Wednesday, October 31, 2007

My Halloween Trick of Treat

Trick: I weighed myself today and while I had lost about 1 lb from the week previously I went back up a pound today. This happened during the beginning of my last contest prep and although VERY frustrating I know that it is because I am lifting super hard and there is the balance in time between fat loss and increased mass. Good news is I am still 100% on track - no off days.

OR

Treat: I entered a contest at my gym to win personal training with this totally awesome bad ass trainer - like seriously, she is the definition of a personal trainer - and she is also super sweet - anyhoo, the contest had three places: 1st = $500 session with her, 2nd = $250 session and 3rd = $125 session with her. Well, I WON 1st AND 2nd place! So, I am so totally excited!!!!! I almost screamed out loud when I heard the news! PUMPED!

Happy Halloween everyone and you can bet your bootay this muffin top is staying away from the Halloween candy...especially now that I know Debbie is going to be kicking my ass. :)
Jess

Monday, October 29, 2007

Legs and Visualization

Great leg workout today....

105lb squats - 4 sets, 10 reps
Triple Terrors - Smith Machine, 40lbs, 3 foot positions (wide leg, close leg and pile), 15 reps each - total of 45 reps each set for 3 sets (yes, 150 reps)
Super Set - 4 sets, 10 reps each exercise
70lb hamstring curls
70lb quad extensions
60lb dead lifts (someone was using the 80lb bar!)

I was dripping with sweat afterward - and I will tell you I am starting to love doing legs - I can see the definition forming.

This morning while running on the treadmill, I would read during my slow intervals and during the fast intervals I would look at my June 2008 future picture (see post below for more info) and focus on my hips being 34" and a small waist and bigger, full bellied shoulders and biceps.

I have to remember, achieving the physique I want takes time. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Clean eats, check. Water, check. Supps, check.
Life is good.
Jess

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Quickie

Overall, great day today! Did my 45 mins of cardio last night while watching The Insider (great movie if you haven't seen it) and rode my mountain bike for 80 minutes this afternoon. Getting ready to do shoulders and then will do legs a little later. Ate great today too and I am finding this is as hard or as easy as you want it to be. :) Talk to me in a few months and I will let you know how easy I think it is!

On a personal note, I hurt someone's feelings unintentionally this weekend (you know who you are) and I feel terrible. I find myself sometimes saying things with all good intention and then have to apologize because of how it came across...well, to that person whose feelings I hurt, I am sorry. I will work harder at thinking about how what I say might be perceived. :)

Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Jessica

Saturday, October 27, 2007

The Weekend & Contract with Myself

I think one of the hardest things about the weekend is that we are truly out of our routine. I slept until 9am today (flat tire has been filled) and cleaned most of the afternoon. I had a killer back and bicep workout - did about 8 sets of pull ups (slight assist) super setted with seated cable rows and single arm cable lat row. Then did isolated bicep curls on the swiss ball and corkscrew biceps curls and finished off with 10x10s of olympic straight bar bicep curls. Smoked I am. I ate perfect too...and will hit the stationary bike for at least 45 minutes tonight. Sa weet!!

I have been thinking a lot about the long term challenges of competition. And I started thinking about this more after reading Visionquester's blog comment from yesterday about feeling sorry for herself :(. I think the cyclical nature of competing makes for a challenging long term commitment and the psychology of being a figure competitor. Jody has recently been trying to get me to concentrate on triathlons and endurance sports and quite frankly, I don't like the bodies of endurance athletes. They are too skinny and not well defined enough for my tastes (yes Jody, I know Desiree Ficker is a hottie). On the other hand, I also struggle with the ups and the downs of competing. Don't get me wrong, I am in it to win it for nationals, but I also know without a doubt that I will not be rebounding the same way after this next show.

