A little thing I like to call LIFE.

Sorry to keep you all at the edge of your chair waiting with child like anticipation for a new post......well, in my head that's how it is anyway. Let's see, where to start? As with any journey you alway come to a bump in the road called LIFE. Well that bump for me turned out to be somewhat of an earthquake that swallowed  the road I was on. For two weeks I have been nursing a shoulder injury that has kept me from doing any type of upper body weights. It has been advised by my very good friend, member of my adopted family and very own Physical Therapist (He has mad skills!) that I see an Ortho. UGH I like to live in a little land I call DENIAL!! So to keep up with something I have been hitting the cardio and busting major abs and leg workouts. Earthquake number two came in the form of a "pink slip" or as they called it being "laid off due to the economy. On a positive note I'll have all the time in the world to workout and I hear Urban Active has great stuff. Thinking of the two a day workout thing like my friend Angie (she is a power lifter also with mad skills). Oh the possibilities are endless!

So today I put the big girl pants on and I move forward. God has shoved me out of the nest and is screaming FLY!! So fly I will do.....to the gym! 

I guess my point is, life happens. Not everything goes as plans all the time. It is ok if you don't get the workout in right when you wanted or that your kid is sick or you got called to a meeting...etc. What matters is that you "adapt and overcome". Baby steps are the right steps to a healthy you. But find a way to get it done. You will feel better in the end. Last night I did my pilates mat work to the sounds of American Idol :)  remember you don't "need" a gym to be healthy. It can be done at home! 

In Good Health!

137lbs this morning!

My hard work is paying off. Yes it takes time, yes it takes work, yes you have to make the decision to not eat the donut or the cookie or drink the 2 liter of soda a day....I choose water, I choose chicken. I CHOOSE. Every day we have choices and every day I hear the excuse from someone that they don't have time to make good choices. Hmmmm this puzzles me. Yes I get it we are all busy. I work 50+ hours a week, maintain my house and take care of my kids and still find time to not only make good decision for myself but for my family as well. It can be done I promise and you too can make the choice to be healthy. Keep in mind dropping all bad habits cold turkey is NOT realistic. That's how you fail. Slowly start to cut things out or substitute the good for the bad. Baby steps turn into big steps and soon it becomes a habit!

Tip of the day: If you are a soda drinker, substitute 1 of your sodas for a water or carry a water bottle around with you so it reminds you to drink water throughout the day!

Leg day

Leg extensions
1x15 @ 30lbs
1x15 @ 60lbs
2x15 @ 90lbs
1x15 @ 100lbs

Freak Blasters
3x20

Leg press
4x15 @ 280lbs

Inner/Outer thigh
3x15 @ 90lbs

3.5 mile run

30 min Pilates reformer
20 min Pilates mat
20 min insanity abs

For all the HATERS and the "I have a million excuses why I can't" groups!

This post is for all of those people and you know who you are. I like to call them the "I can't" group. This group will find EVERY excuse in the book to justify why they are over weight and out of shape. Lets face it we are all a little over worked right?? Hell, even Obama finds time to workout! I challenge any human out there that thinks their schedule of daily events is more hectic than the President of the United States. While Kate Goslin might make a good argument not even she can say "I can't". She found a way to make money, look like a fool and workout all at the same time! Wow if only I had the media on my side.....hmmmmmm Ok, back to us normal folks. Let me break my day down for you *please note, not everyone has to go to these extremes but lets face it WORK is involved.* My day starts at 430am and goes non stop until my kids go to be at 8pm. Why you ask....because I am a mom, work full time and only get so many hours in one day. I make my meals the night before and everything is ready to go to the office with me in the morning. Skipping a meal is bad! My blackberry goes everywhere with me as my schedule is booked every hour so you'll want to pay attention to this part it's key.....PUT YOUR WORKOUT IN YOUR CALENDAR AS ONE OF YOUR APPOINTMENTS!!!! Ladies would you miss a hair appointment? The answer to this is NO. So I ask you this, if your hair is important enough that even the most deadliest of natural disasters wouldn't keep you from making it to the salon why isn't your body? I guess while you're in the hospital having test after test run and at the doctors every other months for antibiotic they'll all say "Man her hair looks great"! P.S. you may not use the I can't leave the office to go to the gym excuse here....if you are a gym member you have before or after work and if you aren't a gym member you have outside, home, or even at work during a break. 

