Changing the Script

Isn't it funny how we humans always see things in such a negative light.

We're never  ... "good at anything"

....."pretty enough,"

......"thin enough,"

......"wealthy enough,"

......"disciplined enough,"

......"strong enough,"

and the list goes on and on. 

 We humans are conditioned to think the worst.

"I can't, because........."

"Why should I bother?"

"What if x,y or z happens?"

"What if I die?"

What if, just for today or even just this moment as you're reading this, we changed the script.

Today I am grateful for these positive attributes...

...I am strong ( I can kick butt in the gym and teach a mean whacker of an RPM class with my God given chunky quads!)

...I am true to myself and my core beliefs

...I am creative (and sometimes messy, but in the light of positive attribution, I'm cheerfully random) 

...I am attractive whether I'm uber lean, large or somewhere in between.  I have some very character forming wrinkles and crinkles that appear when I smile, which today are kind of cute rather than kind of annoying.

.. I am lucky that I am financially secure (Lotto win a few weeks back would have been good though!)

...I am really fit and can run, jump, dance and sing (well the last two are up to interpretation of course!)

So how are you going to celebrate your uniqueness and "awesomeness" today?

Hope everyone has a really positive Saturday!

Patterning

Today I was reflecting on the little patterns and habits we allow ourselves to fall into. This stemmed from having a discussion with one of my clients who is a Phd student. We were comparing notes about the art of procrastination. Why is it that we feel so much better when we get the job done, rather than put it off. Yet procrastination is one of my worst vices.

When we do rehab on clients, it can take 2000- 3000 repetitions of the new movement pattern over and over for it to be integrated into our nervous system pathway and response - so I'm taking the same tack with procrastination, eating well and staying lean.

Each meal is an opportunity to cement a good pattern and considering that most people eat 42 times a week, continual practice is necessary to keep building these new habits. So, if you fall over, get straight back up and start working on grooving your new behaviour patterns into your psyche. The good news is that you don't have to be perfect, just consistent most of the time.

After yesterday's cardio whacker (RPM and STep), I only had to teach Step this morning which was a relief, my entire body is in a world of pain from Tuesday and I'm lining up for more punishment in the morning!

Affirmation

Had an absolute cracker of a training session yesterday with Miss Shelley - we did a Chest/Biceps workout. We're still doing a bodybuilderish type of split at the moment but trying to be as functional with the moves as possible. Yesterday's workout consisted of decline push ups with 12.5kg worth of plates on my back (on toes), and absolutely blitzed the bench press yesterday with 8 x 45 kg bench effort (5 unassisted, 3 forced reps). For a little piss-ant like me, I'm totally chuffed with my efforts.

Shelley is also improving in leaps and bounds, especially with her push ups - we've now got her plated up and looking stronger. This is one time when being shorter has its' advantages!

I woke up this morning checking for bicep DOMS, they're not painful yet, but definitely very very fatigued. And my chest is starting to kick in as well.

Anyway, to today's post - affirmation. I am finding these hard training sessions very affirmative - I left yesterday with a belly full of Paleo Pancakes, an exhausted upper body, yet feeling so good about myself and the improvements I'm making in strength.

I would really like to go for a 50kg bench as my next strength goal and it must have been providence that Mike Robertson dropped a newsletter in my Inbox about improving the bench press, so guess what I am reading when I get home from work.

Today has been cardio heavy - RPM this morning and about to get my kit together to teach Bodystep. Then I'm getting glammed up and having a haircut before picking the girls up from school and taking them to ballet.

INBA All Female Classic 2009

Casey, Figure Novice - Stunning looks and a very impressive set of shoulders
Miss Selina - part of the "S" team , Figure Intermediate, 3rd

Miss Shannon, other half of the "S" team looking fab in pink...
Now that's a winning back! Shan, Figure Intermediate 1st. Red wine makes a good back even better!


Wow, what a weekend! There was so much going on I almost don't know where to begin, but I'll start with the purpose of my visit to Melbourne - to support the three girls I prepped for the INBA All Female Classic.

