"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me" --Stuart Smalley

I've been discouraged all week this week. I feel like I'm not making progress... lifting less weight with more effort, and I haven't lost any weight. I talked to Lisa about it, and she said it's normal to go through this mental struggle. I feel better now than I did this morning. I'm trying not to be a big crab apple for my family to have to put up with. I have a change of work out this week and Lisa took me off the Creatine for the next 2 weeks. The diet is the same for another week. I practiced my posing tonight with Mike's help and almost thought my lats looked just a tad bigger. Could have been the shadows of the dimly lit room, but I'm going to let my mind believe that there has been growth just to make me feel better. :-)

So I don't mean to be a downer tonight, but I just wanted to be honest in my blog about how I am feeling in case anyone who reads this is going through the same thing. Tomorrow is a rest day (well, 30 minutes of posing practice which is a damn hard workout!) but at least I don't have to go to the gym :-) I also don't get a lot of calories. :-( But it will be OK. I have plenty of work to do tomorrow so I will stay busy at home.

I'm looking forward to next week's workouts and I promise I will not step on the scale until Monday morning!!! (actually... I'm not sure if I can keep that promise so I'm going to retract that statement)....

ps... I have some fun info to share but I want to be in a better mood so I can make it entertaining. Stay tuned. ;-)

Tired...ass... lats... and other complaints

There is good news and bad news today. I'm in a really funky mood, so forgive the lack of humor in today's blog.

I guess I'm just tired. Lack of carbs catching up to me? End of the week? Hormonal? I'm supposed to be on my cycle this week but haven't gotten it. I was expecting my period to stop at some point during training, as the body fat decreases so does the flow. (Sorry guys... I know you don't like that kind of talk, but it's part of the deal) Lisa said I'd get used to the feeling of being constantly tired, but as a recovering carb junky, I'm not loving the feeling. I'm used to being energetic! I have too much to do to feel this sluggish and it makes me cranky. I'm afraid that it will get worse before it gets better so I better start sucking it up and put my big girl pants on.

So today's training with Lisa was posing. (in the suit--with camera) I was feeling pretty good about things. I've lost about 5 pounds, people are starting to comment on the changes, and I'm feeling leaner - even thru the hiney. UNTIL today... Ugh... pics from the rear view?... I have only one word... panoramic. It didn't help that I have that awesome "runner's" tan line. You know the one.... nice tan legs up to about mid thigh and then it's the color God gave you at birth. Thank God I don't have to look at myself from the back! It ain't pretty people. Although Lisa, bless her heart, tried to encourage me that it will come off, "don't worry", "you're doing way better than I expected you to do".... That helped to calm the tears that were wanting to well up, but it still does not change the fact that I have to lose about 15 more pounds to be ready for the competition. Also... my stupid lats aren't growing and I have very little control over them. I assigned my family the task of coming up behind me, put their fingers in my armpits and telling me to push their fingers away. Hunter has already done it 4 times. And I have to hold it as long as they have their fingers there. I should be careful what I ask my family for. :-)

BUT I have to admit that one pose looked pretty darn good. The front chest. Not so much about the muscularity of it, but it made me look skinny. So take that you stupid camera!

Well, I better get to work. Got laundry in the works, a messy kitchen, a desk piled high with about a weeks worth of mail, dog tracks coming through the house, and daughter to pick up from school, snack to eat, dinner to prepare, massage class to go to...(better look for some clean sheets and fill my lotion bottles) and drink my BCAAs as I've had none today. Whew... I think I need another cup of tea and my super woman vitamins! At least I'll get a good massage tonight. I pre-picked my partner last Tuesday to insure that I'd get a good one.

Until next time.... Fake it 'til you make it... keep driving on.

Glutius Hurtius Maximus!

