Happy official new year everyone! Wow, I have been really slacking on the blog posts lately. I guess it's just all this "simple living" I've been doing that hasn't given me much blog material (jk). Today just happens to be the first afternoon I've had in a while where I don't have anything else pressing on my list of "to-do's" so I figured it was a good time to give everyone an update. Plus, I feel kind of under the weather so sitting here on the couch relaxing is about all I am up for at the moment. I feel like my body is battling a cold because I've been extremely exhausted for the past couple of days. I decided to not set my alarm this morning and just let my body sleep for as long as it wanted. When I finally rolled out of bed at 7:30 it was bright and sunny in my bedroom, a nice change from the bitter miserable grey tundra we've been experiencing for the past couple of weeks. However, my good mood rapidly diminished when I realized that my dumb-ass dog was throwing up little piles of tin foil all over my bedroom carpet. I guess he was pissed at me for not getting up at our usual hour so he decided to dig into the kitchen trash and eat the chicken-grease covered foil from last night's weekly mass chicken bake. Urghhhh my goal to live more peacefully is really struggling right now!
After cleaning up that mess (and then a couple more he decided to do once we got downstairs), I whipped-up a yummy egg sandwich and coffee and headed off to the gym. It was too late to make it to yoga so I decided to do Monday's shoulder and core routine instead and then tomorrow I'll just do the cardio I was planning for today. Despite feeling shitty I actually had a great lift this morning. This was the breakdown:
-Started off with 15 mins on the elliptical to warm-up
-BB upright row to press
-Bentover DB delt raises
-Standing DB lateral raises
-Rope cable crunches
-BB front raises
-DB seated arnold press
-Stability ball weighted leg raises
I was thoroughly burned-out by the time I was finished. Sometimes I think I actually work harder when I don't feel well though because I am trying so hard to offset fatigue! Oh well, whatever the case was, my workout was definitely a success! I was also ravenous again so I whipped-up my chocolate whey shake on my way out and inhaled my favourite white chocolate raspberry Quest bar on my way to pick up groceries. Nothing but clean and predictable grocery items from here on out as today begins day 1 of my Springtime lean-down! Yup, that's right, my month of track-less dieting is finally done and I am not only back to using myfitnesspal but also back on a structured competition-focused diet plan. I'm not saying I'm going to do a show this spring for sure but I am going to be dialing things down here so I can a) look hot and shredded for Summer and b) see where I'm at muscle-wise and then decide whether I am ready for another show or not. I have definitely put on some size but just how much is muscle and how much is fat is hard for me to tell right now. I know that my protein and fats have been higher over the past month so now that I am cutting both of those back slightly we'll see how much damage/progress I have really done. Not tracking my diet for a month was stress-reducing for the first couple of weeks but then actually seemed to cause me more stress for the last couple of weeks as I knew I was taking in a substantial amount of added calories and started to feel fat, bloated, and lacking control.
Today I am up 10 pounds over my leanest show weight. It's such a weird feeling for me because on the one hand I know my goal is to put on weight (via muscle) but prior to becoming a bodybuilder I never really saw much fluctuation in my weight year-round. I just maintained relative leanness and ate pretty much what I wanted since I've never been one for binging on unhealthy foods anyway. Basically I was at a plateau for many years but it didn't matter to me as long as I could still wear my size zero jeans! It's really hard to change your way of thinking after so many years in your comfort zone but I'm getting there. My hope is that my leanest this year will be higher on the scale due to added muscle. For the next month I am going to continue to allow one un-clean cheat meal per week, one alcoholic beverage per week, and one clean cheat meal. An un-clean cheat being something like pizza or pad thai while a clean cheat being something I would normally eat just higher in carbs like sushi for example. Then after the first four weeks are over I will reassess my progress and decide whether I need to discontinue the un-clean cheat and alcohol or not as well as increase cardio days which are currently at only 2.
