quick catch up

Busy times as per usual! Let's see, yesterday Miss S was unwell and my dearest hubs came home early so I could go and train - I trained lower body and did some cracking "acceleration" work on the bike. Ouch! Unfortunately I slept weirdly on my shoulder last night and my neck/shoulder area is giving me trouble now. Not good when you do a lot of computer work~ it will be the wheat pack treatment and gentle mobs. tonight and physio if no better in the am.

This morning I taught Bodystep (did 5 Tracks from Bodystep 47!) and did upper body. My shoulder was not bothering me at the time. Then Shannon and I met for our own little photo shoot. Our first choice of course was Jadey, but she has been super busy - so I assumed the role of photographer and took 100 shots of Shannon - now I will have a pic of her for everyday of my blog - but she looked fantastic and well, she's worth it :). We put on some great music (think "Fergalicious"!) and got down and had a bit of a groove.

I'm still on an asparagus bender. I knocked off two bunches today - one with lunch and one as a snack with some of my Thai Chicken Rissoles - who said eating well had to mean eating bland, boring food? I obviously need an intervention!

The other thing I meant to mention is that Cathe's new DVD arrived. I immediately did the kickbox/Bootcamp workout - 53 minutes of sheer heart pumping madness. Woohoo!

Aarrggh!

What a day!

It started off OK, practiced my Step choreo for this morning's class which went without a hitch but then got booked for speeding on the way to the gym. How does one get booked for speeding in the peak hour rush - try and take a shortcut - well my little short cut cost me 6 demerit points and a whole pile of cash - which will take several Step classes to "recover". Needless to say I was rather edgy all through step and forgot a whole stack of my choreo. Sometimes you need a "stinker" class every now and again to remind you to work harder and raise the bar somewhat.

Most of the day was spent doing jobs at Indro - had Vietnamese prawn rolls for lunch - but nutritionally my day was far from stellar, completed by a visit to the Subcontinent - Indian for dinner tonight as well as two Slim Secret bars to fill the gaps today. I did have 3 pieces of fruit today though - I'm looking forward to loading up on the veggies tomorrow. My tummy is already paying the price for such processed indulgence.

After much thought I called Fitlink and told them that I couldn't take the job - the hours were Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 6-9pm and all day Saturday - which didn't make it an exactly
"family friendly" proposition. They then asked if I would prefer to work more casually (perfect!) and next week I am teaching a Postural Assessment and Core Stability unit to the Cert 4 group.

You may all wonder what the little pic of Cathe and crew is doing above. On Cathe's site ( www.cathe.com ) you can see a six minute clip of the new DVD series. Cathe again proves that you don't need a gym to kick butt at home. I have several clients who work out at home who are proof positive of this! I will be offering the 4 Day Split for $99.95 - and free postage on this and any other DVD purchased. I will also be stocking new Tracey Staehle and Amy Bento workouts being released shortly. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Now that I've got my little advertising spiel off my chest, I had better go and check what Mike has in store for me tomorrow morning. I have the worst hamstring DOMS!

Flat out!

Arrrgh I always feel like I get super busy when I move - it's like a big truck starting to rumble slowly downhill. You get on the slope and it's like...whoa! Things are moving fast. I love this expression, even though I don't drink as such. I'm putting it in for Lesley, because it is so hilariously Aussie.

I am experiencing super DOMS again from Cathe's Chest and Tricep workout and this morning I tried the original Bodymax workout from the late 90s. I had heard that it is harder than Body max 2. It took awhile to get going but once it did, it was awesome. Despite being filmed some time ago, it's aged fairly gracefully. It is amazing how workout fashions change! It's also proof positive how you get better as you get older in the muscularity department. Don't get me wrong, Cathe looks great, but I think she looks even better these days! That's why I admire all the Master's women who compete - they are most definitely my favourite division. Not long to go until I'm in that category!

I also got in an hour's walk this morning, which was great to clear my mind. Usually I learn my Les Mills choreo when I go on these walks and because we are due for launches as soon as I get back, I'm going to keep walking! I'm hoping to squeeze in some back and shoulder work this afternoon.

Thanks for all the lovely comments about my little "diet" rant. The more I work with people, the more it's becoming obvious to me how destructive the whole scenario can be and I want to be a good role model for everyone I come into contact with.

It's Coming, it's coming!

Lots of good things are coming my way in the next few weeks.

Firstly, my move back to Brisbane!

Secondly, I have nearly finished building my own website. I have decided to import high quality advanced fitness DVDs into Australia, including Cathe Friedrich. As far as I am aware, I am the sole Australian distributor for her product. I "met" Cathe online in her Pregnancy forum when we were both pregnant with our second children five years ago. I bought her "Intensity Series" back in 2002 and was so impressed with the quality and versatility of the workouts, I have never looked back. I used the DVDs post partum for those times when I couldn't go to the gym and over the years I have used a lot of Cathe's lower body DVDs in my Figure Prep for my leg training. The weight training DVDs have been excellent to use whilst I don't have any gym access and very effective. I am hoping to have the site operational by the end of the week and I will post details here.

I will also be offering online training and lifestyle coaching, including preparation for sporting events such as marathon, triathlon, cycling events and of course Figure conditioning and preparation.

I'm quite excited to be starting this project. I know I have mentioned a while back my desire to be involved more in the coaching and preparation side of things, rather than competing and this is the perfect platform for me.

Today's workout was a 65 minute walk and Cathe's LowMax. This is a low impact high intensity step workout with leg drills. I used the leg drills (blasts) when training my legs for the Qld Titles last year.