I am a little bummed that I didn't keep better track of my weight and my progress during contest prep because it would be great to reference as I start my road back. But this is why I have a blog! Thanks Visionquester for getting me off my butt. :)

My contract with myself is that I will not allow myself to get above 18% BF or around 122lbs ever again (unless I get knocked up). Again, I use this body fat percentage as a marker but the net is that I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate the way I feel right now. My clothes don't fit right, I don't feel good when I look in the mirror, heck I don't even want to go out as much because I have to think about what I am going to wear. Arghhh. It's just not worth it. Now, when I add the muscle I plan to add, I will be ok with my weight being higher but right now, 18% is the absolute top of the BF scale I want to be at...but ultimately 16% will be my goal and what I will be at for all of 2008.

From one of my favorite movies, "Never give up, never surrender!".
Jess

Friday, October 26, 2007

While Spiking Your Right Calf....& End of Bus Week Recap

Anyone who has attended a bodybuilding show knows exactly what I am talking about but when we attended our first show we became obsessed with the spiking of the right calf and now whenever we take pictures as part of an event, we take one involving spiking our right calf. This was on our wedding day. While I was clearly having trouble with the spike, at least I lifted my dress up! I was a little distracted! :)

The week turned out to be a very good success....in reviewing my log, I kept all of my goals....today was my 5th day in a row of AM ES (morning empty stomach) cardio and I lifted every day except my planned rest day. My eats were 99% clean and I felt great about my intensity. I am pumped to have 5 days of cardio behind me so that this weekend if I want to sleep in or not do cardio right when I wake up, I can!!!

But I am running an a severely flat sleep tire. Averaged about 6 hours a night this week. YIKES!

And a BIG shout out to the Fikenator who changed his eating habits and has lost 10 lbs in 3 weeks as a result - NICE!

Have a great weekend all and if you get crazy, just spike your right calf!
Jess

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Still Rockin and VQ, this one's for you!

Ok, so I know my post yesterday was super long but I was excited - what can I say!

A couple of updates:
Monday - double cardio, weights, water and clean eats (see A++++++ entry)
Tuesday - AM cardio, great leg workout and abs, water, clean eats (except the ONE crab rangoon thing at Granite City)
Wednesday - AM cardio, great shoulder workout, water and clean eats (so far)

Net, net: my body fat scared me into action!

Visionquester.....my sister told me something she heard from her trainer that totally slapped ME in the face because I also do not get enough sleep.

"Imagine your body is a car...and as a car you have four wheels. Those wheels are: lifting, cardio, nutrition and sleep. You are driving with one flat tire when you miss any one of those components."

Looks like we need to sleep more or risk ruining the rim!
Jess

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

De Plan, De Plan!!

Ladies and Gentlemen.....let's get ready to RUMBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLE! (Insert jock jams tune here).

I had to start out my blog with that line after my UFC fight weekend in Cinci. My hubby and I left on Saturday morning (early) drove 9 hours...got out of car and blew up shoulders and legs (kind of light on both but still a workout) at the 13,000 square foot gym before walking to an absolutely wonderful dinner and then another walk to the US Bank arena for one of the most amazing events EVER! UFC 77 with Rich Franklin fighting Silva for the title match. While my boy Rich lost, the whole event was amazing. We were five (yes, 5!) rows back from the Octagon. Amazing. Then we stumbled back to the hotel room, slept for 6 hours and got up and drove home. While it was a lot of car time, it was perfect! I cheated at my meal - fillet and lobster and bread - and also had a martini and a few more cocktails. Totally worth the cheat.

Anyhoo,....why this is all Seinfeld related...is because on the way back Sunday, Jody and I mapped out our goals. I am a BIG believer in goal setting - be specific and set short term and long term goals. My BF and weight are definitely higher than I would like - 21% - which totally sucks. I had a really hard time with learning that however I also know it is a necessary evil and having knowledge is what I needed in order to jump start my motivation again. Well, trust me, I am VERY motivated.

Ultimately I have no one to blame buy myself - my intensity has been crap - in both my lifting and my cardio workouts. I think the two back to back shows I did was a kick in the a** in terms of falling off AFTER – I was completely burnt out. And yes, add a wedding, a honeymoon, the return of asthma due to cats and a metabolism that has slowed way down from dieting and you have a recipe for fatty.

