I just thought you should know that last night I came terribly close to caving because I was craving peanut butter on toast. I bought this really delicious, freshly made cracked wheat bread that has the most scrumptious nutty flavour to each bite and I so wanted another slice even though I already had at breakfast. I wanted to casually ignore my challenge but I ended up cutting a pear in half and putting peanut butter on that instead. It wasn't the same but it was a surprisingly nice combination! At least I got my peanut butter! :D
I stayed true to my word and photographed myself for some 'before' shots on the 27th (post-Christmas poof and all) They are not the best quality but they are enough to give you the idea of my current physique.
Sorry for the blown out areas. I'm not trying to hide anything I swear. Haha
Okay so this photo annoys me a bit because it makes my legs look kind of deflated and my abs look leaner than they are.
This is a more honest look at my abs. As you can see, slight development in the stomach but not much. Also you can see my stick arms. So far my triceps are the most developed and those are what really give mass to your arms. You should have seen them before I ever started working out!
This is an ok shot of my back. My back is the leanest part about me although it is not my strongest. I am going to have to take the next shot of my back in a halter sports bra so you can see my middle back better.
I'll include one more body shot which once again greatly exaggerates my abs but shows the definition in my legs a bit better.
So...that would be me. Plenty of room for growth I'd say! Haha!
Yesterday I hit the gym and trained chest with my workout buddy. I arrived a little 'late' so I had to power through my sets as punishment to catch up...although let the truth be known that I was only 'late' because he did not tell me when he was going to the gym so I just went on my own and he happened to be there. :P
I did: 4 sets of seated chest presses with the machine
4 sets of hammer presses (watch these chicks slam some out)
3 sets of inclined chest presses and then a 4th set which was only negatives
6 sets of chest dips until failure (i.e until your arms might fall off)
I missed the set of chest flies due to time but I was kind of glad as the inclined presses take a lot out of me.
Then we did a quick abdominal session and cardio. I chose 25 minutes on the elliptical as my cardio.
My exercise challenge for yesterday was a repeat of Monday's 300 Step Ups. I woke up hungover from a 3/4 glass of wine and groggily set up for my challenge because I wanted some of that bread with my breakfast. This time I alternated legs after 50 reps and I managed to beat my old time of 11:15 with my new record of 9:51. That was 9 seconds faster than Zuzana's first time but 37 seconds slower than her second time. I'm catching up though! More importantly, I beat my own record and that is the true goal.
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Today, I decided to put on my big girl pants. I've realized that I depend on my gym partner too much for my workouts and on days when I couldn't meet him at the gym I would usually stay home and do crossfit or run. This is fine essentially, but it is not conducive to my goals. I want to gain mass and so I need to put in the time with the heavy weights.
I spent most of the morning scouting back workouts. A lot of bodybuilders pair back with biceps but due to limited time today I decided to just go with back.
I gradually increased the weight in each set. Here was my workout.:
4 sets of wide grip pull ups. I gradually lowered the assistance weight on the assisted pull up machine. So far the least amount of assistance that I can use is 70 lbs. Weak weak weak. Haha
4 sets of stiff arm pull downs. Max weight was 50 lbs.
4 sets of seated cable rows. Max weight 70 lbs
4 sets of medium grip upright cable row. Maximum weight 30 lbs.
4 sets of lateral rows (on t-bar machine) Maximum weight 35 lbs.
After that, I just did some quick abs and rushed out to work. I like to make up my own ab exercises so I will share some with you some time.
Today's exercise challenge was 500 Mountain Climbers to be completed as fast as I could (courtesy of Bodyrock.tv)
I have been doing a lot of my exercise challenges barefoot as I would like to test out this barefoot theory that I have been speaking about with a friend. I'm going to go more into this in another post but in short, I'm finding that being barefoot requires me to really concentrate on my pronation and stabilization. I do not consider that a bad thing. However, please do not do your Mountain Climbers barefoot because you will get blisters.
I approached this challenge this morning with the hopes of beating Zuzana's time which was somewhere in the five minute margin. I did the first 100 reps non-stop and then broke up into sets of 50 with as little rest as possible. I was really pushing to make the time and this exercise burned my hip flexors like crazy. When I had 100 more to go I saw my time and managed to pound out the last two sets of 50 with almost no rest and finished in 6:01. JUST missed the five minute window!
I went on bodyrock.tv to check Zuzana's times again and much to my surprise her time was 7:29. Hurrah! I beat her for once! I need to set ridiculous goal times more often! Haha
And so that concludes my last two exercise days. Monday after I posted I just did crossfit in the garden and tried not to be eaten alive by sandflies and on Tuesday I used a 25 minute power yoga for stamina session and then an additional 100 crushes non-stop as my exercise challenge. In the afternoon I went to the track and did some high intensity training and running drills with my trainer Casey followed by two speedwork intervals of 300m. After the running drills that was all we could handle. I wish I could break down that workout for you but it was so intense and fast paced that I can't remember everything! Think suicides, jump squats, side to side hops and jumping frog squats in a sand pit with a few duck walks, backward sprints, and walking side squats for good measure. Did I mention that I RIPPED MY PANTS doing the squats? Well, I did. :P
I hope you're all proud of me for keeping up with these exercise challenges because all of that fresh bread is bawling for me. Haha. If you're trying any of these challenges please let me know!
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