Just a Little of Me Bein' Me

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerful Women
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I’ve been waffling on starting a log. I’m not sure how committed I’ll be able to be to it.

But I’ll give it a shot.

Ok…a few may be familiar with my work from ‘the other side’.

For those who aren’t : I’m old beyond my years; I’m angry and bitter a lot of the time sprinkled with sporadic moments of giddiness; I’ve been training for about 3 years now and have lost approx 140lbs in the process; I’ve reached a stalemate with my body and have been ‘maintaining’ for longer then I care to pay mind too but I’m prepping myself to leave what is left of my ass on the gym floor. Either by hard work or by hack saw. We’ll see.

Alright, so where I left of in the old journal of yesteryear…I was doing some full body and some half body workouts and copious amounts of cardio (prepping for a 10k crosscountry run)…some would say overtraining. To them I say PLEH…I sit on my can all day, I can bust my ass for a couple of hours, it won’t kill me. Aside from that, I was likely undereating. I’ve been playing with different ‘diets’…trying the anabolic/metabolic diet…etc so on. Nothing really felt like the right fit. Training isn’t where I struggle. Diligence in my nutrition is where my epic fail is. I’m prone to binging…and not the little ‘oh dear I drove by Burger King and smelled the fries, I think I gain 3 lbs’ binge…I’m talking all out food throw-down where 3 kitkat chunkies are only appetizers…

And where I am now : After the run I dropped a lot of the cardio and focused on heavy lifts and getting my calories up. I’m still Training 5 or 6 days a week, I’ve had to swap out the full body and half body workouts for a makeshift split. Apparently I’ve gone and created myself some imbalances that are resulting in some ‘back issues’ (SI joint issues maybe, Piriformus, Psoas and quads too tight, hyperlordosis…yadayadayada…just help me make the pain go away and get my strength back k?). I’m working with a chiro and we’ll be starting ART next week and in the meantime I’ve been ordered off deadlifts of anysort, good mornings, pull throughs…basically anything that puts excessive strain in the lower back, no more running inclines…if I have to run, its on the flat but he’d prefer me take my cardio to the pool >.< And my training focus is now to even out these imbalances…kicking the crap out of my hamstrings, glutes and abs, lots of stretching and foam rolling.

Food wise (I hate the word diet…I won’t say it…that was the last time)…well I’ve decided I’m taking another swipe at this fluff after a summer of gorging and good lifts. So I’m putting Dr. Clays book to good use and going to follow his RFL plan for the next 6 weeks. I started on Saturday…and all I can say at this point is…I’m hungry. And that’s all I’ll be saying about that at this time.

Current split looks something like:

Chest and shoulders + HIIT
HS, Glutes & ABS + swim - 3 x per week (did my first workout yesterday…gotta say, it kinda sucked) - alternate between other training days
Back and arms + HIIT
Quads and calves

Well that was sufficient random and unorganized. But thats me.
Future posts will hopefully (but not likely) be less verbose and more training related.

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Welcome! Sounds to me like you’ll fit right in over here.

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For those who aren’t : I’m old beyond my years; I’m angry and bitter a lot of the time sprinkled with sporadic moments of giddiness;

nice!!! :smiley: ha ha! sound like me, i look forward to your log, WORD UP :wink:

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crosses arms and squints

Yeah, yeah, I remember you…

You didn’t bring anyone with you, I hope.

I’m watchin you, woman.

Oh yeah, and, glad you saw the light. Hope this side suits you better!

p.s. my Jim is from alberta. Greenpeace rockin your world, huh?

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I took every precaution to ensure I was not followed. Still waiting to get the ninja suit back from the dry cleaners…

I love Alberta. I grew up in BC…land of the politically correct bleeding heart environmentalists. That stuff doesn’t seem to fly here. And if it tries, its shot out of the sky, dressed in a deer carcass and shot again for good measure. What part of Alberta is Jim from?

No training to report from yesterday. Worked at the gym last night. Busy as hell. Had fun sending home the people who weren’t supposed to be there. Extremely aggitated by the fellow who, in the previous week felt the need to advise me that I should be riding the bike for a half hour a day >.<, caught me eating my salad last night and felt the need to congratulate me with a pat on the back and a ‘good girl’. Seriously…he used that phrase. If I hadn’t been so damn hungry he probably would have been wearing it.

Thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast this morning (is it sad when you get giddy at the prospect of having oatmeal). For some reason referring to it as “Power Plop” makes it even more unappetizing to the n00bs.
Go figure.

Back and arms tonight. Rawr.

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[quote]devawn wrote:
I took every precaution to ensure I was not followed. Still waiting to get the ninja suit back from the dry cleaners…

I love Alberta. I grew up in BC…land of the politically correct bleeding heart environmentalists. That stuff doesn’t seem to fly here. And if it tries, its shot out of the sky, dressed in a deer carcass and shot again for good measure. What part of Alberta is Jim from?

No training to report from yesterday. Worked at the gym last night. Busy as hell. Had fun sending home the people who weren’t supposed to be there. Extremely aggitated by the fellow who, in the previous week felt the need to advise me that I should be riding the bike for a half hour a day >.<, caught me eating my salad last night and felt the need to congratulate me with a pat on the back and a ‘good girl’. Seriously…he used that phrase. If I hadn’t been so damn hungry he probably would have been wearing it.

Thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast this morning (is it sad when you get giddy at the prospect of having oatmeal). For some reason referring to it as “Power Plop” makes it even more unappetizing to the n00bs.
Go figure.

Back and arms tonight. Rawr.
[/quote]

I dunno how into detail Jim would want me to go, so I’ll leave it at Alberta. :slight_smile:

my favorite response to douches like that is, “Oh, I don’t remember that in depth conversation we had about my goals and the plan I have to achieve them. Seems like you’re mediocre, congratulations!”

After the pat on the back, “Now don’t do that unless you’re gonna scratch behind my ears and rub my belly, too.”

Tell me. Why weren’t the people you sent home supposed to be at the gym?

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[quote]CBear84 wrote:
devawn wrote:

my favorite response to douches like that is, “Oh, I don’t remember that in depth conversation we had about my goals and the plan I have to achieve them. Seems like you’re mediocre, congratulations!”

heh this is funny. He’d be crushed, or at least seriously offended. Which would be fait accompli on my part for sure. Apparently he used to train fairly seriously and then quit and now that he’s back into it, he’s a ‘born again’ and apparently I look like n00b bait.

After the pat on the back, “Now don’t do that unless you’re gonna scratch behind my ears and rub my belly, too.”
This is also good, but with my personal bubble issues I wouldn’t want to tempt anything

Tell me. Why weren’t the people you sent home supposed to be at the gym? [/quote]
Our gym offers the college students in the area a $2 per semester membership but during restricted hours. They aren’t supposed to be there during our designated peak times. This appears to be a difficult concept for them to grasp and they want to be in there when all the cool kids are in there.

Having fought this all last year as a member, I am taking great pleasure in ensuring that these special memberships are enforced or if they want to play with the big kids, then they pay for the right. That place is already wall to wall people, this special offer picks me to no end when they have a facility they can use on campus. But I’m just a bitch like that. I get out on the floor and immediately take the position that 'ALL YOUR STUFF ARE BELONG TO ME"

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[quote]devawn wrote:
Our gym offers the college students in the area a $2 per semester membership but during restricted hours. They aren’t supposed to be there during our designated peak times. This appears to be a difficult concept for them to grasp and they want to be in there when all the cool kids are in there.

Having fought this all last year as a member, I am taking great pleasure in ensuring that these special memberships are enforced or if they want to play with the big kids, then they pay for the right. That place is already wall to wall people, this special offer picks me to no end when they have a facility they can use on campus. But I’m just a bitch like that. I get out on the floor and immediately take the position that 'ALL YOUR STUFF ARE BELONG TO ME"

[/quote]

My branch campus has a… room with equipment in it… I’ll take a video sometime… maybe tonight… it’s fine enough stuff, just no room for more than 3 or 4 people at a time… seriously. anyway. The peak hours thing should be easy enough to understand… same concept as cell phones, mostly.

I’d go up to em all innocent like at first and be like, “oh, I didnt get your updated membership info. If you want to come to the desk to pay the upgrade and fill out the paperwork we can do that, or, you can leave.”

heehee. It makes me smile just thinking of the satisfaction you must get out of that.

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[quote]CBear84 wrote:

heehee. It makes me smile just thinking of the satisfaction you must get out of that. [/quote]

Seriously almost got a standing ovation from a few regulars when I removed our first offenders. It was never enforced last year and its been a rude awakening for many of them.

