Posts Tagged ‘weight training’
what a week!
Posted on: May 22, 2013
I had to take a week off! From what? Well, apparently everything! I ate what I wanted. I didn’t track any of it. I cried from the loneliness. I laughed with my kids. I worked my butt off at the gym. I sat on my butt at home. I did whatever I felt like. I didn’t blog any of it. I didn’t crochet. I did whatever the mood told me to do. I stayed up until after midnight numerous nights. When I was tired, I slept. It was just a week off.
Link is gone, again. Playing in the sandbox, so I’m back to missing him horribly. I had a baby maker scare right as he was leaving, but yay, no buns in this oven! (note – we do want more, just not yet… The littlest one is only 14 months old!!) I was literally finding every excuse in the book to justify what it was I was doing, be it for my own improvement, or more likely, when it wasn’t.
But the scare is over. My training has picked up again. Nick wants all my workouts to be super-secret spy stuff so we can shock the world with my massive improvements. LOL Not really, but we are keeping the workouts under wraps for the time being. Just know, he’s quite literally working my booty off and up! Even with this past week being crap as far as my diet was concerned, I am still really excited to take and post my progress pictures. I think I’m supposed to do them again next weekend. Since I don’t like the actual action of taking the pictures, I’m only doing them monthly.
I thought I would show a quick little progress picture. My family took some pictures last July 2012 and we just took some more while Link was here. I’m quite happy with how everyone has improved. 🙂
July 2012
May 2013
Um… Time to bare it…
Posted on: May 6, 2013
I have been taking before and after shots since I started working with Nick. Just recently I had a meltdown because I wasn’t seeing/feeling any different. I knew I was getting stronger, but I didn’t feel like I was getting any leaner. I was frustrated and complaining to both Link and Nick about it. Frustrated doesn’t even really come close to how I felt to be honest.
I am all for getting stronger. I have been promoting the benefits of lifting for some time now. I love the benefits I’ve been reaping thanks to lifting. I apparently still need some help to get over my mental road blocks. I still find myself turning to food to help deal with stress. I still see myself as “chubby” and I am very critical of myself.
Here are my original before and afters:
It took Tom pointing out the difference because I honestly could not see them. I see them now and feel crazy for not having seen it before. No, they’re not drastic, but they don’t need to be! It’s progress and that’s what I need to be concerned with!
I showed them to Nick as well. He made a valid point… I need to get out of the shorts! How am I going to see the progress in my legs if I’ve covered them up? I have always had major insecurities with the “thickness” of my legs and booty, which is why I put the shorts on. So, I’ve got new before pictures. In a triangle bikini no less. I took them last night and it was like some weird form of torture. I like being on the seeing side of the camera, not the seen. I cannot thank Link enough for helping me with them. I felt awkward and exposed. Not the best feeling in the world, let me tell you.
But, after looking at them, I can see even without pictures to compare them to, I know I’ve made progress. Of course there are things I don’t like. I’m trying really hard to not focus on those parts. In order to keep with the whole honesty idea of this blog, I’m sharing these pictures with you. And I may or may not be planning to compete in an ACTUAL fitness competition come September which is where the poses are coming from.
oh, and um, don’t mind my crazy, it’s way past my bedtime hair 😉
Most recent workout
Posted on: April 28, 2013
First and foremost: LINK IS HOME!!! His two week “vacation” started this morning, so I was crazy getting the house and kids ready, which is more or less the reason I haven’t posted much in the past week (ish).
Now, onto blog business. A quick update with my “no scale” challenge. It’s been hard. Honestly. I hate not knowing how much I weigh. At one point, a couple of weeks ago, Nick wanted to get my stats, so I found out then what my weight was, and seriously, it was like getting taking a huge breath after you’ve been underwater to that point just before you know you might want to consider coming up for air. I haven’t looked since though. I’m starting to feel the “itch” though. LOL May 4th is the day my scale comes back out. One more week.
On Friday Nick decided it was a good day to work my entire back half. Wow. Lots of dead lifts. Lots and lots of dead lifts. I was actually able to do 185 pounds, whereas last week I could only do 165 pounds. 20 pound difference in a week? I’ll take it! I try to tell myself those are the numbers that matter, even if it doesn’t sink in every time.
We also did some ab work on the TRX. It’s a great training area/device/contraption/torture device if you can find the right form. Some of the exercises are a bit hard to find the right form, at least for me they are, but I think that’s what I’m going to start working on because I really do like how it works.
I’ve included a couple of pictures that Nick took while I was working with cables and while on the TRX.
—Take care of your body, it’s the only one you have!
