Living in the Neon

I've been inspired by Bodystep 76's Peak Track song "Living in the Neon". Today was literally another day of being a girl who gets it done! As I mentioned in my last post I have picked up a pharmacist job where I am working every Monday from 10.00am until 6.30pm.

My day looked like this:
5.30am Rise and Shine - make kids and hubby's lunches
6.30am Have a bowl of oats and powder and a cup of tea ...ah that's better!
6.50am Wave goodbye to hubby
7.00am Prep all meals for today and prep dinner for tonight, down to the last carrot (nothing worse than getting home, being ravenous and chowing down on cereal (uh, guilty as sin, but no more!)
7.45am: Walk girls to school and walk home
8.15am: Do RPM 43 at home - this is what's going to be on the teaching playlist this week, me thinks followed by a conditioning circuit with my kettle bell, some mountain climbers, squat thrusters and push ups.
9.15am: scramble some eggs and have a truckload of veggies - much easier to eat at home than explain why you eat so much to the peeps at work
10- 6.30pm : work
7pm: dinner (all prepped ..yahoo)
7.15-8.30pm: computer work
8.30pm Watch "Desperate Housewives" with hubs - it's my weekly "guilty pleasure".

Tomorrow is more of the same - I'm doing a one day locum ("fill in") - meals all logged and planned.

Today was successful - I didn't get all of RPM done or do as many circuits as I wanted to, but the main thing was - I did something!

Getting it Done

I'm having a laugh right now - here I am posting about "getting the job done" and realize that I named my blog "girlgetsitdone" because I wanted to get the job of preparing for a figure comp DONE. Hilarious.

I'm onto a new challenge thanks to Katie - the Hundred Day Challenge and although the premise of the challenge is around health and fitness, my hundred day challenge consists of one hundred blog posts in a hundred days. I may do more than one post in a day, I may miss a day - but in the end I shall have one hundred posts to share about all sorts of things.

From the health and fitness side of things, I might talk a bit more about my training and nutrition, just for fun. I have times where I eat more than I think I should and times where I think I could have trained harder etc etc. I'll also write a bit more about the other things I am doing to remain grounded - so I will blog about where I fall down sometimes and where I'm really improving.

So Day 100 and here's a blog post, so big tick there. Today, although I had the opportunity to train, I chose not to - I took a day off instead and feel great for it. Recovery is as important as training and after the walloping I gave my body teaching 3 Step and 2 RPM in the latter half of the week, rest was just the ticket. Eating wise, today I've naturally gravitated towards a Paleo style of eating which included a Vietnamese Salad, pumpkin soup and grilled chicken and greens.

Hubs and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince today and enjoyed Vietnamese lunch beforehand and a long walk and talk afterwards. It was nice to spend the day together and we both feel a million bucks for some time out (thank you grandparents).

I'm working in a pharmacy all day tomorrow and Tuesday. I have my meals planned (not packed yet though) and I'm planning on trying out my Kettlebell tomorrow and maybe getting in an RPM at home.

Bargain Protein

1 tub (400g) of Musashi SLM High Protein formula - sealed, new packaging - 50% off - $14.50

http://www.musashi.com.au/product/details.action?productId=178

Ladybird Figure Tone 500g Vanilla Gelato 500g sealed new - $20.00 each ( this is a soy/whey combination and great in pancakes).

Ladybird Women's Whey Choc 500g $23.00

Redbak Soy Protein 500g Vanilla - excellent in all protein powder cooking applications $20.00

Slim Secret Protein Cookies (Trail Mix) $2.00 each.

All products are new and sealed and have long expiry dates.

Contact me via www.thefitnesssolution.com.au (hit "contact" to reach me).

A follow on

Kerryn has written a great post this morning and I agree.

Sometimes action has to precede motivation. If I had waited to become "motivated", I would never be where I am today. There are some days, excluding injury, where you just have to suck it up and do it.

Sometimes, you're not perfect. But if you got up and gave it a crack and did something, you're achieving.

Sometimes it's hard fighting back the inner voice that says "I deserve crap" BUT it's really character building when you stay true to your core values.

I hope that today is fruitful, I learn something and I'm grateful for the good things I achieve.

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Training today: Teach Bodystep then RPM (yes, I'm the cardio queen today...but last time I looked, I still had triceps...phew) Then I'm off to think about lifting some heavy shit myself. I've got a training partner who's raising the bar to chase!

Quick Post

Training today - "The Return from Slugdom Official Workout" - teach RPM , then teach Bodystep, making sure I have a nice big serve of oats, protein powder and a nice tall Gloria Jean's tea in between....nice!!!