OMG! I'm so crappin' sore! As you know, I worked legs with Lisa yesterday and was expecting my soreness to peak tomorrow (which it probably still will, in which case I'll be hobbling around like a 90 year old!) but I am very sore today already. Not so much the quads as the gluts, gluts, gluts! My poor cheeks have been twitching any time I try to call them to action. For example, standing up after sitting for anything longer than 5 minutes, going up the stairs... oh, and earlier, I had to "run" (more like hobble-jog) from my car into the house cuz I forgot something and I my cheeks felt like they were going to rip off. So I had to call shenanigans on any kind of "bouncing" activity. THEN, after the leg torture was over we did some abs (as I mentioned in yesterday's blog). I wasn't really expecting to be sore from that either but indeed I am. I didn't really notice too badly until the last 15 minutes of my first class when I do abs with them. We did abs on the ball with slow and concentrated purpose and I felt the burn right away under my ribs cage. THEN an hour later, I was doing the same damn thing at the end of my KB class.... THEN... After Spin, I gave my class a 15 minute ab session again. I think my ribs are bruised... Everything hurts in my core. I have sworn off ab work for at LEAST 24 hours! ;-) WRONG! Since I'm working on posing with Lisa tomorrow, guess what... ABS... darn... I think I will punch Lisa in the butt when I get to her house so she can feel some of my pain. (just kidding, just kidding... Please don't hurt me, Lisa... I love you... really ... I was just kidding!) But seriously... I might do it..

"Think Thin"...

Sorry for the lack of blogs over the weekend. I don't want to bore with the usual "lift, sore, tired, goodnight....lift, sore, tired, goodnight" So now you are updated...

I've made it a habit to look ahead to my next meal often during the day. At night I always look to see what I get to eat for breakfast, and in the morning I look ahead to my meals for the day. I have my favorite treats, (bananas, peanut butter, anything out of a wrapper). My ultimate favorite treat is a Think Thin bar from Trader Joes (I think I get enlightenment from eating them..they are my LSD --see last post if you don't understand this) , and I get one today. I was so happy this morning when I saw that. I actually took some time to think about when I would eat it. I should be alone with my TT bar, so I can savor every bite. Should I nibble off the chocolate first like some people do with peanut butter cups? I wonder how long I can keep each bite in my mouth before I have to swallow? How many licks would it take to get to the center? Pretty sick right? Imagine if you had to eat plain chicken for a week and during that week you could have one snicker bar. How and when would you eat yours?

I have to say that I do like the foods that I eat and I am, in no way starving. The hardest part of the day for me is dinner time. My family eats dinner together at the dinner table every night, so it's hard for me to smell the delicious, flavorful, ... saucy........... cheesy........ spicy.......... carb loaded foods on the table, while I eat eggs, eggs, eggs.... (It seems like there are a lot of eggs in my life lately. BUT I get to put salsa on them which is delish! Sunday night my husband made chili and I LOVE his chili! It smelled so good, and I was so hungry that I had to eat half of my dinner before dinner and saved the other half until later, so I sat at the table with nothing and I almost cried, I wanted some so bad. I did have a bite, much to the chastisement by my children. It was sooooo good, it's been my only cheat.

Also... girl scout cookies are from the Devil.

On to workouts.... Lisa worked my legs like a rented pony today. I'm fearful of my heavy cardio day tomorrow. But if my pattern stays true, I'll have DOMS on the second day so Thursday's Spin class will be torture and after that I can "rest" my legs for 3 days. Lisa also gave me some ab exercises. I have lower back issues and it causes me a lot of discomfort. I also know that my hip flexors and psoas are very strong so they do a lot of the work when I'm trying to work my abs. I try really hard to disengage them but I just can't turn them off for many of the conventional muscle building ab work. Lisa has been great at trying to find exercises that don't pull my lower back and at the same time, force me to use just the abs. I told Lisa today, and I'll tell you too, that I HATE when weakness shines in my face. I'm not talking about the sun light coming thru the gym window last week during squats and shining right in my upturned face like an angel smiling down and encouraging me that I can squat that 150 pounds. It's more like the flashlight in the face in Blair Witch Project...." I'm scared.... so scared..." How can such a strong body have such a weak core? Ugh!... how embarrassing!

So here I sit, with the rain coming down, thinking about my Think Thin bar. *sigh...* It's going to be a good afternoon! :-)

TTYL!

Rachelle

Spiritual enlightenment at the gym??

