VitaMix

I make a smoothie almost everyday, it is my usual post training meal. I use 1 1/2 scoops whey protein, glutamine, BCAA's, creatine and a very small frozen banana (along with ice and water). 

I have cursed my regular blender for ages, it did the job but took forever and made a mess. I researched and decided I needed a Vitamix. It made sense, they are the best and can be used for many other things, but the cost was way too much. I mean $500.00? seriously folks, that's a lot of smoothies!

I looked on Ebay, I looked on Craigslist, nothing. 

Then the auction, remember - the gym in Santa Cruz that closed? I got the VitaMix! Many experts will say the best meal to ingest immediately post training is easily absorbed protein (whey) and fast acting carbs (the banana). I add the other things as these are regular supplements I take pre and post training.

I am struggling with the lid, it certainly seals well. David says "use those muscles!" This is my inaugural smoothie, David said to drink it straight out of the container. "Chug, Chug, Chug, Chug!"

I'm happy, this will make life so much easier. I no longer need to pick little red pieces of plastic out of my drink. Oh, I didn't mention that?  See, the ice and frozen banana kept getting stuck, so I would push them down with my spatula, and it would get stuck in the blade and every week it would look more and more cut up.

This even has a mark with permanent marker from Dave Draper's place! I know just where to fill it up with ice and water now. 

If you ever get a chance to get one of these at an auction, garage sale, estate sale, or you just happen to have an extra $500.00 burning a hole in your pocket, I would highly recommend buying one!

Bare Fruit Apple Chip Giveaway winner

A while back I was contacted by Bare Fruit inquiring if I wanted to sample their Apple Chips and if I liked them, they would provide a case to one of my readers. So, a few weeks ago I held a contest asking readers to submit their suggestions for music that I would use to perform my Women's Physique routine.

It was tough! I got lots of great suggestions, and loaded most (but not all) of the music onto my iPod and listened, danced, critiqued, and basically enjoyed a lot of new music while training.

It was also interesting to me to hear what other people felt was a good beat to pose to, and I understand it's all very personal, and it depends on how you plan to move or dance.  Many posing routines are very slow and set to classical music, many are fast and upbeat. I think I made it very clear I was looking for fast, dance music, that's sure what I got!

After I listened to everything I am still undecided,  so since I couldn't select one I felt it would be best to pick a name randomly so I placed all the names into a basket and selected one. Below is a picture of my son, Cooper drawing the winner. We were home for the day, he just had four wisdom teeth pulled and is taking Percocet, Vicodin does nothing for his pain. He literally got home an hour before this picture was taken, I think the meds just kicked in!

I contacted Bare fruit and asked something that I should have asked before- will they ship out of the country? It would make perfect sense that they would not, and I didn't think of this before. I know at least one person who submitted a song was not in the United States- it was my brother and he is on the move, just having moved away from Barcelona and is in Berlin until he settles for the next few years in Paris.

I decided that if I drew his name I would have to send him something else!

This routine has proven to be quite a challenge to me, it is very different than just standing and posing on stage, so I am glad that I am allowing myself plenty of time to carefully consider my music, style, posing and routine.

And the winner is:

Charlotte!

Charlotte will be receiving a case of Bare Fruit Cinnamon Apple Chips, shipped directly from Bare Fruit. Charlotte please send your shipping information to my email: wilcekristy@gmail.com

She submitted I'm Sexy and I Know it by LMFAO (email readers will need to navigate to the blog to view the video below)





While I still have not decided on my music, it was fun and I will still take any suggestions that you may come up with!

Thanks to everyone who participated!

The Beat Goes On (Hamstring Injury)

Drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain. La dee da de dee, Le dee da dee dah

I have an injury. This may not be news to you (I have been writing about it for a long time) but I am coming to terms with it. Maybe you noticed my Monday Morning Motivation was about injuries? It helps me to put it all into perspective.

