Decide Commit Succeed

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go".- William Feather

Today's tag line comes from a well known fitness and DVD company (Beachbody.com) and really sums up long term success. Shelley has alluded to it in her blog earlier this week - decide what YOU want and really go for it. If you have your eyes on the prize you can endure the sacrifices you may make along the way for it. This doesn't apply to just body fat loss, it applies to all areas of life.

I'm really running with the above quote today. Essentially, I'm in "post comp mode" without having competed and although most of the time, I've been pretty 'even' with my nutrition, yesterday I allowed myself to get overtired and let the Inner Gollum in for a pity party. I felt like a complete failure for quite a long time - I could hear Gollum, after telling me it didn't matter and that I needed to live a little, rattling around in my brain telling my other good mate, the old Inner Critic, that I totally sucked because I failed and that it was so awful that I had done this to myself etc etc. The Inner Critic took me by surprise and had me questioning at one stage why I do what I do.

Being a fan of John Maxwell, I decided to "fail forward" - that is, get up, dust off straight away and begin to fight back against Gollum and the IC. I put Gollum in it's place by logging and preparing all of my meals for today and going straight to bed. I negated with the IC and told her that she was awfulizing about something that happens to the best of us. Something I used to believe was that by being a coach, by being an exercise physiologist, by "knowing" something about this field, that it would help me to become immune to failure where eating is concerned.

Being human, I can say this is not the case. I have to work at it all the time - as someone said once "life is managed, not cured" - I allowed tiredness and mental fatigue to open the door to patterns of destructive behaviour, which combined with other factors create the Food Beast which is alive in us all.

I hadn't planned on blogging about this at all, rather - go away, lick my wounds and go on as if failure never happens to me. But I'm blogging about it so that I can highlight to myself (and anyone else that may be interested), the value of what you can do after a "failure" to ensure your success in the future.

What this brought home to me is that I need to honour myself more with my own path (for a start, doing more with my own training/nutrition program) and avoid the path of too much work, not enough sleep and no time for myself. Failure has brought that into focus more and things are in motion so that the balance tips more in my favour.

I'm looking forward to this week, shuffling work to be in my favour, having some social time (lunch..yay!) and recharging with a sports massage.

I is flat out...

Gosh, I've been feeling rather tired today...I wonder why?

Get up at 0430hours and learn Bodystep Choreo

0630 - Take kids to Before School Care

0700 - First PT client

0745 - 20 minutes of weights and 10 minutes of cardio

8.20 - sneak out to Gloria Jeans for a cup of tea, shoot off two or three quick emails

0910 - teach Bodystep

1030 - quick shower

1045 - Client Two

1130 - quick snack and collect mail

1230 - Client Three (hello Miss Lee from Melbourne :)

1400 - lunch at Phuc Viet with Miss Lee

1500 -pick girls up from School

1515 - prep arvo tea for the girls, I'm still full from lunch

1600- ballet

1700 - baths, get kids ready for going out

1800- dinner

1900- Choir performance for the school

1830 - log on, check most important emails

1900 - Me thinks it's time to watch "Chasers War on Everything" before turning in for the night. I've been feeling a bit blue (due to being completely swamped, surprise surprise) and watching stupid people is going to give me a well deserved cackle :)

Picture significance: What I'm going to book to bring balance back to the Force!

I hate "hangers on"

Yeah, I hate "hangers on" of the viral variety - I think it's a virus because I don't have any other symptoms except being blocked up (in the head!) -I'm still in "sick mode" unfortunately and things are mounting up. I had to teach RPM today which wasn't that bad which gives me another idea that the dreaded lurgy is viral and on the way out (hopefully).

I wish I had something exciting to post, that I smashed my training and that I'm fire but sadly this isn't the case. I'm head down, bum up trying to learn my Step and RPM choreo for Saturday.

Looking forward to coming up for air (and being able to breathe it!) really soon!

Currying Favour...Not!

Gosh, I can't believe today's little episode...

Here's the background....

I hate Indian telemarketers with a passion, I hate the intrusion despite a Do Not Call being put in place. It's up there with those stupid phishing emails from the bank, don't get me started on them either.

I had a call this afternoon from the forementioned. I knew it was a telemarketer - they immediately asked for Mrs N. I asked him what it was regarding. The persistent little prick kept saying "I want to talk to Mrs N" to which I said, "she won't come to the phone, unless she knows who is calling". He kept on going, to which finally I told him to go f*** himself.

Five minutes later I get a call from the same bloke telling me to f*** off and that I was the craziest f*****g bitch in Brisbane. Whilst on the F word, un --effing -believable.

I know where I'd like to shove an extra hot vindaloo right now....

And...Execute!!!!

Today's post is to say I planned my workout and I got it in! Yeah! I'm still feeling too clogged up to do cardio so after a really thorough warm up I hit the weights- upper body today - really enjoyed it and felt really fresh and enthused about everything. Took my creatine, my glutamine, BCAAs and an extra big serve of oats. I cannot believe that a few years ago I subsisted on a 30g serve. These days it has to be at least 50g (and one day I'm hoping to bust the 100g mark, but that is some time off). Grow muscles, grow!

