New beginnings and the WHY

I think I am finally back to normal (whatever that is) and have been mulling over the next stage of my journey and coming up with the all important WHY, the guts of why I'm doing what I want to do. I will probably share bits and pieces of my WHY in the course of time - much of it is "internal", however I sense a feeling of travelling along a higher plane in this next phase.

I got the photos and DVD of the INBA Qld show and I've posted one of the pics above. I must say that I am disappointed in the photos - not by how I looked, but rather the quality of the pictures and the lighting. I was pleased by the DVD (I had been extremely worried that I would look dorky as I did in the first show) and felt that my conditioning was superb. What I was stunned by was just how much muscle I gained in a relatively short space of time and wondered if physique is in my future somewhere down the track.

However that track doesn't look like it will be 2007. I am seriously considering surgery to fix my belly which I must admit is now really starting to bother me. So I will get 3 or 4 referrals and really do some research.

Trying to get back on track now with a little bit of exercise - went for a run this morning before it got really hot and I mused on all of the places I have run in my life - it is quite a sight looking down the railway line and seeing one building plus a dirty great heat haze, plus more flies than you can poke a stick at.

Further into Woop Woop!

Ah yes, I'm still alive, but not complete - still no Internet access, so I am using the Library to enjoy my little fix of the outside world.

The move went smoothly although there are boxes scattered everywhere! I've yet to set up my little home gym area, but I have been running and swimming in the early mornings (before it hits 40 degrees) and checked out a small dingy place they call a gym here (the only similarity between it and Fitness First is that it wants to charge the same rates!).

Got Miss Georgia off to Kindy and nearly every other mother here seems to be in some stage of pregnancy. I made a firm decision to either use triple strength contraception or be celibate for the rest of my time here....

She rocks my world!

All of us who are associated with Leanness Lifestyle know her, but I'd love to introduce my mate Mary L from Illinois, USA who travelled the same journey I did and competed for the first time a week after our Nationals. I first "met" Mary during Bootcamp 3, where she pipped me at the post for most weight lost over the five week period and since then we have become firm friends and compared notes about our transformation along the way. She has been such a wonderful person to discuss all aspects of competing (and life!) with and I would love you all to see her - yes, the legs are just "wow", are they not?

http://davidgreenwalts.leannesslifestyle.com/video/mary_leach.html

Leanness Lifestyle Success Gallery

Have a look at my Sidebar and click on "My Leanness Lifestyle Success Gallery" and check out my "Before and Afters". I used to peruse the Gallery all the time during my transformation and I cannot believe I have finally joined those members who I have admired from afar!

Had an awesome workout today - I was on fire!

Run 30mins - escalating intensity ladder with increasing incline/speed - yeah!

Legs/Back/Butt

Hack Squats - 3 x15, Al Cosgrove's Leg Matrix (no, I cannot walk in a straight line), chins with extra scapular retraction, hyper extensions, partial deadlifts with glute focus and to polish it all off, some seated rows.

Now getting ready for the big move to FIWW on Wednesday :)

Smacking Calories!

I really felt like a good blow out this morning, so I hopped on my bike and did RPM 31. Then I followed it up with a good dose of shoulder training in the comfort of my own study.

Behind neck press: 4 x8
Upright row with Barbell/Theraband: 4 x10
Lateral raise: 3 x 8 with Theraband raise to failure
Diamond lateral raises: 1 x 15
Ab roll back on the ball.

I've been doing a lot of reading on Alwyn Cosgrove's site. He has written a pretty informative book called "New Rules of Lifting" which approaches strength training from a more functional approach. He also has a very interesting site called "Body is a Barbell" - all about the role of bodyweight training. I'll post the links in my side bar shortly. Now that I've got little gym access, I'm really going to get into some of the newer and more cutting-edge areas of resistance and functional training. I'm also a fan of Ian King who is an Australian Strength/Conditioning legend - I was lucky enough to watch him train athletes over a number of years and learnt a lot from him as well.

