Tenacious DM and the Log of Destiny

[DirtyMartini]

Originally Posted by LWilson212

Don't feel bad about the bench press. I've done that too. I had to roll the bar down to my lap where I could sit up and get it off me. It sucked.

Thank you for mentioning that! It makes me feel better I'm not the only one who's done it. Thank god I'm too weak to be lifting weights that could actually kill me.

[DirtyMartini]

Phase 4, Workout B1

Wide-grip deadlift: 3x8 @95
Bulgarian split squat: 3x8 @20
Underhand grip lat pulldown: 2x8 @80, 1x8 @90
Reverse lunge: 3x8 @15e
Prone cuban snatch: 3x8 @10e
swiss ball crunch: 2x8 @15 overhead, 1x8 @20 overhead
reverse crunch: 3x8
lateral flexion: 3x8, #3
prone cobra: 1x120s, 1x90s, 1x95s

extra: bench presses
warmups, 45lb bar
3 x 65lbs
3x 85lbs
1 x 90lbs

ALMOST made 95 pounds. ALMOST. I will bench press 100 pounds next time.

[DirtyMartini]

Food... Sugar cravings have dramatically subsided today. Not sure why, but I honestly don't care. Maybe the dream donut cured me.

Breakfast - 1/2 flax muffin, fried egg, sausage patty
Snack - 1 oz almonds
Lunch - 4 baby back ribs (seasoned, no BBQ sauce) & 1 cup broccoli
Snack - 3 stalks celery with 1oz cream cheese
Dinner - taco salad
Snack - 1 protein ball. I made the NROL4W PB protein bar recipe last night, but instead of forming them into 5 bars, I formed them into 15 balls.

I ate lunch with my coworkers today and, again, got the comments about my healthy lunch. I played nice but started to think about some effective responses. My comments like "well, yeah, I want to be healthy" don't seem to sink in with a couple of people. So, I have a couple in my arsenal now that will probably get teh point across. The worst offender is the kind of guy who always talks about himself, always cracks stupid jokes, always has to be the center of attention... He loves to "jokingly" criticize everyone, and one of my favorite coworkers has talked to her manager about it (this guy told her he was "concerned" about her because she didn't socialize very much and that people might think of her as cold & aloof - wtf? who says that?).

So anyway... the battle rages on, and one day I shall win.

[DirtyMartini]

Funny thing... I was getting some tea this morning at work (in the break area), and who happens to stop in the break area herself but the bodybuilder woman I mentioned! She said something to me about the weather and I responded then I just said it - I asked her if she was doing the weightlifting competition for the company. She said yes, and I said I thought it was her and we got to talking... we talked for a good half hour this morning.

Turns out she did her first figure competition this weekend (and said she was completely humbled by the experience) and is starting her first bulking phase. She also said that since she did the weightlifting competition last year, she would be happy to let me do it. So I'm thinking I might... she said she pressed 110 pounds last year & came in 3rd out of 11 women... The competition is 2 months away, and if I can increase by 5 pounds each week, I'll be pressing 130 pounds by the competition... If I am at 140 pounds by that time (which I think I can do - that's a loss of 5 pounds in 2 months) and press 130 pounds, that gives me a score of 183. The winning woman in my division last year scored 171. SO! I think I might go ahead & do it.

We talked about other stuff too - apparently she got a lot of flak for quite a while about her eating (apparently she works with a lot of women who bake a lot and were constantly trying to get her to eat the stuff they brought in). She said it just died down after people figured out she wasn't going to deviate from her clean eating. so that encourages me as well. She was super-nice and very excited about weightlifting so I'm glad I said something. I was afraid she might have the attitude of, "why are you talking to me?" but she wasn't at all. She said she's been lifting for 4 years and absolutely loves it and was very excited just talking to me about it... she's obviously very passionate about it, which was what I was hoping for.

[Bytsi]

Originally Posted by DirtyMartini

Phase 4, Workout B1

Wide-grip deadlift: 3x8 @95
Bulgarian split squat: 3x8 @20
Underhand grip lat pulldown: 2x8 @80, 1x8 @90
Reverse lunge: 3x8 @15e
Prone cuban snatch: 3x8 @10e
swiss ball crunch: 2x8 @15 overhead, 1x8 @20 overhead
reverse crunch: 3x8
lateral flexion: 3x8, #3
prone cobra: 1x120s, 1x90s, 1x95s

extra: bench presses
warmups, 45lb bar
3 x 65lbs
3x 85lbs
1 x 90lbs

ALMOST made 95 pounds. ALMOST. I will bench press 100 pounds next time.

Lookit all that RED!!!!

Originally Posted by DirtyMartini

Food... Sugar cravings have dramatically subsided today. Not sure why, but I honestly don't care. Maybe the dream donut cured me.

Wow... can you send one of those dream-donuts my way? I wish I could be cured that easily!

