Ode to my iPod

If I ever place in a competition and have the occasion to give an impromptu speech (except I don’t think they do that – it isn’t the Emmys after all) I will first and foremost have to thank my iPod. No, seriously. I HAVE TO HAVE IT to train. Without the distraction / mesmerizing qualities of really loud music blasting in my ear I would not be doing even 20% of what I do. That goes for both time and weight. Music rocks ;) I need it. Without it I might realize that what I’m doing is really hard or that I’m completely out of breath or completely slick with sweat or start thinking I can’t do the last 3 reps or that I really don’t want to stay on this StairMaster for another 22 minutes. You get the idea.

iPod, I love you.

I usually stock my gym playlists with a lot of Nelly, Rihanna, Diddy, Usher, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, David Guetta, Eminem, Kanye, Akon, etc. My top two songs right now are Diddy Dirty Money & Skylar Grey Coming Home and Theory of a Deadman All or Nothing. You get the idea. But I am also REALLY bad about freshening up my playlists. So I will have a gym playlist that is stagnate for like 5-6 weeks. Umm yeah, it’s bad. This sometimes results in my braving the “Purchased” playlist, as in everything I've got, mid-workout to break it up.

Today I had some random, but totally perfect pulls. In the middle of my time on the Stairs I pulled Sad but True by Metallica. It was just the right thing to get me through it. Then, finishing up my workout with push-ups to failure I pulled Rebel Yell by Billy Idol. I think I would have had lower #s on my to failure sets if not for that song. It hit just right too. You’re probably laughing, but really, try doing push-ups with that song on full blast. =)

In other news, I pushed up my bent over single arm rows to 40 lbs! (That is a 40 lb dumbbell in one hand!) I’d like to thank my iPod again, and T.I. Live Your Life, for those two last heavy sets. I’m starting to roll with the boys on some of my weights. It’s awesome =)

Day 20

Thursday, January 27, 2011

6:15 am Cardio 40 min

Elliptical “Hill Climb” Program x 2
Quick Stretch

7:40 am Breakfast / Protein Shake #1

1 scoop delicious vanilla MyoFusion with water and ice in my bullet
½ cup oatmeal with ½ cup fresh strawberries (on sale at Haggen – good ones!)

11:30 am Lunch

1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup fresh strawberries
1 Lemon Zest Luna bar
Hot tea

2:10 pm Mid-afternoon snack

1 ½ cups mixed greens with balsamic dressing
Healthy Choice Roasted Chicken Verde Steamer (240 cals, 14 g protein, 3.5 g fat, 37 g carbs)
Hot tea

2:30 -4:25 pm Training Arms and Back @ The SRC

1)Bicep Curls Drop Sets (full set 1st arm, then switch)

Set 1: 25 lbs x 8 reps, 20 lbs x 8 reps
Set 2: 25 lbs x 10 reps, 20 lbs x 12 reps
Set 3: 25 lbs x 6 R arm, x 4.5 L arm (muscle failed) completed rep set @ 20, 20 lbs x 6 reps

Superset with

2)Overhead Triceps Extensions

Set 1: 25 lbs x 10 reps, 20 lbs x 6 reps, 15 lbs x 8 reps
Set 2: 25 lbs x 8 reps, 20 lbs x 6 reps, 15 lbs x 6 reps
Set 3: 15 lbs x 12 reps

3)Front Raises (both arms simultaneously)

Set 1: 10 lbs x 10 reps
Set 2: 10 lbs x 10 reps
Set 3: 10 lbs x 10 reps

Superset with

4)Lateral Raises (both arms simultaneously)

Set 1: 10 lbs x 10 reps
Set 2: 10 lbs x 10 reps
Set 3: 10 lbs x 10 reps

5)Dumbbell Straight-arm Pull-overs

Set 1: 20 lbs x 10 reps
Set 2: 20 lbs x 10 reps
Set 3: 25 lbs x 8 reps

Superset with

6)Sitting Leg Hugs (abs)

3 sets x 12 reps each

7)Dumbbell Bent Over Single Rows (full set, then switch arms)

Set 1: 25 lbs x 10 reps per arm
Set 2: 30 lbs x 8 reps per arm
Set 3: 35 lbs x 6 reps per arm
Set 4: 40 lbs x 6 reps per arm
Set 5: 40 lbs x 6 reps per arm

Superset with

8)Triceps Kickbacks (full set, then switch arms)

Set 1: 15 lbs x 8 reps per arm
Set 2: 15 lbs x 10 reps per arm
Set 3: 15 lbs x 10 reps per arm

9)Lat Pull Downs

Set 1: 70 lbs x 8 reps wide grip x 8 reps reverse medium grip
Set 2: 85 lbs x 6 reps wide grip x 6 reps reverse medium grip
Set 2: 100 lbs x 4 reps wide grip x 4 reps reverse medium grip

10)Seated Rows 2 Ways (Standard and Single Arm)

Set 1:70 lbs x 8 reps standard, 40 lbs x 6 reps single arm
Set 2:70 lbs x 6 reps standard, 40 lbs x 5reps single arm
Set 3:70 lbs x 6 reps standard, 40 lbs x 4 reps single arm

11)Cardio

The Stairs of course!

There’s something about the various women I know who compete and others I’ve seen around Gold’s ~ they ALL are ALWAYS on the StairMaster. I’m not going to question it ~ just do it ;)

30 min

Calorie Burner Program

Level 10

304 cals burned ~ 3.01 miles ~ 144 floors climbed

12)Push-ups to failure! (with stretching in between sets)

Set 1: 21 ½ push-ups to muscle failure
Set 2: 16 ½ push-ups to muscle failure
Set 3: 10 ½ push-ups to muscle hour


Cool, between this and this morning’s cardio session I’ve trained for 2 hours and 35 minutes today =)

5:30 pm Shopping

Raw almonds (150 cals worth)

We went to Trader Joe’s to get a few things, one of which was almonds. They handily have a big pack of almonds portioned into 200 cal packs. C wanted to have some while we were shopping and only ate about ¼ of the package so I finished them. Otherwise I would have had a Larabar. I definitely needed something small right then to prevent me from overeating at dinner later.

6:45 pm Dinner

6 oz. baked tilapia
1 big scoop fresh guacamole (1 small avocado, diced shallots, garlic, roma tomato, jalapeno, lime juice, and seasoning salt)
1 serving TJ’s Multigrain Savory Thins (They’re pretty low cal for a cracker and you get 17 for 130 cals)
2 cups miso soup (90 cals + crazy amounts of sodium – definitely won’t be ingesting this within a month of the Emerald Cup! Hmmm I should do sushi for one of my cheat meals + that veggie tempura mmmmm)

9:00 pm Protein Shake #2

1 scoop milk chocolate MyoFusion with water and ice in my bullet


Almost Forgot! Today’s Stats:

1,815 cals ingested
(1,448) BMR
(1,248) Training*
Equals
(881) Net Loss



* (424 elliptical am session + 80 min lifting weights (approx. 520 @ 390 /hour rate) + 304 StairMaster session)

Good deal =)