So much excitement!

I meant to put up a post last night, but I was just too excited.

I hit two deadlift PRs last night, the first at 105kg (23lbs) 

Then...

110kg (242lbs) !!! 

Well that escalated quickly!

I didn't even feel like lifting heavy last night, I was a bit stiff and sore and wasn't really in the mood for it, but once I got there are started things just got out of hand! So I now can deadlift double my bodyweight!

So I'm celebrating hard! I'm super proud for getting this far, especially since I still remember being happy graduating on to 20kg (45lb) plates and doing 60kgs not that long ago!

So as promised, here's the core workout that I'm working with at the moment. I adjust it as I need to with weights and reps to make sure I fit the whole workout in. This usually takes me about 50-60 minutes to do and I do this on a Tuesday and Thursday at lunchtime. 

My last core workout I posted was on 30 November so you can check that one out as well. I dropped some of the easier oblique work  this time around as I felt the work I was doing was enough. I'm trying to work on my mid abs more than my obliques at the moment, so you can add the bicycle crunches back in and drop some of the jack-knife sit ups and leg raises.

Remember if you're just starting out -halve the weight (or drop it altogether) and the reps for all of these!

AJ's Core Workout at 22 January 2014

Cable Crunch

16.25kg x 15 reps

21.25kg x 15 reps

26.25kg x 15 reps

Dumbbell Side Bend

20 kg x 20 reps (3 sets each side)

Crunch

20 reps (3 sets)

Reverse Crunch

20 reps (3 sets)

Flat Straight Leg Raise

10 reps(3 sets)

Jack Knife Sit-Up

6 reps (3 sets)

Weighted Russian Twist

10kg x 20 reps (3 sets)

Dumbbell Side Bend

20 kg x 20 reps (3 sets each side)

Crunch

20 reps (3 sets)

Reverse Crunch

20 reps (3 sets)

Flat Straight Leg Raise

10 reps(3 sets)

Jack Knife Sit-Up

6 reps (3 sets)

Weighted Russian Twist

10kg x 20 reps (3 sets)

Dumbbell Side Bend

20 kg x 20 reps (3 sets each side)

Crunch

20 reps (3 sets)

Reverse Crunch

20 reps (3 sets)

Flat Straight Leg Raise

10 reps(3 sets)

Jack Knife Sit-Up

6 reps (3 sets)

Weighted Russian Twist

10kg x 20 reps (3 sets)

Cable Crunch

16.25kg x 20 reps

21.25kg x 20 reps

26.25kg x 20 reps

Have fun and if you have any questions please feel free to get in touch!

xoxajvxox@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/xoxajvxox

www.instagram.com/xoxajvxox (xoxajvxox)

Twitter: AnnikaVoulgaris

xox Happy lifting xox

1stPhorm Athlete Search!

So as most of you have probably heard by now, I decided to put my name in the hat and enter the 1stPhorm Athlete Search 2014. It's a big opportunity and as soon as I saw it I was interested! 

http://www.1stphormathletesearch.com/

My main fear entering this competition is that I haven't competed yet! Most other companies are looking for people who already have a few trophies, let alone a few shows under their belt, so I wouldn't even get a chance with them. With this one though, 1stPhorm seem to be looking for people doing awesome things but don't need to have competed yet. So I felt a little less intimidated, plucked up some courage and filled in the entry form...

So here I go!

As well as my Instagram and Twitter accounts I've set up a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/xoxajvxox to post more of my fitness stuff. I was a little worried about doing this, because I don't really talk much about fitness on Facebook, I usually save that for Fitocracy. I was worried about what my friends would think, and what people would say... I know, silly right.

Well, turns out I should know my mates better than that. Everyone has been so incredibly supportive so far, and have been so awesome talking about their own fitness journeys!

Needless to say I'm so, so proud of them and have had a couple of wee choked up moments with the amazing things people have said. So a massive THANK YOU to everyone so far!!

I've only been doing this a couple of days and I've learned so much already. I'm so glad I started doing this, and can't wait to share more with everyone!

I'm not a fitness expert and don't claim to be, but I'm always happy to help with anyone wanting to get into fitness and answer any questions :D

Instagram: www.instagram.com/xoxajvxox (xoxajvxox)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/xoxajvxox
Email: xoxajvxox@gmail.com
Twitter: AnnikaVoulgaris

Catching up on a few things

Well, I had a birthday! Woohoo! Not fussed about getting older, I only seem to be improving with age, so bring it on ;)

I've entered a competition. For some sponsorship! Funny I know, but I saw it and couldn't let the opportunity pass... So I'm probably going to be talking a whole lot more on my social media sites about fitness, and while I'm nervous about this prospect, it's definitely worth it to be involved with this competition!!

