Posts Tagged ‘weight lifting’
Workout pictures!!
Posted May 28, 2013
on:I don’t get to post many of these because, well, I’m the one working out! Nick was nice enough to get these for me. I did have a slight injury to my left groin area after working out on Saturday. It was bad enough I had to cut the training short, but it’s doing much better now. At my training I made sure to tell Nick if it was being bothered or not and we adjusted the exercise as necessary.
He’s got me doing all sorts of exercises, but the pictured ones below are just a straight leg dead lift and lunges. The step is there because I can go further than my toes and deeper in my lunges thanks to my flexibility. And thanks to my flexibility and Nick knowing how flexible I am, he makes me get the FULL range of motion when working out. I hear “go deeper” or “further down” almost every time I train with him. (Keep your dirty thoughts to yourself!!)
In any case, here are the pictures as promised!
Wanna know what else is cool?? Or at least I think it is…
See the bulge in the middle of my hamstring? That is apparently the “bicep femoris.” Bicep makes you think of your arm right? Two and two together… That muscle basically reacts like your arm bicep! And you can see mine now!! Yay.
And just for reference:
Getting results
Posted May 16, 2013
on:I remember once passing a mirror while I was still living in Texas and needing to do a double take. I sat and analyzed myself. How did I let myself get so unhealthy? When did I stop caring?
Of course I banked on the excuse, well, I just had a baby x months ago! Of course I’d have a little extra fluff. But staring at myself that day, there were no excuses. I hated what I saw. I hated how I felt. I had to change or my family’s tendencies for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a slew of other things would be knocking on my door much sooner than I’d ever be ready for. A doctor had once told me that I was pre-diabetic, but not to worry about. She said it was probably caused by not really watching what I had been eating for the previous few days. We decided I would watch my diet over the course of two weeks and come back to see if there were any changes. I was scared enough that I ate supremely well. I got more blood drawn and low and behold, no problems. GREAT!
You’d think that would scare me onto the right path. Nope. I went right back to my old ways and sat looking at myself in that mirror. Depressed and resenting all the choices I had made that had gotten me to what I was seeing on that day.
That was over a year ago now.
Since then, I have lost over 40 pounds, I’m back to endurance training and can run 3-5 miles without huffing and puffing the whole way. I’m strength training for numerous reasons. I’ve lost over 5 inches from my hips alone! I’ve got a ton of energy (most days) and I sleep soundly when I’m supposed to. My body fat has dropped from somewhere around 35% (although I’m not positive of this) to roughly 24%.
I still have moments that I get upset I don’t have amazing results. But then I think, what I’ve accomplished in one year IS amazing! I need to (consistently) remind myself that I have made some serious changes to my life. Yes, the scale is stuck and possibly glued to a certain number, but I know now that results are more than just what that scale says.
Results aren’t always as steadfast as numbers. Those are just the easiest indicators to find that you’re going in the right direction. Mood, sleep quality, energy…. how would you quantify that?
I no longer want to be skinny. I want to be strong, fit and healthy. My girls and my family see the changes in me and they have noted the positive effects they’ve had on me. I will never go back to that person I stared at over a year ago.
I took this picture yesterday at the gym. I can’t wait for more date nights to rock some heels with these calves 🙂
Weight challenge
Posted April 20, 2013
on:I’m sure y’all have figured out that I really like lifting weights now. Well, while Link is off in LaLa land, he and his buddies created a weightlifting challenge of sorts. They have a reward system but I honestly can’t remember how it’s set up. The events are dead lift, squat and bench press. To get the lowest reward, their combined weight has to reach 500 pounds, the second reward is 800 pounds, and the top reward is for a combine weight of 1000 pounds. Crazy right?! I asked him what the standards were for women since there are women over there too (I’m all about EO)! He said he thinks the numbers are 300, 400 and 600 pounds.
I don’t have any idea what possessed me to tell Nick about this challenge but I did. The immediate effect I had after seeing his reaction was “uh oh!” Of course we wanted me to do it! I was thinking okay, I know I can get the 300 pound mark, but the others are way too far off… at least for now. Nick, being the awesome trainer that he is, said we’re gonna skip right over that 300 mark, and shoot straight for 400. I told him he was crazy! I started thinking either he’s seriously overestimating my ability, or I’m seriously underestimating them. We planned to go through it this past Friday. Well, between the squat and the deadlift, I was 325. So maybe I was underestimating myself a bit… The bench press proved to be really hard for me though.
There is apparently a proper way to do a bench press that quite literally engages all your muscles, not just your chest. It was a very awkward feeling, and he thinks that is the reason I didn’t lift more. I lifted 65 pounds. Here is an article that explains “proper” form.
I was really surprised at my weights! And we didn’t do the math until after we were done to figure out exactly where I was. Also, the chest press wasn’t my max because I was able to do six reps, as well as the squat, which I did three of. After he did his max calculations, he said that it would technically be 407 pounds. So, I actually lifted 390 pounds but maxed out at 407 pounds! I’ll take it! These are the measurements that really matter. Not just how much I weigh! There are so many other indicators to put my focus on to measure my health and fitness.
Nick warned me I’d be sore. He didn’t lie. Today I had a long run planned but once I woke up this morning I realized very quickly there would be no running. Today was definitely taken as a rest day! I will get my run in tomorrow morning!
Got me a trainer!!
Posted April 3, 2013
on:After signing up for the transformation competition, I quickly realized that I needed some professional help. I went to my gym and told them I needed to start personal training sessions ASAP! Of course they were excited, not just for a hire, but also for my reason why. I LOVE MY GYM! The staff there is amazing and they really do care about you and are willing to help you succeed in any way they can.
Back to the trainer. The manager gave my number to their newest trainer, Nick. He assured me though that he’s not new to training! Nick called me not even an hour later and we scheduled our first session for the following week. We had our first session and he’s awesome. We spent the majority of the time learning some of my limits and really pinpointing my goals and what he can do to help me achieve those goals.
I’ve expressed to him that my nutritional battles are so much worse than my internal debates of going or not going to the gym. I honestly like sweating when I’m working out. In my head I equate the amount of sweat with how hard I’m working. “Sweat is just fat crying!” One of my mantras right now!
I am so excited to work with Nick and get my body where I want it to be and where I know it CAN be!