Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Tougher Leg Workouts

At this time we all know I am "bulking" and trying to gain some muscle mass.  One of my "problem" areas is my butt and hamstrings, need to get the butt lifted and out a bit more and get some more definition in my hamstrings and quads too!

Saturday I got to workout with Kyle, YAY!!!!  It makes me so happy when that can happen because at the moment it's not very often :(  Sadly he has been working six days a week and nine hours a day, he just found out this morning that he will be working seven days a week now probably through New Year's.  That means NO workouts with Kyle :(  I'm glad to have David with me three days a week, he is a great workout partner but I like my days with Kyle too so he can see the changes in me and he usually makes everything a bit tougher.

Saturday was leg day, I HATE dead lifts, I just feel like I am always doing them wrong.  Instead of using a regular bar Kyle had me use this kind of square shaped bar type thing, you stand in the middle of it, so much easier for me!  Although I am able to put a decent amount of weight on there so it is getting harder to hold the bar, time for me to learn how to use the weight lifting straps!

Squats were also part of the workout, not your normal squats, oh no, he had me do pause squats.  HOLY CRAP.  Squat down and hold for five seconds, come back up and repeat.  Then there were the single leg leg presses, my left leg is definitely weaker than my right leg.  Split jumps super set with straight leg dead lifts, it was a crazy workout.

Today I am still insanely sore from the workout, I really need to do some regular stretching, I keep saying it but not doing it.  I know my muscles will love me so much more if I just do it!  

Yesterday was arms and today is chest.  I need some good vibes sent my way so I will start getting my butt out of bed at 4:30am again!  I'm being horrible, just horrible.  It is COLD here now, so cold and so very dark.  I have no choice though, morning workouts will have to start so I can get my cardio in separate from my weight lifting.

I CAN DO IT!  Hopefully soon I'll have a post about getting my butt out of bed :)

Friday, November 8, 2013

So Sore!

These workouts are killing me, in a good way!  I can honestly say I've never been so sore before, this is insane.  I'm enjoying lifting the heavier weights, tonight I have legs and I'm looking forward to them actually being sore after a workout for once :)

Wednesday I lifted chest, really pushed myself and today simply drying myself off after a shower was painful.  I've never felt sore so deeply in my chest before, almost like, really my muscles go that deep???  Sounds silly I know, but seriously, this is an intense level of sore.

Chest - Heavy

5 sets (12,6,6,6,12)

Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
12 reps - 25 pounds
6 reps - 30 pounds

Flat Dumbbell Chest Press
12 reps - 25 pounds
6 reps - 30 pounds

Incline Dumbbell Flyes
12 reps - 20 pounds
6 reps - 25 pounds

Flat Dumbbell Flyes
12 reps - 20 pounds
6 reps - 25 pounds

Super Set on the last two.

Cable Cross Over
12 reps - 20 pounds
6 reps - 30 pounds

Clap Bench Push Ups
18, 8, 8, 8, 12

On the clap bench push ups I'm surprised I didn't biff it, I was so dead at that point and the final 12 were so TOUGH, but I pushed through :)

I need to add cardio back in, goodness I HATE cardio, who would have thought I would hate cardio as much as I do at this point?!?  The only thing I honestly like doing is the step mill, even the HIIT workouts on the elliptical are dreadful.  Sure they go by fast, I don't know, I just don't like cardio at all anymore and I have to force myself to do it.

Monday I officially begin the Fighter Diet, I'm looking forward to it.  Gotta get my plan for the week set out today so I can get all my groceries tomorrow and food prep on Sunday.  My plan is to cook everything and separate out all of my meals into tupperware, then I just have to pop it in the microwave to reheat.  Making this lifestyle change has been the hardest part, not gonna lie, making it as easy and convenient as you can is the best way to do it in my opinion :)  I'm using the Livestrong MyPlate app again to help track my calories, this week has been horrid, as in I'm about 1,000 calories short each day, oops.  That could be part of my intense soreness!  Looking forward to eating the proper amount of calories starting next week :)

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Indoor 4's is TOUGH

It was interesting playing four's indoors last night, it was at a church that has a really nice little gym attached to it.

