Weekend in Pics!

Weekend in pics

Coffee = pre-workout!

Deadlift Day for me!

Pushing around some sleds! BADASS!

Kings of the snow mountain!

Precious brothers!

Josh getting cozy

Train time!

Sam's in love

Sledding Sunday

<3

I did this workout last night from Back On Pointe. I did some substituting (like 1/2 kneeling shoulder press instead of Russian twists), some adding of reps and I did all the pushups on my toes. Whew!

Sweaty, post-workout pic. You're welcome.

I'm reading more and more studies published that shows the study subjects lost more fat and retained more lean muscle on lower carbohydrate, higher protein and fat eating plans. Here is an example:
Study #1

Also, you may have heard recently that cholesterol may not be the heart disease "demon" it has been portrayed as... Many are now thinking highly processed carbs are to blame for CVD.Check out this one:
Study #2

There are more to this effect. What do you guys think? I love your opinion!

No matter what, keep moving forward!

Sore is Sexy

Is it just me? But I think sore muscles are sexy. I love the feeling of sore muscles, knowing I worked hard for them the day before.
Yesterday was sub-max back squat day. I felt a *little* off my game - my 3rd set I had to drop because my form was going. Form HAS to be #1.

2x5 125
1x5 115

I also did some nice work on snatch-grip deadlift. Challenging, but awesome! Certainly not up to my conventional deadlift numbers, but not bad:

3x8 125

Some 1/2 kneeling DB presses, weighted reverse lunges and reverse crunches rounded out my strength portion. The Met-Con was KILLER and I was TOAST when we was done... 

Strength portion - in 2 minutes:
20 TRX jump squats
5 rope climbs
12 pushups.
The time you have left over (I had about 30-40 seconds) is your "rest". Then we did it again.

Then we moved onto the pure metabolic section - in 2 minutes
15 burpees
20 climbers
20 ground-zero jumps
20 skaters
Again, the time you have left over (I had about 25 seconds) is your "rest". Then we did it again.

WHEW!! It was BRUTAL! 

Bodyology/Tuff Girl has opened up more space, so the new layout is HUGE. I'm so happy for them. They have also hired 2 new trainers in the past 6 months or so. 

The Real Food Challenge is going *OK*. The past few days I have gotten a little lazy, so last night I made myself a list of non-negotiables. I wanted them to be strict enough to keep me on my toes, but not so restrictive I go insane. Sanity is my number 1 priority!

Non-Negotiables for today:
~Drink 64 or more oz of water
~Train
~Eat only food that I packed, salad added to lunch is the only exception
~Limit coffee to 3 cups
~No cocoa

These feel good. 
~A major slack for me has been my water, because I want to drink coffee (warm, delightful coffee) all day long. So, limiting my coffee and upping my water go nicely together. 
~Training is my no-brainer today. I'm already signed up to go push some sleds around on the new turf (woohoo!) and do other things that in the moment I might not want to do, but I will feel really good about after.
~Eating just what I packed rules out any goodies that might be laying around work. So, with this solid "rule" in place, I can walk by them without calculating the said item in my head to see if it fits in my plan.
~No cocoa. *sigh* It's always calling me. LOL

 So, that's it for me today...I'm sorry there are still no pictures - I'm still working on my mojo with this!

Keep moving forward!
 

Back in action!

Hello Blogger friends!

So excited that I can access my blog at work again! Yahoo! I've had things to write about and share, and I have felt very cut off from you. That may sound silly, but I really do use this blog as an outlet and personal journal.

My last entry was New Years Eve! Damn, like, a lifetime ago! I am about 12 days into my Real Food Challenge and it's going pretty well. When I decided to take it on, I knew there would be some things I was NOT going to restrict. I know that for me, restricting too much leads me down the binging trail. I'm so over that shit. Sanity is #1!

The Real Food Challenge is basically a clean-eating challenge. And while I am doing a "modified" version, I am getting fantastic benefits. I am NOT weighing myself so I am tracking by measurements only. I'll measure again on Sunday to see what the past 2 weeks have changed. However, I am also feeling the difference from from a physical standpoint. Higher energy, no bloating, no morning stomach ache after eating breakfast... Beautiful!

My lifting has changed a little because of some modifications in the classes I take. I'm still working out the kinks of scheduling to be sure I can get all 3 of my main lifts in, but I am also back to taking one class a week on the Tuff Girl side. I need to keep things a little more metabolic still. Lifting is awesome, and eating for lifting is really awesome, but, for me, if I am going to shed some fat, I need to add a little more metabolic burn to the lifting.

Burn, baby, BURN!

You may remember I said my hubby was going to be joining me in classes. Well, he has - however... I just don't think he's diggin' it. He's not admitting it yet, but I really don't think it's going to work for him. He's more of a trail-running kind of guy. The intensity of these classes is tough to get used to, and I don't think he's interested in getting used to it. A decision will have to be made soon. HOWEVER, I'm pretty positive that he won't continue, and I will continue. Hubby is intimidated by the gym, but I think this time of training has helped that a lot. Maybe he will feel better about going to the gym on his own now. I'm not sure... But regardless, I am not willing to let this go right now.

Work is sucking a lot. I know, what else is new, right? There are a lot of people out there jobless and I am grateful, however... that doesn't mean I have to stay in a bad situation - right? More to come...

This blog will improve drastically now that I have access and all the features I am supposed to have (ability to share pics, etc) so fun and more personalized stuff to come!

Keep moving forward!