Booster Shots and Circus Acts

A big, fat HELLO to you all!

SO, I haven't blogged in a few days, but NOT because I haven't had much to say! That couldn't be further from the truth! These past few days have been so fabulous and I feel so pumped up! I've had grrrreat workouts and got a lot of awesome feedback from some amazing gals as to my progress. I feel like I'm 95% ready to strut my stuff on stage! (BTW, that other 5% is sitting right on top of my abs. Grrr!)

So, let's see, where did I leave off? Ah yes, my killer leg workout that I mysteriously foretold would leave me unable to walk the next day. Mission accomplished. Oy! I waddled my way throughout the weekend, but in a sick way love it! HA! Lately all my leg workouts are circuit-type with glute isolation at the end and, man, I'm feeling it and seeing a difference. And, guess what?! Others are noticing a difference, too!

On Sunday I went to the Cathy Savage Sunday Session for posing practice and another "drop dead" workout. (I call it "drop dead", because I always feel like my quads are literally going to collapse. These are some I-N-T-E-N-S-E plyometric workouts. Anyway, I guess it had been about 3 weeks since the last Sunday session and I'm down 5lbs and the minute I walked in, the girls who know me made a fuss on how much leaner I look. I was blushing because, even though I know 5lbs makes a difference on my nearly 5'2" frame, I wasn't expecting the attention. And then, I changed from my black workout pants to my teeny-tiny-microscopic spandex workout shorts to practice posing and that's when everyone in the entire room made a huge fuss over my legs. Not gonna lie, it felt freaking AWESOME! Several girls I've never even met were saying things like, "Holy bleep, you legs look awesome" and again I started to blush because of the attention. ***Side note- I really need to get over this whole "blushing" thing. Walking out on stage dressed a little more than an Adam and Eve leaf is not the time or place to be blushing BAHAHAHA!***

Anyway, I've always had a naturally athletic build and people have commented my whole life that I have a gymnast-type body, though I'm definitely no gymnast. Ya'll can check back to this old post in August to see what I'm talking about. In that post are progress pics (which is crazy to compare to my body now- whoa, what a change!) and I posted a few pics of my legs. The muscle mass is there and always has been. My concern was leaning them out. I continued to work my legs hard, even though I really didn't want to add muscle mass, but (listen up cardio queens) my legs keep getting smaller and more defined! That's right, ladies! Even though I am still working my butt off on lower body workouts, I'm leaning out more and more everyday because I'm losing the F-A-T around them! I was worried about that at first thinking I was going to have ginormous legs if I lifted heavy since I genetically have mass, but instead my legs are just becoming more cut and defined. In the words of Martha Stewart, "That's a good thing." ;)

So at the posing class, Andi told me that she thinks I'm going to do well at my competition! That meant the WORLD to me to hear it, especially coming from her! She's been competing for over 11 years and is just amazing and so inspiring and I value her opinion so much! After I "survived" the drop-dead workout, I talked to her a little more afterward about training for Fitness and I'm going to begin that journey starting in January! Ya'll have NO IDEA how ecstatic I am to start training and prepping to enter my first fitness show! I feel that is what I was made to do and I was also so pumped up to learn a few strength moves that these girls incorporate into their routine.

I learned how to do a shoulder planche and can already do an L-press and one, one-armed push-up (<---OMG, tough!) Now, I'm not saying they are anywhere near perfect (sheesh, I'm just glad I got to a point that I stopped rolling around the studio floor like a dying bug!) but it's a start! Speaking of speaking of push-ups, I'm joining Lisa's Push-Up Challenge in hopes it will allow me to do 100 push-ups (yes, in a row!) I'm going to add a bit of a twist and also try to do a few one-armed push-ups everyday so that come January I'll be able to show Andi (or whoever ends up choreographing my routine) what I can do. HOORAHHHH!

I'm also going to be practicing my flexibility, including *attempting* doing the splits daily and incorporating more upper-body plyometrics to gain bodyweight strength. Seriously, the other day I was reviewing some of the moves these girls use in their routines and I told Hubbs, "Oh, I can do splits. No problem. I cheered in high school." Um, yeah that was like 12 years ago! I attempted a left, right and middle split in my living room and let's just say, I've got a lot of work to do. I'm so tight and not even a fraction as flexible as I was as a teenager. Oh well, I guess now is the time to get started before training in January. I just feel for my sweet hubby who has to deal with me moving the furniture and rolling around all over the place. He's a good man for marrying me. I'm like a one-woman circus act, but at least I'm entertaining and wear bikinis while doing it! hehe

Alright, I need to ride this energy wave and head to the gym for Back/Bis. I took a "rest" day yesterday (still did 60 minutes morning cardio at moderate intensity) and today I feel so much more energetic and better strike while the iron's hot, right?! I'm going to tackle that wide-grip pull-up machine and see how many I can do at my new lower resistance, 90#. If I can even do one more than last time, I'll be happy:) Today, though, I won't wait until the end of my workout to attempt them. I'll do those first so I'm not quite as exhausted.

Hasta!

Questions:

1) What other ways (aside from the scale or inches lost) do you assess improvement in your fitness levels? Considering I couldn't even do 4 "real" push-ups six months ago, I'd say cranking out 55 push-ups the other day while I was waiting for some dudes to finish up with a barbell is a great improvement! I'm halfway there to the 100 push-up challenge.

2) What do you do to increase your flexibility? Sadly, I've lost a TON of flexibility over the years being sedentary and not stretching. I think I ought to incorporate some yoga into my training, as well as sign up for gymnastics to really increase my flexibility. Also, I've GOT to remember to stretch before, during and after workouts. It makes all the difference and I neglect it often. DOH!