After my chiropractor released my contracted glute muscle, it, and muscles all down my hamstring were inflamed, and I started hitting them hard again, I have been doing everything within my power to grow my legs, twice a week I hit the quads and twice a week the hams. I may have overdone it. 

Wednesday night, a week ago, I trained with Roy, heavy squats and was fine. We tried to see if it was my “magic pants” that made my squats so easy on Saturday and it wasn’t just the pants, I really could knock out some heavy squats; he decided we were going too light when I was able to do 12 reps my last set.

Lunges were next and they also engage the hamstring, the left was painful, the power wasn’t there I stopped early as it hurt and then I become afraid that I am doing harm to myself.

I got home and strapped on my ice pack, once I took it off I could see a large, hard bulge on my left hamstring.

Good looking hamstrings do bulge, but it’s a smooth transition, you should not notice a “lump”. I asked David if he could see anything and he pretty much flipped, it was big. He starts to search on the Internet for what it could be. I don’t bother as I know there is a whole lot of garbage and opinion on the Internet; I will just go see my doctor as I had been told by Dr. Leahy to do.

I texted Roy and told him I would skip my training in the morning, after all, it was hamstring day and it didn’t sound like a very good idea at this point. I slept in and it felt amazing!

I saw my doctor the next morning and described the last two months and my various treatments. He examined me, moved me all which way and checked out the hamstring. I was wearing my shirt and a thong (pants had been removed to see the hamstrings), he asked me to face away from him and bend over. Hmmm…he was sitting butt height, facing my butt, this is rather awkward! Oh well, over I go and he pushes and prods my hamstring and asks questions. The whole time I am thinking "bikini gals do this all the time, what's the big deal?"

On the table on one side, the other, more pushing and prodding. On my stomach and back, again over and over.

The decision? I have a hamstring strain, which is minute tears in the muscle. He said because I never felt a pop or acute pain, it was most likely due to the contracted glute muscle, then all of the muscles became inflamed. The bulge I see is where the muscle attaches to the tendon, and tendons don’t swell and become inflamed, they just tear.  He also found that my left IT band is inflamed and tender.

He asked what I would say if he told me to stop training and I replied “I would say no.” “I thought so” he said.  He has been my doctor since I was 23 years old, so that means 28 years we have been together, he knows me all too well.

He asked if we could then perhaps agree on physical therapy? "Yes, I will do that, no problem!" I replied. I have to continue to take anti-inflammatories  and I also need to get a standing work station for my computer at work.  I can continue to train, but go light on the hammies and stop when I feel any pain. It will heal over time.

I was angry when I left his office, and I sat in the car for a bit just thinking about it all. Then I put it into perspective. Its not like I am an Olympic athlete who has been training all her life for this one moment only to become injured. Not like Walter Dix, who injured his hamstring at the Olympic Trials this June.

I will keep training but need to go easy on my hamstrings, so what will it mean? The worst case scenario is I cannot do my sprints and stairs and am relegated to walking on my treadmill. Glute Ham Raise is out and Roy and I need to find other ways to train hamstrings without causing pain and more damage.

Before I left the doctor's office parking lot, a song came to me and I ended up putting it on my iPod. I am a child of the 60's, the era of free love. This song was on the Billboard top 10 in 1967, and was one of my favorites for years. Sonny and Cher- before Cher underwent so many cosmetic surgeries. The audio isn't the best, but the recording is great. It brings back good memories and will help me to remember that no matter what happens to me:

"The Beat Goes On"

Email readers will need to navigate to the blog to view this video.

Monday Morning Motiavtion

“He who argues for his limitations gets to keep them.” 

`Richard Bach

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” 

`Helen Keller

"It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe." `Muhammad Ali

"Accept challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory." `Unknown

"If you are going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price." `Bud Wilkerson "The only one who can tell you 'you can't ' is you. And you don't have to listen." `Nike And below is a video entitled "Injuries Motivation", email readers will need to navigate directly to the blog to view this.

