When All Else Fails....

Good morning! When all else fails... Try again? Eh.. Maybe. EXPERIMENT!

Since I'm not getting ready for a show, I have some time to play around with my diet and exercise. As you know, I've put on a few extra pounds (looks around) in my off season, and I want to lean out a bit. Those who know me best, know I'm not the most conventional person, and I thumb my nose at the easy route. Grr...

Three things I'm trying now:

1. Keto Dieting: I've been tinkering with my diet and supplementation schemes. I am currently on a keto-type diet. For those who aren't up on it, keto is a very low carb diet. I'm talking very. Less than 30 net carbs a day (that's less than a serving of oats! And y'all know how I love my oats... ) for a prolonged period of time, followed by a "refeed" --- reintroducing carbs into the body, once a week or so (depending on how you cycle it). While you are lo carb, you eat mainly fats and protein. My cycle is about 6 days lo carb - Sunday-Friday - Then carb refeed on Saturday. I weigh myself on Saturday morning to see my progress and that influences how I carb up. I also look at my workouts for the week and gauge my energy levels. In my prep cycle, I've found that keto diets work for ME.

(Disclaimer: Keto is NOT for everyone and NOT meant to do forever. As with all diet approaches, check with a doc or at the very least, someone who is experienced in dieting and nutrition to guide you)

2. Fasting: In addition to keto, I've been looking at "Intermittent Fasting". Intermittent Fasting (IF) is a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting (usually meaning consumption of water and sometimes low-calorie drinks such as black coffee) and non-fasting (wikipedia entry). Now... I'm mixing the two dieting styles.. Keto diet, with a fast. I'm trying not to eat until about 9-10 am and to quit eating around 10 pm. Basically, 12 hour fast, 12 hour eating cycle. It pains me a bit in the morning, but I drink about 10 g BCAAs upon waking, then have some coffee/tea/cucumber slices until it's time to eat. It's not a perfect fast, but I'm trying some things out. Am I hungry? Yep. Will I die? No. Energy level? Pretty good, actually. Training? Going well.. lifting heavy and getting good results.

and...
3. No Post Workout Shake! That's right, I'm foregoing the post workout protein shake. I know, that's BLASPHEMY in the bodybuilding world.. But.. The way I see it, after training, I'm starving. I tend to overeat, or at the very least suffer from hunger at night. So, last night, after an intense back session, instead of a shake, I drank about 10 g BCAAs mixed with Crystal Light. Granted it wasn't the best tasting drink, but... I fed my muscles, staved off hunger for a bit and saved myself about 120 cals/25 g protein that I can eat in REAL FOOD, which always keeps me full longer. So, it actually worked out nicely. I only live about 30 minutes from my gym, so I was able to eat a meal within an hour of my training. I also wasn't hungry after that, meaning I have to adjust my earlier meals to get in all my macros.

I'll discuss my training and supplementation schemes lata.. right now, it's cucumber/tea/ gum time.. got about 30 minutes until I can eat again :-).

xoxo,

L.

Building a Booty...

FYI: I wasn't blessed with the tightest, roundest, for firmest backside. Some folks are blessed and others, like me, have to build a booty..  I'm mostly "Quads and Hips" really. I want to bring my glutes up, (esp the ham-glute tie in) so I train them separate and apart from legs, more than once a week....

Sunday is usually leg day. Squats, hacks, deads, curls, extensions.. the usual. However, I've found that I don't hit the glutes as much as need and want to on these lifts. I have longer legs and I tend not to squat as deep as others because . I have pre-existing knee issues; and 2. Because my legs are longer, that's a long way to travel down. I'm more concerned with protecting my knees than trying to hit glutes on a squat. For some people, training legs the usual way, will get them great glutes.  Me? I need a lil extra work to effectively train my glutes.

Sunday morning, in addition to my morning cardio, I did a brief glute workout to almost, "pre-exhaust" them before the full leg workout later in the day. 

1. Superset #1
Smith Machine Glute Raise

with
Reverse Hyperextensions

2. One-Leg Smith Machine Squats

3. Superset #2
Cable Glute kickbacks
with
Glute Bridge


Since I'm trying to bring my glutes up, my cardio has been mainly sprinting, circuit training with weights, tabata intervals plyo and a lil steady state. If  I'm doing steady state cardio, I'm walking on the treadmill, at an incline, squeezing my glutes on each step. The morning cardio consisted of:

- 15 minutes on the treadmill (increasing incline on each min, NOT holding on to the rails, at 3.0 mph)
- 15 minutes tabata intervals of Treadwalks (3 rounds of 4 min tabata -20:10- 1 min walk between)

if you don't know what a treadwalk is, here's a video. Mind you, you do these with the treadmill NOT moving)

Closing thought... In building a booty, my favs are cable kick backs, stiff leg deadlifts, and smith glute raises. I vary the weights, rep ranges and exercises... After all that of course.. you must STRETCH! These are awesome!

