Reflections On 2012

This white shit just won't stop coming down. I hate it. My neighbors just had to come push my car for me because it was stuck on the teensiest amount of snow you've ever seen! My back is killing me from the amount of shoveling I've done today just in order to keep my precious beemer from disappearing under a mound of fluff and the plow guys don't seem to realize that they can't just plow one lane through the development and be done, but that they actually need to plow our parking spots too. Urghhhhhh!

Thank god I brought my laptop home last night so I could work from home today. There's no way I would have made it into the office. Luckily I happened to check Facebook at 11:00 this morning and saw that World's was going to close at 1:00 so my only chance to get in my weight sesh today was if I could make it in during my lunch hour. Thankfully, I was able to persuade my neighbor who was in need of a workout himself to take me to the gym at that time. Today was day "E" of my Cathy Savage Fitness (CSF) bikini weight training program (day 6 of the 7-day split) and I was not going to miss out on legs! Before leaving for the gym I did two of the moves, squat jumps and curtsey lunges, on my kitchen floor since they didn't require any equipment and I didn't want to make my neighbor stand around during an epic weight session. Then, once I got to the gym I did the following moves:

-Barbell front squats
-Bulgarian split squats using a bosu for the back leg
-Barbell straight leg dead-lifts on a bosu
-Hip adduction machine
-Hip abduction machine
-Walking/Twisting med ball lunges

The use of the bosu and the med ball was my own added feature as the plan as stated didn't seem to be as intense as I thought it should be. Somehow I managed to plow through this routine in under an hour so I added two ab moves, 1-leg med ball wood-chops balancing on a foam square and stability ball crunches where I had my neighbor throwing a med ball to me on each crunch. I decided today would be a no-cardio day. My new plan requires 5 days/week of cardio, 3 days of High Intensity Interval Training (spin class, running intervals, etc.) and 2 days of steady-state cardio like elliptical or a light jog/fast walk on the treadmill. Yesterday I did spin so after doing legs today I decided it would be a good off-day. Tomorrow is supposed to be a no-weights day so I'll probably do my interval run and then follow it with some core work. I just hope this snow lets up at some point soon so the gym can open back up!

I'm going to change the subject here for the remainder of this post. A couple of blogs that I follow have made similar end-of-the-year posts about 3 important areas of growth both in 2012 and in the coming year. These are career growth, mental/personal growth, and physical growth. This got me thinking about my physical transformation over the past year and how everything seems to be coming together for a strong finish to 2012 and a promising year ahead. When I think back to where I was a year ago, I realize A LOT has either changed or is in the process of changing in all three categories. However, since this a blog about health and fitness I'll stick to the physical change category here.

A year ago, I was just as much of a die hard gym rat as I am today only I didn't have any specific goals other than of course that crazy running regimen I was on and was largely at a plateau with my weight training. However, slowly over the course of the year I met many new people, each of whom implanted on me a different piece of information about either nutrition or fitness. My brain is like a sponge when I'm being told something I'm actually interested in and now as the year comes to a close I am looking back thinking how each one of these people altered my approach to my own program. Things that have stuck with me are the "eat clean get lean mantra", "more is not always better" when it comes to cardio, go heavier whenever possible when weight training, have a future goal in mind and an organized plan on how you will achieve it, and most importantly do what makes you happy and don't listen to the negativity brought forth by those who don't understand your lifestyle.

Looking ahead at 2013 I truly believe it will be my best year yet; health, fitness, personal/mental, and career-wise. I'm sure some shitty things will happen too, imperfection is inevitable, but there are just so many things to look forward to that I plan to simply brush off any crap that comes my way. I'm half-way completed with my ISSA personal training course so I'll soon have that to add to my resume and can then get started with the ISSA fitness nutrition course, I have the April OCB show to keep me motivated and making constant physique gains for, and I seem to be in an unusually happy mood lately that I can't seem to attribute to anything other than having a more positive outlook and possibly my nutritional improvements. After all, when you eat well, you feel well!

So as your year comes to a close and you think about what the new year will bring I hope that you too have something to look forward to. If not, ask yourself where you really want to be in life and then make a list of what you need to do to get there. One of my high school English teachers once shared her favourite line from a poem called The Summer Day and it has stuck with me for the past 10 or so years:

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?"

-Mary Oliver

Think about it. 

Competition Prep Day #1

Happy Saturday, Gym Rats! This is an exciting blog entry for me as I am publicly committing to a major change in 2013. A few entries ago, I mentioned that I was starting to clean-up my diet and change my workout routine around in preparation for a new fitness venture that I was contemplating doing in the new year and if I decided to commit, I would let the blogging world know come January. Well, any of you that know me well enough know that patience is not one of my strong points so after the past month or so of feeling like I'm already seeing and feeling positive changes in myself, I have decided to jump on the committing bandwagon a bit early! This new exciting challenge is going to be training for and competing in a natural bodybuilding competition in April!

Now don't cringe, I do not plan to come out looking like the hulk or anything. For those of you who are not in-the-know when it comes to these competitions, this is something that has grown tremendously in the past decade and competitions now have several different divisions depending on your sex, age, physique, and size of the show. I plan to start small with the Organization of Competitive Bodybuilders (OCB) event in Westbrook, ME on April 6th in their Bikini division. If I'm really feeling up for it I may do another show soon thereafter in MA but I don't want to get ahead of myself just yet!

Dear family: here is your chance to freak out, calm down, then ask me all of your questions in a non-judgmental and supportive manner over the holiday. I'm sure you are thinking I'm going to become a crazy 'roid-head but I promise you will soon realize this venture is nothing of the sort and is really quite awesome!

So just how do I plan to get myself in tip-top shape in the next 3 months? With the help of my new coach at Cathy Savage Fitness (CSF) in Boston! I joined this wonderful team, "Team Savage", yesterday and began my new routine today. Immediately upon joining I was able to access my first month's weight training routine (standard for everyone in this division) and then this week when I get to speak to my new coach, I will be given my personalized cardio routine and nutritional plan as well as any tweaks that need to be made to personalize the weight training portion. Additionally, I will be checking-in with my coach on a weekly basis to go over my updated measurements and any other questions/issue that may arise. For the first few days prior to meeting my coach, I am supposed to be eating only foods off of their selected grocery list. The funny thing is that these are the only foods I eat anyway and their website makes it sound like this is supposed to be a torturous change haha!

Anyway, as is my usual Saturday morning ritual, I got up bright and early to hit up the gym prior to spin class.  Day #1 is supposed to chest & back; however, I did back & bi's in my own routine yesterday so I decided to switch days #1 and #3 this week so I didn't have to do back-to-back back workouts. Wow, I used the word "back" a lot there lol! The routine consisted of the following workouts and took me about 60 minutes to get through:

-Swimmer planks (straight arm planks where you alternate lifting arms and rotating them as you would doing a front/back stroke in the water)
-Seated shoulder presses
-Dumbbell up & back (front raises where you lift your weight in front of you, pull it in to your shoulder, push it back out again, then lower)
-Crab taps (opposite toe-to-finger taps while in a crab-like bridge position)
-Burpee presses (push-ups holding free weights where you do one push-up then shoot upright into a shoulder press then back down again....HATE these!)
-Barbell upright rows
-Reverse flies (they don't have the suggested reverse fly machine at World's so I did 1/2 of these on an incline bench and the other 1/2 standing bent-over)

I won't give up the secret amount of sets & reps since I am paying major bucks for this program (so sorry already depleted bank account!) but you get the gist of it. Aside from the burpee presses, the moves weren't anything different from what I usually do but it was many more sets than usual and seeing as I typically do only 3 different moves for each muscle group per training session, I thought my shoulders might pop out by the time I was done! Luckily I had about 20 minutes to spare before spin started so I calmed down with some core work (side crunches on the back extension machine) and stretches.

At 9:00 am I entered spin class and was happy to see an instructor I really like teaching. Of course I was nervous who it might be given recent events but honestly it ended up being one of the best classes I've done in a while! Her music was spot-on with the type of work being done and it was choreographed perfectly. Definitely a high-quality class and a nice change after the total spaz instructor I had earlier in the week who couldn't manage to make it through an entire song before flipping through 3 more trying to find the next one! I should have asked today's instructor if she was just subbing or if she was the permanent replacement so I guess I'll have to cross my fingers and find out next week.

After and intense and successful weight and cardio routine, I fueled back up with some almonds and a cappuccino flavoured protein shake. This has to be the best flavoured protein on the market right now; it's certainly the best I've ever tasted. If you want a delightful yet not sinful post-workout treat for both your taste buds and muscles, I highly recommend it. The brand is Syntrax and you can get it at PNC. After leaving, I hit up the grocery store to fill my fridge up for the week and headed home where I made my new favourite lunch: grilled chicken & avocado spinach salad. I'll try to post the recipe later on in the recipes section of my blog so be sure to check back!

That's all I have for today. I know it was a long one but there's just so much to talk about! I'm not one to make new year's resolutions as I feel that the best day to make a change is always the present day. However, I can't wait for the new year and all that it will entail! 'Til next time Gym Rats, happy gymming! 

"Diet" Doesn't Always Imply "Lose Weight"

Diet: 
noun
1. Food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health.
2. A particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease.
3. Such a selection or a limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight.
4. The foods eaten, as by a particular person or group.
5. Food or feed habitually eaten or provided.
6. Anything that is habitually provided or partaken of.