The weekend started on Friday when I met Shannon and her hubby Lins at the airport for our 11am flight down to Melbourne - was a pretty uneventful flight and I enjoyed my Virgin Chicken Caesar Wrap (I have this on every Virgin flight I take..yes, I know I'm weird, I like aircraft food) on the way down. We checked into our hotel, which was located in Chinatown, and then went in search of food and a place for Shannon to get her nails done. Once we had sorted Lins out with a steak, it was time to go home for another coat of Contest Colour and meal of sweet potato, veggies and chicken for Shannon.

Then it was time to polish up the routine. Shannon and I are very similar in that we are pretty laid back and often leave such details until the last minute.

So we started and Shannon said:
"I was thinking of this.. I'm not sure, " to which I then jumped off the couch faster than Tom Cruise and said:
"we need to walk in 2-3-4 and side chest 6-7-8 and then left hand, right hand, front double bicep and then TRICEP!!!! (Did you hear I said tricep!)."

Before we knew it, we'd put together a spiffy little routine interspersed with some Indian takeaway that had a less than positive effect on my bowels, but nevermind. Practised in our PJs, the only way to do a routine! Made up my mind to tell Jo Rogers I was a serious threat to her routine business..not!

Off to bed then and on Saturday morning we parted company and Shannon went off to meet Selina and get her hair done and I went off to Fitness First in Richmond for the 7.15am High Performance RPM where I caned my workout and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Then I had breakfast at a French Boulangerie (I don't muck around when I go away lol!) and jumped on a tram to St Kilda, eventually finding my way to the venue around 11am where I met the beautiful Casey and stunning Selina.

Casey and I have been training together online since January, met up in Sydney in April and I couldn't believe the transformation between then and Saturday. Fan- bloody-tastic! Casey won the "Best Routine" in her division, in my opinion it was one of the best routines of the night. Met her partner Lee for the first time as well, what a great bloke. Case, well done! Very proud of you!

Selina and Shannon both stepped on stage for Intermediate Figure. This was fantastic as both girls had so much fun together on stage! I was trying my best to be fair in my cheering "go Selina, go Shannon!" when I realized it was much easier to yell, "go Team S!!!!! go the sistas!" Both girls looked amazing - Selina's abs were sensational and Shannon's back was, in Lins' words, "BOOM!!!!"

Preliminaries over, we headed to Malvern with Kate and Linda (Mighty Mouse). I really enjoyed spending time with both of these girls - I cannot believe that Miss Mouse only had her daughter a year ago (I was about 35kg heavier post preg, so I was suitably impressed) and we had a great chat over scrambled eggs on toast and a hot chocolate to boot! Kate was fantastic as I asked her to watch my bag, hold my Dream Tan etc etc (sorry I was such a bossy boots Kate!). I even got to slap up Linda for the evening show! At my side during the whole backstage slapping, lolly dispensing pre stage prepping was Kerryn who kindly let little Miss Doubting THomas Liz try her Banana Paleo Pancake. OMG, sensational, is all I can say - guess who is now churning these little rippers out like the clappers? lol.

The evening show was great fun with all of my girls winning or placing in something (Case, best routine; Selina 3rd and Shannon 1st) - I must say I left with a rather swollen ego on Saturday night - went home and cleaned up and then we all headed to Lygon Street for Pizza and Koko Black (as you do after a show!) . What a great evening I had with everyone!

Big sleep and pancakes with Lins and Shannon on Sunday morning in a little "alley" cafe and then we headed off to Bridge Road for a spot of shopping (both Shannon and I scored a top and jacket each...yahoo) and then it was back into the CBD to catch up with Kerryn and Selina for lunch (as well as Shannon's sister, Kelly and her boyfriend, Ross). I bought a fantastic pair of boots from Nine West.

It was all over too soon - off to the airport and back home (but not before I bought two handbags from the airport in Melbourne..Shannon and Shelley have corrupted me - I am going to buy one of Shelley's bags for sure...now I just have to go out every five minutes.)

