Heavy Lifting!

Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training, diet and mental approach.
---Arnold Schwarzenegger

Yesterday marked my first Power Day of the off season.  William and I actually trained together, and I found myself pushing past discomfort and muscle fatigue...and enjoying it!  If you'd asked me ten years ago if I'd be doing any sort of Olympic lifting, I would have laughed and continued my climbing on the stairmill.  Yesterday's work out included a little of everything---close grip pulldowns, single arm rows with a dumbbell (I love having to weight for heavy weights....shocks people!), rack deadlifts (185...not bad for the first week), incline dumbbell press (personal goal---using 60-65 lb dumbbells by my birthday!)---as well as some shoulder presses, barbell curls, and tricep pressdowns.  Needless to say, my muscles felt super full and this morning...let's just say I felt every repetition of last night's workout!


Like Arnold said above, to be successful one must dedicate one's self 100% to your training, diet, and mental approach.  I've never struggled with the 100% dedication to training and diet, but have found myself in the last few months struggling with my mental approach.  Last night was the first time I've truly enjoyed a workout in months, and that makes me both happy and sad!  I didn't dread walking up the stairs to the weight room, or cry in the middle of a set.  I think being able to enjoy the process this time around is going to bring so much more joy to my workouts!  I need to keep reminding myself that taking care of myself doesn't just mean the quality of the food and drink I put into my body, or the type and duration of workouts I do....it's not beating myself up mentally if I'm struggling.

I came across this recipe that I can't wait to try!  It'll remind me of Washington in the fall, and more specifically, Greenbluff....courtesy of cleaneatingonline.com:

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
Ingredients:
1/4 c. skim milk                                       
6 Tbsp. water
1/4 c. old-fashioned oats
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch nutmeg
1/8 c. canned pumpkin
1/8 c. sliced almonds
1/8 c. water
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
Preparation:
In a small saucepan, bring milk and water to a boil over medium heat. Add oats, cinnamon and nutmeg. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the liquid is absorbed, stir in pumpkin and almonds. Set aside.
Combine water and protein powder in a separate bowl. Mix with a fork until protein powder is absorbed. Pour protein mixture over oatmeal. Makes 1 serving.

Off Season starting now!

And by now I meant, yesterday....with a new eating plan that started Wednesday.

As much as I enjoyed the freedom to make my own choices about when and what and how much I was eating since the show on Saturday night, I crave routine and when I received my latest plan on Tuesday night, was relieved to have my first nutrition plan for my first off season in....two years.  That's right.  I've been in a caloric deficit for almost two years, and my body was desperate for time off and extra calories.  I'm excited to say that I'm enjoying fat free cottage cheese for the first time in over TWO YEARS!!!  Cinnamon and nutmeg sprinkled on it makes it taste like I'm cheating on my diet!  (I'm not...but it's a yummy dessert!)  Lots of chicken, flank steak, brown rice, egg whites...back to normal, or at least my idea of normal, now. 

I was thinking about it a few weeks ago, some of the foods that if not for the training, I'd probably never have tried...

-Cream of Rice
-Orange Roughy
-DRY oats
-Sweet potatoes and yams

Some foods I LOVE...
-Egg whites with cinnamon and nutmeg...puffed up like a pancake!
-Chicken!  Prepared so many ways....smoked on the bbq is the best, but oven baked is yummy too!
-Flank steak...need I say more?
-Cream of Rice with cinnamon?  And on a high carb day with honey....that (as my husband would say) is good business
-Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey, Gold Standard...Caramel Toffee Fudge is probably the best flavor, in my opinion...blended pre-workout and frozen, if you have it post-workout...it's like a protein frappuccino, minus the carbs and guilt!


In addition to taking an off season, I'm going to do either a half or full marathon.  I did my first half in 2007, and loved experiencing the runner's high at the end of the race....did I love what it did to my foot? Meh, not so much....but three years and investing in a better pair of running shoes should do the trick just fine.  The goal is the Rock N'Roll Half in San Antonio in November, and the Double Decker Challenge in Austin in December.  Praying for decent weather.... :)

I'll be posting more frequently on this blog....to hold myself accountable and to make this my most productive off season to date.  Well....yep.  To date.