Okay just had a kick-ass workout and you talk about vascular... Holy crap I looked freaky. I think it is tied to the carbs. I have been averaging 150g a day instead of 170g from last week and I feel like I have less energy but the 2lbs are gone (at least as of this morning) and my cuts look really good. I am thinking that is the secret of the low carb thing. It takes out water from the body and makes the skin stickier to the muscles. That is why they call it "dry" when a bber goes into a deep cut and why low carbs are needed for this.
Well, I ain't gonna do it for too much longer 'cause I do have a longish bike ride planned this weekend with a friend. Now that I know (or think I know) how to take it off and put it on I can eaily keep it on and keep up the power.
Tonight's workout kicked my ass royally. I felt like I wanted to quit the whole while but I pulled out a PR instead. :P
Shoulders, Pecs, bis
Warmup SuperSet
db alternate lateral raises (front and side) 3x10 (each)
db flat bench flye 3x15 (30lb) e
Working superset #1
Arnolds (db)
1x10 (15) e
2x8 (20)e
Close grip bench push ups
3x15 (bw)
Working superset #2
db x-over curls
1x15 (15)e
2x8 (20)e
twenty ones
1x40lb
failed second attempt at 40
2x20lb
1/2 push ups (finisher)
4 (bw)
2.5 (bw) failed both these sets on the 3rd one. I needed a spotter today.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention. Rests were over 1 min and sometimes over 2 min. I simply could not get the workout done quickly. Tom showed up and we did IM for awhile in between working out. That made rest times more fun!!! I don't work out at home nearly enough.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
LOL!!! Yeah, I started in pretty much as soon as 5:30 hit here and I could pull away from work. You came on my screen just at the point where I failed my Arnold set. I was pissed and you made me smile so it was good timing. I hate failing.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
This morning it was hammies and abs! Another at home workout. I love working out in my living room. I really trash it with all the equipment though. LOL!
Yesterday I was able to snag some more dumbells from Craigslist from a home right on my way to work. I got 260lbs of weight for 60 bucks!!! I did not even try to negotiate with the guy. This completes my home set for as long as I can lift. What is cool is that I now have size 3, 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 all in fixed weights. I mostly use these weight sizes right now anyway. For anything above that I now have collars, plates and dumbell handles now. I have 4 pairs of handles and lots of plates so I set one up for 40lb and one up for 22.5lb. Craigslist rules!
Of course now I have to keep my eye open for a rack as I can no longer line these up nicely on my mantel. There were a bunch of db racks on CL a few weeks ago so keeping my fingers crossed. Right now I have less than 380 dollars into my home setup including, dbs, oly bar, oly plates, squat rack and bench, mats and swiss ball (Goodwill rocks too) I have also discovered that workout clothing, bike pants, etc can be found at Goodwill virtually unused. I love the good intentions of all these buyers! LOL!
Oh yeah the workout today done in the AM (which is really weird for me) I have a concert to perform this evening so wanted to get the physical stuff out of the way so I can play and nap until it is time to get on stage. I managed to eeek out 3 deads at 185lb which is actually amazing with my deficit and my 121lb weight this morning. My form was just not good enough though so I quit at 3. I can't wait to start a bulk again to see where my top end is now on these.
Warmup
Jump rope (200 succesful rotations)
Alt toe touches
Deads
1x15 (95lb)
1x10 (135lb)
1x3 (185lb) - Form sucked so I quit before finishing set
1x8 (155lb)
Ab Superset (3x15)
Russian Twists (+20lb)
V-ups
Swiss ham curl
1x15
1x10 (fail)
1x13 (fail)
Swiss crunches
3x15 (+25lb)
Pile Lunges
1x15 each leg
The last exercise I did as it claims to work the inside hammie. I found it worked more the quads so I stopped after 1 set. I have a date with a 40 mile cross country bike trail tomorrow and do not want to start that with sore quads!
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
The cut is going AWESOME... I am still gaining weight and losing bf%. I don't know how I am doing it but going to keep on doing what I am doing. LOL!
Great bike ride today. Nearly 40 miles on mixed terrain. I figured out today why it is that I will never be a good off-road rider. You simply cannot control the bike on rough ground. You basically just point the tire and power through stuff and the bike goes where it wants to go. You have to be real loose and just have faith that you are going to make it through the deep gravel or loose dirt or whatever. Since I am a control freak it turns out to be something I am not very good at.
