Yeah...yeah...yeah...

It's funny, I have seen a number of friends who blog fall off the map when they are not in competition prep mode.  I am seeing that this is me, too.  I am back to eating clean most of the time.  Ok...we had Oreos last night, but I am just over being super rigid for a while.  I am working out about 4 days per week, which is enough to keep me motivated, but also enough to allow me to do other things in the afternoons sometimes.  We have been out of town a lot, which disrupts both our normal eating and our normal workout schedule, but after months of being hyper-disciplined, it is really nice to just go with it. 

Last week and this week, I have been doing pyramid sets  I start out with a low weight and add 5 pounds for sets of 10 until I go to failure at a weight, usually sticking at 8 reps, and then dropping down by 5 pounds for sets of 10 until I am stripped of all weight.  For example, on chest day, I did incline press for bar (45lb) x 10, then added 5lbs per side for: 55x10, 65x10, 75x10, 85x10, 95x10, 105x8, and then back down - 95x10, 85x10, 75x10, 65x10, 55x10 and 45x10.  I was happy to get up to 105 with that many sets/reps, and you get to the end and that bar feels like a million pounds.  Normally 95 pounds is my starting weight for incline, just to give an idea of what I normally do.   I did the same yesterday for seated military press, starting with the bar and adding weight, but I burned out at 95x8.  It's ok, though, because my shoulders were blown up. 

Another thing I have been doing is plyometrics at the end of my workout rather than traditional cardio. I can see a difference in my conditioning and I am able to do plyos for longer periods of time without stopping or without falling over/losing balance/etc. 

Nothing new otherwise! :)

More about the apple and tree and all...

Ok.  Before I elaborate on the apple and tree reference, I will give a quick update on me.  Which is that there really is nothing exciting to relate. Although I did not compete, I experienced all of the things that people who do compete experience - such as gym burnout, making a LOT of cheating exceptions in diet, and so forth.  I have put about 5-8 pounds back on...mostly water and all, as I went from being somewhat flattened out to full again.  I have been to the gym a couple of times a week, but have only done low/moderate intensity cardio once.  I have done high intensity cardio a few times a week, even at home, as it keeps me from feeling like a slug.  I introduced a pre-workout back into my routine, as I was feeling like a slug while lifting, and that somehow gives me a boost.  I think it's more psychological than anything, but hey, I will do what works.  My strength has been going back up and I changed up my training. 

I realized pretty quickly that I need something new, so JP and I trained with a strength coach this weekend who trains Olympic lifters around the world.  That was fun.  I have not done true Olympic lifting since high school, so I really enjoyed it.  It was really more of a fundamentals session, getting the basic mechanics of the lifts, but I had fun and we have decided to do this on Saturdays when we are home.  It was interesting, how years can make a difference in muscle memory.  When I was in high school, I went to a school where we did mostly Olympic lifts to prep for sports, and Olympic lifting was the first thing I ever did.  I used to love it.  And I realized a couple of months ago when I tried to practice a snatch with just a bar that I didn't even have the fundamentals anymore.  So doing this is refreshing this for me, and although I picked it up a little quicker than JP (probably because I am much closer to the ground than he is...lol), none of it felt familiar in anyway.  I was having to focus very hard on relaxing the shoulders, turning the knuckles down, turning the elbows out, exploding through the legs and popping with the hips, and keeping on my heels.  And this was with a 8 pound training bar! Lol.  It was nice to change it up, and my brain turned on. 

I'll be working the show I was going to compete in this weekend, and that usually fires me back up, too.

So...on to the apple and tree...

Jenna doing her front double bicep pose...

If you ask her to show her biceop pose, she will do one arm and say, "Boom!"

 

Also, Jenna loves to mimick Daddy and his at home workouts.  Here is another video of her "doing" pull ups and push ups.  In this first video, most of the time she is hanging is her holding her own bodyweight...



 

:)