How to build a Tyrannosaurus Flex...Food Edition.

Hello lovelies! It has been pouring all day here, kind of a crappy day but I'm in good spirits for some reason. Atleast the temp is above freezing for once.

I was out early this morning for a back workout that had me sweatin'. I upped my deadlifts and I'm doing just about my body weight now (including the weight of the bar). Not too shabby for just incorporating deadlifts I guess. I mean, I wish I was adding my weight in plates to the bar and then lifting it but...I'm not quite there...yet!

But let me take a second to be that girl...

 

I had to snap a picture at the gym before the swelling went down, ha ha. My arms are string beans in real life, more like the picture on the right.

I've been feeling pretty weak lately during training, like I could do more, but I can't. Confusing, right? I think my 'diet' (I hate that word, but by diet I mean the way I eat) is lacking. Don't get me wrong, I eat as clean as I can and steer clear of junk, but then there are the things that go bump in the night, like this:

Bowl of Muesli with vanilla almond milk, peanut butter, banana, cinnamon, frozen cherries and...vanilla frozen yogurt with Kashi cereal sprinkled on top. Slammin'. Obviously healthier than most desserts, but my problem is that my late night snacks, like this, can tend to be bigger than some of my meals (nearly 500 calories for this bowl) and I'd be better off with an extra serving of chicken than a serving of frozen yogurt.

Plus, eating like this so late leaves me bloated and..soft and just feeling crappy when I wake up. If I wasn't trying to build muscle, I wouldn't care as much about eating stuff like this, but I need to rearrange some things and get serious! :)

My breakfast today was:

1 whole egg + 4 egg whites + milk + a little bit of cheddar cheese and a piece of whole wheat toast.  Not pictured: spoonful of peanut butter for extra pre-work out fuel.

When I got home I slurped down this bowl of heaven:

My usual cinnamon-vanilla-banana protein smoothie in a bowl, but this time I added half-defrosted frozen cherries at the end. Genious.

For lunch I had baked chicken with ranch, spinach, green beans and some sweet tater. Dinner is going to be something involving the spinach and feta chicken weiners sausage that crossed my path the other day.

Everyone (I hope) knows by now that the eating after 6pm or 8pm or when the moon is out "rule" is a load of crap. It's all calories in vs. calories out and your body can't tell time.Yeah, yeah, but for me I tend to snack and snack and snack at night to "make up for" not eating enough during the day, which is where my problem is..because the healthy eating goes out the window late at night since I have a mouthful of evil sweet teeth. (I hate admitting this!)

Well, I'm finally breaking the habit tonight after years of doing this..and it's probably going to suck.

Late night sweets-eating is a comfort thing..large bowls of warm goodies or apple crisp and frozen yogurt at midnight...mmm. But it's the one thing standing in the way of me and my goals, and once I set a goal for myself...I don't let anything f with me because I become seriously determined!

(Apparantly I'm my own worst enemy, though!)

Here is my plan/goals for getting back on track to becoming...an Erikasuarus Flex.



Breakfasts:

• Egg and egg whites with wheat toast and peanut butter.
• Protein pancakes with fruit.
• Protein oatmeal with nut butter or nuts.
• High fiber whole grain cereal w/berries and banana.

Lunch/Dinner Proteins:

• Atleast 5-6 oz. of chicken breast.
• Lean ground turkey - turkey burgers, turkey meatloaf and turkey meatballs.
• Tuna
• Salmon (when I can afford to go to the fancy fish market! I prefer not to buy it at the grocery store, personal preference..)

(Unfortunately, I've never been a big fan of red meat =\...except for bacon! Which will be definitely consumed.)

Lunch/Dinner Carbs:

• Sweet potatoes.
• Brown Rice.
• Quinoa.
• Beans.
• Whole wheat pasta.
• Whole wheat pitas.

Snacks/Veggies:

• Protein smoothies.
• Greek yogurt.
• Nuts/Nut butter.
• Chocolate milk
• "Bars" with a good amount of protein in them.
• Hummus.
• Trail mix.
• Apples.
• Spinach, red peppers, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, etc.

The list looks boring because it's just base foods. I also always make sure to have a good hunk of fat at every meal too beause it's impossible for me to be satiated without it.  This is pretty much how I eat for my meals anyways, I just need to up the portions so there is no room for bad junk at night and my in-between snacks need to be a little more high protein. It seems strict, but I do plan on hanging onto my frozen yogurt and chocolate covered treats..just not every night :)

Setting goals and breaking bad habits and actually sticking with it is such a confidence booster, so I hope to get there. Plus, I'm wasting my time at the gym if I'm not eating right.