I have a different kind of story for you today. But first, the facts.... my inner thighs are totally shredded today - can't even walk without pain! So I lifted back today instead of legs and plan to lift legs tomorrow..I better feel better! That's all... (although I enjoyed the cute blonde with pig tail braids, pink shirt and pants with a darker pink skirt over the top... really?)

So I had massage lab today. For those of you who may not know, I'm getting my AA in Massage Therapy, and I give a damn good massage. (insert ego here...) Lab is once a week and today was our second week, so we did introductions. Everything was going well..."Hi, I'm Billy Bob Jim Joe... etc" Until we get to the guy next to me. He is saying how he changed his name to Atrayu (yes, like "Never Ending Story" except this dude is too young to know anything about that) ... I had to ask him why he chose Atrayu as a name change? why not Derrick? or Billy? He says (the short version) that he was given the name by his "Enlightenment Mentor" at a spiritual retreat about 5 years ago (etc, etc.... weird... etc, etc) So this other guy asks him what was his "mode of enlightenment, mushrooms?" (I'm thinking..."Is this conversation really going to go here? I'm from ND for goodness sake!") Not mushrooms... LSD! He continues on about how it really helped him get healed from all his mental woes, and how he found such piece and enlightenment...etc, etc.... freaky... etc, etc. I'm last to go. Thank God I get to change the subject! "Hi I'm Rachelle...." married, kids, body building, done. Then I get the question from my Never Ending Talking friend, "So why did you decide to do that? Are you finding spiritual enlightenment?" I said, "No, I don't find spiritual enlightenment in the gym, I only find sweat, and iron, and physical exhaustion. I do it for the physical and mental challenge." Then my TEACHER says, "I'm sure you find some kind of enlightenment doing that at some level." I say, "No, I'm a Christian and I find my 'enlightenment' through God. At the gym, I just workout."

California is really a beautiful place but it is filled with freaks! (No offense if you are from here...unless you are freak too.. then you can be offended if you want. But I'm sure you won't think you are a freak anyway, cuz you fit right in with all your freak friends.... So it can be safe to know that I am not offending anyone)

Strike a pose, there's nothin' to it... vogue!

Things are going well in general. I busted my legs yesterday in class. Not sure what it was exactly, but I'm guessing it might have been the isometric lunges, combined with a new Turbo Kick routine and killer spin class. My inner thighs are so toasted... I hope I can get a good leg lift in tomorrow.

My meeting with Lisa was good. Finally we had time to get to some posing. Whew! What a workout that is going to be! I was happy that she felt encouraged by my progress. I still have a lot of fat to lose but Lisa was confident that it would come off.

My diet is going well. I had to giggle about tonight's meal though. Have you ever measured out 1/4 cup of cooked rice? and sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon of A1 on it? It looks ridiculously tiny on my plate! I saved one of 2 Boca Burgers to eat after my class tonight so that I don't have to go to bed starving. So far I like the foods I'm eating (for the most part), and I've stayed surprisingly satisfied. I look forward to anything that is bagel, bread, rice.... =carbs! I also cherish my occasional banana. But I'm not cheating at ALL and I can see little changes slowly happening. I think my upper body has grown a little and I've lost a couple of pounds so I have to have lost some fat.

My only complaint is that I seem to be sick again. It might be residual from my little bit of sickness a couple of weekends ago. I hope it's not a new bug, but it's deep in my chest and it hurts to cough. I'm hoping to rest out of it this weekend, as I have no more cardio until Monday. I've also been sleepy this week, but that might be the 'sickness' thing, or just the lack of carbs finally catching up to me. But I'm getting by and working my hardest to achieve my goal in a short 9 weeks!

Shout out to Lisa!

I trained with Lisa today. More food, food food talk. She gave me my diet for the next 2 weeks and I have to say that it was money well spent. Food planning and cooking stresses me out, so having to add counting every gram of everything and figuring out what to eat and when would have totally consumed my life (as if I'm not already completely consumed by this whole thing).

We then took about 30 minutes to knock out a few quick back exercises and I told Lisa that I need her for every workout! Unfortunately, I'd have to pick up and "extra job" to pay for that and I don't thing "The Sprinkler" would fair well with a stripper pole... so that's out.