You gotta do yourself a favour

And head to Kek's Good Food Blog stat! I just made the Casablanca Chicken (well, rather I chucked it all in the slow cooker this morning) and it is awesome. I had it with green vegetables as per suggestion and it was really very tasty.

I spent another day at home doing nothing except home related stuff interspersed with some computer time and some reading and now I've got a nice clean house and a feeling of returning sanity! I still have paperwork to tackle but things are shaping up rather nicely.

I have been trying to decide what is the next move for me fitness and nutrition wise. Shelley came up with the idea of doing another photo shoot in a few months time so I can be "fabulous at forty". I think this is awesome because I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the photos on Monday. And I think my plan is going to centre more around strength training as opposed to cardio because it's the biggest challenge for me. I want to focus on improving my strength! So the first move is for me to start prioritizing it more - that is I'm going to start with strength training, rather than cardio (I prefer to do it the other way around) as my first port of call.

Heading back to work tomorrow. I've got meals all planned out and all I have to do now is plan my workout.

Late notice but potentially worthwhile watching..

Just a heads up to everyone interested in food and nutrition. The SBS are doing a series called "Food Investigators" and I picked up on this because I believe one of the episodes is on Paleo Nutrition. Website is www.sbs.com.au/shows/foodinvestigators Hope I got this link right!

Having the day off has panned out well - Brisbane is pretty much flooded everywhere. Luckily our little rental is up high and we're cozy and safe. In fact I thought the advice to take a day off was so good, that I am having tomorrow off as well. I've been snoozing and relaxing most of the day, although I'm sick it is a wonderful feeling to stop and take stock.

Before I forget, a big thank you for the compliments on my photos and the get well wishes. They're really appreciated. I still can't believe how well I scrubbed up. It's great incentive to keep loving the fit life...off to have dinner and watch TV now...

Sick as a Dog

Today it's all catching up with me, I've discovered that I'm not quite as "bionic" as I thought. The cold that I've been trying to unsuccessfully fight off has taken up residence in my body and after a morning of PT work, looking after kids (who were affected by school strike) and writing an article for Ultrafit this afternoon, it's finally hit me. All I can say is I wish Cold and Flu tablets worked for me. Unfortunately all they do is keep me awake all night. I'm exhausted now though - and staying away from the fridge as that is when my Beast pounces on me, when I'm tired and "don't care".

I have been on a high since the show (and the photo shoot). Seeing everyone compete and feeling the energy around me keeps me awake the night after. I didn't sleep at all much last night either. As well as the excitement of the photo shoot, I received a wonderful email from a good friend last night which left me choked up. But I'm good, I know that I will truly rest tonight and hopefully regain my bionic strength tomorrow - RPM and Step, I'm going to need it.

Feeling like Bionic Woman!

Selina and I had a fantastic time at our photo shoot today with Dallas Olsen - I have to admit that I'm scared of having my photo taken but I love this action shot! It makes me feel really athletic! I cannot thank Dallas enough for his expertise and encouragement. And I cannot wait to see Selina's shots, we had a few windswept ones going on that were amazing. Anyway will hopefully have more later on in the week.

Brisbane INBA Titles 2009

Bringing sexy back....:)

working those abs baby!

Selina and I backstage - just before showtime!

Selina, getting ready to shine (after eating a few carefully dispensed jelly snakes)

I knew there would be a few bloggers who would be interested in the events of today, so here I post. Actually it's nice to be posting as I don't think at this rate, I'll have Wordpress up and running for a few weeks and I miss writing in my blog - so I think my moving announcement may have been a little premature.

I only had one client competing today, my gorgeous Supergal, Selina , who did an amazing job in Figure Novice. There were fourteen competitors and Selina came a very creditable fourth and looked amazing. Her posing was excellent and her conditioning was spot on - I'm a very happy "coach". One of the things I love about coaching for Figure is really dialling it in - I tweaked a little bit with carb timing due to learning more about glycogen synthesis and it worked brilliantly - we were both able to stay pretty relaxed over the whole day and really enjoy ourselves. So thank you to Selina for putting your faith in me and hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (says Little Miss Piggy who is enjoying a Raspberry Lindor ball!)

It was great to see Shelley and Katie compete - I do have photos, but will let them share their stories with you.

Also awesome to catch up with Shannon, Tara (thanks for the help T), Tiarna, Nicole, Lindy, Debs, Steph, Jadey, Kerry, Hilary, Di, Tea and Dallas (and apologies for anyone I may have inadvertently left out).

Blogger Experts..questions

1) Is the following gadget the same as Google Reader
2) If I want to delete the following gadget but keep everyone's details in Google reader, how do I go about doing that (right now, I'm manually deleting blogs I'm following and putting them into Google reader - or if you're following are you automatically in Google reader?

