It's back to blogging

It's been some time since I have written my blog. I will put it down to simply just being crazy busy with a million things happening at the moment.

So much is going on and a lot to report on but making this short and sweet.

My goal is to write my blog at least 3 times a week. With the end of year coming to an end there are so many things on the agenda. I am really ramping up my training and getting my nutrition on track which is GREAT! I plan to go into 2010 with the task of my 12 week countdown to comp, an easy one to switch to and something I won't dread so to speak. I want my lead up to INBA to be a great, exciting and fun time, not something that is a drag or exhausting! I am pretty damn pumped about the whole experience to come.

Even better news, we are about 3 weeks out from moving into our gorgeous brand new home.. ! SO damn excited to finally have a walk in robe, huge kitchen and of course my own home gym! Its a great feeling to finally own my own home rather than be in the rent race which I had been in for so long.

On the downside, my Grandma has been extremely unwell and I pray for her night and day that she gets better. Unfortunately my Nan has a very large tumour which started growing in her nose and has spread to her brain very quickly. It is terrible news and our hearts are with her at this very hard and painful time. We pray that she can overcome this terrible, terrible time. xx

Anyhow, just a quick blog tonight, I am excited to be back and ready to get into the remainder of the year x

It's time to say Goood bye... well for 10 days anyway !

It’s been quite some time since I last blogged as I have been taking a bit more time out for myself to do “Away from the Computer” sorta things. Its been working well to get away from it all for a bit, however I do miss my blogging, as it is just one of those many things that I get enjoyment out of doing.

I am very excited to say that I jet off to Queensland shortly to firstly go up and watch the Olympia at Southport and secondly to take a VERY much needed break away from it all.. out of the routine for a week or so to recoupe, revitalize and reassess where things are at.

Nothing beats getting away when you reach a point where you just feel tired, run down and the need to take a break from it all.. which is how I am feeling right now.. When the motivation slips, and the energy levels are down, nothing does me better than to get away and just get some down time up my sleeve so I can take on the next 6 months. What a perfect time to when Melbourne’s weather has little to be excited about.. Bring on the sunshine any day I say! Vitamin D is required big time!
So, here is my final blog for the next 10 days as I say Ciao, Hooroo, Au revoir, Arrivederci…. Good bye, Good Bye, Good Bye..

ITS TIME FOR SOME SERIOUS FUNNNNN !!!!

Checking in...

It seems time has gone so quickly since I lost made a post so I thought it’s time to get back on track.

I have to admit I have been slack on the blog front over the last week, however I have just been a little tied up with work and basically taking a break from the world of blogging.

I am happy to say that I am on a good new quick start nutrition program which is going great, it’s really not much different to what I used to eat daily, however my portion sizes have dramatically decreased, thus my body is taking its time to get used to eating less. From this I have had a lot less energy and have been feeling a little run down of late. It’s amazing how different our bodies can feel when changing the way we eat around. I have lost .5kg over the last week so far (not that I am aiming to lose weight as such at the moment) however I am slowing easing my way into fat loss ready for next year to compete. Having so much time on my hands means I can do this progressively without causing a lot of strain on my body and do it without mentally exhausting myself!

My training is going great as well, the training too me is the easy part.. it’s always the nutrition side of things that I need to focus on as some days I eat great and others I lose the drive.. however.. there will soon be no room for mix ups and basically its great that I am finally getting my head around my true feelings, i.e. The way my body feels after eating certain foods, and not wanting to eat crap just because of the yukky way it will make me feel after. I don’t get guilty so much now if I do slip up, as I just move on and make the rest of my meals clean eating ones. So all good so far, no complaints.. apart from the terrible hayfever I have been suffering over the last few weeks.. Arghh it’s a shocker and I do hope to find a cure ASAP.. as the generic tablet brands just don’t seem to cut it.

