Eating my post workout meal of MRM Low Carb chocolate with frozen raspberries, natural yogurt and Sultana Bran on top. Yummo. Yes, I actually trained today. I did a full body workout as I mentioned in yesterday’s post. It went like so:

DB Squats 3 x 10
BB Staight Leg Deadlift 3 x 10
Sumo Deadlift 3 x 10
Bulgarian Split Squat 3 x 10 (no added weight)
BB Bench Press 2 x 10
Lat Pulldown 2 x 10
BB Curl 2 x 10
Rope Pushdown 2 x 10
DB Lateral Raise 1 x 10

My weights for the most part were very moderate – I didn’t want to have to breathe too heavily otherwise it would make me cough! I think I will have a bit of a nap now, then get to work on my new web page. Tonight I think I will go for a walk – it’s really hot today but this evening will be just lovely.

Tomorrow I have a big day of phone chats scheduled. I will also train and so must decide on a new program to do before I go.

I cleaned my desk up this morning, wasn’t planned, just did it! I had this tray full of papers that had built up over time (talking years) and so have gotten rid of all that. Now I have an empty tray next to my computer – that is unil my Big Pud jumped up on my desk and backed himself into it. I’m sure he thinks I put it there just for him and that it’s his very special bed.

Tip for the Day:

I had a client email me her diet for critiquing and one thing that stood out to me was that she is consuming fat immediately after weight training. This defeats the purpose of the post workout shake – the idea of consuming quickly digestable protein (whey protien shake) immediately after a workout is so that the protein will get to the muscles as quickly as possible to aid recovery. By adding fat you are slowing down digestion time. So, no fat after a workout.

It started with a dry cough, transformed into a head cold, and has now settled on my chest and thus am barking like the proverbial dog. I have been in and out of bed all day every day – it is just exhausting. I hadn’t trained for 6 days and then managed 2 sessions in a row, but nothing too spectacular, and trying to be as inconspicuous as possible with my bark. I tried going for a walk yesterday morning with Damien and as soon as I need to get more air into my lungs I start coughing and get short of breath. We had to turn around and come home. I had to cancel all my chat appointments yesterday (I did one while I was having my hair done on Thursday and barked all the way through and ended up as hoarse as!). Unfortunately though I had to run around town trying to get my new Blackberry sorted out as Telstra had given me a dodgy SIM card. I so wanted to kill someone, preferably someone from Telstra.

So, I have a new Blackberry, but it’s not set up for email yet nor anything else. I’m so slow on the sms’s at this stage. I really hate it when you get new technology and have to learn how to drive it. I especially hate the set up – I am actually scared about setting up my email as I KNOW it will not go as smoothly as it should.

Dragged my sorry butt out to my mum’s for dinner last night, really wasn’t feeling like it but glad I did. We sat outside watching the group of magpies feeding their young (with our left over meat) and top knot pigeons sitting in their nests and doing their thing. It is so peaceful out there. Their new mango plantation is looking pretty impressive too. We also visted the chooks – mum has a pet chook that she talks to and picks up, it’s quite amusing.

I got up at 4am today. My body is really not sure when it’s day or night at the moment. I was feeling good enough to go out for a walk before the sun came up. All I want to do is keep my muscles moving. Someone has asked how to maintain motivation when sick – I was thinking about it as I was walking and really I believe motivation comes down to your commitment level and levels of commitment will vary all the time (I’m in the process of writing an article on this).

While sick firstly you need to understand that your body is trying to recover so you should not be training hard while ill – whatever exercise you do, don’t try to break any records. It’s important to continue to do things that make you feel good and are good for you – take a relaxing bath, give yourself a facial, have a massage (providing you aren’t contagious), paint your toenails, do some stretching and flexibility work, eat as well as you can, do some leg conditioning work (leg lifts, lunges, bridges, butt squeezes, etc) if not up to a full scale weight training session, take a leisurely walk if not up to anything more strenuous, drink lots of water, get lots of rest.

If you are up to a gym workout of sorts, make it a full body weights session of moderate reps to keep all those muscles moving until you are ready to go that bit harder and get back to your normal regime.

So, that’s what I will be doing either today or tomorrow. I’m getting rather bored with not being able to do much, but hopefully I’m on the other side now. Yesterday the chemist advised me to go to the doctor so I tried to book only to discover my entire doc surgery is booked out for the next week. Ridiculous.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Thanks everyone for the congratulations re the shortlisting in the Business Awards, it is pretty exciting and I am looking forward to going down to Melbourne in a couple of weeks.  I have booked my trip and will also catch up with Women’s Health & Fitness mag to discuss my advertising campaign which is up for renewal.

Today I need to cast my eye over my updated website which came through on Friday, so that we can get that launched!  It won’t be a lot different yet, just more modernised

Training – I have sort of lost my way I think and I don’t particularly like just winging it.  It’s not that it’s not getting done, it just feels like there is no ‘purpose’.   I’m a bit over that feeling so today I’m going to sort out a proper program, including diet, and get to it.  Basically, because I sit at a desk all day and am not particularly active, I have discovered that to stay in great shape I need to train 2 x day like when I was preparing for my comp.  Of course that is not always feasible.  I mean, you make an exception when you have a goal you want to reach, but for everyday life, it’s a tough ask.  Not impossible however.  It’s interesting though, that I’m able to stay within about 3-4kg of my week prior to comp weight by just weight training and doing the odd cardio session – basically halving my training volume.  So, you ask yourself is it worth it to make that step from being in pretty good shape, to being in really great shape?  Sometimes it’s worth it, but most times it’s not.  Most times it’s just not liveable on a day to day basis.  You can’t live long term like you do when you are in comp preparation.  Anyway, the point of my dribble is that you go through stages – sometimes it’s worth the extra effort, sometimes it’s not, you just have to figure out where you are at and what you are happy with at the time.  I’ve been happy to be active 1 x day and do minimal cardio for 3 months after my comp, but now I’m ready to step it up again.  I realise it’s not practical to be able to do it all the time that’s all and it’s important you don’t get too down on yourself for taking it a bit easier every now and then.  Your body (and mind) needs it sometimes.  Anyone else have any insight into this?