Originally Posted by DirtyMartini

Funny thing... I was getting some tea this morning at work (in the break area), and who happens to stop in the break area herself but the bodybuilder woman I mentioned! She said something to me about the weather and I responded then I just said it - I asked her if she was doing the weightlifting competition for the company. She said yes, and I said I thought it was her and we got to talking... we talked for a good half hour this morning.

Turns out she did her first figure competition this weekend (and said she was completely humbled by the experience) and is starting her first bulking phase. She also said that since she did the weightlifting competition last year, she would be happy to let me do it. So I'm thinking I might... she said she pressed 110 pounds last year & came in 3rd out of 11 women... The competition is 2 months away, and if I can increase by 5 pounds each week, I'll be pressing 130 pounds by the competition... If I am at 140 pounds by that time (which I think I can do - that's a loss of 5 pounds in 2 months) and press 130 pounds, that gives me a score of 183. The winning woman in my division last year scored 171. SO! I think I might go ahead & do it.

We talked about other stuff too - apparently she got a lot of flak for quite a while about her eating (apparently she works with a lot of women who bake a lot and were constantly trying to get her to eat the stuff they brought in). She said it just died down after people figured out she wasn't going to deviate from her clean eating. so that encourages me as well. She was super-nice and very excited about weightlifting so I'm glad I said something. I was afraid she might have the attitude of, "why are you talking to me?" but she wasn't at all. She said she's been lifting for 4 years and absolutely loves it and was very excited just talking to me about it... she's obviously very passionate about it, which was what I was hoping for.

First, may I say how GREAT that you finally talked to her? I can be pretty shy myself, so I'm impressed! And you are gonna kick some bootay at that contest!!! Can't wait to hear about it

[stingo]

More proof that getting out of your comfort zone produces good results.

[DirtyMartini]

I know, I really need to get out of it more often!!

I have another story.

On wednesday, as I mentioned I brought my lunch and one of my coworkers was asking me about chinese food. One thing he asked me was if the breading on stuff like chicken was bad. We are sarcastic & joke with each other ALL the time and i thought he was being facetious - so I laughed and then realized he was being sincere so I told him it was...

So Thursday I felt bad for laughing at him and sent him a brief email to apologize. He wrote back & said it didn't bother him at all, and that I'd inspired him to really look at how much sugar he was eating. He was asking me yesterday about controlling energy slumps and how you avoid them if you can't eat sugar to keep your blood sugar up.

So I sent him 3 links, one to the wikipedia page on the glycemic index, one to a john berardi article about fat, protein, and carbs, and another one which I forget now.

He popped by my desk later & thanked me for the articles then started asking me more questions about my weight lifting and results and stuff. So that was kind of neat.
---

I read in one of the John Berardi things last night that led me to think about posting at least one good thing per day. I have been feeling lately like my life is in a great place right now, and I've never felt like this. There has always been something that I wanted to change but felt like I couldn't. But right now there isn't - I love my house, I love kansas city, I'm getting married this fall, I'm working out, I'm eating well, paying off debt, I love my job... I guess part of the feeling, too, is that with this whole weightlifting/body transformation thing has come the feeling that if there's anything I don't like in my life, I can change it.

[Bytsi]

Originally Posted by DirtyMartini

I know, I really need to get out of it more often!!

I have another story.

On wednesday, as I mentioned I brought my lunch and one of my coworkers was asking me about chinese food. One thing he asked me was if the breading on stuff like chicken was bad. We are sarcastic & joke with each other ALL the time and i thought he was being facetious - so I laughed and then realized he was being sincere so I told him it was...

So Thursday I felt bad for laughing at him and sent him a brief email to apologize. He wrote back & said it didn't bother him at all, and that I'd inspired him to really look at how much sugar he was eating. He was asking me yesterday about controlling energy slumps and how you avoid them if you can't eat sugar to keep your blood sugar up.

So I sent him 3 links, one to the wikipedia page on the glycemic index, one to a john berardi article about fat, protein, and carbs, and another one which I forget now.

He popped by my desk later & thanked me for the articles then started asking me more questions about my weight lifting and results and stuff. So that was kind of neat.
---

I read in one of the John Berardi things last night that led me to think about posting at least one good thing per day. I have been feeling lately like my life is in a great place right now, and I've never felt like this. There has always been something that I wanted to change but felt like I couldn't. But right now there isn't - I love my house, I love kansas city, I'm getting married this fall, I'm working out, I'm eating well, paying off debt, I love my job... I guess part of the feeling, too, is that with this whole weightlifting/body transformation thing has come the feeling that if there's anything I don't like in my life, I can change it.

Very cool about the coworker - maybe he'll be healthier because of you

And to your last paragraph - that is WONDERFUL!!!

