Sunshine!

Day 59

Monday, March 07, 2011

This post and likely a few more will be greatly trimmed down from the usual. There’s simply just far too much left to be read, studied and/or tattooed on my brain between now and the 4 finals I have on Monday and Tuesday.

Today’s Highlight’s:

6:25 am Cardio

40 min Elliptical “Hill Climb” program
484 cals burned

12-1 pm Training Chest & Triceps with Laura

Bench Press Pyramid, Bent Arm Cable Pushdowns, Incline Bench DB Press, DB Flies, Triceps Kickbacks, Dips, Push-ups to Failure.

4:15 pm 2nd Session Cardio

I almost flaked on this. I just wasn’t in the mood after tax class. Also, I think I’m starting to get fed up with cardio, in part, because 80% of the time I’m reading a textbook while I’m doing it: on the elliptical at home, on the StairMaster at Gold’s or The Rec, etc. I just lack time so initially that made sense, but it can be a motivation burst killer too. It was beautiful and sunny today so I decided to go for it and jog outdoors. Jogging and I have a longstanding love hate relationship. I love the idea of it, but in function I don’t. I’ve always wanted to be a runner, but distance of any kind has never been my forte at all. In high school, going on 10 years ago (yikes!), I ran track and often joked that the 300 m hurdles were my “long distance event.”

So imagine my surprise today. Out in the sunshine I honestly didn’t want to stop running. I logged 26 minutes and by then I had run from across campus and back randomly looping around many buildings on both ends to add extra time and lunging up various sets of stairs three at a time (that was fun!). In retrospect, I should have just kept going and done a second cross-campus circle. Hopefully, I’ll have an opportunity on the next sunny day. Being able to jog more than twenty minutes without a walking beak is a big deal for me – I’ve never been able to sustain myself well with that. The rest of my training must be paying off =)

If you’ve been wondering what the picture is about, I promptly realized after putting my backpack et al in my trunk that I had to do something with my keys (next time I may just leave everything in my locker at The Rec). So I tied the electronic part of my car key to my shoe. Happily it wasn’t annoying, nor did my shoe lace come undone and send it flying. That would have proved interesting ;) It should be a picture of the gorgeous sunshine, blue sky, and puffy white clouds shining over OM when I was jogging on the north side of campus, but I was sans technology for once.

I’m going to take my outdoor cardio whenever I can get it from here on out. Not to state the obvious, but that sunshine and fresh air is a major mood boost, no wonder my friend Hannah bikes to school and back daily, smart girl ;)

Dinner was the food highlight of the day. I sautéed up a bunch of fresh kale with shallots, garlic, and a small amount of diced Fuji apple. I wilted it and then poured a little green olive juice and cherry balsamic vinegar over. It sounds odd I’m sure, but the salty and sweet added just the right kick. I had baked off some tilapia with lemon and spices that I served overtop the kale. The best part is I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. There’s more to life, even the figure competitor life, than chicken!

Daily Macro / Cal Tally

50% Protein (213 grams) 38% Carbs (163 grams) 12% Fat (54 grams)

1,990 Cals Ingested
(1,448) BMR
(913) Training
(371) Net Loss =)

Back, Shoulders, Sushi & Sleep

I didn't eat enough cals or carbs earlier in the day today which led to night time hunger. My macro ratios and net cal loss are still alright though. I'm really tired, not sure what it is: the diet, my workouts, dead week encroaching... Whatever it is, I'm off to bed. Surprisingly, the sushi wasn't very satisfying. It's funny how you condition yourself to eat one way and then your former food loves lack their former appeal.

Day 58

Sunday, March 6, 2011

8:15 am Breakfast

½ cups oatmeal with 1/3 cup blueberries & cinnamon
Black coffee with 1 t cream
3 Isernio’s chicken breakfast sausage links


10:10 am – 12:00 pm Training Back & Shoulders @ Gold’s

I’m being trying to cut down my blogging time tonight in favor of dead week (finals are a week from tomorrow) so instead of typing my workout I just uploaded the handwritten version that happens at the gym complete with water bottle smudges. It was a good session =)I always wind up doing things in a different order than I've typed them so I renumber the exercises and sometimes have write-ins as well. I used Paint to circle my favorite back and shoulder exercises. Also, after doing cardio and retrieving Charlie I did one last set of pull-ups (was rested again from the cardio break so I made it to 5) to show my little man. The result was that he wanted to do them too so I lifted him up and held his legs to help him do a set. It was cute. He's such a can do sweetheart. I still really wish I could find a pull-up bar that will work in my house.