There's so much to say - so nice to catch up with everyone (Magda, Lia, Rae, Jeh, Friday, LJ, Kerry, Sara, Jo....just to name a few)

Flying High

Off to Melbourne shortly to help Shannon, Selina and Casey at the All Female Classic!

I'll be sure to update with some photos and post when I can.

See you soon!

Pull Up Princess

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. Things are moving on this front and whilst it could be imagined that I'd be jumping up and down for joy that it's all being put right, it's more a sense of disappointment that pervades my thoughts on the matter, although I'm relieved to see some resolution on some fronts.

However, enough of that. Yesterday I went to the gym and had a much needed tempo-interal-ly style of run. Yeehah.

Then I did something out of the ordinary - I casually sauntered up to the chin up rack, looked at it and thought, "I wonder...".

So I grabbed the bars and hung there momentarily and thought "let's see..." and just like that I had pulled myself up!

Woooohhoooooo. My first unassisted pull up in years!

Wondering if it was a fluke, I lowered myself and tried again. I got up there again but gosh, did it look ugly!!!!

Two pull ups nailed...unassisted!

I'm sure when Shelley comes back and I try this again, I'll have to write it off as an adrenalin fuelled fluke! Anyway, it was a nice fluke!

I have really missed training this week. The DOMS party that we're going to have next week shall be quite the occasion!

Credit where Credit is Due...

I've had this post bubbling away in me for quite a while, but hadn't known exactly how I wanted to express it. As is usual Liz standard, I'm just jumping headlong into this one boots and all.

When I started this blog back in 2006, it was to serve the purpose of writing about my journey to my second Figure Competition and my thoughts about prepping, training and eating well in a remote location. Things have changed a lot since then - as many of you would know, I started my online coaching business, "The Fitness Solution" in early 2007. I consider myself extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to connect with so many clients who have also become good friends. I have learned so much from my clients and have also learned about myself in the process - and have used my blog as a platform from which to dish my perspective about a whole slew of things, from fitness training through to emotional eating through to life's everyday mysteries. When I hear that something I have written about has had a positive effect on someone else or that another blogger relates to whatever conundrum I'm posting about, I'm really pleased. Even better, it's fantastic when you get credited publicly for such effect.

It also works in reverse - I have met so many bloggers who have inspired or helped me with a post that they have written and because I know how good I feel when I get credited for my stuff, I try to ensure I credit them if I am writing about something that has been directly inspired by them (for example, I couldn't write about Lamb Saag without crediting Kek ) . It's basic good manners and I believe that good manners makes the world a better place, because without good manners, the world can go downhill pretty fast.

The past few months I have been a victim of what I would call the one lowest common denominator in the variety of Online Pond Scum - that is the Copyright/Moral rights infringer. I have seen my blog posts and parts of my blog posts turn up on other peoples' websites/blogs as if they were their own. I've even had a forum post I wrote to help someone on a fitness forum turn up as someone else's work. The scary part was that I didn't know until a few readers sent me emails alerting me to the infringements.

Seeing this has really stirred up different emotions in me - the first initially was that I couldn't believe that anyone would want to plagiarize my writing and then that quickly turned to feeling like I'd been violated. I had thoughts of taking my blog private and thought that it might be a shame if anything I write really helps anyone. I don't want to sound like I have tickets on myself, but if I've helped make the world a better place, it's been worth it.

Being the idealist that I am, I hired a solicitor who is helping me sort out these issues. (compensation and removal of my writing from certain sites/blogs) I'm certainly not going to profit financially from any of this but I hope I'm sending a strong message that I will stand up to anyone I see trying to profit from my writing (or anyone else dear to me for that matter).

The more I've thought about it, I think that much of it boils down to really bad manners and some naivety on my part - I really believe that 99% of us are good, 99% of us do have good manners and give credit where it is due. I also want to stress to be wary of what you post in an Internet forum, even if it is with the good intentions of helping others or Facebook or Twitter for that matter.

I'm not going to stop writing and I can safely say that others influence my blogging in a big way. That said though, I want to ensure that I give credit where it is due and ask for the same in return.