The best part is now when I see some of the guys that I’ve ‘spoke to’ about their membership restrictions coming up the stairs, see me on shift then turn around and walk back down the stairs again.

I probably should have included ‘spiteful vindictive bitch’ in my introductory post.

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[quote]devawn wrote:
CBear84 wrote:

heehee. It makes me smile just thinking of the satisfaction you must get out of that.

Seriously almost got a standing ovation from a few regulars when I removed our first offenders. It was never enforced last year and its been a rude awakening for many of them.

The best part is now when I see some of the guys that I’ve ‘spoke to’ about their membership restrictions coming up the stairs, see me on shift then turn around and walk back down the stairs again.

I probably should have included ‘spiteful vindictive bitch’ in my introductory post.[/quote]

Forgot to ask. Your boy. At university or other?

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[quote]CBear84 wrote:
devawn wrote:
CBear84 wrote:

heehee. It makes me smile just thinking of the satisfaction you must get out of that.

Seriously almost got a standing ovation from a few regulars when I removed our first offenders. It was never enforced last year and its been a rude awakening for many of them.

The best part is now when I see some of the guys that I’ve ‘spoke to’ about their membership restrictions coming up the stairs, see me on shift then turn around and walk back down the stairs again.

I probably should have included ‘spiteful vindictive bitch’ in my introductory post.

Forgot to ask. Your boy. At university or other?
[/quote]

Currently employed. Working two part time jobs because mom is a she beast and requires that those not going to school be full time employed or the equivalent there-of. He was accepted to a college in Calgary last year but it had limited seats so he was wait listed until this year. I think it worked out for the best. A taste of what life is like when you don’t get your shit together has hopefully been the eye opener he’s needed. He’s also paying rent now too because I’m sorry but I don’t get to float through life bringing home a paycheck and getting to spend it on whatever I want. I wish I did.

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Ha. Good for you devawn, making him work instead of lounging around. My now 22 yr old was extremely spoiled by my late husband. She decided to move out when she was 18, and actually lost her apartment for nonpayment of rent. I asked her why she could not get a job to pay rent, and she actually told me, “I don’t have a car so I can’t work.” HUH? She lived a block from a bus stop!!! I bought her a bike. Heh.

She was shocked when I would not allow her to move back in with us. She was a…difficult…child and my husband was undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer and was very unwell and could not take the stress she dealt out. A bit ironic since he was in large part the REASON she was so difficult.

Sadly, for a time, we paid half the rent for her to live elsewhere, so we did not have to cope. She grew up a LOT getting a huge dose of reality. She keeps making noises that she is going to start school soon. Sure hope she does. She really has settled down a lot and I am starting to actually LIKE her again!

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Nice to see you here. Your lower body issues sound just like mine. My pain in the arse is, well, a pain in the arse, but I’ve figured that pretty much everything that’s wrong with me is down to anterior pelvic tilt. Working on fixing that now but damn, foam rolling and core exercise is dull.

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[quote]Chrysalis wrote:
Ha. Good for you devawn, making him work instead of lounging around. My now 22 yr old was extremely spoiled by my late husband. She decided to move out when she was 18, and actually lost her apartment for nonpayment of rent. I asked her why she could not get a job to pay rent, and she actually told me, “I don’t have a car so I can’t work.” HUH? She lived a block from a bus stop!!! I bought her a bike. Heh.

She was shocked when I would not allow her to move back in with us. She was a…difficult…child and my husband was undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer and was very unwell and could not take the stress she dealt out. A bit ironic since he was in large part the REASON she was so difficult.

Sadly, for a time, we paid half the rent for her to live elsewhere, so we did not have to cope. She grew up a LOT getting a huge dose of reality. She keeps making noises that she is going to start school soon. Sure hope she does. She really has settled down a lot and I am starting to actually LIKE her again![/quote]

I feel you on the difficult daughter issue. Mine is 16 and after taking a swing at me last year she got sent to live with her dad. We are on far better terms now (and I’ve actually heard her giving advice to her cousins along the lines of ‘don’t screw up like me’ lol) but still not to the point where she is ready to move back in with me.