After my speedy (but effective) workout, I went to Target for a food scale, the grocery store and finally Trader Joe's for all the foods on my weekly diet list that I knew I didn't have. $150 later, I was rearranging my cupboards to make it all fit.

There is quite a science to body building and I would highly recommend that if you ever want to try it, to find yourself a pro, sell a couple of non essential organs, and get as much help as you can buy! I could NEVER EVER have done this without Lisa. Even with all the advice and books out there. (Which I don't have time to read, cuz I'm always at the gym!.. or trying to figure out what to eat!)

I have support... and I'm not talking about my bra

Yesterday was a great workout because Mike came with me to the gym and played the part of "trainer" for my bicep/tricep workout. My wrist trouble frustrates me most on arm day. It hurts most to pronate so any "palm up" activity just irritates it. I did my best to modify my hand position, and Mike did his best to break me. I loved being able to spend quality time together with my husband in this manner. He said he was nervous that his pushing might make me angry, but I suggested that since never fight (well, rarely) that we could pretend we were fighting and then have make up..... never mind... Mike would not like it if I wrote such personal things.

Then I was invited at the very last minute to go out to eat with some really fun girlfriends. You know how I feel about eating out right now, but I decided to make a quick meal replace shake (cake batter flavored protein and it was REALLY delicious!) and stuck some snacks and protein water in my purse. You know? This thing is getting easier. I had a friend offer me a shrimp that she was pretty sure was steamed, and another friend offer some of her steak, both of which I could have eaten, but that would have been torture for me. To have something so yummy but only get a taste is much harder than just saying no all together.

Next there is the issue of Valentine's Day....

Valentine's Day is a bad day to be on a diet. I haven't baked chocolate

chip cookies (mine and my family's favorite) for about 3 months so I decided that for V-Day I'd bake a big choc chip heart shaped cookies for each of my 4 Valentines. I was feeling a lot of anxiety about that since there is no greater food weakness for me. I decided I'd bake the cookies first thing after breakfast (my least tempted time of day). When I got up, I was greeted

by this sweet Valentine's gift from my super awesome husband. A heart shaped rice cake and a chocolate protein bar cut up into bite sized morsels. I snacked on 2 pieces of my special chocolate while I baked and it helped a lot. I did not even lick batter off my fingers... as I knew that would be the beginning of the end.

I'm very lucky to have such a supportive husband and family.

Today I do not have to workout at all and I'm excited about that. I'm experimenting with eating only 1100 calories since that is what I will be restricted to next Sunday. Might be kind of hard. I have eaten almost 600 between breakfast and lunch already. I really don't want to go to bed hungry so I'm trying to portion my calories out evenly. Wish me luck!

"Geez Rachelle, you haven't blogged in 3 days!" --Kate

I got in trouble from Kate last night and again this morning for not blogging since Tuesday so I figured I better get on it. I actually have some stories to tell but I've been super busy with "mom drama" which no one wants to hear about. If I had a 'mom' blog, I'd be typing constantly! (actually I would not be typing at all because what mom has the time for all that?)

Let me preface my "today blog" by going back briefly to Wednesday, which you all know is not a lift day due to all my classes, blah, blah, blah.. So I made a new spin CD with a lot of rock/hip hop style music. The kind that makes you bob your head, not dance around. That kind of heavy beat calls me to want to climb, climb climb. So Wednesday night Spin was a heavy climbing class. About half way thru, it occurs to me that tomorrow (Thursday) is leg day so I should try to save myself as much as possible. I try to "cheat" as much as possible for the rest of the class, but I've pretty much burned out my legs already anyway. Thursday morning 6am, Spin again... same workout. I try to cheat thru the whole workout but I can feel that my legs are burning anyway... I'm afraid for later. LATER... I get a text from my workout partner for that day that she is sick and will not be meeting me. Great.. on a day that I really needed a partner to help me, cuz I'm tired, my legs are spent before I start, and I'm feeling the opposite of motivated... what's the word??...not motivated? I get to the gym, warm up, start with calves. Immediately I'm having this pain along the outside of my right foot. Even tho I drop the weight way down, I can't eliminate the pain, so I move on to leg press. I do my first set "light" but it feels really heavy... sigh... yawn.... so tired... I did my 3 sets 90 pounds lighter than my max from last week and I feel like I can hardly push it. So at least I try to really focus on form, go a little deeper and added an extra set. Squats on the Smith since I was having fear of failure. Then I ran into a friend...we chatted... Marcelo (the gym manager) came over... more chatting. This is actually a real pet peeve of mine. I don't have all day to spend at the gym so can we just chat later? Since the aerobics room was in use for the next hour (where I do my walking lunges and straight leg DL, I did lunges while the 3 of us chatted. I don't know how many I did but it felt like a lot. Finally the manager got called away and my friend had to leave. That left me cooled down and struggling even more just to finish up extensions and curls... screw dead lifts... I'm out of here!