[LisaS]

Originally Posted by DirtyMartini

My shoulders are pretty sore though. Sigh. Probably still dont' have the form perfect.
I tried bench pressing 95 pounds today and completely failed. I thought for sure I'd be able to do it, didn't have a spotter, couldn't get the weights back up and hadn't put the tension clips on the bar so one of the 25lb plates started sliding off... I let it, it fell on the floor, and I got the bar off me (not like it was going to squish me anyway).

If I BP alone without a spotter (or someone home) ... I leave off the clips for exactly that reason - if I get stuck and in any REAL trouble, I can dump the plates (just have to avoid hitting curious canines). That's just how I was taught many moons ago - probably not the best practice.

[DirtyMartini]

*cry*

Good workout today, got pukey during my lunges, thought I was going to barf just a little bit after plank #2, and now I'm kinda shakey all over. I guess those are good signs.

Stage 4, A2
Front squat/push press
3x8 @55

Step-up
3x8 @17.5e

Dumbbell one-point row
3x8 @30e

Static lunge, rear foot elevated
3x8 @17.5e .. pukey feeling starts to set in

Push-up
3x8 (floor)
Before my 2nd set, I thought, "hey I wonder if I could do a T-pushup"... when I got to the top of my first rep, I quickly changed my mind.

Plank
It's a good thing I know these do wonders for core strength because I really believe they came from the devil.
105 sec
120 sec (this is when the visions of puking on the floor began)
120 sec

Cable horizontal wood chop
3x8 @30

I know all the PRs contributed to the nausea. That's ok... I should have a pretty good A3. I'll probably keep most of the weight as it is in this workout, as I don't think I could go any harder.

[DirtyMartini]

So, good thing for the day -

I was at my desk working and having my 3pm snack: a protein ball and broccoli with vinaigrette dip. A co-worker walked by and asked me what the protein ball was - she asked me if it was a meatball. So I told her and she started asking me about nutrition, how long I've been eating like this, what i like about it, how I learned about it, what got me into it, etc. She started telling me about how she wants to learn about good health - she's pretty thin and she said she's recently realized that thin doesn't equal healthy, and has no idea if she's actually healthy or not.

She was asking me a ton of questions (mostly about vitamins and whole foods and fiber and protein) and I was trying to answer to the best of my ability. She then asked me if I'd ever thought about becoming a nutritionist or something, and i told her that I've looked into it a little bit and might do it someday & work with kids in poorer neighborhoods - not right now though. She said I was like the team nutritionist and needed a sign outside my cube, like "the doctor is in." Someone was waiting to talk to me about a project, sitting in an armchair near my cube. So the coworker asking me all the questions left and I said "NEXT!" We laughed. We cried. It was fun.

[DirtyMartini]

good thing for the day... we bought 4 tomato plants at the farmers' market this morning, all heirloom. I'm looking forward to fresh tomatoes this summer!

I have another good thing as well. I'm digging up an area of the back yard to plant the tomato plants and ran into a slab of concrete about 30"L x 10"D x 2"H, buried about 4" under the ground. At first I wasn't sure what it was but dug around it and managed to pull it up out of the ground - with one arm. It dawned on me as I was carrying it with one arm over to the fence that I don't realize how strong I am sometimes (relative to how puny I used to be). So that was pretty cool.

[DirtyMartini]

I weighed in at 147 this morning, hoping to be back around 145. Felt discouraged & disappointed in myself, especially since I've been snacking (only on healthy food... well, and an ounce of dark chocolate) when I feel hungry. Hungry = eat, so I eat and try not to feel guilty about it.

Up 1.5 pounds from 3 weeks ago.

I looked at my belly this morning in the mirror. It's almost flat. The fat is going away so obviously the weight is coming from somewhere else. Hopefully it's all the muscle I'm building, given I was able to set PRs on half your exercises last workout without losing form. And I wore my khakis last week, which I haven't worn in a while, and they were pretty baggy in the waist. Those are my smallest pair of 10s I have. So I'm down to 2 pairs of work pants & 2 pairs of jeans that fit me properly, confirmation that what I'm doing is working.

Last time I gained weight & felt super-strong, I subsequently lost a couple pounds after 5 weeks of stagnation. It's coming.

[missjane]

Those last stubborn pounds are quite hard to lose. I'm finding that if I have a carb load day that it somehow revs things up again. My scale weight can't go much lower, but there is still fat that needs to come off, so it's mighty slow at this point. And frustrating. And, for me, it's the belly fat that's last to go. It just might be that the scale will stay about where it is and I begin the slow process of losing the fat, but gaining lean. The scale stayed the same for me for quite some time this month and just recently budged. After last night's carb load, I think I'll stay away from the scale for a few days! LOL!

Hang in there....I know how you feel but we are definitely moving in the right direction!

[Bytsi]

It's easy to get stuck on scale numbers (and my pounds DO need to come down a bit!