Fitbit Blaze!

Alright.... hitting the gym with a vengeance after a week off from lifting, and a purpose of losing some fat!

I have this habit of getting a little too excited to be back in the gym after I've been off for awhile... and I end up doing EVERYTHING

Today was different because I used my new Fitbit for the first time

It's a Blaze! I got this model because it has heart rate monitoring and it can be used with a variety of exercise types. My main things will be lifting and bootcamp class, I will keep using my Garmin for running. This will also be good to get a better picture of how much movement and calorie burn is happening throughout the day as a whole. I'm also logging my food intake in the app. With these powers combined, I will lose fat!

I am off today so I took my sweet time getting to the gym. Once there I suited up and pressed "weights" to start tracking my workout. It went something like this

Squats 115# 3x10
Power cleans 65# 3x10
Pull ups green band (as many as possible)
Bench 60# 3x10
Overhead press 65# 3x8
Push ups (30)
Lat pulldown 85# 3x10
Row 85# 3x10
Face pulls 30# 3x10
Dips (purple band) 3x10
Turkish get ups 12# 2x10

Finisher
5 Burpees
10 DB Snatches 15#
25 Jump rope
x3

That was pretty tiring considering I'm restricting calories right now. I was wobbling pretty bad on the TGU's. I am not lifting heavy because of the calorie restriction (aside from DL's with Daniel) so for the next few weeks it will be alot of hypertrophy/fat loss complexes.

The watch didn't get in my way much, the only thing that happened was during my overhead presses my wrist would knock the pause button with each press. But I can always just unpause it. I even tested it with those TGU's thinking the kettlebell knocking the face of the watch would be a nuisance... but no problems there at all, it just kind of rested there and I don't see any scratches. It's a nice looking watch and I'd hate to scratch it, but I get fierce in the gym and if it happens it happens.

Came in at 1 hour on the nose. Based on research I always used to estimate lifting sessions to burn 100-200 calories. This burned nearly twice that! My heart rate averaged somewhere around 115 and got up to 150 during the finisher. This is exactly why I got this tracker, it gives me a much better idea of how hard I'm working when it comes to numbers. I mean, I always knew I worked hard cause that's just how I like to do things - no holds barred, get all the energy out and leave drenched and wobbly. On Saturday I may do a double - bootcamp and lifting with my husband if he's feeling up to it. I'm curious to see what numbers I'll see from bootcamp.

Back from vacation, down to business

Alot's happened in my little world since I last checked in.

Last week we took a little vacation in Outer Banks. We went for like 4 days and spent most of our time fishing and hitting the pool. He is a saltwater fisher, I have done it a little but could never really get into it. Well, when we first got onto the island we hit up TW's tackle and while there he picked out a fishing rod just for me. So now after 13 years I finally have my own rod. On the second day there were a ton of Spade fish messing with my bait. I had a typical bottom rig and they just kept on stealing my bait! This meant war! So my husband made the most ridiculous rig with 4 gigantic hooks. And I caught 3 that day. The last day he taught me how to jig and I managed to catch a Spanish Mackerel and proceeded to rub it in his face (not literally) because it's his favorite thing to catch. Here's my very first fish on MY new rod

The trip was relaxing and awesome. We didn't spend any time on the beach but my husband was battling his foot pain, upset stomach, not being on his meds due to a dr. mix up, and a really bad sunburn. But of course we did tons of silly stuff like this

Booty Treats! This is an ice cream place that's been around for years and we always made fun of the name/sign that has a turd like object on it... but we finally tried it. It was alright, there are better places on the island IMO, but it's BOOTY TREATS! And of course I had to do a squat with the sign. Ice cream + Squats = BOOTY!

I wore a little dress too, and this is super rare so we took an obligatory pic of that.

