A Good Ol' Fashioned

Ass-kicking is what I got for my workout this morning.

Not sure what exactly happened, but I have my suspicions on what contributed - tight hammies, and a wonky thoracic and neck surely did not do me any favors during my squats and OHP's.  I finished my workout but I felt like it could have been better.

I have to keep working on stretching my hams and hip flexors so I can get better squat depth but it's not really progressing the way I wish it would.  Perhaps I need to just keep a wider stance since that seems to work okay; I'm just worried that it might hinder me later on.

The OHP is my NEMESIS.  I'm not sure wtf it is about that lift, but my body starts twisting around when I get fatigued, almost like my bottom half is turning to the right while the upper half is rotating to the left.  I'm sure that can't be good for me.

And these seem to be the challenges with working out strictly from home with no formal training.  I'm sure that if I had someone with good experience, I could more easily work on correcting these types of issues rather than feeling like I'm shooting in the dark when trying to figure out HOW or WHAT to fix.

Is what it is, and I will persist!


That said, I posted a video of my 140 lb deadlift (2nd set in RPT where my top lift was 155 * 4) for a form check in http://www.reddit.com/r/weightroom/  as well as on the Nerd Fitness Forums.  General feedback was positive and I got a number of comments indicating that it looked awfully easy to be my 90% set.  Guess that means I ought to amp it up!

Anybody Out There??

If there were anything I could wish for, it would be to be able to find a more vocal female blogging community that was like-minded in my fitness and diet philosophy.  There are no problems finding fashion blogs, cooking blogs, or super-cardio/low-fat-bunny blogs, but I'm finding it nearly impossible to find any anecdotal resources focused women on getting stronger and packing on muscle.

Think something like Berkhan's Lean Gains website, but only authored and maintained from the female perspective.  While I understand that much of the training and eating philosophy that works for men would also work for women, it just can't be quite the same.  And yes, there are various community forums here and there with women posting in them, but I find it difficult to wade through those without finding eleventy-billion differing opinions or folks that 'do' things but aren't actually getting the same results that I'm striving for.  Even going to the Lean Gains and Weight Room Reddits aren't very helpful as 95% of the posters are men.

I was discussing some of my woe at not having these resources with my husband and his response was 'see a need, fill a need'.

So.

Here we are.

Maybe I will be successful and what I have here will be helpful to someone down the road.  IF it ever gets found.  Maybe I'll get brave and start sharing once I can validate my own results and success.  We'll see.  Right now, I'm still in the lets-see-if-this-really-works-as-well-as-I-hope camp.

Progress Pictures

So here we go.  

The first set of pictures that I have posted of my progress.  I have been feeling the differences in my body and it certainly is nice to see it as well.  It makes it more tangible, turns it into something that is actually real for me.  What's even better, is that I showed the pictures to my husband and he thinks that the progress is AWESOME for two month's worth of work.  

The 'before's' (on the left) were taken on November 3rd with me at about 135 lbs and 29.5% body fat, while the 'after's' were taken today at 125 lbs and about 26% body fat.  That's 10 lbs down with a 3% decrease in body fat.   If I can do math correctly, that means that about 7 lbs out of the 10 lbs that I lost were pure fat that got taken off my body.

Those numbers themselves thrill me, but it's actually been a pleasant  experience when compared to every previous weight loss effort that I've ever attempted.  I don't think I've EVER been able to not gain weight over the holiday drag, much less lose any.  And here I am, plugging right along and enjoying life while I do it.  Did I mention that I LOVE my diet and exercise plan?

Back - November vs. January (note there is way  less strap-digging going on!)

Front - November vs. January

Side - November vs. January (Yay for less back fat!!)

I catch some flack for my diet here and there.  No, I don't eat bread.  Or pasta.  Or things with sugar (unless it's chocolate or the occasional piece of cake.. I AM human, after all).  Or things out of a box.  I eat chicken and broccoli... every damned day.  But I also have variety and eat a lot of other really good things, just not what everyone else would eat.  And I'm okay with that.  I have good energy, and I know that I'm fueling my body with healthy food.  

My workouts consist of lifting heavy things.  Right now, I'm totally stoked because I can deadlift 155 lbs.  That's 30 lbs  more than I weigh myself and I can lift it OFF the ground!  I'm back to doing pull ups and chin ups and can easily do three of either in succession.  Hell, I can even put a 10-lb bag on my back and do almost three!  

I don't run, I don't go on the elliptical.  I don't really have time, to be honest.  And if I did have time for cardio, I'd be out riding my bike or hiking - either of which I would actually enjoy doing instead of suffering through.  I'd rather manage myself via my diet and by doing intense lifting to build more muscle to chew through calories.  

