fitness | garagegym107

Posts Tagged ‘fitness

Jan

Torn Between Two Loves

Here lately I’ve been struggling. No not with food, that’s dialed in quite nicely actually. I’m torn. Torn between my love of bodybuilding and my love of barbell building. When I do one with serious focus, I feel like I’m cheating on the other. It sounds so silly but really it’s not.

Every morning I get up at 4am. Spend about 15 minutes getting ready to head out to the gym. If I do not have an iron clad plan of what I’m going to do in a given workout, I will falter. Monday and Friday are hard-core bodybuilding lifting days because I have much more time. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I teach at 5:30am class so that only gives me about 30 solid working minutes after I’ve warmed up. Saturday or Sunday when I’m afforded the time, I’ll sneak in another good workout and it rotates between barbell and body building. Here lately, I’ve decided to use those 3 shorter training times for barbell work. Man I love it.

I’m reminded every time I pick up the bar that I’m strong, but the bar can be stronger. I’m also reminded that my training over these past few years has really changed my functional fitness and ability level. At almost 51 years old I can do things I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing in my 30’s.

I read an article the other day that really struck home for me. It talked about the fact there are no studies showing eating healthy and exercising will prolong your years. Then it went on to talk about the quality of your life with strength training versus quality of life with out it. I already knew this, but it was quite gratifying to read it in black and white. I don’t care how long I have left, I just want that time to be spent as fit as I can possibly be.

So more motivation to lift! And more motivation to stop trying to choose between the two disciplines. I fully believe they compliment each other. The video below in particular reminds me of my functional ability. My form isn’t perfect, but my technique is improving with practice. If you have any doubts about whether weight training is for you, at minimum look into it. It will make you sore some days, those days will simply remind you that you are growing in your fitness. I look forward to being the little old lady in the corner lifting. Absolutely.

Jan

Inspired By Others

By garagegym107 15 Comments

Yesterday while reading Lifting My Spirits FB page I was greatly inspired by her recent workout video posts. She has allowed folks access into her workouts via video and I just thought that was the greatest thing. When you are doing this fitness thing for good, as in like brushing your teeth, there are always times you can use a little motivation. I’m nowhere near as good as she is with this whole video thing, but today, I thought I’d try it. I have a lot to learn about camera placement etc., and practice will remedy that. And again a shout out to Lifting My Spirits for being such a great mentor and example for all of us.

When I looked at this video I thought to myself “man you’re getting old” and then the lifter in me said “but you’re still going and will continue to do so”.

Before you get all stirred up about my form, please keep in mind this was a short workout that began at 4:45am. I didn’t have a lot of time to warm up and it shows. There are also flaws in my technique and there is nothing better than a video to show you exactly what you need to work on to improve technique. So there it is. For the sake of time, I’ve edited out the rest periods for the most part.

A shout out to my friend Roxanne Perkins for helping tutor me on the art of video editing.

Location: CrossFit Madison

Music by Lenny Kravitz

Grunts and groans by yours truly! 🙂

Squat Cleans 2 reps every minute on the minute 85#

Jan

Workout #2 YOTL 2014

By garagegym107 5 Comments

After being out of town and dealing with a spousal unit with food poisoning I managed to make it to the gym on my lunch hour. It was a quick, lighter weight workout. Not bad for a quickie during lunch. No complaints here, only accountability. I also want to make clear the only workouts being posted under this title are leg workouts. I suppose I should start a separate thread for all other workouts. 🙂

Walking Lunges Wide Step

3 sets x 15 reps

Back Squat

45# x 10 reps

65# x 5 reps

85# x 5 reps

45# x 10 reps

Seated Leg Press

110# x 10 reps x 4 sets

Seated Leg Ext.

60# x 15 reps x 5 sets

Walking Lunges Wide Step

2 sets x 15 reps

Dec

A New Year 2014

By garagegym107 1 Comment

NO! This is not a blog about New Year’s Resolutions.

