Yeah, I'd like to improve my body. But I think I've got a pretty good handle on the mental part of it. My self worth is not equal to my dress worth. (Possibly it's closer to my squat weight...wait...no, that's not a good idea, either. )
Boy, do I wish I had your attitude. I'm like your co-worker (only I'm a size 12...not a 4) and don't have nearly the confidence you do.....Ya wanna teach me how to get some of that??? LOL
Seriously, though....It's awesome to see the way you think. I love reading your logs and all of your enthusiasm, especially your stories about the weight room. Your confidence needs to be bottled up and sold somewhere. I'd be the first in line to buy some!
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"Become better than you used to be, not better than someone else." ~ Leigh Peele
Boy, do I wish I had your attitude. I'm like your co-worker (only I'm a size 12...not a 4) and don't have nearly the confidence you do.....Ya wanna teach me how to get some of that??? LOL
Haha, oh my gosh, I don't know! I'm stubborn and think a lot of myself, maybe. Caring about what other people think has never gotten me anywhere; doing my own thing and acting like other people can just go f*ck themselves if they don't like it has won me friends. Maybe it's just a dose of perspective. Or maybe it's growing up not fitting in taught me to make my own path. I don't know!
I will say it's way more fun to do what I please instead of feeling frozen by insecurity.
And I've never really listened to people who tell me what I can and can't do. (In fact, I'm pretty sure the administration saw me as a threat in high school - a clever, headstrong girl who behaves well most of the time, except when she sees through the pointless hypocrisy and politics of the system? Tsk tsk tsk...)
I just think the biggest difference between people who get what they want and people who don't is that the people who get what they want, whatever it may be, never give up until they get it. That's it.
So if I'm confident that I can have what I want, I won't give up until I get it. And if I'm insecure that I won't get it, I'll probably quit before I get there.
And some days, you just have to fake it. When I'm feeling shitty about myself, instead of saying disparaging things like, "Oh, I feel so fat today..." I'll just get really silly and full of myself and say, like, "Oh my god, I'm so hot today no one can take their eyes off me. It's so hard being this good-looking." Because at least then, maybe those fake messages of grandeur will sink in a little bit and you'll end up feeling better about yourself...we all know the bad things we tell ourselves sink in. So I like to turn the tables.
I'm always telling people at work that I could fight them and win. That seems to get a lot of laughs. But for me, it's just another chance to remind myself that I'm strong and tenacious, by saying, "I could take you!"
Whatever you need to do, you know?
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
Haha, oh my gosh, I don't know! I'm stubborn and think a lot of myself, maybe. Caring about what other people think has never gotten me anywhere; doing my own thing and acting like other people can just go f*ck themselves if they don't like it has won me friends. Maybe it's just a dose of perspective. Or maybe it's growing up not fitting in taught me to make my own path. I don't know!
I will say it's way more fun to do what I please instead of feeling frozen by insecurity.
And I've never really listened to people who tell me what I can and can't do. (In fact, I'm pretty sure the administration saw me as a threat in high school - a clever, headstrong girl who behaves well most of the time, except when she sees through the pointless hypocrisy and politics of the system? Tsk tsk tsk...)
I just think the biggest difference between people who get what they want and people who don't is that the people who get what they want, whatever it may be, never give up until they get it. That's it.
So if I'm confident that I can have what I want, I won't give up until I get it. And if I'm insecure that I won't get it, I'll probably quit before I get there.
And some days, you just have to fake it. When I'm feeling shitty about myself, instead of saying disparaging things like, "Oh, I feel so fat today..." I'll just get really silly and full of myself and say, like, "Oh my god, I'm so hot today no one can take their eyes off me. It's so hard being this good-looking." Because at least then, maybe those fake messages of grandeur will sink in a little bit and you'll end up feeling better about yourself...we all know the bad things we tell ourselves sink in. So I like to turn the tables.
I'm always telling people at work that I could fight them and win. That seems to get a lot of laughs. But for me, it's just another chance to remind myself that I'm strong and tenacious, by saying, "I could take you!"
Whatever you need to do, you know?
You have the bestest attitude EVER!! I totally agree about the "fake it" part! Sometimes you do just have to "fake it til you make it." Funny - DH and I were just talking about that not even 10 mins ago....he's got a weight lifting workout scheduled for today and is just totally NOT into it - so he said "sometimes ya just gotta butch up and DO IT!"
