Monday Motivation

Good Morning Gym Rats! I hope all of you are off to a good start to your week by now. It’s a beautiful sunny day here in Portland, a little chillier than I would like, but I can’t complain seeing as I’m stuck here in the office all day anyway. It was a busy weekend for me and I think the stress of having a few too many items on my plate is starting to get to me as I’m battling a sore throat this morning. I always do this to myself, building lists upon lists of things to get done to the point where I become overwhelmed and give myself heart palpitations! Truthfully, not much of these tasks actually have to be done, at least not immediately, so I really stress myself out over nothing. Bring on the Airborne and green tea today (presently enjoying Yogi’s Green Tea Blueberry Slim Life)! I refuse to let a little unnecessary bug ruin my workout plants for the week.

Speaking of workouts, I spent some time on Saturday planning-out my workouts for the next four weeks as well as writing-out a schedule for when to make diet cuts assuming I do a show this summer. I’m still not committing (openly) to a summer show but there is one I am considering on July 20^th, the OCB Yankee Classic (another pro-qualifier). Since I’m already eating clean and in a good spot physique-wise, I am going to start cutting-back on May 20^th since that will be exactly 8 weeks out. I don’t want to peak too early like I did last time so I think the standard 12-week prep would be too much. As far as my workouts go, I wrote-out a weight training plan for 6 days/week with a strong focus on glutes since that is my #1 area to target. For now, I will keep cardio at 3 days/week in only 20 minutes segments and then ramp it up as necessary on May 20^th and then again four weeks later. Here is the new weight-training split for the next month:

Monday: Hamstrings, Quads, Glutes

Tuesday: Shoulders
Wednesday: Glutes

Thursday: Biceps & Triceps

Friday: Core

Saturday: Back & Chest

Sunday: Cardio only or a make-up day if I was unable to complete one of the prior days’ workouts

I have a couple random exercises, mostly additional core work, sprinkled among different days but that is the basic plan that I’ll stick to. It’s nice to plan it out myself as opposed to using the CSF plans since now I won’t have to modify anything to suit my needs. Customized workout plans are by far the best way to get a plan that a) you will enjoy, b) you will stick to and c) will work for your desired results….another reason you should sign-up for your own at www.fitfiercefun.com or at least share my website with anyone you know who may be interested J

On Saturday I also met with the maXtreme creator for a fitting for the next maXtreme app photo shoot that will be sometime in the next couple of months. There will be two new apps coming out, one concentrating on the business traveller looking for workouts to do when no gym is available, and the other focusing on kettle-bell routines. This time around we get to keep the clothing to wear to workout and use as free advertising – it’s a win-win for us all!

Well, I should at least pretend to do some work here for a bit. I’m giving it about 15 minutes before I’m ready to poke my eyes out with my pen. T- 7 hours ‘til I can skedaddle! I hope you all had a good weekend, didn’t drink too many Cinco de Mayo margaritas, and are ready to kick some serious fitness ass today! In case your thoughts are teetering back-and-forth on whether to hit-up the gym today, here’s a little kick-in-the-ass to help you decide. We’ll call it your Monday Motivation J