So we got back and slowly adjusted to reality. Tuesday was Deadlift day #4, we're picking up the weight (literally) and I moved up to 175. Think I did like 3 or 4 sets of 3 reps here. It's getting challenging, I can definitely feel the effects of the weight and my grip isn't what it used to be. Apart from being sore everything feels fine. The main things I'm working on are getting my chest up faster and trying to "push my heels through the floor". Next week I'll try a set or 2 at 185

Yesterday I went to bootcamp and it was a Daniel class. His classes are just brutal. He tends to run you outside and have you do lots of bear crawls and burpees. This time we didn't do our usual "break up into squads and rotate between stations" we were all together the whole time. It went something like this

Burpee ladder (10, 9, 8...) with a run outside in between each set. I got to 8 before time was called
**In between each thing we did an ab circuit - 20 V ups, 20 sit ups, 20 alt. toe touches**
20 Kettlebell swings, walking lunge across the turf, run outside. 2 rounds
ABS
10 Box jumps, 10 ball slams, run outside. 2 rounds
ABS
10 Wall Balls, bear crawl across turf, run outside. I think I got 3 rounds here. **Important note - My wall ball STUNK. I got one of the 2 black and red 14 pounders because most of the other women wanted the lighter ones. Someone must have spent some time hugging this thing because it was nasty. Every time I threw it I got a whiff :(
ABS
10 rope slams, 20 power jacks, run outside. 2 rounds
ABS

Then we repeated the whole thing but we just ran up and down the turf 3 times instead of going outside.

So brutal. The whole class was just whipped. I sweat alot no matter what, but the level of sweat on me after this was pretty epic.

Finally, I'm cutting some weight. Recently I've come to realize how much weight I've put back on. I look different in pictures and clothes fit differently. And it hit me how bad I've been over the past several months. Have I been active? Yes, lifting and bootcamp several times a week with occasional running. But have I been eating right and mindfully so? Have I been running enough? Have I been acting with purpose? No. I've pretty much been eating whatever I want whenever I want, lots of eating out and ordering food out of laziness. I can't justify it, and I'm starting to see the effects and even feel them in the gym. I need to drop some pudge because it will help me be more efficient in the gym, get more pull ups in, and be a faster runner. I also just want to get better at everything and getting rid of some baggage will help. This week I've been cutting calories and eating with a purpose - trying to get my macros right and cooking dinner at home. I've lost a couple pounds but I have about 23 left.

To help me out, I got a new Fitbit Blaze! It just got here yesterday and I already started tinkering with it. I'm familiar with them because I have a Charge non-HR, but I wanted to get this one because it can track workouts like weightlifting and bootcamp, and the HR feature will give me a better picture of how hard I'm actually working. It'll give me the best picture of how much to eat in accordance with what I've done that day. Actually I am about to go test it out and lift with it in a little bit. I am expecting 150-200 calories burned in a typical session.

That was a mouthful, but it's been like 2 weeks worth of stuff to catch up on. Time to get ready to smash some weight around

Spartan Race Workout

I did the Spartan Race workout yesterday! They hold these all over the country and they're totally free. I have been meaning to do one for awhile. And this one was at none other than my very own gym! I showed up just before 0800, signed in and got my free shirt. After a quick shirt change I headed out to the turf floor to find everyone was in lines based on their number. I looked down on my hand to see someone had written a 5 when I checked in. I get in the 5 line and started talking to the guy next to me, come to find out he had come into my store last week while preparing for Tough Mudder. My world is getting increasingly smaller, it seems I can't go anywhere without running into someone from my gym or that I've helped at my store.

So the Spartan coach comes out and starts giving us instructions using the world's worst bullhorn. We seriously couldn't hear a thing he said, except for one guy who has laser ears and henceforth became known as our translator. So our warm up was a series of squats, push ups with holds at the bottom, burpees, and reverse lunges. Lots of "I am a Spartan!" and "Arrrooo!" 's throughout. I have no idea how we were still inside on the turf, there were so many people packed in there. Eventually we did go outside to do some more squats/burpees/pushups/lunges on the parking lot, and then ran a couple laps around the buildings. Back inside for some water and then back out to do lunges around the building! This kind of sucked, but we were all smiling and making jokes the entire time. Next we did more of that same squat/lunge/burpee/pushup hold circuit. The coach then asked "Is it anyone's birthday?" A bunch of us were shouting "No!!!!" but someone responded. "What's the birthday girl's name?" I shouted out "Ed!" because it was the shortest name I could think of. "How old are you?" A bunch of us were shouting numbers from 1 to 5. Alas, we did 25 burpees. Hey, it could have been worse because I saw some people that were easily 50+. The coach also separated the people who were doing Trifectas this year. There were maybe 10 people, myself not among them this year. I spotted my neighbor, it figures he would be at the workout. He did the Ultra Beast this year and we hadn't crossed paths since, so at some point I ran up to him and asked how he did. 13 hours. Screw that! I also saw Leon! He was just hanging out spectating, his knee is still bothering him but he will race again soon. The next segment we did was animal moves, A B and C. A was for Ape. The ape crawls are fine, I do them at the gym often enough. B was for Bear, and this was annoying because people in front were moving slow so I ended up hanging out in a plank for long periods of time. Can we say barb wire crawls? C was for Crab. These sucked because my arms aren't used to crab walks. Alot of people were lunging instead, I only took a quick lunge break then switched back. At this point I was starting to get quite tired.