At the halfway point of our ride there is a town that sits on the banks of the Nehalam River. The town's people built a damn and swimming pool area by the bridge. There is also a park there and picnic tables. My friend and I decided today to go for a swim after our picnic lunch. I had a one piece swimsuit with me that was given to me by a friend. I had never worn it before and hadn't seen myself in it. I put it on and went to the pool area. People all seemed to be staring at me. One guy kept looking over at me and looking away. I felt very self-consious and kept checking to see if I had pubs hanging out or boobage or something. I always hate the way I looked in a swimsuit.
There was this small framed black woman sitting near the pool's edge playing with a small child. I commented on the child and the woman informed me it was her 21st grandbaby. I could not believe my ears. The woman looked to be in her 30s. I told her that she looked amazing. And she looked at me and said, "So do you sister" "Yeah I noticed that..." she looked up and down at my body. "Way to go" She smiled at me then and nodded approvingly. That is when it hit me... I don't look bad in a swiming suit anymore. The people who were seemingly starring at me were not seeing the old Karla but the new one.
When I got home I quickly went to the bathroom and stole a peek at me in this swimsuit. I actually gasped. The legs are cut high so my quads show very nicely. The muscles were poping out everywhere in the legs and calves. The definition in my arms and shoulders were also beautiful. The fat around my belly did not show. The colour of the suit actually fit me well too. I was actually quite beautiful in this swim suit. Almost like from a book.
I don't know how long it will be before I get used to the fact that I am different now. I still see the old me in my mind's eye. Today was definately a turn around time for me and self-image. I am strong and beautiful right now. I actually have reached a very satisfying place in my body recomp goals. Not only do I accept this new me but I embrace it. I don't think I will ever again be self consious in a swimsuit because people are looking at me. They look for the same reason that I look at a work of art. They appreciate the work and time, or maybe they think I am a lucky bitch. I don't know, but I do know that it is all good!
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
How awesome! You know I almost was expecting something like "hey you put the swimsuit on in reverse" .. I'd have done something as dorky as this.
Re the MTB-ing.. I've never really done it as a sport but have had occasions in which I simply had to go over a dirt road with a loaded touring bike.. and to tell you the truth: I *hate* it with a passion! Not sure if I'm a control freak, but I'm easily spooked because of lacking confidence in my own bike handling skillzz. It totally spoils whatever beautiful views you may have in that area, as 101% of your attention has to go to the situation in front of you.
This is what made me decide against spending time in Chile & Argentina, which had been my plan late 2003 before I decided I'd rather stay in the NLs because of the poor road condtions as well as my then new boyfriend . It didnt'get toutched upon a lot in the stories I'd read, since somehow most cyclists don't seem to care as much, but it was enough to make me stay home.
If there's 1 country in the entire world that's perfect for cycling, it's FRANCE. One of the reasons being the totally awesome road conditions.. the amount of roads that were in poor condition and required careful cycling were less than 5. It's wonderful to not be afraid of attaining superhigh speeds going downhill. And while doing so looking around and be inspired by the scenery.
You be proud of what you've achieved re your fitness levels and bf%. Seems like you're now in that 'sweet' spot = gaining LBM & dropping fat. Remember that when you start wanting to cut body fat faster. .
I hear you, Karla! I still wonder why people look at me...even my husband. I say, "What?" and he just rolls his eyes and says, "How many times do I have to tell you there is no what...you just look good!"
How awesome! You know I almost was expecting something like "hey you put the swimsuit on in reverse" .. I'd have done something as dorky as this.
Me too which is why I felt so horribly self-concious. I was squirming it was so bad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Espi
Re the MTB-ing.. I've never really done it as a sport but have had occasions in which I simply had to go over a dirt road with a loaded touring bike.. and to tell you the truth: I *hate* it with a passion! Not sure if I'm a control freak, but I'm easily spooked because of lacking confidence in my own bike handling skillzz. It totally spoils whatever beautiful views you may have in that area, as 101% of your attention has to go to the situation in front of you.
I am with you 100% on this. I could not even begin to look around because I was so focused on where I needed to go to avoid crashing. I did learn though that I could relax if I rode behind my friend and just followed him. That is what I mostly did.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Espi
You be proud of what you've achieved re your fitness levels and bf%. Seems like you're now in that 'sweet' spot = gaining LBM & dropping fat. Remember that when you start wanting to cut body fat faster. .
This is why I think it is 100% essential for people to have some means of measuring their bf% on a daily or weekly basis. If I did not have this, I would be freaking out about the weight gain. Instead I see the bf% going down and it assures me that it is safe to eat. I am sticking to eating 1600 or so cals a day and it seems to be fueling me just right. I also don't feel too horrible on this number of calories so the deficit is working well for me.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Right now, 1600 kcal is awfully low for me.. but I can do it for about 1 week when I'm still nice & full from my high intake week which is in the 3rd wk of my cycle! Afterwards I'm taking 1-2 workouts off and will start over again when TOM rolls around and begin cutting more agressively.