I will use a combination of stored muscle glycogen, fat and circulating blood glucose for fuel and I will not care what HR training zone I am. I will complete the job knowing I have kicked butt and I will ensure I have BCAAs and glutamine with my post workout meal which shall otherwise be known as Portuguese Chicken, with cabbage, carrots and snow peas followed by strawberries for dessert.



I am strong, I am fit and most importantly I am having fun!

History becomes legend

"And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth" Galadriel, Lord of the Rings.

This quote from "Lord of the Rings" reminds me of some of the trends and theories that float around the health and fitness world. It seems that some take a little pinch of science and morph it into theories which sound good, but ultimately don't achieve anything.

Take, for example, the idea of a "fat burning" zone. I've heard this a lot around the bodybuilding traps these days - "I'm only walking, to ensure that I stay in my fat burning zone and that I don't burn muscle by exercising intensely. "

Let me say for a start that the statement as is doesn't make sense from this little exercise physiologist's point of view:
a) Yes, there is a heart rate zone where the body uses fat as substrate for fuel more (eg 50-75% of Max HR) but the truth is that the body runs on carbohydrates, either by the process of gluconeogenesis or glycolysis. Fat is converted into carbohydrate for use as fuel. At higher heart rates, the body relies more on carbohydrate (which comes from stored sources, ie glycogen). Unless you're in a super deficit and eating a very low protein diet, it's highly unlikely that doing high intensity work will cause any muscle loss whatsoever. The joke is that when you are doing very intense strength training your heart rate will peak way above the "golden fat burning zone" that some of these bodybuilder types will promote! What happens then, burning muscle? Hardly - rather setting the body up to gain lean mass if nutrition principles are sound.


b) One secret to becoming a lean mean fat burning machine is to actually concentrate on getting fitter. Yep, get fitter and you will train your body to preferentially use fat as substrate during exercise and rest. This means instead of having to walk, you can run for half the time, half the stress and the same caloric expenditure occurs! At the end of the day, fat loss is related to caloric expenditure, "afterburn", and process of recovery from strength training bouts. On this note, I get told that "if I run, I'll release too much cortisol and I'll be catabolic". Whilst it is true that training switches on catabolic hormones, a fit runner will release far less cortisol than an inefficient one - and addressing post workout nutrition/correct supplementation will go a long way in flipping the switch towards a more anabolic environment.

c) I have to add that overdoing the cardio is no good for athletes who are focused on strength training. When I hear of competitors doing two hours of cardio a day to get lean, big question marks can then start to be raised about retaining muscle etc however 30 minute bouts of intense cardio interspersed with the lighter stuff shouldn't hurt anyone's cause, particularly if nutrition is sound.

***************************************************************

Training today: Back and triceps with Shelley. After a slowish start, we both got into it and caned it!
Cardio: total slug fest today (ie nothing). But hey, I stayed in my fat burning zone...heh heh

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.

Being a Badass

"but they say the sky's the limit,

And to me that's really true,

And my friends you've seen nothin'

Just wait 'til I get through....

Because I'm Bad, I'm Bad - Come on(Bad Bad - Really, Really Bad) " Michael Jackson, "Bad"

I was inspired by the late Michael Jackson to theme today's RPM Hi Performance to be simply all about "Being a Badass" - today I dropped the motivational cues and technique focus to just bringing it home hard and strong! Class was packed and the amazing thing was that I didn't need to give any motivational cues, the momentum just kept building over the course of the class and it was an awesome feeling being part of it. That's what I love about teaching Group Fitness, sharing the joy of movement, giving and receiving encouragement and not to mention a top notch workout!

On the subject of workouts, Shelley and I got down and dirty in the gym yesterday for our first session together training chest and biceps. Groans all round doing decline push ups with a 10kg plate on the old back and then I surprised myself with a comfortable 40kg bench press for 8 reps ( I remember 30kg being a struggle at one stage). We finished with cable crossovers and let me say we're pretty good at doing "The Incredible Hulk" impersonations doing this move. Until yesterday I thought that I enjoyed training my biceps but that concept was blown out of the window - three sets of sheer pain doing barbell bicep curls with a good whack of weight. Luckily I was not alone with Shelley at one stage whimpering "I can't" then taking a breath and roaring back "I CAN!!!!! (thatta girl, Shel!) and finishing strong. My biceps aren't too happy this morning with the DOMS setting in.

