Day 91: Purpose Gives Clarity

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." - Maya Angelou


TRAINING

HIIT - Run:
a. 4 min jogging
b. 12 x 20 sec sprint/10 sec easy
c. 10 min jogging

Full-Body (30 sec recovery between alternate sets):
Alternate Set A -
1. BB Stiff-Legged Deadlifts 4 x 12
2. Weighted Crunches (on bench, knees at 90 degree flexion) 4 x 12
Alternate Set B -
3. Single-Leg DB Deadlifts 4 x 12 per side
4. Rope Crunches 4 x 15
Alternate Set C -
5. EZ-Bar Bicep Curls 4 x 12
6. Incline Dips 4 x 12
Alternate Set D -
7. Alternate DB Hammer Curls 4 x 12 per side
8. Single-Arm DB Lateral Raises 4 x 15 per side
Alternate Set E -
9. DB Hammer Raises 4 x 12
10. Seated DB Rear Raises 4 x 12
Alternate Set F -
11. Push-Ups (feet on floor, hands on DB) 4 x 12
12. Cable Pulls 4 x 12 per side

Post-Weights Cardio - Rollers:
20 min in 39x18 @ 100 rpm

Stretch 23 min.


COMMENTS

Sleep - Time and Quality:

Mood/Aggression: Attitude changed. Now working on the circumstances.

Energy: Amazing energy - could be from the huge meal I had just after 0000 this morning.

Mental Clarity and Focus: On what is IMPORTANT.

Stress: The stress is still there. However, the last week (yes, even with the pain) has allowed me not to focus on it so much. My head is clearer. My mind is more peaceful - something very rare for me. My spirit is refreshed - I think this has the most to do with it.

Joints: There is NO pain in my left wrist at all today! So unexpected, but welcome!

Endurance: Awesome!

Strength: This session every week is never going to be about strength.

Pump: Didn't appear until I started on Alternate Set C.

Vascularity: Very apparent throughout training. AND afterwards.

Quality of Training: HIIT was great. Sprints were fast and explosive. Doing less means I am able to use the rest of the 20 minutes to "recover" . . . Resistance training was the longest session I have done since last September - didn't feel that long, though. There were a few things that bothered me throughout it, but at the same time I was just happy to be in the gym training . . . Rollers afterwards was for recovery as well . . .

Recovery: My body actually seems to deal BETTER with training when it lasts two hours or more all in one block - it has to be the endurance aspect of it, something I am finding essential for my blood!

Body Composition and Look: My pants were fitting looser today - closer to how they used to be, which is positive . . . There are new burn marks on my stomach from the wheatie that has perpetually been on it when I haven't been training over the last few days - time for Flawless: IDRT to work its magic . . .

Other Notes: Every time I read The Purpose Driven Life I am hit with a new revelation. Today, as I was going through Chapter 6: Life Is a Temporary Assignment it hit me why I have never really felt like I belong anywhere, why there has never been a place I have really felt in my heart to call home. Sure, New Zealand is "home", but there has never been anywhere that I have called HOME. There is one place that I would possibly consider settling in if I ever had to, but I have always been a nomad with wandering feet, never able to or wanting to stay in any one place for very long before moving onto the next. Makes some sense now.

Day 294: Update

Training

I've only done one 20-minute cardio session since Tuesday. Not only is my body being unresponsive to training, but it seems like it is using this week even more as a "Week Off" than it did the week immediately post-competition (where I still did two resistance sessions and five days of cardio) - this week I will have only done two resistance sessions and three days of cardio.

Not that I have been doing nothing - on waking it has been work, then study before very active night work, and then more study until I am too tired to concentrate.

Comments

Sleep - Time and Quality: I have been passing out ~0530 and waking between 1200-1300 the last few days. Too much sleep . . .

Mood/Aggression: I've been very stressed the last few days, and had more than my fair share of angry moments.

Energy: If I pushed the issue, the energy would be there to do what I have to, but the desire to push the issue is nowhere to be found . . .

Mental Focus and Clarity: I've just spent the last three days starting and working on an assessment I had SIX weeks before that to work on, and handing it in was a relief. Also started and completed another assessment - not due for another three weeks - this morning before going to bed, to "make up" for wasting all that time for the other one.

Stress: HIGH! Having that first assessment done is a relief, though. I definitely have to stop procrastinating my study, because when I get into it, I DO get into it. Time management is of the essence, especially as November approaches, because it's going to be one of the most - if not the most - busiest month of the year for me, with training, clients, study, and several other jobs.

Libido: My body has been very responsive, even when I'm not even thinking about it.

Joints: My knees have been better, although when I bend down it is still done slowly.

Endurance: My night work is pretty much go-go-go from the time I walk in to he time I walk out (and is probably more intense than most people's cardio re pace), and I haven't faltered this week, as I usually do towards the end of the week, especially on a Friday or Saturday night. I've also NOT used any stimulants and been slipping a PerformaStrip VB-12 on my tongue once during my work shifts.

Vascularity: Reasonable.

Body Composition and Look: The last three weeks have NOT gone to plan re nutrition and training (more comments below), and the last two weeks have taken the biggest toll on my body. Yes, I HAVE gained some bodyfat and I can see it - even a few pounds of extra WEIGHT make a HUGE difference on my short frame - and although I am NOT happy with it, I know that I have done it to myself, and so I accept it and move on, determining to LOSE it all again as fast as I can.

Eviscerate Smolder Notes: Finished my first tube of Eviscerate Smolder today, so each one lasts ~2 weeks, and have one more to go. The Eviscerate Smolder/Flawless combo has faded the burn marks on my stomach almost to nothing in only TWO weeks of use - by the end of four weeks, they will be GONE!