I get home and I'm feeling somewhat guilty about failed leg workout, but I'm hungry and also feeling bored and uninspired by the food I'm allowed to eat. I had a chicken taco pita which was super delicious but I thought at the time that I wasn't supposed to eat the taco seasoning (too much sodium). But I obviously ate it anyway. So now I feel guilty about my workout, guilty about my hi sodium lunch and I'm pretty much riding down the road of crabbiness. (on top of that, my breakfast was yucky... no joy in the food department) Lisa is on her way to my house... better snap out of it and get ready for a confession.

Lisa, my hero and excuse killer, and my angel and the devil, walks in all smiles, loving on my dog, and says "How you feeling?" and pokes me right in my chest! My little, tender bruised sternum that she tried to break on Tuesday cried out in pain as I tried to be strong but cried a little in the inside. I told her I had a "bad breakfast, a bad workout, a bad lunch, and I'm in a bad mood about it"... She didn't say anything about my wimpy workout, I guess she will just punish me later in her own evil way. And as it turned out, I don't have to worry about sodium intake until 3 weeks from competition, so lunch was no guilt after all. I feel better already.

My Thursday meetings with Lisa are meant for posing and nutrition. Let me just make a long story short by saying that there was no posing, all nutrition. There is so much detail about the nutrition! Each day is a different calorie intake, and that is broken down into %protein/carb/fat (which is different for each say) and THEN you have to eat most of your carbs before and after the workouts, etc, etc.... So we are getting deeper and deeper in to the details and I'm getting a little panicked wondering how many hours I'm going to spend obsessing about what to eat and when. What happens if I get to the end of the day and my percentages are off? In the end Lisa is going to make the diet plan for me (specifically what to eat and when) and it will only cost me a Mercedes Benz, a Cartier bracelet and the rights to my DNA. But at least it will be done. Anyone need a massage? Cuz I'm in need of some CASH!!

Which brings us to today... My piriformis is a bit sore so I must have done something right on leg day (probably all the lunges) I had a muesli pancake with banana cream protein and it was not too bad, had a great lift with a great partner (minimum chatting), and a $160 trip to Costco with Kate to get protein milk shakes (that are chillin' in the fridge for my afternoon snack) and a crap load of other stuff (mostly stuff that I can eat and few extras). Again with the cash outflow.... this sport is expensive!!! Oh well...I'm committed now.

Sigh.... how's that for a blog Kate? Enough entertainment for you? Now that we are all current, I have to get back to my "mom chores" I've really been slacking this week.

Talk to you later!

Help! I've fallen and I can't push myself up!

I'm mustering all my strength to type today's blog as I can hardly lift my arms. I worked chest with Lisa and I think she tried to kill me. I wondered why she was so happy when I got there! Not cuz... "I must be her favorite client!"... Or "She must love my fun personality!"... NOOO.. she was happy cuz she was thinking... "this chick has NO idea what I have in store for her... muuaawwwhwwwwwhhhaaaa!"... That's what I used to think when I had clients in ND. But if any of you are reading this... I was SO kind to you! You have no idea!

I was doing bench to failure and incline to failure... here is what I wasn't doing..

