10.5 weeks until competition, It's been a while...

I have been so busy that I haven't had time to sit down at the computer to do any correspondence or blogging. Working 40-50 hours a week, teaching 3 classes and 3 clients, cook, clean, mom, and 1.5-2 hours in the gym per day...is exhausting! Yikes. But I still love it and here's why:

At first I felt guilty about doing this because it takes SO much time...and some of that time could be Noah's time. BUT, Noah likes to go to the gym with mommy. The daycare is really great there and when I'm done with my training we race each other around the track and he helps me stretch. He LOVES to exercise with mommy. When we leave he wants a "muscle shake" like mommy's and we go home and make him a very healthy shake and he talks about foods being healthy. He's 3 and can recognize foods that are good for him! Last week I was training a friend and he was playing while we worked out. I had her doing incline dumbbell presses. Noah pulls the step over next to the bench, grabs the 2lb. dumbbells, lays on the step on his back and starts doing PERFECT chest presses, breathing and everything! That had to be the most proud moment of my life. I am teaching my son, through my example, how to be healthy and take care of himself. That alone makes all of this worth it. He thinks it's cool :)

Training-
My body weight is being very sluggish but the muscle is not. I'm not sure how but it feels like I'm actually putting on muscle at an equal rate to losing fat. It's a little scary as a figure competitor because I just feel large. I'm starting to lean a little faster now though so that is comforting. I've increased the cardio and dropped some carbs. I have to remind myself that I'm on the right track and my last competition prep was only 12 weeks and I covered A LOT of ground in that amount of time.

I'm lifting more than I've ever lifted before 205lb squats without a spot! Normally I don't talk about the amount of weight a lot but I'm maxing out each week and I'm just...well proud that I am that strong. It's kind of fun to lift more than the guy next to me at the gym :P

So that's where I am. Forging through with my eye on the prize.

14 WEEKS OUT

I can't believe I'm 4 weeks into this already! All of a sudden I feel like it's just around the corner. This hypertrophy (muscle gaining) phase is a little scary to me. Last time I only did a 12 week contest prep and lost 15lbs and 15% body fat and I tweaked the muscle I had and worked on losing fat. But I didn't get lean enough to really be competitive, nor was my frame quite balanced. This time it's 18 weeks; I'm putting on a bit more muscle and "shaping" a little better. My shoulders needed some size and I'm definitely fixing that. But I haven't "lost" much on the scale and I'm feeling "big" due to the heavy lifting. I've lost 6lbs. which is exactly on target with my program. But it makes me anxious to start focusing on cutting fat even though I know better. It's just like teaching my clients that eating too little will make them fatter due to the body's starvation response. Our instinct tells us to keep reducing what we take in and it sounds like that makes sense but it isn't the way our bodies work. So, even knowing what I know, my instincts are trying to steer me in a different direction. It's so silly. So I'll trust what I know and keep eating. God forbid. LOL

So tonight and tomorrow I lift 100% of my 5 rep max. And next week I increase my 5 rep max. I'm not where I was last time but I had major setbacks from my accident so I'm very excited about where I am. Last week I squatted 180lbs and it felt great. I maxed at 225lb with my squat before my last contest and I think I'll easily hit that by this contest. Normally numbers aren't that big of a deal to me but it's all about progress and doing a little better today than I did yesterday.


I have to say that I'm SO glad I hired a coach this time. The program isn't far off from what I would have done but it is so fantastic to not have to think about it. I just DO it. I can coach my clients with great confidence but when it comes to my own training I second and third guess myself. I think EVERYONE should have a trainer, a sounding board, a coach-something. 2 minds...

I'm finding eating this time more difficult oddly enough. Last time I stuck to a specific list of foods and didn't count macros much. I had 2 healthy "cheats" a week until 6 weeks out. There is no way I ate 180g of protein a day last time. This time I have a lot of freedom for daily choices but no "cheats". I think this time, with so much freedom it is actually harder for me. Food is my slippery slope ;) So this week I'm actually trying to combine last time's diet with this time to hit both goals: structured to hit macros for maximum muscle development and keep it simple but with a tiny bit of relief to ward off a binge.

I'll keep you posted.