Strawberry Festival

That was fun. As we approached the street the GPS said we were to turn on, an old man waving a $5.00 Parking sign got out attention and we parked in his yard, only to find tons of parking closer, most of it the same price or less! But what the hell he was a nice old guy at least. We went in a walked around, not being personally into rides i was mostly observing until we came across a mechanical bull- oh yeah. I hopped on and he threw me off a few seconds later with the greatest of ease. That was a mixture of exhilarating and bummer, but a nice man and has daughter decided to try after me, and I stayed on much longer then either of them. No matter what my boyfriend says. A little further down the midway was the climbing wall, and, having no dignity at all, I went for that too. Again, I crapped out at the end, my right leg was shaking like crazy. Clearly, I need to get in better shape if only for carnival fun.

Still, it was a good time and I felt no guilt chowing down on a pot-roast sandwich afterward. Still a little stiff in the lower back from Friday, Monday's training will be squats and presses along with the sets of back extensions. So the plan is 80 lb squats, watch form. 60 lb presses, 25 reps of them one way or another, so an increase in press weight and staying at last weeks' squat weight which was an increase over the last time.

If you are positive weights create bulk

And you are a woman, read this!

Okay, got that out of my system for the day. Speaking of getting things out of my system, I am in the process of weaning myself off of birth control pills for several reasons. First of all, I've been taking them regularly for years and when one is over 40 and has a history of heart disease in the family continuing to take something that may increase my risk concerns me. Also, the pills are increasing the estrogen levels in my body and I wonder if that is impeding progress as far as gaining strength goes. The benefits of increased strength and fitness already have me hooked, and more is better. Did you see how graceful and young that 60 year old powerlifting Russian woman looked? So inspiring. So, gradually letting more time pass bewtween taking the pill until they run out, and then waiting a month or so and cloely observing physical changes are the plan.

Training after work, warm-up, back extensions, bench press, back extensions, deadlift, back extensions, and then the assisted pullup/dip machine if it isn't in use. If so, some lat pulldowns. Target weights are 70 lbs bench, 140 deadlifts.

Great workout; hit target weights, didn't make all the reps on bench and will grab a spotter next time. I bet 5x5 will happen. Worked up to the 140 lb deads, lower back is letting me know about it but not too bad. Ate some brisket I boiled earlier and tomato soup w feta cheese crumbled in it.

Glad I made the change

Today, wow I am feeling last night's session. My leg, back and shoulder muscles are all awake and complaining moderately, so good! I can feel the little separations of shoulder muscles instead of it all being like one lump and my back is like holy shit. Just from squats and overhead press. I must have been holding back quite a bit with the other programming, but I am going to miss cleaning for a month. (That is a phrase I wouldn't expect to type even tho 'cleaning' has a different meaning). I'm sauteeing three big chicken breasts one for the man to have for dinner and the other two for me to get through the rest of the day. The freezer is stocked with beef for pot roast, two briskets and a bunch of chicken breasts to make protein eating easier, I have to get to the farmer's market this weekend for fresh stuff. Also, possible Strawberry Festival this weekend.

First session w new programming

After an unintended deload of five days I made it back in the gym to lift. Warmed up on the elliptical for ten minutes and did 12 back extensions. Went to squats, starting w a set of air, to bar, then added 10 lbs a set until I got up to 80lbs. That's rright, 80. The last couple of reps did 'good morning' out a bit, but fuck it I'm busting through this plateau. Set of back extensions w a 5 lb plate and on to overhead press. Warmed up and did 5 sets w/ 55lbs. Some of the cues I've been reading have helped a lot, using my whole body, pushing the floor away from me, telling myself I can do this. It doesn't hurt to have checked out a video of a 60 year old strong as hell Russian lady, who looks great. I want that. Wrapped it up w a set of back extensions w a ten pound plate a cute guy chatting me up. I already had a bunch of the pot-roast I made last night, and am sure it is still there to be digested so had 2 ounces of cheddar cheese and a cup (before cooking) of my soon to be famous chocolate oatmeal.

Recovery is hard.

I can't freaking sleep at night. I usually stay up until 12 working, so you would think this wouldn't be a problem but between the cats and the man jumping around it is almost impossible. Add to that some anxiety, and by the time I Use My Mind (thanks Charlie Sheen) to get to sleep either the ever hopeful that I will go to 6am Spin class alarm goes off, or the cats decide it is time for breakfast number one. It is exhausting. Thank god I work for myself and can sleep til 10 or so when the house finally quiets down, but how to adjust this so I get the sleep needed when needed? Maybe I should just stay up all night working and sleep during the day?