Any help is gratefully accepted? On Wordpress, want to keep everyone in Google reader or sidebar instead.

I'm moving!!!

Not very far ...to Wordpress actually! I'm trying to teach myself more about websites and computers so I'm going to move my blog. I'm trying to work out how to do everything so if I disappear for a little while this is what I'm up to. At the rate I'm going it will be more likely to be a few weeks as opposed to a few days as I will be also learning a new operating system (Mac). Like Lia, I've decided to go down the Mac route as well - so all things being well, I will be the proud owner of a Mac in the next few weeks - I have until June 30 to buy.

Hope everyone is going well with their training.
Stay fit, live lean and love life and see you when I'm up and running!

Playing with my delirium

Another day, another lyric but a perfect example of how I've been feeling with a lack of sleep! Luckily for me I saw sense last night, went to bed at 8.30pm and slept straight through until 5am this morning when it was time to get up and train a client then train myself. It feels like the whole world has opened up for me again training wise now that I'm not competing and I'm headed down the road of wanting to be a strong fit all rounder - little bit of this and a little bit of that. This morning's workout was all about assessment of where I am right now - despite no lower body work for the last six weeks or so given the high volume of classes I teach, my squats and deadlifs were pretty tidy this morning. As I don't want killer DOMS I kept the weights fairly moderate and focused on technique and cardio wise I did an aerobic base style treadmill run and tried out the new cardio equipment which was fun - we got a piece of equipment that mimics skating - not sure how I feel about that one!

Had a terrific Mother's Day yesterday - it seems as the girls are getting older, it's becoming even more fun - they had made me all manner of things, a home made card , some apricot slice (which had melted and was congealed into a very strange shape indeed which was hilarious) - the funniest part was that Miss S had sent hubby off with a shopping list which he later gave me which said - "one set of tulips, no card (already sorted)" - that, I am keeping to give to her when she is 21! I got the tulips too :)

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the show on Sunday, I'm still very glad I made the decision that I did and want to say publicly how much I appreciated everyone's comments on my last post. As I mentioned originally I am still having my photos done with Miss Selina - am looking forward to going to Lorna Jane and picking out my outfits with the help of my fellow Bodystep instructor Miss W who also works at Lorna and has a great knack of putting together great outfits.

I'm feeling ..a little peculiar

Have you ever listened to a song where the lyrics just stuck in your head? That seems to be happening a lot these days and I've taken to updating my Facebook status with lyrics, movie lines and the like and amazed at how many of us think the same way. I think today's title is a pretty easy one!

It's been an interesting week - I've had a mixed response from others on the subject of not competing, am I somehow a quitter because I didn't see it through to the end? I don't see it that way at all, rather I weighed up all the options and decided that I would rather be fiscally responsible than spend the money on what essentially is a fifteen minute moment. I think the "glory" in it is being able to stay lean year round - not comp lean though. I think my 'prep' has shown me that I can stand to 'live leaner' so that is my charter out of the experience. I'm loving how I look and walking taller - I'd also forgotten the positive impact being lighter has on my cranky pelvis.

Another side effect has been a renewed interest in good nutrition through a more Paleo way of eating. In the long term I am planning on eating Paleo about 85% of the time which would leave six healthy meals that don't fit the Paleo bill but still good for you all the same. I have been experimenting with spelt bread which doesn't seem to upset my belly and quinoa - a visit to the Health Food store showed me varieties I didn't know existed, so it should be fun trying out some new recipes eventually.

I'm also headed in new directions professionally as well, finding myself increasingly doing more writing for fitness magazines, collaborating with Lindy and Dallas Olsen which is great because we can write, model and do fantastic photography which is awesome. Our next article is "Deconstructing the Bench Press" which will be in next issue of Ultrafit. I've also got a few things coming up in Oxygen magazine so am really pleased with that.

I love the above picture, I think it captures really well the concept of 'living lean and loving life'.

Making My Mind Up!

I was going to find a photo of Buck's Fizz, but I decided that I don't want to inflict that upon any of you that read this blog, so I'm going Blankety Blank instead.

I made a decision tonight, that is I'm not going to compete in the INBA titles in Brisbane on the 17th May.

I hate admitting it, but a lot of the reason is financial - we've just made our first drawdown for the house and we're thinking of sending the girls to Ipswich Grammar next year. When I added up the cost of joining the INBA, the entry fee, the tan etc, I just felt that what I would gain from the experience would not be as worth as much to me as that money will be going somewhere else.

A lot of people often pull out of a comp because of insecurity about how they are looking - in my case, this couldn't be further from the truth. I look amazing, I am fit, I am toned and I cannot wait to have my photos done with Dallas on the Monday following the comp! Everytime I pass my reflection in the mirror (after checking out my biceps of course) ,I marvel and smile at how good I look and feel (especially after sleeping in this morning).

Over dinner tonight, I reflected on if my decision would change what I ate tonight. No, things went on just as normal.

I can't wait to see everyone at the show and I cannot wait to show everyone my photos.