As I write this post another year is coming to a close. Being the eternal optimist, I tend to see only the best when I look back. When I think back on it, I realize how much I’ve accomplished. I’ve become a successful business owner. I’ve managed to work two jobs and keep my wits and humor about me. I kept up with all of my workouts, even when I didn’t have time to sit down and post a blog about what I was doing.

The one thing that wasn’t stellar the entire year was my writing. I missed it, I didn’t realize how much until I started really posting again. It seems kind of silly actually. Me, in my little world, writing things for others to read. I hardly feel qualified to write. I do it anyway. I’m sure there are some folks out there who read my blogs and cringe at my less perfect grammar. I try hard not to get so caught up in proper sentence structure and grammar but instead focus on content.

I want to continue to write in a way that keeps things real. I’m a real human being with real challenges just like everyone else. I want to share experiences and the vision of a almost 51 year old fitness junkie/body builder/CrossFit coach.

You see, I realized about a year and a half ago there are a lot of folks out there who are hungry for some success in this life. Whether it be there own or someone else’s. It took me a while to announce myself as a “Successful Transformation” because I know better than most, in order to have a successful transformation, you gotta have a few years of maintenance under your belt. This year marked the 3rd year in a row I could wear the same sized corduroy pants. For a reformed yo-yo dieter and former obese person, this in of itself is a huge victory. My focus this year has been mostly on building muscle and not gaining fat. As I move in to 2014, it’s the year of legs. My training will be full body, with extra focus on the legs. I’ve created a category for posting all things related to this topic in one place. I have before pictures and will keep them safe and sound until I’m ready to do side by side comparison photos.

A special thanks going out today to all of my readers, both new and far. I’m overjoyed to see readers in the UK, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Canada showing up on my stats page. Thank you all so very much for taking time out of your busy worlds to visit mine!

Stay safe and Happy New Year!

Dec

Letting Go of Insecurity

By garagegym107 5 Comments

I could write a book on the topic of insecurity. My own personal insecurity would take up 2/3 of the book. At one point in my life I took myself so seriously, I was absolutely ZERO fun to be around. Little did I know at the time no one really paid that much attention, except me.

I was somewhat insecure in my earlier years before I got fat (I can say that insensitive word, I don’t have to be politically correct when I’m talking about myself in my own blog).

Once I got so fat, I was conscious of things I’d never noticed before. Looks from people, some I could tell were literally looks of disbelief. Others, looks of pity. The worst was the look a saw looking back in the mirror and that was disgust. Harsh, but truth. I thought surely when I lost all the weight, I’d lose the insecurity with it. But not so fast.

For a long time after I lost my weight I had serious fears about suddenly waking up and being back in that 328# body again. This fear spiraled out into my food consumption as well. I feared if I took a vacation or went off my overly strict food plan that I would never be able to regroup. For people who have lost a lot of weight this is a true insecurity. It’s a true fear that must be worked through. I’ve dubbed it “Fat Head Syndrome” the inability to see real, positive self-image after significant weight-loss.

As is with losing the weight, gaining trust in self is also a process that takes time. Learning to let go of mistakes, fear, and the seeking of perfection, are huge milestones in long term weight loss.

For a while I used positive affirmations to help me through. Training my brain to realize that I’m an athlete, not a dieter was one of the biggest steps to overcoming the obstacle. Then came the realization that micro-managing an overly strict food plan wasn’t necessary. I began to come to terms with the fact that if I focused on eating unprocessed and whole foods, I didn’t have to stress so much about every little detail. All that being said, I get why people do it.

The beautiful thing is watching a person literally come out of the cocoon when they realize they really are becoming more fit, both physically and mentally. I can see the relief in the eyes of a client once they come to believe it’s physically impossible to gain all of the weight back overnight. They realize they do indeed have the power to control their own outcomes. As a Coach it’s one of my favorite moments.

