Something I can only describe as the most painful thing I've done in a long time:
2 sets 8--Ok, these were a combination of leg raises on a bench and incline reverse crunches. With the bench at a pretty good incline, I slowly lowered and then raised my legs and went into a reverse crunch. It was really painful, and I only managed to squeak out sets of 8. On my second set, I lowered my legs from the crunch and just slid off the bench. I ended up sitting on the floor for a good couple of minutes before BF came over to wonder what the heck I was doing. Then we left the gym. The sad thing is that I've already concluded that I will do these again.
Food yesterday, twizzlers and all, came in around 1591cal. Not too bad considering.
Good things for the day:
1. We went for Pho for dinner last night. Yum! And it's so filling.
2. I finally slept! For the last couple of weeks, I've really been having a hard time sleeping. And last night, my head hit the pillow and I was out for almost the whole night. I woke up a couple of times, but nothing compared to what it was like before. Even still, I'm considering taking a melatonin tonight.
3. This one is for today, but I'm excited about it anyway...tonight is Chauncy Billup's first game as a Nugget. My butt will be plopped down on the couch tonight to watch. I'm curious to see how he fits in and what he'll bring to the team. We've been needing a real point gaurd for a very long time now. Oh, and they're playing Dallas, my "home" team. So it'll be a conflicted, fun night. All I have to do now is figure out what to make for dinner. Maybe Bree's chicken Thai pizzas? Hm...sounds good.
Plan for the day: Sit in the conference room for half the day. Leave work early. And by early, I mean before 4:30. Do day 3 of hypertrophy. Watch basketball.
Good for you on the candy! I'm doing a reverse incline sit up thing with overhead dumbbells and I feel kind of like you did after your leg raise/crunch thing. Blech.
Apparently, I am not a high reps, low weight, little rest sort of person. I was misserable the entire time doing this. I much prefer the lower reps, higher weight workouts. 5-8 reps and I'm pretty happy. But, I did it anyway, and will only have to do it 3 more times this month for Hypertrophy I. In December, I'm going to do Strenght I, which will probably be pretty fun for me!
Good things:
1. More sleep! I slept all the way through the night, and was able to take a short nap this afternoon.
2. Nuggets won last night.
3. I finally got around to patching the holes in my wall. My pup went through a whole separation anxiety thing where she was eating the walls. But, that stage is over (has been for several months), and now all I have to do is repaint a couple of areas, and my house will be good as new.
Cals for yesterday were right around 1457. So, that's good. Today is pretty on-track as well.
Christina, I do the same thing with the chin-up bar at my house. I'm happy to report that my chin-ups are increasing nicely now that I leave the bar up. My discussions with my daughter about not using it when I'm not there are also increasing . Good for you on coming in so low-cal on a candy day!
Pauline, I love those reverse incline things. I did have to tape a mat to the bench so I'd stop sliding off upside down though, cuz that was getting a little old.
Pauline, I love those reverse incline things. I did have to tape a mat to the bench so I'd stop sliding off upside down though, cuz that was getting a little old.
I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one who slides off the end. I thought it was just another example of my extreme klutziness!
Food yesterday, twizzlers and all, came in around 1591cal. Not too bad considering.
Good things for the day:
1. We went for Pho for dinner last night. Yum! And it's so filling.
2. I finally slept! For the last couple of weeks, I've really been having a hard time sleeping. And last night, my head hit the pillow and I was out for almost the whole night. I woke up a couple of times, but nothing compared to what it was like before. Even still, I'm considering taking a melatonin tonight.
3. This one is for today, but I'm excited about it anyway...tonight is Chauncy Billup's first game as a Nugget. My butt will be plopped down on the couch tonight to watch. I'm curious to see how he fits in and what he'll bring to the team. We've been needing a real point gaurd for a very long time now. Oh, and they're playing Dallas, my "home" team. So it'll be a conflicted, fun night. All I have to do now is figure out what to make for dinner. Maybe Bree's chicken Thai pizzas? Hm...sounds good.
Plan for the day: Sit in the conference room for half the day. Leave work early. And by early, I mean before 4:30. Do day 3 of hypertrophy. Watch basketball.
Hey Christina--I was thinking of you when I OD'd on Twizzlers the other night! Didn't help me though... Actually I only had 4 or 5. Still.
I'm glad you're sleeping. That's the absolute worst!
