morning cup of coffee

Morning all! Happy New Year's Eve!
So this morning I'm leisurely sipping my morning cup of coffee and getting ready for AM cardio on the stepmill and some decisions need to be made. First - today I think I will do steady state cardio on the stepmill. Yesterday I used the "fat burner" program to do a variable speed program and the day before that was interval training on it, so I think for variety this morning will be steady state - I just hope I have enough of my movie left on my iPod to last the whole time (today's in flight movie = Thor).

The next decision is what to do for abs.....last ab day was focused on the lower abdominals with hanging leg raises and cable crunches. I'm not sure yet what I will do today - I may repeat lower abs or simply burn them out with variations of crunches on the mat. Eh, I'll know when I step off the machine what I'll do. Abs, are usually done on an improv basis with me since they are used everyday with my normal routines. When done correctly, many routine lifts can incorporate, and should incorporate, the abs for stability.

Am I being to hard on myself?

Last night I was walking back to my apt when all of a sudden I felt very odd. Not emergency odd but still very weird. The best I can explain it was like being on a strong dose of Nyquil but not reaping any of the sleep benefits of the cold meds. At least that's the best comparison I can think of, I've never been awake under the influence of Nyquil to know for sure - though I wish I had some last night to knock me out. I was dizzy, anxious feeling, and my brain felt confused and foggy. If I laid down I just felt blah, but standing was then the symptoms would come on. It's been suggested that may it some relation to hyper-hypo glycemia - but I think my sinuses may have been involved as well as I did have congestion I could feel move around my head when I changed positions. Either way it would have been awesome to sleep it off, but nope, insomnia again, only this time I couldn't work through it because the computer screen wasn't friendly to my situation. So I put on Fantasia (yup the old disney classic original), in the hopes that the music would lull me to sleep - no luck...did you know they take a intermission break in the middle on the dvd? I didn't know that, usually I'm out sometime in the middle of the Rite of Spring (the one with the dinos).

Anyway, of course then I have trouble waking up in the morning because I only fell asleep a short while ago. Needless to say I miss my morning cardio in order to be on time for my first client of the day. I would normally feel guilty about this because I view what I do as my job (since...well..it is!), fortunately I could go a little easier on me because I am walking 2 very large dogs during this holiday while their owners are on a really cool trip to Africa. They sent me this cool pic of a group of cheetahs!

But after walking the dogs, I came back had meal 2 of turkey and broccoli and piled myself into bed. This is when the guilt goes away - I know I'm not being lazy when my eyes want to close and I lay down and pass out almost immediately and wake up feeling like I woke up correctly this time.

I think sometimes I go and go and go and don't realize that my energy is getting really low until it hits rock bottom. My body actually has to force me to power down sometimes, now if only I could get it to have better timing - night time dammit! 

Merry Christmas!

I am doing exactly what I should be doing today - resting! Resting in pretty much every sense of the word. My face is taking a rest from makeup, my body a break from the gym, my brain....well ok my brain isn't really resting - but it's not running on high speed like usual - so I'm purposefully taking a break from doing too much work.

This is exactly what I should be doing, need to do. Santa came and the present under my tree was 8 hours of sleep after weeks of napping my way through life (Insomnia and work had me going going going). Then after a wonderful cheat breakfast of Trader Joe's Greek Yogurt and some berries and granola from Whole Foods, I took another nap! My eyes were so heavy and if felt so great to let them close and simply fall asleep.  I have some sugar cookies (homemade of course) left over from client presents for me today and later I will make myself baked ziti for one with garlic bread (using ground bison for the meat, a heart healthy pasta and garlic bread from Whole Foods). This is my last Big Cheat Day. It's been over two weeks since my last cheat meal - in the off season I get about one a week but I extended my last completely clean time period to accommodate for the holiday - the holidays are easier when you can have what everyone else is having haha. Though, with the exception of the cookies, my cheat meals are still on the healthy side, especially since they are homemade and I can control the ingredients for the most part.

This is the calm before the storm though. I have some BIG things in store for 2012! A lot of irons in the fire and a lot to motivate me to push harder, to work harder, and to be better. Competition schedule is starting to line up and preseason starts very soon. I'm hoping to take my personal training to the next level and am re-focosing on my acting goals to make some headway there!