Coaching a client on getting out of their own way is one of the toughest parts of coaching. It takes time and patience and the occasional proverbial kick in the pants. And that’s why I love Coaching.

I’ve always loved the image below, borrowed from the internet, I truly believe there is an athlete in most everyone. But it’s the rare individual who has the courage to step out of the shadows and embrace the greatness we are each born with.

Dec

L3 Workout 1

By garagegym107 3 Comments

I’ve decided the very best way to be accountable is to post my workouts here so my blogging buddies can hold me accountable and so they can offer support when I don’t quite have it right. This morning was a good lesson. I am prone to getting nauseated on leg days. I always have been, especially when I make the mistake of thinking I can do a workout on coffee. Lesson learned.

Workout

Lying Leg Press

90# x 15 reps

180# x 15 reps

230# x 15 reps

360# x 15 reps

Barbell Hip Bridge

95# x 15 reps

105# x 15 reps

105# x 13 reps

Courtesy Patrick Striet YouTube

Single leg Bulgarian Squats (body weight)

3 sets x 15 reps each leg

Side Shuffle With Versa Band (above knees)

4 sets x 15 steps Blue Band

Dec

2014 Year Of The Legs

By garagegym107 3 Comments

As the new year approaches, I feel a sense of relief. 2013 has been a very challenging year for me personally. I look forward to a sense of renewal. As I close the book for this year I look forward to the renewed sense of determination for all things positive in my little corner of the world.

My motto for Garagegym107 is “It’s not what you do for a living; it’s what you are doing to live.” I try hard to remind myself of that motto every single day. I can work myself in to the ground for a paycheck, but what truly adds life to my years, is sharing my love of fitness. A smile, kind word, or a “suck it up Buttercup”. Anything to help another person move forward to a better place.

Over the last couple of days and for the next couple of days, I will be working on my own personal fitness goals for the new year.

I remember 3 years ago sitting at this exact place, listening to all the gimmick commercials, the newest diet fads, the quick fix for years of sedentary abuse to the body. I also remember being overjoyed because for the first time in my adult life, I didn’t need to clear the cupboards, etc., to start the latest diet. Now I simply focus on my own personal degrees of “tightness” for clean eating.

My number one goal for 2014? Legs, long, lean, luscious, legs. I’ve told myself for a decade there is no hope for my legs. Phhhffftt, that’s just the Bull$hit story I keep telling myself. Why? Because it has allowed me to excuse myself for neglecting the hard work it takes to have the L3 legs I want. Enough of the excuses. I have the pics, I have the measures, I have the determination. Now let the focused effort begin. For the next six months I’ll be focusing my attention on legs twice a week. Solid hard work and focus. Below is a photo of my legs at 21 years old. Lots of roller skating and genetics have given way to rather large thighs. Now it’s time to build them in to the legs I want and to prove genetics doesn’t doom anyone to a specific look.

And that handsome little man is now 31 years old.

Dec

Surviving the Crash and Burn

By garagegym107 9 Comments

Today is the day after Christmas. Today is the day after a lot of folks crash and burn. Crash and burn=totally fall off track with fitness and nutrition and spend weeks trying to recover.

Here is a quick list of what to do to help you get back on track.

Throw out the crap, guilt free, ALL of it
Drink water like it’s your job, it will help you rehydrate and cleanse your system
Forgive yourself
Stop talking about how bad you feel and how bad you suck, so you crashed and burned, move on
Stop putting off today, the reckoning day, until Monday, or January 1st or whichever day you feel you need to prepare for, start today, right now
Get a clean meal in to your system
Get what you need to prepare more clean meals
Start a list of goals for 2014
Get thee to the gym and move something heavy quickly
Rinse and repeat

Remember there isn’t a final countdown of food consumption before starting some new fad diet on January 1st. Get your head right, get your house, apartment, desk, etc., cleaned out and replace any crap with clean staples and get a move on. Consistent clean meals will help boost your MOJO as much as a good solid workout will.

And remember this….

Didn’t turn into this….