With all this training going on, my Inner Beast has been tapping on my shoulder and telling me to troll for all sorts of crap. Today my Beast has been renamed from "Inner Gollum" to "Vera Sluttinski"...ie will encourage me not to be choosy and have a stab at anything! Yesterday was one of those days where old Vera was calling out to me...."eat some crap....after all you deserve it, you've been training so hard". I had to firmly put old Vera in place by taking the line that even though sometimes I don't feel like it, I'm going to continue to eat well and that I won't wake up in the morning in a fog of regret.

Living without a 'fog of regret' is not about being on a starvation diet or never having a treat meal ever again, it's about respecting yourself enough to take a stand against the bad habits that can lead to becoming overweight and unfit. Some days making the choice to "live without regret" is the only one to make, rather than relying on intuition and your feelings. Because it's likely that your feeling for instant gratification will lead to regret later on - so work out whether it's you or Vera speaking first (put it this way, I'm really pleased I said no to the Cheezels...).

Hot and Cold

"You're hot and you're cold, you're up and you're down, you're in and you're out"...Katy Perry.

After yesterday's rather chipper post, I woke up with a case of the blahs - I've been thinking about how people go "off the rails" post comp or post goal for want of a better description - you're fired up, you're focused, you nail it and then what? In short, you've 'lost' your motivation - not because you're misguided, silly or lacking in character but simply because you achieved what you set out to do.

I'm seeing how important it is take the time to work out what you really want from life and what the next step is. Sometimes the issue is that we don't "know" what we want, but here I htink there's value in the answer that we more likely than not know what we don't want, so use this as a starting guide.

For example, I know that after I hit my "comp" weight, I became less motivated about my nutrition. I've certainly had a few more "bumps" than I had anticipated - you'd think that with the volumes of experience I have in this matter it would be really easy - well not always! Proper management of the other stuff that's been going on in my life has involved being introspective about my eating. It's as if I've had to say to myself, "just eat well anyway and wait for the motivation to come back". So there have been a few shaky times where I've wanted to overindulge in food, but most of the time I say to myself "in the long run, you'll be pleased you took care of yourself". The same goes for turning up and doing your workout regardless - this morning the last thing I felt like doing was teaching RPM, but I have a small, but very smiley group who are just great to be around - felt so good when I was done that I even had a little treadmill walk and trained my shoulders. Carolyn sent me a great email called "7%" and I'm going to share it with you this morning...


Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written.. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:"
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone..
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ''In five years, will this matter?".
26. Always choose life.
27. Forgive everyone everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
32. Believe in miracles.33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
34. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
35. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
36. Your children get only one childhood.
37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
38. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere
.39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
41. The best is yet to come.
42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
43. Yield.
44. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.It's estimated 93% won't forward this. If you are one of the 7% who will, forward this with the title '7%'.. I'm in the 7%. Friends are the family that we choose for ourselves.

I'm so glad I'm keeping on keeping on. Now that I'm excited about my nutrition supporting my new found inner tiger at the gym I'm starting to feel better - and now that I've just read that wonderful seven percent post I'm starting to feel more like my old self again.

I reckon writing has gotta be one of the most therapeutic things ever, don't you?

Zoom!! Is that half the year gone already?

Wow I cannot believe half the year has gone already so I'm going to do a bit of a mini report card.

Below was my tentative plan for the first half of the year...'

This is my tentative plan:Jan/Feb: Aerobase workouts - swim/transition work /bike drill work etc. Get shoulders evened up.February: Leanness Lifestyle Bootcamp 11March: Sydney open water harbour swim with the FHMF girlsMarch: One Night In Vegas adventure race (any Brisbane girls want to put up with a big bad boss?)April: Mooloolaba TriathlonMay: Brisbane Marathon or other event in Qld

It's really funny that most of what I planned didn't eventuate at all or look like eventuating.

What I did do:
I did do Leanness Lifestyle Bootcamp 11 - this was the second Leanness Lifestyle Bootcamp I've done and it was one of the best learning experiences I've ever had - I learnt so much about the reasons we humans have so much trouble with eating/weight etc and all sorts of life strategies that have been really useful. There is another one running in September 2009 if anyone is interested in checking it out.

I did go to Sydney - but instead of swimming I went to FILEX and stayed/played with Kerryn and Selina and got to meet Casey and Alanna. This was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and our evenings at Bluefish Restaurant stirred the beginnings of one big Calamari bender in me...yum yum yum!

My shoulders have improved out of sight, see stories of smashing iron below, I must remain a work in progress though.

I didn't do any running or cycling in January and I didn't look like going anywhere near a triathlon, let alone a half marathon in May! Although I made plans and ordered a bikini, I didn't compete either.

