Sunday, June 23, 2013

4 Weeks to Shred

Happy Sunday everyone! I'm now 4 weeks out from my next show and making some big changes to my program in order to ensure I come in lean and chiseled on the OCB stage. My workouts over the past week were unfortunately sub-par as my lovely summer cold felt the need to linger all week long! Under normal non-prepping circumstances I would have taken a few days off from the gym and loaded myself up with chicken soup and ice cream to both help me breathe and sooth my throat but there was no way I was going to let this obstacle derail my progress. Thus, I stuck to my diet while cutting back on my cardio so as not to completely destroy what little energy I had and did only light-ish weight workouts all week. This seems to have worked as now 9 days later I'm feeling 90% back to normal and no longer feel the need to down cold medicine every 3 hours. Phew! Moving on...

I awoke this morning and started my Sunday with a solid breakfast, a dog walk, and then hit the gym for 30 mins of HIIT on the elliptical. No weights for me today as I am scheduled for a 3 hour maXtreme shoot this afternoon which I'm praying doesn't get cancelled due to the mid-morning rainstorm that decided to settle in on Portland. Tomorrow I will start the work week out with the 4th of my MMA classes (which I did end up having to skip last week) and some additional cardio. Then, the rest of the week will be wrapping-up the last of my June workout plan and then time to re-design for July! For July I'm going to decrease from 6 to 5 days per week of weight training and increase from 3 to 4 days of cardio. The Stair Master will again be my pre-show best friend!

Today begins my next and probably last diet cut prior to peak week. Carbs are being reduced from 6 to 4 servings per day, fats from 3 to 2 servings, and veggies from 4 to 3 servings. I'm keeping protein nice and high at 6 servings and fruits at 4 servings. Last time around I dropped fruit down at this time but like I said before, it's Summer and being limited to only 1 cup of fresh delicious fruit per day is beyond depressing and I feel that at this point it's the little things like that keeping me going so I don't want to push my motivational button. I'm also starting this week with another mini version of peak week where I am cutting my carbs down to only 2 servings for the first 3-4 days (depending on how bad low-carb brain gets) in an effort to re-charge my metabolism and hopefully see some extra definition appear this coming weekend. This cycling seems to have worked in the past so I'm praying that by doing it now, my stage physique will look better than in both of my April shows. We'll see though, it's all just a game!

Speaking of motivation I am seriously lacking motivation for this show. I mean, I'm going through all the motions, sticking to my diet and not cheating in any manner but I'm just not mentally focused the way I was before. To be honest I think doing a summer show was a bad idea as I really just want a break. Is a massive bowl of fruit salad and a margarita really so much for a girl to ask for? My plans for the rest of the year are up in the air (which I will explain IF some behind-the-scenes things I am working on actually pan out) so I guess I just felt like I had to do a summer show because I wanted to do at least one more this year and have no idea if I will be around this fall to do another one. Anyway, I need to snap myself out of this slump because I know the next 4 weeks will go by fast and I'll be happy I committed once it's over. If I am around this fall, I have no idea if I'll do another show or just take the rest of the year off to build. It's way too early to predict that far ahead!

Anyway, it looks like the rain has subsided for now so I better go get packed, prepped and beautified for 3 hours of filming. What are some ways you keep yourself motivated when you really just want a break? I'd love to hear your ideas! Have a happy and active Sunday Funday, gym rats! 

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