Click the picture to make it bigger/readable.

1 pm Lunch

¼ of C’s shake from the gym (12 g carbs, 10 g protein, 3 g fat)
8 oz. chicken breast
2 cups baby greens with ½ orange bell pepper and a handful of snap peas
Drizzled with cherry balsamic and rice wine vinegars (good vin combo! Sweet and tangy)

2 pm Still Hungry

200 cal pack raw almonds
Can diet Pepsi (yeah yeah lame)

6:20 pm Dinner

½ orange bell pepper sliced
Hot tea no sweetener
Hissho Sushi Nagano Special (from Haggen’s)

I was completely floored that my beloved CalorieKing.com actually had this listed. Impressive!

I was also surprised that the whole 8 oz. tray only had 247 cals, 4.6 g fat, 25.2 g protein, and 29.8 g carbs.
I had expected it to be higher. Nice!

7:30 pm Snacking

1 chicken sausage
1 slice 9 grain bread

9:00 pm Still Hungry

Think Thin Bar
Hot tea no sweetener
Handful of soy energy blend

Daily Macro Tally

173 g P / 163 g C / 63 g F
43 % Protein 41% Carbs 16% Fat
1,911 Cals Ingested
(1,448) BMR
(727)
(264) Net Loss

Killer Legs & Down 13.6 Lbs (total)

Day 57

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Hey look! It’s the scale. I haven’t posted that in a while. I was surprised this morning – I had been expecting to still be holding around 138.5, but nope, I’m now down a total of 13.6 lbs from when I began this blog. My body fat must be going down too because my veins are starting to pop where my thighs meet my hips Adela Garcia style (she’s a record setting very cool Fitness Pro). I’ll be doing the Bod Pod again in the next 2-3 weeks to get a read on my body fat progress and a major motivation kick if it isn’t low enough yet. The second pic is just my dinner. That chicken was yummy though, I’m apparently not sick of chicken at the moment, and those bell peppers and carrots are so sweet. Yum =)

Daily Macro / Cal Tally

196 g P / 158 g C / 49 g F
49% Protein 39% Carbs 12% Fat

1,857 Cals Ingested
(1,448) BMR
(1,205) Training
(796) Net Loss =)


Today was a good day, aside from that whole setting an alarm on a Saturday in order to hit am cardio before C woke up and prevented it it. I had a great leg and glute session today that really kicked my ass (pun intended). Really though, I needed a nap when I got home. Then again being up till almost midnight last night could have been a factor. I’m hopefully going to bed much sooner tonight. A fun thing about leg day though is it means I get carbs! Not loads of them, but a satisfying amount. You just can’t get through an intense lower body session without that fuel. Remember how I was topping my squat pyramid not long ago with a 170 lb set? Not on this diet; 145 lbs was my max today.

I wish my time was unlimited. My StairMaster session was only 20 min instead of 45 because weights took me an hour and 40 minutes. The two hour childcare cap gets me at Gold’s every time. Then again on weekdays I never seem to have more than two hours available straight for a session at The Rec either, usually less.

I’ve become addicted to these Think Thin Bars. They’re so yummy, plus they’re packing 20 g of protein for reasonable cals and they don’t have added sugar. What confuses me though is this whole net carbs thing. They have 25 g carbs which is higher than I’d like it to be, but 14 g of that is sugar alcohol and 2 g is fiber…so net carbs are only 9 g. I’ve read various stuff about how there’s less impact on blood sugar with sugar alcohols and fiber, that being why the “don’t count” blah blah blah. I’ve also read how that is all supposedly just a marketing gimmick. What I’d like to know is how they play into my builder diet. Does anyone know? Please comment if you do! For now I’m just counting them as 25 g carbs, which is about the same as an apple, but has 20 g protein and is decadently yummy! So umm yeah they’re my weakness of the moment and are stashed in C’s closet along with all the other “don’t want to eat more of late at night items ;)

6:30 am Cardio & Abs

30 min Elliptical Steady Climb
359 cals burned

DB Side Bends 30 lbs x 3 sets x 15 reps each side
Mini Crunches x 3 sets x 20 reps
Reverse Crunches x 3 sets x 20 reps
Quickie Stretch

8 am Breakfast

1 scoop vanilla MyoFusion with water and ice in my bullet
Black coffee
3 Isernio’s chicken sausage links
½ cup oatmeal with 1/3 cup blueberries