In fact May and June were months where I made a lot of decisions about what was right for me. During this time I have reaffirmed and strengthened a friendship with someone who is dear to me, I have begun dismantling my live PT business at FF, started dissolving a business partnership , and started being more assertive in setting a few boundaries both professionally and personally and started getting more sleep. Did I mention that I started eating more calamari as well(lol!)?

In fact I started doing a bit more of what DG told me to do and what I've passed onto my clients as well - more self honouring. Part of this has been training with "Miss Muscles" Shelley twice a week. There is nothing better than absolutely thrashing yourself in the gym with someone who you know has the same agenda as you - to be getting really really strong - and there's nothing better than seeing yourselves improve!
Today I punched out 8 dips unassisted - I can't recall ever doing that many in a row (thought that doesn't mean I'm ready for Crossfit, Lisa !)and we're both improving with all the weights we lifted. In fact, we were sitting on the FF couch polishing off our post workout oats today and I had a real feeling of contentment wash over me - I feel relaxed, happy and at peace with myself and the world around me.

So I may not have achieved what I set out to so far this year, but plans are meant to be broken sometimes - there's been quite a bit of mental angst and challenge for me, I've certainly not been perfect and had plenty of down times but tonight I'm quietly celebrating that I think I'm winning!

Joining the Slug Club!

Wow, I'm looking back on this week's training and can safely say I gave it a good whack this week.  This morning, I am in a world of pain!  I was grateful that we did no lower body work yesterday otherwise RPM would not have been a pretty picture.  That said I gave it everything I could muster this morning and actually started gaining a second wind on the second "Track 7".

Playlist this morning was:

"I Could Have Loved You More" RPM 42

"Hot and Cold" RPM 43

"Rocking for Myself" RPM 19

"Human" RPM 42

"Painkiller"  RPM 36

"Going Wrong" RPM 42

"Blood is Pumpin" RPM 20

"Inspiration" RPM 33

"Heaven" RPM 40

"Every Little Step" RPM 36

"Long and Winding Road" RPM 19

I know I'm having a grizzle about training, but not so secretly, I'm enjoying the push and reconnecting with what I love after a few tumultuous weeks of deciding where my life was going.

I'm also setting myself a little challenge and trying to plan ALL of my food out for a week - I have never been successful at this and I'm looking to do this more from a fiscal point of view than anything else.  Hubs and I just looked at the budget and we were blown away by the amount of money we've been spending on groceries per week.  I would be really keen to hear from everyone else what you spend on groceries.  This family of four eats $350 worth a week.  My aim is to get it down to $300.  Is this an insane amount or am I on the money and no, I won't be offended if you tell me I'm insane.

Heart went Boom and Triceps Left Town!

Another great whacker of a workout with Miss Shelley this morning, with photographic evidence of some of the pain and suffering I went through! You can check out Shelley's blog to see her "evidence" as well!

Here's how it went down:

Woke up this morning feeling very positive about life and ready to train hard. Got to the gym at about 9.45am (I'm loving these leisurely starts!) and did 30 minutes of intervals on the treadmill which just flew by (I was listening to some of my favourite RPM tracks and they always get me going). Then Shelley turned up, also full of beans and it was game on.

"Do you want to smash it!"

"Yeah!!!"

"Do you want to get better?"

"Yeah!!!!"

"Do you want to get f***ing huge"

"Hell yeah!!!"

So with these thoughts in mind it was off to do our band pull ups - I improved from 4 x 6 last week to 4 x 8 and Shelley improved in overall consistency on this lift. Then onto barbell bent over rows where I'm just blown out of the water here by Shelley, but still lifted more weight never the less. Feeling pasted, we move on to some wide grip lat pull downs - we're following an 8-10-12 protocol and by the last set my mind was telling me that I couldn't - but I looked at Shelley and thought "there's no way I'm giving in!". So safely through that one.

Then it was tricep time - I'm proud to say that I smashed out 6 unassisteds first go and Shelley got one as well. Go team. At some point there I was completely cactus and I said I can't do any more. Shelley said "is it your shoulder or are you just f**ked?" "Just f**ked" I reply - "oh," she said, "if I'd known that I would have just made you keep going!"

"Yikes," I thought..."Close call!"

We finished off with tricep push ups (me) and close grip bench (Shelley). By the time we'd finished, we were both pretty pasted and we marvelled at how we hear about others going for a few hard rounds of cardio after they finish their strength training. I know I got an incidental cardio workout after going so hard on the weights!