And I'm always telling my son (he's 24) that I can beat his ass if he gives me any lip - he says he knows I could!!!
Funny - DH and I were just talking about that not even 10 mins ago....he's got a weight lifting workout scheduled for today and is just totally NOT into it - so he said "sometimes ya just gotta butch up and DO IT!"
Oh god, I know...sometimes you just have to SUFFER through a weight workout, knowing full well your best that day is not very good. But still, suffering through a workout on a day when you don't feel like it is ten times better than punking out just because you have some sort of mild malaise...I always want to see that star on the calendar. A month full of stars for a month full of workouts. Can you believe all it takes is a little colored star to get me to the gym on crappy days?
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
Oh god, I know...sometimes you just have to SUFFER through a weight workout, knowing full well your best that day is not very good. But still, suffering through a workout on a day when you don't feel like it is ten times better than punking out just because you have some sort of mild malaise...I always want to see that star on the calendar. A month full of stars for a month full of workouts. Can you believe all it takes is a little colored star to get me to the gym on crappy days?
And I think THOSE workouts are the ones to be the most proud of - the ones you had to FORCE yourself to do, the ones you soooo didn't want to do but did anyway!
For the next time you don't feel like working out...here ya go!
Today I spent most of the day at a photo shoot out of town. Yes, working on a Saturday! So not my style.
We were shooting models in underwear for a business pitch we're doing. There was a young guy running around in boxer briefs and tight little tank tops - YUM! He wasn't totally ripped, but he definitely worked out (Me: "How much do you bench?" Haha). He was like Average Plus - the Idealized version of Average Guy. Not too tall, not too thin - muscular, but still compact - softer definition, but still flat abs. I totally ogled him. Why the heck not? We're paying him to sit around in underwear so people will look!
The girl we chose was a total string bean, but with breasts. She was SO slight. 5'9"-ish and a size 2. Her thighs were a mile apart from one another. Her arms were twiggish. She came across well on film, but the whole time I just thought, "She looks so weak!" She was like a baby bird, sort of delicate and vulnerable looking.
My coworker, who's 5'11" and a size 4, was like, "Ugh, god hates me or I'd look like that, too." She also made comments before we went to the shoot about how she was sure the model would be a bitch (because she was skinny? because she was a model? both?).
You know, I may be 5'5" and 190ish pounds. I may wear a size 12 jean and have plenty of junk in the trunk to spare. But I will say this - I was not even remotely threatened by that model today, and that's more than I can say for my friend. I'd much rather be the size I am now and confident about myself, my body, and my strengths than obviously insecure about a perfectly adequate body.
She's a size 4! And she complains all the time about how she used to be a size 2 - when she was grief-stricken and wasn't eating. Oh, to be a size 2! At 5'11", a size 2 plants her firmly into the Underweight category of the BMI chart - and we know how slanted those things are toward people without muscle to begin with.
Yeah, I'd like to improve my body. But I think I've got a pretty good handle on the mental part of it. My self worth is not equal to my dress worth. (Possibly it's closer to my squat weight...wait...no, that's not a good idea, either. )
What a great post. At a time, I might have been in your co-worker's shoes, feeling threatened by someone who I thought was thinner/better looking than me. Not anymore! I've really come to appreciate my body, and while sometimes I can get negative and be critical about myself, it happens MUCH less often. Most of the time, I feel strong and proud of myself.
Um, holy cow, did I say I was going to be doing Fat Loss I four times a week? We'll see.
Workout FL1 - A1
3x15, 75s rest Squat - 65, 65 (14 reps), 60
Cable Seated Row - 70, 70/60, 65
Supine Hip Extension - BW, BW, BW (is there a way to make these harder?)
DB Push Press - 20/17.5, 17.5 (13 reps), 15
Rotational Lunge - BW, BW, BW (WHEW!)
Swiss Ball Crunch - 5lbs, BW, 5lbs
Oh man, I forgot what it's like to do 15 reps. It wipes you out! I don't know if its because I was used to lifting for fewer reps, or because I didn't eat enough yesterday/this morning, but I had to lower weight a lot this morning, even between sets (as you can see).
