Happy Hour! is Baaaaack!

Good Monday morning everyone!

During my competition preparation I was not able to be here as much as I would have liked because my schedule was so tight. It's a joy to me to have more time now and share with you what I am doing in hopes that I can continue to encourage and motivate others.

The last two weeks I'vc been in an active rest mode due to some issues I an having with my back and I'm still being very careful not to overdue and listen to my body. I ate a few days off my normal eating plan, allowing myself some things I normally wouldn't eat. I'm reigning myself in again and am back on track and one of the reasons I want to get back to posting my 'Happy Hour!' is so that I can stay accountable.

Today was leg day, my favorite!

4 x 15 narrow stance leg press

Supersets of:
4 x 15 leg extensions
4 x 15 wide stance leg press

Supersest of :
4 x 10 leg curls
4 x 20 sec. spin on the bike at high resistance
3 x 30 jumping lunges

Supersets of:
3 x 10 stationary step-ups w/ 10# plates in each hand
4 x walking lunges w/ 10# plates in each hand

Extra credit: 100 body weight squats!

All of this took me 45 minutes. I'm keeping my muscles contracted during each rep and pumped, with weight that isn't heavy. There isn't much rest time at all. I'm working on burning the fat, building muscle and shaping my legs.

Enjoy your day!

A Detour

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment,
Full effort is Full Victory… ~Evan Flex Cousins~

One of my goals for this year is to bring my body back to complete health after half a year last year of not taking good care of my body. I set a date on the calendar to have my body in shape for figure competition in November - full speed ahead, focus was right on, didn't miss a workout, was nearly perfect with my nutrition, nothing detoured me - until last week. I had to make a very difficult decision after a series muscle issues in my back and bow out of competing this November. Pushing my body to the point of injury is not taking good care of my body and like one of my other friends said, "There are lots of competitions, but you only have one body." Success is still mine. I've transformed by body through weight training and nutrition. I took a week off from the gym at the wise advice of my nutritionist and coach, FLEXCHEF, and with the support of him, other wonderful friends and staff at my gym, I made it through and have been able to plan some new things to incorporate into my training to help my back to heal and to prevent injuries - yoga to stay flexible and regular massage.

This week a special gift arrived in the mail from my fabulous friend, Carolyn123. A bracelet I can wear at all times to remind me of what I am and what I want to be.


I'm a member of Team FabFit, a wonderful team of people who strive to live a healthy, fit, brave, bold, fierce and fabulous life. What great support they are!

Although I've been detoured, I won't let the detour bring me down. I'll do what I can to continue to build muscle and continue my transformation.

Here are the top five things I've learned in this journey:

1.  Don't overtrain. Follow a schedule which changes things up about every six weeks or so.
2.  Before hiring a trainer in the gym, ask a lot of questions about his/her qualifications and if questions are not answered to your satisfaction - run!
3.  Stay true to relationship committments during the comp prep;
4.  Follow and trust what the coach says in everything. Don't consult or allow other people's opinions and unsolicited "help" to sneak in.
5.  Have fun!

The Warrior Girl doesn't stop here so stay tuned for more good stuff to come!

Strong girl, Strong!

What Does It Take To Win?

What does it take to win?

Skill

Talent

“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.”
Larry Bird

Passion

Consistency

Will

Your journey will never go as planned.  There will always be challenges and set backs.  This is not negative, but can be discouraging.  Having the will to fight through challenges will separate you from 99% of your competition.  This is sometimes easier said than done, but critical for your success in any venture.

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
Michael Jordan

Support

Making it to my goal.....that will make me a winner!

Real Motivation

You can have all the support around you - the right people, the right nutrition, the right workouts, but no one is going to carry it all out except for YOU! You make it happen! You go to the gym, you make the choice what to put in your mouth, you, change your attitude, you organize your life! Give yourself the credit! When you need motivation, what and who do you go to! Other's motivation lasts for a moment. The motivation inside you - that is lasting.