Other Notes: I started IGF-2 again today, and next week I will be starting CreaPure until I get some more NeoVar Recomped (which I never want to be withOUT again!) . . . As mentioned, the last three weeks have NOT gone to plan re nutrition and training - something I am NOT happy with, but know will only give me more determination and motivation to get back to where I was, eating and training as I should, need, and want to be to get the results I want. The last three weeks have given me time to reflect on the weeks leading up to and after the competition re what worked re nutrition, training, and supplementation, and what didn't . . . I am NOT a dieter - I never have been, and after the last three weeks of NOT following the "diet" that I set for myself has hit home more than ever that I do NOT have to diet or be stringent in my nutritional practices to get results if I continue to listen to my body and manipulate my daily nutrition to suit ME for results. I simply (and yes, this is embarrassing to admit) do not have the discipline with my diet as I do my training, and over the years I have learned to manipulate my training to "make up" for that - I generally also stay relatively lean, so that if I HAVE to diet for a week or so to get a little bit leaner, then I can and do. So yes, a few things that USED to work for me now do NOT, but I am finding ways around them so that I DO get the results I desire . . .

Day 277: Eviscerate Smolder

Training

HIIT Cardio:
a. 4 min easy
b. 8 x 20 sec effort/10 sec easy
c. 8 x 1 min effort/30 sec easy

Stretch 21 min.

Comments

Sleep - Time and Quality: All the carbohydrates I have been eating are knocking me out!

Mood/Aggression: As to be expected.

Energy: The way my body is feeling, not inclined to do anything much.

Mental Focus and Clarity: There.

Stress: HighER.

Endurance: Fine.

Quality of Training: Nothing mind-blowing.

Body Composition and Look: I am feeling every single one of the 15lb I have gained since Saturday. Even though I know they'll be gone by the end of next week, it still does a number on my head, and doesn't make my body feel any less UNcomfortable.

Slin-Sane Notes: I have to be careful not to have TOO much of this - have dosed two caps a couple of times instead of only one. Also need to make sure that I DO eat within 15-20 minutes of dosing, because it is quite strong and the hypoglycaemic effects kick in about then.

Eviscerate Smolder Notes: Eviscerate Smolder is a lighter colour than Eviscerate. Goes on just as easily as Eviscerate. Unlike Eviscerate, it leaves an ICY wind across the skin where it is applied. There is a faint icy burn and that it is . . . After putting Flawless over the top of the Eviscerate Smolder, the burn intensified, and started warming up. I am looking forward to this combination, and definitely hope that it gets rid of the burn marks on my stomach from the wheatie . . .

Day 256: Training is definitely carb-DEPLETING

Training

Cardio 20 min.

Gym - Full-Body (30 sec recovery between alternate sets):
Alternate Set A -
1. BB Romanian Deadlifts (on 6" box, BB to touch feet) 6 x 12
2. Bench Step-Ups 6 x 15 per side
Alternate Set B -
3. Flat BB Bench Press 6 x 12
4. Close-Grip V-Bar Seated Row 6 x 12
Alternate Set C -
5. DB Shoulder Press 6 x 12
6. Incline DB Rear Raises 6 x 12
Alternate Set D -
7. V-bar Tricep Push-Downs 6 x 12
8. Cable Bicep Curls 6 x 12
Alternate Set E -
9. Rope Crunches 6 x 12
10. Bicycle (on bench) 6 x 12-15 per side

Post-Weights Cardio - Treadmill:
a. 1 x 2 min @ 12.8 km/hr / 1 min rest
b. 3 x 1 min @ 13.6 km/hr / 1 min rest
c. 3 x 1 min @ 14.4 km/hr / 1 min rest
d. 3 x 1 min @ 15.2 km/hr / 1 min rest

Posing Practice 10 min.

Stretch 20 min.

Comments

Sleep - Time and Quality: A few hours.

Mood/Aggression: Positive. Even though I am not happy with my figure right now, I know that it will change to what I want, and practice will help re posing/T-walk.

Energy: Alternate Set A of my resistance session had me gasping for air and slowing down. After that, though, the time flew by (as it did yesterday), and I still had energy to RUN - with EFFORTS - afterwards! . . . I notice that I have a LOT more energy now that I am training MORE - goes to show that yeah, my body NEEDS THE VOLUME AND INTENSITY!

Mental Focus and Clarity: There.

Metabolism: Good.

Stress: Watching it closely.

Libido: Still high.

Endurance: Excellent.

Pump: Good - although not as good as yesterday.

Vascularity: The veins through anterior deltoids and biceps started showing as blue snakes on my skin during resistance training.

Quality of Training: Once again, a much LONGER resistance session that I am accustomed to - took me ~90 minutes! But, felt fine during. Even practiced a little posing between sets of Alternate Set D - the light is far better in the gym than at home, and closer to what the stage lights will be . . . Ran afterwards and was NOT nauseous. Noticed the stress on my body when I got to 15.2 km/hr pace, but that was it, for which I am grateful . . .

Recovery: Feeling my hamstrings today - but nothing in biceps.

Body Composition and Look: I WAS saving the Eviscerate until after THIS competition and use it for Worlds competition preparation because I only have ~1.5 bottles of it left, BUT, I started using the Eviscerate/Flawless stack again today because: a) my upset stomach over the past few weeks has meant that almost all the time I am at home, I have a hot wheatie on it, and the wheatie is so hot at times that it has left lots of little burn marks all over my stomach, and even though I know the tanning process will hide them, I want them GONE; and b) I am noticing more than ever the appearance of dimples on my thighs (front, side, AND back) and it's disconcerting, and I want my legs smooth again.

Other Notes: I only have enough DermaTherm left for a few days, and once that is gone, I will go back to applying LipoBURN pre-bed . . . I also only have a few days of Shred Matrix left . . .