Thursday, June 27, 2013

Shoulders, Arms & A Run!

Today's workout was awesome!  Kyle added in some more exercises since I am doing my core workout tomorrow and we didn't have to do abs today :)

I felt really good, the best part was that I actually got a run in afterwards.  I just ran two miles but it felt awesome.  I thought I was running really fast, then got my time afterwards, not very fast but that's alright.  I ran two miles in 19:35, I felt like I could keep going so I'm not too worried about the Color Run on July 15th.

Just feeling very positive today and hope this feeling lasts and there are no crazy bumps in the road anytime soon.  Kyle got some good news last night he got a job at The Mac and will be one of their personal trainers now :)  It will be a nice part-time job for him, he works 3rd shift for his full-time job so the hours work out perfectly.

I will continue to work out at Northland and he will train me when he can, but starting next week I'll be doing 3-4 mornings by myself.  I feel very comfortable with the workouts though, David will hopefully be going with me sometimes if I can get him to get his butt up that early ;)

Shoulders & Arms: Upright row to shoulder press, straight bar tricep extensions, overhand bar curls, arnold press, ripe tricep extensions, narrow grip barbell curls, dumbbell shoulder shrugs, two angle shoulder flies, wide grip barbell curls, angle handle tricep extensions, in and out shoulder flies, e-z grip wide handle tricep press, e-z grip wide overhand curls, double handle cable pull downs and rear delt dumbbell flies.

WHEW!  I lifted a total of 12,580 pounds :)

Breakfast: CellMass, Protein Shake: Gaterade, Syngex Vanilla Protein, Maca Root
Snack: Plain greek yogurt, 4 strawberries
Lunch: Salad with chicken breast, string cheese
Snack: Kandy Canteloupe, string cheese
Dinner: I'm not sure yet!
Snack: Protein Shake: Milk, Nesquik powder, Syngex Vanilla protein

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Abs, Chest & Back

I woke up this morning to a loud boom and lots of lightning, it was 2:30am!  I fell back asleep and my alarm went off at 4:10, booooooo.  I had a horrid headache, hit the snooze and then woke up to Kyle shaking my leg to wake me up at 4:30.  I so did not want to go to the gym, I whined and told him I had a headache but after work I'm cleaning my aunt's apartment and getting my hair cut so no chance to workout, that meant my damn trainer got me up.

It was a rough, rough workout today and I acted like a bratty baby.  I'm lucky Kyle is my husband, well I wouldn't act like that with a trainer that wasn't my husband, which is bad to say but it's true!  Anyway, I apologized a lot and about halfway through the workout I was feeling better and according to Kyle I still got in a really good workout.

Abs: Bicycles, pulse ups, side planks, wide leg sit ups, leg lifts with crunch, oblique crunches, russian twists.

Chest & Back: Hammer strength incline press, hammer strength low row, hammer strength flat chest press, standing rope pulls, incline chest flies, heavy pants, hammer strength decline chest press, hammer strength lat pull down, cable cross over flies, wide grip lat pulls, split handle lat pull downs, cable flies.

Afterwards I had my first dose of CellMass, we got the watermelon flavor it was super, super yummy!  I was so tired when I got home though, downed my protein shake, showered and got ready for work at a very slow pace.

Today for food I had my normal breakfast, cheat lunch I am NOT getting in enough sodium, how many people can say that?  My energy level is low, I'm getting headaches but I'm eating a lot and drinking over a gallon of water a day, so Kyle is thinking I'm just not getting enough sodium.

I'm really looking forward to my cheat lunch, not sure what I will have yet :)

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Abs, Shoulders & Arms, Legs

Last night was a great workout with abs, shoulders and arms.  Feeling like my arms should be coming along a bit more though.  Today there was a great deal on bodybuilding.com for N.O. Xplode, buy two of the 30 serving and get one free.  Kyle has decided to add in BSN CellMass for another supplement for me, that should help my muscles come along a bit faster.  I must say I LOVE the BSN products, they are amazing.  Nutrisport in our area will price match a web product adding $5 for what would be a shipping charge, but we knew there was no way they would match the bodybuilding.com deal for the N.O. Xplode, but we'll get the CellMass from them.

