It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Last Christmas I gained 15/20 lbs. This Christmas, while its not over yet, I am down 5% body fat from the begining of the month. So what's the difference? This year I have a plan.

It is really easy to let the holidays take control over everything. Your time, your diet, your paycheck. But like everything, if you go in with a real concrete plan, you are way more likely to succeed. For the month of December, I cleaned up my diet and decided how I am going to eat at which parties. Not that I won't have a treat or two this holiday season, but I refuse to eat a dozen cookies just because they are there. I'll report back on January 1st to let you know if my planning worked!

Below was today's workout, stay tuned for my Christmas Eve Double header!

 Workout Log 12/22

Warmup - dynamic stretching, light kb swings

Light Squat, 4X5, worked up to 125 lbs

Press
3 warmup sets
3@ 45 lbs
3@ 55 lbs
7@ 61 lbs

Deadlift worked up to 1X5 @ 175 lbs

10 Min
10, 55 lb Swing at the top of every minute
Minutes 1 - 5 were crazy easy, minutes 6 - 10 were KILLER!

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff....

I'm am sure many of you have been told this or said this to someone else at some point in your life. When you are stressed out or struggling to get by it sounds like a great idea. Don't stress about the small things you have to deal with and everything will run smoothly.

I find in my life, not sweating the small things tends to get me into a lot of trouble. Say a light bulb goes out in house, you think, hmm... I don't feel like doing that today, I'll take care of it tomorrow. Tomorrow becomes next Tuesday and next Tuesday becomes next month...until you have been thinking about the stupid light bulb for two months and now another one is out and now you have two to replace...well I think you see where this is headed.

I find in my training and eating, I tend to get into a habit of "not sweating the small stuff." When I'm tired/sick/busy or various other things on my extensive list of excuses, I cut the little things out. When working out, I'll take away accessories work or skip my dreaded pullups, cut down on rest time or skip warming up and warm up sets. The idea being, "well, as long as I get my big lifts in, I'm good."

But it turns out, "I'm not so good." When I leave out the seemingly less important accessory work, my big lifts suffer. When I don't properly warm up, my hamstrings get extra tight making it harder to work out next time. I am starting to find, that if I "sweat the small stuff," the "big stuff" tends to come easier.

It's the same way with my diet. I like to convince myself that having a treat now and then won't effect my training. In many ways this is true, but I find if I say ok to a White Chocolate Mocha on Monday, I'm more likely to try my Grandma's homemade chocolate chips cookies on Wednesday, and then one Thursday don't feel like cooking and decide the fast food isn't really so bad for me. It is a vicious cycle.

One of my professors in college once told me the story of the first guy to reach the top of Mt. Everest, while I have no idea if this is true, I think its worth sharing. He told me in his very thick Indian accent, "There were two men climbing who went on the expedition to reach the top of Mt. Everest. They climbed the whole way together, but only one reached to top first. The difference between good a great, is often only a couple of feet."

I wonder how different my life and training would be if I really lived out that idea?

Routine

So last week I got out of my routine. I skipped my Monday workout...and said...."I'll get it done tomorrow." Was that a big mistake. I ended up not doing my whole program for the week cause I thought I could rearrange my schedule and make it work. I think getting into a routine is the most important part of meeting goals. If you make a plan and stick to it, you will see results. However, if you make a plan and don't get in the routine of doing it, then it will be difficult to reach your goals.

Now that I am working full time, I am really trying to get into a routine.  It is so much easier then when I was in school, but I am still trying to figure everything out. I am going to do my best to commit to my plan, so when I compete in my first powerlifting meet next summer, I will be proud of what I have accomplished.


Monday - Volume Day

Squat 5 X 3 @ 170
Pressed 5 X 3 @ 62
Deadlift 1 X 5 @ 195
Kipping Ring Pullups 3 X 8

Dan's Chocolate Mousse

This is a recipe I created yesterday that is awesome!The servings are not large, but they are very rich. You really only need that much, believe me. Each serving has about 8 carbs, so it will satisify your chocolate cravings without ruining your diet and training. Dan wanted me to make sure that everyone knows that it was his idea :)

Dan's Chocolate Mousse

4 Eggs

6 Oz. Unsweetened Chocolate

1 Shot Espresso

½ cup milk

¼ cup stevia (I used Truvia)

1. Melt chocolate and espresso in a double boiler.

2. Add the milk and stevia. Stir until smooth. Then remove from the heat.

3. Separate the egg yolks and egg whites.

4. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

5. Beat the eggs yolks.

6. Add a spoonful of the chocolate mixture to the egg yolks and stir well.

7. Add the egg yolks to the chocolate mixture and beat until smooth.

8. Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites.