I'm still puzzled as to why on earth I do so poorly on bigger deficits, but things just are the way they are.. and I have to deal with it that 5-10% overall deficits work best for me. And again, that's with most rest days having just about 1100-1400 kcal but workout days will be with close to 3000 kcal on average .
It might be because of some GI issues, but it could also be because RHR is freakish low @ 32bpm and HR goes up so much higher when working out that the difference between rest & exercise gets magnified,
Conquering a negative body self-image is a major step on the road to contentment. Congrats.
X10 agree with this. I could believe how "thin" I was at my wedding (I say that because I was basically too sick/nervous to eat so it wasn't a good thing) until I saw the pics. I couldn't believe how long my hair was either. It sounds funny to say things like that, but what you "see" when you look in the mirror and what people actually see are so different. Your own eyes go to the worst parts of you and that's all you can look at, whereas people normally take in the whole picture, and often focus on the most attractive bits of you. Very different mind sets. The longer you look like this the more it will sink in
Also, I thought you were going to say that there was some verbiage on the butt of the swimwear that you hadn't noticed (like those little short shorts that say juicy on the back and such - they always make me a little shocked at first )
It seems that resting more (less cardio) and more fat in the diet is paying off in a big way. This is SO BIG for me. Imagine how I felt when I saw the stall and scale go up! The old me would've increased the cardio, cut even more back on cals and fat and pushed into the ground. It really requires a faith to do less and eat more but for me it was the right ticket it seems.
I miss the bike rides to work but this is worth it. I will do another few of them in the upcoming weeks but just be careful how much. I am less than 3% now from my goal bf range. People at the gym today were commenting on how nice I looked. It was so gratifying.
Today's workout was ab/tri/chest
warmup run on tready (10min) 4% incline and 4.5mph
SuperSet (3x15)
medicine ball oblique twists (+6lb) each side
close grip bench push ups (+35lb)
Bench press
1x15 (65lb)
1x10 (85lb)
1x10 (95lb)
cable tri push downs (dble pump)
3x15 (5 plates)
We talked today about strength training phase which is coming up and how the reps will be more of a pyramid for that. My goal is to press my body weight before I am dead.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Congrats on your progress Karla - you are one of the most determined (single-minded?) people I've ever "met".
I ain't a quitter if that is what you mean. Okay seriously, I don't have kids or a spouse or any other real distractions to my goals. Really it isn't that hard relatively speaking compared to most people on this board for me to focus on this thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by realcdn
So is the plan to do another bulk when you're done? I think the answer is yes, but I wasn't quite sure.
And if you can do 10 reps of 95 lbs, are you really that far away from being able to press ~120 once? Just asking....
Yes I am going to maintain for a 1-3 months and then start a very slow and careful bulk which I believe I will keep up for 6-9 months. David said that after this year I should be ready to enter a competition. Not win perhaps but ready to start entering the arena. He says I am probably too long and lanky to ever do really well as a bber but I could probably have fun and place at least. That works for me.
I am still quite a ways from doing my body weight on the bench press I think. That one is hard for me and hard for me to improve. My upper body is starting to really pop out now though with the concentrated work on it the past 2 months.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Yes I am going to maintain for a 1-3 months and then start a very slow and careful bulk which I believe I will keep up for 6-9 months. David said that after this year I should be ready to enter a competition. Not win perhaps but ready to start entering the arena. He says I am probably too long and lanky to ever do really well as a bber but I could probably have fun and place at least. That works for me.
I am still quite a ways from doing my body weight on the bench press I think. That one is hard for me and hard for me to improve. My upper body is starting to really pop out now though with the concentrated work on it the past 2 months.
Your trainer sounds wonderful. I love how he is so honest with you and he doesn't seem to sugarcoat anything. He seems to have a wealth of knowledge and when he doesn't feel comfortable with certain aspects of training/nutrition, he isn't afraid to step aside for someone who does. Are you still planning on switching to that BB trainer that you talked about?
Your goal to press your bodyweight is very impressive. I'm sure you will do it! I have to laugh at myself though because my goal when I started in Jan was to SQUAT my bodyweight someday as I could hardly do a couple of sets of BW squats. Thankfully, those leg muscle grow quickly and I did hit my goal!
Keep up the good work! I love watching your progress.
Nice work, Karla! It's an amazing realization, that you can eat more, do less and lose weight. I found that out with MRM and it shocked the heck out of me. Even still I have to recall the moment of realization and let it sink in when I feel those urges to run run run or exercise like an idiot because I had a cupcake after dinner. It's awesome that you're figuring you out, and totally liberating. At the end of all of us reading all these books and hanging on forums and paying through the nose for trainers, all we're really looking to do is figure out ourselves. Getting there is priceless.