I begin today's blog entry with this lovely definition as I am getting increasingly annoyed with the nutritionally-uneducated's association of the word "diet" with the act of trying to lose weight (i.e. fat). Yes, a diet can be used as a means to trim down (and should by many!), however there is so much more to it. You could be on a diet to GAIN weight, a diet to gain muscle (like myself), a diet to lower cholesterol, or perhaps a diet to reduce blood pressure. Everyone is on a diet of some sort whether they realize it or not and the average American needs to understand this! I've been thinking about this issue ever since yesterday when I had a lunch out with colleagues to welcome a new person into our group. I was loathing the newbie's choice of Ruby Tuesday's as a dining destination but was pleasantly surprised when I got there, read the menu, and saw that the food selection had vastly improved since my last RT's experience years ago. I ended up ordering a grilled salmon filet with grilled asparagus and steamed snap peas...Yum!! At the end of the meal my manager asked if we wanted any dessert and I said "No thanks, I am on a clean-eating diet". I didn't elaborate as these sadly aren't people who would be interested in what that means but my response was met with an eye roll and one of those faces that you know is saying inside "why is she on a diet when she doesn't need to lose weight"..."she obviously has body image issues"..."one slice of cheesecake won't hurt her"...I'm going to have one even though everyone here knows I'm a good 100 lbs over-weight"...  I tried to smile and change the subject but boy was I ticked! My office really needs a wellness-coordinator position and it should be me haha! I was thinking yesterday afternoon how I'd love to start sending out monthly, weekly, or even daily diet and fitness tips to my co-workers but I'm sure it would not be met appreciation by most. In fact, in that overly corporate tight-ass environment I'd probably get canned for it!

Anyway, now that you are all in-the-know when it comes to dieting, I'll move on to my fantastic workout today! Not wanting to lose any PTO days as the year is coming to a close, I took today off from work. I know I've said this before but PTO days are soooo much better than weekend days! Unfortunately it is with great sadness that my former favourite Saturday spin class is no longer. It's not my place to get into details (and I really only know one side of the story anyway) but let's just say there's a bit of drama going on down at World Gym and some folks appear to be afraid of a little in-town spinning competition. Unfortunately, us paying members have to suffer because of it. Since I don't yet know who will be taking over that time slot, didn't want to risk starting my weekend with a crappy spin class, and had the day off, I instead took my other favourite spin class which was today at noon. Today's instructor is also fantastic but I usually can't get to her classes due to my work schedule. Working out mid-day is kind of annoying for a morning person such as myself but her class is definitely worth it!

I arrived just after 10:00 and began with a truly awesome bi's and back sesh. Okay, I really began with a fake-n-bake sesh but I justify the unhealthiness of it because having a nice glow helps to keep my SAD at bay!  It was so nice and quiet in there at that time of day; I was able to get everything I needed and not be harassed by too many creeps haha. Here's the split of today's weight sesh:
-Standing cable bicep curls (1x20 then 2x12 w/increased weight) I'm LOVING doing these and the cable cross-overs lately (for shoulders) but it's hard to find both cables available during the busy times I am usually there.
-Standing spider-curls (3x16)
-Standing bosu ball hammer curls (3x8)
-Standing bosu cable rows (3x20)
-Weighted back extensions (3x12)
-Bent-over bench rows (3x12 each arm)

I had few minutes to spare prior to class so I added-in 3 sets of 20 side crunches (each side) on the back extension machine. Tomorrow is going to be a shoulders, chest and core day so I plan to hit my core much harder then! After my weight sesh I was beginning to get hungry so luckily today's spin class was only 45 mins vs the usual 60 mins. Boy was it intense though! The 1/4 scoop of Super Pump I downed prior to getting to the gym had totally worn off and having done legs yesterday and spin on Wednesday, my hammies were really struggling! It was a great class though (as expected!) filled with mostly hard rock tunes like Nickelback and Buckcherry which always keep me going!

On my way home I stopped into Whole Foods to get my favourite sweet-potato burrito for lunch and picked up some ingredients for a yummy grilled chicken asian-inspired salad I'm going to make tonight. I'll post a pic on Twitter so be sure to follow @PortlandGymRat for that and other fun diet & fitness tweets that don't make it into my blog! I'm going to cut-out now as I still have some items to check off of my daily list prior to dinner and then I need to get a solid beauty sleep because after my workout in the morning I am meeting with the maXtreme creator for a photo shoot for the website! Ahhh busy busy busy these days. Keep at it gym rats and remember, no matter how much you train, the proper "diet" is key to your success.

A Compliment Can Change Someone's Day

Today was a rare day when I decided to allow myself to sleep in 'til the late hour of 7:30 am since I didn't have any major Sunday plans and I've been battling a cold all week. Somehow, however, my internal clock decided that 4:45 was a more appropriate time to rise. Urghhh even my dog wasn't interested in getting up at that time! After tossing and turning, trying to will myself back to sleep, I finally decided that 5:30 was as late as I was going to get. So, up I got, turned on the coffee maker, and cooked up some yummy eggs to start my day. One thing I love about the early morning is that it's so quiet. Everything's still and you can go about your tasks without being bothered. Amazingly, the gym was just as empty when I arrived at 7:00 and the solitude lasted for my entire workout! This was a nice contrast to yesterday when for some reason there was an 8:00-9:00 am weight room mob scene pre-spin class. Odd how people's schedules change for no apparent reason.

Anyway, after a week of trying to stick to my new diet & fitness regimen despite feeling lousy, I amped it up in the gym this weekend to make sure I didn't fall behind. After doing bi's & back yesterday, today was all shoulders, chest & core. Here was the split:

- Standing cable crossovers (3x12)
- Standing arnold press (3x10)
- Front raises (3x15)
- Stability ball chest press (3x12)
- Incline forward crunches with weighted pullovers (3x20-18-16)
- Stability ball side-to-side crunches (3x16)
- Push-ups (3x8) - 1 set with feet on stability ball and hands on bosu / 1 set with feet on floor and hands on bosu / 1 set with feet on stability ball and hands on floor

The first set of push-ups where both my feet and hands were balancing were extremely hard since I hadn't attempted these in a long time but they work your core so well that I am definitely going to do them more often. If you feel comfortable doing either of the other two kinds I mentioned, then I highly recommend trying these! Given that I am now hitting each muscle group at least twice per week, I decided to only do one or two chest exercises each time I do chest simply because chest is not an area I want to get too big...not muscle-wise anyway hahaha! Shoulders and core are way more important to me as they are two areas that are most visually prominent on a fit physique.

Being there so early, I was able to have most of the room to myself and get all of the equipment I wanted which makes such a difference. Although, I think the heat doesn't kick-on 'til mid-morning in that place because it was frigid for the second Sunday in a row. I hadn't planned to do any cardio today but ended up doing a quick 10-minute running interval just to warm myself up in between muscle groups! It also probably didn't help me that I was not feeling fully awake throughout my workout. Today was a morning I probably could have benefited from downing a scoop of pre-workout on my way in! I really don't like the stuff in general (makes my heart race too much and disrupts my sleep when taken prior to evening workouts) but it sure does charge you up for a killer weight sesh!

After I had completed my routine, I went over to the mats to do some all-over stretching and one of the regulars came up to me to say how he'd noticed that I've been making improvements in my upper body muscle-tone! Now, of course he could have just been saying that to make me feel better and give me a little encouragement since he does happen to know the ultimate fitness goal I'm working toward but regardless, that one compliment totally made my day. It also gave me a little extra incentive to bust-ass (literally) tomorrow when I hit my glutes! So, if you see someone deserving of a compliment, be it in the gym or elsewhere, don't be hesitant to pay it forward. You never know what's going on in there life, what they're working toward, or if they're having a shitty day and hearing something nice can totally change their perspective on things.

Now I'm sitting at home having my mid-morning snack when most other people are probably just getting up to have breakfast. Feels so good to have a full-day ahead of me and already have checked so much off my list! 

It's You Vs. You

A friend in the gym was wearing a shirt today that read "It's You Vs. You". It got me thinking how that's really the bottom line when it comes to performing at your best. It doesn't matter how much the person next to you is curling or how much longer than you they have been running for. All that matters is that you get in there and push yourself harder than you did the last time. I got to the gym nice and early this afternoon, having taken the day off from work. Days off from work are always the most productive; even more so than the weekends are because it's truly time off to do things for yourself whereas the weekends are always filled with chores and errands that you didn't have time for during the work week. I won't bore you with a list all the things I got done today but let's just say I will go to sleep tonight with a feeling of great satisfaction!

Over the past couple of week's I've decided on a new fitness goal for myself. I'm not going to announce it to the blogging universe just yet though. I'm going to use December as a trial period, making slight diet and workout alterations and if I feel like I'm headed in the right direction then I'm going to commit in January. We all know what happened last year when I announced I was going to run my first 5k and then I ended up with all sorts of lovely injuries that prevented that from happening. A year later, I still hate running haha. I'm someone that needs to always have a goal to strive for though, something to look forward to, so regardless of whether I achieve my goals I always end up in a better position than when I started. Changes I'm making in December include the following:

Fitness - Change workouts from a 4-6 day split to a 3 day split. What I mean by this is that previously a typical weight workout would consist of two major opposing muscle groups followed by core work. Going forward, I will be typically be doing 3 major muscle groups that aren't necessarily opposing and not every day will include core work so that I can work that area harder on the days that I do have it scheduled. The problem with my former plan was that A) say for example I was doing bi's & tri's one day, I would have already tired my arms out by the time I got to the 2nd muscle group so that group would not get as strong of a workout as the 1st and B) Some muscle groups would only get done once per week. This new plan will mean that some days I will be in the gym for much longer than usual, but that's a "sacrifice" I'll have no problem making! Of course, this new schedule may be altered slightly on days when I do a spin class but in general, that's the new format.

Diet - I've been keeping track of all of my intake via the free app called myfitnesspal. Looking back over several weeks, it is evident that my macro ratios are off for my goals. If you are unfamiliar with macros, then Google it; it's really a very interesting topic that I've been coming across a lot lately. Basically, your macronutrients or "macros" are the proteins, carbs, and fats in your food. You want to try to maintain certain ratios of each in keeping with your particular fitness goals. For me, this means that I need to cut carbs and increase both protein and fats (good fats of course!). A general rule for people trying to gain muscle is to eat 1 gram of protein for every pound you weigh. However, I already do this and it's not enough so I'm making sure to mix up a protein shake on my way out of the gym every day for an added 20 grams. Fats are pretty easy to increase. For this, I'm doing things like adding mixed nuts to my breakfast oatmeal and making sure to have fish at least a couple of night's a week. Carb-cutting however is going to be the most difficult since carbs are in basically everything! I'm a major pasta junkie, eating it for several dinners each week (with chicken of course!) so I'm trying to slowing wean myself off of it by cutting back to half-portions and increasing my protein source instead. I may even try spaghetti squash although I'm a bit skeptical. Tonight I had a delicious & easy homemade turkey chili that I threw together in my Crock-Pot this morning. Take a look at my Recipes tab if you are interested in making it.