So last night on the ab routine my obliques were so, so sore!!!!  For abs I did bicycles, pulse ups, side bridges, wide leg sit ups, leg lifts, side crunches, upper ab crunches and russian twists.  For my weight routine I did upright row to shoulder press, lying dumbbell tricep extensions, reverse barbell curl, arnold press, rope tricep extensions, barbell curl, two angle shoulder flys, hammer curls, angle bar tricep extensions, in & out shoulder flys, close-grip standing barbell curls, standing wall tricep press and split handle lat pull downs.  I lifted a total of 8, 148 pounds!

This morning was leg day and Kyle's birthday, happy birthday to my hubby!  He killed my legs this morning, seriously!  I did seated leg curls, seated calf raises, front barbell squats, hyperextensions, barbell deadlifts, and calf press on leg machine.  It might not seem like a lot, but I did four sets of everything and about 20 reps besides calves, I did 30 reps for my calves.  I lifted a total of 18,365 pounds, my legs are strong!!! :)

On the menu today:

Breakfast: Protein shake: Gaterade and Synergex Vanilla protein
Snack: Plain greek yogurt and 3 strawberries
Lunch: Salad with chicken, a BIG salad, string cheese
Snack: Cottage cheese, banana
Dinner: Chicken breast, sweet potato, broccoli
Snack: Protein shake: Milk, Nesquick powder, Synergex Vanilla protein
Dessert: Oreo cream cheese swirl brownies!  I know so bad, but I'm only making an 8x8 pan and they are for Kyle's birthday, I will only have one :)

Monday, June 24, 2013

Hardcore CORE, Volleyball

Saturday morning Kyle switched up my core routine, I thought we were just doing our normal abs and then lifting shoulders and arms.  I was WRONG.

My workout was a 50 minute core workout, with weights, HOLY CRAP.  He wants to do this type of core workout once a week to get the muscles really cut so hopefully I won't have to flex my abs too much at the show, just make it easier on me in the long run ;)

It was so intense, leg lifts with a 6 pound medicine ball are tough, holding the medicine ball between my feet on the pulse ups was difficult.  At least he was right by me just in case I couldn't hold the ball and it headed for my face.

My abs were pretty damn sore on Sunday, he also has me doing the P90X stretch dvd at 3:30 on Sundays now before volleyball.  It helped so much with my soreness and I was so loose and ready for volleyball last night!

We did so good in doubles, won two out of three, I had so many hits and only missed one!  We won all of our games in fours, we're all really playing well together now.  Chris is an awesome, awesome doubles partner, we play so well together!

It would be nice if the damn gnats would go away, but it's been so rainy here they are beyond ridiculous.  I think I spent the majority of the time swatting at gnats last night, icky!

This morning I was exhausted so no morning workout, it got moved to tonight.  At least I will have Kyle with me tonight, not really looking forward to the busyness of the gym, but oh well.  Abs, shoulders and arms!

I woke up late this morning, like 45 minutes late so I was extremely rushed.  Only grabbed one yogurt and strawberries, that's all I've had so far today and it is 12:44pm, seriously my stomach is having a full on conversation with itself.  My lunch will probably be not the healthiest, but not too bad either, I'm thinking a small side salad and maybe a chicken salad croissant from Target since I have to go there to get a few ingredients to make some cream cheese swirl brownies for Kyle's birthday tomorrow.  I will be substituting oat flour for white flour to make them a little bit healthier, but seriously they are cream cheese brownies, I'm only making an 8x8 size pan, that will help too ;)

Friday, June 21, 2013

Chest & Back

No abs today, I was told that tomorrow I will be starting a new core routine, woo hoo!!!!  This morning I was showing off my progress to Kyle and he was poking my abs, smiled and said, you are going to have an eight pack instead of a six pack :)  Makes me so excited!!!!

I did so good with my food yesterday and was only 152 calories short for the day, much, much better than I've been doing, now to keep it up.

Today's workout was a good one, I knew Kyle had me lifting heavier today.  He just puts the weights on the Hammer Strength machines, I don't really pay attention how much and just focus on my reps.  Of course I know how much I'm doing when we use dumbbells, but I like the surprise of my weight totals after the workout.