A friend of mine suggested a good book to read that I've probably mentioned before titled, "Life's Greatest Lessons" by Hal Urban. In it there is a chapter on motivation. He says, 'I don't believe in making wild promises like "you can have it all" or "you can be anything." I think people want and need something that lasts longer and helps them deal with life as it really is. We need to know two things about motivation, 1) Successful people accept responsibility for their own lives - the don't wait for someone else to motivate them; they do it themselves. 2) The origin of the word motivation comes from motive, which is defined as "that within the individual, rather than without, which causes him or her to act." In other words, all of our actions have motives, or reasons. They come from needs deeply felt inside and no one else can fill them for us.

The Three Keys to Motivating Yourself
~Do you have enough desire to attain it?
~Do you have a real belief that you can accomplish it?
~Do you have a clear mental picture of yourself achieving it?

If your answer to all three things is a confident YES, then you're ready. Because these are the keys to being self-motivated.

Motivation starts with a sense of desire...When you want something, you become motivated to get it. ~Dennis Waitley~

The Way I Look Today

The way I look today isn't going to be how I look tomorrow! Today I worked my quads until they shook! Tomorrow I will have more muscle! Today I ate 100% on plan with clean and whole foods. Today I drank at least 128 oz. of water. Tomorrow my body will show me what I've done to it today.

My body will also reflect tomorrow the attitude I have today and today I feel the best I've ever felt in my life! I look the best I've ever looked in  my life. I feel vibrant, healthy and sexy! I've exceeded my own expections in my training for competition and my body shows my hard work! No matter what anyone else says, that is my truth and I believe it down to the core of me.

Last year my summer shorts didn't come out of the closet, neither did my bikini. The way I looked last year is not the way I look today. Change is possible. Amazing change is possible. I believe it and so should you!

Last week I started working heavily on my posing practice. Muscles have memory, even in posing and I want my muscles to remember the poses so well that I will know by feeling how to position my body. My poses need work and I'm glad to do it. Each step takes me closer to my goal.

This week the intensity and frequency of my workouts has changed. I'll be in the gym six days a week and increasing my cardio from three sessions to four. My eating is still geared toward muscle building so I'm on surplus calories right now. Staying on surplus calories has been a challenge mentally, but I've stayed focused on the fact that when in training for a particular event, one must do what needs to be done to prepare the body to perform at it's highest potential.

I'm six months away from the big event. I've come a long way and have more to go. The stage will be just a moment in time so I'm enjoying the journey there by celebrating a new me every single day.

Running on Rocks

My whole life I've wanted to be a competitor. I was a sprinter when I was young. I could run on rocks barefoot and beat anyone I ran against. There's one day I'll never forget when I was challenged to an unofficial race against a boy who later went on to win the state sprinting championship - I beat him! I grew up on a farm in South Dakota where I worked hard. We lived so far from town that staying after school for any extra curricular activities was nearly impossible. I had to get up early to do chores and come home from school and do more chores. My whole life was working on the farm. I credit all the heavy lifting of feed buckets for the animals for the foundation of my muscles. I loved that life, but I didn't have the opportunity to explore my athletic ability as much as I wanted. My dream was to go into ballet, but because of the beliefs of the church my family attended, I was not allowed to dance and was signed up for piano lessons instead...for five years. Needless to say, I did not excel in that.

Now, for the first time in my life, things have come together - my attitude, my support system, my finances, my determination - to make it possible for me to shoot for my dreams - to challenge my body to do things it has never done before and I just want to shout out that I'M LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT! Yes! I'm not going to let age stop me. There's a fire burning inside me and that can't be put out. I feel better at this time of my life than I ever have before - sore muscles and all!

Watch me train!

Lifting weights, running on rocks, I love it all!

Big Girl Weight

I'm doing one legged cross-overs on the bench

AFTER

I pushed 658lbs. on the Push Press with the assistance of my trainer

AND

did walking lunges with 40lb. dumbbells

I was making some noise in the gym today!

Down and dirty training! Love it!

'Nuf said!