My 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Week of Fitmas

Once upon a time, I got pneumonia. Yeah, that was a month ago. Last two weeks, I've eased back into the gym. Getting my build workout schedule down, re figuring out appropriate weights since coming off contest prep... I committed myself to Fitmas but couldn't hold my own in some serious cardio. I reallllly wanted to commit to the Sweaty Betty's 50 Burpees for 50 Days Challenge. Admittedly, I have Workout ADHD... This is not news... And to not reinforce how flakey I feel like I'm NOT, I won't bring up my Hundred Pushups Challenge or P90x...

Stories.
I got talked to about my time off from work. I know it is a BAD deal to talk negatively about your work especially thru social media, but I'm straight pissed off. And kinda hoping my rant will get me excused from working ... The anger does not stem from getting talked to about my time off, the anger is based around what my work thinks is the REAL problem. Apparently, if you're really really healthy and still getting sick... You get pegged as too extreme. Serious! I said to them, "I eat healthy, I drink tons of water, I take all my vitamins, and I get plenty of exercise. You tell me what I'm doing wrong, because I would LOVE to take my vacation instead of sick time."  (my work just has Paid Time Off, not designated vacation vs sick pay) Okay, and SERIOUSLY.... if any one of my coworkers gets sick... it absolutely needs to be blamed on their lack of exercise, water, and terrible diet if pneumonia (which is a bacterial lung infection, btw) is being blamed on my very healthy lifestyle. And I am NOT just saying. ;)

Is it weird that I kinda miss contest prep? Yeah? Okay. LOL! I do kinda miss contest prep.
Reason No. 1: Because now, I have to find reasons not to eat crappy at work luncheons etc. Last Monday, we took our Boss out to lunch for Boss' Day to a cute bistro close to the hospital. Something I'm trying for during my off-season, is to continue thru the Gluten-Free & dairy free diet (except cream in my coffee) and saving any gluten or dairy laden foods for cheats, and out of choice! This bistro had a good gluten free menu so I went with a GF Chicken Gyro. And my boss goes, "I would hate to have to be gluten free..." I exclaimed, "Really?! My stomach and body feels so much better without it!" As I was driving with my coworker back to the office, whose husband has Celiac's Disease, she said to me, "You know, just tell people you have a gluten intolerance. Even if you just don't mentally want to tolerate it!" And she is so right! And why should someone's choice to eat healthy be any less respected than an allergy?!

I am gluten intolerant! I just don't WANT to tolerate it! :)

Reason No. 2: I miss my skin being really clear. Loads of water all day long and then sweating hard 2x a day... Yeah. Fitmas helped this, however.

Contest Prep Flash Back: My hot flashes are back. Why? I generally like to believe that the hot flashes are an indicator of my metabolism; seemed like whenever I was losing fat my hot flashes were way up. And I am SWEATING thru the night lately. And since I really haven't gained any a whole lot of weight since contest prep, and believe me... I am NOT trying to NOT gain weight... In fact, I am trying to gain some muscle. I just think my body just really doesn't want to be big again so it is working extra hard to make sure...? Alright, that was really just a hopeful explanation. Does anyone else get crazy hot flashes when dropping weight?

New Goals.

So, I've been having issues with switching my brain off of contest prep... In almost everything. I feel guilty when I don't go do cardio in the AM, or eat something that isn't in my meal plan and wasn't a scheduled cheat. In order to not go crazy I've made a few goals, albeit STRANGE goals:

1. SKIP a workout during the week. Yeah, you read that right. I really don't need to go crazy on my schedule right now. Its time for mental relaxation as well as some physical. Its easy to feel like a slave to your workout schedule. I am still hitting every body part every week and legs/abs still 2x a week.

2. Change lifts to the morning. I want more time at home in the afternoon now that winter is coming around... I love seeing day light in my house! Although, I don't typically like to lift in the morning as I feel kinda shakey... I mean, I don't have a full day's worth of nutrition, water, & supplements to back my lifting. This is just a trial thing. BUT! I did find that I love oatmeal w/chocolate protein powder & almond butter before a good lift. :)

... So basically all my goals are surrounding the need for a mental break. :)

Okay back to FITMAS!