I left the gym feeling elated that we'd pushed each other so hard and we'd both improved on last week's effort. That is the wonderful thing about having a good training partner, they won't let you wig out on anything and achievement and improvement (as well as fun) is the aim of my game.

Had to make a hard right out of the car park to head home - wondered why I'd applied pressure to the steering wheel and the car wasn't moving - ah that was my arms so fatigued I was only imagining I was moving them! Yikes!

DOMS has been the theme of this week - I've done my usual roll out of bed in the mornings this past week going..."I'm so sore!".

Must be a slug after RPM this weekend and rest, because all the good stuff (change) happens when you allow your body time out to repair and rest.

Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing

Thank you to Keith Urban for the title inspiration.

Today's post is about what happens when you get a Birthday Girl and a PMSing PT, add some Surge and heavy iron.

Yes, Shelley and I trained lower body yesterday and although I was scared of starting, I was elated to get through the workout feeling so good! We did conventional deadlifts, squats, and hamstring ball bridges, polished off some bear-crawl planky things - I need a name for these and then I suggested cardio.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" said Shelley.
"What?" I replied, thinking "I'm already pasted, do you mean there's more?"
"What about shoulders, remember we spoke of training shoulders on Friday?"

What can I say, Shelley has a fantastic memory. So we grabbed two benches and grabbed 10kg weights and did a rather comfortable set of military presses.
"Phew, " I thought. "I'll get through this just fine."

"Now do you want me to spot you?" smiles Shelley.
Spotting? Uh oh, looks like this is going to get tough!

"OK, let's go".
So I grabbed the 12.5kg dumbbells. Start off well. Come on, you can do it. Six reps, looking strong. Seven or eight reps..."oh oh, I'm in trouble".
"C'mon" says Shelley.
"Grunt" says me.
"Nine" says Shelley.
"Expletive deleted....Hooooooowwwwwwwl!!!!!!!!" says I .

My turn to give her the same treatment. I'm yelling at the poor woman telling her to bring it. Then I realize that I'm really making a lot of noise in a very quiet gym and sounding like Ray "Rabbit" Warren. We had a good laugh about that!

Must have worked because I'm so sore this morning - in order, shoulders, glutes and quads. The shoulders have kicked in first but I can feel the glutes coming, especially after teaching another cracker RPM class.

Gosh training is fun!

Power To The People!

Lately many of my posts have been running to a theme lately, namely that of self analysis and decision making, yes, it's been "all about me" this week which has been rather nice.  The reduced workload has already been making a positive impact and I've done things this week that I haven't done for ages (like potter my way through Woollies for an hour an a half, usually I'm a "smash and grab" type of shopper because I've been so darn busy).

This morning I woke up with some pretty amazing DOMS (thanks Shelley) and it occurred to me how much life can be enhanced by the presence of other people and how much inspiration I draw from the many people I cross paths with and how thankful I am for that inspiration.

 Today I taught my usual RPM Hi Performance class - I've been teaching this time slot for the last couple of years and I often wonder what brings the same members back time and time again without me totally boring them senseless.  To combat this, I have various "themes" I play on during class, for example, one week I may focus on slower climbing tracks, other weeks I really focus on speed work.  Today I spoke about "mental toughness" and maintaining tenacity and focus, even if you were having a moment where you thought your fatigue was going to win over the desire to complete the track strong etc.  I would never have been so inspired if I hadn't read Lisa's post about failure and selling yourself short.   I would never have been inspired if I hadn't trained back and triceps with Shelley yesterday and nailed those unassisted tricep dips (ie until I actually tried, I didn't have the belief that I could do it).

This afternoon as I had a look at various furniture stores for a potential dining table for our new home I was reminded of Kerryn's journey to her new home and on having a good potter around "Taste for the Love of Cooking",  I was inspired by Carolyn's creativity in the kitchen.

I am so glad I've had the opportunity to meet so many people through blogging and in the online world in general and would like to thank everyone who reads this blog and cares enough to leave a comment, and thank those who have complimented me on my photos.   To know that someone cares about what I write is fantastic, even if you don't all agree with me at times.  How cool do you think blogging is?

Sometimes it's all too easy to think that you can do it on your own - and yes, I guess you can climb the mountain solo if you want to - but heck I think I like the idea of sharing the view when I reach the top!

Two girls, a rubberband,a glove and a funky tattoo!

(I feel like there should be "da na da na da na da na, da na da na da na da na...Batmannnnn!!!" music to match this photo)

Today I moved from being speedy to being strong (well in my own eyes!) and had the pleasure of training with Shelley today at FF, Jinders. I can't remember the last time I actually trained with someone (rather than training them) and it was awesome fun.

