Bday Presents and Shoulders

Today was my Bday. 31 years old! And being the fitness enthusiast that I am, I spent a chunk of my happy Bday at the gym working out! Shoulders day. Next to abs, my least favorite body part to work out. I think it is probably because my shoulders are WEAK! A year ago or so I was pressing 20 plus pounds. Now I'm just barely getting back to 10 pound shoulder presses. I overextended my shoulder last year, and seem to have hurt myself. So I didn't even do shoulders consistently for over 6 months. Now I'm back into it, but I have to go pretty light because I don't have much strength, and because after a while my right shoulder starts to hurt. Hey, how many times do you think I can type the word "shoulder" in this post???!!! Anyway, I don't enjoy this particular part of my workout week, but today I was pretty excited. One of my clients got me a Border's gift card for my Bday and told me about this book she got as a gift. The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises. So I bought it, and so far, it's pretty cool! It's not just exercises. There's a section on why weight training is important, how to put together routines, frequently asked questions answered in simple terms, etc.. The shoulder exercises I pulled from the book to do today even explained how doing them can decrease common problems that cause pain in the neck and back! Pretty cool. Reverse shrugs, overhead presses with twists. Lots of rotations. All in all a pretty cool book. Of course, it's pretty basic and you still all need a PERSONAL TRAINER to show you how to correctly do these exercises and to help you integrate the gym into a healthy lifestyle outside the gym, RIGHT?!!! So don't hesitate to call me : ) And yes, my shoulders already hurt!

Pain in the...

I had a pretty good cardio session last night. 30 minutes on the bike, hill climb program. One of the things I like about cardio is that every time I switch modes (machines), I get a really high calorie burn! I've done bike twice this week and both days I burned almost 3000 calories total (for the whole day, not the half hour cardio session!) But I have to say that sometimes, newer is not better. I did the bike at Bradshaw 24 earlier this week, and at Calvine last night. I like the Bradshaw bikes much better, even though they're older! They're smoother and the seat is more comfortable and they have better programs to choose from. On a different subject, I think I'm getting girlier as I get older. And just because I have tattoos, short hair and black fingernails doesn't mean I cant be girly! I wear makeup now! Almost EVERY day! I like it, it makes me feel good, and it's a PAIN IN THE...!!! Being a fitness professional who works out regularly is not condusive to wearing makeup. I spend good time on primping before I leave, and I find myself hesitating to do cardio because I know I will sweat off all my hard work! Lame, lame, lame. I need to suck it up and just do it. But man, you guys are sooooooooo lucky you don't have to deal with these things!

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I'm so glad to know that you all enjoy my pain so much! And here I thought we were friends :) Seriously though, it took like four days for my legs to stop hurting. Mrs. Anonymous, my body has definitely not submitted to me yet. But I'm working on it every week! BTW, for those of you who don't work out at the gym where I am currently employed, Mrs. "Anonymous" is a regular there with a TOTALLY amazing physique. She was the one who left the last comment on my last post about making her body submit at the gym, and she's not kidding! She is just getting into the world of fitness competitions, and I had figured she's always been fit. Anyone who sees her would think she must have always been fit. I mean, this girls body is rockin! BUT, she brought in a picture of her that was taken a few years ago, and MAN did she not always look like this. She worked hard to get her body from chunk to she-hunk! She also has a full time job, kids (plural), and a husband. Wow. It just goes to show that ANYONE can become fit and healthy if they put their mind to it. Props, Mrs. A! And when you make a profile for this blog, you should use one of your competition photos! Inspirational!

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I CAN BARELY WALK TODAY!!! It's the day after the day after my very first leg workout with my friend Justin, and I AM SORE! First, let me just start by saying that I am a total control freak and have never let someone else lead my workout. But, I've known Justin for years, and I know he's a great trainer, so I finally handed off the reigns and had him design our routine. WOW! We did something called endurance training, which I don't really do. I'm kinda stuck in my ways and tend to stay with either strength training or "stabilization" training. What we did was two sets of 10-15 reps, supersetting our exercises. Heavy, neutral position back squats superset with wide-leg leg presses. Heavy weight lunges superset with split switch jumps... Anyway, I'm just trying to impress you all now, but seriously, I was totally sore starting the next day. And to top it off, last night Justin told me he barely felt it and had played an hour of racquetball the day after the workout! Dang! Time to step up my game!

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I am slowly, slowly, slowly getting back on the horse. Or bike. Or however that saying goes! I have been updating and editing my website, working around a non-working computer! By the end of all this I may go live in Amish (spelling??) Country without electricity! Anyway, enough whining. It's happening. More than I can say for my cardio as of late! I have been weight lifting and stretching like I promised myself I would, but my cardio has SUFFERED. I'm still doing the horizontal loading style training, Chest and Tri's one day, Back and Bi's the next... And I'm stretching my legs like a maniac! I do a lot of static stretching (you know the kind where you reach for your toes and freeze in that postion), and recently added in some active stretching (mostly kicks from Taekwondo with no force behind them). The thing that's been working against me lately is the WINTER MUNCHIES!!! I feel like I'm hungrier than normal. I think it may have something to do with my really inconsistent schedule, so I am also working on getting into a better sleeping/eating routine. I'm even trying to work out at roughly the same time every day! I'm counting on that making a difference. I'll let you know after I've been at it for a while. And I have to give props to all of you who have such insane schedules and still make time to consistently fit excercise into your lives. You are my heroes!

And we're back!

Happy New Year everyone! It's been about three months since I've been online consistently and it's been a very busy three months. In that time I began working for 24 Hour Fitness again (though I'm at the Elk Grove-Florin and Calvine site now), my husband had a "layoff scare" (hence the decision to work at the gym again), we had a wireless router break and need to be replaced, and my laptop went on the fritz and works when it wants to which is not very often. And most of you who know me know that I have very little patience for technology! However, in my downtime I've been doing a little homework and found this cool site where I can link a blog to my website. This way we can all chat together! My current workout habits are back to my old-school routines. I'm lifting heavy again about four days a week, splitting up muscle groups. Chest and triceps one day, back and biceps another and so on. I'm really enjoying it! My newest goal is to become flexible enough to do the splits. I've been told by a friend that if I want to ever do Taekwondo seriously I need to be able to do them. And since I'm hoping he'll be my teacher I am taking it as a serious assignment. Half hour of stretching my legs morning and night, every other day. So, that's the latest and greatest. I'd love to hear from all of you! This site is great. Make a profile and post responses to my blogs and other people's posts! Hope you are all having a wonderful 2010!