10 am Carbs for Legs

1 slice TJ’s high protein whole grain bread plain
½ cashew cookie Larabar

10:20 am-12:25 pm Training Legs & Glutes @ Gold’s

Boost! 1 set (5 reps) real pull-ups to get my mood on

1)Squat Rack Pyramid
1. 95 lbs x 12 reps
2. 15 lbs x 10 reps
3. 125 lbs x 10 reps
4. 135 lbs x 8 reps
5. 145 lbs x 8 reps
6. 145 lbs x 8 reps
7. 125 lbs x 8 reps
8. 95 lbs x 8 reps

2) Cable Kickbacks
1. 50 lbs x 12 reps each leg
2. 50 lbs x 12 reps each leg
3. 55 lbs x 12 reps each leg
4. 60 lbs x 12 reps each leg
5. 60 lbs x 12 reps each leg
6. 60 lbs x 12 reps each leg
7. 50 lbs x 12 reps each leg

3)Cable Side Things (I forget the real name)

1. 40 lbs x 8 reps each leg
2. 30 lbs x 8 reps each leg
3. 30 lbs x 8 reps each leg


4)Walking Lunges 3 Ways
1. 4 sets x 12 reps x Weighted Walking Lunges (20 lb DBs)
2. 4 sets x 12 reps x Side Twist Walking Lunges (8 lb MB)
3. 4 sets x 16 reps x Leg Lift Butt Squeeze Walking Lunges

5)Standing Single Leg Press
1. 110 lbs x 8 reps each leg
2. 100 lbs x 8 reps each leg
3. 90 lbs x 12 reps each leg

6)Unilateral Stiff Leg Deadlifts
1. 15 lb DBs x 6 reps each leg
2. 15 lb DBs x 6 reps each leg
3. 15 lb DBs x 6 reps each leg

Superset with

7)Reverse Lunges
1. 15 lb DBs x 12 reps
2. 15 lb DBs x 12 reps
3. 15 lb DBs x 12 reps


8)Smith Machine Skier & Sumo Squats
1. 70 lbs x 8 x 8
2. 80 lbs x 8 x 8
3. 90 lbs x 8 x 8

Superset with

9)Smith Machine Lunges
1. 70 lbs x 6 reps each leg
2. 80 lbs x 6 reps each leg
3. 90 lbs x 6 reps each leg

10)StairMaster

Well I’d planned to do 45 minutes while reading my tax text, but as usual the 2 hour childcare cap got the best of me and my workout was a killer (which is great) so instead it was 20 minutes melting on the handle bars sans textbook.

Fat Burner Routine
20 minutes level 8
1.92 miles
196 cals burned

Brief Ham and Back Stretching and off to retrieve the C man!

1 pm Lunch

2 cups of that turkey chili leftover from last night ( love real food I can have a 2 cup serving of – this chili is awesome!)
½ red bell pepper
A few sticks celery

2pm Nap (no, really)

That leg workout was super beneficial, but a total wipeout. I’m glad I ate that piece of bread before leaving for the gym. You always hear it said that leg day is the day to NOT go low carb. You need to have some carbs for strength and energy to fuel you for leg day. Otherwise, good luck with that squat rack!

3:30 pm Snack

TJ’s Chicken and Thai Slaw Salad
Tasty, but I had to ditch 2/3 of the dressing on account of carb content
Hot tea no sweetener

7:40 pm Dinner

This is unusual for me, but I didn’t eat dinner until I put the C man to bed.

8 oz. chicken breast
½ cup snap peas
¾ cup baby carrots
The other ½ of that red bell pepper
Hot tea no sweetener

9 pm Bedtime Snack

1 T Peanut Butter
1 slice TJ’s high protein whole grain bread toasted with sugar free raspberry jam

It's the 6 Week Countdown

I was debating it, but I made it a rest day today. I knew it had been awhile so I scrolled back through the blog and discovered that the last day I didn’t log a workout was February 11th. Rest does have merits for training so I behaved and listened to my friends Hannah and Kelly and took the day off. I’m glad I did. I almost canceled it after Charlie went to bed tonight. I got really stressed out about a registration wait list thing that I missed because it went directly to my junk mail causing me to miss the window. I almost did a shoulder / abs / cardio thing tonight at home to de-stress, but I realized that I’m better off to finish my rest day and plan a good workout for tomorrow. After I post this I’m going to plan out the whole week as to what days I’m hitting what muscle groups. It’s time to get deadly serious now. I’ll be on the Emerald Cup stage exactly 6 weeks from today. I was looking at pictures from the Arnold and saw a pic of Ava Cowan, Nicole Wilkins Lee, and Erin Stern doing their front poses comparison. (These women are the big stars in Pro Figure.) I had an aha! moment and ran in my room to the full length mirror and imitated them. I nailed the front pose without hiding my lats yet keeping arms close and my shoulders gorgeously high and sculpted. I’m looking forward to showing Laura come Monday =)

