Fasted AM cardio

So far so good, the cats woke me up early enough that I made it to 6am Spin class, which is extra good because my feet were feeling beat up last night from yesterday's treadmill intervals and deadlifts. I had planned to row and use the elliptical but this was better, good music at least. Also, I can see a difference in the body! Granted, it is the top half of me- of course! But, losing fat from the top down is a lot more interesting when there is visible muscle structure underneath a lesser layer of fat. I deadlifted last night, and realized I skipped 180lbs completelyin the previous progression, so did that as my top weight, and I bet I can do that for decent doubles next time. Tonight is a bench press and accessory night, but its been since Monday that I squatted, so I'll start with back squats and then do the pressing. My messed-up hand responded well to incline bench press last time so I may stick with that for now.

Experimenting with new things

First off, fasted morning cardio. Lots of people with great bodies swear by it, I'm not concentrating on gaining max strength right now while watching my nutrition so what the heck. Two days down so far and it hasn't killed me, just made my legs a bit stiff after squats and what-not lifting last night. Will I keep it up for a month to see what comes of it? Stay tuned. Next up, finding some food replacements. I commented on my cheese addiction in the last blog post. Sometimes, I'm in a hurry and want to make something quick like beans or soup, but beans are plain and soup doesn't satiate me for long without adding something to it, and my go-to until now has been yummy cheese.

Dietary fat isn't something I'm worried about right now. After tracking I see that its the carbs to fat ratio that is off and total calories are important too. So, instead of cheese in soup I made a couple of eggs, whites white but yolks runny and breakable into the soup. That was heavenly. Success! Next stop, beans. At the store I picked up brown mustard and dill relish with the intention of adding that to my tuna instead of evil evil (and expensive) mayonnaise. Since it was morning and I was feeling carby, I added a good dallop of the mustard to my beans and heated it up. Also good, and flavorful enough that I didn't miss the cheese. Oh yeah. That got me brave enough to substitute evil but beloved mayo out for mustard and relish in the lunch tuna- and I liked that too!

Wouldn't it be nice to just change some fatty habits in an enjoyable way to improve my lifestyle, kind of like going from a sedentary person to a gym rat was. Feeling positive right now.

When you need a friend

After whining about tracking my food and not being able to eat everything in sight covered with cheese and washed down with wine, I realized that I needed a friend. This may not come through on this blog, but I can be very charming in person, compelling even. So, real-life friends and family are more likely to be led astray down the path of debauchery with me than I am to be positively influenced by someone in person. Thank-God for the Internet!

Who is more disciplined than all-natural figure competitors? No fucking body, that's who. My lifestyle change is a gorged vacation compared to the strict lifestyle of women who sculpt their bodies to perfection as a career. After a quick Google search, Kari of Figure Girl World entered mine. It is the end of my fourth week tracking calories, macros and all that stuff and just as I was becoming dejected at no change in my weight and minimal change in measurements, her blog sucked me in.

This woman goes through 20 weeks of intense diet and exercise on a regular basis, keto (which is basically no carbs at all), never drinks alcohol, gets up at 3am sometimes to do fasted cardio and has 2 dogs and 2 cats to deal with. Seriously, one of my cats is awkwardly trying to get comfortable on my lap right now. Don't get me started on the dog.

I went all the way back to the beginning of the blog and it is like a novel, ups, downs, carb-craving, workout fatigue and inspirational pictures. Kari pushed me through this tough week. I cannot recommend this blog enough if you are out there, like me, feeling self-pity that you cannot indulge yourself recklessly (like most of us Americans) and also have the same level of health and fitness desired. Now I have to go, the dog is yipping ;-)

Sunday at the gym

Possibly! One thing I dislike about Sundays are the shortened gym hours. I understand them, as a former retail employee having to work weekends sucks. As a person who likes to train on a consistent schedule, hours between 1 and 6pm are about as inconvenient as you can get. In other words, I never really know until then if I can go becuase there is so much time for something else to pop up.