I am WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY motivated after my BF test. Again, I am not totally stoked about what my weight is or my body fat, it is great to KNOW what it is and then move forward to addressing it. Again, terribly disappointed but am not surprised really.

Having a plan in place is the most key. My focus is on my major body parts as stand alone: Back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, legs.

Here it is:

Short Term: Get body fat to 16% by end of year. This translates losing about 8.7-9lbs of fat in 10 weeks or a little under a lb of fat a week. Ultimately I would like to also gain 3lbs of muscle which would net me out at about 121lbs. You can do the math to figure out how fat I am. :)

Long Term - 2008:
Top 3 Placement at a National Show
Sub 21 Minute 5k
BF less than 16% all year
Sub 1hr 25 min Sprint Triathlon

I won't go through all of my milestones to achieve all of those goals - only those associated with body fat and my national show.

Please note that all associations with Body Fat (BF) are not an obsession with BF per say but rather a percentage that equates to the way I feel in my skin, with my own self image and the way my clothing fits which are all important for me in terms of continuing my forward progress.

But the most important question - how will I accomplish this goal???

1. Minimum of 30 to 45 minutes cardio in the morning on an empty stomach five (5) days a week - preferrably all of those sessions will be HIIT sessions.
2. Light leg workout two (2) days per week - plyometrics and light weights.
3. Cardio 30 minutes after workout session three (3) days per week in afternoon.
4. Weight lifting on a three days on, one day off schedule as follows:
Mon - Back supersetting with abs over lunch, biceps at night.
Tues - Light chest supersetting with calves over lunch, triceps and light legs at night.
Wed - Off
Thurs - Shoulders over lunch supersetting abs, rear delts and light legs at night.
Fri - Back SS w/abs lunch, biceps at night.
Sat - Light chest SS with calves, triceps and light legs at night.
Sun- Shoulders and HEAVY legs.

Overall, this is an aggressive plan but one I feel good about acheiving. Less than a lb a week is VERY reasonable and doable and so I am ready to attack!! After this 10 weeks I will focus the following 13-16 weeks on gaining mass while keeping body fat reasonable and then being to diet down the last 12 weeks.

Come with me on this journey won't you?
Jess

Monday, October 22, 2007

A++++++++++++++ and a Gold Star

Today was an absolutely perfect day!

AM: 45 Minutes on bike with intervals on an empty stomach
Lunch: Heavy back workout with calves and abs superset
PM: Biceps - Preacher curls followed by hammer curls followed by 10x10s with straight bar AND 25 minutes on bike
Food: Clean - BAM!

Supplements spot on - water spot on.

Great, great day! I am back in action kids!
Jessinator

Friday, October 19, 2007

Mr. Butler

I wanted to introduce everyone to Mr. Butler a.k.a my Number One Fan and President of the Jessica Fan Club. He is the best hubby a girl could ask for...he loves me (muffin top or not) and makes me feel like I can accomplish anything! He is truly the reason I got on stage the first time.

And if you MUST know, the shirts we are wearing (Fikenator - these are the hot pink shirts you WISH came in a 3XL), are shirts my hubby designed for me for all 30 people who attended my first competition (local) that had a rockin bod on the front and said "Body by Jessica". So very sweet!

Thank you for giving me wings my love!
Your Piddle

Bad 24 Hours

Well, RATS! I was so pumped about my day on Wednesday and then Thursday came around and I did everything right but didn't get my cardio in....Big RATS. But I did eat clean with the exception of a Michelob Ultra purchased by a friend while we were out...I only drank about 3/4ths of it.

So, overall, I was displeased that I didn't get my cardio in I did get my lift and my eat on. :)

Just to give everyone a good laugh, I thought I would show a picture of me sucking down a margarita after my first compeition. Yes, I was drunk after two sips. Man, how crazy do we look after a show!!


My day yesterday at work was insane but today is WIDE open so I will have a FULL plan for the next 30 days later today. WOO HOO!

Have a great weekend all!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Back on Track Baby!