Now you might all be wondering how all the above ingredients figure into the mix - Shelley bought her Powerbands (I also have some, unopened from Filex) which we used to do assisted chin ups. I contributed one training glove to today's effort rather than two - anyone who knows me well knows I'm hopeless with keeping a pair of anything together and I got to see Shelley's tattoo update in the flesh - love the "strength" symbol!

We started off with 4 x 6 assisted chins - I was amazed by how well the Powerbands worked though after 4 sets things were starting to get dodgy - then it was onto 8/10/12 reps of Bent Over Barbell row - here Shelley whipped my butt, lifting 30 kg for the entire exercise with me giving in at 27.5kg (from memory)...I'm such a wuss bag! Then it was onto wide grip pull downs and by the third set of these suckers a tinge of nausea had started to set in.

"I'm actually feeling sick, " I said, grinning to Shelley.

Then after a quick water break it was onto unassisted tricep dips and out came my Inner Tiger - I nailed four unassisted (does the "I can't believe it" dance) but close grip bench presses were a different story, Shelley excelling at these whilst I sat and wept - I got to do narrow stance push ups instead - only managed two sets because by that stage my triceps had left the building and Shelley was left to pull me up by my saggy sorry butt.

We steathily found the Jinders FF microwave, heated up our respective post workout snacks and headed downstairs for a bit of a catch up. I had Paleo Pumpkin Cajun Spiced Beef and Shelley had this fantastic prawn, whiting and vegetable stirfry - hers looked so good that I was inspired to buy a kilo of prawns when I went to Woollies and a bucketload of calamari for dinner tonight - seafood and eat it!

I'm already to feel a bit of DOMS in the building, I'm just grateful that it wasn't legs with RPM and all in the morning!

Taking Me Up to the Next Level...

of running speed that is!

This morning I surprised myself by jumping on the treadmill and running 11.4km in an hour. I did a mixture of intervals to come out at this number but I surprised myself with my speediness!

I'm going to pimp a few of my photos from Dallas today - I can't believe how many great shots I got and there are a few surprise shots in there that just might become my favourites. I'm really glad I had the photos done, the biggest surprise to me is how much I've 'aged' in the last three years. Although I'm nearly forty, I don't feel a stitch over 18, I don't have many photos taken, so it was a real surprise to see all these 'lines of expression', lol! However, that's not a bad thing I guess, it's all part of the journey.

In other news, we turned the first soil on our land today - we're having a swimming pool put in and the excavation started today. I think I'm going to start another blog just related to the house at some point and I'm still keen on my Wordpress project now that I've got some fantastic new photos that more accurately portray where I'm at right now.

Choosing Power!!

Do you ever have moments of revelation at the most unusual times? I was driving to the gym this morning, ready to teach my regular RPM class when it occurred to me that I would like to post a mid year update at the end of June. Then I thought about it some more and realized that none of the plans I have made have come to fruition, not one. As someone who wants to plan her life more, I'm strangely OK with this and actually sat at the traffic lights at one point and had a good giggle. "You make plans and God laughs" - so true!

That said, I've made a career out of changing course lately out of a need to focus on what I really want to do with my life RIGHT now and in the turbulence of all of the changes, I'm moving on, I'm making plans, I am POWERING up!

Taking control and making decisions, even if they're unpleasant at the time is really invigorating and living my personal truth is a fantastic feeling even if things don't always go to plan. That's OK. Taking full ownership and responsibility for your actions truly puts the power where it belongs.

As well as the major biggie of winding up the PT business, I've also stopped teaching Bodystep/Core (due to my whacko pelvis) and I've decided never to compete again either. As a sport (if you could call it that), I hate that it's based on comparion of looks rather than the performance involved in getting up on stage. A few years ago, I would never have had that opinion, I certainly have no regrets about competing but I've well and truly moved on. Instead I've made the decision to honour myself by being lean, loving life and looking awesome just because I deserve to. I don't need to base my worth on a couple of pudgy balding men (complete with requisite bodybuilding hip pack) judging my "symmetry".

I been reading of a few post comp struggles and struggles with bingeing and destructive behaviours around food and my pearl of wisdom for today is to POWER UP. Often overeating is borne of a belief that we're powerless to control our relationship with food and powerless to control our Inner Gollum/binge monster or whatever. Set your boundaries and be definite - stop treating it and yourself as some scary entity that won't like you any more if you apply a little discipline . Shut your demons up and put them back in the darkness where they belong. Give your Gollum a good whack...with your paddle!

Speaking of which, I have been taking my own advice and am now feeling (and looking!) so much better!

