a Cowboy hat and scream "eeh haw" and try to kick me with spurs, I best try to find a smaller, more docile fellow... ha ha ha

Then it's off for conditioning in the Basketball court. I warm up by jogging around the perimeter four times, then I practice on the heavy bag a bit. My boxing has gotten better, but its hard to kick this bag, it's way too hard and there is some velcro at the bottom, so when I practice "knees" I scrape them on the velcro. It's not that I am a wimp, but gyms are really dirty places, and not the place you want to get a scrape.

Then I throw the gloves onto the floor and start in with my conditioning. Pushups, high knee jumps, running, burpee/sprawls, squats holding weight overhead. They have these big heavy tubes with hand holds in them, I am not sure what they are called but they are like a more stable form of sandbag training, and they have a huge stack of them in the basketball court, just waiting for me.

Sweat is dripping down my face, I have done many rounds and now a couple guys come in to play basketball, I run around them. I am then down on the floor, doing crunches, frog crunches, side crunches, then shadow boxing and high knees, down to the floor for mountain climbers.

I finish off with more boxing, my hair is plastered to my neck and face. Off I go, I have to go into work.

At 11:45 I am waiting for Roy at his place, I am early and I have a new book "The Metabolic Typing Diet" by William Wolcott and Trish Fahey, and I sit in the sun reading and waiting, actually enjoying myself.

He arrives and it's shoulder day, I love shoulders. I change into my workout clothes and stretch, then we start in with behind the neck shoulder press. I warm up, then we get up to 75 pounds, all the way down until the bar hits my rhomboids, then power up. My left is so much weaker, it struggles. I think we did 4 sets maybe? I did 10, 8, 6, then 5 if I recall. We then did a drop set, 65 pounds, 55 pounds, 45 pounds.

Roy says my stomach is looking better, that means flatter. It is, I have lost some body fat. My weight is down to 126 pounds yet my muscles still look full. This is good, I do have to start the diet soon, so it helps me "mentally" to see  some improvement when not really trying yet.

Then seated dumbbell press, bringing them slowly all the way down to stretch the muscle, and power up. This, I believe we did 5 sets of with 32.5 pounds in each hand.

Last we did dumbbell front raises, with 12.5  pounds. Several sets, my left arm is almost a joke now, it is so weak compared to the right!

No time for boxing or ropes, damn! Stacy comes in, it's her turn, I have to leave, just when I was getting warmed up.


Funny, I love doing this and could do it all day. Some people complain and whine the entire time they are in the gym- what, do you suppose makes us feel so differently about this?


Saturday will be quads, my poor legs have been beat up so much lately, but I win the battle. They might complain and moan, but I keep them in line, pushing harder and harder everyday.

Arm training

I probably receive the most comments about my arms. Now, I realize that my arms are also the most visible part of my body, but when you walk around the gym like this, just about everything is showing anyway right?


I was recently attending a class for work- I have to maintain a certification that requires constant training. There was a woman working there who came up to me and asked how I get my arms to look the way they do. She explained she has been doing lots of bicep curls and doesn't feel anything and doesn't see any results.


After talking with her a bit I realize that I don't really do a lot of bicep specific training, I feel that my biceps and triceps get trained quite a bit with my back training. I do throw some bicep and tricep moves in, but not as much as people seem to think. 


When people ask about my arms, I automatically think my shoulders, but my biceps have gotten so big that I realize now they are talking about the whole arm, shoulders, biceps, triceps.


I think that most people think that the training comes all together, "the arm' but it doesn't, not at all. The shoulders require a lot of detail and love, a lot goes into big, broad shoulders. The biceps and triceps are easier, they get trained when other body parts get trained, if you do it right that is.


It is a rare day you will find me doing a bicep concentration curl, it just isn't necessary. let me put it this way, you can develop beautiful arms while working other body parts at the same time, how's that?


So what exactly is my training? It varies, as it should. I have always been known for having great, broad shoulders (at least in the last few years competing), but they really have popped since training with Roy.


An example of what I do for shoulders:


Dumbbell Lateral Raises
Dumbbell Front Raises
Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
Barbell Press
Behind the Neck Barbell Press
Dumbbell Press
Arnold Press


But they get trained when I work back too. I always incorporate pull ups and chin ups, these are probably one of the best overall exercises you can do. They hit the back, triceps, biceps, lats, traps, abs, neck...need I say more? If you are not doing several sets of chin ups a week, you should.


Cables...


What do I do for my biceps and triceps? 


Most of it is my back training. It hits the biceps too!