Apparently saying goodbye to my muffin top and having a small ceremony to part ways with said muffin top is JUST what I needed to get off my ass.

A couple of awesomely proud moments for me in the last 24 hours:

1. Ran 5 miles last night (slow but finished).
2. Biked this am for 40 minutes on an empty stomach.
3. Ate at the Chinese food buffet today and KICKED A**. It was TYHTLD today (Take Your Husband to Lunch Day) and so obviously it was his choice. It is actually our day off from the gym (upper body) so we had lunch. His choice - fatty bo batty Chinese buffet....BUT I was not derailed. I ate boiled shrimp, some sushi rolls, some sashimi and two hard boiled eggs (no yolk). Success! Normally, I would just give in to the buffet - NOT today.
4. Had 10,000 meetings (well, maybe just like 7) and still ate regularly and clean (a bit too much prepared foods - protein powder and a bar) but overall I did great.

I am still working on solidifying some short term goals - definitely need to get them on paper. Long term too....but I already know that - place top 3 at nationals. :)

Got Turbulence Training e-book...been checking it out - and it is definitely a fat blaster but not sure how it will affect muscle mass.

Oh, and BIG props to my Beverly International peeps for being one of the main reasons I gained 2lbs of muscle during the 5 week prep in between my last two shows. I love, love, love their protein powder (makes a super yummy-you-think-you-are-eating-something-bad-for-you pudding), mass aminos and glutamine. Plus their contest prep program is PRICELESS.

Life is good.
Jessica

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Bye Bye Bye & Fikenator Part II

So, I told my hubby that he needed to say goodbye...it was going to be sad for him...he might even cry and have to go through a period of mourning...but the muffin top has GOT TO GO! He was sad...but only that I have let it get so muffiny! :) I cranked up some N SYNC and started blasting "Bye, bye, bye" at top volume (yes, I did the dance).

Cynthia - this one is for you girl....

My good friend the Fikenator (see last post if you want to know more about him) and I were having a friendly little email communication today and I sent him a workout plan I was thinking about starting and this is what he sent me.....please note: when he refers to "the girls" he is referring to my boobs, knockers...fun bags. :) His email is in italics. Very funny stuff - especially his last line. He copied the program at the very beginning and then modifies it based on his recommendation later in the email.

P.S. I did ASK his opinon.

Ok here is HONESTY-
You are going to have issues.

Day 1:Chest (hvy) Triceps (hvy) Delts (hvy)
Day 2: Quads (hvy) Hams (hvy) Shoulders (light)
Day 3: Chest (light) Triceps (hvy)
Day 4
: Back (hvy) Biceps (hvy)
*Heavy Abs on day 2 and 4.
*Calves – 1 exercise up and down the weight stack for 15 reps per set on day 1 and 3.
DO NOT do heavy chest. The girls wont operate well.
Day 1
SHOULDERS HEAVY
TRICEPS(Lighter)
Delts whatever
thoughts, based on your picture your chest is fine. shoulders is the emphasis.
Day 2
Pullups
Quads
Hams
biceps light
Thoughts, pullups thrown in to warm body up for 4 sets, start working on the V-taper, bigger back, small hips
Day 3
Chest Light
shoulders light
Triceps Heavy
thoughts, dont hurt girls, make pretty. shoulders for striations, hit the highpoints that the heavy day didnt hit, and then GROW ARMS
Day 4
Pullups
Back heavy
Biceps heavy
thoughts, heavy day before rest day. Your back along with most others, jod-e, mine, yours... its a large group of muscles that take a long time to fatigue.
that being the case your arms should and probably will tire before your back. you may want to consider heavy arms on day 2, only IF you think you can recover in time to to heavy back.
-------------------
after seeing your self analysis and including my biasness, you want bigger rounder shoulders. dont hurt girls, tighter and thinner legs.
So you have to hit the V taper and shoulders with vigor. chest for shape only
legs with skill cause you dont want mass. i, personally believe that some people, like osama and iraq, and such as..... kiddin
i digress... i think you need a little outer sweep without adding to much other mass.
I wish I had an opinion.