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[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
Nice to see you here. Your lower body issues sound just like mine. My pain in the arse is, well, a pain in the arse, but I’ve figured that pretty much everything that’s wrong with me is down to anterior pelvic tilt. Working on fixing that now but damn, foam rolling and core exercise is dull.[/quote]

Agreed…however foam rolling when your child has friends over can be amusing.
I love the “MOM WE HAVE GUESTS!” when I get busted foam rolling in the living room…like it was lewd behaviour lol

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Looking forward to following your log and I heart your avatar!!

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[quote]tootles27 wrote:
Looking forward to following your log and I heart your avatar!![/quote]

hehe thanks :slight_smile:

Back and arms yesterday…was mediocre. Tried a few new things and that slowed me down.

started with assisted pullups (big goal is to one day just be able to write pullups without the assist) - did as many as possible wg, rest/pause for 20 seconds, as many as possible mg, rest/pause 20sec, as many as possible cg. 1st round = 12/10/7 (actually about 6 2/3 :P)

4 sets cable seated low rows - 6 reps held for 12/10/8/6/4/2 seconds @ 95lbs

more a. pullups - same set up as above. managed 6/7/5.

4 sets MG pulldowns - 10 reps x 90lbs

meant to throw another set of pullups in here but someone was on MY machine. the nerve.

4 sets Overhand BB rows (this one was new…took time getting form and figuring out what weight I needed to be at) so a couple sets with just the bar, 1 set w/ 20 on the bar, 40, 50, and then 55. I’ll start at 55 next time and see where I go from there.

Looking back now I should have prepared an alternate for the pullups. I kinda cheated myself out of a few sets by just moving on.

Biceps:

3 sets BB curls - 10 CG x 30lbs, 10 MG x 30, 10 WG x 30, each set superset w/
a1 - standing db curls 10 x 15 (argh); no rest
a2 - hammer curls 10 x 15; no rest
a3 - zottman curls 10 x 15; no rest

seriously low weights but no rest between the makeshift superset/circuit thing had me swearing like a stevedor.

Triceps:

3 sets cali skullcrushers (also new, couple sets just the ez bar figuring this one out)
‘real’ sets - 12 x 20lbs plus whatver that little kinky bar weighs. not much i’m figuring lol
this was a good one though. i’ll be hanging on to this one for a while me thinks.

tricep omni-rep sets (3 sets)
a1 - Straight bar cable pulldowns 10 x 25
a2 - Straight bar cable pushdowns 10 x 25
a3 - overhead cable triceps extensions with rope 10 x 22.5

holy mother of all that burns…

After all was said and done I probably did more for my arms then back. I’ll remedy that next time. Had planned on throwing in 20 min HIIT but figured fuck it…I’ll do it today after work. Maybe.

Got some good guidance from Dr. Clay on his RFL plan yesterday so I feel like I’m heading in the right direction there.

Work is gonna be bat shit crazy today and life isn’t going to get much better. Some crazy took over my body at some point and agreed to another teaching contract to start later this month. 3 jobs, plus gym, plus gaming. I suppose I can sleep when I’m dead. Yes gaming is a priority :stuck_out_tongue:

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What helped me the most to get to unassisted chinups (and a couple unassisted pull-ups) was buying a Woody band, attaching it to a pull-up bar and wrapping the band around one knee for the assist. Personally, the machine assist didn’t work for me to get stronger on these. YMMV.

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[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
What helped me the most to get to unassisted chinups (and a couple unassisted pull-ups) was buying a Woody band, attaching it to a pull-up bar and wrapping the band around one knee for the assist. Personally, the machine assist didn’t work for me to get stronger on these. YMMV.[/quote]

I’ll have to see if I can chase one down. Pardon my n00bishness but YMMV?

Yesterday was hams/glutes/abs

Seated curls - 3 sets
10 single @ leg - 75lbs
10 both - 160lbs
sl and dl back to back as one big set. really focused on squeezing and holding at bottom and releasing super slow.
quad/hip flexor stretch between sets

Hammie leg press
10 x 250
10 x 270
10 x 320
10 x 340

weighted decline crunches x 25 between sets

another 3 sets of the leg curls, as above

hip abduction
15 x 175 - 4 sets

captains chair crunches to failure between sets

Hammie cable curls (17.5) ss w/ cable crunches (47.5) and weighted glute bridges (25)
4 sets

couple more sets of seated curls to failure for good measure.

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No worries. YMMV = your mileage may vary, i.e. what works for me, may not work for you.