Figure Competition: Training Update

Well, next week starts a new phase in my training! Next week I go to two-a-day workouts! One weight session in the early morning, and one after the kids are in bed. Should be interesting, and I should start seeing some serious results.

To give you a little update, a few weeks ago me and the girl training for the body building portion of my competition, Courtney, started training together! We were not happy with the trainer we were working with, so we decided just to start training together. Well, in the three weeks we have been working together we have seen a great deal of results-it's been awesome! We also have started working with another trainer who is awesome! He's got our first phase of cutting diets dialed in, he is keeping track of body fat, and starting next week he is designing our workouts for us-awesome! Exactly what we need!

So, I am about to embark on what is going to prove to be a very tiring, strenuous, SORE, yet exciting portion of the process in preparing for a figure competition! I will be sticking with the first phase of my cutting diet for one more week, then the week after that it changes again.

My goal is to be ready for the show by March 28th-which gives me two weeks before the show to tweak things, and hopefully come in totally lean and ripped! :)

For those of you interested, here is what my diet looks like right now-everyday! Apparently, diets are the opposite of workouts. With workouts, if you are doing the same thing week after week, you are going to stall out and not see progress. Diet works the opposite-if you eat the same thing everyday, your body gets more efficient at processing it, and burns it up-like gas on a fire! So, hence the reason I have to stick with the same diet for two weeks, then he is going to switch it up.

Meal 1: oats, protein shake

Meal 2: oats, eggs

Meal 3: tuna, 1/2 banana

Meal 4: tuna, 1/2 banana

Meal 5: Chicken, green veggie

Meal 6: Chicken, green veggie

Meal 7: cottage cheese, whey protein shake

Meal 8: casein protein shake

So there's the latest! I'll keep you posted on how the two-a-day workouts progress. I am sure I am in for a SORE week this week!! yikes!

Training Update

Alright, 2 months of training under my belt! I did two different methods of body fat measurements today.

The calipers had me at 14% body fat.

The electronic one had me at 16.1% body fat.

I am down 2 more pounds, putting me at 138.

Training is going great! Still pushing the heavy weights, with lower reps, and a few sets of higher reps in there to keep the body fat coming down. Diet hasn't been so spot on the past couple of weeks though. Since Leah's wedding for some reason, I have had more treats than I should be eating, so this week I got back on track.

So here are the stats:

Starting weight:143
Starting Body Fat: 18.9%

Month One Weight: 140
Month One BF: 16.4%
Lost: 4 lbs of fat
Gained: 1 lb. muscle

Month Two Weight: 138
Month Two Body Fat:somewhere in between 14% and 16.1%
Lost: A little over 2 lbs of fat
Gained: A little under 1 lb of muscle.

A New Adventure, A New Challenge!

So, I have debated back and forth if I should post this here. I have decided to go ahead and post it with the hopes that it will keep me accountable with my workouts/diet and hopefully encourage those of you wanting to get fitter and healthier!!

I have decided to start training for a figure competition!! (Click on it for a definition) EEK! There, I said it!! A couple of friends of mine have competed, or will be competing in shows in the coming months, and I thought "Hey! I could do that!" So here I am. After years of working out and 2 1/2 years of teaching group fitness, I am ready for a new challenge!! The show I am looking at is in April 2009, so I have plenty of time to prepare.

I wanted to start this whole journey out right, so I got a personal trainer at our gym for a few sessions. I wanted someone to help me get a plan together. So, we did the whole measurements, body fat testing, etc... In the next few months we are focusing on building lean muscle, which means pushing as much weight as possible in less reps. We started yesterday (Monday), and BOY AM I SORE!! I pushed a lot of weight yesterday, and yikes I am feelin' it today! This is gonna be good, I can tell! :)

Building muscle also means increasing my calorie intake, which is really hard to do-especially when I need to try and push my calories over 2000 a day! Really closer to 2500-3000, but we are starting out with just a small increase over my normal maintenance calories right now to see how my body responds to the new program. And we are not talking junk food, empty calories. Real, clean eating food. Luckly in this phase, I can still have a few cheat foods though. :)

So here is where I am right now:

-Weight training 3 days a week-different body parts each day. (I'll post my routine later)
-Cardio is weird, because I still am teaching 3 classes a week (which is probably more cardio than I need to do when trying to build muscle), on days I don't teach I am doing fat burn cardio, meaning keeping the heart rate low so I don't burn into muscle.
-Protein: at least 1 g. per pound of body weight
-Carbs: Minimum is 156 g. just for normal brain function, so above this to compensate for training.
-Calories: Eat more! hahaha
-Water: A gallon/day (128 oz)
-Suppliments: WheyBolic Extreme 60 protein shakes and a multivitamin. Adding creatine once I am done nursing Cooper!


So what do you think? Am I crazy???