Renegade Manmakers!

Hey peepers, thought it was time to talk a little.

Well Challenge is travelling slowly now, as the initial weight drop has slowed somewhat down. That is good, means I am doing the right thing.

Training has geared up several notches with new styles of training being introduced to keep that body of my guessing at all times. I have noticed that my body can adapt to a training regime quite quickly, so the aim of the game is to freak it out at all times.

Having said that, last Friday we did a huge training session (Michelangelo the trainer and myself) which part of it was “Renegade Man Makers”! Whoa! Talk about hard and different. There are many versions of it on the web, but here is the one I did.

Start with dumbbells in hand in a push up position with legs slightly wider apart. Single row from each arm then down into a pushup. Burpee up from there into a standing shoulder press with DB. Single walking lunge on each leg. Do about 5 reps of this routine, then jump on rower for a full minute sprint – sitting around 65 – 70 strokes/min. this was then repeated 5 times. These little babies were done after 5 sets of clean and press set 30kg supaset with 16kg KB (50)swings and before 5 sets stair runs supaset with front kicks. Hmmm pattern here, must like everything in fives??? As you can see my weight training is very cardio based, with a few heavy sessions thrown in here and there. I do miss my heavy weights, but they will always come back! But absolutely loving it!

On the food front, my eating guidelines have changed again, increased to compensate all the exercise I am doing. I now have more carbs, more protein and of course, more broccoli!

Well there is officially 4 & ½ weeks left on the gyms 12 week challenge and I have come to the acceptance that I will not win it! I set my goal for this and will keep trying to achieve this goal, but as I said in the beginning it is a big ask…………….and I forgot about my body’s issue with recovery fluid. But overall I will have had a great result anyway, and you have always got to be happy with that. I know that my cardio fitness level is increasing all the time and that definitely is a goal achieved. And I am starting to enjoy the cardio side of things, probably because it is so different.

Well not much more to talk about, life has been the same almost everyday…………eating, training, sleeping.

Have a great week.

Ciao!

Changes are coming!

I am too quick to judge!

Hey there, about time posted me thinks.

First I think I will address a situation I was in last night. A dear friend of mine who is a FD at another gym told me she had taken on one of her trainers to train her. I don't like the guy and I promptly said so. But I think I upset her by saying this. I am only too sori if this is the case. My opinion of this person is only from past experience which he was not very nice to me. I tend to have a bit of a problem of remembering bad things and not letting go! A trait that i shall endeavour one day to fix, but alas the little gremlin feeling often comes back and clouds my judgements. I really should give that person the benefit of doubt that he is a changed person or I mistook his persona in the first place. I am only too happy that my friend has found another trainer that she feels confident with and one that she feels will produce the results she is looking for.

On to my challenge..............I have been really working hard at my challenge and yes I am doing a lot more than general life style changes would be, but remembering I have an awful lot of weight to shed. A comment was said to me on the weekend and I feel I just have to have a little say(seems to be the norm atm hhahahahah) If this is working for me atm, then I think i will stick to something that is working, even if I am busting my boiler to get. I figure if I can get there, it would to easier to maintain at a lifestyle level than at the weight loss level. i have been on this yoyo run for a very long time and even with the knowledge behind me (yes I have my cert 3 and cert 4 in Fitness)I still struggle mentally with all the ups and downs of the day to day humdrums of trying to lose the weight I have put on over 18 years. I also have another bad trait and take to heart when someone else has a better result at something that I work so hard at and they do not, it used to get to my head.............I would get all depressed and stress over the fact that i can not acheive results like some others. I think the worst is when you are told it is all down to energy in verses energy out and your calories expended on exercise alone is over 1000 calories and your intake for the day is 1400 calories, then being told you are not eating enough???? Well what is it??? BUT and this is a big BUT, is not the case this time................for some unknown reason, this little push to get my ball rolling is actually working and i think I have blogged this before, maybe it is because I have finally stopped feeling sorry for myself!

Motivation is a funny word as what is the motivation??? Am I motivated to exercise.............hell yes! Albeit i was not so into cardio, I was always into heavy weights. Fell in love with free weights about 8 years ago and have never looked back at that. But taking on "Michelangelo" at my gym, I think has changed a few things too. We do a lot of weights mixed with cardio, so in fact I have an elevated heart rate at all times...........lighter weights (for me) so many more reps and so little rest times. Snap, snap, snap..............

Food is an issue, being told quite often, you are not eating enough, you are eating too much, you should not eat this, you should eat this..................but I think if you can find something you are comfortable with and able to maintain at a longer period of time, just go with the flow. I have found this right little mix atm and I don't seem to be sick of it yet. I basically have the same thing day in day out except for dinner, that is decided on the day and what is in fridge at the time. I know some of you think you should have a variation to make sure you get enough of everything, but I can tell you the only things I am missing out on is not appropriate food to the weight loss goal! I have also gotten out of measuring food, becoming obsessed with how many calories I was eating............taking it back to just being consistant! Part of the challenge they give you a guideline of what to eat in foods, but I have modified it for me (I tend to think it does not allow for enough protein), and it has allowed me to be constant in maintaining my plan, to which I can proudly say I that I have only strayed from it twice (eaten off plan) and missed 5 meals and had 6 extra tidbits in the last 6 weeks. So something that is comfortable and enjoyable to eat. I do however write down everything that has passed my lips (including suppliments) only to show the trainer what my intake was for the day against what training I had done for the day. Part of his requirment.

So I have six weeks left of this challenge and hoping that I might have a decent result for the ending, but I have already made plans to keep on this path well after the challenge has finished. I expect this will not be a problem as I am not finding this difficult in anyway. I will say although, I am experiencing hungry feelings before each meal, more so in the morning than evening, so this is a good sign that the metabolism is working at its very best.

So today was supposed to hold a bike ride - about 21km and then 300 training but i was way too slack. I have been lying on the couch all afternoon catching up on blogs, posts on forums and facebook. i still have a shitload of clothes to wash and fold and then there is dinner............steak tonight i think! yummo!

Full week of training again on the cards with two killing sessions with 'Michelangelo'. Last week he killed me. But I am noticing changes in my abilities...........in pilates, my abdominals appear to be a little stronger, in balance I can twist and stretch a little further, cross training with him always seems more and more intense and cardio - there is more and more of it!

Well I have blabbed enough, so will be back soon.

have a great week with your endeavours and most of all enjoy yourself.

Ciao!