Current training and niggly injuries

Training this week has been really good. I'm feeling much stronger, looking leaner and pushing harder. I'm able to lift a little more, complete more reps and train for longer. It seems my body is adjusting to fewer calories, just in time to reduce it a little more ;) On 31 May I'm tightening up my diet even more, heading into the 16 week countdown.

I'm keeping up with my cardio and still hitting my 3 times a week goal. I hope to increase this a little more after 31 May, so we'll see how this fits in with my schedule. 

I've done a couple of posing sessions, and one more today and I should meet my goal of three times this week too. I'm feeling a lot more confident with this, flaring my lats is becoming easier and easier. I know I need to work on them more to get a really nice V-shape. My shoulders are really coming in now, and now that I'm leaner I feel like I'm heading toward the shape I want. 

My wrist is still bothering me a little bit, only on gripping and pulling motions rather than pushing. I'm at the point where I'm going to go and get a physio to look at it. It's really frustrating when you think it's ok, then you train it and it goes back to hurting again. Don't think I'm leaving it quite long enough to heal, and the fact I type all through my work day probably doesn't help! I'm trying to focus on stretching and rolling out my forearms, as that seems to help.

I'm officially all set to go to the USA on 1 July! I'm heading to Boston for the American Mensa Annual Gathering and looking forward to presenting there. I'll be blogging about my trip, my training and how I'm going to keep being strict while travelling, so this should be an interesting experience. I'm going to be going through and reading some stuff from the pros about how they do it before I go, so I'll be posting a lot more about this in the coming weeks. There's been quite a few international fitness expos recently and I know people have been travelling quite a lot, so hopefully there is a lot of quality information out there.

Before I head away I have to finish the semester and sit exams. I work full time as well as study, so it's going to be interesting balancing work, training and exam study heading into this. I am going to have to be much more focused (haha well more so than normal), and try and perform well while knowing I'm going to be on fewer calories. My exams are 18 and 24 June, so I'll be a few weeks into the next stage of my diet and training when they happen.

Hope everyone's training is going well! I've answered quite a few people's questions already, if you have any questions please feel free to head over to my facebook page http://facebook.com/xoxajvxox and send me a message!

xox AJ xox

What to wear to the gym?

This seems like the oddest topic for me to write about, since you will know that at the gym, I rock a combination of workout clothes that make me look like I’m homeless. My friend Georgia and I call this look “Hobo-chic.”

Pretty classic pre-gym hobo look from me

But, I have had a few messages from people who are just starting out at the gym asking what kinds of clothing they should buy, especially for ladies who want to get into lifting weights. I’ve been asked what brands I like, what I like to train in for different days and about the most comfy stuff for the gym. So I thought I’d write a post on what I like to wear and my tips for anyone starting out.

3) Wear appropriate footwear

I know it seems like a no brainer, but wearing the appropriate shoes for what you're doing is important. Hard sole shoes like chucks are good for squatting and deadlifting in (I wear chucks when I do these. N.B additionally also the only time when bare feet may be ok because I understand it can be better to do it in bare feet than in sneakers). For general gym going and lifting any kind of sneakers are fine, they don’t have to be expensive, but if you are planning on running get good sneakers. You don't want to hurt your knees by running in bad shoes.

2) Invest in sports bras

Ladies, get yourself a range of good sports bras. I say a range because you'll be washing them a lot and there's nothing worse than having a wet sports bra to put on. Also make sure they fit properly and keep you in the right place, nothing worse than a fear of the girls escaping while you’re lifting. It’s also much better for your back to have them firmly strapped in; sports bras give you the support that normal bras just can’t do while you’re exercising.

3) Dress to fit your body and your comfort level

My main advice for choosing clothes for the gym is to pick clothes that fit you properly and fit your comfort level at the gym. There are no hard and fast rules for what you should wear, as long as you're comfortable wearing it and you’re not indecently exposing yourself to other gym goers. There’s nothing worse than wearing something that doesn’t fit properly and getting distracting pulling it down or adjusting it the whole time you’re training. Worrying about what your butt looks like in your tights will only distract you from what you’re trying to do.

If you don’t feel comfortable wearing tights and a tight singlet then don’t. I much prefer working out in a looser fitting top and shorts in the summer and trackpants in the winter. I start off cold and warm up pretty quickly so I wear several layers of clothes. It’s a lot more to cart around near the end, but I feel much better starting off cosy warm than fighting the chill.

I have a few favourite pieces of gym wear, my red Not Big Enough tank top is definitely a favourite, and Cotton On Body does good and relatively inexpensive gym gear. Their tank tops are cute, and nice and long if you want to wear tights without worrying about bootay. I have a whole lot of inexpensive tops because they go through to wash so much I always need more.

If you don’t mind spending a little more on staples like shoes you can’t really go wrong with anything from Nike, Puma or Adidas. I love my Under Armour hoodie and wear it pretty much every day, only parting with it when it needs a wash!

I don’t have much Lulu Lemon gear, but I’ve heard that while you pay a little more, it’s high quality and if it’s not on high rotation like my gym clothes, then it should last you a while.

I have two gym bags, a large one for when I need to cart my shoes, straps and my belt around, and a smaller one for general every day gym going.

