Green Day

We have an Open Weekend at Fitness First this coming Saturday and Sunday and our theme is "St Patrick's Day" - so as I do not own any green workout wear, it was time to pop over to Lorna Jane and buy something that would fit the bill - so I ended up with the green workout top you see on the left as well as a matching green headband. I did eye off the matching blue capri pants with the green and white trim, thinking they would look nice in Bodystep but decided that the top would do nicely. I also bought a long sleeved shirt and a T Shirt so all in all I think I did pretty well.

Today's workouts were along the lines of Workout W or "Where I could fit it in" between clients. I started off with RPM at 6am this morning and channelled positive energy to Carolyn who is down in Brisvegas and was doing the 6am CBD class - then it was off to train a client for an hour, then fit in some weights and some rehab stuff. Got stuck into a few tight spots with my muscle mate, did lots of pec minor stretching as well ( that hurts!), before doing a chest workout - I lifted at about 75% of max effort - my philosophy is that anything that activates a muscle is better than nothing and I'm more concerned about crappy movement than competing in the long term. Workout consisted of push ups (I love push ups), bench press (pain free..wahoo!) and incline flyes - these I still have to be pretty careful with but I am improving. THis all took about 40 minutes and then I had another client who has been having rotator cuff problems - did a little trigger point massage, stretching and pulling work and she was moving properly within the hour.
This is what I find incredible - how you can make such a difference to someone's movement patterns within one training session.

The only regret I have today was eating my oats before RPM - whilst digestively I was fine, the post workout snack I had wasn't large enough and in hindsight I should have flipped them around - I've upped my oat intake big time, though I doubt I will ever hit Shelley's fantastic oat intake quota :) Hence I was pretty hungry by the time I got home but feeling so much better after an omelette and fresh fruit.

Scale is moving in the right direction and this week I'm seeing some nice changes in the old bod.

Feeling like death warmed up

On Monday was working with a client who had lost her voice and I swear that pretty soon after I was not feeling 100% myself - I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat from hell and overall feeling pretty ordinary. I had to cancel all of my clients yesterday and RPM this morning. I've spent the better part of the last two days in bed and once I finish this blog post that is exactly where I'll be heading.

I'm continuing on in the theme of blogging about my scale weight - when I got sick and sore (as well as having killer DOMS from Monday and weekend), my weight spiked again by just over a kg. Today it has dropped to a new low and I can literally see the bloat coming out of my fingers of all places (they looked like little sausages yesterday). The point is that when you know why weight does what it does, you're eating and training properly there is absolutely no need for the scale to do your head in.

On that note, it is time for me to be a complete slug and head to bed.

Riding, not hiding!

I've checked my diary for this week. Oh boy, it's going to be a busy one culminating in the INBA Nationals at the end of the week. I'm scheduling some training this week - I felt like I'd turned a corner on Saturday and I want to keep the momentum going - so I'm teaching RPM tomorrow and doing more upper body weights. It's all slow but it's definitely happening!

I did a Shelley this morning and nearly kicked the scales across the room, uttering "f*ckers!" (every time I think of this I just want to laugh until I cannot laugh any more) but I was expecting a temporary increase in reading after having a rather delicious treat meal of homemade pizza and TWO Skinny Cows (I had to try each flavour right?)

I'm sure I will have better news to report on that front in a day or two...

Scale Question and Answer Time

A few posts ago I talked about not letting the scale do one's head in. I received a few emails about it and I want to share the email and my response.

Here it is:

"Just read your blog re: scales, Would LOVE your opinion on my thoughts below - here goes..
I am very anti scales.....given that there are so many reasons for variation, why should we weigh ourselves when it isnt a true indication...I TOTALLY understand that we have the control over how we interpret the number on the scales. I just think that too many of us freak about the number and become obsessive about being a particular number or losing so many kg's - a number! If we train hard and eat well and look good, why weigh? I know it's one of many tools to check progress (especially when preparing for comp etc) but when you weigh in daily and see the numbers fluctuate, i think it does more damage than good......I havent weighed myself since my last comp - i just knew that i would of been in a deep depression (post comp) knowing that i wouldnt be able to hold the scales at a weight i would be happy with...it's bad enough that the size 8's have to be put away until next comp.....gosh - i am sounding so mental right now - but do you get what i mean ???"

My answer:

I want to "challenge" you on a few points and see where the
cards fall, OK :)
1) Your weight, combined with other measurements is a TRUE indication
of where you're at. Alone, it ISN'T (due to normal natural
> fluctuations). You can't outrun a crap diet (as we all know,myself included).
> 2) If we have total control over how we interpret the number, then why
> would it do more damage than good to see a fluctuating scale, whether
> it be up or down?
>
> 3) Re deep depression about the scale: the scale is what it is, the
> scale has no emotion and could care less about what you think, so why
> give it the credence of basing your self worth on a number? This is
> where society has instilled in people a toxic relationship with scale weight and self worth.
> If you're fat, you're "undisciplined" and if you're "skinny" then
> you're good. You're worthwhile BECAUSE YOU EXIST, THIS IS NOT BASED
> ON YOUR BODY SIZE :)
>
> 4) I think worrying about clothing sizes is crazier than worrying
> about the scale, especially with vanity sizing and all. Personally at
> my current weight which is 6kg over competition weight I have items
> that are XS, 8, 10, 12, M and L.
> Depending on whether you do physique or figure, a healthy off season
> weight is anywhere from 5-7kg over comp weight.