Anyway I must go and get ready for lunch, the girls are having their friends around and I have to go and make some sandwiches. Later!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I have been having a real battle with my "Inner Gollum" this week - that's my inner voice that sometimes rises to the surface to tell me that it is OK to stuff my face full of sugar and that it doesn't matter anymore because I'm not competing! I have to rein him in and tell him it's not OK and that because I'm not competing it matters even more. Then TOM arrived explaining the feelings I have had over the past few days. I wrote the date on the calendar and made a note in my diary that around PMS time, to purposely eat more to avoid getting the inexplicable cravings. It is amazing how even when we are saying nothing we have this internal dialogue that buzzes at us all the time. A client and good friend of mine calls her inner voice "The Fat Girl" and regularly updates us all on how she sends the b*tch packing! It sounds funny, but I think it's really effective.

Workout today involved Cathe's Terminator - Imax Extreme - the Terminator Workout contains three "eat your Weetbix" workouts - today's was cardio interspersed with interval blasts and plyo jumps. Then I followed up with 30 minutes of swimming - mixed strokes - I have discovered in my old age a talent for breaststroke I never knew I had!

I have really been enjoying the World Swimming Champs this week - Michael Phelps has been nothing short of amazing - as well as Frenchwoman Laure Manadou who "sprints" with a two beat kick. I keep studying them in the water and looking at their body placement and think about how they are so fast and efficient (vs how slow and inefficient I am in comparison).

Now it's back to "Thai Harder"

Feeling much better today. It's amazing how watching "Desperate Housewives" and having a decent kip diminish a bad mood. Today I got up early and went for about an hour walk and listened to an Alwyn Cosgrove podcast which was quite interesting. Basically Alwyn stated you get the biggest financial return from being well educated in your field and having the passion to keep raising the bar higher and higher... it all boils down to the old adage "do what you love and the money will follow".

This morning's harder workout consisted of Imax Extreme which is from Cathe's DVD "The Terminator". I managed to juggle plyo jumps with making sure Miss G (who has a sore throat) was kept happy. As a mother, you are always multi tasking! I am really nice and sore from Push Pull yesterday!

Feeling the Cathe love!

I'm officially on a Cathe bender at the moment. Today I pulled out "Kick, Punch and Crunch" and really enjoyed it, after getting off to a slow start. I had only done this one once before a few years back and couldn't remember any part of it, so it was like having a brand new DVD all over again. I followed this up with a 25 min swim (1200m) and "New Rules of Lifting" Break In Workout A.

I received my "Chicken or Chocolate" TShirt from Lia today and also in my parcel was the National Titles DVDs and (the best part!) a "Koko Black" hot chocolate at home pack. If I have the choice of "chicken or chocolate" when I have a Koko Black option, guess what wins? I didn't want to post pics of my mug two days in a row, but will be modelling the T-shirt later this week!
I was also lucky enough to have a great chat to Lia on the phone today as well.

I have officially decided that I am not going to compete this year. Really I am having fun with all sorts of other stuff right now and as I mentioned earlier, feel that I'm headed more down the coaching and preparation path anyway. Plus it is great to be fit and healthy just for the heck of it ;) I haven't actually spent much time in "maintenance mode" and learning to keep good balance and perspective has been my challenge so far in 2007. I'm getting there though!

Scrambled eggs and connections

This morning I did Cathe's Bodymax 2 premix called "Scrambled Eggs" which was mainly cardio with some extra leg drills thrown in. It certainly didn't disappoint - my HR stats were very impressive - 714 kcal burnt, max HR 161, average 143. I don't tend to take much notice of the stats but they are very fun to read post workout! I am planning another visit to the Room of Requirement tomorrow after I do some Yoga and RPM/Spinervals. I'm thinking of taking out the Spinervals Core Conditioning tape for a nice (!) change.

Now where was I in regards to connections? Yes, I have an ITB that is playing up which is probably related to my SIJ problems. I gave it a stretch on my foam roller this morning. Yipes, that bit! I'm actually looking forward to doing some Yoga tomorrow morning.

I'm going to make some more kangaroo lasagna tonight and I am going to give kangaroo chili con carne a test run. The girls love chili and so do I. This should work out to be uber lean and will go down a treat with a small side of rice and some steamed veggies. I was lucky that the veggie truck had hit the local store today and I bought up big :)

I learnt that yesterday's temps reached 42 degrees C. No wonder I have been feeling so hot :)

Maxing it out!

Today I woke up feeling less of a fat bloated bovine and decided it was time to get back on the "X". So, it was Legs and Back this morning, with a real focus on technique. I didn't achieve as many pull ups as I did in Week 3, but I'm not too worried about that - quality over quantity in this case wins every time.

I am having fun playing with my new HR monitor and decided to test it out doing a 60minute cardio premix of Bodymax 2. Let me say there is "doing Cathe" and "really doing Cathe". Shall we say that the HR monitor was a really great way of getting me to work that much harder. The thought of devoting an hour to exercise and not getting my heart rate up there is horrifying to me, so I really caned it! I was cactus by the end of it. For those who are not familiar with Cathe, imagine Bodystep x 2 - the intensity doesn't drop in this one, but rather increases right to the end where you finish yourself off with air plyo jacks and 180 degree power squats! My heart rate stats looked like this: average HR 143, Max HR (during workout) 164bpm 493kcal torched!

I woke up to rain this morning, which is rare for Woop Woop and was hoping that would make a dent in my ant problem. No luck there unfortunately. I am having fun running around and chasing them with my vacuum cleaner - hey it could be a new sport!