So MY goal for fitmas is just to fit in one of these workouts a week, considering I do have other things I am working on like my abs/arse build... hopefully we will see a difference in pics here soon! :) But I did have to pack all 3 weeks into a few days to catch up!



Where do I purchase this??

On MY First day of Fitmas, Donloree gave to me... A Shredmill for HIIT...

Here is what my shredmill looked like... Can I just say my face was as red as a cherry tomato afterward?!

5 min @ 6 mph (also my recovery pace)

1 set of 60 sec on @ 7mph / 60 sec @ 6mph

2 sets of 45 sec @ 7.5 mph / 60 sec @ 6mph

2 sets of 30 sec @ 8 mph / 60 sec @ 6mph

1 set of 60 sec @ 9 mph / 60 sec @ 6mph

1 set of 60 sec @ 10 mph / 60 sec @ 6mph

2 sets of 45 sec @ 7.5 mph / 60 sec @ 6mph

2 sets of 30 sec @ 7 mph / 60 sec @ 6mph

5 mins @ 6 mph

(Total of 29 mins and 3 gallons of sweating)

I felt SO proud of myself for this! I am serious, I walked around with my head high and trash talked to Patrick later on about how awesome I am; I bet him he couldn't do that run. We'll see if he holds up his end of the bet on doing this with me sometime ;) I just felt so proud that I ran for a complete HIIT. I have always just walked really fast on the recovery periods as I am not a pro on controlling my heart rate/breathing with running.

On My second day of Fitmas, Donloree gave to me... Two Tabatas!

Warm up 5 min @ 6mph (I really love Treadmill HIITs, btw!)

Incline    Speed    ‘Reps’    Work    Rest

0              7.0           1         2:00       :30 (Rest rate was pure rest)

5              7.0           1         1:30       :30

5              7.5           1         1:00       :30

5              8.0           4          :45        :20

1              10.0         4          :30        :15

0             11.0          4          :15        :05

0             6.0            1           7:00 (2 min + 5 min cool down)

Total Time: 28 mins of pure craziness and sweat.

On My third day of Fitmas, Donloree gave to me... Three Kettlebells...

I did a Kettlebell Circuit one day for this, and I can say that I will be definitely doing this again! I had never used Kettlebells before and I was SO sore! My triceps have NEVER been that sore!

3 Shoulders & Arms Circuits:

Kettlebell Rear Delt Row: 3@ 7lbs x 10 reps

KB Kickback: 3@ 7lbs x 10 reps

KB Curl: 3@ 15x10

KB Upright Row: 25x10, 2@ 35x10

KB Overhead Press: 2@ 15x10, 25x10

KB French Press: 15x10, 15x15, 25x10

(I think this took me about 40 mins with rests in between, I also did everything unilaterally)

Wasn't sure how much weight I could handle on these, so this was kind of a trial thing, but I was VERY sore all over my triceps after this... Also my biceps were very sore right at the origin & insertion of my muscles. :) Such a crazy feeling when you are used to being sore right in the belly of the muscle!*

*If you are weight lifting and don't know much about the science of your muscles, it definitely benefits knowing how the muscle works if you have time to look into it. :) I always started with the muscles I wanted to work on first (okay, that and I took Anatomy & Physiology in college so I had some prior knowledge) to help me learn how to develop it.... REALLY helpful for lats, abs & booty!

I will admit... I am a tad scrrrrrd for the Fourth Week of Fitmas which is Crossfit! I am either going to do the Filthy 50 or the Run Your Butt Off. Either way, I think I am going to have to notify gym staff of my lofty endeavors so someone can jump start my heart when I fall off the treadmill/platform because it couldn't take the amount of stress I put it under. LOL!

Ooh, so since I don't have a really cool/witty way of ending this post, I'll just let everyone know what you can expect from me soon! I have so many posts started that I need to finish... Where is twitter when I need it #notflakey

-A post on my most recent iTunes binge.

-Posts on part of my off-season project: The Gluten Free Project - Dedicated to finding gluten free ways of making everything I love. Might try to go for healthy and/or dairy free as well... Just because something lacks wheat doesn't always mean its good for you!

-An Emotional/Girly/Heartwarming/Puke-tastic post on Prep.

-Progress pics somewhere around November 5th... That is kinda scary...

Have a lovely last week of October everyone!! :)