Honour vs Indulgence?

One of the main things I have been taught by DG during my own coaching stint has been the concept of honouring yourself so that you can focus on what is most important.  For example, making sure I get enough "me" time so that I can be fully present for things that are most important (eg relationship with hubs, girls etc).  If I do not honour myself, then how can I possibly help anyone else?   My decision to quit live PT is a classic example of this.  Tomorrow, I do not have to be up at the crack of dawn and I have already planned to walk with the girls to school.  Then I have one client and then I am planning a workout at Fitness First at Jindalee.   To me that's a better use of my time - time doing what is most important and time to honour my body with a workout that I enjoy.

Something that I have been reminded of this week is that there is a big difference between indulgence and honouring.  I've wandered off track with my eating this week, old Gollum grumbling to me all the way and telling me that I deserved treats, I deserved not to deprive myself, because I was falling down on other fronts, why not go ahead and have a big party in my mouth to make me feel better?  Why not have a holiday from the scale whilst I was at it?  

Interestingly none of this behaviour made me focus on what is most important to me at all.  Rather it had me withdrawing and engaging in navel gazing behaviour (which wasn't exactly self loving...).    Plus it gave me a charming 1.5kg increase in scale weight, which I'm none too thrilled about.  In other words, indulgence is not what it's cracked up to be.  In fact the very concept of indulgence is the opposite of what it implies, it can be life sucking.  Look around next time you're in a Food Court at the local shopping centre.  Look at the results of those who decide to indulge themselves on a regular basis.  Do they look happy?  Probably not.  Healthy?  Unlikely.  Heart attack waiting to happen?  Watch this space.

So it's time to whack the paddle in, watch my intake by logging my meals and focus on eating mindfully.     I have to admit that I had been thinking that I have been deprived, but in reality, I've had to grow up and reframe my definition of what deprivation actually is.  Every time I think of "deprivation" I tell myself, that by indulging, I'm depriving myself of the lean and fit body I've grown to love.    Where is the "deprivation" in looking and feeling like a million bucks?  Where is the deprivation in not worrying that my clothes fit me and that I don't have to worry about what I look like?  Where is the deprivation in knowing that in this condition I'm really kicking butt in the gym and teaching RPM?

There's a bit of tough love in this post but so often we mistakenly get scared of ourselves and our normal biological functions.  What if we said "no" to seconds or "x" food - would this cause us to break out or binge or whatever?   The power to decide is within ourselves.  The trick is realizing when it's your Inner Gollum having a go at you.  It is normal to experience hunger.  But so many of us treat hunger as if it's a disease state.  If you get excessively hungry, it can be annoying but it certainly won't kill you like starvation can.  

When I think of some of the thoughts I have had of being deprived, I am also clearly forgetting that I'm one of the lucky few that live in a first world country.   Next to my fellow humans, I want for nothing.   I'm grateful that I don't really have to worry about where my next meal is coming from.   I  must note here that I don't believe that there is anything wrong with having a treat meal every now and again - but make sure it really is a treat, rather than a trigger for you, eat mindfully and savour each mouthful and be grateful that you can even contemplate a treat in the first place.

Meanwhile I'm off in my old canoe paddling away - I have a date with my best self later in a week or so and I'm looking forward to welcoming her back!

Venting my Spleen

There seems to be quite a lot going on in the land of Liz lately, the biggest thing that has been brewing has been a dissatisfaction with work/life balance - so these past few months I've been quietly taking stock of what's been happening and made a few decisions. I have decided doing face to face coaching and personal training is not for me - I have hated every minute of the long hours, the cancellations, the insular nature of the gym for a start. On the positive side, I have had some really terrific clients who I'm sure I will remain good friends with who will consolidate the changes they have made under my tutelage into lifelong results. As of this week I am dismantling my client base and seeing one on one clients only on Wednesdays and Thursdays until my contract expires at the end of July. I'm going to continue my RPM classes and am now going to train at Fitness First at Toowong or Jindalee - whatever takes my fancy on the day. So far, Jindalee is winning out. It's lovely and open and it's nice to see the outside through the big windows - I trained there today.

I'm looking forward to doing the simple things - not making the kids get up at 6am for before school care, being able to care for them when they're sick (Miss S was unwell today) , being able to get more sleep and being able to put my own training before everyone elses.

Now to the title of my post ....Venting My Spleen

I trained at FF Jindalee today and was horrified by the types of moves the PTs there were putting their clients through -

for example...a pregnant lady doing dynamic lunges off a BOSU when it was painfully obvious she couldn't do a normal lunge to save her life.