Back inside for more crazy stuff. The 5 line was reassembled, and we took the line and formed it into a circle. There were 5 circle like blobs around the room

Adam was kind enough to take pictures. I'm pretty much in the middle of the room. 

So we locked arms and did a group sit up. My circle was more of a blob, and I was at a really weird angle because we were a bit too far apart. We tried to adjust it but I was still too far away from them, and the guy on my right was really sweaty so hanging on while doing the situps wasn't easy. Then we all got into a plank, held it, and one at a time we had to crawl under the tunnel of human planks. THIS. Oh my god. I am terrible at planks to begin with, so waiting for the entire team to crawl under me was brutal. I took breaks. Then as soon as I was done with the eternal plank it was my turn to crawl through. And after the 2-3 minute crawl I had to get back into the plank so the people to the left of me could go all the way through. It sucked but it was really fun at the same time. Next it was back into our lines and partnering up with the person next to us. First up for us was one of us holds a plank, the other does a burpee and jumps over the other person's legs. I'm so glad my partner was a small person. Next, burpees in synch with one another. Then, 20 mountain climbers while the other person did squats - this is where I really ran out of gas because I don't do well with mountain climbers. I'm trying to remember what the last one was, bicycles and flutter kicks or something. Then it was back outside for some sprints, and we were DONE! 2 hours of Spartan crazy. Arrroooo indeed. 

This was fun. It was a challenge for sure, but there were so many great people and all of us together kept up morale, we made each other laugh and smile throughout. I heard there were 400 people there - still not sure how we all fit on the turf, but that's ok. I left sweaty, sore, and bruised, in true Spartan fashion. And I'll be back for more - looking at the DC Sprint in a couple months

Deadlift Training - Day 2

Oh my gosh. This week has been nuts!

Tuesday morning was DL session #2! It went really well. I was hella sore from Monday's exertions but I did not let that stop me. Warm up was a little different this time, again with glute bridges but we threw some single leg variations in there. I did 4 part walk outs that I can't really explain over text, but they opened up the hips and stretched the hamstrings. More stretches to activate the glutes and a special foam rolling technique too. Today I worked with #155, so we're getting close to my sticking point where in the past the lift hasn't felt right. But this time everything felt good. The higher hip position felt a little less alien this time. At times I am still struggling with picking up my hips at the wrong time but it's slowly getting better. I am thinking maybe next week working with #175. During these next 3 months I wanna work my way up to finally pulling some big weight.

I'm so tired. I realized that I exercised 3 times in 24 hours. 9:30 class on Monday, afternoon lifting, 7:30 DL training. I did alot of new, intense movements and did all the major lifts. And get this, my husband wants to go lift again this afternoon. Killin me!!!! Ahhh but I can't turn it down. It may be brutal and exhausting but I love it. And I'm really happy he wants to work out because getting him motivated doesn't always happen. I am going to caffeinate myself heavily for work today, I was dragging ass yesterday but my boss came to the rescue with an energy drink.

I'm gonna sleep so hard.

Together again!

So back in the day my husband and I used to lift together. Then I switched to an awesome gym and our lifting sessions kinda came to an end as a side effect.

I guess my husband has been itching to get a little more active lately so all weekend he kept begging me to find out if he could come lift at my gym. Today was my day off so I went to bootcamp, and that way I could ask if he could come lift with me even if he's not a member... and just in case he couldn't, I'd still get my workout in for the day.