However, the rotational lunges weren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be. It's just a lunge, then a twist of the torso. But in Stage 1 of NROL4W, I felt like each lunge was like a death rattle. My knees felt unstable, I got tired quickly, and it was just generally hell. This morning, my knees felt stronger, my balance improved, and I definitely got tired but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be.
That said, I think my ass is going to hurt for a week. Between the lunges and the hip extensions, yikes.
My kitchen is empty. Unless you count the sink. That's full of dishes. The BF wanted to go to this thing tonight at the local university - Ted Nugent is giving some kind of speech. Ted Nugent! We thought it might be fun to go for a minute...but the school Republican group brought him in and his speech is about Guns, God and something else. I think my time will be better spent doing my dishes and going to the grocery store, instead.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!
I can scrape together a couple snacks, and I have to be at work for lunch, so they're providing food (not pizza, not pizza, anything else), which should get me through the day. Why don't I have any food? Because we get paid today. A Monday. Bogus!
In other news, it's almost April.
Here comes Spring...are we all confident about our progress with summer so near? I'm going to see if I can tighten up my diet a little more. I definitely had more than 4 free meals last week.
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
Rix, which profile are you following for NROL? I think all of them recommend 3x a week for FLI and one recommends 2x a week. I think back-to-back FLI's is not a good idea. Having done the FL workouts myself, I speak from experience!
Rix, which profile are you following for NROL? I think all of them recommend 3x a week for FLI and one recommends 2x a week. I think back-to-back FLI's is not a good idea. Having done the FL workouts myself, I speak from experience!
I was reading NROL yesterday and I assumed that he meant every other day which would put some workouts 4 a week, some 3. He did emphasize no back to back LOL! Can we say suicide?
Way to go RIX! I got put back to remedial weight lifting with my knee. But I shouldn't be quick to say that until I do it .
Rix, which profile are you following for NROL? I think all of them recommend 3x a week for FLI and one recommends 2x a week. I think back-to-back FLI's is not a good idea. Having done the FL workouts myself, I speak from experience!
Indeed, I'm beginning to see why! I wasn't following a profile, per se, more like injecting FL1 into the NROL4W set. So I'm not doing Eternal Beginner or anything, just trying to match up my goals (cutting calories plus higher rep lifting) for a few weeks. Before the Fat Loss 1 description, it says you can do the workouts two, three, or four times a week, and to just not do it more than two days in a row. But yes, I think four is perhaps overly ambitious. I guess we'll see how I feel tomorrow morning! I could always do it every other day, which would result in four workouts some week and three on others. Well, it's only a month.
But thanks for the head's up, missjane!
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
Rix, that's exactly what I did....every other day. Which is what I still try to do with NROL4W, which does mean 3 or 4 workouts a week, depending. With the FL workouts, they are so lower-body intensive that I found I really could not recover enough to do back-to-back workouts. I didn't want to hinder my muscle repair and those workouts were hard!
After NROL4W, I will probably go back to NROL...I really liked it. I'm skipping Stage 6 of NROL4W, but will do 2 rounds of Stage 7. Then, off to something else!
Great workout today! I agree on the 15 rep thing, I really hate that many reps and it is going to be hard to move back up that high. I am planning to switch to NROL after I finish NROL4W. I haven't decided yet on Stage 6, I am kicking around skipping it because I really want to do the fat loss in Stage 7 but the anal-retentive side of me is really struggling with the whole idea of "skipping.." LOL
I've spent some time this evening giving the critical eye to NROL Fat Loss I, and I think I'm going to do it for three weeks (that would equal four workouts a week - M, T, Th, F). I like the higher rep, lower rest time pairing, and I'd get to go back to squats, as well as add the incline dumbbell bench press. Reading the Fat Loss section, Lou talks about the effects of cortisol on fat loss, and it sounds like the lower rest times and higher reps are going to be more conducive to fat loss than the low-rep, high rest times of NROL4W Stage 3.
That said, I may do Fat Loss I, then Stage 3, then Fat Loss II. We'll see what my results are. But since I seem to gain lean mass rather easily, I'm less inclined to go to the 6-rep, 105s rests of Stage 3, because it seems to promote more strength building than fat loss. And while I'd love to do both, I know what a mistake it can be to chase two goals at once. So I'll focus on losing fat for now. I'm really looking for a 2lb/week fat loss. I know I can do it. I've done it before. Four weight workouts a week could help.
