Saturday, June 21, 2014

Vacation

I’m leaving for vacation on Tuesday. I’m going to Vancouver with my boyfriend for 10 days. I am so so excited! I’ve never been to Vancouver or even out west. We’ll be staying with his family. We’re going to visit Vancouver, Victoria, and Whistler while we’re there. I’ve heard so many great things about Vancouver. I can’t wait!! 
I am a little nervous about losing the progress I’ve made on my journey so far. I won’t have the time to go to the gym while I’m there and I won’t be tracking my food. For my eating, I’m going to focus on having smaller portions and overall, just eating healthy. I have to make smart decisions and not snack on food. I’m going to make sure I have a good balance between everything I eat. I don’t want to restrict myself completely while I’m on vacation but I also don’t want to be reckless and lose all the progress I’ve made. I’m just going to enjoy myself and not stress!
My trainer is also going to be making me a quick body work out I can do every couple of days when I have free time. I still want to be active while I’m there. I’ll do my work outs and go for runs in the morning. I’ll be doing a lot of walking while I visit the city and I want to go on hikes in the mountains. As long as I find a good balance, I know I won’t lose the progress I’ve gained. I’m just so excited for my vacation. I can’t wait! 

Friday, June 20, 2014

Pushing On Through My Work Out

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It was my last session with my trainer before I leave for vacation next Tuesday. He had another great work out planned for me this morning. After warming up and stretching, I started with some power exercises. The first exercise was really cool. It was a hang clean to a push press to an overhead squat. That all counted as 1 rep! I had to do that 5 times and then do 5 box jumps. The hardest part was the overhead squat because I had to keep my balance and still try to get low with the bar.
I moved on to RDLs and barbell row. I managed to do 12 RDLs with 25 lbs on the bar. I was really proud of myself. I then worked on my pull-ups using the resistance band. I felt stronger doing them. I really want to try to see if I can do a full one on my own the next time I’m at the gym. I alternated that with a single leg knee up hop on a box. This exercise wasn’t too bad and it helped keep my heart rate up.
I ended with Turkish get-ups. I used 15lbs and did 4 with each arm, for 3 sets. It doesn’t seem like a lot but it was tough. Thankfully, I had the support of encouraging members around me and I pushed through all my reps. I ended the session with my favourite activity: the sled! I had to push it across the gym 5 times there and back. I then had to pull it half way across the gym 3 times there and back. I felt a lot better than last time but it was still very tiring. As you can see by the look on my face, I was happy to have completed my sled pushes. I was feeling really great once again after another strong work out!
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Thursday, June 19, 2014

Upper Body Strength

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I had a great early morning session with my trainer. 8am may seem early but I’m so happy when I get to the gym. It’s a great way to start the day. We trained upper body today. I started off by throwing the medicine ball over my head and running to catch it. It reminded me of when I had to do throw ins in soccer. It seem’s easy but the ball is heavy and it’s hard to make it go far. I alternated that exercise with a row to push press using the bar. I’m so much better at this exercise than I was last week. I’ve gotten the technique down and over all I feel so much stronger.
I moved on to 15 reps of shoulder press. The next exercise was Ts, Ys, and Ws. I had to lie forward on an inclined bench and raise my arms to form those letters. It’s a great back exercise. The last exercise in that circuit was rows using a blue resistance band. I had to do as many as I could in 30 seconds. It was tiring but a fun challenge to do.
The next circuit was floor chest press. It was a easier than regular bench press because my arms only had to touch the floor. I increased my weight to make it more difficult. I then did push-ups on the Bosu. I’m so proud of myself for doing this! I didn’t think I would be able to. They were tough but they really worked on my shoulder stability. My trainer helped me on my lest set by putting a resistance band around my waist. He would help pull me on the way up so I could do more push-ups but it was still a challenge. The last exercise in that circuit was to do as many chest passes as I could against the floor in 30 seconds. That was really fun but really tiring!
I did an ab circuit that consisted of a plank with 10 arm reaches, side plank on one side, 10 arm reaches, side plank on the other side, dead bug, and 20 ab crunches. After the circuit I had to do a 300m sprint on the rowing machine. It was a really fun challenge. I did the circuit 3 times! The hardest ab exercise was the plank with arm reaches. It was hard to lift my arm while maintaing my balance and not rock my hips back and forth.
My session ended with the battle ropes. I had to do 4 different techniques: alternating arms, 2 arms at the same, outside circles, and open close arms. After each style, I had to sprint back and forth across the room twice. I repeated the whole sequence twice. Overall, it was a great work out! I was tired after but it was so worth it. I love the feeling of accomplishing something! I’m already starting to feel stronger. Can’t wait to see what my trainer has planned for me tomorrow!
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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Mother's Support

