Focus

Focus

I’m one of those people who needs to funnel their energy somewhere. Lately, I keep issuing mini mid-workout challenges to myself. Last week on leg day I didn’t feel inspired to wrap up with cardio so I decided to go a little lunge crazy. The most I’d ever done before was an even 300 (10 sets of 30 walking lunges with a 40 lb barbell on my shoulders) so I thought I’d aim for 400 for the hell of it. I was only going to carry lightweight (12.5 lbs each) dumbbells so I started out alternating sets of 50 and 60 reps on an indoor track with 30-60 seconds rest between sets. My last set I went to failure and my grand total reps came in at 463. I’ve also had some really great upper body workouts lately where I’ve maximized the benefits of super sets to work really hard and comprehensively hit two muscle groups on very limited time. Being the accounting nerd / lifter combo that I am I tallied up my lift total after a recent biceps and shoulder session for kicks. My total was 12,645 pounds, 8,950 pounds of which was biceps and 3,695 pounds of which were shoulders, in less than 40 minutes. Silly quantitative moments like that make me smile =)








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I've been implementing HIIT (high intensity interval training) lately and it’s led me to start enjoying cardio again. Shhhhhhh ;) I made a bet with my mom a month ago about healthing up our respective diets and I’ve lost 4.5 lbs since then. I’m even enjoying eating clean (well +/- 90% clean) again. I pass by the Starbucks treat case almost daily and the rice krispy treats and vanilla bean scones lack the siren call they had a few months back.

So, WHY AM I NOT COMPETING??! =)

I don’t know – I feel like I should be.

There aren’t any figure competitions in Washington State on my timeline, unfortunately. The Washington Natural was in Seattle in July last year, but moved up to April this year :( Unless I want to travel out of state, that leaves Ironman in October. If I do it I won’t go it alone again. I would join a team, likely Tanji Johnson’s Save Fitness. Having the support of a team would protect me from the pitfalls of my first attempt: namely the post-competition crash and improper posing.

There’s also power-lifting, which I loved trying. I think it’s an amazing sport, but my form for both deadlifts and bench would need A LOT of work, preferably with a trainer.

Then there are the competitions designed solely to get your thrill on: The Survivor Mud Run, Warrior Dash, and Tough Mudder, to name a few. They consist of courses anywhere from 3.5-12 miles long fraught with 11-25 obstacles, and lots of mud of course!

My max pull-ups right now are 8 with an overhand medium grip. I want to be able to do that many or more with the challenging, but lat-loving wide grip. That’s a great mini goal, but I NEED a big training goal in my life again. Figure, powerlifting, and thrill-seeking all appeal. Regardless of if I’m dropping body fat for a stage tan or building strength to master obstacles and coat myself in mud I will be training for something by the start of spring quarter. The only question is, what?