Training Update-5 Weeks Today!

5 WEEKS!!! Yikes!! I feel like my competition is getting so close, yet still feels so far away!

This week I am changing up my workouts. Going to half-body splits, trying to trim some fat. Here's what the split looks like:

Monday: Upper body, teach kickboxing

Tuesday: Lower body, metabolic circuits

Wednesday: Off weights, metabolic circuits

Thursday: Upper body

Friday: Lower body, metabolic circuits

Saturday: Off weights, teach kickboxing

Sunday: Off (for now)

Diet is pretty bland, and very strict-especially now, as my carbs are getting cut a bunch. The carbs cycle through the week, 1 day is all the way up to 155 grams of carbs, and goes as low as 50 grams of carbs on the days I don't lift.

Here is what a basic meal plan looks like for me right now:

Meal 1: Oats, egg whites

Meal 2: Oats, egg whites

Meal 3: Chicken, green veggie, fish oil

Meal 4: Lean ground beef, green veggie, almonds

Meal 5: Chicken, green veggie, fish oil

Meal 6: Egg whites, and peppers and onions

not too bad, but definitely no fun food in there! Good news though-now I can add in a 1/2 grapefruit at some point during the day-so that is nice!

Posing practice is going great and is a lot of fun! My posing coach is super nice, and great to work with. I practice with her once a week. I really feel like it is going to give me a lot of confidence on stage, which was one of my main goals in doing this competition.

I am going to attempt to put the crystals on my posing suit by myself! It's very expensive to have someone put them on for you, so I thought "I could do that!" So, I have the crystals ordered and the tool that helps you put them on. I also have my design all sketched out. I will post pictures as I get it done!

No pics yet. I think you are going to have to wait until competition week! I will post before and after pics then.

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!

Happy 2009!!

Wow! Another year come and gone. Yes, I am still here!

It has been a crazy past couple of months. Thought I would post an update for those of you who still actually check my blog. There won't be any pictures until I can get my hard drive cleared off-hence the reason I haven't been diligent to keep this thing up!

We had an awesome Christmas this year! We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my family in Alpharetta just taking it easy and hanging out! We made appetizers for dinner on Christmas Eve for dinner and watched movies-it was great! Christmas day we spent a lot of time in our Pj's just taking it easy and enjoying our time together, and of course our new gifts! That evening my Aunt and Uncle and their kids came over for dinner. My Dad grilled the most amazing beef tenderloin EVER on the green egg. It was so good! The day after Christmas we headed to Nashville and spent the week with Reid's sister and her husband, and Reid's Mom and Dad. We had tons of fun playing games, eating way too many goodies, watching movies, some fun shopping, and we even took Ella to see the movie "Bedtime Stories" (which was so cute by the way!)

We got back home on Thursday evening, and I am just now starting to get the house back in normal working order. The Christmas decorations are down (with the exception of the outside ones since it hasn't stopped being wet outside since we got home), the new toys are slowly finding places to be, and the suitcases are just about unpacked.

School starts back up this coming week, along with our normal everyday activities! It will be nice to get back to our regular schedule. There is something to be said for a reliable schedule, isn't there?

As for the kids....

Ella is getting to be such a big girl. She is a huge help to me, and she loves her little brother. She is high energy, and loves to go and do. This past week visiting family was definitely a highlight for her. She sure does love to visit! :)

Cooper is learning and growing by leaps and bounds! He's pretty fast at walking now, and of course still climbs on anything he can! He is starting to talk a lot now! Some of his vocabulary includes: Papa, Yaya, Nana, Pop, Ella, Daddy, Mama, snack, pizza, doggy, eye, and YEAH!! His newest thing is to respond to something that he wants, or wants to do with: "YEAH!!!" It's so cute, I need to post a video of him saying it. He also loves a good snuggle if you can get him to hold still for long enough! :)

My figure competition!

Training for my competition is coming along GREAT! I am in the last few weeks of my "bulking" phase (aka trying to put on some solid lean muscle mass). I should be meeting with a nutrition coach in the next week to see when I need to start the cutting phase (aka getting rid of the excess fat to see the nice lean muscle!) My posing suit is purchased, still need to get shoes. This month I will be contacting a posing coach to help me with my posing routine. Every day I think that I am crazy for wanting to do this, but I know I will be very proud of myself in the end!

Alright, so there is a little catch up for you! Hopefully we will be getting the hard drive situation fixed soon!

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.

One Month of Training Down: The Stats!

Alright, the results are in as of today, after one month of training!

I'm just going to suck it up, and post my weight on here so you can follow the change.

Starting Stats:

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 143 lbs.
Body Fat: 18.9%

One Month Stats:

Weight: 140
Body Fat: 16.4%
Pounds LOST in FAT: 4.06 lbs.
Pounds GAINED in MUSCLE: 1.06 lbs.

Woohoo!!! It's so awesome to see that the hard work is actually paying off! It's looks as though I am going to be a hard gainer as far as muscle mass goes, which means I am going to have to work that much harder to get it....eeek!

Training is still going great! Still working on a 5 day split with the weight training. Continuing with the progressive overload with weights this month. I am going to kick it up a notch, and increase weight/decrease reps. We'll see how that helps with the muscle mass gains. I have seen huge strength increases over the past month, and it is really encouraging!

I need to have Reid take a picture!

Training Update: Week 3

Alright, just finished up my third week of training and I am feeling strong and GREAT!! We went to a five day split this week, working one portion of the body a day. Basically, taking it up a couple of notches, and working that body part until total failure. Here's what I did this week:

Monday: Chest (increased 1 rep. max to 125# on flat bench press!),Abs, taught cycle that night
Tuesday: Back, jogged on treadmill with sprint bursts for 30 min.
Wednesday: Legs, Abs
Thursday: Shoulders, Elliptical Machine for 30 minutes
Friday: Biceps, Triceps, Abs, jogged on treadmill with sprint bursts for 30 min.

Feeling a lot stronger-lots of weight increases all over the place! My trainer said that I should really start noticing a difference over the next month. After next week, we do a weight recheck, as well as body fat check and measurments. Should I post pictures every month? I am thinking that would be cool to see any changes!

One Week Into Training-Build, Build, Build!

Alright, I am 1 week into training, and I am feeling GREAT!! Yesterday was chest/back/abs day-and I already felt so much stronger! I was able to do 2 reps on my 1 rep. max from last week on the flat bench press! We also were able to bump up the weight on several other things too-woohoo! It's amazing how the body works, isn't it??

I was doing some research last week about training. I came across an article written by a trainer who has done and continues to do body building competitions. He said that in his years of training, and the many methods he has tried, working each muscle group to the point of failure (meaning, you couldn't possibly even do one more rep) once a week produces the most muscle growth and the best results. I had my doubts, but after applying that philosophy this week (this is also what my trainer believes) and already noticing a difference, I am a believer. Very interesting!

Here's where I am workout schedule wise:

Mondays:

AM: Chest/Back/Abs
PM: Teach 45 minute cycle class, 10 min. abs

Tuesdays:

Cardio of some sort. Today I am subbing a Boot Camp class.

Wednesdays:

Legs/Triceps/Abs
Every other Wednesday morning I teach cycle.

Thursday:

Functional Fusion class (Core) or light cardio

Friday:

Bicepts/Shoulders/Abs

Saturday:

Teach Kickboxing

So as of now, I am on track and feeling great! Workouts are good. Eating is good. I'm excited!

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???