Dave Draper's World Gym (The Weight Room)

Dave Draper, have you heard of him? Mr. America, Mr. Universe, Mr. Olympia, Mr. World, “The Blond Bomber” has held many titles.


Below is a funny short video of him in a movie with Davy Jones of the Monkee's!

He’s a local boy, lives and owned a gym in Santa Cruz, just over the hill from me. I read his weekly newsletters that come out and last week saw a surprise. They were selling off the contents of his old gym, the place was closed and everything had to go. It would be auctioned off. At the top of my post  is the old sign, over the loading dock in the back of the gym. It was called World Gym when he owned it, then a few years ago he sold it (and still trained there) and the name was changed to The Weight Room, so it was no longer part of the World Gym franchise.


Below is a video of Dave and Bill Pearl speaking a few years ago, in that very gym! He has his hand on a huge black piece of equipment, it was built especially for him, and it was the only piece that didn't sell. It just weighs too much to move, so I'm not sure what they will do with it. What I find interesting about his "discussion" is the fact that he talks about modern day bodybuilders as "freaks", and I agree, the desire to get so freakishly huge, it doesn't even look real.

I browsed through the auction items online and I saw lots of things I would love, but nothing I really needed. Roy, however could certainly use many things. I sent him to email and told him to check out the auction.

Monday night of the week before the auction we met to train and we had both decided what we wanted, he would set up his pre-bids for several pieces of equipment, I would try for the stairmill and a Vita-mix, a commercial Rancilio espresso machine and a commercial coffee grinder.

You can set up pre-bids with maximums then follow along online and even raise your bid or bid on new things.

I was at work so really couldn’t spend much time following the auction, it was live in Santa Cruz, online on the Internet and very exciting. Roy was also working so when one of us had a chance we would check and if we saw one of our lots come up, we would text each other.  “Lot #311, low bench, you win!” I would text.  “Espresso machine next” he texted to me.  It was all so very fun and exciting!

At the end of the day Roy got several large pieces for his gym and I got everything I wanted (except the stairmill that went for over $800.00).

Roy, David and I piled into Moby to go pick up our haul.  We drove over the hill to Santa Cruz nice and early. This picture is taken while I am standing in the entrance, looking through out the back loading dock, this is all that's left of the equipment.

I turn around and here is the front counter where the VitaMix and espresso machine are located. The gym has has pretty much been raped and pillaged, rather sad and an end of an era of great bodybuilding.

Did I mention that I won everything I bid on (but that stairmill)? I suppose I could have bought the sign but really didn't want that in my house.

Here is the espresso machine, a hulk of a thing that is larger than this looks here. It's a Rancilio S27, apparently it has a cult following of people who love classic commercial espresso machines. The owner is unhooking the water supply. Crud- I didn't think about plumbing the darn thing when I bid on it, but like so many other things in my life, it will be an adventure I guess!

Roy is talking with some of the guys who are also picking up their equipment while  David is driving Moby around to the loading dock.

The prize piece - a deadlift platform! Roy and I are both super excited about this piece, now we can do so much more in his gym. And to think about the fact that Dave Draper used this, and probably his buddies, Arnold Schwarzenegger and other bodybuilders of his era.

Roy's benches waiting to be loaded into Moby.

The low bench is nice, its for bench press but it's low to the ground. As we loaded it into Moby a guy came up and said it was his favorite piece of equipment, after almost 20 years of using it everyday he was really going to miss it, I could see a tear well up in his eye, I had to look away or I would cry too. I assured him that it was going to a good home.

This would have been a great picture to have! There were so many available but I didn't think of getting one at the time.

Roy is holding onto my espresso machine that we moved to the roof of Moby as David backs the truck up, he had moved it to allow some other people to get their things out.

All of these pieces will forever carry the history of a great era of Bodybuilders and I feel fortunate that I had the opportunity to be involved in this. I cannot wait to do some deadlifts on the new platform! 