The Cable Lat Pull Down, we all use that right? It hits your biceps too.
The Low Cable Row? That hits the biceps and rear delts also.
Again, the chin ups and pull ups.
Dips, they hit biceps, triceps and back.
Barbell Bent Over Row: Use a supinated grip (the palms towards your face), this targets the biceps, if you change the grip to a pronated grip, you target the triceps (I almost always use supinated).
Single Arm Bent Over Dumbbell Row, it hits the biceps too.
T-Bar Row, hits triceps, back, rear delts, biceps


There are two "arm" specific exercises I do, that is the E-Z bar curl and skullcrushers.


The other consideration is the weight- everyone wants to know "how much is the right weight?"


Well that all depends on your goal- is it strength or hypertrophy or weight loss? I am assuming it is hypertrophy. So the weight would be as heavy as you can go anywhere between 8 to 12 reps.  That means you can do 10 reps with good form, but are struggling, that's a good weight. If it is easy to knock out 10, then it is way to light. It should be difficult.


I do change it up and sometimes I will use heavy weights with low reps then lighter weight with higher reps. It must always change.


So you can see why my shoulders and arms look so good- I devote two days a week solely to shoulders, then one day to Back, so the arms are getting hit three times a week, and close to competition I add one more Back day so they get hit four times a week!


So my advice to anyone who is trying to have killer arms (but not look like Jay Cutler), concentrate on your back and shoulders, the rest will follow.

Rope Training

Roy surprised me today! Actually I think he surprised himself too. The big, long rope is always running down the center of the gym, I never really paid much attention to it, I figured we would get around to it when we did.

He changed the shoulder workout, we started with standing behind the neck barbell press, I warmed up then on to 65 pounds then right to 75 pounds and that's where we stayed, 8 reps, 5 sets.

Then seated dumbbell press at 35 pounds, 7 reps, I think we did 5 sets, maybe 6?

Then he asked about the rope, "did we use the rope recently?" "Um, no, I have never used the rope, or any rope for that matter."

A look came over his face..."never...used....the rope?"

"No" I explained I always wanted to use the sled, the chains, the ropes, all the fun stuff. I got to use the prowler with SC, but he never let me use chains, not quite sure why...

I told him that I have been having so much fun with everything else we have been doing, it slipped my mind. The smile on his face seemed to get a little smirky at that point. 

He looped the 40 foot, 2 inch diameter rope through the sled (that was already weighted with a  few 45 pound plates) and told me to grab one end and bring it together with the other, and hold one end in each hand like this:

I was supposed to do one minute on full blast and one minute rest, seems like nothing...well have you ever "done the rope?" ha ha, I bet not!

So he stood on the sled, stopwatch in hand and says "go" and I am supposed to undulate alternating arms like the fellow in the picture above. Big, strong movements, hmmm, it's  not working that well.

Then I am to switch to both arms together up, then down, using my legs and  my entire body to create giant waves of undulating rope.

My breathing is very labored, I am sweating, huffing and puffing, it's not over yet. Below is one of the Kardashian girls training with ropes. I suspect she does this about as often as she takes out the trash...in other words it was for the camera only.  If she did it regularly she wouldn't have such a well endowed rear end. 

Next I am supposed to swing one rope over the other and smack the ground, then swing it back over, and keep alternating, almost like "double dutch " jump rope, but it's slow going, let me tell you.

4 frigging sets....maybe it was 5???? I think the last time I was breathing this hard was my first kickboxing conditioning class!

At the fourth set Roy started laughing and said "oops, stop- that was 1 minute 20 seconds"...

WHAT???!! What the hell is the stopwatch for then??? 20 seconds extra is a lot with the ropes, let me tell you!

But I loved it, 

LOVED

EVERY 

MINUTE!

After I got home and ate, David and I had to go downtown to get a cheese slicer (long story you really don't want the details on), and we decided to go by the new cheese shop in downtown Los Gatos. We see Nick coming out, the owner and chef of Nick's on Main, one of my favorite restaurants. We stop to talk, he asks if I am competing (he knows we never come to the restaurant when I am on a diet) and I explain that I am in the "get big" stage, no diet, so we should see him soon. 

He looks me up and down and says "still training? You just finished now huh?" "Yes" I said and smiled. "Shoulder day, we used the ropes."

He could tell, my arms were pumped and full. I could feel the swelling starting....

Next Friday will not come soon enough!

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.

Friday's Shoulders

Roy changed the training, he said we will be doing something similar to this for the next couple months. He wants to see how I respond to it. Shouldn't take too long to find out, my body adapts and responds quite quickly. 