I'm very curious to see how my pictures compare with the next set that I'll be taking at the end of March.  It'll be my 30th birthday on April 3rd, and my goal is to have a rockin' body to show for it!

Resolutions? Nah...

It's the eve of the New Year.

I don't find myself inclined to make any resolutions; for the most part, I find them to be waste of time, to be honest.  Resolutions are things that people use when they feel guilty of putting inadequate effort into things or have completely neglected something that "should" be important.  Not a big fan...

There are things in my life that I consider to be important - my husband, my kids, my health - and I have to say that looking back at this last year, I am mostly pleased with how all of these things were handled.

My husband and I are still very much friends (and I say we're friends because so many spouses apparently are NOT), even through the changes and challenges of the last year.  We've been friends for 15 years and I have no doubt that we'll see many more years to come.

With the kids, we added a second one successfully into the mix.  While it's been a little crazy, it's been good to see the sibling bonds forming between my six-year old and her little brother. I would even go so far to say that I've had some parenting breakthroughs in the last year.  I feel like I'm better able to be patient and listen than I was before.  I still have my days and have a long way to go but it's getting better.  Having my son helped me realize that kids are only as old as they are once and that you can never get today back once it's gone.

My health... boy, is that a loaded one.  It's been one thing after another.  Literally.  Got pregnant.  Was determined to stay active and not balloon 70+ pounds like I did the first time around.  Got hit by a truck on my bike (so much for my cycling keeping away those pounds, eh?).  Changed my diet to compensate for my lack of activity.  Went to PT.  Walked.  A LOT.  Walked some more.  Kept weight gain to under 30 pounds for my whole pregnancy, and healthy throughout and felt great.  Tried for VBAC, but ended up with a 2nd c-section instead. Dropped down to 127, ballooned back up to 138 while recovering.  8-weeks post-partum/post-surgery started lifting again. Weight and fat shedding like crazy, all while NOT starving.  For the first. Time.  EVER.  Eating (mostly) clean, avoiding grains, and intermittent fasting has done AMAZING things for my relationship with food... never going back to the standard American diet.

Also, for the first time ever, I have actually LOST weight instead of gaining it over the Thanksgiving - New Years holiday debauchery.  I'm actually back down to about 126 and have lost 4 inches between my waist, hips and back.  On top of that, I haven't been lifting for the last two weeks either, thanks to a nice little quirk in my back that has hauled me to the chiropractor.

While annoying, I know that it's just a minor set back.  I know that I've made it the entire last year and have overcome a lot of things and still stuck to being as healthy and active as I can be.  Done it before, I'll do it again!

That is why I'm not setting any resolutions for myself.  I plan to just keep doing what has worked and what has made me happy because I know what I'll get in the end.

What I Want

In order to have direction, one must have goals, right?

Right.

I have them... so many of them.  I want to get myself back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I want to be able to knock out 25 miles in the saddle again.  I want to be able to do six pullups in a row... again.  There are so many things I was able to do a year ago - before getting pregnant, before my accident - that I want to reclaim and add back to my 'because I kick ass' list.

There are also new things that I want.  I want to be able to lift heavy stuff and build muscle.  I want to decrease my body fat percentage.  I want to climb rock walls and do a handstand pushup.  

It all really boils down to doing what I was doing before, but just taking it a step further.

I won't delude myself into thinking that any of these things will happen overnight or even over the next six months.  However, with that said, I am already making some pretty awesome progress.  I've already managed to drop about 6 pounds and shed an inch off both my waist and my hips so far.  I just have to remember that every step I take toward my goals is a step in the right direction :)

On your mark... Get set... GO!

Blogging is so... trendy.

I, however, am not such a huge fan of 'trendy'.  There are days that I'm downright anti-trendy.  I dislike trends so much that I refuse to pick up Fifty Shades of Grey simply because EVERYONE else is reading it - maybe I'll try it in a year or so once the hype dies down.

Ultimately, I wanted to start this blog so I have somewhere to document my progress on reshaping and reclaiming my body after my second pregancy.  I figure it gives me an outlet; somewhere to hash out my thoughts, keep track of my goals, and (hopefully) watch all of my hard work and efforts become a reality.  And not that I give a flying squirrel about whether or not anyone ends up reading my blog, but that could also be motivating... :)

My primary focuses will be to regain my strength and pre-pregnancy fitness levels (I swear I WILL be able to do pull ups again!) as well as experiment with how my postpartum body reacts to the mostly primal diet that I adopted while pregnant.