The pic is just the chicken salad I had for lunch. I skipped the dressing that it came with in favor of a splash of balsamic vin and the stats were good, a little carb heavy rom the raisins and cous cous but a delicious meal (300 cals 20 g protein 32 g carbs 12 g fat). You know when kernels of corn and raisins taste decadently sweet that you’re on the right track. Once carrots taste like candy the competition will be almost here.

Day 56

Friday, March 04, 2011

Rest Day (1st one in 3 weeks)

7:45 am Protein

1 scoop vanilla MyoFusion with water and ice in my bullet

8:15 am Breakfast

½ cup oatmeal with 1/3 cup blueberries
Coffee

My coffee no longer has vanilla syrup or dairy in it, rather I mix a few spoons of my vanilla protein shake in.

10 am Snack

Think Thin Bar

12 pm Lunch

Trader Joe’s chicken salad no dressing, splash balsamic vin.

2:15 pm

Think Thin Bar

6:30 pm Dinner

2 cups Turkey & Black Bean Chili I made last night (348 cals, 42 g protein, 21 g carbs, 8 g fat)

9:00 pm Bedtime Snack

1 slice high protein whole grain bread (90 cals 5 g protein 15 g carbs)
With 1 T peanut butter
1 scoop vanilla MyoFusion with water and ice in my bullet

Daily Macro / Cal Tally

165 grams protein 166 (134 if you net and don’t count sugar alcohols) grams carbs 53 grams fat ingested

43% protein / 43% carbs / 14% fat

1,801 Cals Ingested
(1,448) BMR
(0) Rest Day
353 Net Gain

The Almond Affair

Day 55

March 3, 2011

I cheated, bleh. The worst part – it wasn’t even a cheat food and it was TOTALLY preventable. We needed a couple things from the store and upon spotting the salt’ n vinegar seasoned can of almonds I made a bad decision. I put it in the cart. I knew it was a bad idea, which is why I came so very very close to putting them back at the checkout. You see I have a longstanding love for salt n vinegar, namely Pringles, so I guess this cheat story could be much worse. At least my cheat had low carbs and 30 grams of protein. It was a quantity cheat not an item cheat; I ate almost the whole can aside from the ones C had, and nuts may have their merits, but damn those cals add up quickly. It’s fair to say I had 5/6 of the 6 oz. can and umm yeah that’s 850 cals comprised of 30 g protein, 75 grams fat, and 25 g carbs. Worst part of the story? I’m telling you a cheat tale after I disappointed the smiling Girl Scouts selling their cookies on the way in AND the way out of the store. I mean if I’m gonna have to confess a cheat on my blog it should have been starring Samoas right? Mmmm, damn ;)

Other than that it was a good day and I ate 100% clean, well technically the almonds were clean too, just way overboard on quantity. Since getting serious about this diet I’ve noticed one good thing and one bad thing. The good thing is that my veins stick out when I lift and you can see my muscle more translucently under the skin (not creepy – one of those have to see it things). The bad thing is that all my weights are down and I’m kind of flighty. Carbs are apparently brain food and strength food. Once I get used to doing something at a certain weight I really don’t like having to lift less. I’m slowly working up the number of real pull-ups I’m able to manage in a single set. I nailed 5 today! Love that. I also managed a new heavy at Triceps Rope Pushdowns, 80 lbs, and got my Cable Kickbacks up to 65 lbs. Those things aside everything else is running light and I don’t like it.

Sometimes on this diet it is hard to remember that the next day is fresh and that regretting a bad food impulse accomplishes nothing. I think my mistake was not eating oatmeal for breakfast this morning. Those oats seem to be the glue that holds everything else together!