Class - a Will class today. I had never been in one of his classes before, but now I know they are intense. He tends to have you do more full body work and running so it gets tiring pretty quick. Lots of burpees, box jumps/steps/running, bosu burpees and squats, kettlebell swings and thrusters, and suicides with the sled and running. Also a massive ab circuit in there too. After all that I shopped for groceries and tried to take a nap. Then at 2:30 it was back to the gym!

So we did most of the big lifts and just worked our way up in weight
Squats
OH Presses
Bench
Pull ups
and Rope climbs! He made it halfway up and worked really hard to get there.

2 PR's today. 125 bench - I haven't used a barbell in 6 months so I was happy with this
And... I finally got 105 over my head! I had a feeling I was pretty capable of this one, I had just never tested it because of my crappy shoulder. And honestly, this weight felt kinda scary in my hands. I really psyched myself out of this one, like I wasn't sure what I was gonna do if I failed because it was over my head. The first time I picked up the bar I seriously doubted I could get it over my head, and I dunno why because it was just an extra 20 lbs. After a little bit of time I just STFU'd and moved the weight. It felt just fine! My husband even got a video :)

And my husband is now a member at my gym! I've been hoping he would sign up so I am really happy. His rate is even cheaper than Gold's was. 

I am super tired. I never do 2 a day's, but I swear if I had time I would do it (nearly) every day! I love working out. It's been a great day and now I'm ready to rest.

Deadlift Training - Day 1

Yesterday was my first session with Daniel - all about deadlifting!

Going into it I knew I had crappy hips and hamstrings and knew that would be part of the problem. So we did some tests of mobility and stability. My stability isn't bad but yeah, back and hips are pretty terrible. We did a few exercises to warm up and activate my glutes and hamstrings.

30 second hang on the pull up bar with heels on a box (sinking into my hips and stretching out the lats)
Ball hamstring curls
Hip thrusts on a bench with a hold
Hip thrusts on the ground/elevated knee
Toe touches with my toes elevated on plates
Some stretching and practice DL's with the PVC pipe

Now, the moment of truth. How terrible was my deadlift? Well, part of the problem is I was starting out way too low to the ground. The starting position was so much higher than what I'm used to and at first it didn't feel right, it felt like I was about to fall forward because I was more horizontal to the ground. So I started with my hips high and out. Now here's the other big part - squeezing the glutes and the LATS. I guess I always used to just sort of pick up the bar, when it's really so much more than that. Engaging those muscles, specifically the lats was a totally different feeling for me. Then I picked up the bar, and on the descent he wanted me to go slow and let the bar travel along my thighs and shins, then once it passed my knee bend the knee and lower the bar all the way. This was all with only #75 on the bar, I kept the weight light because I am essentially re-learning how to deadlift. It felt totally different than what I had been doing in the past, but in a good way.

Today I am sore in my lats/traps, a little bit in the hamstrings, and in my hips. Lower back feels ok. I didn't go heavy but I used totally different muscles. I also have tiny bruises on my shins already. I go back on Tuesday and I'm gonna increase my weight and see how it all goes.

Training - The Deadlift

There's been a new development in my training world. I have been thinking about this for awhile but yesterday at the gym I just walked up to trainers Daniel and Scott and asked them how much a typical session runs. After my deadlift injury I feel like I want some coaching to be able to progress in the right way.

#165 felt ok, but I want to progress.

Tomorrow morning I have a mobility evaluation with Daniel. I was supposed to do a free one when I joined my gym but never did it. So that's step 1, I have a feeling my weak points will be tight hips and probably my core because I really don't train it like I should. But my hope is to train with Daniel once a week on Deadlifting/any accessory movements he feels would benefit my progress. For over a year I've gone with no professional training. I'm good with squats and bench, but if I want to hit bigger numbers on the DL I definitely need some help getting there because it's my suckiest lift by far. 

Now I'm kind of at the point where I'm entertaining the idea of competing someday. If I could pull a heavy DL at a competition that would be so cool!