I did hammer strength incline chest press, hammer strength low rows, hammer strength decline chest press, hammer strength lat pull downs (pulled 70 pounds!!!), incline chest flies, heavy pants with flip grip each rep, cable crossover flies (super excited these are now added in), wide grip lat pull down, hammer strength flat chest press, standing rope pulls, split handle lat pull downs, butterflies.  Total weight lifted was 15,430 pounds, woo hoo!!!

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Protein shake: Synergex vanilla protein, Gaterade, egg whites with low fat mozzarella (no idea what happened to my red pepper it was gone this morning!)
Snack: Plain greek yogurt and 3 strawberries
Lunch: Ground turkey lettuce wraps and cottage cheese
Snack: Cottage cheese, 15 almonds

I don't have my dinner figured out yet, I might get to cheat a little bit, confuse my body to get my metabolism going a bit more.

I'm down to 140 pounds, weight isn't what really matters, but it is nice to see it down a little bit :)

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Abs, Shoulders & Arms - Legs

So yesterday morning we did not make it to the gym, Kyle had a bad migraine but I did go after work.  Kyle stayed home with Bella and just texted me my workout, David ended up going with me and it was killer!

Kyle has added a new supplement, I am now taking maca root, I add drops to my NO Xplode before my workout and empty one 500mg pill into my protein shake after my workout.  I can say I felt a difference yesterday with it added to my NO Xplode, I felt more energized and like I last longer in my workout.

We started off with abs, they are really coming along nicely!  I can do all of the exercises to 25 reps with no break in between, right now abs consist of bicycles, pulse ups, oblique crunches, wide leg sit ups, leg lifts, oblique plank, upper ab crunches and russian twists (50 reps on this one).  That is 300 ab moves, obliques are done on each side of course, holy cow that is a lot of ab moves and I know eventually we will add in more.

Our shoulder and arm workout consisted of hammer strength shoulder press, tricep rope extension, overhand bar curls, arnold press, lying dumbbell extensions, wide dumbbell curls, two angle shoulder flies, hammer curls, straight bar tricep extensions (machine), in & out shoulder flies, concentration curls, overhead cable rope extensions, double handle cable pull downs and rear delt flies.

I felt like my arms were going to explode when we were done.  I also realized I do not like lifting after work, the gym is much busier!  The guys lifting were very nice though and let us rotate through, they said it was nice to see a chick with some muscle on her ;)

I'm having issues with my food still, not getting enough calories.  I'm adding things in and trying to see what works best for me, thankfully eggs and egg whites are pretty cheap!

This morning I was up at 4:30 for my leg workout, I will admit it was tough getting up for the morning workout after working out until about 6:30 last night, but I did it!

With my leg workout we do three sets of each exercise, all other days we do two sets of each exercise.  I was anxious for this workout, my legs feel pretty weak when it comes to lifting since I didn't left legs before, just did cardio.

For legs we did leg curls, back extension, seated calf raises, front squats, push ups (to keep my heart rate up between squat sets), dead lifts, leg press calf raises, did three sets of 30 changed foot position for 10 reps, step ups.

On the menu today:

Breakfast: Protein shake: Synergex vanilla protein, Gaterade, 3 egg whites with red pepper and low fat mozzarella
Snack: Plain greek yogurt with 3 strawberries
Lunch: Chicken breast, sweet potato, low fat cottage cheese
Snack: Banana, string cheese
Snack: String cheese, 15 almonds
Dinner: Salmon, brown rice, red pepper, poached egg, 1 slice whole wheat toast
Snack: Protein shake: Milk, Synergex vanilla protein, nesquick powder

Next week I will probably be adding in another protein shake during the day :)


Monday, June 17, 2013

Lots Of Working Out!

Friday was leg day, it has been a LONG time since I've lifted legs.  How sad I can't quite remember everything I did, a good reminder that I need to be blogging every day no matter what :)  It was tough and my quads were extremely sore the entire weekend, I did not have good positioning on my front squats that's why the quads were crazy sore, lesson learned!