Now, back to my workout today which consisted of a run followed by chest, core, and triceps. Here's the split:
-Running intervals for 21 minutes doing 1-min segments of walking followed 3-min segments of running
-Stability ball chest presses (3x12)
-Incline dumbbell flies (3x12)
-Plank rows (3x12, each side)
-Stability ball leg lifts (3x12-8-10)
-Wood Chops (3x20-18-16, each side)
-Stability ball weighted bench dips (3x12)
-Tricep kick-backs (3x10, each side)
-Straight-bar pushdowns (3x10)
In total it took me approximately 110 minutes (including breaks) which isn't too bad for adding in an extra muscle group!

In other fitness-related updates, my ISSA CFT studying is going great! I officially have no free time whatsoever but I love it! I'm already on unit 6 of 33 so I'm right on track if not ahead of the game. This 6-month life plan of mine is really improving my overall mood and outlook so I highly recommend it for all of you regardless of your life/work situation.

Well, I'm going to end it here so I can write out my workouts for the next couple of days and pack my meals for tomorrow. I know it was a long entry but I hope you found it interesting. Remember, whatever your fitness goals are, when you get in the gym, on the track, in the pool, or wherever you are doing your workout, it's you vs. you out there. Doing your best is all that matters. 

It's All Abs To Me!

You may have noticed that in recent posts I've gone from using the term "abs" to the term "core". It was brought to my attention that I use the term abs when I'm describing all core work and well, that's simply not accurate (yes, it was a trainer who pointed this out; they tend to be annoyingly set in their ways haha). At the time I responded with an eye roll and an "It's all abs to me!" comment but I'm sure that person would be satisfied to know that I've managed to correct my terminology ever since :P

Anyway, after several days in a row of amped-up intensity and duration in the weight room, my body needed a break so today was a day of all abs - oops - I mean all core work! I got to the gym at my usual time after my first day back in the office post-holiday PTO. Ughhh, sitting for 9 hours straight is so much worse after you've been given a break from it! Fluorescent light headache, frozen fingers & toes, poor sitting posture backache, general annoyance with any one within 6 feet of me, you name it I had it! However, it made my escape to the gym all the more enjoyable and I worked extra hard to offset my lack of energy depletion during the day!

Upon arrival I did a quick 15 minute warm-up on the elliptical, a 5-10 minute stretch sesh and then embarked on my core routine. First up were plank 1-arm rows (3x14), followed by stability ball weighted leg lifts (12-8-10 adjusting weight), med ball wood chops (16-14-12), tee pees (3x8) with knee balancing in between sets, and finally stability ball & incline bench weighted side crunches (3x20 - my stability ball was stolen when I went to get a different weight after my first set, thus the switch in exercise). I had planned to use the ab roller instead of doing the side crunches but that piece of equipment seems to be a hot commodity these days and it was nowhere to be found! Tomorrow's routine is going to be a run followed by back & bi's. I've got some fun new moves on the agenda so I already can't wait to get back in there and get after it!

Changing the subject for a moment, I've been reading the blog postings on jillfit.com in my spare time (*ahem* boredom at work) and found one that brought me back to my comment in last week's Pre-Turkey Burn post about dealing with family & friends who don't understand your fitness & clean-eating lifestyle. If you get annoyed with the commentary you receive as a result of your lifestyle choices then you really need to read this blog. Alternatively, if you don't understand the fit lifestyle of one of your friends or family members then this is for you as well. Hopefully it'll help you better understand where us gym rats are coming from... Here's the link: http://jillfit.com/2012/10/09/loved-ones-dont-understand/

Keeping the blog entry short tonight. I'm 5 minutes away from signing up for my CPT course through ISSA! I decided to go with ISSA for two main reasons: 1) It's all online so you don't have to travel out of state to take the final exam and 2) They offer a Fitness Nutrition Certification that I want to take afterward and I figure its best to have all of your certifications from the same organization. It's also internationally recognized which will be helpful when I become a famous fitness guru and get paid to travel the world giving celebrity clientele workout and nutrition advice hehehe :)

It's all part of my 6 month life plan. Almost one month down... 'Til next time gym rats, happy gymming!

Pre-Turkey Burn

I'm writing this post a bit late in the day to be calling it a Pre-Turkey Burn but that's all I've been thinking about during my workouts this week and I can happily say that I ended this food-centric holiday in a bit of a calorie deficit, despite stuffing my face this afternoon, thanks to my solid workout this morning!

I can't wait for my favourite show, the Biggest Loser to start airing again. All I thought about today and yesterday was making the most of my "last chance workout" haha. Yesterday I skipped my usual cardio and instead did the 30 minute maXtreme "Pure Grit" routine. The app workouts are meant to be done as your only form of exercise but instead I'm using them as warm-ups for my more focused weight routines as I am trying to gain some serious mass right now! This one was a lot of fun, hit several different muscle groups, and got a wicked good sweat going! Then for my regular weight room sesh I did shoulders and core with this routine:
-Bosu ball arnold presses (3x8)
-Lateral raises (3x8 each arm)
-Standing cable cross-overs (3x 12-11-10)
  *I'd never done these before but one of the friendly gym usuals was kind enough to show me a new move and I really like them! You simply stand in the middle of a set of cables, set your weight on each side, grab the left cable with your right hand and right cable with your left hand and uncross your shoulders while lifting the cables to opposite sides. It's not as difficult/confusing as I am probably making it sound and it really gave me a burn!
-Incline weighted crunches (3x12)
-Side plank one-arm rows (3x10 each side)
 *This is another new move I got from another person earlier in the week. You do a side plank in front of a cable with your weight set and whatever pull-bar you want to use hooked onto the cable (you don't use any with the cable cross-overs). Simply do one arm rows while in plank position, lifting your top leg for an extra burn.

This morning I got to the gym nice and early to make sure I got my spin pass prior to the Turkey Day crowd I was anticipating. I must say, I was extremely disappointed in the lack of early morning turnout. There were of course a few usuals and I know I shouldn't complain since it's so much nicer to work out in a quiet, empty gym but it sure goes to show who's really committed! I concentrated on chest and core today, adding in a bit of calve work since they get so strained from spinning. I don't know what it was, but for some reason I was on a serious role, going heavier than usual for all of my sets. It must have been my subconscious panic at the thought of getting fat off of the chocolate mousse cake I knew I'd be eating later today haha. Here's the rundown of my routine:
-Stability ball free weight chest presses (4x12)
-Standing calve raises (4x12)
-Incline seated chest flies (4x12)
-Hanging loop leg raises (3x8, 1 set forward bent knee, 1 set forward straight leg, 1 set side-to-side bent knee)
-Flat bench leg raises with a stability ball between my feet (3x12)

THEN SPINNING!!! It was an instructor I hadn't had before and always being skeptical of new instructors I wasn't sure how it would go. However, it was a great class and the best part was that she was quite the comedian! I think I was smiling/laughing so much during class that I didn't even feel like I was working that hard! Don't get me wrong though...I was still sweating buckets haha. She played an odd set of music that ranged from Nelly's "It's getting hot in here" to "The Devil went down to Georgia" (Zac Brown version) but everything matched the class really well and kept us very entertained!

After a good foam roller session (my glutes and quads HATE me right now), I filled up my shaker with a free sample of Giant Sports Delicious Vanilla Protein that the guy at PNC was nice enough to give me the other day when I went to re-stock up on Xtend. To my surprise, it really did live up to it's name and was in fact delicious...as far as protein goes anyway haha. Sidenote: I also got a massive container of Syntrax Nectar Vanilla Bean Torte flavoured protein that should last me a while. I've only tried it in my oatmeal thus far but it's tasty enough that I don't have to mask the flavour with maple syrup like I've been doing with the awful GNC unflavoured kind I've been forcing myself to choke down haha.

Then I was off, headed home to get ready for my family's Thanksgiving feast which was also a combination birthday celebration for one of my family members (hence the chocolate mousse cake). Despite having some seriously inflated portion sizes, I managed to keep my plate rather clean (sans gravy/butter/other unhealthy extras) so I could indulge in dessert. I got plenty of the usual harassing for declining the pre-dinner cocktails and asking for my veggies to be set aside before they were doused in butter but I guess I just need to learn to ignore it. Maybe some day my good habits will wear off on at least one of them! Anyway, I'm sitting here in a bit of a Tryptophan coma and I think I've managed to create another run-on blog entry so I'm signing off. I hope all you true Gym Rats got in a good pre-turkey burn today and enjoyed a delicious meal with friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving!

NA-NA-NA-NA-NA COME ON!

Rihanna's S&M may quite possibly be the best workout song ever...or pretty much any Rihanna song for that matter. It's finally Saturday again, not only my favourite day of the week (for obvious reasons) but also my favourite workout day of the week! I'm a creature of habit so as usual I got up bright and early to get in a solid weight sesh before hitting up the 9:00 am spin class. Earlier this week a friend of mine sent me links to these motivational videos on YouTube called "How Bad Do You Want It" (Part I & II). If you haven't seen these videos, you need to. After watching Part I, I decided that I've been slacking all my life and I need to seriously step-up my gym game. Part I is all about what is necessary to make a person successful and Part II is about what to do once you've attained success in order to differentiate yourself from everyone else. Ever since I watched these I've been working extra hard in the gym. More sets. More reps. More weight. Seriously, you have got to watch these videos whether you want success in the gym or elsewhere in your life. Prepare to be motivated! Here's the link to part I:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-raYgOmYPvQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Also this week I've been doing the maXtreme "Get Strong" workouts in addition to my usual routine. The other day I did one called "Kitchen Sink" (no idea where the name came from). I was in a rush to bust through the 20 minute routine prior to spin class and I honestly was pooped before even entering the classroom! My favourite move in the routine were the pike pushups where you alternate pikes and pushups (both using a stability ball). These were after already having done tee pees so they were quite brutal!

