Letting Go of the Numbers

Had a smasher of a training session today with Mrs Biologica and emerged tired but triumphant! There's always something to be learned from having a good crack at something and today's lesson was in learning to ignore the numbers.

On Tuesday, I got a bench press of 52.5kg, but as soon as I started thinking about how much weight that was, I lost the plot a bit. Shelley was the same, a bit startled that she can military press as much as she can bench (which means she could pick up a tiny weeny figure competitor in a cinch!) - as soon as we stopped thinking about the numbers, we started lifting more. Shelley did a PB in our push ups - added the 10kg plate and off she went, hesitantly in the first set and smashed the second (the difference - she didn't realize that I'd added the 10kg back for the second set!). Which meant I had to pull my finger out and get 15kg - for 8 reps only, I ended up submarining on the floor and couldn't push myself up again. Ouch!

The power of the mind is an amazing thing. Sometimes we have to cast the numbers aside and what we think we can do and just go to that place where we really test our potential.

The other thing that stands out in my mind is "course correction". Lately I've been paying more attention to planning my meals and generally eating less processed stuff and more greens, lean protein etc. Today I rushed out the door with only my pumpkin soup as my post workout snack. I ended up having to buy an HPLC bar at the gym and because that sucker packs nearly 400cals I had to cut it in half (yeah, bugger!). When I got home, the old belly was growling in a major way - the chicken and veggie stir fry was just not going to cut it alone so I had a slice of spelt toast with lunch. Aaah, much better! Not on my original "plan" but I'm now happy and comfortable rather than trolling for food like a mad banshee.

Well after all that heavy lifting I am going to have a little lie down as I'm busily preparing for life in a new decade.

Evaluation of Nutrition and Training Plans

Hello bloggers, I feel like I've been away from you forever....but I'm back!

Here's what is going on with me....

Over the past 8 weeks or so I have dropped 4.5kg (yes, I have mentioned that I was having to take a little action). Here's what I did:

*Trained on average about an hour a day - this was divided up into approximately 40 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of strength training. If you add RPM into the mix, it's about a 75% cardio, 25% strength training split. I took on average one rest day per week, sometimes two.
*I had 10 days off any serious training due to tonsillitis
*I was away from home for approximately 5 nights
*I ate meals that contained starchy carbohydrates in them 4 times a day, and mostly did not log my food intake. When I did, my macronutrient ratios were approximately 40% carb, 40% protein and 20% fat (as an example, yesterday I ate: Oats and protein (pre training), Slim Secrets bar, 1/2 a banana , Big Asian Salad (which included a small serve of noodles) with 100g chopped turkey breast, oats and protein powder with cinnamon and the other banana half, 2 bunches of asparagus and hommus dip, Grilled salmon, small baby potato and buckets of greens/carrots.

Now many so called "experts" out there would look at this plan and say "too much starchy carbohydrate!", "not enough strength training!", "not enough application to training ". So why, using this model have things worked so well?

*when I train, I treat every session with specific intent, that is if I plan to smash it in RPM , I really try to cane it, if I'm focusing on my shoulder rehab, I work on my mobilizations. When I'm strength training, I'm all about doing a quality 20 minutes of what I can do and what is complementary to my current position rather than trying to waste my time on exercise which is essentially useless to me right now. Somebody at the gym asked me "Don't you miss doing bench presses?" and I was reminded about Lisa's post on Labels - my reply was, "I don't need to be doing bench presses right now." They were pretty surprised and asked me, "why" - my response was along the lines of that my body needs a lot more pulling type work to maintain a good posture and 3 sets of push ups on my toes (which I'm very chuffed about given the annus horribilus shoulder year) was all I needed to keep my chest muscles happy. If my specific intent was different, well the answer would be obviously different.
*when I eat, I really listen to my body - I'd been having the old "let's mow down the fridge" syndrome upon coming home from work - so I decided to trial what I call my "Mad Monkey" oats (thank you Shelley) - oats and protein and a sliced banana (no magical powers there, just tastes awesome) for afternoon tea. What a difference that has made - less stress, less cortisol and frankly (the best part), a nice full belly.
*I treat my body like a science experiment and encourage everyone to do the same - this is a cornerstone rec of PN and a good one - if you don't get the results over a two week period, then make a change. I had a bit of a stall there - so my strategy there was to "clean up " a little and it worked well.

This post isn't meant to be "flipping the bird" to anyone who likes to approach things from a different perspective - everyone's journey is amazingly different - however I want to use it as an example that you don't have to blindly follow a fitness/food trend (eg low fat, low carb etc) or a rigid diet to get "results".

The actual mechanics of it is quite easy on paper - it's the application of the mechanics that will trip most.

Make small manageable changes, believe in your capacity to achieve great things, try to beat your own personal best (ie don't look at others, look at the wonder within) and most of all, ENJOY THE JOURNEY.

Makes all the difference!

Yes, good food does make all the difference. I have been eating very healthily for about two to three years now and I have always felt like I had become used to just how much better my body runs on a) good choices and b) lots of variety. I rarely eat junk food, except for the occasional treat when I feel like it (there is such a thing as being too healthy). Except for yesterday - I was extremely busy and on the run all day. Even though my choices weren't super dreadful - I had a McDonald's Extra Lean Burger for lunch and a couple of slices of Pizza Hut Thin and Crispy veggie supreme pizza for dinner, plus my usual vegetables , it really did feel like I was not running on "premium unleaded" like I normally am. Sometimes it takes these sorts of days to realize just what a difference eating well makes.

This is why I ask my clients to aim for "consistency" and not "perfection". This way you can learn from your actual experience without beating up on yourself. Was I "perfect" yesterday? - no - but my experience helped me solidify what I know about good eating. It's just another way of "walking the walk."

Shall we say, I don't think it helped with my post workout recovery - taught a great RPM class, but exhausted this morning.

Today I have enjoyed catching up on some housework and am off to do a little food prep - pumpkin and cauliflower soup is the go :) I just cook my regular pumpkin soup, only I add in a head of cauliflower. It's a little more textured than the pumpkin soup, but it's nice and chunky which is what I like.

Tomorrow I am off to Get Active Brisbane with DH and the girls. ( www.getactivebrisbane.com.au ) and teaching RPM. Should be a busy, yet fun day!