Good news! I got out of bed on my own and have been walking around, albeit grumpily, all morning in no pain, just a little stiffness. The cold seems to be on its last legs too. Maybe having the strength drained out of me turned out to be a positive thing in that regard, as I simply had to collapse in bed rather than fight it and continue on normal weekend activities.

It is a shame I couldn't make it to the ball as I had a fabulous outfit that really shows off my lower half and height but it is an annual event and there will be other art-y charity things to do. The funeral was nice, C's stepmom was a lovely lady who worked hard and was having enough health issues towards the end that resting will be a relief. We went out to dinner afterward, and amid the table ordering new-Americana food was me ordering a huge rare burger. It was expensive enough for me to trust the meat, big and yummy. When we got home I just sank into bed, after tracking it online of course.

If I train today at the gym it will be bench press day, have I mentioned how much I like this split? Being able to focus on one big lift per session with accessory of whatever Oly lifts go with it is a lot more fun and less stressful than doing all three per session. I'm not giving up at all, I'm evolving and always strive to do more than was done in the previous session, even if its on accessory stuff. I like being able to actually see pec movement in my upper body. One the other hand I could decide to hang out with my neice today, to work or to tackle the looming pile of laundry in the garage. If so, then the plan is 6am yoga, lift, spin class for Monday.

Low back complaining from squats again

In the two and a half years I have been trying to get stronger and squatting, my lower back has had issues when the weight gets between 125-135 lbs. I reset back down, work my way back up, and it happens again. I went to squat camp, adjusted form- back to the SS form which does lean me over more, and its happening again. I think it may be time for me to learn how to squat high-bar. The purpose of the low-bar squat is to get stronger by using more weight, as this isn't happening, in fact it keeps causing problems and making me go down in wieght, I need to rethink this. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. For now my dreams of the strong squat are going to remain dreams, and I'll switch to front squats as the focus on squat day.

It totally sucks to admit defeat, but not being able to lift because one exercise keeps hurting me is even worse. I hope the back will be okay and I'll be able to move around tomorrow. Frankly, I'm having a moment of self-pity here. It has been a shitty week.

Squats and snatches

That didn't go too badly. My squats are back to 125 lbs, which is where they were before the squat camp reset. I do feel my knees want to slide forward in order to get depth, and plan to get a video soon to see what is going on there. As overhead squats seem to demand a power snatch, I've been working on those. Getting under the bar is a little scary but I'll get there. Trained on coffee, cream and protein powder and was a burping fool for a while, but I had to get it done as I have a funeral to go to today and couldn't take my time. I am worn-out right now, and hungry. Where is my wife to feed me and clean the kitchen?

Feeling better

After being sick and etc all week, feeling okay today is such a relief, I was, all systems go! 6am yoga was kind of weird, it actually felt easy but also like i wasn't really present in the movements at the same time. Plow position was just the thing to release the lower back. My body sent me back to bed in the afternoon for some more rest and a bizarre daja-vu dream. Tomorrow is squat day, I'm looking for 3 x 5 x 125 low-bar back squats and 70lb overhead squats. So, lifting and yoga, its probably too soon to add cardio to that in one long session. Reveiwing calories for the week and it hasn't been that bad and my average protein intake has been over 100 grams a day, so cool. It is only 530 pm so I have time to do some damage, but I really want this squat day to go well. I need to work all weenend too to make up for not bringing in income this week. There is a fun-sounding ball on Saturday night I've been invited to, but will pass. I'm too shaky for a night out just yet. Right now my priorities need to be fitness and financial over socializing.

Update

I am 45, going to be 46 in a couple of months, and my body is driving me crazy! Granted, I'm still getting used to tracking my food intake. Funny how such a minor change has me internally pouting and stamping my feet. I don't wanna! But, I know that the last time fat effectively peeled off of me was due to keeping track of what goes in my mouth. So there have been internal arguments without even getting to the part where I restrict calories yet! The main goal at the moment is to get enough protein grams and keep alcohol intake low enough that it doesn't look like a whole food-group on the pie chart of my foods.