Saturday was abs, shoulders and arms.  I was very tired, we had to get up early and be to the gym by 7am, I was hanging out with friends until about 10pm on Friday night.  Even though I was tired I pushed so hard and Kyle was impressed with the good workout that I got.

Sunday was sand volleyball, Chris had a funeral and couldn't make it, so I had a sub for doubles but we did awesome and won all three games!  In four's we were short a player, Kyle filled in for Chris, Mindy was sick and her husband forgot to come play for her.  But even with just three of us we won two out of three!  It was a good day of volleyball :)

This morning was abs, chest and back.  My workout consisted of hammer strength incline press, hammer strength low row, hammer strength decline press, hammer strength lat pull, incline chest flies, bent over two dumbbell row with flip grip, hammer strength flat chest press, v-handle cable lat pull downs, split handle lat pull downs and pec deck machine flies.  

I did a lot and felt awesome!  My total weight lifted this morning, 12,500 pounds!!!!  Starting to lift some heavier weights, I can't wait until after all of these to see the total weight lifted from all of my workouts combined :)

I'm adding in some more breakfast so I'm not just having my protein shake in the morning, I'm needing more calories and yes more protein.

Breakfast: Protein shake - Synergex vanilla protein, Gaterade, three egg white scramble with mozzarella and greek seasoning.
Snack: Plain greek yogurt, three strawberries
Lunch: 2 ground turkey lettuce wraps, cottage cheese, string cheese
Snack: String cheese, banana
Dinner: Chicken breast, sweet potato, cottage cheese

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Abs, Chest & Back

Awesome workout this morning!  For the challenge I have to track my workouts on bodybuilding.com, it is pretty cool because at the end it tells me how much total weight I lifted in the workout, this morning I lifted a total of 6,630 pounds!

After only a couple days of working out and eating really clean I have seen a huge difference in my body, it feels like I literally "snapped" right back into shape.  I weighed myself this morning and I lost two pounds, down to 142.  It is truly amazing what good food and exercise can do.

Abs were so tough today, they are sore from Monday and we are really concentrating on each area.  Also it was quite humid in the gym this morning, I was drenched in sweat after just the ab workout!

Today for weights I did hammer strength chest press, hammer strength back row, hammer strength decline chest press, hammer strength high row, full range of motion lat pull down, push ups, bent over dumbbell row, incline dumbbell chest flies.  I always do two sets and keep my reps between 15-20.

Today's menu will consist of:

Breakfast: Protein shake: Water, Gaterade and Synergex protein
Snack: Greek Yogurt
Lunch: Chicken breast, honeydew melon, red potato with a little salsa
Snack: Protein bar
Dinner: Tuna, brown rice, red pepper
Snack: Protein shake: Milk, Nesquick and Synergex protein

I'm trying to get in a gallon of water a day, I have not been doing that great I have to admit.  Need to get myself a bigger water bottle!

I know at some point I will have to add in more food, actually I really need to start that next week.  Just something simple like a small egg white omelet with spinach to have after my protein shake in the morning and I need to make some more hard boiled eggs, they are such an easy snack to add in, not too filling and of course are a great source of protein :)


Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Abs, Shoulders & Arms

Finally, finally, finally really back at it!  Man could I tell this morning that I had taken some time off and been sick.  I hate being that super sweaty girl, but this morning it seemed even worse than usual, icky.

We started off with abs and I reminded Kyle we are now doing training for the six week challenge, not easing up to harder training for the show.  I'm sure he didn't need the reminder and I may at one point have regretted reminding him ;)

Abs were TOUGH, when he had me getting ready to do leg lifts he came over to me and was standing over my head, he let me know that when I brought my legs up he would then be pushing them down and I had to resist and not let them hit the ground, then bring them back up and repeat.  Holy crap, 18 reps of that was enough, he has me usually do 25 reps of each ab exercise but I just couldn't with that one quite yet!

Then my workout consisted of hammer strength shoulder press, cable tricep push downs with rope, hammer curls, swimmers press, cable tricep push downs with bar, bar curls, seated two angle shoulder flies, overhead cable tricep extensions, in and out curls, single handle lat pull downs to finish off the shoulders.