I'm still experiencing shin pain, predominantly in my left shin, when I do too much cardio. I know this is probably my own fault for not just taking a complete break from all lower body work last year when it began but it's too late now. I'll just continue to focus on low-impact cardio for my longer sessions and try to keep leg days as spread apart as possible. If cardio days need to eventually be increased for the sake of leaning out before a show then I'll just have to cut back diet-wise instead. Not ideal but doable.
Anyway, a nap is really calling my name right now so I'm out. How are you doing sticking to your 2014 goals so far? Here's to waking up tomorrow without a cold, having a peaceful stress-free week at work (bahahaha I crack myself up!) and enjoying the next 5 days of kick-ass workouts! Happy gymming!
After cleaning up that mess (and then a couple more he decided to do once we got downstairs), I whipped-up a yummy egg sandwich and coffee and headed off to the gym. It was too late to make it to yoga so I decided to do Monday's shoulder and core routine instead and then tomorrow I'll just do the cardio I was planning for today. Despite feeling shitty I actually had a great lift this morning. This was the breakdown:
-Started off with 15 mins on the elliptical to warm-up
-BB upright row to press
-Bentover DB delt raises
-Standing DB lateral raises
-Rope cable crunches
-BB front raises
-DB seated arnold press
-Stability ball weighted leg raises
I was thoroughly burned-out by the time I was finished. Sometimes I think I actually work harder when I don't feel well though because I am trying so hard to offset fatigue! Oh well, whatever the case was, my workout was definitely a success! I was also ravenous again so I whipped-up my chocolate whey shake on my way out and inhaled my favourite white chocolate raspberry Quest bar on my way to pick up groceries. Nothing but clean and predictable grocery items from here on out as today begins day 1 of my Springtime lean-down! Yup, that's right, my month of track-less dieting is finally done and I am not only back to using myfitnesspal but also back on a structured competition-focused diet plan. I'm not saying I'm going to do a show this spring for sure but I am going to be dialing things down here so I can a) look hot and shredded for Summer and b) see where I'm at muscle-wise and then decide whether I am ready for another show or not. I have definitely put on some size but just how much is muscle and how much is fat is hard for me to tell right now. I know that my protein and fats have been higher over the past month so now that I am cutting both of those back slightly we'll see how much damage/progress I have really done. Not tracking my diet for a month was stress-reducing for the first couple of weeks but then actually seemed to cause me more stress for the last couple of weeks as I knew I was taking in a substantial amount of added calories and started to feel fat, bloated, and lacking control.
Today I am up 10 pounds over my leanest show weight. It's such a weird feeling for me because on the one hand I know my goal is to put on weight (via muscle) but prior to becoming a bodybuilder I never really saw much fluctuation in my weight year-round. I just maintained relative leanness and ate pretty much what I wanted since I've never been one for binging on unhealthy foods anyway. Basically I was at a plateau for many years but it didn't matter to me as long as I could still wear my size zero jeans! It's really hard to change your way of thinking after so many years in your comfort zone but I'm getting there. My hope is that my leanest this year will be higher on the scale due to added muscle. For the next month I am going to continue to allow one un-clean cheat meal per week, one alcoholic beverage per week, and one clean cheat meal. An un-clean cheat being something like pizza or pad thai while a clean cheat being something I would normally eat just higher in carbs like sushi for example. Then after the first four weeks are over I will reassess my progress and decide whether I need to discontinue the un-clean cheat and alcohol or not as well as increase cardio days which are currently at only 2.
I'm still experiencing shin pain, predominantly in my left shin, when I do too much cardio. I know this is probably my own fault for not just taking a complete break from all lower body work last year when it began but it's too late now. I'll just continue to focus on low-impact cardio for my longer sessions and try to keep leg days as spread apart as possible. If cardio days need to eventually be increased for the sake of leaning out before a show then I'll just have to cut back diet-wise instead. Not ideal but doable.
Anyway, a nap is really calling my name right now so I'm out. How are you doing sticking to your 2014 goals so far? Here's to waking up tomorrow without a cold, having a peaceful stress-free week at work (bahahaha I crack myself up!) and enjoying the next 5 days of kick-ass workouts! Happy gymming!
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