Friday- How many times have I told you I love Fridays? I get to do everything I love! I hit the gym when they open at 5:00 am and I walk on the stairmill for 20 minutes, actually I was kind of rocking out because I was listening to some new music and closed my eyes and zoned out, when I opened my eyes I found people staring at me laughing. I get into it sometimes, it's actually the only way to make it through the cardio!


Then abs, I practice my Dragon Flags and hanging leg lifts. Then stretching and just a little boxing, not too much since it is shoulder day with Roy.


Work lasts all of 4 hours...ha ha off at 11:30 and then I drive to Roys.


We stretch and start with barbell shoulder presses. He goes pretty heavy, that's the new program for a while. Low reps, heavy weights, several sets.


The back of the bench is all the way upright. I start with maybe 80 pounds, he loads on more and it is too much but I do the reps. I am only aiming for 6 reps so the weight will be heavy, all the way down to my chest, slowly then power up, try not to rest at the top, just keep going.


I think we find a good weight at 90 pounds, it's hard but doable. I do 6 sets, that's quite a bit. You have to think about the total volume. So what if you normally do 3 sets of 10? That's 30 reps right? I did 6 sets of 6, that's 36 reps- more than you and most likely heavier weights. And, we all know:

Heavy weights = big muscles

The rest periods are of course longer. So we can't do a lot of other things. We move into the second exercise I will do, dumbbell shoulder press.

Again the back of the bench is straight up, so I will lift heavier weights. I think I start with 25 and quickly move to 40 pound dumbbells, again, 6 reps. 6 sets of 6.

That's it!

No boxing :( we are out of time. Time is not always my friend, in fact, it is probably the one thing I complain most in the world (other than my son's cat, Thor). I never seem to have enough time to do everything I want to do.


It makes me think though, of my all time favorite band ever- the Rolling Stones. And, one of the best songs "Time is on my Side". While there is so much I want to do everyday, I need to remember, that time is on my side. It's there for me if I want to be free. I have all the time to do what I choose in life, and while I may not be able to fit it all in one day, I can do it another (and maybe the next Friday).


(Email readers will need to navigate directly to the blog to view the video of the very, very young Rolling Stones below).

As usual, I mix up my protein/carb drink (1 to 4 ratio) and drink it with BCAA's and hop into the car- it's off to Whole Foods for grocery shopping then to the eye doctor to have a silicone Punctual Plug inserted into the tear duct of my left eye. Hmmm, I wonder, do I take off my make up first? Nah! Be daring! Plus, I still want to look good when I walk in the office! I will shop, eat and then go to the Doctor.

Friday...did I tell you I love Fridays?

Friday Night Out

Friday....I love Friday! I work until 11:30 then off to train shoulders with Roy. Well, we actually changed it a bit, my chest needs to be trained. 

We did bench press with a very, slight incline, this made it much more difficult! Then dumbbell press, making sure to stretch all the way at the bottom, then turning the dumbbells at the top. Then incline lat raise, facing the bench. 

When we finished I went off to Whole Foods and Peet's for my shopping. First Peet's and I get an iced coffee to take with me as I shop.

As I am at the checkout, a young woman comes to bag. "I am totally jealous of your arms!" We talk a bit, she knows a bodybuilder but she said her arms are not nearly as big as mine (yahoo!)

Later David and I head off to Enoteca La Storia to meet some friends, all women he works with. As we walk up to the patio I see one head turn around, then all the heads snap around in our direction. We are greeted with squeals and hugs. Lindsay says I put them all to shame, they feel like they need to go to the gym now. 

A few bottles of wine and some meats, cheese and bread and then David and I leave for dinner, we are off to Opa! 

It is packed as usual, so we get a glass of wine and stand, a couple offers us their places at the bar, we will eat there! As David goes to use the restroom a woman at the end of the bar motions to her arms, then to me and a thumbs up. Smiling she says "Impressive! Your arms are great!"

We get Saganaki, the flaming cheese served with ouzo poured over it then lit on fire. Squeeze some lemon on it and it is warm, gooey, heaven.

David gets the grilled solomos (salmon) and I get the seafood souvlaki with Greek salad instead of fries. 

As I am waiting for the restroom, the hostess walks over to me. "Your arms are amazing! I cannot believe how great they look, you look awesome!"  I thank her and we start talking about what I do. She says "I work out 5 days a week, but my arms don't like anything like yours!" I explain that I really train twice a day, it takes a lot of hard work to get here.

We had a great evening and I went to bed with an attitude that, despite several glasses of wine, I would be up at 5:00 am to kill legs!

I was. I did. And my shoulders and pecs are sore from Friday!