Eating has not been too bad today, though I overdid the probiotic vanilla icecream. Cest la vie.

taking action

I think this is very true. I always feel so much better after I take action to achieve certain goals whether it be as simple as cleaning the house or doing some exercise.

I had an excellent training session yesterday. I did a 40 minute run on the treadmill (I am using the WW gym until the last!) and felt like I could keep running forever. I don't usually feel like this running on the treadmill, but when it happens you just want to hold onto that feeling for as long as possible.

Weights/RT was:
Chin ups with varied grips - 4 x6
Partial clean and press on the BOSU - 4 x 8
Shoulder press: 4 x 8
Dumbbell row: 4 x 8-10
Tricep Dips (body weight) : 3 x6
Seated row: 3 x 10

The rest of the day was spent finishing up with some PT clients - I have made the wonderful discovery of adding Therabands to weights to increase load - I can see I am definitely going to add it into my training - that and tricep kickbacks on the ball nearly reduced me to lactic acid teardom!

I'm heading out to Rocky today to buy myself some rubber flooring for my uber small gym space at the Further into Woop Woop house, now referred to as "FIWW" and a new pair of togs so I can start swimming immediately! I'm also going to see if I can get some more Naturoo sausages. That and the wattleseed steaks are my favourite kangaroo products.

Quick One today

I think I'm going to be pretty distracted until we move. So much to do..phone, electricity - I think that is utilities to my American friends and a list of little bits and pieces a mile high to contend with. I'm going to do a session of RPM on my bike here this morning. That will blow away the cobwebs!

"P"s, love and understanding

I chose this little motivator today because I was tickled by all the "p" words. However, when you look at it more closely, those "four steps to achievement" seem pretty spot on. I was reflecting on the "prayerful" aspect as I was out walking this morning. I love my morning walks as they help clear my mind and prepare me for the day ahead. Being prayerful can also involve being more meditative and taking the time to be reflective about life really helps me as my mind tends to race at a million miles most of the time.

Today I am sorting out moving stuff. It looks like we move again on Monday, but I cannot be sure yet as the relo consultant has not got back to us. DH is not perturbed, but I'm a gal who likes to plan so this is not good.

I went for a run yesterday and did an abbreviated chest workout - I have DOMS again this morning!

Check out this unique glute training!

Weird but true! I believe it is a version of bellydancing. There, it's not X Rated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPlw05WKTmc

Time to Refocus!

I must admit, I have been having a real struggle with trolling for food this last week. It has been driving me nuts. Part of it has to do with not setting a new goal immediately and the other part has to do with being overly anxious about what the future will bring.

I have been reintroducing "trigger foods" back into my life, the type where "one bite is too many and a thousand are never enough". Like many other women, I have a problem with certain sugary concoctions, namely my own cooking. It is weird, I am fine with store bought baked goods and chocolate, yet I cannot resist my own baking. Once you start reintroducing trigger foods, it sets you on a path of backsliding and emotional angst. The emotional cost of eating these foods is just not worth it - they don't improve my self worth, my feelings of mastery or my anxiety levels. In fact, apart from the momentary pleasure of the taste, the bad far outweighs the good. I have thrown all of my baking ingredients out. It isn't worth it. I'll probably find the next few days rough as I "de tox" from the sugar, and then I will feel much better. I've been here before.

I'm planning a big week of training. I'm feeling pretty strong despite all of the upheavals.

And the feeling is strong...

I thought I would throw this quote in today as I love Leo Tolstoy ( my best Leo moment was telling my bro who was showing off that he had read "Anna Karenina" when he actually hadn't..that poor Anna had thrown herself under a train..the look on his face was simply priceless) and that the lens that we choose to view life through really does impact on how happy we are.

I'm currently dealing with moving house. Yes, here comes our tenth move in ten years and I'm just a little bit sick of it! I've never moved anywhere though where there was no gym and this is going to be really tough. I have to look through the lens and truly believe that I can get a kick butt workout at home with little equipment rather than throwing the towel in. I've just bought my very own BOSU and am going to add a few heavier weights to my collection.