6:20 am Cardio + Abs

30 min Elliptical Interval Program
376 Cals Burned

Dumbbell Side Bends
3 sets x 12 reps each side x 30 lbs

Quick Stretch

7:00 am Protein Shake

1 scoop vanilla MyoFusion with water and ice in my bullet

8:15 am Breakfast

4 Isernio’s chicken breakfast sausage links
2 pieces Trader Joe’s high protein whole grain bread
Coffee no sweetener

10:30 am Snack

5 oz. chicken breast
¾ orange bell pepper

12 pm Lunch

½ cup oatmeal
200 cal pack raw almonds
½ cup fresh strawberries

2:15 pm Chewing + Caffeine

Coffee with 1 T ½ and ½ tried a pack of Splenda jury is still out on that verdict
¾ cup baby carrots
¾ cup snap peas

3 pm Carb Load

I realized I had no hope at lifting any decent weight at all based on what I’d recently eaten so I bought a 150 cal Kind fruit and nut bar (2 g p, 22 g c, 7 g f) I needed a healthy carb and this was the closest fit for sale on campus. All I had left in my cooler was 5 oz. of chicken breast and I had to save that for post workout to feed my muscles.

3:45 – 4:50 pm Weights @ The Rec

I need to start planning firmly in advance what muscle group is getting hit on what day(s) of the week. When I’m unplanned this is the sort of unfocused workout that happens. Yes, there is some good stuff, but it is better to fully focus on a muscle group, really take it to task, kick its ass, feel the DOMS, and love the look over time. Today should have been a full biceps/triceps/shoulders focus, but I hadn’t pre-written anything, went to the gym with a blank sheet, and also had my mind on cable kickbacks for glutes.

1)Real Pull-ups (I like to start with my favorite to get mental boost on)
1. 4 ½
2. 5! =)
3. 3 ¾

Superset with

2)Single Leg Standing Leg Press
1. 100 lbs x 10 reps each leg
2. 100 lbs x 10 reps each leg
3. 100 lbs x 10 reps each leg

3)Bis/Tris/Shoulder Circuit
Alternating DB Hammer Curls, Triceps DB Pull-overs, Biceps Barbell Curls, Barbell Military Press
1. 20 lbs x 20 reps, 20 lbs x 10 reps, 30 lbs x 10 reps, 30 lbs x 10 reps
2. 20 lbs x 20 reps, 20 lbs x 10 reps, 30 lbs x 10 reps, 30 lbs x 10 reps
3. 25 lbs x 10 reps DS to 20 lbs x 12 reps, 20 lbs x 10 reps, 30 lbs x 10 reps, 30 lbs x 10 reps
4. 20 lbs x 20 reps, 20 lbs x 10 reps, 30 lbs x 10 reps, 30 lbs x 10 reps

4)Cable Kickbacks
1. 45 lbs x 10 reps per leg
2. 50 lbs x 10 reps per leg
3. 55 lbs x 10 reps per leg
4. 60 lbs x 10 reps per leg
5. 60 lbs x 10 reps per leg
6. 65 lbs x 10 reps per leg

One more set of pull-ups in between the 5th and 6th CKB sets for the mental boost (3 ¾ )

I did 6 sets because feeling these tomorrow will make me smile. I tried them for the first time on Monday with my PT and my hams have been so stiff since then my hurdler’s stretch flexibility has been chopped in half. I laughed at that discovery. Monday was fewer sets so here’s hoping…

5)Triceps Rope Pushdowns (minimal 30-45 sec rest between sets)
1. 50 lbs x 12 reps
2. 60 lbs x 12 reps
3. 60 lbs x 12 reps
4. 70 lbs x 8 reps
5. 80 lbs x 6 reps
6. 65 lbs x 8 reps
7. 40 lbs x 20 reps

Going for that stretch out the fascia thing on those…

6)Biceps Cable Curls
1. 60 lbs x 8 reps
2. 55 lbs x 8 reps
3. 50 lbs x 8 reps

Superset with

7)Push-ups to Failure! (the “before I found out I was capable of real pull-ups favorite” ;)
1. 15 ½
2. 11 ½
3. 9 ½

Honestly, if I could do 5-10 sets of real pull-ups and push-ups to failure superset with one another at home every single day I would be in hog heaven. The pull-up bar I ordered doesn’t fit my door jambs, boo. My house is an old 1920’s bungalow that was gutted and beautifully remodeled right before my landlords found out they were expecting their 3rd child and would be way too overcrowded. The door jambs are wider than modern ones apparently. If anyone coughs up a link to a pull-up bar that doesn’t damage the house and will fit my old wide door jambs I’ll declare you my hero! ;)

8)Box Step-ups (silliness)

I got this bright notion that I should end with these. Turned out I was weak as all hell by then. Tried with 25 lb DBs in each hand and only made it to 6 reps. Then I grabbed 15 lb DBs and managed 20 reps, but promptly decided to quit while I was ahead (I mean behind).