Quote:
Originally Posted by beach_plums
Apparently, I am not a high reps, low weight, little rest sort of person. I was misserable the entire time doing this. I much prefer the lower reps, higher weight workouts. 5-8 reps and I'm pretty happy.
I seem to have a mental block when it comes to twizzlers and M&Ms. Any thing else and I can stop, no problem. But those two, nope. Thank goodness there are no more twizzlers in the office (yup, I polished those off yesterday--there were 4 of those mini-sized ones left). And, there are no more M&Ms in the house. BF brought some over. In his defense, I really wanted them! And, he only brought over two small-sized bags. But, yup, polished those off too.
With all that, cals came in at 1579 yesterday. And, yes, carbs were crazy high! Ugh. I've started today off with protein though. So hopefully that will counter-act some of the sugar low I've got going on right now.
In other news, I spent pretty much all day Sunday in the kitchen. I've got a ton of food all cooked up for the week. I made a really good lemon chicken soup, made the stock too. There's also chili, meatloaf, pork chops, and oodles of salad. And, no more candy. Ok, the peanutbutter cups are still in the fridge, but I can avoid those, they're not twizzlers or m&ms and BF will finish that bag off tonight--or bring it home with him like he was supposed to do last night.
I haven't made it to the gym since Friday. I planned on going Sunday, but then cooked instead, thinking I'd go Monday. But, at some point in the day Sunday, I did a pullup (from hanging!) but also managed to thwap my head on the door frame. There's a lovely bump on my forehead that's starting to turn into a neat little bruise. Needless to say, I've had a pretty bad headache since. It's finally starting to dull-down, so I'm going to try to get to the gym today.
So, the headache is building again. I think I'm going to skip the gym again and hope for tomorrow. I've taken so much advil already today that my stomach is also upset. Bleh.
But, at some point in the day Sunday, I did a pullup (from hanging!) but also managed to thwap my head on the door frame. There's a lovely bump on my forehead that's starting to turn into a neat little bruise. Needless to say, I've had a pretty bad headache since. It's finally starting to dull-down, so I'm going to try to get to the gym today.
Well, yay on the pull-up, but sorry about the bump on the head though. I've been fighting a headache all day, but luckily I won and it's gone. Hopefully you'll get up tomorrow and find yourself back to normal.
Thanks Anne. This morning is mostly normal. I'm down to just a dull annoyance of a headache, so not too bad.
Cals yesterday were at maintenance. Apparently I was hungry. I'm ok with that, especially since I was also feeling really blah yesterday. Macros were in check, so that's good.
Sorry about the noggin. This lemon chicken soup you talk of sounds yummy. Do you have a recipe to share?
I do have the recipe. It's super easy.
8 Cups water
4lbs whole chicken (remove the yucky inner bits and trim as much fat off as you can)
sea salt to taste
1 cup orzo pasta (whole wheat)
juice of 2 lemons
2 eggs
Boil the chicken in salted water until meat starts to fall off of bones. Remove the chicken from water and let cool. Skim fat off of chicken stock/water.
Cook the orzo in stock per box instrutions. While the orzo is cooking, remove chicken meat from the bones. Discard bones. Add chicken back to the pot and bring back up to a boil.
In a separate bowl, combine the eggs and lemon juice. Slowly wisk in 2 cups of hot broth (do this slowly, otherwise the egg cooks and it's not quite right). Add lemon/egg/stock mix to the pot.
This makes a ton of soup! I've now got a couple of jars of it in my freezer. You could cut it in half. Also, I've used store-bought chicken broth before and just added chicken breast instead of making my own. When I'm feeling ambitious and have the time, I like to make the stock myself though.
For variations, add veggies. Celery and carrots are great in this soup too. I've also considered using wild rice instead of orzo, but haven't tried it yet. After Thanksgiving, I'll probably try something similar with turkey (since I'll have a whole lot of it!).
So, I did another hypertrophy last night. This time it was 5 sets of 5. Yay! I so much prefer that to the 3 sets of 15 days. Anyway, here's how it went:
Front Squats:
5 @ 75lbs
5 @ 80lbs
5 @ 80lbs
5 @ 80lbs--I felt myself breaking form on the last two in this set. I was scooping up instead of just standing back up
4 @ 75lbs--same this as the previous set. I scooped up the 4th and decided to skip the 5th.