Almost There

I had a burger last night. I was feeling too thin and looking stringy. I can get away with that, lots of people cannot so don't think it's "the approved diet" of Figure competitors. I can eat starchy carbs, I am insulin sensitive, I don't bloat up and have problems digesting them. My blood sugar doesn't spike wildly and then plummet.  Now, I rarely (RARELY) eat any white carbs anyway. Hardly ever eat bread of any kind, pasta is an occasional treat, don't eat many potatoes, so the whole deal may be that I don't eat an excess of that stuff on a normal day anyway.


But, I did last night (I had a bun). I only have a little fat left to lose, and I am getting close to losing it too fast (I always do this), so now I can "eat up" once in a while to make sure I don't get too thin. My burger was lean grass fed beef, the good stuff that you can eat raw if you like!


I went to the gym in the morning looking and feeling great! My muscles were happy and full, skin tight across them. 


I was standing at the box, getting my things together and Wendy came up, a big smile on her face. "You must have a show coming up, you look fabulous! I mean, don't get me wrong, you always do, but I can really see it now, super lean and muscular".


We talked about my diet for a while, she wanted to know what I was eating, I explained mainly lean protein, lots of vegetables and small amount of brown rice, lentils or sweet potatoes.


Monique, a trainer who is also a competitor stopped by. "Doing the SF Show?" she asked. "You look lean". I explained I had a burger the night before, I was getting too lean too fast now. "Be careful, don't be ready too early" she advised.


What is interesting, although none of us are experts at "peaking" at just the right moment, many of us can control it very closely to ensure we gain, lose or remain somewhat stable. It is a very fine balancing act. Something as small as a few additional fish tabs can slow the fat loss! I have used this technique before. 


It is also just as easy to backfire on us too. It does become a bit stressful trying to balance it all.


I was done lifting, and in the back free weight room I was joking with Mike, Anthony and Bobbie, we were talking about the different gyms in Los Gatos, they are thinking of changing. 


I gave my opinion on all. "I have just been to every single club in this area, I know all about every one of them!" I told them.


Bobbie replies "Of course 'Miss trains three times a day' does!"


I replied "I am only on three a days for 28 more days, then it's back to two a days! At my age you gotta slow down a little." (chuckle chuckle)


Bobbie laughed and said "I'm not so sure about that. You look pretty freaking sculpted these days. Lately you walk in the room and it looks like you got two sets of shoulders on you!"


I thanked him laughed and started to leave. I told him my shoulders only look so good because I have a trainer who knows what he's doing!


I was on a cloud the rest of the day!

Fridays Training with Roy

Shoulders, you gotta have big, round, meaty shoulders, be you man or woman! I think it's funny because people just love to stare at women with nice arms and shoulders, like we are freaks or something.


What is a freak anyway? Let's look at Dictionary.com (and not Urban Dictionary, which by the way is a great source of information!)


Freak:


1. any abnormal phenomenon or product or unusual object; anomaly; aberration.


2. a person or animal on exhibition as an example of a strange deviation from nature; monster.

I don't think I fit that category, but I suppose muscular women are just not the norm. 


Today we trained shoulders, week two of this program. I enjoy it in a sick kind of way, it's hard, really hard and I struggle yet I find so much satisfaction in finishing. 


Incline barbell press with fatgripz 4 sets of 10 95 pounds
Incline dumbbell press, neutral (hammer) grip 3 sets of 10 32.5 pounds each, 1 set of burnouts with 20 pounds: 15 reps, maybe more I cannot recall
Lateral raises 4 sets of 11 10 pounds each
Incline raise (rear facing on bench) 3 sets of 10 7.5 pounds each superset with
laying rear delt raise 3 sets of 10 7.5 pounds each


I haven't been sleeping well, and some of my bodyfat readings are out of proportion from the others, so we are now delving into what could be going on with this body of mine. Sleep is very important, it makes everything good or bad in your day. What's out of proportion? My umbilical and knees. Yup - fat knees.


Roy is checking the alkalinity of my body. How is that done? Litmus strips and spit. We walk out to the parking lot so we can spit over the grate in the ground, makes it all more fun! Roy misses his strip, but I am dead on the first time, a professional spitter!


My strip does not turn green, this is not good. I am too acidic, my strip is a sick yellowish color. Roy's is a beautiful green, like  seafoam.


What do I do? Way too much to tell you here, but the work has started! I was sent home with HCL (Betaine Hydrochloride) to see how my digestive enzymes are working. See it here in the picture above my plate? It's the small white capsule on the upper left. I will know if I am taking the correct amount when I feel a hot burning sensation in my stomach...