I'm very excited for the things to come!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

tough talk

alright time for some straight between the eyes talk - I'm a people watcher by nature, and given what I do, that often includes analysis. I can't help it, you mix an engineering, medic, and strength training background and the world around me turns into one of forces, vectors, and biomechanics.

Anyway, I would like to take a moment to have people take a step back at what they do in the gym. Think about what you are doing. What muscle are you working? Is it the one you are trying to target? Are you using others that you shouldn't (or should be merely accessory to the prime mover)?
So often I see people just slinging weights around and then they wonder why they don't see any change. Sometimes you need to slow down and focus! I was always told in my martial arts training to leave your issues with your shoes (we trained barefoot). It's the same with the gym, when you are lifting you need to focus on lifting. Not only will you see greater gains because the muscles you are trying to improve will be the ones activating and getting the input to adapt, but also you will have a greater chance of avoiding injury. When you are distracted and just throwing weights around, you risk using compensatory muscles that really shouldn't be used for a certain movement, or you don't notice the imbalance in the exercise therefor you reinforce it (which leads to many overuse injuries), or you simply don't create any sort of useable activation and you waste your time and the time of anyone who may be waiting to use the machine (one of my pet peeves, waiting for a machine while someone hogs it and uses it horribly wrong).

Another thing I notice in the gym, is the use of accessories. This time I'm talking about actual accessories like weight belts, shaper shoes, etc. First of all, unless you are a power lifter and have a ton of weight you are lifting, you don't need a weight belt. If you have an underlying condition that requires spinal stability that should be addressed first and foremost before you even think of adding weight. Fix the problem rather than put a bandaid on it. Second, using a weight belt to support your core all time weakens your core because it doesn't need to turn on. It's my same reason why I won't wear any sort of brace unless absolutely necessary. I want the muscle to learn to do the work, I don't want it to be used to having a "crutch". Third, you don't need a weight belt to do tricep presses on the cable machine, or to do lateral raises  (especially if you are a woman using 5 lb dumbbells - saw this while I was on the stepmill this morning), or most exercises for that matter. Again, let your core do the work it is suppose to do and if it is not able to support you - you need to address that issue first!
Now, onto shoes - my lord has the fitness industry strayed in this area. Shaper shoes have been proven to NOT WORK! What they have shown is that people simply move more when they have the shoes - it's called a placebo affect. Hey if that works for you I guess I shouldn't argue but think about this, you aren't meant to constantly be walking on unstable surfaces...dare I say it again...overuse injury waiting to happen. Onto the Five Finger shoes...ugh those things are ugly. And quite frankly freak me out a bit they look so funny. The original purpose of those shoes was for boat/marina use, which was my first thought was hey kayaking shoes! (now there is a purpose I would wear them for - they would be great water shoes). I can see their use for lifts, particular leg days with squats etc, they take away the slight heel lift that a regular sneaker has and are akin to being barefoot, but, for me, I simply would go barefoot (radical idea huh). Running in them though? that is a lot psi (pounds per square inch) being put into the contact points of your foot with each step. Those forces then travel up the body, through the knees, to the back, and well... no thanks I'll stick with my asics/Nikes, I like a little cushion there.

Well, I guess that's it for my rant today - more to come on form and nutrition no doubt as I see it daily but for now - i'm out :)
Happy Holidays!

insomnia

so another night, another bout of insomnia.......
this time it is near 3 am for me and i have to be up at 5 for morning cardio - so why bother sleeping i will just be groggy and trudging through if i do. I sit here or walk around my apartment yawning with sleepy eyes but then every time I lay in my bed - boom - wide awake. so frustrating......
So today I worked on some more designs that I want to put on apparel and I counted out the weeks to my first competition (22 btw). So offseason is almost over - I'm marking Christmas as my official end to off season. From there I will start to be more rigid with my cardio - that's really only area I slack off on in the off season - the lifts are better than ever.

I often wonder if it's better to try and sleep or whether it is better to stay up if that is what your body wants to do. Sleep is very important, especially in bodybuilding and for your health. At night a lot of chemical processes take place in the body that help with repair and recovery and get you ready to face another day. So in that regard I really should be asleep right now, a lot of muscle building occurs at night. But if I can't sleep then I'm stressing because I'm frustrated about simply lying in bed, then I start getting anxious about being up in the morning and anticipating how tired I'm going to be in the morning. This is good at all because that causes process to occur that counteract everything I work for (such as the release of cortisol). So I get up and work - read, work on the comp, whatever strikes my fancy so that my mind is removed from the anxiety of not sleeping.