So follow me on Instagram if you haven't already xoxajvxox, and I'll post more info about my Facebook stuff when I have it ready :D

I thought a little about perception and body image the other day. I was having a bit of a bad day and it slowly led me to making comments about how I think I've gained body fat, and how to me, I don't look very good. It's hard to be taken seriously when I make comments like that, especially when I know myself that it's mostly in my head.

It's hard not to judge yourself harshly when training and eating like this. You are on the hunt for something incredibly difficult and you are aiming high. I have to remember that I see myself every single day and I'm not going to notice a lot of the small positive changes happening to my physique.

So it as an important reminder to be a little bit kinder to myself, that I'm in this for the long haul and I can't expect miracles overnight. My body is not going to change that fast, for better or for worse. So next time I complain, just give me a hug and a protein bar and I'll be alright!

Credit: http://www.motivationblog.org/exercise-motivational-quotes/#!prettyPhoto

So to training, I've had a solid week, hit a nice PR on dumbbell bench press, my next goal is 26kg(57lb) each hand and I managed 24kg(52lbs) on Tuesday. So I'm pretty happy with that.

I made some awesome oaty protein pancakes on the weekend and they were amazing! I need to track down the recipe I used and put it up here because they were fantastic!

Update on training, eating and supp review - NOXPUMP

It's been unseasonably cold here in Wellington, which has meant the gym has still been relatively quiet!  My lunchtime gym has been a little busier, but I expect it to be full on when more people come back to work next week.

Training is going well, I'm getting some seriously good results on my pull ups, doing 10kg (22lb) weighted pull ups for a set of 2 last night! So happy. I also got a 225lb (102.5kg) PR on my deadlifts, so I'm pretty happy with that.

I'm feeling stronger in everything at the moment except my squats. They feel a little harder at the moment at the top end of my range. It seems as though the lighter weights are much, much easier to do a lot more but the heavy weights aren't coming so easy.

Eating has been fine, it's so easy to stick to my diet since going back to work, packing everything and taking everything with me. I have started roasting the kumara so it tastes even better.

I was reminded recently that I'm not choosing my class for the competition until much closer so I am going to prep for both bikini and figure at this stage. I'm going to have a look what is required for both classes and ensure that I know as much as I can about each class.

I used to write a few supplement reviews and thought I'd start doing it again on here.

Yesterday, I tried NOXPUMP by Dorian Yates last night in Fruit Punch flavour. It contains caffeine and taurine, but no Beta-Alanine so there was no tingling feeling when I took this product. It made me feel very alert at the start of training, and gave me the energy that I needed to drag myself into the gym.

I found there wasn't a buzzy or hyper feeling with this product, and there was no heated feeling when taking it. It had a longer lasting energy effect and found it was a good preworkout product without any lightheadedness when trying to get into training.

New Year, same me :D

Welcome to 2014 everyone!

Funnily enough, I'm not making any grandiose resolutions because, well, I'm already doing everything I want to be doing. So, it's just going to be more of the same for me, training hard, eating clean and generally trying to be awesome. 

I started the New Year with some cute new gym gear thanks to D and my parents. I look so shiny and neon in my new stuff, I'll enjoy it while it lasts :D 

There hasn't been an extreme influx of newbies at my gym yet, but I expect it will get busier in the next couple of weeks. I'm not looking forward to having to fight for equipment but as long as I still get quality trainings in, I don't mind. Working to achieve fitness goals is hard work, so if you're just starting out, keep at it, I'm sure you'll do great!

I've started working on my posing, I found some really good videos on YouTube by Julie Lohre to start practising.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TMgTsrGjnI

It's been good just to see how it's done as well as give it a go myself. It's been helpful to see what things I need to work on such as my lats.

My pull ups today weren't amazing, so I'm going to try and add another pull up workout on a Monday to try doing it more than once a week.

As for training this week, I'm finally getting back into my usual training sessions. Hit core and back today and arms and chest tomorrow. I've really noticed I needed much longer rests between sets while training. I'm hoping to reduce this time over the next week.

I'm off work until 6 January so I've got a few more days of being able to train at any time I want, then it's back to lunchtime and after work.