Happy Sunday Funday, Gym Rats! I was on a roll there for a while with the blog posts but it seems I have been slacking lately so I figured now that I have a free afternoon I would take a few minutes to write an update. I'm now one month into my of-season and I feel great! The return to a normal diet has done wonders for my general mood and energy level. I'm even going on 8 days now of not taking any pre-workout yet still feeling like I'm killing it every workout! My coffee consumption is still ridiculously high but hey, coffee makes me happy and I think gravitating toward that third (okay maybe fourth) cup mid-afternoon is more of a comfort/habit thing than a true need. Plus, it's only on the weekdays when I'm sitting freezing my ass off at my desk that I drink so much. Otherwise, I'm good with just my morning wake-me-up-cup :)
This is the last week of my October lifting plan. Starting next Sunday I will begin my November plan which I got from the Jay Cutler "Road to Olympia" pamphlet that came in the goodie back for the Maine Event. It's supposedly what his lifting plan was to prepare for the Olympia this year. I figured it can't hurt to give a new split a shot and there are a few exercises on it that I don't normally do so maybe I'll see / feel some new gains from it. There's a lot of delt work and that is definitely an area of need for me so I'm excited for that. The only real difference in structure from what I usually do is that it breaks up back and chest on separate days. Thus, I only have 1 scheduled cardio day per week. I may cut back on the chest day though, depending on how long it takes, and add back in a second day of cardio. The first week of the month is always a test week for each new training plan. Having a rest day each week, despite driving me crazy with boredom, has seemed to be very beneficial for my body so I am going to continue that this month but move them to Saturdays instead of Fridays mostly because I really like the Friday afternoon crowd at World's (fewer douches) and I just started a PT job on Saturday mornings which means that I'd have to work out in the afternoon and I'd prefer not to if I don't have to. The new job does happen to come with a free gym membership though at a place with tons of classes, 2 pools, a cardio room, and 2 weight rooms so maybe I'll hit that up instead. Who knows, maybe I'll find a new stud who I haven't crossed paths with yet in this small town ;)
Anyway, today has definitely been a Sunday Funday. At least in my Gym Rat focused mind that is! I awoke bright and early as usual and met up with someone at my fav local breakfast spot for some delightful pre-workout pancakes, eggs and coffee! Okay, maybe not the healthiest breakfast option (I ordered a giant cinnamon roll pancake with cream cheese frosting - H.E.A.V.E.N.L.Y!) but I'm pretty confident I blasted away all the sugar in my workout(s) today. After that I headed over to World's where I embarked on my leg routine. The combination of sugar and multiple coffee refills energized me to the max and I had one of my best leg sessions yet. I get so giddy when I'm able to go heavier or my traditional exercises. I'm almost up to my body weight on sets of 15 cable deadlifts, yay!!! Haha anyway, it took me about 75 minutes to get through my workout and then I headed off to get my groceries for the week. Around 11:00 am I came home and Mugsy was pacing around driving me nuts and clearly needing to be walked again so I had a friend meet us and we walked the back cove walking path. I haven't walked the cove in FOREVER because Mugsy is so naughty that he tries to eat all the other doggies (literally not joking) and disobeys my every command. I never claimed to be a good dog trainer but I do have to say that Boxers are one fiesty breed! Like Doggie like Mommy I guess LOL ;) My friend however has a lot of experience training bully breeds so she knew just what to do with him and I didn't have to use the shock collar on him once. Instead, we used his choke collar which seemed to work just as effectively. Okay, maybe a little better when she walked him than when I did but hey, it was progress! After that it was lunch time and I made myself a delicious spinach salad with chicken, avocado, cukes, carrots, and strawberries with a honey balsamic vinaigrette (yum!) and then finally had a much needed shower.
That's really all I did today other than some boring weekend house chores and now writing this blog. I already can't wait to get after bi's and tri's tomorrow night! I'm not sure if I've made any real gains just yet. I feel a million times stronger and have gotten a couple good compliments lately in the gym but it's always hard to tell if they are sincere or just flirtatious and then there's always the fact that I probably do look a bit "bigger" since there's now a few pounds of extra water and fat surrounding my muscles that wasn't there a month ago LOL. Anyway, I feel good so that's all that matters. And I haven't put on so much that I don't feel comfortable in just a sports bra yet...that's when you know I'm really having a "fat day" LOL. My weight has been steady the past couple of weeks so hopefully from here on out any additional poundage is all muscle! Anyway, it's time to switch-over my laundry now so off I go. I'm going to upload a delicious recipe I made last weekend for turkey chili to the recipes tab in a bit so be sure to check back for that and if you have a minute, let us know what you did on your Sunday Funday. 'Til next time, happy gymming!