Oh my! In other news, I applied for an internship at my gym yesterday..and it seemed pretty promising, I'm just waiting to hear back. They told me it would work out great because I'd be the only girl trainer. Wish me luck!

Friday Five!

Five Kick-Ass Push-up Variations;

1) One-legged



2) Legs Elevated

(See how my head is up in those two? Don't do that. Your chin should be down so  your spine can be kept in a straight line!)

3) Rotational

4) Diamond Handed

5) Spiderman

Five Moves To Do On One leg;

1) Side Plank

2) Romanian Dead Lift

3) Split Squat

Best done with dumbbells in hands :) (why is there an orb on my butt?!?)

4) Pistol Squat

I WISH I could do these. It helps to assist yourself by holding on to something while doing these.

5) Step-Ups

Five Ways To Improve Your Strength Training;

1) Bar Hold: to improve your grip strength.

Load the bar with heavy weight, grip shoulder width apart with an overhand grip and hold for 20-60 seconds. (excuse my puny bar/plates, it's all I have for home!)

2) Squats: push the floor and use your hips!

When coming up from the squat, imagine pushing the floor down away from you rather than lifting your body up. This helps to get more out of your leg muscles. Also, always start by pushing your hips back, not by bending your knees.

3) Pull-ups: squeeze your shoulder blades together!

While doing pull-ups, pretend there's an orange between your shoulder blades and you need to squeeze the juice out of it with your shoulder blades.

4) Deadlifts: squeeze what your mama gave ya!

When pulling up during a deadlift, squeeze your glutes (your butt) hard the same way you'd clench your fists.

5) Try Skullcrushers on an incline.

This lets your beat your triceps up from a different angle, therefore lightin' up the fire for new muscle growth.

Five Random Things I Dig;

1) Battle scars

2) Apples and Dates

Dates are deliciously gooey and taste like candy, paired with an apple..I'm in love.

3) Cinderella

Cinderella is my favorite Disney princess.

4) Meerkats

I used to watch the heck out of Meerkat Manor. They are so funny when they fall asleep and topple over!

5) Palm trees

It was 15 degrees on my way to school today. Get me out of here!!

I've always wanted to spend Christmas somewhere that was warm and never got snow and to see all the palm trees with Christmas lights on them. It's been so cold lately that I have to have a wrestling match with my transmission in order to shift while driving until it warms up. It gets violent and I usually lose the match..

Time to get the weekend started. Enjoy :)

Attack of the food monster!

You know the food monster they used to show in the Weight Watchers commercials?  Yeah, well, he's been living in my closet this week.  See, I love everything about lifting, that's very apparant, except for that whenever I switch up my routine I become ravenous.  I don't mean "Oh I just ate dinner and I'm still a bit hungry" kind of hunger, I'm talking about painful, bottomless pit I-could-eat-a-dump-truck hungry..the kind that sneaks out of nowhere and rips your insides up! It finally subsided today, though, thank god..I'm running out of food! ha ha.

Speaking of new routines, I'm loving my new split. I'm having a blast doing it.

Tuesday: Chest/Biceps;

• Incline Dumb Bell Chest Presses
• Chest Flies
• Bench Press
• Cable Crossovers
• Cable Curls
• Standing Dumb Bell Curls
• Hammer Curls

...Push ups definitely needed to be added to this! Next time.

Wednesday: Legs;

• Step-ups
• Deadlifts
• Barbell Squats
• Calf Raises
• Split Squats

My leg workout was short, it was getting late and I had a paper to get started on! It was still enough to make my legs bruised enough so I couldn't sit with my laptop on my lap! Note to self: get your form right, girl.


I've mentioned before that I'm nothing special in the kitchen, it's just not in me.  I've almost mastered the art of eating healthy when you're a terrible, pressed for time, cheap college student. Here's my favorite things I've munched on so far this week...

I brought this to class with me this morning.  Half a banana + almond butter + honey + cinnamon. Helloooo lover! Good thing I brought a spoon.

Breaded chicken on top of spinach and red peppers with green beans, mashed sweet taters and ranch for dippin! I used vanilla almond milk to mash the taters. Sounds weird, but it adds an interesting flavor.

I've been seeing Kind bars pop up everywhere. Mid-food monster I was looking for something new to satiate me and this fruit and nut flavored guy jumped into my palms.