9)1 more set of real-pull-ups (3 ¾ ) because finishing on a favorite is important too! You’ve got to walk away strong and smiling. Wussing on box step ups is no way to do that…

10)Extended hamstring stretching.

5:15 pm Chicken in the car
5 oz. chicken breast

6:40 pm Dinner

A single serving of those illicit S&V almonds
Trader Joe’s lemon chicken salad
hot tea

7:30 pm The Regrettable Almond Affair

4 more servings of those ilicit almonds. So preventable too. If you don’t want to end up eating all of something and kicking yourself do not, I repeat, do not leave the store with it.

Honestly, I have a case of Larabars and they tempt me, C also has carby snacky things around like flavor-blasted Goldfish. All these things are stashed on the top shelf of his closet. Why? Because I know if I sneak in his room while he is sleeping and then open the closet door, which creaks, it could easily wake him. That, thankfully, is enough to keep me from the nighttime impulsive snacking that plagues many a competitor on this diet.

Daily Tally

Yes, it should be a macro tally, but I'm tired and too lazy to go look up all the macros for today. I do, however, have cal counts memorized on all my frequent foods as I'm an old hand at the cal count.

So today's lovely almond episode brought the cal tally to:

2,340 Ingested
(1,448) BMR
(766) Training
126 Net Gain

Ok, it bugs me not to do macros for my own knowledge so here's my lazy calculation. I ran down my food list generally aware of the carb and protein counts in everything I ate today. That tallied to 192 grams protein and 122 grams carbs, added together that is 314 grams x 4 cals a gram = 1,256 cals, but I ate 2,340 so the remainder must be the fat. Therefore, 2,340-1,256 = 1,084 / 9 (fat is 9 cals a gram) = 120.44 grams of fat. That sounds about right as the almond affair contributed a whopping 75 grams of fat. So I'll call it on the estimate:

44% Protein 28% Carbs 28% Fat

Hmmm, actually that isn't that horrific. My carbs are nice and low. It is WAY better to run high on fat, especially as they are healthy fats, than to run high on carbs. Contrary to popular presumption, eating fat DOES NOT MAKE YOU FAT. Overdoing it on high-glycemic carbs and/or cals in general is what will cause the creation and storage of body fat.

Alrighty, night nighty, told ya this diet was making me flighty!

Chest & Back Day, Spot on Macros & Posing Practice

Today was interesting. When you adhere strictly to the lean out diet you feel a little weak here and there. I screwed up my meal disbursement, having only 74 g protein, 59 g carbs, and 14 g fat disbursed across 2 meals prior to my weights session. By 2 pm I’d burned 1,089 cals between my am cardio and afternoon weights and cardio session, but only ingested 658 cals, whoops. My aunt told me that you get to a point where “eating becomes something you do to avoid passing out.” I’d believe it. What I find so odd about it is I eat plenty of calories; my daily tally today was 1,950. It is so interesting to me, kinda crazy really, what a huge difference messing with your macro ratios makes.

Speaking of macros mine for the day totaled in where they should be at:

216 grams protein
137 grams carbs
55 grams fat

53% P / 34% C / 13% F

Day 54

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

6:20 am Cardio

3 min Elliptical Interval program
391 cals burned

Abs

1 set each:
Shoulder crunches x 30
Reverse crunches x 15
10 lb MB side twists x 40
3 sets x 30 lb DB Side Bends x 12 reps each side

8:15 am Breakfast

1 scoop vanilla MyoFusion with water and ice in my bullet
Black coffee with 1 T half and half
½ cup oatmeal with 1/3 cup blueberries

11 am Lunch

1 banana
6 oz. chicken breast

12 -2 pm Training Chest & Back @ The Rec (1st Hr with Laura)

1)15 minutes posing practice



2)Bench Press

1. 70 lbs x 10 reps
2. 80 lbs x 8 reps
3. 75 lbs x 10 reps
4. 75 lbs x 10 reps

Superset with

3)Lat Pulldowns (Wide ----> Reverse)
1. 85 lbs x 8 reps x 8 reps
2. 85 lbs x 8 reps x 8 reps
3. 85 lbs x 8 reps x 8 reps
4. 85 lbs x 8 reps x 6 reps