And it's only three weeks. Just enough time to determine whether I'm getting the results I want.
I'll start Monday morning.
I'm really interested to see how this works out for you. I think I have roughly the same body type and muscle growth as you, so I'm interested to see how the fat loss stages work for you. The last time I lost a lot of fat was with a high high rep compound exercise program, but I was NOT building muscle in this way. I'd love to get the fat off without losing the awesome gains I've made in stage 1.
I haven't decided yet on Stage 6, I am kicking around skipping it because I really want to do the fat loss in Stage 7 but the anal-retentive side of me is really struggling with the whole idea of "skipping.." LOL
Aw, skip-shmip. I'm not skipping, I'm just taking a detour. And you could totally do Stage 7 and then Stage 6. Women follow too many rules! Cast off the shackles of expectation and follow your muscles!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirjava
Just a quickie hello to say awesome workout, Rix! I am tempted to dip into NROL too, my husband just bought it.
Don't you love the cover? Hee hee hee. I like it way more than the NROL4W cover...
Quote:
Originally Posted by jesca
I'm really interested to see how this works out for you. I think I have roughly the same body type and muscle growth as you, so I'm interested to see how the fat loss stages work for you. The last time I lost a lot of fat was with a high high rep compound exercise program, but I was NOT building muscle in this way. I'd love to get the fat off without losing the awesome gains I've made in stage 1.
Amen! I'm all for keeping lean mass. And I'm beginning to think this rep/growth thing has some merit...I'll let you know how it goes, and I'll be keeping an eye on you, too. Always nice to follow people who have similar body types to keep the expectations real.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marygrace
Looks like a great workout. I'm not familiar with supine hip extensions. How do they work?
You lay on your back, feet on a Swiss ball, arms out to your side. Then you like, hump at the ceiling and squeeze your bum and lower almost all the way down, but nope, you go right back up for 15 reps. I'm sure all the dirty old men at the gym going round the track love to watch me do this one.
I'm a total nerd. I'm SO excited right now to leave work and go grocery shopping.
Saturday, my coworker Tara showed me her grocery list, broken down by category. She was being self-deprecating, but I was like, "Yes, that's what mine looks like exactly! Categories and they're sorted by what path I'll take around the grocery store - first produce, then meat, then dairy, then dry stuff in the middle." Guess I'm not the only one!
I may even "splurge" and go to the big grocery store tonight instead of the ghetto one a block from my house. Oooh, cheaper and fresher produce...and greek yogurt...I forgot about the greek yogurt...
God, I'm starving!
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
Don't you love the cover? Hee hee hee. I like it way more than the NROL4W cover...
I've been wondering about the guy on the cover. I know the gal on NROL4W was a friend of Cassandra's. Wonder if the guy who got to model for NROL was also a friend of a VIP?
Supine Hip Extension - BW, BW, BW (is there a way to make these harder?)
I have no idea, but I have the same question!!! I just finished FLII, and I just kept doing more. By the end I was doing 19 of those stupid things at a time.
I'm eating Greek yogurt with honey and a banana right now...omm nomm nommm...so good. Did I need to spend $10 on enough Greek yogurt to have one a day for the next five days? No...am I going to thoroughly enjoy this week and feel like I'm having something sinful when I'm not? Yesss....
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
I'm eating Greek yogurt with honey and a banana right now...omm nomm nommm...so good. Did I need to spend $10 on enough Greek yogurt to have one a day for the next five days? No...am I going to thoroughly enjoy this week and feel like I'm having something sinful when I'm not? Yesss....
Have you tried it with maple syrup yet? We were eating it with honey and thought it was fabulous - UNTIL we tried it with maple syrup! We are currently on a "with strawberries and maple syrup" kick in our house! YUMMMMMMM....the stuff is like CRACK, I swear!!
Oh man, I love Greek yogurt! DH and I went on a budget last fall though and that was one of the first things I cut out. I just buy plain fat free but I might buy a tub of Greek sometime this week to treat myself. I have never tried it with maple syrup but that sounds fantastic!