Very yummy and peanut-ty tasting. I'll definitely be buying these again. I want to try the almond and apricot flavor too.











Anyways, after passing my trainer exam last week and realizing it's time to start applying for an internship and jobs, I got really nervous and realized although I know the theory and science behind exercise, I have no idea how to really design an effective program for such a broad spectrum of people! I mean I know everyone has to start somewhere and that this is what the internship is for, but I'm a total worry wart.  Amazon.com has my back though...

They both had rave reviews and I got them for cheap used, so why not. I just needed something to ease my anxiety!

I'm off to catch some sleep, I have a day filled with algebra, christmas shopping and never-ending english homework tomorrow.  In the mean time, check out this guy's burpees..

Why wait until the new year?

Exhibit A.

I'm in a really good mood today! Weird, considering I spent the majority of my weekend behind my laptop, refer to "exhibit A", doing research for a paper! It's all good though, in a couple weeks I'll be bored out of my mind with no homework to do.








Exhibit B

Exhibit B: Doofy pictures that should not be posted on the internet and how loopy I really look after starting at a puter screen for hours.

ANYWAYS...I took a small chunk of days off from lifting after not feelin' it 100% last week..and I came back swingin'. I really didn't feel like I needed a whole week off yet. I decided to switch up my routine to a 4-day split instead of the upper/lower body split I was doing and I started it yesterday. I already feel like this was the best decision ever. Here's what today and yesterday looked like:

Saturday; Shoulders/Triceps:
4 Sets of 12, 10, 8, 6.

• Seated Shoulder Presses
• Lateral Raises
• Reverse Flies
• Shrugs
• Skull Crushers
• One Arm Cable Extensions
• One Arm Dumb Bell Extensions
• Dips

Sunday; Back:
4 Sets of 12, 10, 8, 6

• One Arm Dumb Bell Rows
• Wide Grip Pull Ups (assissted)
• Close Grip Pull Downs
• Deadlifts
• Face Pulls
• Bent-Over Barbell Rows

I think I'm going to add deadlifts to my leg days too, because I love them, and it works out because I won't be doing them on consecutive days. Some of the sets I did as pyramid sets, some I didn't. I just go by how I feel and do what I think I'll really be challenging myself with.

So, I'm one of those people who doesn't go by the number on the scale (no one should, scales are misleading bastards!), I measure myself instead.  But after packing on a few pounds since summer, I've stepped away from the tape measure too in order to focus on gaining muscle rather than worrying about numbers. Well, I finally manned up and dusted off the tape measure this morning and it turns out I lost just about an inch in my waist and hips..and my arms have grown an inch and a half! So motivating. This is all since seriously limiting the cardio too (only doing walking 1 or 2 days a week). I'm so glad the bruised legs and arms and torn up, calloused hands have started to pay off :)

After Steveo finished taking ridiculous pictures of me on my laptop, he whipped up a grilled cheese sandwich for himself that he grilled in a sandwich maker that he's been keeping secret from me for years!

With tomato soup for dippin'! The smell of this meal made us both crave chocolate milk like crazy for some reason!











I've been snacking on delicous melons that I keep cut up in the fridge. Yummy.

This is my latest favorite lunch. Pesto Tuna. I mix 1/2 a can of tuna with 1tbsp of mayo and 1tbsp of pesto sauce and toss it on a toasted pita.  I definitely add more veggies than just tomatoes though, I figured I'd snap a pic before it got out of hand though, ha ha.








Those are all my boring ramblings for now...I promise my posts will get more exciting after finals :)

xoxo

Good news is...good!

Happy Friday!
Guess what?! I passed my personal trainer certification exam!! I'm so happy, I was so nervous I bombed it, there were a lot of tricky questions! My scores weren't too shabby:

90% 1) Exercise Physiology
85% 2) Anatomy
86% 3) Nutrition, Health screening, testing, Evaluation & cardiovascular fitness
86% 4) Flexibility, special populations, adherence, motivation, musculoskeletal injuries & legal guidelines

There was also a practical exam where we had to train someone and demonstrate two assessments, a proper warm-up, five stretches, two upper body strength and two lower body strength exercises.  I'm so glad it's all over and I can get going on this. I have a list of gyms/studios, that were sent with my results, that'll take me for an internship.  I'm going to start applying next week. What better time to get into the fitness industry than right around the holidays/new years.

