Happy Monday Gym Rats! The BEST time to start a new diet or workout plan is always NOW. Maybe you are feeling guilty for over-indulging this past weekend or skipping the gym because the warm weather is FINALLY here. Well, my advice is to not let yourself dwell on your past mistakes – you can’t change what is already done – but you can push forward in a better direction. That’s what I’m trying to remind myself this morning as I sit here thinking about some minor setbacks I experienced over the weekend and what I can do to offset them in the coming week.
On Saturday I arrived at the gym nice and early to embark on my scheduled run and “madness” workout. Well, three minutes into my run I felt something snap in my left quad and the damn thing was not taking any impact after that! In pain, I immediately got off and limped over to the stretching area where I rolled it out for a few minutes until the pain subsided. It’s odd since a) I hadn’t done a run in a while so it’s not like it’s been over-worked lately and b) I did my usual quad-stretching and walking warm-up before embarking on my run. Anyway, I guess it’s my body’s way of telling me I’ve been slacking on the stretching and need to get better about taking care of the muscles I spend so much time ripping-up! I proceeded to finish my cardio session with some light elliptical work as it didn’t seem to bother me any and then went on to complete my weight workout, eliminating all lower body exercises from the plan. All-in-all it was a reasonably good workout, just not the insanity I had planned.
Then on Sunday I woke up contemplating the idea of going to the 11:15 am yoga-lates class but opted for a last-minute fishing trip with my Dad instead. It was so nice out and I’m not quite sure what “yoga-lates” is (maybe a combination of yoga & pilates??) but I get very frustrated when I show up to a class that ends up sucking so it honestly wasn’t worth the chance to me when I had better options. My quad was still bothering me so I decided to skip a weight workout for the day and instead give my puppy some extra exercise which he’s been in dire need of. I think we walked nearly two hours yesterday (broken up into 3 separate walks) so at least one of us was a happy camper. Plus, I did get to dine on a delicious fresh brown trout for dinner!
That brings me to my next topic and primary reason for writing this blog entry; portion control. As each day goes on post-show I feel the need more and more to jump back on a show-prepping diet as I feel like my portion sizes are increasingly out of control. According to my weekly weight-in Saturday morning, I only gained 1 lb post-SOA. However, my bloated abs tell a different story. I also went out to eat Saturday night and while the Salmon dinner wasn’t exactly my worst menu option, the bread basket and glass of wine probably didn’t help matters. Plus, this exceeded my rule of one cheat meal / alcoholic beverage per week since I had already dined out 4 days prior. In general I’m still measuring and tracking my meals and eating clean but I think it’s time to set some stricter guidelines before I blow up like a hippopotamus.
Anyway, this is why I say that the best time to change is the present time. Forget what happened yesterday or last week and move on. So far so good today – I’m striving to keep my carbs sub-200 grams per day this week and we’ll see how I feel come next weekend. My quad is feeling much better today but I think I’m still going to give it one more day of rest and do some light elliptical again tonight, followed by a back and chest workout and then some serious foam-rolling! I hope all of you gym rats got in some good fitness activities and stayed on track with your goals this weekend. Feel free to share below how you plan to stay motivated as the weather gets warmer, the gym becomes less appealing, and the idea of a margarita on a patio is seriously calling your name! ‘Til next time gym rats, happy gymming!
No comments:
Post a Comment