Tonight an AT HOME workout and I got to use my new dumbells... They are sweet! I decided to do higher sets and lower reps tonight than normal just to mix it up a little.
Back/lat/ab
Warmup
Jump rope (300)
alt toe touches 1x20 (each leg)
Superset from hell
swiss back extensions
1x15 (bw)
1x15 (10lb)
1x15 (20lb)
swiss v-ups
3x15
incline bench bb pullup (3 second hold at top)
1x15 (45lb)
5x5 (95lb)
pullups (25 with 1 min rest x bw)
1x5
1x5
1x4
1x4
1x4
1x3
bent over palms in 2 db row (2 second hold at max contraction)
1x5 (20)e
1x5 (30)3
1x5 (37.5)e
1x5 (37.5)e
1x5 (37.5)e
db middle back shrug
5x5 (37.5)e
That superset kicked my ass good. I don't know why but it was quite hard. I got a nice swell on after the pullups and kept it going for a good while after the workout. I was pretty hungry after this one too.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Thanks Jessica... It is pretty easy to be on a .5lb a week deficit. Not quite as strong as the bulk but still not too weak.
Tonight I worked out AGAIN in my home. If I just had a cable machine (one of those free motion ones) I would never have to go to the gym.
LEG DAY
Warmup (each leg)
Alt toe touches 1x25
flutter kicks 1x50
bb Squats (1 min rest)
1x15 (45lb)
5x10 (135lb) - this is 6750lb of total weight
1 leg db romainian deads (each leg)
1x10 (20)
1x10 (30)
1x10 (37.5)
db step ups (each leg)
2x10 (20lb) e
1x10 (25lb) e
building lunges
1x10 (bw)
I decided to go for a higher number of sets on the squats and keep the weight at 135 because my form goes to hell anything higher than this weight. I am going to start pressing this now for a lot of reps until it is comfortable so that I can move up. Because I did my workout at home I used my couch as the spotter and that is always way comfortable for me. The first two sets I did not get very low and I had a boatload of tension in my traps and other body areas. By the third set it was feeling much better and I could really get down there. Of course by the 5th set I was dying and it was all I could do to remember to keep my weight in the heels and not round out at the bottom.
I was shaking so badly after that set that I could not walk for a period of a few minutes. My db deads were pretty shaky too for the first 2 sets. Finally the shaking settled down and I was able to complete the rest of the program. I am not sore yet but I expect that by tomorrow that will change. We'll see.
On the food side of the house, I sort of blew my meals today with eating out at lunch with co-workers. Not so much in calories but rather in fat consupmtion. My protein was way down so my plan was to eat nothing but chicken for the rest of the night. I stopped in my favorite bbing store (Hardcore House of Bodybuiling) and Bruce set me up with protein pancakes. He has suggested these before to me but I was bulking at that time and the wheys he used did not have enough calories per serving for me. Now the recipe is perfect at around 240 cals per serving and 51 grams of protein. He uses a slow and a fast acting whey so it is the perfect after workout and bedtime snack (since I generally workout in the night). I tried them tonight and have to give them thumbs up especially since he also had a zero cal syrup in the store that is mega good.
So I have yet another great food to add to my repertoire during this cut. Life is good.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Were the pancakes a recipe or did they come all mixed just add water or something? I have made PP pancakes once before, and they were good, but I remember them being sort of labor intensive - the kind of thing I usually don't have time for in the morning. Sounds like a great post workout snack. I lift in the evenings too and that sounds delicious!
They are easy. Just use ON whey protein mixes (one is the fast acting whey the other a casein whey) I use the vanilla flavors.
1 scoop each added to bowl. An egg white and add water until consistency of pancake batter. Cook like pancakes. Walden farms makes the syrup. Not sure where else you can buy that but the syrup tastes just like real maple syrup. No calories though. Their bacon ranch dressing is really, really good too and no calories, fat, or anything. I have been eating like a queen through this so far with these food additives. If you wann know how to cut deep talk to a bber. They know cutting and how to live through it.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
unfortunately I couldn't do the Walden Syrups.... *sigh* they'd make me sick.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
I know this isn't the same, but I once made oatmeal & eggwhite pancakes and they were very good too (have carbs, obviously, but still...) -- just do a ratio of 1 egg white to 1/3c dry quick oats (so 3/4 cup = 3 egg whites, etc etc). Cook in fry pan til solid (takes almost no time) and you can sprinkle with splenda or something if you like. VERY filling and yummy!
Oh... You mean in the pics I bet. I hate having pics done. 
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