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!
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!
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