Bulg. Split Squats w/overhead press
5 x 5 w/8e--did these at home and, sadly, 8lb dbs is the highest weight I have there. I added the overhead press to these today to force the pause in the down position to make it harder. Yup, it worked.
Assisted Pistols (instead of step ups, because, I don't have heavy weights at home)
4 x 5reps. Couldn't manage the 5th set. Ouch.
Swiss ball crunch w/15lbs overhead
3 x 15reps.
I had to finish my workout at home, because, TMI ALERT, t.o.m. came early. Yup, I was totally unprepared for that. But, managed to finish everything up at home with a few modifications/substitutions.
Food yesteday was around 1585. So that's good. Macros were pretty close to on, which is also good for me.
I'm going to enjoy a chai now--tea bag w/half vanilla soy milk half water. Yum.
Wow on that workout! Those squats and deadlifts are great! And great job getting back to the gym and eating well!
I have a great bruise on my knee now from the bar scraping during the deadlifts. I guess that means I really did keep the bar close to my body, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bytsi
Wow - great workout!!!
I love lower reps too!
I feel so much stonger doing the lower reps. I love that feeling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by foodfromafar
Great workout! I've been reading the Hypertrophy sections in NROL just to see what may lie ahead for me...
Hypertrophy is actually a lot of fun. I'm really enjoying it, but also really looking forward to strength I next month!
So food for today was good. I came in around 1586cals. I was really hungry mid-day and didn't make the best choices I could have (pretzels), but the rest of the day was as planned. Oh, and I made a cran-grape soda (an ounce of cran-grape juice and some soda water).
Good things:
1. Puppies make great heating pads. At least mine does. She's super snuggly and lately, she's been crawling under the blankets and curling up next to my stomach. Last night it was much appreciated.
2. I'm really starting to feel like I'm back on track after a week of no-good. It's starting to show on the scale too. I was up 1.5 lbs, and now I'm back down a bit. Still up .2lbs, but not terrible. A lot of it is/was water. Looking back, there was a lot of sodium in my diet last week.
3. Yesterday and today, I managed to only work 8 hours each! That's unheard of for me right now. It's been really crazy at the office. And, there's no end in sight.
4. Purple tights. I found the silliest pair of purple tights, and I'm wearing them right now. Love them.
5. Scarves. I've developed a whole new appreciation for scarves. I'm in the process of making one right now that'll be done, probably, by springtime. I'm a really slow knitter. And I'm making it pretty darn big for reasons that I can't explain.
6. Kids reading. BFs son is reading the Hobbit out loud right now. I'm not sure how that book got picked, but some of the words in it are really fun to hear sounded-out by a 9yo.
Glad to hear things are getting back on track, Christina! I hear you about work. Though I only work parttime, I do homeschool my kids to, so that makes from some long days. Yesterday, my oldest was finally finished a little after 9 PM! Exhausting day!
Good things: 1. Puppies make great heating pads. At least mine does. She's super snuggly and lately, she's been crawling under the blankets and curling up next to my stomach. Last night it was much appreciated.
2. I'm really starting to feel like I'm back on track after a week of no-good. It's starting to show on the scale too. I was up 1.5 lbs, and now I'm back down a bit. Still up .2lbs, but not terrible. A lot of it is/was water. Looking back, there was a lot of sodium in my diet last week.
3. Yesterday and today, I managed to only work 8 hours each! That's unheard of for me right now. It's been really crazy at the office. And, there's no end in sight.
4. Purple tights. I found the silliest pair of purple tights, and I'm wearing them right now. Love them. 5. Scarves. I've developed a whole new appreciation for scarves. I'm in the process of making one right now that'll be done, probably, by springtime. I'm a really slow knitter. And I'm making it pretty darn big for reasons that I can't explain. 6. Kids reading. BFs son is reading the Hobbit out loud right now. I'm not sure how that book got picked, but some of the words in it are really fun to hear sounded-out by a 9yo.
1. I can't wait for my puppy!! I have missed that!
5. I love scarves, too!! AND, I am also a knitter!! Love, love scarves!
6. I have my niece this weekend, so I am looking forward to having her read to me.
Great things! Purple tights sound awesome. Glad to hear you are getting back on track and hypertrophy is going well. I am looking forward to lower reps. I have been doing 10-15 or more since August! It does get old.
Glad to hear things are getting back on track, Christina! I hear you about work. Though I only work parttime, I do homeschool my kids to, so that makes from some long days. Yesterday, my oldest was finally finished a little after 9 PM! Exhausting day!