Today's pre-spin routine was all shoulders, upper back, and of course core! Here's the routine I did:
- Bosu ball narrow squats with shoulder presses each time you come up from your squat (3x12)
- Assisted pull-ups (3x6), alternating grips each set (closed/narrow/wide)
- Bosu ball 1-legged arnold presses (3x8)
- Side crunches on the back extension machine (3 sets each side) with 20-16-12 rep sets
- Hands-free knee pull-ins on a bench while holding a weight to my chest
...and of course a ton of all-over stretching and foam-rolling pre-, during-, and post-routine!

Fueled-up with a my delicious raspberry protein oatmeal, coffee, celcius, xtend, and my new "Take No Days Off" attitude (you'll understand this once you watch the videos), I had a seriously successful start to my weekend! I'm thinking tomorrow will be a cardio-free lower back and chest day and then I"ll do a run and hardcore legs sesh on Monday. Ahhh I'd be so happy if all I did every day was design and test out workout routines! Speaking of which I think I'm going to become a certified personal trainer this winter. Not necessarily to do personal training full-time (at least not yet) but I wrote up a 6-month life plan last weekend and that is just one small part of it! Life's too short to be cooped up in a miserable, overly air-conditioned, stuffy corporate environment where you waste away sitting in front of a blinding computer screen for 9 hours straight every day.

Anyway, I'm off to keep up with the Saturday productivity. Keep up the good work, gym rats and cheers to the freakin' weekend!

Clean Slate

Motivation Monday, Meathead Monday, Monday Funday, whatever you call it it's another chance for a fresh start to a new week. A chance to wipe the weekend slate clean and get back into the weekday grind whether that means back to work, back to the gym, or both. I personally took the day off from work so I could enjoy a 3-day weekend, use one of my last remaining PTO days of 2012, and of course observe Vereran's Day! It's a good thing I did take the day off because my body apparently needed the extra rest, having slept for 10 straight hours last night! I must be battling a minor cold or something but luckily once I got myself up and going, motivation kicked in and I felt much better.

I hit up World's around 10:00 am this morning and found it to be quite crowded. Worse so, all the creepy old men were in full-force and I had to do what I could (rather unsuccessfully I might add) to dodge them throughout my workout. Would have been a perfect day to put on my headphones and use that as an excuse not to converse but unfortunately I was not thinking clearly.

I decided to do a lower body workout today since I know I'll want to do spinning again on Wednesday and I need more than one day for leg recovery. First, I warmed myself up on the elliptical for 15 minutes. Then I moved on to walking lunges with medicine ball side twists. I always love doing these because no matter what shape I'm in they give a killer burn! Next I moved on to another favourite move of mine, bosu ball 1-legged weighted deadlifts. Between those two moves my hamstrings will definitely be angry with me tomorrow! Next I moved on to some core work where I did stability ball leg lifts and then finished up with stability ball weighted side crunches with balancing v-sits in between sets. Either it was about 20 degrees warmer than usual in there or I really am battling something because I was sweating buckets the whole time and really didn't feel like I was pushing myself any harder than usual.

While not as many different moves as I usually do, that routine took a solid hour so I decided to call it quits and go stretch out for a bit as well as hit up my new fun gym activity the monkey bars. World's got a jungle-gym-like contraption early last week that is called the Synergy 360. It's basically a large station with monkey bars, pull-up bars, bands, med balls, kettle balls and various TRX straps. There really isn't anything on it that you couldn't already do on the existing gym equipment but it is a pretty cool one-stop-shop for those looking to do a quick circuit or those who are afraid of the weight room lol.

After I left I hit up Whole Foods for a few groceries and lunch. I've been craving Mexican food all week so I decided to try their vegan burrito. Now, typically I am 100% anti-vegan but this has peaked my interest for a while due to the yummy sounding mix of sweet potatoes and apples and I have to admit it was delicious! I will definitely be making these on my own in the near future and since it was so good I am going to add my own version of them to the recipes page of my blog so be sure to check that out! It's a beautiful day here so I am signing off now to go enjoy the sunshine and walk my puppy. Happy gymming gym rats and thank you to all the Veterans who have served our country!

Don't You Cry Tonight

I pre-appologize for the somewhat depressing tone of this blog entry but sometimes you just gotta get something off your chest in order to put your mind at ease.

 "Can I make a song request? Something heavy and angry...I have a lot of frustration to beat out tonight", I asked tonight's spin instructor. "Sure, I've already made the playlist but I'll see what I can do", she replied, and turned away to begin class.

All week long I've been a massive ball of anxiety. I'm someone that typically lives in a constant state of stress because I take things very seriously, get frustrated and disappointed easily, and generally expect a certain standard of perfection when it comes to life, people, work, etc. that of course no one or thing ever lives up to. I've been like this for as long as I can remember and in general I think a small amount of stress is actually a good thing. In fact, when the brain perceives physical or psychological stress, it starts pumping the chemicals cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine into the body. Instantly the heart beats faster, blood pressure increases, senses sharpen, a rise in blood glucose invigorates us and we're ready to rock. Stress is like a burst of energy; it's our body telling us what we need to do. Full disclosure: I stole those exact words from an article I found on www.msnbc.nbc.com.

Typically, whatever stress I've accumulated over the day I let go of in the gym each night. It's when stress becomes anxiety that I have a serious problem on my hands...and this began over the weekend. The source of my anxiety isn't worth mentioning here. The point is that after about 5 days of this, I feel like my chest is about to explode. You know when you're in the middle of an intense run and your heart is racing and you're gasping for your next breath? Well imagine your heart is wrapped tightly in steel wire and its pounding against your chest at about 500 RPMs. Oh, and you're sitting still, doing absolutely nothing to provoke it. And your mind is racing so fast that it's making your heart beat faster and faster and it hurts and there's nothing you can do about it. That's what I've felt like these past few days. In all honesty, I could probably benefit from a Valium or two but I prefer to fix my issues without drugs (prescribed or otherwise) and that is what led me to the best spin class of my life tonight!

Like I've said before, what divides an average workout and an exceptional workout for me is the music. Little did the instructor know, but when she chose a playlist that included songs like Pink Floyd's "Money" and Guns 'n Roses "Don't you cry tonight", she was basically designing the class just for me. Those are my two favourite bands OF ALL TIME ...and I've always said that one day I WILL marry Axl Rose haha :) Hearing his heavenly voice crooning "Talk to me softly, there is something in your eyes. Don't hang your head in sorrow, and please don't cry" was honestly all I needed out of the class but then my real treat came. Godsmack's "Keep away" starts pounding through the speakers and I think she turned it up several notches just for me. I pushed through that song, heart pounding, like it was my sole purpose in life to make it to the top of that hill despite the fact that I had to peddle through quicksand to get there. My quads were angrily protesting the entire time but I ignored them. I know I'll be crippled tomorrow and possibly the day after too but it was totally worth it. "Keep Away" was the last song of the class and the next few minutes were spent stretching out to the tune of Tom Petty's "Don't do me like that". I mean seriously, did this girl read my mind?!

I'm by no means "cured" now but that one hour was the best hour I've had all week and I'm so exhausted at least I won't have any trouble getting to sleep tonight. On my drive home while in somewhat of a trance I found myself on an empty stretch of Washington Avenue and I floored it. I don't even recall what, if anything, was on the radio at the time. I think my adrenaline was still so high from class that it didn't much matter. It's probably not the best/safest idea in the world to let it rip in a dark 30 mph zone but it felt soooo good! Plus, its always a good idea to test out your brakes once in a while, right?

I came home and opened the door to my happy, bouncing ball of wiggles, Mugsy and it reminded me that there are still some loving, good-intentioned, loyal beings in this world. Well, at least one anyway! Here's to having many more amazing workouts in my near future but hopefully not needing one as badly as tonight. 'Til next time Gym Rats...

Halloween Prescription

Happy Halloween Gym Rats! I'm sitting home right now wondering why for the third year in a row, I have gotten no trick-or-treaters. I happen to live in the IDEAL trick-or-treating neighborhood where you could hit 70 homes in one loop yet year after year not a single ring to the doorbell! The first year I lived here I bought a massive bag of candy, anticipating hordes of costumed children at my doorstep all night and was beyond disappointed by the time 9 o'clock rolled around and I decided it was time to give up and turn the front door light out. Last year I thought the chance of a visitor was too slim to bother buying any candy and I was right, no one came. Tonight I gave up entirely and guess what...nothing. Again. Oh well, at least I don't have a bunch of candy to tempt me to the dark side tonight haha. Halloween does happen to be my all time favourite holiday but more for the costumes than the candy. Well, maybe for the gummy dots...and the flavoured tootsie rolls...and just about every form of chocolate...but, I digress. This year I celebrated this past Saturday and dressed  up as a ballerina. I was very proud of myself having made a pink puffy tutu all by myself haha. I can't lie, I was tempted to wear it to the gym tonight. I mean, it is technically work out gear, but I'm glad I didn't because I didn't see a single other costume there! Boring gym rats :)

Anyway, tonight I had a solid mid-week sweat sesh consisting of some light leg moves, core, and spinning. I had planned to do a maXtreme routine tonight but I wasn't a fan of the crowd over in the stretching area where I've been doing my maXtreme workouts so I decided to bag it and do my own thing. The weight area was nice and empty tonight, well, compared to yesterday anyway. I don't know what was going on yesterday; perhaps it was because Hurricane Sandy set everyone's schedule awry on Monday but it sure seemed like every member of World gym decided to come at 5pm! It was easily as bad as the New Year's resolution crowd. Ughhh cue the January gym nightmares tonight!

I didn't want to do a serious legs sesh right before spinning (been there, done that, baddd idea!) so I opted to focus on glutes and calves rather than quads and hams which needed to preserve their energy! First I did 3 sets of 20 barbell plie squats with raised heels. Sidenote: these would have looked awesome in my leotard and tights haha. Next I followed these up with 3 sets of 12 calve raises on the standing calve machine. Then I moved on to abs and did 3 sets of 10 standing leg raises. I was pleasantly surprised to feel my abs kind of sore from yesterday's workout. Usually it takes a lot to feel anything in my abs so it must have been the extra hard concentration I did on the incline crunches or maybe the extra risers that did the trick! I then moved back to legs and did 3 sets (each leg) of 10 on the standing glute press machine and finished up my routine with 2 sets of 12 leg raises lying on a bench with a stability ball held between my feet. I have a touch of obsessive compulsive disorder (self-diagnosed) and not doing a third set to match all my other moves was not in the plan but the 5pm spin class was emptying out so I had to make a mad dash to get my favourite bike!