Had the holiday party for the studio tonight (technically last night since it is now Friday). You would think with all my time on stages and in front of crowds and working with people I would feel completely at ease and look forward to parties. I don't though - I always feel awkward and out of place. Though I did get a lot from the party. Some very good business conversations with some possibly exciting ventures in the future in both personal training and acting.

worked on some more updates to my webpage tonight - check them out I would love feedback! www.jenirose.com

today's topic - seasonal blues :(

it's one of the reason's i had to move away from NY. I lived in upstate NY (far from the city...no where near the city....practically different time zone from the city). Upstate NY gets horrible winter weather - gray overcast skies all the time, snow that looks so pretty when it is fresh and fluffy but oh so quickly turns to brown and gray slush. It's not to long before the ground and the sky are the same color and you feel like you are walking around in a monochromatic world - gray here, gray there, gray everywhere. and cold! you can't go anywhere without your pant legs getting soaked from the slush and your shoes getting wrecked from the salt (for those in warm climates that have never experienced ice  - rock salt makes it less slippery).

Anyway, as you can imagine, this is the perfect environment for seasonal depression, which I would get every year without fail. Even now, living in LA, I still am down through the winter. My brain still thinks that when it rains it is going to keep raining forever. SO how do i get around this? I have to force myself to shift focus. In NY it was very difficult because of how the climate was outside - just to go outside required 3 additional layers of clothing. It was very easy to become a recluse in NY, because who the hell would opt to go out in a blizzard?!  In LA, it's a little easier. I've learned to go with the flow of the downs and enjoy the ups. I keep myself busy with working on my computer - this week I have been occupied with writing the first edition of the newsletter for Matador Performance, updating my webpage, research, and admittedly simply playing in photoshop (my newest app toy haha). Training is another method of combating blues - it gets you out in the world and helps keep you in touch with friends that are also working towards being healthier and stronger.

I've heard that people use full spectrum light boxes to help with seasonal depression - I don't get this though, I have never tried a full spectrum light other than expensive light bulbs but for me it just isn't the same as warm sunshine on your face and a light breeze. But you can't control the weather so you have to focus on what you can control, your hobbies, what you do with your spare time, and your thoughts. Remind yourself when you wake up or when you go to bed what you can be thankful for, even if it is something as simple as " I'm thankful for this down comforter and fluffy pillow top mattress and down pillow that makes my bed feel like I'm sleeping on a cloud covered in 500 thread count wonderfully soft sheets" (can you tell I like my bed haha - when you have insomnia you learn to cherish sleep ;)

Seasonal depression can also be compounded during the holiday season - the stress, anxiety, the rush of it all - it's enough to drive you nuts! It can be hard too when you are far away from home and your family and every other commercial or song on the radio is singing about home or showing some family so happy together and you just look over at your beautiful tree and think "yup - real pretty"

.....but then I put on my Mickey Christmas hat and all is right with world haha.. Peace & Happy Holidays!

Ok New Plan

sometimes life throws you curveballs and you just gotta swing with it. for instance, you could have your knee act up, but you keep going, and then next thing you know you have pain all through it and it feels unstable....wonderful. so now what, cardio still needs to be done , lifts still need to be accomplished. fortunately lifting doesn't seem to bother my knee, cardio however has been a different story. i've taken a few days off from strenuous cardio to try to calm the inflammation down, been using ice, compression and pain meds (advil and salonpas) seem to be working. it's not painful anymore but it feels a little funny and doesn't like certain motions. i am able to walk faster this week than last week, and if i run only on my toes it doesn't bother me at all (i know why  are you running?? well it's been tested during those times when you forget something and have to run back to your apt because time requires it), the other thing it really doesn't like if going down stairs - up stairs is ok and surprisingly i can do the stepmill moderately, but down, it doesn't like and last night I had a pair of 5" heels on and down was really treacherous (o the things we do for fashion right - the shoes completed the outfit to well to forfeit haha)
     anyway when an injury happens such as this it is important to reduce the inflammation/swelling as best as you can. this can be accomplished through RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) as well as a little pain med help if needed. i try to limit my dependence on pain meds though because they can mask how your injury really feels which can lead to a false sense of security with it and if you aren't careful set you back by re-injury. i also try to avoid using braces, wraps, or neoprene sleeves because again i want the knee (in this case) to be able to heal and be strong on its own, i don't want to get used to having a "crutch". so what do you do in terms of training? well you figure out what aggravates the injury and pull them out of the training or modify them. then when you have the inflammation under control you can start to add them back in, but keep up your rehabilitation habits during this! ice after especially because inflammation is going to come back and you don't want it to accumulate all over again, you have the injury on the path of healing and you want it to stay there. eventually, with time and diligence, the injury can heal, however listen to you body and if you need to see a dr, do it!