I hope this answers a few questions and if you want any more info just ask!

xox AJ xox 

Training updates and being prepared for eating clean

So training and eating are coming along pretty well. It's been 18 days since I switched back to my strict eating plan and I seem to be dropping some body fat already. I've made some good progress while holding onto my gains. I trained shoulders with D on Wednesday and Ash on Saturday, and my shoulders blew up so well. I'm really starting to get the V shape I'm after, and I don't think my shoulders have looked bigger. My stomach seems to be flattening out and my morning abs are back! Woohoo!

18 May 2014

The clean eating thing has reminded me that one of the hardest things about living a fitness conscious lifestyle is that it is really hard to stick with. Staying on course takes an inordinate amount of planning and perseverance. Here are some of my tips for helping me stay prepared for clean eating.

1) Prep your meals in advance 

Whether you do it the night before or once a week, I can't stress how much easier it is to stick to your meal plan when you're prepared. It's so much easier to avoid temptation to, because even if you feel like something else, your lazy brain will be like "urgh but I already made food I am not going outside to get takeaways." I always make sure I know exactly what I'm eating for the week and do my supermarket shopping to a strict list, I know how much I need of everything. 

2) Have the right tools for the job

"Hi my names AJ and I'm a plastic container hoarder" ..seriously though, have the right tools for making sure you're prepared.  My life is full of little plastic containers for dividing up all my food, making it easier just to throw it in the fridge and in my bag in the morning. I also have two different sized cooler bags, 2 giant water bottles (one at home and one at work) and a variety of plastic cutlery I can throw in my bag and not worry about losing them. This is all super important for making sure I can eat my meals on the go

3) Know your portion sizes - weigh and measure everything

How I manage what I eat is by watching my portion sizes and weighing and measuring everything.  My teeny kitchen scales are the most used item in my kitchen and are so handy. You can pick up scales for as cheap as $4 at Briscoes, so there's no excuse for not having a set on your bench at home. If you have them there you're more likely to use them and stick to what size portions you should be eating.

So these are a couple of things I use to keep my eating on track, take my meals with me and stick to my goals.

Speaking of goals, I set a few smaller ones this week to help me keep motivated and add new things into my routine. Last week I aimed to do three cardio sessions which I achieved. This week I'm aiming for 3 cardio sessions, three posing sessions and 3 foam rolling sessions. I have done 3/3 cardio sessions, 2/3 posing sessions but 0/3 foam rolling sessions (oops!). My training week ends on Tuesday so I think I'll achieve what I want to do by then. I'm going to keep adding more of these as I keep going.

xox AJ xox

19 weeks to go

Well it's 19 weeks out now and I'm really trying to push myself to hit my training hard at the moment. It's long enough out and close enough to the date that I'm both happy with my progress and nervous at the same time.

I had a really good leg session tonight, I'm enjoying the barbell lunge/step up superset so added more of them into my workout this week. Today's workout was:

             Barbell Squat

o    20 kg x 10 reps

o    40 kg x 10 reps x 10

Group C (did this twice)

o  Barbell Lunges

-  20 kg x 10 reps

-  20 kg x 10 reps

o  Barbell Step Ups

-  10 kg x 10 reps | 63 cm

Group D  (did this three times)

o  Barbell Lunges

-  20 kg x 10 reps

-  20 kg x 10 reps

o  Bodyweight Step Up

-  10 reps – 63cm

Lying Leg Curls

o    39 kg x 8 reps

o    39 kg x 6 reps

o    39 kg x 2 reps

o    39 kg x 10 reps

o    39 kg x 10 reps

I seem to be leaning up faster this time than the last time I dieted and I'm starting to see a little more definition in my muscles already. Feeling a little bit better about training and hoping I'll retain the muscle I've gained over the last few months.

I did some lat work during the week and this has made it a lot easier to practice flaring my lats in posing practice. I spent last night watching videos and going over technique stuff for posing which felt really good.

The videos and walkthroughs I looked at are these ones:

Figure posing with Julie Lohre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TMgTsrGjnI

GoFigure video with Jamie Onekawa: http://tinyurl.com/l9euzkz

I'm looking forward to more solid trainings this week!

Abs 8/5/2014

xox AJV xox

Back to the grind!

So I started working on my diet again last Monday and it's been a good week so far. I'm back on a pretty strict meal plan.

It's not the most exciting variety of food but I feel like I've dropped some weight already and feeling a lot more positive. I know I can get lean if I work hard at it so I'm not too concerned. Chicken, rice and vegetables are once again my best friends :D

I have also started adding a little cardio into my routine as well, I'm still not super consistent just yet but at least I'm giving it a go. I find that on the treadmill I get a bit too sore in my hips and knees, so I'm probably going to end up sticking to the bike and elliptical, and getting outside and running for my cardio.

The downside is definitely that I'm getting a lot more tired in the afternoons than I do on a higher calorie diet. By 3pm I'm half asleep and needing more caffeine than usual. I know that's a bad habit to get into, and hopefully I won't need it so much by the end of the week.

I have had some good trainings the past week, shoulders on Saturday was good and I've been pushing myself hard as per usual despite the drop in calories. Jase filmed my back to show me what my back looks like when doing rear delts. Pretty happy with the size I've put on, I hope to retain most of it.

I posted  the video here : http://youtu.be/ktCWRJFrdkY

Looking forward to my rest day but I'm excited about my training week, have to change my deadlifting and back training around a little so I'll see how I go.

xox AJ xox