I am to take it halfway through my meal, I have chicken breast with Mrs. Dash and vegetables, a mix of peppers, eggplant and leeks. 


Nothing. Zilch, no pain, no warmth, no burning. This means I have to take two at dinner! Once I feel the burning, then I am at the right dosage. Hmm, odd but that is the way it shall work until I get on track I suppose.

What is the reason for all of this anyway, who cares? I care, I want to be healthy and I want to be able to optimize my food and training for best results. I expect so much of my body, so I need to take care of it, I need to give it what it needs to function, and function in a beautiful way.


I think this is just the beginning of a very interesting journey!


Here are a couple interesting reads about the subject from Charles Poliquin.


The HCL Acid Test

Maximize Your Progress with Hydrochlooric Acid

Fridays Training with Roy

Well? Do you see what I do? A pretty ripped Kristy! I am feeling so wonderful right now! Damn look at those veins!


What brought all this on? Besides a great diet, a wonderful trainer, a determined attitude and a whole lot of hard work?


Friday, the alarm sounds at 4:00 a.m. but I am already awake, I feel really rested, some nights I sleep better and work has gone from stress level 800 to level 5, I am feeling better about everything.


I had my Lean 1 and supplements and checked email....fixed the typos in the latest blog posting then off to the gym, I am there just before they open at 5:00 a.m.


Only 20 minutes on the stairmill, I am listening to Big Nation again, the guy next to me looked alarmed when I threw my head back laughing at the discussion in my headphones.


Stretching, and rolling and that little tennis ball on my delts...it hurts and feels good all at once.


Home to shower, get to work and I am off just as soon as I got there, out the door at 11:30 a.m. to get to BodyComp Personal Training Gym to train shoulders with Roy.


I asked about my post training drink and supplements, I am cutting even more now and that is 200 calories, mostly sugar, it has to go. I will instead just keep on with the glutamine, BCAA's, creatine, and amino acids.


We did more stretching, I even hung from the cable machine for a while. 


Then  seated behind the head barbell presses.


Lateral dumbbell raises, like none I have ever done, I couldn't use weights as heavy as I have been, what does that tell you? Did you see my delts in this picture? They look good don't they? 


Unilateral Cable raises, across the chest.


We are done. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but Roy makes sure that we use proper tempo, as much time under tension as possible to build the muscle, it means slow, deliberate movements, not fast jerky ones using momentum. You must admit, I look a lot more muscular than I did before I started training with him. 




I had to stop at Joanne's to get something and I saw this sign as I walked back to my car.

I had been thinking of getting a foot massage anyway, and this was even less than the one by my house. I am a daring person, I love adventure, I decided to go in, I mean, what do I have to lose?

Now, how do you suppose you can have a foot massage and not loiter?

I can use this, I need to relieve stress, I need to relax, it's always good to improve circulation, but I am not a "headache" person, I don't usually get them. And, I have found that a massage immediately after weight training feels so wonderful!

I loved the interior of this place, it seemed lighter, cleaner, more open, same big comfy chairs (are they all red??), and they had a big screen TV with landscapes of waterfalls and oceans showing and relaxing music.

A woman started and for the first ten minutes she worked on my face, head and neck. She then moved to my shoulders and arms. After twenty minutes two men came over and one went to my feet and the other leaned over and said "strong man"...." we brought a strong man for you", and the lady left me.

I am not sure, but I don't think they do that to everyone. Maybe I scared her?

He started on my feet, they had been soaking in a large wooded tub of hot water. He massaged and asked if it was too hard. I told him "no, I like it hard, you can go harder" and he let out a quick gasp of air and went to work, I could hear him breathing with effort every once in a while.

My feet, my legs, I fell asleep. Then the heart shaped paper cut out is placed on the opening in the headrest and I flip over. He starts on my back, digging deeper and deeper, it hurts a little, but I feel the knots being pushed aside.

My lower back, my glutes, my legs, my neck. Everything is massaged, for an hour, for $15.00. That's how much one cocktail costs poolside at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas (not that I ever had to buy my own mind you!)

We are done, he gives me water, I give him a tip and leave to pay. The fellow asks me how it was and I tell him "wonderful, I loved it, what is his name". He said the masseuse was Casey, was he too hard? People complain about him being too hard. 

"No, no, no, he was great, I love it hard, I will be back to see him again."

I took a card and wrote his name on it and wandered out to my car, time to go home and eat.

I had a great mixture of cauliflower that was baked with paprika and chile powder; eggplant, leeks, peppers and broccoli. Along side a big vitellone patty, rare, super rare. A big glass of water.

Life is good. Fridays are heaven on earth.