I was at a health screening for work last week and I had a women tell me that she was over weight because she couldn't walk on the treadmill anymore because her knees hurt. I told her to use a recumbent bike instead which is less impact on the knees. She said "I can't" (shocker I know) because that would hurt her tail bone. I apologize in advance if my next statement offends anyone but in the back of my head I was thinking look lady your butt is plenty big enough that it should provide some cushion. Don't worry I kept that comment in my inside voice. My point is people there IS ALWAYS a way you can modify ANYTHING to make it appropriate for the age and fitness level while spending no money at all. And because I am 200% sure of this comment if you think I am wrong and I can't give you a solution to your problem I will train you for free for a month! So bring it because I got your solutions. Just think of me as the magic pill 90% of Americans are so desperately seeking.

At home workout tip of the day....Basic: wash your floors with a rag instead of a mop. You can pad knees for comfort, after a small section of floor do some push ups they can be on your knees "girl" push ups or regular it's up to you
More advanced: wash your floors with a rag while holding a plank position and moving around the area

Set a goal, make it attainable and make it smart! Baby steps are steps toward a healthy you!


My workouts have looked like this.....
Weight this morning was 139lbs

Friday I did 45min of TRX, 20min of Pilates reformer and 30min of cardio on EFX
Saturday I did 5hours of Pilates at a training.....every muscle in my body is aware today :D
Today I rested!

Two days in one post :)

Good Morning....

So I have been taking a much needed rest the past few days. Got my leg workout in on Friday and did back yesterday. I weighed in at 139lbs. I use the same scale every morning just after I use the rest room and before I eat anything!

Fridays leg workout.....

Leg press super set narrow/wide 3x15 @ 185lbs
Calf raises 2x30 @ 185lbs
Leg extensions 2x25 @ 55lbs
Freak blasters 2x20
Inner thigh 2x25 @ 90lbs
Outer thigh 2x25 @ 90lbs

Yesterdays Back workout......

Lat pull downs 2x12 @ 80lbs 2x12 @ 70lbs
Cable rows 4x16 @ 120lbs
Bent barbell rows 4x8 @ 65lbs
Dead lifts 3x10 @ 105lbs (wanted to do more but had some guy staring at my ass the whole time so I stopped because the alternative was punching him!!)
Shrugs 2x30 @ 20lbs


Time to step up my game in the the gym. Next week I will increase the intensity and cardio. I will also be checking my bf to see if it has changed. Going to get a chest and tri workout in today!

Tip for the day....Drink lots of water!  Your muscles are made up of 70% water! When you are dehydrated you can have symptoms of....
Fatigue
Digestive discomfort
Headaches
Constipation
Anger

Enjoy!!

Just a little Bi's

Morning weight for Wednesday.....142lbs

Cable curls 3x15 @ 40lbs
High cable curls 2x15 @ 30lbs
Machine preacher curls 3x15 @ 30lbs
Incline DB curls 3x15 @ 10lbs

30 min of cardio to follow..

I was planning on getting more in but the gym was packed. I was happy with what I got. Im really starting to notice things changing and my goal before I start to cut for the show is to get to 12% body fat. I body is ready it's just getting the mind to follow along.........

shoulders and tri's

Good Morning! Well it's an "aware" morning I should say....when you lift this should be expected..."awareness" that is. Good awareness is ok several days after a workout. Your body knows what is "bad" awareness and what is "good" awareness. For those of you that are lost right now the word awareness is used in place of "pain"....because if you use that word it just puts a bad image in your head and nobody needs that. So on with awareness! Keep in mind that if you are just starting your awareness level will be higher than someone like me that has been doing it for a long time...but yes I too still have awareness and I love it!! Today I am aware of my shoulders :) it's a little hard getting a shirt on this morning but hey I'm working and making changes so I will deal with it! I was 142lbs this morning and here is my Monday workout....I took yesterday off to rest :)

Front DB raises (2 sets of warm ups with light weight)
3x20 @ 15lbs

Side DB raises
3x15 @ 20lbs

Barbell Military press
3x10 @ 65lbs

Cable side lateral
2x10 @ 10lbs

Cable Up right rows
2x20 @ 50lbs

Cable tri push downs
3x20 @ 90lbs

High cable tri's
1x20 @ 40lbs
1x30 @ 40lbs


Supplements taken......
EAA
Flex
Pak
Glutamine
Omega

Food eaten is the diet from the first post. Please feel free to ask any questions! Enjoy!!

I'm up!

4:30am wake up call and it's spring break so why am I up again??? Oh that's right because I have a goal and working toward a goal means I get my morning out of the way before all of the kids get up :) so yep I'm up and it's 4:30!!

I do what I do every morning and check the scale... 145lbs today. I am up 3 pounds because 1. I am sick and 2. I am a GIRL (do I need to explain more??) This is OK! Now I'm ready for my morning. Took my EAA and I am ready for some fasted cardio (that means I do my 30min. cardio before I eat) followed by some insanity ab work. Oh yeah! Mid morning I will get in some more cardio at the gym and then this afternoon I will get my arm workout in. Going to talk to my trainer to see where things are and see if I need to change up my game. I will post my workout this evening so check back.