Just in time for this, my female parts have decided to become completely unpredictable, climbing the walls with sexual desire one week, then a sudden deluge period for one- or two! fucking weeks, sometimes both happening at once. Cramps, bloating, headaches, you name it. This also tends to be when I catch sloppy colds too. See why I haven't been posting? Who wants to read a litany of complaints.

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Coping. I went online to make sure that expelling the Red Sea wasn't killing me, yes I am aware i could have gone to a doctor, waited all day in an uncomfortable office after filling out my life's story, then waited more while naked except for a paper gown on an even more uncomfortable examining table, but since I feel okay considering I decided to go online instead. Found out that it's called 'flooding' and it happens.

So I've been chowing down on fresh fruit and veggies, usually I make spinach juice in a blender and gulp it down for ease. I'm also making a point to eat more red meat for iron. When I feel too much like shit to do everything, yoga, cardio, lift weights, I choose lifting weights as my priority, yoga or just rest for rest days. This week has been a double-whammy week, cold and period. I've done squat day on Tuesday, bench-press and other upper-body lifts on Wednesday, and am going in to deadlift today. The hopeful goal is doubles at 185 lbs. Had rounded back pulls on this last time, so if it feels rounded on singles, singles it will be.

As far as the body recomp has gone, I don't have really high hopes for this week on the scale, however the upper-body day seems to be making a difference. My chest and shoulders look more defined, kind of more muscular yet slimmer at the same time. So that is good.

Back from the gym, pretty weak. One deadlift at 185, could barely get it up, 3 singles at 175, 3 x 3 x 155, 2 x 5 x 135 and out.

Still lifting, have gone to a split

I am journaling privately as now I have been tracking food, times eaten, moods and effects. I still track most of my workouts on Fitocracy, which is linked to here on the sidebar, and am still working on my back squat position and strength. My traininf is now Day 1; a back day, deadlifts and accessory lifts, Day 2: chest, bench press and dumbbell presses, and Day 3:leg day, low-bar back squats, front squats and overhead squats.Day 4 off. Doing this as well as tracking calories, foods, macros until June when I will assess how this has gone and make changes if desired. I'll pop back in here now and then when I feel like saying something publicly.

I didn't give up

Well, for a week or so i did, being demoralized from needing to completely rework my squat form and having to start over. I've been at it, yesterday 3 x 5 x 105, knees out and sitting back, and I noticed that it is rough on my lower back now. I bet that is why I modified the form in the first place without even realizing it. I'll use that squat weight again next time and see how it goes. Dumbbell bench 3 x 6 x 30, next regular bench 3 x 3 x 97.5- yes I will break out the mini-plates. Trying to see if linear progression will work again. Deadlifted 1 x 5 x 150, broke form towards the end, thinking sets of 3 will be better here too. I've been taking yoga all along, it helps with sanity.

Squat camp, or, No wonder I have Quads of Doom

I hoped that at squat camp the instructor would tweak my form and I would squat 135lbs with ease. Hahahahaha! Instead, I was BY FAR the weakest one there, managing to lift less than a young woman literally half my size. My form was tweaked all right, so much that I have to go back to 95 lb squats and do them the exact opposite way I've been squatting for two years now. When my knees slide forward it forces my quads to lift the weight, when hamstrings are supposed to handle most of it. On the bright side, I did get a lot of attention, being the most in need of help. It was worth it.

The bad part was attempting to lift in a freezing cold warehouse after being told to wear stretchy shorts and a cotton T-shirt. My skin turned into white flakes, it was gross! In hindsight I would have brought warmer clothes, being from Fl i'm so used to being overly warm while training that being uncomfortably cool didn't occur to me. Also, I made the bad decision to basically dehydrate myself on the drive up, which meant I had to play catch-up the day of the camp just to be normal again and was rather light-headed. Next road trip, I'm drinking more water then usual and just pulling into every rest stop necessary. And bringing warm clothes!

Yoga tomorrow morning, squats 3 x 5 x 95.

