Me+
Morning Flow started at 6:30am today (although I had been up since 6am) so I had lots of time and actually made it to the gym on time. Go Gus.
Workout Deets:
Warm Up:
Involved taking my shoes off?
I know, I know. Weird. But we used a ball (I think a Lacrosse one) and rolled it around on my feet and calves. It felt bad. My definition of "bad" in this case is: a combination of pain and tension and then some relief (when it was over). I inquired as to the purpose of this and Kyle said something about breaking up "fashia/facia/fascia" in my calves and feet to help me squat and lunge better and deeper. I had done this with Kevin Darby a few weeks ago, but Kyle was putting some additional pressure that was actually making me swat at him unitentionally with my hand.
Then we hit the workout part:
4 rounds
alternating lunges with an Olympic bar (45 lbs) 8 reps each side
lat pull downs (3 contractions, 1 pull, 3 second hold, 4 seconds back up) 4 reps
after each exercise we had some timed rest
3 rounds
leg curl (both legs up and then one leg down alternating side) 6 reps each side
push ups 8 perfect from my toes
external rotation 10 reps each side
Cooldown:
one set of Peterson step ups (I think we did 12 on each side)
then crushing a protein shake with a scoop of veggie greens
This week has been one of my better weeks in terms of eating well and exercising. I haven't eaten out since last Saturday night. All meals and snacks have been prepared in advance. I have exercised 4 times this week.
Monday PT session
Tuesday Hot Yoga
Wednesday 5km Run
Thursday PT session
At one point I actually said out loud "I feel skinny today" during my training session. I thought about that on the way home. Am I skinny? Most certainly not. Do I want to be skinny? That's what I've wanted for as long as I can remember. To be skinny. When I look back at pictures of myself from years ago (it doesn't matter if it was last year or 15 years ago) I think to myself "I looked pretty good back then" but I can remember thinking at the time "I need to lose weight". It's game I have played with myself since high school. I know many gals that play the same game. Why am are women so hard on themselves? Because we live in a photoshop world? Where women and girls are expected to live up to to unrealistic expectations of today's media and society? Who knows.
When I think about being skinny I am not even sure what that means. I don't know how many pounds I would weight if I was skinny. How would I know? I won't. Why? Because it would never be enough. If I was 150 lbs, I would want to weigh 140lbs. When I get to 140lbs then being skinny would now be 135lbs. So I think it's time to leave "I want to be skinny" behind. Plus saying the word "skinny" a lot in my head made me realize it's a weird word anyways.
So when I think about what I really want, it is:
To be able to comfortably wear my size 28 jeans without any "muffin top" (if you are not sure what muffin top is you can google it) by building lean muscle and burning fat, not by being skinny and to actually feel healthy with regular exercise and generally being active and decent nutrition.
Note: I used the word 'comfortably' for a reason. I will never wear jeans that don't fit me or are too tight. I HATE it when girls do that. Plus you automatically feel better and more confidant when you wear clothes that fit (this may come as news to anyone reading this that is 25 yrs old or younger).
Because let's face it. I will never be able to completely stop eating Big Macs, Skoreo Blizzards, Nachos, Peanut Butter, Wine, Pizza etc. So I can never be skinny anyways.
Randomness: I was just on the phone with a person on my team who says the most dated/out of style words.
For example:
He says "secretary" instead of assistant or administrative/executive assistant
He says "chambermaid" in said of housekeeper or cleaning/laundry staff
He says "slacks" instead of pants
He is 25 and he belongs on the cast of Mad Men. This just happened. So I included it here.
Also, just to quickly follow up from my blog post on May 4th "It Was Almost Nutritionally Disgraceful" I made some protein pancakes with gluten free mix and added some protein and blueberries. I ate them post workout on Tuesday. Verdict: Awesome! A+.
My Trainer:
Tara is typically quicker to the keyboard than me after workouts, so I have the advantage on commenting on her posts. First of all, it’s fascia. Fascia is the fibrous connective tissue than binds muscles, organs, etc. together. The average bear (not really people … I’m talking the average gym member) is riddled with fascial adhesions throughout their body that limits their range of motion, among other problems. When I rolled out the bottom of Tara’s foot, along with making her grimace in pain, I was breaking up adhesions on her posterior tibialis (the muscle that controls the arch of your foot). Then I rolled out her calves (because almost everyone walking around has tight calves) to help with her dorsiflexion/plantar flexion (ankle mobility). A lack of ankle mobility is one of the main reasons that people’s squats in the gym look like a terrible way to herniate a disk.
One of the more interesting certifications I took was Gait Analysis (from Leonard Carter at Vitruvian Training) where I learned that a lot of people bodies are broken from the ground up. i.e. without good ankle mobility and a properly function kinetic chain in your lower body – get some help from a qualified Trainer or stay the hell away from the squat rack. Once Tara was all prepped, it was go time! I was really proud of her for her barbell lunges. It’s no easy feat with a proper tempo and range of motion. All of her other lifts she did just fine (she again gives pretty damn good detail below – saving me the typing), but 2 other things happened in our session that I knew I would write about.
#1) I learned something new about Tara today. She loses herself, forgets where she is, whatever you want to call it when Rhythm Nation by Janet Jackson comes on the GoodLife speakers, and
#2) When she said “I feel skinny today”. Tara is better equipped to discuss the inner workings of the female mind on this one, but I thought it was pretty cool to hear. Patch (GoodLife’s CEO and founder) wrote a great book called The Real Sexy, Smart, and Strong. The book talks about people defining their own sexy, smart, and strong and skinny has always fallen into that category for me. Now, Tara is routinely active, fit, and would have a lot of women saying “I wish I could look like that”, but I am acutely aware of her goals, so it was great to hear her “feel skinny”. Good job Gus!!! (as she would say to herself).
Tara is in for her next workout at 8am tomorrow, so this little Trainer needs to go work on programs!
Happy Reading,
Me + My Trainer
P.S. What do you think of the whole "I want to be skinny" thing?