So weird to play on a gym floor instead of sand!  I could actually jump and get above the net, didn't realize that until the end because I was just certain I COULDN'T get above the net, I surprised myself :)

The ball was a new ball, not like the balls at Volley's that are soft and kind of flat.  That new ball HURT, especially with guys that could serve and hit really, really hard.  My arms were red as tomatoes when we got done and today I have little bruises all over my forearms.

I played like crap at first, took me a little bit to "get used" to the ball and the damn gym floor.  I had a lot of fun though, nice little cardio workout for an hour :)

My arms are crazy sore today, my biceps still feel like they are super pumped!  I have a feeling I will get lots of growth over the next two months with these new workouts Kyle came up with.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Determined and Ready to Go!

I'm finally, finally feeling better, YAY!!!!!  I can't tell you how amazing it felt to get in a good workout last night and feel strong through the entire thing.  The new plan is set, it is a tough one, but you can't build muscle mass without tough workouts and heavy weights :)

I'm all set with my nutrition, I've got some reading to do so I can fully "digest" all the info to do the Fighter Diet.  There are so many different nutrition plans out there, you could always pay someone to just tell you what to eat, although that is pretty costly.  You know me, I like to be in control, so after a lot of research I decided this was geared towards my goals and something I could work with "easily".  I say "easily" because it is still a lot of work to figure up the daily calorie intake based on the foods I'm choosing to eat.  It takes me about an hour to figure out my plan for a week, I decided to do it weekly and change it up every week.  I can see why there are a lot of competitors that just choose to eat the same thing every day, but I'm doing this for a lifestyle change as well and don't want to get burnt out on it!

Anyone looking for nutrition plans, just really make sure you do your homework on each one.  I got one plan with Fighter Diet and needed to get two other ebooks and probably could have bought one of their "packs" rather than getting each one separately, oh well, lesson learned :)  There is no fruit allowed with this plan, you eat TONS of veggies and protein, I like that dairy is allowed, low fat or non fat dairy of course.  One snack I'm loving is the plain greek yogurt with one packet of stevia and some 100% dark chocolate chunks, YUMMY :)  I get to eat like 4 pounds of veggies a day, it is crazy, my body has to get used to that and right now I'm on a higher calorie plan to help me build muscle mass, I will never feel hungry during this phase!

Over the next 4-6 weeks Kyle is having me lift 6 days a week, one body part each day.  We are really, really focusing like I said on building up some more muscle mass, the workouts are going to be tough and I will really be pushing myself.  Both of us seem even more determined now that I have one competition done, we got the base built now to make it even better!

Last night was arms, holy crap.  I'm glad I had David there with me, when I was doing the heavier weight on incline hammer curls I wanted to drop down five pounds, but he wouldn't let me and helped me push through my last sets.  It was funny, I HAD to grunt, I couldn't help it I gave it all I could to lift those damn weights and made the noises to help me do it.  Some guys were doing bench press right behind us and I heard them say, "get it girl!"  LOL, I'll grunt right along with them ;)

Arms
All exercises are 5 sets (12,6,6,6,12 reps) lighter weight for 12 reps, heavier weight for the 6 reps.

Wide Grip Barbell Curl
12 reps - 20 pounds
6 reps - 30 pounds

Rope Tricep Extension
12 reps - 40 pounds
6 reps - 60 pounds

Incline Dumbbell Hammer Curls
12 reps - 15 pounds
6 reps - 20 pounds

Incline Dumbbell Tricep Extension
12 reps - 15 pounds
6 reps - 20 pounds

Preacher Curls
12 reps - 45 pounds
6 reps - 65 pounds

Straight Bar Tricep Extensions
12 reps - 25 pounds
6 reps - 35 pounds

Dumbbell Curls with Rotation
12 reps - 15 pounds
6 reps - 20 pounds

Tricep Dips - These were to failure
I did three sets of 18 and two of 15

My arms were DEAD after this, it was seriously difficult to pick up my purse.  Grow arms GROW!