Spin class was great tonight with an instructor I really like as well as a good heart-pumping playlist. I've been sticking to my 2-3 class max per week rule and my quads are definitely thanking me, allowing me to train legs during the week without serious muscle fatigue like last month. There's something about spinning I noticed today that just eases my mind and allows me to clear my thoughts kind of like a massage or a bubble bath does. It's really the only hour of the day when you can just let your mind wander and you are guaranteed that no one is going to bother you. If I were a physician or a therapist I would prescribe spinning to anyone undergoing stress, anxiety or any other related symptoms. It's funny I was reading the quotes on a lululemon shopping bag the other day and one of them says "Stress is related to 99% of all illness". I couldn't agree more! If only people had more initiative to be more physically active, I think we would have a muchhhh healthier society.

Okay so I think I've been rambling throughout this entire blog entry (what's new?!) so I'll wrap it up. I'm already planning a back / chest / core routine tomorrow which I started to design while in my spinners-zone haha. Happy Halloween and happy gymming everyone. Throw out that extra Halloween candy and hit the gym hard tomorrow. That's my "doctor's" orders.

Wicked Good Workout

Well, the Mainah in me is feeling wicked good tonight, having just completed a wicked good mid-week workout! Actually, all week long I've had fantastic workouts and stuck to a pretty strict clean diet which I'm sure is helping things out a lot. I even went out to dinner Saturday night and succeeded in not accompanying my meal with a glass of wine. Success! Tomorrow is however going to have to be a cheat day because we're having Portland Pie cater lunch and I just cannot resist my favourite Harbor Master pie!

I've been testing out the maXtreme workouts each day and I have to say I am really enjoying the switch-up in routine! I'm not giving up on my usual stuff; I'm either supplementing part of my weight session with a focused muscle routine or doing a total body routine on a day when I don't really want to do a heavy-weight sesh (Saturday morning for example when I did the Rejuvenate routine prior to my spin class). Everything so far has been either light weight or body weight only and high-rep / high-intensity drills with either no or minimal breaks depending on the length of the routine. On days when I'm not doing cardio, the 15-minute routines are a great way to start out my workout and still be able to get a good sweat going! 

Today was a bi's & tri's day so I started out with the "Bicep Kiss" routine after having already warmed up with 15 mins on the elliptical. I think this is my favourite routine thus far. Like all the others, there are so many variations on things I would normally do that it's like getting a ton of new moves each time I check a new routine out. For example, I really liked the lunge row kickbacks in this routine which is when you get in a lunge position with free weights and alternate doing rows and kickbacks. Yes, I realize this isn't a bicep exercise but the focused routines thus far have been about 75% focused on the muscle in their name (biceps in this case) and the remaining 25% are complimentary moves that keep you from tiring out that one muscle group. After completing this routine I then moved out into the weight room where I completed the following moves:

-Tricep weighted bench dips on the stability ball (3x8)

-Bicep curls on the bosu ball (3x8), 1 set forward curl on both feet / 1 set hammer curl on right foot / 1 set forward curl on left foot

-Medicine ball diagonal wood chops (3x12 each side). This is a new move I picked up from an all-core workout I did on Sunday that I copied out of the latest Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine and probably the only one I actually felt anything from!

-Teepees (3x8), balancing on the stability ball in between sets

I made sure to do a lot of stretching in between sets and after my workout today because tomorrow is going to be a legs day and I need to be fully recovered from yesterday's spin sesh! I think I'm going to do the one that crippled me a few weeks back but shorten it a bit so I'm not in there all night again haha. Hopefully it will just be a good burn that I can recover from before I do spin again this coming Saturday. I think spin 2x per week may be my max so that I don't completely fatigue my quads again and can still get in some good lower body weight sessions in between. Ahhh already wishing I could fast-forward to 5:00 pm tomorrow! Well, maybe not through lunch hour :) 

Happy gymming everyone! Be sure to check out the maXtreme iPhone app and follow me on Twitter @PortlandGymRat for daily workout updates, motivating quotes and some fun retweets! 

Welcome to maXtreme!

It's finally here! The iPhone application I've been talking about for months is finally complete and on the market! You probably thought I was full of it all this time, seeing as it's been months in the making and each time I'd say it was "about to be released" there would be some kink in the process, delaying it further into the future.  However, its finally done and I can finally share the amazing finished product!

Yes, I realize I just used the word "finally" four times in one paragraph but I'm sitting here perusing thesaurus.com and I just don't see any other words that would make a suitable replacement. :)

I won't give you a complete run-down of all it has to offer seeing as I've mentioned most of it in past posts (and I want you to buy it!) but I will say that the final product came together wonderfully and it truly has some great features to offer people of all fitness levels and desiring different results. It was officially released on the 16th and so far it has only 5-star reviews! Yes, the one by "PortlandGymRat" is me haha. To find it, go to your iPhone App Store and search "maXtreme". It should come up and the icon looks like this:

It's fairly large, so it takes about 8 minutes to download and you need to have a wireless connection to do so. Yesterday was my first trial with it and I chose to do the 15-minute "Butt Awe" workout. It was a great mix including squats, leg lifts, and jacks, all 1-minute in duration. What I discovered pretty quickly was that while the moves may not have been too difficult for me, doing them for 15 minutes straight with no breaks in between was killer! Additionally, many of the moves are variations of traditional ones that you wouldn't normally think of doing. For example, a jumping jack isn't necessarily a traditional jumping jack but rather perhaps a squat jack...way more difficult! Today I tried out the 15-minute "Doomsday Abs" routine. This one was killer....my knees DO NOT enjoy any form of jumping and there are quite a few variations of plank jacks and plank jumps in this one! It's pretty funny to scroll through and see myself as the example and then struggling to get through the moves in real-time lol. In general, the workouts are meant to be done as your entire workout for the day buy my anal gym rat ways won't let me do that just yet. Soooo here's a rundown of my total workout for today:

-15 minute Run/Walk warm-up (walk 2 mins/Run 10 mins/walk 3 mins)
-15 minute Doomsday Abs routine
-Weighted chess press on stability ball (3x12)
-One-arm bent over rows (3x10 each arm)
-Standing weighted side-crunches (3x12)
-Lat pull-downs (3x10), mixing wide, narrow, and backward grips

It was pretty late when I was finished because when I originally arrived at the gym after work, I went inside to change only to realize that I forgot to pack shorts! Being a Friday and quite tired I was tempted to bag the workout all together but knowing that I had told Kingsley (app creator) I would let him know how the ab routine went, I made myself go home for proper attire. It was, of course, ultimately worth it though because I feel so much better now than I would have had I come straight home, ate an early bird dinner, and vegged out in from of the TV all night! Plus, the rain seemed to keep everyone other than the avid gym rats out of the place tonight so it was nice and quiet with good views all around hehehe ;)

I think I may get up early tomorrow morning, sign-up for another month of spin (3 weeks off has been way too long!) and do one of the 30 or 45 minute total body routines prior to spin class. Should be fun! I've been so excited about maXtreme all week, wanting to show everyone I come across. I'm sure my enthusiasm is at times a bit annoying so I'll try to tone it down haha. If you see me at the gym though and want to see the app for yourself before buying, let me know and I'll happily give you a run-through! Well, I'm off to do that vegging out on the couch now before I pass out for the night (long week w/late nights!). Happy Friday everyone and keep up the workouts this weekend!

Amped-Up

Today was an extreme mix of good and bad. I was feeling in control and ready to start the work week on a positive note as I cruised down 295 to work nice and early at 7:30. I was in charge of organizing a large meeting to be held at 8:30 with folks across the company's US Footprint and I knew I had plenty of time to pick up the pre-ordered breakfast, set-up the computer equipment & handouts and eat my own breakfast prior to everyone's arrival. However, divine intervention had another idea of how the morning would unfold, beginning with the discovery that no, breakfast for 50 people had not been pre-ordered as promised, then the webinar deciding to malfunction prior to the start of the meeting, and the conference call cutting out half-way through an in-depth discussion on Capital Requirements. To say it was a test of my patience is a severe understatement. Reminder: I HAVE NO PATIENCE. When all was said and done though, I was able to pull-off a [slightly tainted] success of a meeting and the world did not end as I had imagined it might. Further, an afternoon meeting I was dreading got postponed by a week so I was able to catch my breathe the rest of the work day. Then came 5:00.

Threw up in my mouth a little when I rolled into World's tonight and one of my least favourite people on the planet (formerly a fav) was right front and centre. I guess this several month long absence was too good to last forever. Funny how people can have such an effect on you, good or bad. Things just started to go downhill from there as that prompted an annoying body tremor which caused me to absentmindedly shake my water bottle with the top unsnapped and spray myself with watermelon-flavoured Xtend, in addition to causing me to have terrible balance throughout my entire workout! On the bright side though (other than the fact that I now probably smell and taste like watermelon lol), the Xtend, a BCAA-containing drink mix which I picked up at PNC this weekend, is DE-LICIOUS! Normally I detest the flavour of supplements but this stuff is truly good. Tastes like a drinkable Jolly Rancher sans the calories! By the way, shout out to PNC for being very knowledgeable about their products. I felt like a total moron when I went in asking for a product I knew very little about but the guy didn't make me feel stupid at all and had some great suggestions on products to try.

Alas, onto today's workout. Luckily, the combination of my frustrating day and unpleasant sighting fueled an epic burn tonight. I started out with a treadmill run / walk to warm-up. I only ran for one mile tonight, not quite the 1.6 miles I was supposed to do according to my run schedule but I can say with some satisfaction that I busted my ass through that mile. I amped up the speed by about a half an mph faster than I usually go and sweat out about 5 gallons of water in the process. I was totally in the zone and wanted to continue mentally but unfortunately I think I may be battling a minor injury to my right foot which has been hurting all day. It feels like my left foot did when it started to develop my ankle injury last spring (pain on the top of my foot) so I didn't want to push it too hard. Why is it that whenever I'm on a great workout streak I injure myself?! Not cool. Not cool at all.