It's crazy. Throw in a 45 minute commute, and I'm just beat by the time I get home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by missjane
1. I can't wait for my puppy!! I have missed that!
5. I love scarves, too!! AND, I am also a knitter!! Love, love scarves!
6. I have my niece this weekend, so I am looking forward to having her read to me.
Not too much longer for Violet!
It's perfect knitting weather. So, tonight, while the boys (and I) are watching basketball, I'm also going to pull out the knitting and continue on with my scarf. I'm making it almost more shawl-like, and am going to attach a hood to it. I'm not sure how that's all going to turn out, but it'll be fun/funny to make.
Have fun with your niece.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beesknees
Great things! Purple tights sound awesome. Glad to hear you are getting back on track and hypertrophy is going well. I am looking forward to lower reps. I have been doing 10-15 or more since August! It does get old.
Thanks. Yes. I got really bored with the higher reps too. I had to move on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GinnyLou
I love your list of good things and agree with all of them. Good on you for getting back on track!
Thanks Ginger!
My calories the entire time were in a deficit, but the macros were all over the place.
Wow. Ok, I somehow totally skipped two workouts in hypertrophy. I went from week 1 to week 3. Since I'm just repeating weeks 1-3, I guess I'll start with week 1 again and make sure I actually do week 2 this time around. I'm not sure how I managed to do that; I did have an off week in there...Hm.
Anyway...good things:
1. It's SNOWING! Ok, I realize most of you don't agree with this being a good thing, but I love it! This morning on our walk, pup was all about sniffing and tracking through the snow. She's look up at me with a little pile of snow on her nose. It was too cute. Oh, and we had to walk, there was no way I would have been able to run with her zig-zagging.
2. Scale today is back where it should be, actually .2 lbs lower. I weighed in at 137.4 this morning. So, that's good.
3. I've decided that I can't wait to be back down to 136lbs. That's were I was when I started lifting last year. I gained a 5lbs in the process, and am back on my way down. But, at 140 I looked better than I did at 136 before lifting. So, I'm interested in comparing 136 before and after. I think that'll be kind of fun to see.
I suppose I should do some work so that I can leave the office at a decent time again today.
Christina, good for you on getting back on track. That's a job in itself.
Congrats, too, on only 8-hour days. That's why I don't have a full-time job--getting out of the office after only 8 hours can be difficult.
Glad to hear you're getting the snow you want, too. Ours keeps coming and going. It stays in the mountains to contribute to my view, but it hasn't been sticking at valley level.
Those horrible things on and incline that combine a leg lift and a reverse crunch:
10
8
6
Not as bad as last time, but dang! These hurt!
Good things:
1. On Wednesday, while I was doing my deadlifts, some guy worked in to do chin ups (I was using the squat rack). He was at the gym today, and as I was loaded the bar for my row, asked if I was getting ready for more deadlifts. When I said no, he looked at the bar, looked at me, and then back at the bar before saying, "You're not curling that, are you?" Considering the bar was at 85lbs, all I could do was laugh and reply with a solid no. We chatted and laughed for a while and continued to workout. It was a pretty funny exchange, but it also made me realize that at least one person at the gym realizes that I'm pretty serious about what I'm doing.
2. Scale after the gym today was 136.2; I didn't get to weigh myself first thing in the morning, but that's the lowest I've seen since Feb. Which, is really good. I'm curious to see what will happen in the morning though.
3. I actually manged to do three sets of 2 full pullups--starting w/straight arms each pull. That's a new PR for me. Actually, now that I think of it, with the exception of the shoulder presses, the whole workout was a new PR for me. Hm. Maybe I'll put that in as # 4
4. Yup, everything I did in my workout (with the exception of shoulder presses) was a new PR for me.
Wish me luck, I'm off to a double birthday party at a bar. Luckily, we can only stay for an hour or so, but a lot can happen in an hour! It's my plan to sip on one drink. And, I just ate a big salad, so hopefully I won't get hungry. Then it'll be home for leftovers for dinner and making some protein-packed banana muffins. I'm braving the whole baking thing because I've really be craving banana bread. I found (on the healthy recipes section) a recipe for the muffins, so hopefully that'll curb the craving. I don't have exacts on the macros, but I'm going to try to get that all figured out later.
. Good for you on coming in so low-cal on a candy day!
Actually I only had 4 or 5. Still.
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