Rixa,
You're very smart at shaking up your body! I loved your idea of mixing NROL then NROL4W. Yesterday I did FLII (A) followed by high intervals on the treadmill. I was seeing stars at the end.... LOL.
Best of luck,
Olga.
Have you tried it with maple syrup yet? We were eating it with honey and thought it was fabulous - UNTIL we tried it with maple syrup! We are currently on a "with strawberries and maple syrup" kick in our house! YUMMMMMMM....the stuff is like CRACK, I swear!!
Hmm, I don't have any maple syrup, but this IS the season for it...I really love buying local honey from the Farmer's Market in the summer. Maybe maple syrup can be my spring variation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silly Sally
I love your sig quote. It's so true, so sad, yet oddly wonderful that we women are so gd humble.
'Cept you, 'course.
Humble? What is this word?
I like the quote too. I think it hits on a lot of points...women are always taught not to be a threat, in any way. I remember once my dad yelled at me over something I had said to an exboyfriend of mine (I called him "pensive" - quietly thoughtful - to this day, I still don't get how that could be misinterpreted as an insult). Anyway, my dad was just like, "You don't know how to stroke a man's ego!" (My dad was a real prick there for a while.)
And I STILL think, "Stroke a man's ego? What the hell for?" I'm not going to tear anyone down, but I'm not going to build them up either, just because there's this idea that men are insecure or fragile or need their ego stroked.
If I can lift more than you, well, good for me. You need to work harder, ESPECIALLY if you're man.
I'm not going to apologize for living my life. I'm a good person, a kind person, and a strong person. But I'm not going to walk around acting like I'm weak or overly vulnerable or I need some big man's help just so that man will feel important. What a waste of my time. You know?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ciao
Rixa,
You're very smart at shaking up your body! I loved your idea of mixing NROL then NROL4W. Yesterday I did FLII (A) followed by high intervals on the treadmill. I was seeing stars at the end.... LOL.
No kidding! Missjane had it right when she was like, "Good LUCK getting four FL1 workouts in a week." I am WRECKED today. I'm hobbling around the office like my knees don't bend. I look like a freaking zombie. I don't even know if I can pull off cardio tonight...it hurts, oh god, it hurts!
I'm taking it as a good sign that my muscles are going to need more time to repair (i.e. burn more calories). And hopefully I won't be gaining lean mass as quickly as I was during Stage 1 and 2 of NROL4W. Hopefully this will tip the scales toward fat loss a little bit more for the next few weeks.
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
I've also been thinking about rewards. I was thinking that if I lost another 10lbs, I'd buy myself a new bathing suit. But the thing about bathing suits is that you only wear them occasionally - on weekends when you're at the pool or a lake. And in Michigan, you only get to wear them like three months a year. So maybe I'll buy myself a new bathing suit, maybe not.
But what I REALLY want, what I've wanted for like three years now, is a digital SLR camera. And I'm thinking that meeting my personal fitness/body composition goals is the perfect excuse to give myself permission to buy one. With the economic stimulus checks arriving starting in May, that gives me just enough time to really push it hard, lose some fat, and meet my goals by the time they arrive. It's a big purchase, and I keep putting it off to be responsible with my money. So now, here's an opportunity: I'll be getting this "extra" money any way. When I meet my goals, I'll give myself permission to spend it on something I don't really need, but definitely really want.
Maybe I should print out a picture and put it up on my fridge...that's what people do with pictures of bathing suits, right?
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
) 
I totally agree about the "fake it" part! Sometimes you do just have to "fake it til you make it." Funny - DH and I were just talking about that not even 10 mins ago....he's got a weight lifting workout scheduled for today and is just totally NOT into it - so he said "sometimes ya just gotta butch up and DO IT!" 
)
.
I agree on the 15 rep thing, I really hate that many reps and it is going to be hard to move back up that high. I am planning to switch to NROL after I finish NROL4W. I haven't decided yet on Stage 6, I am kicking around skipping it because I really want to do the fat loss in Stage 7 but the anal-retentive side of me is really struggling with the whole idea of "skipping.." LOL
DH and I went on a budget last fall though and that was one of the first things I cut out. I just buy plain fat free but I might buy a tub of Greek sometime this week to treat myself. 
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