Yikes! Back twinge

That is what I felt shortly after waking up, so new plan for the week. No lifting. I'm taking the week off leading up to squat camp because I'd rather be a little weak than injured. I suppose last month there was almost a week off when the gym had short holiday hours, and hope this doesn't drive me insane. Yoga and cardio will have to do, maybe I'll revisit some Spin classes or take some boot-camp stuff. That might make me want to lift real weights though. And do I want to be out of practice when I get there, or is it better to start kind of fresh? I'm completely confused.

Modified Westside

A Fitocracy member linked to an interesting article about lifting and running, and the author, a super-built guy who also runs Ironmans, recomended using Westside programming. My lifts are so low that 55% for the dynamic effort days would be embarassing- sorry but I'm vain, so I already broke the rules. The first workout! I started with dynamic deadlift day, which is supposed to be 8 x 3 x 55% of your 1 rep max. Thinking my 1 rep max was 185 I did the math and came up with under 102 lbs. So I loaded it up with 135 and did the 8 x 3. I did not do any accessory work.

Tomorrow, Monday will be bench and squat day maxing up to singles. This is a normal heavy bench and squat day for me anyway, and will be the last heavy squat day for me before squat camp this weekend. On Saturday I took two yoga classes, the regular long one and the kids class right afterward. It was fun, definitely not relaxing but how relaxed do you need to be on a Saturday morning? I'm looking forward to taking it with my niece.

yoga, squats and bench press

This morning I slept-walked thru 6am yoga but it was still worth going. Trying to explain how much better regular yoga makes me feel is difficult, basically it makes me comfortable in my body. Lifting, on the other hand, instill confidence and swagger which I love. Tonight I went in a squatted, topping out at 3 x 3 x 130 when my lower back started to feel it. Next heavy squat day going for 3 x 5 x 130, and I may try it with one of the loaner belts at the gym then too. My sister was working out too, and going through the circuit of machines, so when it was time to bench I went over there and dragged her off of that silly shit to bench with me. She did well, topping out at 3 x 5 x 60. My benched topped out at 3 x 3 x 95, 3 x 5 x 85. Tomorrow is Saturday morning yoga, the long class, Sunday deadlift day.

My cat still isn't right, I'm going to get a second opinion.

Poor kitty. He woke me up at 5:30 this morning so I went to yoga at 6am, nice class. Then worked out this evening. Deadlifts were the main event, so warmed up with alternating 3 x 12 x push-ups and hyperextensions. power cleans 2 x 5 x 45, power snatch, got to see my belly bouncing in the mirror and cut these off. 1 x 3 x 45. Wear longer shirts on power snatch day! Overhead squat 1 x 5 x 45, 1 x 8 x 45, 2 x 8 x 55, 1 x 5 x 65. Ready for deads. 1x3x 135, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 1 x 165, 2 x 1 x 175, 2 x 1 x 185! 2 x 3 x 165, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 5 x 135. And done.

As a nice contrast to the belly embarrassment, today while walking the dog in short shorts I stopped traffic twice! That was a bit of an ego boost, esp since one of them was a guy we know, who didn't recognize me from the back, hooted, had to slow down for a speed-bump and realized it was me so backed up to chat. Of course I gave him a hard time for the mating call.

remind me why I have pets

My main cat has been acting sick for a couple of weeks, $200 later the vet says there is nothing wrong with him other then some dehydration. My little dog is infested with fleas in spite of being treated with Pet Armor, so I dosed him again and am waiting for Comfortis (another $100). I love the little buggers but damn!

My period started yesterday, nice and heavy along with vigorous nighttime cramps. No one alerted me to this as one of the things getting older would bring. I did not train last night. Today, the tentative schedule is yoga at 4, various warmups and deadlifts. I want to correctly and safely pull 185.