"warm up" with 50 push ups from your toes

lighter weight on the bar and push up to failure (example: set one, 20 reps, set 2, 13 reps) THEN add the weight for 2 more sets to failure (4 on my own and 2 with assistance -- and by "assistance" I really mean that I am sure that Lisa literally lifted my arms up with the bar). On to incline with DBs instead of the bar and last add a little weight so I can't push it up on my own and come down slowly with negative resistance. I'm totally failing at this point.

Thank goodness I'm done! My arms feel like bricks hanging by my sides. I'm thankful that I got a shower in after spin this morning because I'm not sure if I'll be able to lift my arms to wash my hair.

So Lisa says, "OK, do 50 more push ups and you are done." I felt like Polly Shore in that one Army movie.. "That's down and up, right?" So I get into position and my arms are already shaking... fail. I can't even do one push up. So I beg on my knees, but Lisa pushes me down and stands on my back and yells "PUSH!"... I'm just kidding, that didn't happen. But I did ask if I can do them from my knees. (I'm pretty sure she rolled her eyes but I was too embarrassed to look at her face) What's worse, after I eked out my first 15 and had to rest, I started to yap in an effort to get more rest time, and she tells me, "yep all my clients do that and then they will talk all thru the next set"... well that got me to shut up!

I'm pretty sure that "waxing on and waxing off" will not be in my immediate future. I'm concerned about massage class. I've been partnering with my friend Kate, because she understands my soreness and does a great job massaging me. I'll have to branch out as some point...I just hope my new partner doesn't want deep pressure.

Feelings.... nothing more than feelings...

I feel MUCH better than I did over the weekend. As far as my health is concerned, I have just a little post nasal drip, otherwise, I'm back to 100%. Thanks to my beautiful son for praying for me.

My biceps feel a bit sore after working out with my brother yesterday. He was a great workout partner, and really pushed me. I actually decreased my weight a little in order to slow down and really concentrate on the muscle and ROM.

My wrist feels a little better. I've been icing it and bought a wrist brace that I wore most of the weekend. Lifting biceps irritated it a bit but after ice and immobilization it feels ok today.

My tummy feels bored. This is my biggest challenge. I'm bored with eating. I didn't really love my meal replacement shake that I drank yesterday. It was OK, but not something that makes me WANT to eat. I need more calories without the carbs or fat. I'm tired of looking for food that I can eat. This weekend was kind of hard. Yesterday with the Super Bowl, I was actually lucky that we stayed home and Mike grilled chicken and chops with rice... and Doritos. The chips made me a little jealous... the smell, the crunch, the yummy goodness that is Doritos. I decided to make some popcorn for myself and in my angry rebellion, I made it with 1T of oil and a 'dash' of salt. It was sooo good! I licked the lid to the popcorn maker. My brother asked me if I "wanted to be alone with my lid".... yes... yes I do....

Overall, I FEEL good about "things" in general. It's noon, so I FEEL hungry. I FEEL like I'm going to make more popcorn to eat with my lunch. I FEEL happy, blessed, rested, and ready.

Shrimp, Fries and Naps

I worked out today, even though I am still not feeling very well. I was happy that Saturday is my short day with 3 back exercises instead of the normal 6, so I was only at the gym for about 30 minutes. Then after Hunter's basketball game we decided to take my brother down to the Wharf and Cannery Row which included lunch out. This is the first time I have faced eating out since I started training. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich no mayo, gave the fries to my daughter and set the bun aside. The hardest part was the popcorn shrimp appetizer. I seem to do OK resisting yummy food, as long as I have SOMETHING on my plate that I can eat. Of course I did not have my meal yet so I was unable to resist the shrimp. At least shrimp has good protein (but equal amount of fat :-( ) I had 6 popcorn shrimp and about 6 french fries. I guess it was a successful lunch as a whole, but we will NOT be going out once I start "THE diet" on the 14th. It was pretty hard and it made me feel crabby while we were sitting there. After that, we needed to get some salt water taffy, but that was not a problem as I am not really temped by anything that is not doughy or chocolaty.