I also plan on getting certified as an ACE lifestyle and weight management consultant and getting my first CECs in advanced weight training and nutritional strategies for performance. So stoked about this.

_________________________________________________________________

Anyways, I've been in a total breakfast and snack rut lately, so I thought I'd share with you some of my latest yums. I'm a total late night snacker and I have a mouth full of sweet teeth. This can be a problem! Lately I've fallen head over heels for this stuff...

It's like jacked up oatmeal.  Love.

Believe it or not there is plenty of Muesli buried in there, with almond milk, bananas, peanut butter and vanilla frozen yogurt. This is the most delicious thing in the world.
(Yes, that's my laptop in the background. Guilty!)









Since I'm trying to cool it with the huge amounts of frozen yogurt, I tried freezing a tub of this:

last night, and it turned out pretty good.  I crumbled a caramel nut brownie Luna bar over it with banana, peanut butter and agave. More protein, less frozen yogurt please!

This is the most simple. An apple and pecans! Macoun apples are the best and they're in season now. Cinnamon toasted pecans will take this snack up a notch.









Also, if you're looking to get your dip on, mix together cream cheese and agave nectar for a quick, sweet fruit dip. I eat it with strawberries, but I've been itching to eat it with pineapple or melon!

That's all I've got for now, have a fun weekend and train like a girl :)

Good reads;

• Budget Food Tips
• Healthy Calories

Hitting A Cement Wall.

Wouldn't you just love to live here?! I took this on my way to class yesterday and "blahh" pretty much sums it up.  Why is it always overcast during the cold months? All I wanted to do was eat banana pancakes, soup and grilled cheese and be wrapped in a fleece blanket with my dinosaur slippers. I didn't do any of those things :(

I did get to wear my new shoes though!

I bought them for myself as an early Christmas present (ssshh!!) and they came in the mail yesterday. I haven't taken them off since, they are so comfortable.  I know they're not the best shoes for lifting, but I couldn't resist.

..But even new shoe excitement couldn't get me going yesterday morning.  I woke up exhausted and sore.  I'm usually fully pepped and ready to go 15 minutes after getting up, but my pep never kicked in. I dragged myself to the gym for an upper body workout before class regardless because once I start moving around I usually feel better. Then I feel 3,000 times better when I'm done. Yesterday...didn't happen. 

I actually sat on the weight bench and considered going back home or just walking on the treadmill instead. I couldn't lift all the weight I normally do and I didn't even make it through my whole routine because I dragged so much ass and didn't have time to finish.  It was rough. I pushed through and was glad to get back home to have this:

You my go hard, but you aren't hard until you drink pink protein shakes out of a Cinderella glass :)

So, my plan for today was to just take it easy. I guess I just needed an extra day from all I did on Sunday and then Monday's lower body stuff. I gotta let my body catch up!

For dinner last night, after realizing there was nothing in the house for dinner, I improvised and threw together a mini turkey taco meatloaf/burger/slab of meat, ha ha.

Okay, so it looks like one of those fake vomit toys, but I promise it was juicy and delicious! I had it with spinach, red peppers, green beans and a mashed sweet tater.

I made these on Monday. They're sweet potato balls (sweet potato, black beans and salsa mashed up and rolled in ground flaxseed). I thought they were delicous, but Steveo, my taste tester said they were bland =\ Oh well, more for me! 

So what should you do when you bonk out of your work-out?!

• Consider deloading or an active recovery week. Deloading is when you take a week and lower the intensity and length of your sessions after working out hard for 4-5 weeks consecutively (the more advanced of a lifter you are, the more often you should deload).  This helps your muscles and nervous system to recover and prepares you for your next set of sessions. I'm considering doing this but using bodyweight instead of lower weights. There are different ways to go about doing this:
• Do your same routine, but with lower weights or keep the same weights but do less reps.
• Spend the week improving and perfecting your form and breathing, using lower weights.
• Train muscle groups that you don't usually work.
• Do bodyweight exercises: push-ups, squats, lunges, dips, etc.
•  Take the week off! Either completely or find some other form of light exercise, such as walking, to keep yourself active. 
• Always make sure you are getting enough sleep, eating right and eating enough.

Deloading not only helps your muscles recover, but also your joints, ligaments and tendons, which in turn prevents injuries. Not only do you get a physical break but you'll also get a nice mental break and time to relax.  You'll also be mentally prepared and extra motivated to hit it hard once your rest week is over :)

Have fun with it!

P.S. I got these today: (light covers)

to put on this...

I love new jeep goodies :)