Happy Ending!

Not that kind you pervert, I'm happy my man is back from Bike Week with two cute tops for me that fit perfectly!

Switching it up

March is long, so I am going to do something different as far as lifting goes. This month's lift sessions will be, squats and overhead press, 5 sets of five. A day off or cardio, then bench press and deadlifts, 5 sets of five. Day off/ cardio then squat/ bench/ overhead press and on this one my bench will use dumbbells instead of the barbell. So I'm giving power cleans a break for a month even though they are fun to do and will see what happens.

Reason 1 not to ignore your cat

She was nuzzling her little heart out on me, and the lamp, early this morning and I ignored her long enough to sleep thru 6am Spin darn it! So, I took the 7:45 yoga class instead. When the instructor asked me if it was my first class I didn't want to explain that I typically take a yoga class once a year so I just said the first in a long time. Other then the seemingly endless round of Sun Salutations (bleh) it was pretty good and my muscles feel loosened up. Lifting sure makes me eat eat eat though sheesh although part of that may also be due to my weaning off birth control pills. I want to see what it is like not to have all that extra estrogen running through my body and know from experience that just stopping them completely is a bad idea. As in, a feeling of non-stop PMS.

Spinning fixes everthing!

It fixed that annoying knee crunchiness at least. Today I opted out of 6am Spin, which was difficult. When I started showing up there, everyone was like, "You're back!" as if there are no other hours in the day one could possibly work out, and frankly, every later hour of the day is more inviting to me. So, when I don't go they assume I'm home eating bon-bons the whole time I guess. Also the super-cute trainer who works there is there in the mornings usually, and when he made an appearance last night I told him I would be in this morning. However, I am lifting tonight and want to be 100%. Tonight is squats, overhead press and power cleans, so a relatively light weight but very vigorous session.

In other news, I changed isp's from Verizon to Brighthouse this weekend. Here is a recap of my experiences with both. Verizon is great as far as the actual service you buy. When we had a land-line phone there were no issues with it and the dsl internet was fine and fast. The problem with Verizon is when you need to make changes. Their billing department is completely whacked out. I moved to NY for a while in 2009, and wanted to transfer my internet service. Well, you can't do that, so to avoid being hit with ungodly disconnect fees we put it on hold here and I had to start up a whole new account there. Then, when I came back I had to pay over $200 of 'disconnect' fees even though I was really just transferring the service to my new Fl address. In the meantime, they started billing the Fl address for the dsl line for the whole time it was supposed to be 'on hold' (their idea!) So, we got tired of fighting with them and I decided to go with Brighthouse.

We already have BH for their overpriced DVR service, so it was easy to set up an appointment for a tech to set it up. Unfortunately, I got the cable guy from HELL! Rude, he acted like such a dick when I didn't want to pay $150 for him to 'set up' wireless, which actually meant he had to disable the wireless that it already came with. he barged in and out without asking, dragged furniture across the hardwood floor and was just an intimidating dick.

I couldn't lock the door behind him fast enough. Ah well, at least I am online.

Browsing the Starting Strength forums and it reminded me of something. As mentioned in previous threads, when I go to the gym to lift I am covered from head to toe, yoga pants, two sports bras and t-shirt worn backwards to eliminate as much cleavage as possible. So, last night I walk in to Spin in a regular v-neck sleeveless training top, bright green, and black stretchy bike shorts. Sitting by the door is a young guy who lifts sometimes, when he saw me his eyes bugged out and he said, "It must be really hot out there!" Cracked me up!

Spinning tonight, easy night

Lifted last night, squat, bench, deadlift and back extensions. While squatting my right knee did this weird crunchy thing and I think that messed up the night. Squat 75lbs failed, 70 lbs also failed, crappy squat night. Bench 65x5x3 so okay, deadlift 1x5x135, backed off on the weight. Four sets of back extensions starting with bodyweight, next set with the 5 lb plate, next w. the ten, next w a 15 lb dumbbell so those were okay. I behaved and went to bed with no wine but woke up sore and stiff feeling. So the plan is, Spin tonight and tomorrow am, lift tomorrow pm, spin thursday am.

St. Petersburg Crab shack sucks!