So much to look forward to over the next few months, I am heading off to QLD in 2 weeks.. YAYYYYY to watch Tim Martin in the Natural Olympia.. Go Tim.. and boy oh boy will he do will if his guest posing routine at the Vics was anything to go by! What an inspiration!

Also have many fun weekends with family and friends coming up, the silly season is on its way and lots of fun to be had!

Hope you all enjoy your Thursday and lets hope it’s a gorgeous sunny weekend this week!

OH PS – don’t forget to turn your clocks forward an hour this weekend as day light savings kicks in.. Even better – more light at night to enjoy nice long walks ! 

So much to look forward to !

I cannot believe it is Wednesday already – the weeks are flying by at such a rapid rate its almost scary !

But I am wrapped that QLD is coming up in just over 3 weeks now..! Kade and I are off to the sunshine for 10 days to watch and support Tim Martin at the Mr Olympia then taking a week off to enjoy some serious relaxation, rest, fun and catching up with family and friends along the way – So very excited as I absolutely LOVE QLD and I swear I will move up there one day and live there. I love the feel of the place, its relaxing feel, people are not so go, go , go and something about the smell of QLD.. I am not sure that tropical seaside smell. It’s my favorite !

I am also looking forward to the excitement of this weekend – Grand Final weekend. It’s the weekend of the year where we catch up with heaps of Friends on Saturday and have an absolute ball and a BBQ and then we head out on the town Saturday night and Dance the night away.. ! So excited and even bought a new dress for the occasion! Shame the weather won’t hold out ! Oh well, I will be having too much fun to think about the cold.

On Sunday I am checking out the INBA at Camberwell centre where Tim is guest posing which will be unreal! Love watching everyone strut their stuff to see how their form is and gives me that excitement of the fact I will be up on stage next year. I am loving training and opening my eyes up to different ways of doing things and it has given me a whole new perspective on everything. I have been eating great, which in turn makes me feel great, energized and ready to take on each day !

Ohh I love this time of year, so much happening and all fun stuff.. ! Bring on the next 6 months 

The weekend is almost here.. !

Well I am happy to say that, my calf muscle isn’t getting any worse.. but at the same time, it is still giving me some agony! I am finding the more I move around, the less it cramps up… I actually for the first time in a long time, skipped cardio this morning.. and yes.. I felt shithouse for doing so !!! so after a long morning sitting at my desk feeling like shit because of this.. I know that I wont be doing that again – to be honest, I could hardly move this morning and walking was not happening.. I stumbled out of bed and was almost hopping around getting ready as the force on my right leg really hurt!

Anyhow – I am pleased to say – I went and did a friggen unreal hour session in the gym at lunch time. Today I did a Fit Hour with Sara “Pocket Rocket” and I was almost crying at the end of it.. somehow I am feeling a little fragile today and training seemed all that harder.. but I can assure you, I feel totally unreal now, and what a way to end the week.. it was unreal to say the least.
So I have a plan for the weekend.. and that is a run tomorrow (pending on my calf) if it is better I will run or jog, if not I will be power walking for one hour.. I am one just to pull through and work through the pain at the most of times, unless it was really unbearable.. however I like to go with the motto whatever won’t kill me, won’t hurt.. so run it is..

Sunday will be a one hour power walk… after celebrating Collingwood’s glorious win on Saturday night.. ! I shouldn’t get to far ahead of myself however… GO THE PIES !
My DEXA scan is tomorrow at 1pm.. and I am so excited to see where I am at.. from this I will have specific goals… broken down into every day/week/month etc.. this scan will give me the accurate results to tell me how much fat I need to lose each day/week/month, in order to be in the best shape of my life for comp season next year.. Results to follow…

I hope you all have a fun, safe, active and enjoyable weekend.

Let’s all pray for the people in Melbourne – that this gorgeous sun stays with us over our two day break.!

Injuries SUCK.....