Of course in keeping with my October glute-improving goal, today was legs again! The weight room was quite crowded tonight but for some reason I had no trouble getting all the space and equipment I needed. I'm guessing it was the permanent squinted-eye snarl that I couldn't wipe away haha. Anyway, today's routine began with walking med ball twisting lunges (2x40). One of my favs! Then came bosu barbell front squats (3x20). Alternating legs and abs, I then did tee pees (3x12-10-8) balancing on the stability ball in between sets, followed by weighted plie squats (3x20). I finished up the routine with air crunches (3x16-14-12). Other than stretching in between sets, I didn't do any serious stretching tonight which I'm probably going to regret tomorrow. I was in there for nearly 2 hours though and just wanted to get home and get some food in me pronto! I think I'm sufficiently calmed down enough now that I'll enjoy a good night's sleep. Especially since nothing major is on the agenda for work tomorrow and usually a crazy day is not followed by an even crazier day (knock on wood). Here's to a stress & drama-free day and another serious burn in the gym tomorrow! Happy gymming, gym rats :)

P.S. I think I'm going to write in Canadian from now on. Some of you will know what that means :P

P.P.S. On my drive home it was oddly warm out so I rolled down the windows and blasted the radio in an effort to rid myself of the remaining stress my weight sesh did not fully extinguish. A new song came on the radio called "My oh my". Wow. New favourite. Seriously love when I find a song that I could have easily been the one to write.

P.P.P.S. (last one I promise) Word on the street is that Planet Fitness is going to get rid of their free weights. I mean, really, can you call yourself the "planet of fitness" if you don't have any free weights?! This is what I was told tonight by a long-time PFer who was told he can no longer jump rope on the premises. Disgusting. All that's going be left are a bunch of fatties who hit up the gym the first Monday of each month to spend 25 minutes confused by the machines so that they can reward themselves with three slices of pizza on their way out. So glad I did not renew my membership. 

Holiday Goodies

Nothing better than starting your week off right with a good solid gym sesh! Being a holiday, I knew the office would be sufferingly quiet so I took the day off to enjoy a three day weekend. I'll tell you, I am a MUCH happier person when I don't have to work 5 days in a row! I allowed myself to sleep in til 7 this morning and then after a hearty breakfast of eggs and pumpkin bread followed by a doggie walk, I headed to the gymmer. The past few days of workouts have been light on the cardio since I just about crippled myself during last Thursday's legs seshion. No, I didn't injure myself or anything but I was trying out this new leg workout I copied out of Muscle & Fitness Hers and let me tell you...hit some muscles I don't think have ever been used! Today was the first day I could walk like a normal person so I decided to start today's workout with a run. I had planned to only do 1 mile but right at the 1-mile mark, Ciara's Goodies came on my Pandora and I knew I just had to push it through to 1.5 (the next goal in my slow increase toward pre-Summer running distance). I saw Ciara in concert several years back and the girl had abs of steal so it wasn't just the lyrics that kept me motivated. What a rush when you find a song that helps you push through to the next level! 

After my run and a good amount of stretching I ventured out to the weight area to do back & chest. It was nice and empty in there today; I guess more people were working than I would have expected. After Thursday's legs session I could only do upper body stuff so Saturday was bi's & tri's, yesterday was shoulders and so back & chest was the logical option for today. I'm thinking I'll hit up another legs session tomorrow but switch it up a bit from last time. Here's the rundown of today's routine which took about an hour:

3x10 bent-over rows (each arm)

3x10 chest press on a stability ball

3x10 sitting cable rows

3x10 incline shoulder/chest press (this one sort of hits both areas at the same time)

Abs:

3x12 side crunches (each leg) on the back extension machine

3x10 stability ball leg lifts

I ended today's session with some more stretching on my key sore areas like quads, glutes, back, & shoulders...you can never stretch too much in my opinion! I could have used some foam rolling but I didn't bother because I decided to treat myself to a 60 minute massage over at Soma Wellness in South Portland. After all, you should treat yourself on the holidays :) What a nice and relaxing way to start out the week! I could really use a 3-hour long deep tissue massage but gotta stay on budget haha. 

In case you are interested in crippling yourself (in a good way) this week, here's the routine that I did last Thursday:

Walking weighted dumbbell lunge with kickbacks (4x20)

Narrow stance barbell squat (3x15 1x20 1x25)

Weighted genie press (3x18-20)

Stiff-legged cable deadlift (4x15)

Hip bridge on dynadisc (4x20)

One legged prone hamstring machine curl (2x12 2x18)

No cardio or abs. Takes about 90 mins to complete....maybe less if you cut out the chatter :)

Well, its time to soak in a nice hot Epsom Salt bath so I'm out! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day everyone! 

Lose Yourself

It's Saturday and you guessed it...started my weekend with a nice detoxifying spin class! Usually I'm up bright and early on a Saturday morning but when my alarm went off at 7:00 am, it was a struggle to get my tired ass out of bed. Not even my dog who usually begins his pacing / crying / shaking / jumping on my bed / starting at me until I move wake-up call around 6:30 had any interest in getting up on this dreary rainy morning. But alas I knew I had a glass of wine and a martini to burn off from last night's birthday outing so I refrained from hitting the snooze and grudgingly exited my happy place.

Arriving at World's at my usual time of 8:00 (nice and early to ensure I get a spin pass as well as my first pick of bikes), I cracked open a Celcius and began with some all-over stretches to try and wake up my muscles. I really wasn't in the mood to do weights this morning so I decided to use my free 45 minutes to hit a few target areas that always need improvement. Yesterday I did a shoulders-only extra long weight sesh that I copied out of this month's Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine so shoulders were definitely out of the question. Lesson learned...any more than 3 exercises of the same muscle group is a waste because at that point its a major struggle to keep going and I sacrifice not only on form but also settle for reduced weight and reps!

Today's quickie routine began with 4 sets of 10 standing leg lifts (2 sets forward and 2 sets side-to-side). Then I moved on 4 sets of 10 barbell bicep curls while standing on the bosu. Returning to abs I then did 4 sets of 12 incline crunches, 2 sets forward while holding a plate and 2 weightless sets side-to-side. The incline bench was already set-up with 5 risers when I got there. Of course it wasn't until halfway through when I wondered why I was struggling so much that I realized it wasn't my usual 4. Funny how just a few inches can make such a huge difference! Lastly, I did 4 sets of 10 (each arm) tricep dumbbell extensions. I wanted to get in a third ab workout since I only did one yesterday but time was running out as I got caught up into a conversation with one of the usuals so I had to call it quits.

I was feeling much more energetic when I entered spin class and despite what the instructor may think about my less than par RPM average, I got a great workout today and feel like I was able to push myself much harder than the past few weekends. I think it may be due to the fact that I only did 2 spin classes this week rather than 3-4 like I had been doing so my quads weren't quite as exhausted this morning. I'll have to hit up class again on Monday or Tuesday because I think my 1-month membership will be expiring early this week and I'll be taking a week or two off from spin in order to get some serious lower body weight sessions in without having exhausted muscles. I'm sure that as usual the excellent playlist also had something to do with my burst of energy as I had completely lost myself in the music by the end of class :)  Okay, I'll stop the cheesiness here but seriously I cannot get that song out of my head...great way to end class!

Anyway, that was all for today's workout. Not sure what tomorrow's will bring; maybe a good run and ab sesh will be a nice way to round out the weekend. I know I'll need something to keep my mood lifted as its back to work on Monday after 9 days out of the office. Ughhh the thought of sitting on my ass staring at the computer screen for 9 hours is making me cringe already. I'll have to plan some good post-workday workouts to keep me going this week! Happy gymming everyone and on this note I'll leave you with my favorite lines from "Lose Yourself"...just something to think about and hopefully keep you motivated on this icky rainy day:

"Success is my only motherfucking option, failure's not

So here I go, its my shot

Feet fail me not, this may be the only opportunity that I got

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment

You own it, you better never let it go

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow

This opportunity comes once in a lifetime

You can do anything you set your mind to."

- Eminem

Fuel Injector

Perhaps it was my irritation with the $700 I had to drop in vehicle repairs today, or my disgust toward the creepiest of all creeps who reappeared in the gym today after a pleasant month-long hiatus, or maybe it was the coffee, latte, and Celsius I downed during the day; but whatever the cause, something seriously fueled my workout today. To be quite frank, it nothing short of kicked-[my]ass.

Stuck at home while my car was attended to in the dealership for one massive repair that my lame-ass and overpriced warranty did NOT cover, today's activities began with a mid-day speed walk around the Back Cove. It was a gorgeous day out and my pup was very pleased to be taken out for a prance around Portland (he literally prances when he walks haha). Sadly, I haven't done the cove in at least a couple of months due to its increasing popularity amongst dog owners. However, now that school is in session the crowds have died down and there are far fewer opportunities for my sweet little prince to turn Cujo and chomp his foaming mouth at all approaching canine haha.

After our walk and a several-hour car-less wait, I finally had wheels again and sped over to World's. My cardio schedule was shifted a bit this week as I did an all-day hike on Tumbledown Mountain on Saturday, skipping my usual spin class and thus did spinning on Sunday instead. My legs were begging for a break so I decided I'd need more than just one day off from spinning. As such, yesterday was a cardio-free day and today I opted for a run. I can't yet say whether the new running shoes are an improvement at all as I haven't been running more than short distances once or twice a week but at least I have yet to have a "case of the returning shin splints" so that's a plus!  I'm slowly trying to work my way back up to my pre-Summer distance by increasing 1/10 of a mile each time. Today was 1.3 miles and as pathetic as it sounds, it was a struggle! I pushed through though, with increased speed no less, thanks to a stellar Pandora play list and a rather studly floor display tonight haha. Afterward, my endorphins were flying through the roof so I segued into weights without losing any steam.