I went to the WWW and ran on the treadmill - did an awesome 40min run and felt really strong. I listened to a mix of all of my favourite Track 3,5,7 from my RPM CDs which really helped the adrenalin rush. I also did a small back workout. Until I really nail my goals, I think my workouts will suffer somewhat.

Nutrition has been OK, but not stellar - I'm still riding the topsy turvy post competition wave, though it is really been allayed by trying out new salads etc. Plus having a small piece of Koko Black and savouring every mouthful helps as well!

Food for a Leanness Lifestyle

Check out my other blog, my 'physical' clients and I are having a challenge to come up with some delicious new Lifestyle meals. Life is too short to eat crappy food IMHO!

Holy Pizza, Batman!

Yowsa! In my quest to create yet another Leanness Lifestyle gourmet meal, I overdid the calories somewhat! I made an absolutely delicious Chicken Tikka Marsala Pizza last night as part of a challenge I have with a client to come up with some more LL friendly dinners.

It was chicken breast marinated in Tikka Marsala Curry Paste and yoghurt, grilled. I placed the chicken on top of a wholemeal Lavash flat bread with mango chutney, tomato chutney and a sprinkle of cheese. Added to that, 1/2 a spanish onion, a tomato, small handful of almonds and raisins and grilled again. To top it off, a leb cucumber, fresh mango and Natural set yoghurt....and this was a meal for one! No wonder it topped near the 600 calorie mark. Mental note to self next time - chop pizza in half, serve with a salad and have the rest for lunch the next day! No wonder I found it so filling! And, yeah have gained back a kilo of weight already....

This morning I got up early and did RPM on my bike here at home. It is very weird doing RPM without a class to thrash, but by the time I got to Track 5, I was feeling pretty darn motivated. I have some DOMs going on in my upper body from my weights yesterday, so I am going to have some in my lower body to match tonight!

There truly is nothing better than balanced DOMS!

Plans and ideas

Got in a 30 minute run this morning and did an abbreviated chest and back workout - push/pull supersets.

Rope Pulldown to Front: 4 x 12
Machine Chest Press: 4 x12
Wide grip pull up with pronated grip: yowsa - 2 x 6, 2 x 5 (assisted by my own bad self :) )
Flat dumbbell flye: 4 x12

I've been trying to come up with some new plans and tentatively I am thinking of this as a rough plan.

My goals are to improve my glutes and keep adding size to my back, shoulders and chest.

November, December, February - January sees me back home and on holidays at the beach - definitely running and surfing as much as I can!

p90x Home Workout ( check it out on www.beachbody.com ) - I'm going to do it in tandem with a few of my American cyber buddies - should be fun. I will supplement it with one day per week of heavy upper body training and perhaps extra glute work. My cardio will be swimming, running, step or my new Cathe's - bring on Drillmax!

In February I am going to hook up with a good mate in Brisbane and do some adventure racing and I am thinking of doing the SportsModel division at the Girl Thing titles - want to stay relatively lean, but don't want to go all the way into action to achieve Figure bodyfat levels for awhile. Plus, wearing a dress could be fun!

July, I'm thinking of running the Gold Coast Half Marathon if family commitments are in my favour. Then I'm hoping to compete again in Figure in October - circumstances, training and geography working with me :) in a positive fashion!

I'm also looking into getting my abdominals repaired, so if I decide to go that route, then the above is really just rhetoric...so we shall see.

I've had a lovely rest but it's all system go with more cardio training and "bringing it" with the "X"!

Nationals - my take

This is going to be a long one, so bear with me!
After having an awful migraine on Thursday which left me feeling bloated and rather strange, we jetted into Melbourne just after midnight. After an uneventful ride to our hotel, Anne and I decided to apply the first coat of contest colour on Friday morning and went to bed.
We have got the Contest Colour down to a fine art now, so it was oats, low sodium protein and distilled water for breakfast, a coat of tan, quick shower and off to organize ourselves for the day. It was rather chilly in Melbourne, so first port of call was a sports store, where I snagged a pair of trackpants for only $18.00, my first Melbourne bargain. Then we hit Coles (supermarket ) and bought so many vegetables that we were seriously considering hiring a trailer to cart it all back to the hotel with. We then spent the afternoon prepping all of our meals - we decided to make a nice low sodium marinade of lime, ginger and garlic which went rather nicely with our many packets of stir fry veggies. For that added carbohydrate boost, I added in some potatoes. We applied more colour, then it was off to bed.