Because I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. Now get on with it.

Dec

Support Networking

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment

I started this blog a few days ago and set it aside. After having conversations with a few people, I realized this was a topic really worth writing about. Over the course of my journey, there has been one thing that stands out on the higher level of importance scale and that’s support networking.

What is support networking? Anything/anyone that helps you stay the course long term. Anything/anyone that helps you jump the next hurdle in your journey. Anything/anyone that forces you to acknowledge when you are allowing fear to impede your progress.

Along the journey of long term weightloss, there are unexpected hurdles that most people don’t even realize they are tripping over. It could be an internal fear of failure. It could be an episode or two of yo-yo dieting, just when you think you’ve figured things out you slide backwards. It could be the unrealized truth of giving power to food. Food has no power, unless you give it power.

Build a support network. Find someone who has gone before you, someone that could be a year or so ahead of you along the journey. Anyone worth their salt will be happy to help you. I know I would. Because if it were not for the people who politely but firmly pointed me in a direction, a direction that allowed me to get out of my own way, who knows where I might be?

Build yourself a network by starting with the person in the mirror. Trusted friends, who want you to be successful may tell you something you don’t want to hear. That usually means it’s exactly what you need to hear. This person/people will listen to you and not criticize you, they will believe in you when you don’t believe in yourself. Surround yourself with people who have similar goals. People who want to take it to the next level. Offer your own support to them. You never know who wants to be where you are today. Start paying it forward and you’ll realize and respect how far you’ve already come and you’ll likely realize it’s not as hard as you are making it.

Me teaching a new found friend how to KB Swing several years back. We are still close and support one another. Everyone has set backs, everyone could use a hand. A simple message of encouragement goes a very long way.

Dec

Meal Planning 101

By garagegym107 4 Comments

I have people ask me often how I handle meal planning. I’ve learned over the course of my journey that I tend to gravitate towards the same foods for days at a time. I know it sounds boring but really it’s not. It actually makes things quite easy for me.

I can’t tell you what foods are right for you, but you can pretty quickly figure that out for yourself. I go out of my way to eat fresh whole foods when I can. But two of my packaged staples are brown rice and a variety of dried beans, usually pinto or black beans. I bring the beans to a boil with a teaspoon of baking soda and them allow them to soak for an hour or two, then drain, rinse and cook with fresh water seasoned with onion, salt, and black pepper. For those who don’t know this little tip, the baking soda soak prevents the beans from making you gassy. Talk about a cheap date? I can eat for days based on my serving size.

Anyway, I chose to eat a small portion of both rice and beans in order to create a complete protein and this also allows me to have hot food meals. I eat plenty of refrigerated foods so having the hot filling meal are wonderful. In most cases I’ll also include a portion of chicken with my beans and rice. But not always since it’s a complete protein. Love the fiber that comes from both as well. Some folks can’t tolerate beans or rice, so perhaps sweet potato and a veggie would suffice with your protein. I’ll eat those on occasion as well.

I have a rice cooker that doubles as a slow cooker. Sunday is spent with a pot of beans on the stove, chicken in the slow cooker and the rice being steamed after the chicken has cooked.

Then out come my containers, my scale and my measuring cup. I do not measure my food all the time. You learn over time to eyeball it, but my eyeballing grows so I like to measure to be a bit more accurate.

Most people don’t WANT to take the time to meal prep. But then again, most people don’t want to be fit and healthy. I chose to be both.

Step One:

Make a grocery list of the following weeks meal plan requirements.

Step Two:

Cook it all.

Step Three:

Measure into containers and put in the fridge.

Step Four:

Be confident in your ability to get the proper amount of fuel in your body.

It’s so easy to allow the rush of the holiday season to get you off track. Bad weather convinces you to sleep in. Before you know it the New Year comes and you’ve gained 10 pounds over the holiday season. Don’t let it happen to you. Meal planning is even MORE important during the holiday season because of all of the tempting treats sitting around.

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