Having done bi's & tri's on Sunday and shoulders yesterday, I opted for chest and back tonight. The further I got into my workout I just got more and more fired up and can truly say that I may have crossed a mental threshold tonight. Here's a breakdown of my routine:

1. 3x10 chest press on a stability ball
2. 3x10 standing rows on a bosu
3. 3x12 seated incline chest flies
4. 6x10 bent-over rows (3 each arm)

For abs I kept it simple but pushed myself with added weight:

1. 3x16 incline forward crunches while holding a dumbbell overhead and pushing it forward with each rep
2. 3x16 side-to-side crunches on a stability ball while holding a plate to my chest and holding 3 balancing v-sits in between sets

This may not seem like an extreme workout or really much different than my usual routine but I think it was a combination of slightly longer sets, increased focus, and working at a faster pace than usual (I completed the entire weight/ab portion in only 45 mins!) that kept me flushed, sweaty, and determined the whole time. I left the gym feeling refreshed and invigorated and looking forward to a seriously massive bowl of my yummy chicken-veggie stir-fry! Sitting here typing away, trying to recall every last bit of this very long day, I'm starting to feel my mental fuel-tank reach empty so here's to a good night's sleep, an expense-less day tomorrow, and many more fuel-injected workouts to come!

APP UPDATE: Impatiently waiting...

Countdown to maXtreme!

Over the past couple of weeks of being back to the real world I've been hitting the gym seriously hard, getting back into pre-vacation training mode. People in the gym sometimes ask me if I'm training for something. Well no, I'm not exactly training to be in an upcoming fitness competition or some crazy triathlon or anything but I suppose you could say I'm on a constant training path toward being in the best shape I can possibly be. That's training for something, right? It may not even be fully attainable since in my mind there's always room for improvement, but it sure is fun trying! I have to say I feel great right now and I have spin class to thank for it. Being a major cheap-ass and needing to get the biggest bang for my buck, I've been fitting in at least 3-4 spin classes each week (any more and my legs may literally fall off my body). I figure a minimum of 3 classes per week for a month straight ends up being about $1.25 per class. Now, that's a price I am satisfied with haha. I've hit up just about every one of the the trainers by now and definitely have my favorites but honestly I can't complain about any of them. I plan to hit up the 6pm class tomorrow which has an instructor I've never had before so I'm excited for that. I've found that some of the instructors add-in some really good core and tricep work in addition to the regular moves so that's been an added bonus. At this time tomorrow I should be seriously burnt out!

Doing so much spinning has kind of put a damper of my usual leg routines so I'll probably be hitting them up pretty hard again when my 1-month membership is up. It should be a nice re-shock to my muscles for a bit before I return to the bike again. Yesterday my legs had had enough so I took it as a rest day and did nothing other than walking my dog. Then, wanting to get back into the gym but not wanting to exhaust my legs again I started today's workout with a short 1-mile run. Last week I finally broke down and bought myself some way-too-pricey Asics which, according to the salesboy working at Maine Running Company, are going to help correct my supposed pronation and eliminate my knee/shin issues. I still didn't feel too great running today but it was my first run with the new shoes so I'll give it a few tries before I decide if his spiel was a total crock or not. Either way, at least the colors are cute!

I was on a mission to bust out a fast weight workout today because I had a meeting with the maXtreme app creator at 5:30. Luckily I had a work event today that allowed me to hit up the gym earlier than usual. Sorry coworkers but I am not going to choose your beer and nachos happy hour over my beloved gym time! You may as well call it a depression hour because that's exactly how I'd feel after consuming all those calories and then likely being too lethargic and tipsy to make it to the gym afterward. I don't have anything against treating yourself but over-indulging before you've had the chance to get in any real activity in a day's time is not the way to do it.

I opted for bi's and tri's today and kept it simple:
3 sets of 8 bicep curls standing on a bosu
3 sets of 10 overhead tricep extensions standing on a bosu
3 sets of 10 hammer curls standing on a bosu (increased reps because I had to lower the weight)
1 set of 8 dual-arm tricep push-downs using the rope and 2 sets of 8 single-arm push-downs

For abs I only had time for one thing so I'm going to have to triple them up tomorrow. Since time was running out and I was already at the station with the lat pull-down and other cable equipment, I did 3 sets of 12 air crunches. I still can't think of a better name for these so I hope by now all you regular followers know what I mean :)

After wrapping these up I scooted off to meet the app creator. I thought I was going to get the app put on my iPhone tonight but instead I got a demo of the almost-finished product and hopefully Wednesday (crossing fingers and knocking on wood here) I can get the real deal. Let me just say...FUCKING AMAZING. I can't apologize for the profanity because honestly that doesn't even begin to describe how awesome this product is. It has absolutely everything you could ever want in a workout app and then some....and it's only the first edition! Ahh its just so exciting I could spend hours talking about the different levels to choose from, the special awards you can unlock once you reach certain goals, the build-your-own workout options... Ugh but I have a million things I need to get done here tonight so I'll leave it at that for now and leave it up to you to purchase the app and try it out for yourself! Literally anyone can benefit from it because there are routines and hundreds and hundreds of moves for every activity level. Even better, no one can use the age-old excuse of "I just don't have enough time" because you can create your workout based on whatever time you do have. If you only have time for a 20 minute ab-focused routine then that's exactly what you'll get! There's even a special option for those on-the-road and lacking a gym but I'll keep my mouth shut for now and leave you in anticipation! If all goes well this week it should be ready for submission to Apple this Sunday and then assuming Apple approves it (cross fingers knock on wood again please), it will be going live to the public on October 1st. Countdown is on! From there on out the possibilities are endless. There are already so many future build-outs in the works, I just can't help but let my mind race with all the exciting things to come over the next few months. I'm just going to have to continue this crazy workout streak because once it goes public who knows what kind of promoting and marketing I'll (hopefully) be involved in. Continue to switch up my routines and shock my muscles into extreme transformation is my main goal right now. Whoops, I mean maXtreme transformation!  

Let The Detoxing Begin!

Well, I finally made it home at 11pm last night (6am according to my body's time zone differential)...aka I had been up for 24 hours straight and was not in a good mood after having a 10 hour flight with an undisciplined child kicking the back of my seat the whole time followed by a 6 hour layover in the awful Philadelphia International Airport due to my connecting flight being cancelled.

Don't worry...I'm done my rant for now :) The idea was to sleep in this morning and wake up refreshed and back on schedule but of course my body decided to get up at 4am! I lay around for a couple hours and then decided to get up and take on the day. Luckily I had taken today off of work in order to readjust to the time change. After a hearty scrambled egg & provelone on rosemary foccaccia sandwich and two cups of coffee (thank you Borealis Breads for opening early on a morning when I had nothing in my fridge!) I decided to begin my post-vacation detoxification process. Off to World's I went around 8:30am where I purchased a Celcius and a 1-month spinning membership (the coffee was just not going to cut it today).

Spin class was to begin at 9:30 so I had plenty of time to get in a good weights sesh beforehand. My plan is to hit the cardio hard this month to erase the effect that Summertime Coronas, my cut-back on cardio, and the London/Greece-vacation baklava, souvlaki, and wine indulgence has had on my body! According to the scale I only gained 1 pound while on vacay but I think its deceiving...probably more like I lost 4 pounds of muscle and gained back 5 pounds of fat! We did walk about a million miles a day though so I guess that somewhat made up for my lack of gym sessions. Hey, its not totally my fault...I only saw one gym the entire time I was away! Apparently Europeans are not as into the fitness craze as Americans are.

Anyway, I decided to target bi's, tri's and abs today. The gym was nice and empty just like on the weekend so I had no problem getting the equipment I wanted...sure wish I could work out at that time everyday! After a good 10-minute total body stretch, I started off with simple bicep curls (3x8) standing on the bosu ball. Next I did my favourite tricep bench dips with my feet on a stability ball and a 25 lb plate on my quads (3x10) and followed these up with teepees (3x8), balancing on the ball in between sets. Next I circled back through the muscle groups beginning with tricep cable push downs (3x8), bicep cable curls (3x8), and the air crunches where you put your knees over the rollers on the lat pull down machine and crunch backward (3x16). I was thoroughly exhausted 45 minutes later but I psyched myself up to take on the 60 minute spin class. Unexpectedly it was my favourite Saturday morning instructor teaching this morning so I was able to push through due to the amazing-as-usual song list! I thought I was going to either pass out or puke half-way through but then that feeling of exercise-elation came over me and I was able to finish without making a scene lol.

Leaving the gym in a heap of soaked and sticky workout gear, I stopped by the grocery store to stock up on healthy food for the remainder of the week. Lunches this week are Greece-inspired whole wheat pitas with tzatziki, cucumbers, feta and capers. Delicious and only 185 calories each! I'm seriously exhausted right now so I think its nap time. Hope I don't fall asleep for too long since my body thinks its now 9:30pm. Tomorrow's workout will likely be a shoulder routine followed by another spin class...assuming my legs aren't complete jell-o after today!

Meathead Mondays

I'm sure you can venture a guess as to why I've titled this post "Meathead Mondays". I'm not necessarily complaining about the crowd in World's tonight though, in fact I made it through my entire workout without being bothered once which was a pleasant surprise! I'm on a serious vacation countdown this week so I'm pushing myself to the max, making sure I hit every muscle group, getting in some sweaty cardio, and eating 100% clean before its time to strip down and get in bikini mode! Not that I haven't been in bikini mode all Summer long but I'll be vacationing with friends I haven't seen in ages so I must be up to par!

Oh my, laughing out loud right now as I just Googled "Meathead" and found the #1 Urban Dictionary definition to be "An enormously muscular guy who cannot hold a conversation about anything other than weight-lifting and protein shakes. Gets upset very quickly when he cannot complete his own sentences and thoughts. Can be found at nightclubs wearing shirts that are 10 sizes too small (if at all). They are by far the most closely related human beings to that of apes, chimpanzees, and other primate. They are evolutionarily hindered and are less capable of following directions than my dead hampster." Add "Typically has a wide, beady-eyed stare, gets too close for comfort when they approach, and are often covered in random and meaningless tattoos" too the definition and I think you've got it nailed! 