I was so dead and part way through I had to take a breather, I was sweating profusely and felt a tad bit light headed.  That was when I could feel in my body the break and it was like my body was reminding me I was coming back off of a sickness and I totally needed to slow up!

Over all it was a great, intense workout and I'm feeling like I will tackle this challenge and do amazing :)

Now I also want to start kind of a food diary on here along with my workouts, getting more serious ;)

Breakfast: Protein shake: water, vanilla Syngex protein and orange Gaterade.
Snack: Greek Yogurt
Lunch: Tuna melt, honeydew melon, carrot sticks, hard boiled egg
Snack: Cottage Cheese
Dinner: Tilapia with brown rice and red pepper
Snack: Protein shake: milk, vanilla Syngex protein and Nesquick

Monday, June 10, 2013

Volleyball - End of 1st Session

Last night was the final games for the first session, I was so, so tired before we even began.  I had such a wonderful time in Minnesota with my girls, it was truly unbelievable!  The car ride home got a bit stressful with some HEAVY rain, I got home at about 4:00.  Enough time to stretch, drink my NO Xplode and get to Volley's.

Chris was at least feeling really tired too, I'm glad I wasn't the only one.  But we did win all of our doubles games, we didn't get last for doubles, woo hoo!!!  I was so shocked after doubles I looked up at the clubhouse area and there was my mom waving at me, holding a beer in her hand :)  I can't tell you how happy I felt, it was like high school when they would come to my sporting events, I just loved that surprise!  They did come so they could give me a key to their house to take care of their cat while they are off having fun camping for a week.  But they did come to watch all three doubles games, I'm glad we won them all, they were proud of me and Chris :)

Our four's games were good as well, I think we ended up in third place, we won all three and for us to have gotten second place I think another team would have had to lose all of their games last night.  The second game was insane, we play to 25 but the second game we won 28-26, I felt like that damn game was never going to end!

I did get a great cardio workout last night, I was beyond exhausted when I got home.  I just fell to the floor face down, Kyle wasn't surprised I was so worn out.  I think Tybalt thought I was dead he came over to me, sniffed me and then kind of pawed at my head like, mom are you alive?

My dinner was a protein shake, I was too tired to eat anything.  Bella was so sweet as usual, helping me up then she wanted to sit in the bathroom while I took my shower she was worried I would fall or something, such a sweet heart.  Plus we really missed each other this weekend.  I get to take today off, maybe take Tybalt for a walk tonight to loosen up my legs, but that's it, trainers orders :)

Thursday, June 6, 2013

I'm Sick :(

So my run on Tuesday didn't feel so great, I figured it was because it had been a few weeks since I ran AND I chose that awesome route with a nice big hill.

Yesterday morning I had to cancel my morning run with my sister because I had a horrid headache and my throat was killing me.  I got up and went to work, did the important things that needed done in the morning and then decided to head to the doctor.

Usually when I go it ends up just being a stupid cold and they can't do anything for me, not this time.  I have respiratory, ear and sinus infections!  The good part is that I got some medication, started that right away and this morning I finally woke up without a headache.  Still feeling kind of icky but way better than yesterday.

I will be taking the next couple of days off, I get to spend this weekend with my group of girlfriends from high school for our annual get together.  Oh yeah I talked about this before and getting to indulge this weekend, yay :)

Speaking of that here is a recipe I found for a yummy strawberry yogurt cake I am making to take with me, check it out, it isn't crazy unhealthy :)

I will be back Sunday for volleyball and will resume my workouts Monday morning!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

2 Mile Run

I did not get up and go to the gym this morning.  Last night I got all into signing up for the challenge on bodybuilding.com, it took me a while and then I just couldn't fall asleep.  The last time I checked the clock it was 2:30am and when the alarm went off at 4:30am I knew I just needed to reset it and go back to sleep.

So Kyle had me do a nice little run on my lunch hour.  The weather was perfect, 65 degrees, cloudy and even a few little sprinkles.  I felt kind of crappy, my cold isn't all the way gone yet and I struggled a bit at the end.  I chose a route that begins and ends with a large hill, but I ran the entire two miles.  My pace was 9:41 per mile, not too bad for having not ran in a little bit.