Ooo Tea!

Most people that know me know that I'm a tea fanatic. I love the idea of a flavorful, aromatic beverage with healing or helpful properties. I love tea so much I not only have a jar on my counter full of various tea bags (sort of the assortment pack of my collection where random varieties go and if I have a box that is almost empty I will put what's left in there so that I can get rid of the box) but I also have a drawer and a shelf for tea, with a tiny little spot for coffee.
     Anyway, today's blend was created in my coffee maker - I put a teabag from each of these flavors in the pot. The green tea is a strong green tea which provides lots of benefits including caffeine and EGCG, which are great metabolism boosters. The dandelion root is a cleansing tea, and helps to detox the liver. Both of these teas are earthy flavors and they blended very well - with the green tea being the most prominent. The dandelion root tea is a mild flavor in comparison. It was a very enjoyable blend and I've almost drank the entire pot! No doubt I will in the next hour haha.
     This isn't a blend I would suggest close to bedtime if you are sensitive to caffeine - for me it doesn't matter, caffeine doesn't wake me up at all. But I also wouldn't suggest this after workouts because the caffeine can spike cortisol levels (which you don't want ;)
     Another point to make is that I wouldn't take my multi vitamin with this tea as green tea inhibits the absorption of some vitamins and minerals.


(Note: I make tea without anything but the tea and water - no added milk, honey, or other sweeteners)

Stepmill

So about halfway through my goal of 60 minutes on the stepmill I was bored out of my mind! I had forgotten my iPhone and my iShuffle, and my iPod (which I did have with me) was dead and in need of charging. No music, no movies, and I had reached my limit of my attention span for the magazine I had with me. Had to change it up, so here is what I did, if anyone is looking for a way to get through some stepmill work. (Take note that I wasn't sure how much my knee was going to be able to handle as it has been inflamed for the past couple days so I was truly ad libbing this... this is about average levels for me  - in other words if you are in good shape it will get the sweat going, but it is an off season cardio not a killer - so adjust as needed for fitness level/goals)
First do 500 -1000 steps at level 15
Then bring the Level to 7 and get the HR back down and then stay there for a minute or two then go into intervals
1 min Level 8
1 min Level 7
1 min Level 9
1 min Level 7
1 min Level 10
1 min Level 7
1 min Level 11
1 min Level 7
1 min Level 12
1 min Level 7
1 min Level 13
1 min Level 7
1 min Level 14
1 min Level 7
1 min Level 15
1 min Level 14
1 min Level 13
1 min Level 12
1 min Level 11
1 min Level 10
1 min Level 9
1 min Level 8
1 min Level 7
1 min Level 6
Cool Down til your done :)

Morning Cardio

There is  some debate over whether it is better to do morning cardio on a completely empty stomach or to have a little breakfast before. I think it comes down to what works for an individual. I prefer to either eat nothing at all or only have a small protein shake at least an hour before. I'm the type that doesn't fair well with food in my stomach during my workouts so if I do have anything to eat prior it has to be light and I have to give it time to get digested.
     That said, here are some things to consider with scheduling meals and workouts. When you eat, blood gets diverted to the gut for digestion. When you workout, blood gets diverted to the muscles to circulate the various nutrients and byproducts of exercise in and out. So, though some can handle it find, others find it difficult to have the blood going two places at once. Side effects food can have when activity is soon followed is heart burn, stomach ache or the dread run to the nearest trash can cuz it doesn't want to stay down just to name a few(thankfully the most I have ever experienced is heart burn and a stitch in my side if I'm doing cardio/plyos). You can see how this can impede a person from reaching their fitness goals, simply because they aren't able to go full out.
      Another point to be made, though, is that when you wake up, you are in a fasted state from not eating all night (or at least you should be, if you are a night grazer of the fridge there are some other issues to address). So some feel that if you don't give the body some sort of fuel to work on it will use your muscle as fuel and you can lose the gains you make in the day. Others feel that the fuel it chooses is fat, because your glucose is nil. This is where I believe it is up to the individual. Do you have the fat reserves for the body to pull energy from? Is your body willing to pull the energy from there or is it stubborn? What is your body type? Do you build muscle easily? Lose muscle easily?
     For me, I build muscle easily. And it stays, I have very little worry of losing muscle. So I tend to prefer my morning cardio on an empty stomach or very little in there. When I do have breakfast before cardio is is a protein shake because of the minimal carb content, it's simply a fuel that my body can use so that it doesn't use the protein already in my body. Plus then I wait at least an hour, for instance as of writing this I still have 30 minutes before I will go to the gym for my morning cardio. FYI My morning cardio today is going to be 45-60 minutes of stepmill followed by some ab work. Today I think my goal will be to do 400-500 ab reps total.