Today I did a lower body weight workout focusing on what I'll call the "bikini zone"...glutes and abs! Let's face it, no one wants a muffin top hanging over the top of their bikini bottoms, or sagging cheeks falling out of the leg holes! First up was walking lunges with medicine ball side twists. These are always killer so I decided to get the hardest thing out of the way first. I counted 38 lunges on my second and final set so I'm guessing I usually average between 35-40 depending on how long my strides are. 76 lunges isn't too shabby! Next up were plie squats with a barbell on my shoulders (3 sets of 8), doing one regular set and then one set each with my right and then left heel lifted just to change it up a bit. Next I worked in abs by doing 4 sets of standing leg lifts, 2 sets forward and 2 sets side-to-side. Note to World's Gym #1: that weird chain-link contraption you have in place of one of the hanging leg lift loops is not an acceptable alternative to replacing those nasty, sweaty, smelly loops! For my last lower body workout I did the bent-over glute press, 2 sets of straight leg press and 2 sets of bent leg press each leg (8 sets total). Finally, I finished up my routine with 3 sets of 8 teepees, doing some kneeling balance work in between sets. WG note #2: Please fill-up your stability balls. The only thing Planet Fitness has on World's is that their balls are always properly inflated!

Random side-note: I've decided that I have such a distaste for Planet Fitness that I automatically find everyone in there unattractive. Long story short, major stud in World's tonight that I've totally seen in Planet before and never given a second thought to. Hmmm I think I may need to make a visit to Planet sometime soon to reacquaint myself with the scenery haha! :P

Second random side-note: All photo and video edits on the App are fini! Initial launch is looking like mid-September. Cannot wait to get the sample on my iPhone so I can start to test it out myself and then get to promoting!

Okay, back to today's workout now. After my weights and abs routine I stretched out a bit on the mats and then came home to take my puppy for a walk. What gorgeous weather we are having; warm and sunny with no humidity. Could not be more perfect! Well, I think its time for me to make dinner. For some reason I'm craving steak tonight.

"Functional" Training

Thought I would start the weekend off right with an early morning yoga class followed by a run. Being another rainy yucky day it would have been a perfect day to get back into spinning but I booked myself a beauty treatment at 9:45 am so my favourite 9-10 class was out of the question. Anyway, I showed up to class a few minutes before 8 and the instructor (a middle-aged woman I'd never seen before) told me that this was not the yoga class I was likely expecting but rather a combo pilates-functional training class. Well, I figured pilates was close enough to yoga that I'd give it a shot. The functional training part though made me a little skeptical. I asked her what that meant and she said; "oh, its a lot of great core work using the ball and free weights".

"High-reps?" I questioned back to her. She looked at me a little confusedly so I clarified by telling her that I'd need to know how many reps our sets would be so I know which size weights to choose.
"Ahh, you are a smart thinker!" she goes. "We'll be doing about 12 reps per set so pick something that makes you struggle by the twelfth rep." The fact that this seemed to be an unusual discussion for her didn't make me feel too good about the skill level of the attendees but I convinced myself to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Let me just remind you all that I used to be an avid group fitness class attendee. I did a variety of classes pretty much every day and even got certified to instruct classes myself before I realized I wasn't getting the results I wanted anymore and needed to pursue other forms of training. Oh, and teaching is just plain old not fun and stressful! But that's another story... anyway, the class began on time and we began with a series of standing side-bends holding weights straight above our heads. After about 20 reps (yes, I said 20 not 12 like she had formerly indicated), we switch sides and I start to get annoyed. Having done classes for so long I am extremely picky when it comes to teaching techniques. First of all, the background music was some random instrumental number, slightly African sounding, but with no actual beat to coordinate your moves to and not remotely motivating. Secondly, she wasn't counting reps at all. I like structure in my classes. I want to know exactly what's expected so I can exert myself accordingly. I don't want to have to take random breaks because we've already done 30 of the same move and I have no idea whether we'll be done in 2 more or if there's 30 more to go! Lastly, she wasn't actually doing the work herself. Now, I know this is common for some instructors but quite frankly if the instructor isn't working just as hard as I am then I am less inclined to listen to them telling me what to do! After our first move was done with (which by the way I felt nothing from!) I looked around wondering if this was just a warm-up or a sample of what the next hour would be like. Perhaps I accidentally walked into a senior's fitness class? Maybe I should just walk out now before I'm really stuck? Hoping it would get better, I decided to stay. Wrong decision. The next hour was basically a variety of different moves with a primary focus on core work. Kind of like a circuit but staying in one place. I know this doesn't sound bad but the problem was that you could basically do the entire class in your sleep. Yes, there were times that I felt tired and in need of a break or drink but this was all because of the ridiculous amount of reps we were doing per set rather than doing anything with the slightest amount of difficulty. All in all a waste of a precious weekend hour! Then suddenly at the end of class she turned the lights off and had us all get into seated crossed-legs prayer position with our eyes closed on our mats. Ummm hello lady, are you now confusing this with yoga class? Urghhh I am here to workout not to take a nap!

Gathering my things quickly I bolted out of class precisely at 9 and headed to a treadmill to crank out a quick mile run and finally break a sweat which the class had not succeeded in doing. My run was actually quite good and the random selection of music that came off my shuffled iTunes music selection was quite good. Nothing like a good Metallica song to get the legs moving!

Off I went to my appointment at about 25 past the hour feeling much better about my workout. I suppose it can't hurt to try something new, especially since I do pay for unlimited classes anyway, but I'm not quite sure what was so functional about that class. I think I'll feel more of a burn in a few minutes when I head outside to wash my car. Now that's a functional workout!

Etiquette Rules

Well, yesterday was the last of my tennis lessons so today began my official kick-off of getting back into running. I feel like the past few weeks have been so busy for me that my workouts have seriously suffered. Not to mention the fact that when it's hot out I cut waaay back on the cardio. I mean, I'm already sweating, why make it worse?! All the health and fitness magazines out there would lead one to believe that people are at their fittest in the Summer months but I swear, Winter is by far my best time of the year physique-wise. I'd much rather be spending my time in the nice even-temperature gym than outside in the sub-zero ice and snow! Anyway, tonight I did a short 1-mile run on the treadmill followed by a standard bi's/tri's/abs routine at World's. While it was only a short run, I definitely had to push to run through the pain starting to develop in my knee. Therefore, I'm going to keep at the short distances 1-2 times per week until I have no knee/shin/ankle issues and then gradually work my way back up to my 5-k goal.  Add back-in a spin or yoga class here and there and I'll be feeling back to normal in no time!

Instead of the usual listing out of my daily workout routine, I thought I'd focus on a topic you all likely have something to say about, gym etiquette! What made me think of this topic today was first the guy that decided it was acceptable to stand right directly in front of me to do his bicep curls when it was obvious that I was staring into the mirror to help keep my balance on the bosu ball. Now, I understand that people make mistakes but typically when one realizes they are in someone's way they move out of it. It's simple gym-goer courtesy! However, I stared the guy down and he didn't flinch. Not even when I quite obviously dragged the bosu a couple of feet to the right and then looked back at him to see if he'd noticed! Urghhh Some people! Then I suddenly felt the urge to hurl my last meal as I noticed that the extremely repulsive overly-tatted-beady-eyed-meat-head I am always trying to avoid was looking up waiting to make eye contact, apparently the move he deems to be invitation to come harass the hell out of me. I'm guessing he thinks that is flirting. Hellooooo mister, when I roll my eyes and scowl at your for the ten millionth time, then will you realize I am actually trying to workout and am not interested in making small talk with you?! Anyway, at this very moment I decided that a blog on gym etiquette was in great need. 

I would be writing all night long if I wanted to capture all of my gym etiquette pet-peeves so I've narrowed down the list to what I consider to be the worst offenders. There are a few rules that are common knowledge and should present no surprise to you if you've spent any amount of time in a gym. These are as follows:

1. If you sweat on equipment, wipe it down before the next person has to use it. No, this doesn't mean do a quick pat with a dirty cloth you've used on all the machines you used prior. It means walk the three freaking feet to the towel holder, rip off a clean piece, spray it with sanitizer, and wipe your grimy mess off the machine! No one wants to sit in a pool of your ass sweat. 

2. For those of you circuit-lovers, either start working out at slow times of the day when most equipment is available or workout with a few other circuit-lovers so that you don't leave equipment unused and expect everyone else in the gym to automatically know its reserved for 15 freaking minutes later when your circuit gets back to that station! Sorry guys, open equipment is fare game!

3. Using the gym as your opportunity to show everyone how cool you are by talking on the phone the whole time loud enough so everyone within a 3-mile vicinity can hear you. No, you are not cool. No one cares (or thinks) that you have so many friends, important work arrangements, personal appointments that you have to be on your phone in the weight room! If you really must multi-task then I suppose I could forgive you for talking while on the treadmill or elliptical since then you wouldn't be in anyone's way. However, holding up a machine or bench so you can chat about that girl you hooked up with last Friday night when others are standing by waiting to use that same equipment is just plain rude! And un-atractive to boot!

The next gym faux-pas are perhaps not items that first come to mind but when they happen they can really irk you! These are the following:

1. Using the weight stand as your personal support. i.e. standing over it, blocking free weights from other's grasp, while doing your curls, rows, etc. This crime goes hand-in-hand with standing directly in front of the weight stand for your workout. Hello people, some of us may want to get at the weights you are covering up without having to reach right through you!

2. Surrounding yourself with all the weights needed for your entire workout, leaving the weight stand rather empty for the rest of the the gym goers. You only have two hands. You can only use one set of weights at a time. I.e. finish your sets with one size, put them back for someone else to use, then pick up the next size for your next exercise. Sadly, I've seen more girls do this than guys! 

3. Not putting the weights back where they belong. I don't care if when you picked up the 15 lb dumbbells they were already sitting in the 25-lb. slots. That does not mean that you should put them back there. Stop being lazy and put them where they belong. The person after you will be very appreciative that they did not spend 20 minutes trying to track down the 15-lbers. Additionally, the gym staff will not have to waste their personal time at the end of the night putting everything back where it belongs. 

Alas, I'm sure there are many more gym etiquette rules being broken in gyms across the globe at this very moment but I think this at least covers the basics. I propose the institution of gym police. Commit a certain amount of gym etiquette crimes in a certain period and you're out! Do you have a gym pet-peeve that you just must vent about? If so, please share below!