Enter the Mind of Madness... Ok, Not Really... Well, a Little.

Good morning! It's Saturday, and NYC got hit with a blizzard. Some places got hit worse than others, but luckily my area wasn't hit VERY hard. Plenty of snow on the ground, but thankfully, people have shoveled and salted and I was able to hit the gym!

Today was a fasted, HIIT cardio day.. when I do HIIT, I usually use tabata intervals (20s work:10s rest for 8 cycles = 4 mins) or weight/plyo circuits. When I use a cardio machine (elliptical, treadmill, bike, etc), it's for steady state cardio or  sprint work. Today's workout was  TWO weight/plyo cycles and a plyo/ab circuit. Wanna hear about it, here it goes!

Circuit 1: 5 x 15 x 5 (5 exercises, 15 reps per, 5 rounds - 1 min rest between)
1. Jump lunges (15 per leg - 30 altogether)
2. hanging leg raises
3. DeadLift-Curl-Press (using 45 lb Barbell)
4. Decline Push Ups (feet on a bench)
5. Inverted rows

Perform the exercises back to back, then rest for a minute. Perform 5 rounds in total. :-)

Still standing? Want more? ok..

Circuit 2: 6 exercises x 30 seconds each x 3 rounds
1. DB throws
2. Box Jumps
3. Barbell Hack Squats
4. Weighted Squat Thrusts
5. Plyo Skaters
6. Weighted T-Push Ups

Now, I'll admit, I was dog tired after this. lol.. Breathing heavy, looking for help. But.. I wasn't done. Ready for the plyo/Ab circuit?

Circuit 3: 3 Exercises x 25 reps each x 4 rounds (equalling 100 reps in total)
I started the ab circuit with 10-15 box jumps (yeah, I did them again but this time, I straddled a step instead of traditional box jumps)
1. Smith Machine Hip Thrusts (Instructions - See this video: Smith Machine Hip Thrust)
2. Oblique Cable Crunches (Instructions - See this video: Modified Cable Oblique Crunch)
3. Reg. Cable Crunches

This is ME doing the hip thrusts:

(FYI: Those are ace bandages around my ankles, if you were curious. When I do plyo, I wrap my ankles. I'm prone to sprains!)

And here are the lovely box jumps (excuse any dips in form... a girl was spent after alla that.)

Did I mention I did all that FASTED? Yeah, I tend to do my morning cardio, HIIT or steady state, on Empty. I do bring water and my Top Secret Nutrition BCAA Hyperblend Drink, mixed with vitamins C, to drink throughout. I also bring my protein powder to mix with water to drink right after working out.

I did some serious stretching after this and took my butt home.. I'm a bit sore now, but I'll live. Foam rolling to the rescue! 

Enjoy the snow, and have a great weekend!

xoxo,

Lynette

On the Slow Road...

Gooooodddd Morning!

I know I haven't blogged in a hot minute and for that I am sorry! I've been busy trying to figure out my diet, training split, supplementation, etc.. No, not getting ready for a show this year. I'm basically dieting as if I was doing a show on June 1.

I'm putting myself through the rigors of prep because
1. I gained a lil too much weight, IMO, this off season;
2. I need to get my body used to being leaner;
3. I need to learn how my body works and what will get my lean with the least amount of suffering; and 4. I want to be better.

Better at what you ask? I want to be a better bodybuilder. I want to have better shape and definition to this old bag o'bones.. lol. I want to be sure I'm putting forth the best possible package when I enter prep again/hit the stage in 2014. And that, my friends, takes patience. These next few months are going to be a learning experience. New Lifting techniques; new training, new splits, strengthening my weaknesses.. It's going to be awesome, y'all.. :-)

My current goal is to get back to comp weight (about 155 lbs) by June 1. Standard prep time is 12 weeks, but yeah, I'm a big girl, and food loves me, so I started "dieting" in January, at around 181 lbs or so (I was boycotting the scale, so this is an estimate--- don't judge me). The photo on the left is January. The photo on the right, glasses and all, was taken on Monday, at about 178-179 lbs.