I did plenty of stretching and then enjoyed my lunch.  It is kind of crappy when I run on my lunch hour because I really can't eat very close to my runs, I feel the food jiggling around in my tummy and can't stand that.  So I think I also got a bit tired because I didn't eat enough in the morning.

Now on the subject of food, we went grocery shopping last night, got all good stuff.  I know I need to be cutting out sugar, but I have quite a love affair with greek yogurt.  I was so sad to see how much sugar there is in the kind that is my favorite, we did find one, Danon Light and Fit that had the lowest amount and Kyle said that would be alright for me to have.

The official start date for the challenge is June 17th, but of course I'll be working out and dieting before the start date even.  But I'm happy it is then so that this weekend I can truly enjoy myself with my Angels in Minnesota.  A wonderful group of ladies that I've been best friends with since high school.  We get together every year and this weekend I will be indulging in some yummy food and wine, I look forward to it since it will my last weekend to indulge so much for at least seven weeks :)

Monday, June 3, 2013

Get Ripped Challenge

So I am a member on bodybuilding.com and they have challenges often.  We all know I took about two weeks off when the crappy gym closed, I did do some cardio but no lifting, I also ate like complete crap the entire time.

This morning was my first morning back in the gym and I happened to see this challenge today.  It couldn't be more perfect timing, I'm bloated from crappy food, unless I'm flexing the muscle tone isn't super obvious, so before pictures for something like this, well now is the time for them, lol.  So what did I do? I got a paper and had Kyle take some before photos of me and signed up for the challenge!

Now we're really talking hardcore working out beginning tomorrow and strict dieting, I want to look AMAZING at the end of this challenge.  I know thousands of women will be competing for this and they will only pick THE best.  I thought I had Kyle talked into doing with me but he doesn't want to have to track everything and wants the focus on me, but he is getting his butt back into shape as well regardless :)

As I put on my little bikini and yes it is a bit small but hey that's a good thing right now! ;)  I can say I felt, just, I don't know, ICK.  Kyle got so mad at me, but I can't help it.  There is a part of me that wants perfection, I HATE my tummy, hate, hate, hate it.  I know, I know it could be much worse but this is my own body issue.  I'm not overly embarrassed by my photos but I have to be honest, I wasn't at all happy with them.

It sad how easy it seems to pick apart your own body and tear yourself down.  I really had to stop myself, insane how one can truly be their own worst enemy.  I had enough body bashing on myself, now time to get into positive mode, got get my protein shake for my dessert tonight and get to bed for an early workout in the morning!

Yes, I'm sharing my before pictures, I just can't wait until I can share the after pictures :)

 


Back In The Gym!

I ended up with a ridiculous cold Friday morning, it was awful.  My voice was so manly that it was actually freaking out Kyle a bit ;)  I loaded up on Cold Eeze and Airborne, got lots of sleep and felt better Sunday morning!

Volleyball was awesome on Sunday, although we had no wins in doubles we still played really well.  The team we played is undefeated, I had some awesome hits and that makes me happy.  My confidence is finally coming back and it really helps having such a supportive doubles partner :)  Four's we only won one, should have won more but that's alright, I think it was the last weekend for the 1st session and 2nd session starts next weekend!

I began my training with Mondays off, no more.  My body has gotten used to the diving and running in the sand with volleyball and it's time to be lifting four days a week. 

I really was surprised by how ready I was to get up at 4:30 this morning, Kyle was a bit sluggish but all he has to do is tell me what exercise to do and make sure I have good form :)

I truly love the new gym we are at, they were of course very, very welcoming, super nice and are looking forward to having someone there that is training for a figure competition.  Thank you Northland Fitness for being so awesome, we love everyone we have met that works there!

Because it has been about two weeks since I last lifted, today Kyle had me doing just one set of each exercise to fatigue.  I felt awesome and unstoppable and then I hit a wall, but I did get a lot accomplished!  I was happy that I am still able to do bicycles for my abs with my arms in the air :)

I'm thinking my little break was actually good for me, I feel more motivated and ready to go than I did before.  I did gain a little bit of weight, I'm up to 144 right now and am hoping that I'll lose a couple of pounds fairly quickly.

So happy to be back at it, 19 weeks to go!