Saturday was comp day and we started off the day with oats, low sodium protein and distilled water and as I looked very flat (after hoofing around Melbourne for hours on end), it was time to up the calories on the way to the venue with a tube of Carnation Condensed Milk and honey and rice cakes. I will use the latter of the two next time as the condensed milk tasted terrible!

I was unfortunately still bloated from my migraine, but that did not stop me from stepping out
onto the stage with my 16 fellow competitors, including Deb and having a good time. I knew that I had no chance of placing, so I just concentrated on having a good time and enjoyed the atmosphere thoroughly. We had symmetry and muscularity rounds in the morning and the routine round at the evening show, though only the top three competitors performed their routines. It was great fun backstage as well. In fact, the highlight of the day was meeting up with every other competitor that blogs here.

Let's see - Lia - you couldn't meet a nicer gal who comes across exactly how she blogs, full of passion and enthusiasm for the sport of Figure and wow, was it fun having a Koko Black Belgian Spoil with you! Yummo!

Deb - my kindred spirit at the other end of the line up. Wow, have we both travelled a long way this year my friend! It was so great to share dinner with you and our awesome line up!

Ali - absolutely gorgeous "in the flesh" so to speak. Your blog photos don't do you any justice my girl. You are stunning and so much fun to talk to!

Di - wonderful to see you, you look so radiant and happy being Mrs B, thank you for your faithful encouragement and support, looking forward to seeing you again next year and yes, I'd love your "shack"!

Alicia - great to finally meet you and feel some of your intoxicating enthusiasm for life rub off on me. Hey, we may get to "sass it" in Figure Intermediate next year! Looking forward to seeing the muscles you create in the off season.

Rae - I enjoyed every minute we spent talking - I wish you didn't live in Perth - I'm just going to have to enjoy our online friendship until we see each other again!

Sam - what can I say - you were amazing, poetry in motion! And so much fun to be around backstage. Again, why do you have to live so far away - that's so not fair. I'll be sending healing vibes and prayers your way for a speedy recovery.

Em and Meggie - it was soo cool to meet you girls. Em, I'm so glad if I have inspired you in any way. You will see, and you will get back into shape and have another member to add to your family. You are a very special lady as is Meggie - I, too was doing a mixture of Combat choreo in my head to some of the routine music.

And great to meet Miss Jaime-Lee and Cherie!

I hope I haven't left anyone out. I just had so much fun and wish that I could do it all over again - the socializing part that is, I'm enjoying well earned recovery this week.

After the comp had finished we went to Lygon Street and I had a beautiful Veal Tortellini with Amatriciana and parmesan topping. Then a few doors down to Koko Black (thanks Lia )( www.kokoblack.com ) for an exquisite "Belgian Spoil", a series of five petite chocolate desserts and a real hot chocolate made with melted chocolate leaves. One cannot help but rave about the food in Melbourne, it is indeed the culinary capital of Australia.
We have spent the last few days taking it easy and enjoying the culture and culinary style of Melbourne ( ) - not to mention doing some hard shopping! I got to check out the Nike IPOD transmitter and buy some beautiful clothing (one size up, which totally puzzled the sales assistants). Yes, it would be nice to be this lean permanently, but the reality is that maintenance for me is about 8 pounds heavier than I am now, so I am going to work on slowly gaining weight. Weird indeed.

And plans for next year? If I compete, given my geographical restrictions, it won't be until October next year at this stage. I just want to keep adding muscle to my upper body!

First Nationals photos coming through!

Here I am "short back and sides". Report to come! I've been sidetracked by a mountain of washing! Such is the life of the Domestic Goddess!