See how long it takes me to lose a damn pound of bodyfat? Yeah.. I know. There are folks who think, "oh, it's not that hard" or who think that I don't struggle with this. It's a struggle for me, every day, every workout, every meal. I've been overweight @ 300 lbs, I've been superslim@150 lbs (size 2-4, y'all! Whoo!), so my body has been through the gamut of sizes. Fat loss is hard, no matter which way you slice it. Because it's so hard, I'm doing it slowly, taking my time with it. I think that' s the best way. If you have a goal date, best to start a lil before you think you need to. For example,if I were doing a June show, I would NOT do the standard 12 weeks of contest prep. I know better than that. I would start prep about 16-20 weeks out, and still diet on my own about a month before that. I have a stubborn body, so longer dieting periods work for me.

Well, that's all for now. I'll be back with more soon.. #PinkySwear

:-)

Peeking In..

Good morning all!

I'm blogging from the train, in my way to work! It's been a while since I've blogged, mainly because I've been wrapped up in my own world, in a rut. Due to medical issues, nothing too serious, I have to postpone my next contest prep season. I'm upset, but ill live. Also, it gives me time to grow, work on posing, maintenance .... Basically become a better bodybuilder.

Sorry for the neglect, but I shall be back! With reviews, demos, general knowledge and anything else you might want to know about!

x0x0

Supplement Review: TSN BCAA Hyperblend Drink Mix

I have a supplement review for you all today! Yay!

Okay, we all know what BCAAs are.. Branched Chain Amino Acids -The building blocks of muscle (we're keeping it simple around here today). The BCAAs are those essential aminos that the body doesn't provide us with. Benefits of BCAA supplementation include reduced soreness (DOMS!!), protein synthesis, reducing the rate of muscle breakdown, maximize fat loss (yeah, baby.. ), and a host of other benefits!

(see these articles for more details:
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/654/The_Benefits_of_BCAAs_10_Quick_Tips_and_Detailed_R.aspx
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bcaas-the-many-benefits-of-amino-acids.html )

Anyways, back to the supplement at hand.. Check the pic below...

Both are by Top Secret Nutrition (TSN) The Pill form on the left and the powdered drink form on the right. This review is about the DRINK. I've used both actually. Before the drink was available, I was popping open the pills, and mixing with crystal light and Cardio Igniter (by TSN) to drink during my morning fasted cardio, to prevent muscle breakdown. But... the folks at TSN have solved my problem! The BCAA Hyperblend is BCAA/Energy drink that is berry flavored and loaded with BCAAs and other ingredients to make it a sexy pre/intra workout energy drink. Yes, I said sexy. -_-

Besides the BCAAs, the drink mix includes a 3:1:1 ratio of leucine, isoleucine and valine,  Ursolic Acid, Brassinolide and caffeine [(150mg) to provide energy and enhance the anabolic and muscle protein synthesis stimulating effect of BCAA],  Astravar (you don't know about Astravar??) and BioPerine to help enhance the absorption of the ingredients. Here's a pic of the label for your viewing pleasure:

Okay... so I bet you wanna know how it tastes. Honestly, in the realm of pre-workout drinks, this isn't half bad. I'm not the biggest fan of berry flavored drinks as I prefer fruit punch or lemonade varieties. But alone it tastes heck of a lot better than regular BCAA powder. I added my trusty crystal light lemonade packet and took it to the gym for a test drive on my morning cardio. I can say I drank most of it during the first 15 minutes. Terrible, I know. But it is a welcomed addition to the rotation. Here's a hint.. drinking BCAAs during your fasted cardio helps with hunger! Yes.. it helps with the ravenous hunger that can come after doing the cardio.. :-) So, this drink mix is PERFECT for that!  I plan to use to it whenever I do fasted cardio... The weekends because during the week.. yeah.. I'm not about that life..

Until next review..
x0x0

Quads and Glutes 2.0

Hi Folks! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! What better way to start off a new year than a grueling workout? :-) I posted a workout on FB yesterday, but this is another version of it..

1. Leg Extensions: 2 warm up sets 15 reps; 4 x 12-15 working sets

2. Seated Leg Press: 1 warm up 15 reps; 4 x 15 working sets

3. Super Set: 3 sets
Hack Squat 12 reps (increasing weight each set)
Walking Lunges (14/12/last set 30 reps just body weight)

4. Sideways One Leg Press: 15 reps per leg

5. Superset: 3 sets
Leg Press: 15 reps per leg
Glute flutter kicks (20-30 reps - 10-15 kicks per side)

6. Superset:
Glute Cable Kickbacks 3 x 12
Sumo Squats with heavy dumbbell 3 x 10 reps per side

7. Superset:
Smith Squats 3 x 12
Box Jumps (well jumps on a bench) 3 x 10

8. FST-7 Burnout for Quads: Leg Extensions (again)
7 sets x 12- 15 reps (30 secs rest between sets)

Slight changes, but changes nonetheless. :-) Enjoy!