Cool moment yesterday - at the end of my session I always do some HIIT/conditioning type stuff. It was dumbbell thrusters, burpees, and kettlebell swings with 10s rest. Then it was right into sprints up and down the turf, I did like 12. Scott was doing mobility training with someone and they were facing me the whole time. Later on the girl came up to me and she was like "Wow you were working really hard!" I was like Yeah, that's what I like to do! She said "I couldn't do any of that stuff" I said Sure you can. Apparently it's her first week and like many newcomers she feels challenged. I told her she will see improvement, I struggled with my weak points because I was training in ways I hadn't trained before. My gym is amazing because we don't scoff at new people - everyone started there and we all work hard so we high five and keep up the positive encouragement. I was a little caught off guard by the fact that this girl looked up to me when all she saw was me finishing up my workout. I gave her some words of encouragement and she left in high spirits, and that's what it's all about!

I also represented both my gym and my work at the open house last weekend

Yes, the open house - the thing that brought me to Soldierfit in the first place. Basically I got paid to hang out at my gym and talk about shoes/insoles/recovery products. I met some cool people and had fun in the process. I also got to watch the classes taking place and snapped a few photos.

 

A group sit up! Hold the rope over head and do sit ups in tempo with everyone else

There were also hurdles, ball slams, wall balls, box jumps, sled pushes, and more!

I'm very happy about my day off tomorrow. Now I can eat dinner and relax for a bit. Eating habits have been slightly better lately and I seem to notice a difference - my tummy is alot less bloated and huge :)

More coming later with hopefully an update on deadlift training!

Friday Pump

It's been a really good day.

Started off with this

4 sets of 5, 175# squats

Followed by this

4 sets of 5, #90 bench

Other things not pictured - shoulder presses with #35 dumbbells, RDL's, single arm presses, medicine ball push ups, dips, Turkish get ups, farmer's carries, burpees, box jumps, jump rope. I felt great today :p

Cool moment - this heavyset middle aged guy was working with a trainer and he busted out several sets of 180#-ish power cleans followed by wall ball sit ups (PUKE CITY) I was impressed... never judge a book by it's cover!

And you may have noticed these..

Yup. I need more shoes like I need a hole in my head... but my boss got these and they look so much cooler in person than they did online! It's like a cream color and the color/pattern is reversed on each shoe. I had to get these.

After the weights were lifted I got a massage, lunch, and spent my afternoon watching American Ninja Warrior. I love it, so many strong inspirational athletes (especially the women)

Now we're gaming after I cooked some spicy chicken and beans. It's been a good day.

Changed Perspective

The past 2 weeks have been kind of a bitch. As mentioned in my last post, the plan to move back to Georgia isn't looking good. We're trying to sell the house - as much as I love it, we know we're not staying in it forever anyway. So on the offchance that we do move back, we'd just find another house in the area. My husband and I have been talking. He brought up the point that job security is alot better here... and posed the question - what if we could find an area in Maryland that feels more like home to us? Maybe we just need to get out of Columbia and find a house we like? Now I have traveled around the state more than he has and it is nice once you get away from all the congestion. He said he wouldn't mind a longer commute because he loves to drive. So we're looking around at places up to an hour from here. I could drive 45 minutes to work and be ok, I did that in Augusta every day. My gym might still be down here unless I find a Crossfit or functional fitness gym closer by. But other than that... I think we could live someplace more remote and find a halfway decent house, and then still be within driving distance for movies/food/the mall/etc. I am trying to keep an open mind about it at least. And since we've had this conversation I feel much better about the prospect of staying here. We just needed to shift to a more positive outlook.

#100 Lat pulldowns felt great

I ran a couple miles this morning, and obliterated my back and shoulders in the gym yesterday. It feels good. With all this life stuff happening I didn't get much exercise last week so this was much needed. I realized though, I definitely have to be that person who brings a little towel to the gym. It's hot now and my gym doesn't have great AC. And for some reason none of the ceiling fans are over the weight area. They had the garage doors open yesterday and it was really humid. By the time I warmed up and deadlifted I was already drenched. The sweat is to the point where it's distracting me. Lol I'm so gross. I ate pretty bad over the weekend but so far this week I'm off to a good start. I have a soft goal of losing 5-10 lbs and I can accomplish that just by not eating so much crap and cooking meals at home more.

This weekend we have open house at my gym again and I'll be there representing my store. It should be alot of fun, but I'll also be totally jealous of everyone working out around me.

I'm also really excited because we booked a hotel in Outer Banks NC and it'll just be the two of us for a few days. His mom is gonna come down for a day maybe but that's it. I really need to get away and relax at the beach.