4)Single Arm Lat Pull-downs
1. 40 lbs x 10 reps per arm
2. 40 lbs x 10 reps per arm
3. 40 lbs x 10 reps per arm

Superset with

5)Assisted Dips
1. 70 lbs x 10 reps
2. 55 lbs x 10 reps


6)Dumbbell Flies - Alternating DB Bench Press
1. 20 lbs x 6 reps x 6 reps
2. 15 lbs x 10 reps x 8 reps
3. 15 lbs x 10 reps x 8 reps

7)Unilateral DB Rows

1. 20 lbs x 10 reps per arm
2. 20 lbs x 10 reps per arm
3. 25 lbs x 10 reps per arm
4. 25 lbs x 10 reps per arm

8)DB Incline Bench Press
1. 20 lbs x 10 reps
2. 20 lbs x 10 reps
3. 20 lbs x 10 reps
4. 20 lbs x 10 reps

Superset with

9)Real Pull-ups (my favorite! =))
1. 4 Full ones
2. 4 full ones
3. 3 ½
4. 3 ½

10)Straight arm Cable Push-downs
1. 60 lb sx 10 reps
2. 50 lbs x 10 reps
3. 50 lbs x 12 reps

Supserset with

11)Push-ups to Failure
1. 15 ½
2. 12 ½
3. 9 ½

12)T-Bar Rows
1. 25 lbs + bar x 8 reps
2. 25 lbs + bar x 8 reps
3. 25 lbs + bar x 8 reps

13)Quickie Cardio
By now I’d realized the major calorie deficit I was frunning on so I only did 15 minutes. All the Stairs were taken so I did the Fat Burner program on an AMT.
180 cals burned
Quickie Stretch.

2:15 pm Gonna Pass Out Snack
1 can V8
6 z. chicken breast
4:15 pm Fuel
1 cup kale with ½ cup yam and 4 chicken sausage meatballs
Cashew Cookie Larabar (it stared me down in a weak moment)

6:15 pm Dinner

6 oz. filet mignon (they’re cheap at Trader Joe’s!)
1 ½ cups greens, ¼ cup carrots, 1 stick celery, ¼ orange bell pepper all drizzled lightly in rice wine vinegar
Hot tea no sweetener

7:45 pm Impulse – good stats though

Think Thin Bar (20 g protein, no added sugar, 8 g fat)
Hot tea

7 lb $220 rectangular biodegradable dumbbell anyone? ;)

Day 53

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

I behaved really well today. I think I’m entering the zone. I got up w/o a snooze button fest and got 45 min of am cardio in. Then I hit the Stairs at the rec 3 hours later while clearing chapter 14 from my acct 342 book and logged another 50 min of cardio. The first 5 was running on a treadmill waiting for a StairMaster, the latter 45 on the stairs. My 95 minutes of cardio logged today garnered me a sweet 989 cal burn. I did some quick abs and some extended hamstring stretching plus one set of pull-ups for fun. Today is working out to be an off day for weights as I have a two hour chest and back stint planned for tomorrow plus two cardio sessions so if I trained biceps/triceps/shoulders tonight I’d go into that tomorrow’s workout weak. I trained legs yesterday so it was a super cardio day today.

I’m proud of the macro ratios I maintained today too. I ate 194 grams of protein, 136 grams of carbs and 66 grams of fat (good fat from almonds, etc.) today. So my macro ratio clocks in at 49% protein 34% carbs & 17% Fat. Nice =) Easy trick if you still want to run cals – you can do it off your macros to save time: protein and carbs are 4 cals / gram and fat is 9 cals / gram, so 194(4) + 136(4) + 66(9) = 1,914 cals ingested – 1,448 BMR – 989 Training = Net Cal Loss of 523 =)

I quite enjoy making thoroughly cheesy videos so check out my favorite abs move ~the Decline Dumbbell Push Crunch ~ I use a 10 lb DB currently, but if you’re ever wishing for a 7 lb DB my cheesy vid can help you find one…hehe.



I’m too lazy to type out all that I ate tonight – it was a 100% clean diet day though – I’m too busy staring down classfinder as I get to register tomorrow afternoon for spring quarter and all the stuff I wanted is filled or filling fast. If you’re curious though, check out the pic; that’s what this training log looks like before it turns blog.