It had been a while since I had dinner at the Crab Shack on Gandy Blvd. in St. Petersburg, but I had fond memories of going there with rowdy friends and ordering steaming platters of fresh crabs. Times change. Charles and I arrived at 7pm and were seated shortly afterward. That may have been the high point. I asked our brusque server if there were any specials and she said," only Grouper Cheeks." Okay, I ordered the Surf and Turf, steak and snow crab and Charles ordered the mysterious Grouper Cheeks. Our salads came out reasonably quickly and this should have been when I made the decision to go elsewhere. The salads were bowls of yellow ice-burg lettuce with slices of white onion on top and one slice of tomato, each. Since I requested dressing, my salad had a dollop of white 'blue cheese' dressing on it. Unappetizing indeed! When every fast-food chain serves a more upscale salad then you it is time to rethink the offering.

I ate the tomato slice. A little while later, our entrees were brought out on small white plastic oval dishes. How sad. Grouper cheeks turned out to be fried fish nuggets, bland and tasting only of cheap shortening. There were quite a few of them, too bad they weren't good. The one I tried didn't have the same texture of any other grouper I had had before. I'm pretty sure these used to be served in middle school lunchrooms. Surf and turf was one section of snow crab and a skinny steak underneath, my baked potato still completely wrapped up in aluminum foil, with packets of 'spread' (I guess that is supposed to be butter, excuse me, margarine) and sour cream. Again, fast food baked potatoes surpass this.

By now I was not believing this was a real place! One segment of snow crab is a half-pound? I must have 2 or 3 pounds when we have them at home then. I cracked into a crab leg and it broke in half, crabmeat still inside each half of the shell which is the classic sign of frozen crabs. Not having been supplied with the steel picker thing that usually helps, I gave up on that piece. Charles helped me attempt to get some crab and finally said, "Well now we know what not to order." Thank God for his sense of humor.

The steak was okay. If it was served to me next to an order of eggs at 3 in the morning I would be pleased. In this context, I was just glad to have something edible. After unwrapping the baked potato; (the foil wasn't even cut) I used the melted butter (hopefully it was butter but I must be dreaming. This place cheaped out on every possible thing) that came with the crab on the baked potato instead of the 'spread'.

Stepping outside was a relief and I apologized to Charles for the bad choice. Do yourself a favor and don't bother with the Crab Shack.

training plans

Saturday's workout is already documented, Sunday I went for a three-mile walk, so steady state cardio, Monday took Advanced Spin class. Tonight is squat/ press/ clean night. Weds I'll take the Ultimate Challenge class which is a cross between boot-camp and treadmill interval training, Thurs off. Friday will be squat, bench deadlift day and if I'm still struggling w 140 on deads I will use an alternate grip to see if that helps. Not sure about Saturday yet, maybe another spin class. If the schedule works it would be nice to take yoga and spin, although the man hates it when I spend a lot of time in the gym on weekends. We'll see!

joy of deadlifting :-)

It was a good Saturday to go to the gym in the afternoon, I bet the awesome weather kept a lot of people away. Yes, I'm antisocial while training, why do you ask? The relative lack of people didn't save me from unsolicited advice but what are you gonna do? So, I squatted, lots of warm-up sets, then 3 work sets/five reps w 75 lbs. Moved on the dumbbell flat bench presses, one set of five reps each w/ 15, 20 and 25 lbs dumbbells before moving on to the barbell bench where I completed three work sets of five reps (with difficulty again) at 65 lbs. I hope adding the dumbbell work will eventually lead to greater strength gains here.In between barbell sets I did back extensions, a total of four sets starting with bodyweight and working up to two sets w the ten-pound plate. Nest time I'll use the 15 pound dumbell for the last heavy set. Wrapped it up with 140 lb deadlifts, five ugly reps so I'm probably stuck here for another session. It felt good to pound it out early, get some food and a nap so I can go out tonight.
Off topic, my hair and nails are growing like crazy, may have something to do with all the protein I consume. I eat straight up tuna, chicken, eggs, no 'whey protien drinks' or anything like that.

hang cleans, overhead press and light squats

75 lb cleans, 4 sets of three; they were ugly but it happened. Overhead press was three work sets of five at 55 lbs which is an improvement over last week when I failed at three reps with this weight, so yay me! Six sets of light squats, weighted back extensions topping out w a ten-lb plate. So that was a good training session, showed improvement. I noticed that if I keep my glutes tight when doing presses it helps quite a bit, so looking forward to progression on that. It is starting to warm up this week, hopefully it isn't completely the end of the nice cool weather but we will see.