I had a charming weight to report this morning - back in the 61s with the advent of TOM and the associated fluid retention that goes with it - I even thought I looked like a bit of a puff ball in the mirror, but I'm looking forward to the exit of this fluid in good time.

Had a great training session today: 60/60 intervals at 4:30 min k/6 min k pace for 10 cycles, Heavy Leg training. I was really focusing and let out the odd grunt today - there's a big deadlift monster lurking at Fitness First! Then I finished off with 20 minutes of steady state running. Apart from being a bit of a puff ball today, I'm feeling very strong :)

My other snafu today was forgetting my bra and undies to change into after my workout. A perfect excuse to go to Lorna Jane, which is next door to the gym. I decided to buy a padded workout bra with the idea of seeing what the old chest would look like with a little more plumage. Of course as soon as I put it on, I felt like I was one massive mono boob but when I looked in the mirror there really wasn't much difference at all! I have a bit of fear about being too big but somehow I don't think that will be an issue.

Why the scales shouldn't do one's head in

I hear this quite a bit from my clients - "aaah, I don't want to weigh myself, the scale does my head in". If you step back and re read this statement, can you see how nuts this statement is?

We have 100% control of what we think, say and feel and we have 100% control over how we are going to react to that number. A highly disproportionate amount of time is spent analyzing scale weight over other measures of progress - the thing is, that scale weight is a very useful measure, but it is just ONE item in the toolbox of things that we measure "progress" by.

I try to weigh myself daily if possible. If you are fully committed to your progress and are eating well and training hard, then you have nothing to fear the scale. Fear the scale only if stepping off it gives you the excuse to indulge in crap "because noone's looking".

Even if you're training hard and eating well the scale can be quite variable.

Reasons for variation include:
a) menstrual cycle changes
b) DOMS - lots of DOMS produces a lot of fluid as a by product of recovery, sending your scale weight higher than usual.
c) salty food - you retain fluid if diet is very salty
d) high carbohydrate intake. When you eat carbohydrate and it is digested, much of it is stored in our muscles and liver as glycogen. Glycogen provides us with ready to go fuel when we exercise. For every gram of carb that is stored, 3 grams of water are stored with it. "Carb bloat" is not a figment of your imagination.

Yesterday's eating and training was classic - I have severe DOMS, I ate a lot of carb yesterday dipped in soy sauce (salty) - you gotta love Sushi Rolls! These sorts of uncharacteristic eating days can give me a 2-3kg increase in scale weight. But knowing why variations occur is essential for me in brushing it off and drinking plenty of water!

Training Today:
Upper Body Strength training, including mobilization and preparation
Elliptical: 30 minutes steady state (harder than it sounds); Rower: warm up + 5 Tabata Intervals (ouch), Heavy Stationary Bike 5 minutes)

Yummo!

My latest post workout recovery meal is a little bit like the picture above, except it contains way more cereal and Ladybird Protein Crunch.

Enter the "Crunchola Recovery Meal"
1 scoop Ladybird Crunch (15g)
20g Crunchola cereal in apple/cinnamon or apple and blueberry
200g Nestle Diet Vanilla Yoghurt or Strawberry or Mixed Berries Flavours
30g blueberries or raspberries (I use the frozen sort).

I usually take this to the gym in two containers. I simply dump the yoghurt and fruit into one and then mix the Crunch and Crunchola (like an old married couple!) in when I'm ready to eat.
Stats are 235 calories, 20.8 g protein, 31.7g carbs, minimal fat. This is a fantastic post workout PN compliant treat!

Training today was a 45 minute run at 11km/hr (steady state). I was pretty exhausted by the end though! Then I trained my legs and shoulders and I can already feel the DOMS setting in. Still not doing as much volume as previously, just easing back into things.

Scale weight up a little this morning, no problem. Which is going to lead me into another thing - putting the scale into perspective. I seriously want to jump off a cliff when somebody tells me that the "scale is doing their head in". Following on from other posts, we are 100% responsible for what we think, say and do, thus we are totally in control as how we decide we are going to react to a NUMBER. Do you let it define who you are? Do you avoid the scale with the "see no evil, therefore no accountability" lense? I will post more on this later.

On the flip side there are those who are obsessed with jumping on the scale ten times a day. This isn't any good either. For this , I recommend putting in the good habits first and reconnecting with yourself for a little while before you deal with your irrational beliefs about scale weight. It's not the scale that is the problem - it's what WE believe about scales that does our heads in.

Gosh, once I start rambling I can't stop myself :)