Another well-paid for workout
Posted on: April 10, 2013
Nick has done it again. I swear, he gets a kick out of torturing me, and I love him for it! Here’s how today went:
I saw him finishing up with his earlier appointment, so I let him know he could find me warming up on the treadmill. Not even 1 minute later he comes over laughing at me, telling me to get off. There was my first big indicator that today I was going to sweat… a lot! I could see it in his eyes! LOL
He hands me a jump rope and off I start. Today was a “go until you lose your rhythm (mess up) and well do one exercise”. So in between my “mess ups” we took care of the prehab stuff. He made me focus considerably more by putting half a foam roller on my back so I would isolate the right muscles/joints without shifting. The supine bridge was intensified by doing them one legged on the bosu, and we did another prehab called the “reach, roll, and raise” (or something like that). It focuses on the mid-back.
Then we go into the “heavy” stuff. It started with a kettle ball exercise that I can only describe because I have no idea what it’s called. It’s double-armed, and you swing them until they’re almost parallel to the ground then you use your traps and lats to “punch” them back. I know that’s a horrible description but I have no idea how else to describe the motion. LOL Then onto dead lifts, morning glories, inverted rows, presses and donkey kicks all on the smith machine except for the first two. There was huge progress made from last time I tried inverted rows. Not gonna lie, I felt pretty awesome (tired) afterwards.
Once the heavy was done we moved back to our starting area and did some ab and endurance training. This was the circuit I had to complete as many times as I could in 15 minutes. Donkey kicks, fire hydrants, plank (on elbows), alternating side planks (holding for 1-2 secs each time) for 10 reps, wall sit for 30 seconds, then upright rows. The wall sits damn near killed me!! I hated them in the army and I hate them just as much now! After all of that was done, then I had 20 minutes of cardio.
So yes, I sweat my a$$ off today, and it felt awesome. I have noticed when I’ve gotten in a great training, I am so much more apt to keep the momentum going into my dietary needs. Granted, today was Boston Market Wednesday, I still behaved so much better than I think I would have normally, and I still made nutritious decisions without totally depriving myself. All in all, a good day!
Some perks to strength training
Posted on: March 8, 2013
I’ve been doing this strength training workout for about four weeks now, regularly. The first day was absolute killer! My chest and triceps muscles were sore for a week! It quite literally made me nervous for the rest of the week, not to mention the weeks to come! But, I was bound and determined to at least see how the rest of the week went. I was sore every, single, day! It sucked! LOL I remembered reading in the programs detailed description that the first two weeks were a shock to the muscles. She didn’t lie! I thought, okay, another week. Get past the “shock.”
The second week was so much easier! I couldn’t believe the immediate change in my muscles! I already felt stronger, more capable. I didn’t up any of the weights, but went through the rest of the week nowhere near as sore as the week before.
I am notorious for checking my form while I’m working out. I always have been. I’ve endured enough sports injuries that form is very important to me. By the third week I could already definition in some of my muscles and I could increase the weights on certain exercises. I was becoming more confident and comfortable in the gym. I even had someone approach me and ask me a couple of questions. Yay!
The fourth week, this week, is when I’ve noticed the biggest changes though. I haven’t been able to do a standard (off the knees) push up since I was in the Army. I quickly stopped doing them as soon as I could because of my absolute hatred of them. The previous three weeks I had been doing modified (on knees) push ups, both close and wide hand. This week, I decided “just to see.” Knocked out 15 without even thinking about it! It was so awesome! I know love push ups. So I start with standard, and finish the rest modified when standard has become to hard. 
Also, my legs are firming! If you don’t know, my belly and my thighs are my most hated areas. I was stretching my hamstrings the other day after a tough leg workout and Ellie came up to me asking what that was (pointing to my slightly swollen hamstring). I explained it was one of my muscles. She asked if she could touch it and of course I told her she could. She thought it was so cool! She told me I’m so strong now. 🙂 I love that kiddo. But she’s right. I do feel stronger! It’s a feeling of empowerment and I’ve been using it to motivate to keep up the efforts at home with my dietary changes.
The other big perk, my energy levels. They have skyrocketed! I may get half a cup of coffee in when I first get up. I think it’s more out of habit than anything else. I don’t feel the need to nap in the afternoon when the girls are sleeping. And I’m still going strong after my workouts and sleep so restfully once I’ve gone to bed around 10-11. There is a bad side to that. If I didn’t go to the gym that day, then I’m not heading to bed until almost 1 because I just have too much energy!
I guess I should get ready for today’s workout!
If not for the skinny jeans... 