Suzanne Somers cracks me up

I had forgotten to blog about the ridiculousness of Suzanne Somers on the Today Show discussing ways to be fabulous after 40 when she is well over 60 until I saw this picture.

Doesn't she have any friends to warn her away from foolishness such as this? Oh my. She is amazingly rich and funny so more power to her.

In other news, I have the usual Friday dilemma of a friend coming over versus working out tonight.

Strong again

Woot 135 lb deadlifts yesterday- and without a mixed grip! I am on my way to the 150 lb goal for Spring. Also squats were 75 lbs worksets, the at least ten years older lady then me doing 95 lb squats on the rack next door lit a fire under me. Jeez, she didn't even look fit! Anyway 75 lbs, so on my way to 95 lb squats. Bench presses were all over the place. Since I can't get coached on what I am doing wrong here, I am going to switch them completely to dumbbell bench presses. Spin today, most likely tomorrow also to keep cardio good.

left it all in the gym tonight

A reminder: don't pig out before your workout no matter how hungry you are. Anywho, went, warmed up and back extensions, front squats with only 55 lbs, overhead press at 55 lbs- damn those are hard and I failed on the fourth rep but am determined to increase my upper body strength. Good shoulders really help the whole silhouette of one's body fall in line and my posture is so much better then it was before barbell training. I see women curling forever in the weight room and as glad as I am to see them there and at least lifting something, I just wish information about compound movements was more readily available. I would never go back to lifting those little girly weights with no results knowing and experiencing what I have in the past months of training. Building muscle that you can see and feel- for me the most dramatic difference has been the legs, is so gratifying and empowering. The fact that my body did not give out after skiing all day, days in a row, a completely improved experience over last year blows my mind. Barbell training is my fountain of youth.

Great Spin class tonight

Cardio night and one of the best instructors had a late class so of course I went, after an unusually carb-filled dinner of potato chips and Ramen noodles. Hey, nobody's perfect. It was good, challenging and music that went with our tempo, so important in a class. Oly lifting tomorrow, cardio Weds, off exercise Thurs, then power-lifting training Friday.

Building strength back up

Still working on getting back to pre-ski month strength levels and beyond. I chose the more difficult elliptical for the warm-up as I had a shorter amount of time to work out then usual. !2 minutes on that, 15 back extensions, then squats starting with the bar, increasing weight ten pounds at a time up to 65 lbs. I did three sets of five at 65, then back down in weight by ten pounds each. Bench press to 65 pounds, incline press at 55 lbs, then another set of back extensions (I love the way those target my glutes and thighs.) Deadlifts up to 125 lbs, I vow to be back to 135 in the next week. No soreness after this workout, except some lingering Spinners-butt from Thursday. Tomorrow is cardio-only day, then Monday is Oly day. Front squats, overhead presses and power cleans.
In other news, my kitchen drain sounds like a monster breathing and it is freaking me out.

Back to the blogosphere

Got home Friday from three weeks of ski lessons and skiing in a small resort. That was the best vacation I have had yet! Trying to stay alive on skis while going as fast as is fun was challenging, never a dull moment. Last year was the first time I had skiied other then a one day bad experience at 17 years old. Possibly due to the years of inline skating I have had since, this past time was surprisingly great. Many of the movements are similiar to skating and I love the flying sensation. However, after each day of skiing last year my whole body felt sore and beat up, requiring a couple of days to recover.
This time, after four months of lifting, was a different story. I skied day after day without muscle weakness or soreness. Mentally I would become exhausted after a point, usually four or five hours, but my body was conditioned for the movement and lifting involved. I started as an okay beginner and am now a strong intermediate skier- but not stopping there. Next year is round two and I vow to come home having successfully completed black diamond runs.

Giving that, its back to the gym time! Had my comeback session last night. There was some loss of strength as expected and I am going to bring it all back and twice as much. Last night did four sets of bar squats w/ eight reps, two sets at 55 lbs 4 reps each. Doesn't sound like much but my quads were feeling it during the latter part of the workout already. Same thing with benching, two sets with the bar, three sets of 6 reps with 55 lbs. Deadlift was a warmup set of 95 lbs, then two four rep sets at 115. I warmed up for the whole thing with 20 mins on the elliptical and threw in three sets of back extensions, which I was strangely strong on.

Tonight will be Spin class, tomorrow squats, overhead press, power cleans.