Someone who’s supported me a lot so far during my journey is my mom. She’s helped me prepare my food and she’s supported me on the days were I didn’t want to follow my diet. She’s always asking how my day is going, how my training was and if I need any help with my nutrition. She know’s that I’ve always struggled with my weight and she’s been there through all my ups and down.
She’s really helped me with my nutrition. She’s always asking me if I need anything from the grocery store to help with my meal prep. She’s also offered to cook some food for me if I ever need help. She also uses my journey as inspiration for her. My healthy eating has pushed her to make healthier meals for herself and the rest of my family. She’s also started walking more and be a little bit more active. I’m still working on getting her to join the gym with me!
She told me the other day that something about me was different. She said I had a bigger smile on my face than usual and that I had more of a bounce in my step. She told me she’s certain I’ll be able to reach my goal this time. It’s great to always have that constant support. I know she’s someone I can rely on and that she’ll always be there for me!
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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Slammin' Legs

Leg day with the trainer today. It was a tough one! He incorporated some new exercises which was a fun way to change things up. After my dynamic warm up, I started with my power exercises. I did 10 reps of 1 arm dumbbell snatch. I followed that up with a box jump but from a seated position. I had to sit on the bench, rock back slightly and jump onto the box. I really enjoyed both these exercises. They’re more full body so it really felt like I was working hard. I moved onto 10 back squats with 25lbs on the bar. One thing my trainer keeps telling me when I squat is to drive my knees out on my way up. It gives me so much more power through my legs. It’s something I really need to work on. I alternated this with 15 single leg hamstring curls using an exercise ball. I also stretched my hip flexors after each set to give me more range of motion with my squat. 
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My next circuit was a little more challenging. I had to do squat jumps with the trap bar. I was jumping and it felt like I was barely getting any height off the ground. I then had to do a single leg goblet squat on a box. I could only tap the floor as I brought my leg down and then quickly get up again. It was a challenge to keep my balance and to keep full control throughout the movement. Lastly, the circuit ended with medicine ball slams. 
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The last 2 exercises I had to do were split squats with my rear foot on the bench and negative hamstring curls. These were also tough. Every time I do the split squats, I really feel the burn in my legs. We ended the session off with suicide sprints outside. It was fun to do a part of the work out outside since it was so nice today. As soon as I took my first step for my sprint, I could tell my legs were already sore. I had a great work out. I rewarded myself with a nice shower and steam bath afterwards. It was wonderful! A great start to my day!
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Monday, June 16, 2014

New Protein

I had a quick work out after work today. It was just cardio and an arm work out. I did 20 minutes on the stair master. I find the stair master such a challenge. You really have to keep a good pace and I feel my legs burning. It also makes me sweat so much. I really feel like I’m working out. For my arm work out, I had to complete 100 bicep curls and 100 tricep press downs. I did as many as I could of one and then switched and did the other. It was really tiring! I still had some energy so I did another 15 minutes on the elliptical. I wanted to watch the Amazing Spiderman that was playing in the Cinema Cardio room. When I watch a movie, it really feels like I’m not even working out!
I mixed a scoop of my protein powder with water after my work out. I just bought a new flavour. It’s milk chocolate by Myofusion. It is honestly so good. I was looking forward to having it all day. It’s sweet and tastes like milk chocolate. It doesn’t have that chalk-y taste that some proteins have.
I also went out to Menchies with friends this evening. I’m so proud of myself for resisting the urge to have ice cream. It looked good but I knew I couldn’t have any. Instead, I brought myself a snack. It kept my full and in the end it made me feel a lot better than cheating on my diet. It’s just some of the small sacrifices I have to make along this journey!
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Sunday, June 15, 2014

Father's Day

I had a quick work out after work today. I didn’t have much time because I had a dinner planned for Father’s Day. I did interval training on the treadmill. I would sprint for 30 seconds and then walk for 1 minute. After every sprint, I had to raise the incline of the treadmill by 1%. It was more of a challenge then when I used to only raise it by 0.5. By the last couple of sprints, it was really steep and tough to run on that incline. I was also just scared to trip over my own two feet considering I’m so clumsy. Thankfully, there were no accidents and I completed my training. I then completed 10 sets of any upper body exercise. I chose to do 2 dumbbell chest press, 2 1-arm dumbbell row, 2 incline bench press, 2 X-lifts on the Kinesis machine, and 2 shoulder press as my exercises.
I ended up having a great work out and overall feeling really great about myself. The dinner we had planned with my family was a lobster dinner. I could eat it as it’s lobster is a great source of protein with little fat and carbs. I couldn’t eat the potato salad my mom made or any of the desserts so I made myself some veggies instead. It was still good although I would of rather the potato salad. I could steal eat with my family and enjoy the dinner. My father and my grandfather were really happy. It was a great evening!
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