Too Tired? Never

Sometimes you can be too tired to make it to the gym, and granted there are legit times when you can say I think it would be best to rest, HOWEVER, most of the time you can make it ;) I have moments when the gym seems like this daunting task and I think I'm too tired to make it there. That's when I say, "well... lets just get in the car and see how I feel in the gym parking lot." Then I tell myself, "well... we used gas to get here might as well at least go in the gym." Once I'm in the gym, I'm usually good to go. Sometimes, though, even then I still am dragging through my workouts. Maybe I've been low-carb for awhile, maybe I've had too many consecutive days working without any time to truly rest, whatever the reason I can't let it affect my workouts. I consider this my job, and quite frankly, it is! I may pet sit, I may have a part time job at Ulta Cosmetics (which helps a lot with competition makeup and styling btw :) not to mention all the advice I get from my wonderful coworkers who are awesome make-up artists, hairdressers, and aestheticians!), but when it comes to my main occupation I'm a NPC Figure Competitor and Personal Trainer. So to turn tail and not do my workouts would be like calling in sick - and being my own boss I hold myself accountable! So even if I'm dragging I just keep telling myself do that one more set, one more rep, one more exercise. Eventually, the next thing I know, I've finished my workout for the day - and usually with some pretty good improvements because I slowed down and took the time to really feel each exercise, every squeeze and muscle contraction.
       Now I know it's not everyones job to get to the gym, BUT, it should be. If you think about it, getting the gym, eating healthy, and treating your body well should be everyones job, cuz guess what? it's the only one you get. And I think it's important to realize that you don't need to spend 2 hours at the gym like I do, that's where the occupations would diverge and mine because a paying job ;) but if you can just make it through the door and do something, even for just 30 minutes...it's better than nothing. I should mention here that the door can be metaphorical, outdoor activities count too :)
     My point is that sometimes life can get overwhelming. Everything is so rushed now, and a lot of people are over scheduled, whether it be by their own compulsive need to always say "Yup, I can do that/be there" (guilty - right here!) or whether it's simply what they must do to make ends meet. It's (a) important to make time for yourself and take care of yourself because you can't be there for everyone if you are unable to actually be there and (b) taking it one step at a time in the gym can carry over in life - whenever you are tired or overwhelmed, slow down and take it one "rep" at a time.

Santa Ana Disruption

So the Santa Ana winds came roaring through last night creating a state of emergency where I am. I had a fun midnight run over to a client's house that I am pet sitting for to turn off the house alarm. From that drive I could tell it wasn't going to be pretty this morning, and it seems the area around my gym got the worst of it. So....no gym today. It was closed to clear out the debris (it has an outdoor training area that got hit pretty hard by the winds). However, I couldn't just do nothing! That's not what a pro would do so that's not what I would do! My apartment complex fortunately has a little workout room so I was able to do cardio there this morning, 45 minutes on the elliptical. I then went back down there for an afternoon session and did some more elliptical and some treadmill incline work. You have to make due, things happen and sometimes you just gotta roll with it. It can be a good thing in one way because it forces you to think outside the box, to get out of your normal routine and change things up a bit. Maybe I was meant to take it easy today because my knee has been acting up and there wasn't anyway I was going to slow down to let it rest. Maybe it was nature's way of telling everyone to stay the f*ck where they are for a day - perhaps being a little pissed about the commercialism encroachment on Thanksgiving (not that nature knows or cares what thanksgiving is but the energy disruption it might).