Yooowchi’ssssss…… buggered to say that I have been struck down with a bit of a calf strain which is causing me somewhat a great deal of pain. How I did this exactly, well, I am still trying to work this out.. all I know that is yesterday when I was going for a walk after work.. I was moving at a fast past and somehow I moved in a funny way, almost bending forward and then moving off at a fast pace again and obviously at this time caused some damage… then I woke up a few times last night in serious pain… followed by almost falling out of bed when I stepped onto my right leg.

A calf strain is a common injury to the lower leg characterised by tearing of some or all of the calf muscle.
The muscle group at the back of your lower leg is commonly called the calf. The calf comprises of 2 major muscles one of which originates from above the knee joint (gastrocnemius) the other of which originates from below the knee joint (soleus). Both of these calf muscles insert into the heel bone via the Achilles tendon. The soleus muscle lies deeper than the gastrocnemius.

During contraction of the calf, tension is placed through the calf muscle. When this tension is excessive due to too much repetition or high force, the calf muscle can be torn. Go figure…

Basically at the moment, I am finding it very hard to walk properly and can feel a sudden sharp pain or more pulling sensation as I walk… I am feeling very stiff, sore and will be giving cardio a miss today due to this..
As I was not aware how sore I was, I went and did legs this morning.. only to find I couldn’t go no where near as hard as normal…

Its funny – I have hardly had any injuries in my time.. and when you get one.. IT’S A PAIN IN THE ARSE .. however… at the same time I am thankful its not too serious and will heal itself if I give it rest..! That’s the hard part – keeping me still for a second.! I don’t really have a choice in this matter as its causing me too much pain to walk around much anyway.

I have been stretching a few times over the day including Calf Lunge Stretches which involves keeping my hands against a wall and my leg to be stretched in front of me. Keeping my heel down I gently move my knee forward over my toes as far as possible and comfortable without pain. Holding for 5 seconds and repeating 10 times at a mild to moderate stretch pain-free.

So, I am praying that I wake up tomorrow with a little less pain – in the meantime.. its my turn to rest up and get better ready for the start of a new week next week…. DEXA scan is on Saturday, along with that means a new nutrition and training plan.. Bring it on…

I plan to fit in 3 more cardio sessions over the weekend if my calve gives me enough movement without pain to do so… so pleaseeeee calf… get better !

Is it just me or is today a bit of a slump of a day ?

Okay so I am having one of those “slow” days today – must be the mid-week slump.. but its just one of those days where not much is happening really… and on those days, it is easy to get unmotivated to do anything really.. which is when its sooo important to remember why I am eating well and why I must exercise… !

Today is my day off weights so I decided to do 2 cardio sessions today. My first session was a 40 minute power walk to the train station this morning. I love my morning walks in the fresh air as the air is cool and just feels so refreshing first thing in the morning. Wakes me up and gets me off to a great start. I then went for another 40 minute power walk on my lunch break, which is a great way to break up the day, move around and get in some extra fat burning potential into me. The sun was out and with 25 degree weather, why wouldn’t anyone want to get out into the fresh air and move around !

If you are lacking the energy today, or motivation to do anything.. don’t think about it.. just do it.. don’t waste another second sitting there arguing with yourself if you should go out and do something physical today – just do it and think about how good you will feel afterwards.

Same goes on the food front, on those days where I lack energy – I tend to think.. ohhhh if I have some more carbohydrate or sugar I will feel heaps better… ah ahhh… it doesn’t work like that… movement and a BIG glass of water generally kill the need for other body harming sugar infested sweets.. that only make you feel guilty afterwards… and make you write off the entire day as you think.. Stuff it.. I have eaten crap now.. so might as well ruin the rest of my day and eat whatever I want and do nothing !

Hope you are having a good “Hump” Day and lets all look forward to the downward run to the weekend.. Tomorrow morning is Legs day for me.. first up… in the AM so I am prepping myself for what will be a killer program… and make some serious progress in the legs and butt department …..