Then when we got home, I laid down on the couch and took a 2 hour nap. It was awesome and I do feel better. I think I could still sleep if I laid back down. That is when you know that your body is fighting! Also, I got about 10 hours of sleep last night. I'm predicting that tomorrow will be a better day. :-)

My brother (from TX) is going to try to come up for my competition (him and Mike want to "heckle" me, but I threatened to kill them both if they did! hehehe) Anyway, my brother was there to support me at my first triathlon...then my second and my third. I love my brother, and he is an athlete too so he appreciates the hard work and dedication it takes to do events such as these. He worked out with me today and will tomorrow too. He is a great workout partner. Thanks Alex! You are awesome!

sore core and more...

I was going to blog yesterday but just ran out of time. I was really sore in my obliques and it hurt to breath! But it's better today. What is NOT better today,,, is that I'm sick.

I don't feel like writing anymore.

I love Wednesday's...

I didn't lift today but I wanted to blog anyway because I'm on a cardio hi. Earlier, I taught a muscle class where we did core core core (awesome), then kickboxing which is fun even if the class is small, which is was today. I just got home from Spin and I tried out a new music mix and the class really enjoyed it. Then I did another quick abs session since I don't have to run out to get to jits, I can stay a little later for abs. So I led a 7 minute abs workout and boy those students were moaning and groaning (even the men!). My heart really does soar when I can inflict a little pain on my friends. :-) mmuuaaahhaaaahhaaaa....

The bad part about Wednesday's is that there is really no possible way to get enough calories in. I burn about 1500 calories in my 3 classes alone and would have to eat over 3000 calories to break even for the day. A trip to McDonalds, super sized with a vanilla shake would probably do the trick... but .... no. I'm pretty sure my body would go straight into shock if I did something like that after eating oober healthy for the last couple of months.... and I ain't seen nothin' yet!

Here is some good news... my back is sore. (not crippled or tender to the touch... but sore) Here is the bad news... I am bloated, and have been for a couple weeks. Lisa said it's probably still my body adjusting to the hi protein/water thing. This should be my "skinniest week of the month" if you know what I mean. Mike shudders when I mention "girl" stuff in my blog. I told him a few nights ago that my "waxing" story should be the most entertaining of all.... he was mortified that I might actually write about that. I guess only time will tell. I may and I may not....

ROFL.... (literally)

13 weeks to the competition, 3rd week of training. The heavy lifting is going well, although I still don't feel stiff like I think I should. I talked to Lisa about that today and the short version answer is that I should be stiff. Maybe wrong form, not enough ROM, not enough weight. I pretty sure my form is good and I'm lifting as much weight as I can to failure. Perhaps if the weight is too heavy, then I may be compensating with other muscle groups?? I don't know. Today was back and I did go down about 20 pounds on wide grip seated rows because I thought my lower back was doing too much work and I couldn't bring my hands to my chest. I went to Big 5 after my meeting with Lisa to buy lifting straps. I was able to put another 20 pounds on for dead lift. (125 pounds).. and let me tell ya... I thought that was damn heavy! I have red spots along my palm from just those 3 sets! Maybe when I'm a big girl, I'll be able to handle it, but for now, I'm still little.

So the majority of my session with Lisa was talking about food/calories/protein, at about 200 miles per hour. I tried to make notes but I know I missed a ton. This is where the emailing comes in. In a nut shell, I've been doing good so far. I haven't gained or lost weight, but I've had a couple people tell me that I've leaned out a little. (I can't tell....) But now that I've had 2 weeks to adjust to the higher protein and high water content diet, I'll be needing to make some "pre cut" diet modifications. No milk products, and less carbs, still the same protein, and more calories if possible but I'm doing ok here. My strict diet starts on Valentine's Day. NICE, right? No assorted chocolates for me this year. (It's a staple... I wonder if my wonderful hubby will get me a posing suit instead. I found a cheap one -$50- Lisa said order it if I can afford it cuz if it's crappy, it will make for a good practice suit... and something about paint...???) At this time, (based on my raised eyebrows) she asked me if I'd ever even been to a competition... "no"... this is when she literally rolled back on the floor and laughed out loud with her hand on her forehead! Is that bad? Well, just think... if I am a success, she will have a heck of a trainer story!! A real resume builder...that's what I am! Whatever works!...