For those of you out there that are wondering what I did yesterday. Family, fun, food, Easter candy and all......yes, I ate a meal with my family that consist of turkey, salad, green beans and potatoes followed by some strawberry short cake complete with whipped cream!! (side note....my 3 pound gain was not from this :)) Closer to my show date that would have been a different story and I would have passed now it's back to business today!

Cardio here I come........

Being sick, losing weight and eating!

I am human and I do get sick. Shocker I know! LOL But sick I am and I had a very light day in the gym yesterday and that is OK.  I am still working towards a goal which is being on a stage having muscle definition judged. I work hard and am very focused but that doesn't mean that I too don't have bad days in the gym. It happens to the best of us. So don't beat yourself up if you get sick or have a bad workout. With that said, it is hard work for anyone trying to drop body fat so you want to make sure you don't get comfortable saying..."well I'm tired so I'm going to skip today"! I am tired every day and if I used that excuse I'd never go to the gym. Yes, sometimes I don't want to eat but that is the worst thing for my body to skip a meal.  You have to EAT and you have to WORKOUT! You are not going to lose weight and body fat by starving yourself or by buying over marketed CRAP that tells you to drink 3 shakes a day and only eat one meal! Correction, you will lose weight that way because you are not giving your body anything healthy and you are STARVING yourself (which is bad bad bad) and you will gain EVERYTHING back when you stop!! So, with this blog my goal is that you walk away with the knowledge that eating 5 GOOD small meals a day along with your workouts will help you lose weight the right way! On a side note losing weight does not always mean that the scale goes down because as you gain muscle it weighs more than fat. I tell my clients to go off of how their clothes fit.

Rule #1 for workouts: Put your workout in your calendar like you do your hair appointment or doctors appointment. You don't miss those and if you treat it like that you wont miss your workout either.

Rule #1 for eating: Plan all 5 of your meals the night before. I put mine in 5 separate take along containers. :) that way no matter where I am I have my meal ready to go!

Because I am sick and not feeling the best my workout looked like this yesterday....but remember I still got something in. (Rule of thumb anything from the chest up sickness wise it's ok to workout just go a little light,  anything from the stomach down sickness wise skip the workout)

Chest day:

Machine Press
2x20 warm up sets 55lbs

DB incline
1x20 @ 25lbs
1x15 @ 25lbs
1x20 @ 20lbs
1x15 @ 15lbs

Pec flys
3x20 @ 50lbs

and that was it.

Please let me know if you have any questions!!

Leg day my favorite!!!

Yes I love leg day over all other body part days. They have always been my strongest body part which is maybe why I like training them so much. And yes I do love the pain of not being able to walk down the steps the next day and I truly believe that sitting at that point is over rated!!!

Here is what todays workout looked like (note no cardio is done on leg day)

Leg extensions
1 set 50 reps @ 30lbs
1 set 50 reps @ 40lbs
1 set 25 reps @ 50lbs

Leg Press
1 set 50 reps @ 170lbs
2 sets 25 reps @ 260lbs

Squats on Smith Machine
2 sets 20 reps @ 70lbs

Seated leg curls
2 sets 20 reps @ 60lbs

Calf raises
3 sets 15 reps @ 90lbs
1 set 50 reps standing no weight calf raises

Pilates abs to finish

I'll let you know if I can walk two days from now.....

Starting stats

Ok, so here I go! Going to put it all out there so you can see my progress like the 25,000 members of the forum I am on. So.....here are the before pictures. http://boyerfitnessjourney.shutterfly.com/pictures/8 these pictures were taken 3/19/2010 with my stats looking like this....

Age 34
5'9
150 lbs
19% Body Fat

My supplement are (Animal is the sup company)

Pak (vitamins)
EAA (essential amino acids)
Flex (for joint)
Omegas
Glutamine

and closer to the show I will add Cuts. Again, every thing that I take comes from Animal! Awesome company!

My diet (please note that this is not for everyone and that I am working with a trainer)

Meal 1: 3 whole eggs, 1/4 cup oatmeal
Meal 2: 3oz chicken, 4oz yam
Meal 3: 3oz chicken, 1/2 cup brown rice
Meal 4: 3oz chicken, 4oz yam
Meal 5: 3oz white fish w/ greens and only cucumbers

1 gallon of H2O a day
30 min. fasted cardio 5 days a week on top of my workouts.

Today I am at 142lbs and I will check the body fat next week.