While I'm here, may as well post

I am finally adding my Fitocracy link as I update that more quickly than this blog a lot of the time. I finally dragged my ass in the gym today for bench and squats. Bench press 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 8 x 65, 1 x 3 x 75, 1 x 3 x 85, 1 x 3 x 90, 1 x 3 x 95, got Eddie to spot me, 1 x 5 x 95 (I love the way he recites my rules back to me, "No helping unless I am specifically asked for help...") 1 x 5 x 95, 3 x 2 x 100 DAMMIT wanted 3 x 3 x 100 of fucking well, 3 x 3 x 95. Squats, 1 x 10 x air, 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 3 x 95, 1 x 3 x 115, 3 x 5 x 125, yes sets across of 5 people! There may be hope for me yet. One backoff set of 1 x 5 x 115 and out. Tomorrow morning yoga, and deadlifts sometime.

Tuesday's Bench press and squats

It's Resolutioner Season, so I waited until late to go to the gym. Even so, no squat rack available so i benched first. 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 8 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, 1 x 5 x 90, 2 x 3 x 95 sorta pissed at this. Bench is so freaking hard to progress steadily on. But so are all of the lifts I guess. 1 x 2 x 95, 3 x 5 x 85. Squats 1 x 12 x air, 1 x 10 x 45, the gym still had a lot going on and I was wondering if I would be able to get my head in it. For example, right behind me a couple of gym-goers and an attendent had a long, lively discussion about Justin Bieber's music, which culminated in his song coming on Sirius, and them singing along to it. I dare anyone to get their fierce lifting face on while that is happening. Edited to add, except T-Bone, who apparently does this on a regular basis and is much stronger than me.

Resuming squats, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 5 x 105, put 115 on the bar, and made a conscious effort to squat as if SS coaches were watching and critiquing everything, 1 x 5 x 115, 3 x 3 x 125, 2 x 5 x 115. Tough, but okay. I focused on getting a good deep breath for each squat and driving it up, as well as trying not to let my knees slide forward. What do you know, it helped. The thing about good form is, it's hard to do but it makes the exercise easier if that makes sense.

Tonight will be focused on deadlifts. Warm-up 3 x 12 x hyperextensions alternated w 3 x 12 x push-ups. Power snatch with the bar, turn that into overhead squats, then deads.

Holy crap I am dead tired. Had to rush the workout to get to my nephew's birthday party, then when I got home needed to walk and take care of the pets. Tonight I alternated push-ups and hyper extensions, 3 x 12 of each. Power clean 2 x 5 x 45 to warm up shoulders more, power snatch 2 x 5 x 45. Overhead squat 2 x 5 x 45, 2 x 5 x 55, 1 x 4 x 65 and I felt ready to deadlift. Deads were 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 3 x 145, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 1 x 165, 2 x 1 x 175, back felt rounded, another rep at 165, 2 x 3 x 155 and out.

quick and dirty workout

Recovery day, mostly to stretch out soreness. First, warm-up by alternate sets of 12 hyperextensions and push-ups. Hypers 3 x 12, push-ups 3 x 12. Then, overhead press 1 x 8 x 45, 3 x 5 x 65. Squats 1 x 12 x air, 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 6 x 5 x 95.

getting caught up

I found the training log from last Saturday, located on the back of the one I used last night, how convenient! Saturday 12/29 one and a half hour of yoga, bench press 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, 3 x 4 x 95, 1 x 5 x 95. Deadlift 2 x 3 x 135, 1 x 3 x 145, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 1 x 165, adjusted to mixed grip, 1 x 2 x 165, 1 x 5 x 145. Fast forward to yesterday, yoga in the am. The day devolved into a rainy icky mess and I really didn't want to go out in it, but I realized that it was only 6pm and it would be a long boring night if I just stayed home so I went.

Squats 1 x 12 x air, 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 3 x 105, 2 x 3 x 115, 1 x 3 x 125, 1 x 2 x 135, 1 x 1 x 135, 1 x 4 x 125 (Thanks Blondie and Atomic) 3 x 3 x 125, 1 x 5 x 115. Hyperextensions 2 x 10, then 2 x 12 later. Bench press 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, 1 x 3 x 95, 1 x 2 x 95, 3 x 5 x 85.

Deadlifts 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 3 x 145, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 2 x 165, 1 x 1 x 170, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 5 x 135.