A Perfect Light Therapy

After my Active Release Technique treatment (A.R.T.), Dr. Leahy suggested one session of A Perfect Light Therapy, he uses these in conjunction with each other and it wasn’t a big expense so I took his advice and scheduled the appointment. Dr. Leahy wasn’t going to be there but Sophia could place the pad where it needed to go.

Above is the machine that the light pad is connected to, I took these laying on the table so lighting and actual image may be a bit off.

I changed into thin, comfortable sweats before I went in, if I was going to lay there for 20 minutes I might just want to doze off. I climbed up onto the massage table and Sophia showed me the large pad, it would be placed over the offending glute.  She said it worked best directly on the skin so I undid the drawstring, dropped trou and she placed it there.

Apparently it can get quite warm, so I was given a small doorbell, just like one you see on your front door, without a door attached. She said to ring it if the pad gets too hot.

She set a timer and left, closing the door behind me. I laid there; it felt great as it warned up, like a nice cozy heating pad. I wanted it over the rest of my body actually.

I looked at my phone, browsed Facebook a bit then put it and my head down and closed my eyes.

Next thing I knew a timer was going off, the door opened and it was Sophia. “I’m not done yet!” I exclaimed. “Are you sure that was 20 minutes?” She assured me it was time and I had to leave. I actually enjoyed the quiet and the warmth.

She asked if I wanted to schedule more sessions and I explained that Dr. Leahy said if this didn’t do it, then I should have an MRI, so no, no further sessions were needed.

I haven’t read enough to understand how the light therapy works, and what exactly it does, but it’s been almost two weeks and my contracted glute has not been bothering me. My hamstring has, and I may just schedule some visits to have this done on my hamstring and not the glute, but that’s a whole other post in the next couple days!

Gaining Muscle

You've seen these e-cards right? They make me laugh so much and this one makes me shake my head. So many women really believe this, and no matter how many times they hear that it's just not true, they are still convinced that women will easily get "bulky" by lifting weights.


I try, I try so hard. Gaining muscle is not easy, for anyone. I talk with women who say this same thing "I just want to tone, I don't want to get bulky" and what this really shows is their ignorance.

Women have to bust their butts, lift very heavy weights on a regular and consistent and long term basis;  and eat ample, healthy foods to gain muscle (lean body mass, not fat).

And I am not talking 20 pounds in a year, I am talking a few. To gain much more you need to be taking anabolic ergogenic aids such as anabolic steroids or growth hormone, women just don't have the same testosterone that men do so they cannot naturally grow like men!

I have been working at it for years, and I slowly and slowly grow, it's funny when I run into someone I haven't seen in a couple years, they are shocked at how I look. But it is a very gradual process, so if you see me on a regular basis you may not really notice the subtle changes. A few people with good eyes do. I remember Huong used to be able to tell if my weight was up or down by a pound! I would walk in to train and she would immediately tell.

SC never really said much, he always wanted me to get bigger. But he was a strength coach, he was all about lifting and did everything he could to get me to discontinue all forms of cardio- it's counterproductive.

Roy- he has a good eye but doesn't say too much about weight. He may comment if he thinks I am getting a bit heavy in the middle, but I seem to have gotten the off-season diet better dialed in so that is only a temporary issue if I indulge in any alcohol or simple carbs on a weekend, then it's gone in a week or so. It's the temporary bloat- you are what you eat, believe me!

He does tell me when one muscle may be slightly less developed than another, such as my delts which I am forever trying to grow, so he has a keen eye for the symmetry and I count on him to let me know about these things.

If you are a woman and are striving to look fit and healthy, weight training must be the core of your exercise regime. Get rid of the endless cardio, of course keep some in to burn calories, but that's all it does. It burns calories it does not sculpt your body.

And of course, the diet is a huge part of it all. You can work like a fiend in the gym, but if you are not eating properly and in moderation, you will never achieve the results you are looking for.

Success does not come to those who wish and pray, it comes to those who work hard day in and day out.