9. Pour into 8 serving dishes and put in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or until set. 

Wednesday - Light Day

Snatch 6X2 @ 70

Front Squat 3X3 @ 115

25 lb Weighted Pushups 2X5

Assisted Ring Dips 3X5

Friday - Max Effort Day

Squat: Work up to 3RM of 180

Pres: Work up to 3RM of 70

Ring Pull Ups 6X2

Conditioning:

3 95 lb sled drags

2 115 lb sled drags

1 135 lb sled drags

2 Work Outs, a Grill, and a Funny Video

 I feel like it is so much easier to eat well in the summer time. There is so much fresh produce around  and its so nice out I just don't want to eat really heavy food. Today was so nice, we grilled out. We made burgers, avocado salsa, and grilled veggies. And of course I put my burger on Ezekiel Bread!



Check out this video. It made me laugh. People will come up with any excuse to whine about working out and Mark Rippetoe calls them out on it.

http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/platform_the_iron_plate_problem


Saturday:

Squat: work up to 5RM @ 175
Bench Press: work up to 5RM @ 90 (got 4)
Ring Pull ups 5X2
3 Prowler Pushes @ 95 lb - up and down the driveway


Monday

Squat 3X5 @ 165
Press 3X5 @ 60
Deadlift 1X5 @ 185
Kipping Ring Pull ups 3X7

Weakness

Most people fear admitting weakness. We don't want people to see are faults or think we are actually bad at something. So what do we do? Ignore it. Maybe we even avoid being in situations where we need that skill altogether, maybe we miss out on some pretty awesome stuff just so we don't have to show weakness.

My biggest weakness in lifting is my upper body. I'm very proud of my lower-body lifts and I am constantly progressing. However, I do not feel the same way about my upper-body. I've really been struggling. But should I let my weak upper body keep me from doing well as a competitive RAW Powerlifter? NO! I've adjusted my training weights and added assistance exercises to try and get stronger. Right now, I'm lifting embarrassingly small weight for my strict press, but I don't care. I am doing it to build strength and allow me to progress. I am going to do what I need to do to work on my weakness so my weakness does not hold me back.


What weaknesses are holding you back?

Wednesday Training Log - Light Day

 Foam Roller and lots of Stretched - I was soar from Monday

Clean 6X2 @100lb
Front Squat 3X3 @110lb
Press 2X5 @ 56lb
Assisted Ring Dips 3X4

More Stretching

Workout Log - Heavy Day

Yesterdays workout:

Foam Roller/Stretching

Squat 5X5 @ 160lb
Bench 5X5 @ 80lb
 *light snatch and clean work to warm up  Deadlift
Deadlift 1X5 @ 180lb
Kipping pullups on rings 3 X (6,7,6)

Stretching

 Our new toy!

Dan pushing the prowler...I'm excited to use it on Wednesday's workout.

This picture made me realize that I make really funny faces when I deadlift.

Size 6

About 6 months ago I changed my focus. I stopped caring so much about being super lean and started caring about being super strong. Needless to say, this focus change brought on weight gain. As a normal body conscious young female, this has not been easy for me. About a month ago, I discovered that not a single pair of jeans I owned fit me. I resorted to wearing sweatpants and gym shorts everyday because that was all I could fit into. Fortunately, as a college student my new grungy attire worked just fine.

Last week, I found myself in the working world full-time and well...my gym short wardrobe wasn't going to cut it. I went to the mall for some much needed shopping and found myself completely frustrated trying to find myself a pair of jeans. I started with 3's. I used to be a 00 so a size 3 should be fine, right? Apparently not. Size 6. That's where I landed.

Frustrated and tired I went home, made some lunch, relaxed for a bit, then started my workout. All of a sudden my size no longer mattered. I had work to do. I killed it. I repped weight that I couldn't have imagined repping 6 months ago. As part of my workout, I worked up to a 1 rep max clean and managed to get up 25 lbs more than the last time I tested just 4 months ago. I was freaking out. I was stuck at a 95 lb clean forever and could not get more up. I finally met my goal of 120 lb clean...body weight clean here I come.

BTW, I would not trade in my size 6's for that moment....ever.