Well I think I might down some cough medicine and hit the sack again.  I did train yesterday, but think I might give it a miss today to try and nip this thing in the bud.  Damien is off again tomorrow, bit closer to home this time so I might take a trip next weekend to visit.

As an aside, I get a lot of emails from people who like to run but at the same time want to lose weight.  Heres’s a typical one, and my response.

Hiya Sue
I had my first baby 11 months ago and have now set myself some goals of losing 10kgs and running a marathon in November (30kms).. so far I can run 5km easily on a treadmill twice per week, and do 3 classes of bodypump each week.  Sometimes though, I find myself feeling really tired, headaches and nauseous afterward and the symptoms can last a few days.  I figure it is lactic acid buildup but do you recommend anything to prevent this since it usually keeps me away from the gym for a couple of days.  Also, what kind of diet should I be following?
 
Warm Regards
MeaganHi Meagan, thanks for your enquiry.  Running a marathon requires specialist training and diet considerations – I wouldn’t be doing 3 x Bodypump sessions in addition to training for a marathon or you will end up overtraining (part of what you are experiencing now).  You need to fit some rest and recovery in there too.  If losing the weight is the biggest goal, I’d forget the marathon, there are much more effective ways to lose weight than running marathons!  You need plenty of carbs to perform at your peak for endurance training, yet for fat loss, you need to restrict carbs to a degree – they don’t really gel together that well.  I’d figure out what is your most important goal and then get yourself a targeted program for that purpose.

Sue

I caught up with my good friend Julie today, who is here for Easter, from Melbourne.  Her first comment to me was ‘gee you look thin’ so at least she noticed something different since last time!  We went out for coffee and a good old chin wag this arvo.  Tomorrow I am catching up with Lisa (a past client and Body Blitz winner, and now friend) for coffee and then we are going for a walk.  It will be good to have some company for my cardio!

I think I am getting a cold   Nice timing, not.  I have the sneezes and a snuffed up nose – not blocked just sort of itchy.  And feel a bit crook in the guts – to put it eloquently.  I always load up on Vit C powder as soon as I feel anything coming on, so I hope that will help me get over it quickly.  Unfortunately I can’t rest though.  Tomorrow it’s back to training, gym is open only in the morning so will train shoulders, back and triceps then, and walk with Lis in the arvo.

Finally THANK YOU to all you lovely ladies for your beautiful comments, my head is getting a bit big over it.  Not really of course but I do appreciate you stopping by and your support and encouragement.  If any of you live in Adelaide and would be interested in seeing the comp let me know!  I started re-learning my routine yesterday.  Took about 5 minutes before it started to come together – I will do some practise every day so I can do it without thinking.  At the moment I’m very proppy as I still have to think what comes next.  I will be thinking about how to approach the final week over the next few days.  I don’t think I will do a carb deplete or load, might just leave that as is and rely on the water and sodium to do the job.  Not quite sure how to approach the training, probably just keep doing what I’m doing, but a light workout that final week.  I believe I will still need to cardio unfortunately, would be nice if I was ready enough to have a rest from that.

I hope everyone enjoyed a couple – just a couple - of chocky eggs and are all back on track tomorrow!  For anyone who is interested, we currently have a really good special going on our Full Suport Programs – 12 weeks at less than $34 week – that’s $100 off the normal price.  For a limited time only!  See home page for details.

Catch ya

My weight was 114.8 the other day – haven’t trained for a week. I expect my weight to actually go up in the first few weeks, when I start training and eating 6-7 meals a day again. I will weigh in the morning after my free meal and you watch the difference Tomorrow I will clean out the fridge and cupboards, though there is really nothing much in there anyway – and I will do a big shop – in particular for chicken. We have this awesome chicken shop that has the best chicken. Eating supermarket chicken is like eating rubber now. This stuff melts in your mouth. I will get about 5kg of it, and bake a batch (enough for a few days) and freeze the rest. I am going to be eating a lot of egg whites too.

Going to test out MRM’s Alpha Lipoic Acid for awhile, see if it has any effect on cravings – it’s meant to regulate blood sugar. That as well as it is an antioxidant, and I’m low in those. Too many free radicals (probably caused by intense training – and cigarette smoke!) roaming around my body. Am taking one now that is costing me $80 for a month’s supply – pine bark and bilberry, and grapeseed, in powder form. They say taking a mix of different ones is best. I must also get regular taking my Vit C powder again too. I’ve written up my supplement schedule – it’s pretty crazy. I’ll post it here one of these days. Kim wants me to use a digestive supplement too, and I was able to get some MRM Digest All from the US (thanks to my sponsor) so will have that next week. Also using MRM’s Smart Blend EFA’s. And, BCAA’s +G, Chrysin and Arginine. So, if I’m not training, eating, cooking, food shopping, drinking water, going to the toilet, driving to the gym, showering after cardio/training, posing – I am taking supplements. I tell you, it’s all a huge committment.