.....a PT watching her client obviously squat improperly

.....a PT vigorously stretching a pregnant woman's pelvis (ouch, and double ouch!)

.....a PT making an obese client do step ups on a platform twice as high as was necessary to execute the move correctly.

and the list goes on........

I think the basic PT qualifications are not enough - there needs to be more standardization across the board - I know some good trainers who have Cert3/4 and have spent time doing more continuing ed, but for most part, I'd be extremely wary of who I entrusted my health and wellbeing to.

The nutrition/diet industry is even worse. If I see another shake or snake oil marketing scam peddled I'll.......... do nothing and go about my non sexy business of recommending sound evidence based nutrition practices and vent my spleen again on another day.

What else vents my spleen? Phishing emails....I must have got myself on a mailing list...am so sick of them...arhg :)

little catch up

Aaah, what a busy weekend - taught RPM yesterday morning and smashed it, saw two PT clients and then did an emergency locum at a pharmacy yesterday afternoon as well as working in a pharmacy today (I've taken on a shift once every two weeks). I have forgotten how tiring standing on your feet all day can be and the priority right now is to catch up on sleep.

An interesting thing I noted about the sleep deprivation program was that when you're sleep deprived you get really hungry. This weekend, I have really been particularly peckish - I have felt that no amount of food would fill the gap. I've sensibly filled up on more vegetables and lean protein, but I have to admit that the intensity of my hunger scared me a little bit this weekend as I've probably consumed almost 50% more than I would on a normal day! Think I'll just chalk that one up to mysterious bodily goings on and keep on keeping on.

Tomorrow is a Public Holiday here and I'll be working on programs and playing with my new Macbook. I have been so time poor lately and looking forward to a time where I can just hang out with myself and no distractions. The relative busyness and lack of sleep have even had me feeling less than enthused about doing any training so my agenda is sleep first, recreational time and then some training.

Fair Enough

I think it will be fair enough to say that I'm going to have a nasty case of jaw DOMS by the weekend. Today, lunch with Shelley , tonight training with Carolyn and training with Selina , I think I shall be having a very quiet weekend. I haven't stopped talking all day!

Do it, do it, do do do it!

Just home from work - two by two, two clients and two classes. I taught the new RPM in its entireity this morning and then teamed up with Miss Janene and tackled Bodystep at 9.20am. Right now I'm feeling on top of the world - best described as that feeling you have after you've finished an exam.

I haven't blogged the past few days because I've been stuck in the big bad bog of procrastination. Yes, I've been marinating in my own bad self trying to force myself to learn the choreo and trying every trick in the book to avoid the task at hand - which included wandering past the fridge, opening it, listening for the BEAST then telling it to shut up as I went back to my choreo. I reckon that I have two weeks of hell trying to learn it all and then when it is done, it is the best feeling in the world.

I got up super early this morning to polish off RPM and being a 6.10am class in a now extremely cold and airconditioned studio didn't relish the thought of training - but I gave myself a stern talking to and did a "pre" warm up before the class actually began and it made such a difference.

So the take home message I'm trying to drum into myself is to "just do it" - I know I feel so much better when faced with a task I'm not thrilled about doing, is to "just do it" and get it over and done with!

ON that note, I'd better go and do some housework... something that I NEVER relish the thought of!

Fitness is a Gift!

Got some training in this morning - a 30 minute easy run, except I had to go a bit slower than my usual pace - it was a reminder to me not to take my fitness for granted. When you've been sick/unwell or had some time off it's hard to forget where you were before, but sometimes it's just best to start over. I also did some weights, left shoulder is still improving but a long way to go still.

I'm slowly making my way back to a consistent place after Friday - yesterday hubs and I went and chose the colour scheme for the house which I thought would be rather stressful, but turned out so much easier than I imagined - once we'd picked out a base colour, the rest just seemed to flow naturally. We didn't finish until 2.30pm and decided on a late lunch which put my nutrition planning out a bit - we ended up eating Indian which was enjoyable but not planned. For a minute I felt a pang of 'oh no I'm going off plan' but then decided that having Indian on a rare date I have alone with my hubby was a far more balanced choice than running all over town trying to find something that fit the bill. So I ate a small serve of everything, enjoying it, reminding myself that it's physiologically impossible to add body fat with a meal that doesn't always meet the requirements we desire.

I'm also working on getting more sleep and feeling better for it - nine hours Saturday and eight and a half hours last night. TOM has also made a visit so I reckon if I keep on the consistent path with everything I'll be feeling super in a day or two. Yahoo!

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'.