Ok, so now that the Fikenator has pretty much ripped my plan to shreds, I have to go find , look search and see if I can find my self respect and esteem. Jeez. FIKENATOR!!!!! You suck...but you are also awesome! You WISH you had an opinion?? Ha.

I will enlist your plan my dear friend. I am going to do my own cardio plan....which I will outline tomorrow but a preview: lots of HIIT sessions with one long slow cardio session.

More to come guys...thanks for tuning in and KEEP commenting!
Muffin Top Out

Monday, October 15, 2007

Fikenator

My good friend Jason Fike - who I refer to as the Fikenator - and you would know why I call him by said nick name if you saw how humongous he is (like 325 lbs of muscle and benches around 500 give or take) - sent me an email yesterday giving me props (thank you Jason) for my blog but also pushing me answer the tough questions (double thanks). Here are his questions along with my answers:

Q1:
Between your first season and now your coming up second season, what differences do you notice now that you were oblivious to the first go around?
How big my hips and butt are...and I mean that in the nicest way possible to me. My hips measure around 35.5 inches during competition however for most professional girls, their hips range around 34 inches. In case you are bad at math, that is a 1.5 inch difference - significant! Jenny Lynn (the baddest figure girl around) measures 33.5 about a month out from competition....that is somewhat daunting but at the same time I know what I need to do. In terms of differences I know I have a LOT more time this time to get big upstairs while getting smaller in my lower half. Track workouts and running will be key to this as will be consistent leg lifts. Jenny's measurements go a little bit like this:
Waist: 24.5; Hips: 33.5; Arm: 12; Quad 21; Shoulder circumference: 43. She is 5'5". She weighs 138 off season and 125 contest day.
Q2:
Motivation, You have analyzed your metal game is not where you would like it to be. So what do you need to do get this set straight. I didn't see anything to correct this currently on your BLOG. You mention physical attributes causing a stress mentally. Also you have other stressors... How do you focus for that 1.5 hour period, also set your mind straight to do this daily. Do you need a short term coach?
One of the things that helps me TREMENDOUSLY is setting weekly goals and then parlaying those goals into my daily to-do list. This also needs to take place on my workouts. And I need to get my cardio in (on days I am doing cardio) as early as possible so it doesn't take a back seat. This BLOG will be my short term coach and between you, Jody, Cynthia and this BLOG - I have a great accountability team!

All that being said, I am in the process as I type this of doing my workout schedule for week and for remainder of month. :)

Now, off me Fikenator!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Friends

I sent my blog to a couple friends and got this list of questions from my good friend Susan: "What do you feel like is going to hold you back? The cardio deal sucks I know! What's fun about sweating and being out of breath? Are you ready to start finding yourself on that eating regime again? What, you've got eight months?"

First and foremost, thank you Susan! You hold me accountable and force me to answer some very tough questions. Which I love. This is, after all, a lot about accountability.

To answer your questions:

What do you feel like is going to hold you back?
At this point I feel like the only thing that will hold me back is my mental state of mind as well as my recently returned asthma. For those of you tuning in new, my husband and I adopted some cats a couple months ago and it confirmed my thoughts regarding my allergies. I am officially allergic to cats and am having asthma attacks on a daily if not nightly basis after a hiatus of almost 10 years. Very upsetting and sad to me - in fact, today I had a terrible attack on a hill climb on a 44 mile bike ride and suffered the rest of the day with recurring attacks. Very frustrating when your legs and your body feels good.

What's fun about sweating and being out of breath?
Not much! Although I do know if I am every going to get out of breath and perhaps get sick to my stomach, you are the girl to do it with! :)

Are you ready to start finding yourself on that eating regime again?
Yes!! Completely. And outside of our dinner of sour cream chicken enchiladas, I ate very good this week and weekend. So, I am starting to get myself back into some good habits. This week will be another good test.

What, you've got eight months?
YES! But I have lots of work to do!


While I didn't get to it today, I will tomorrow - I will be outlining my plan over the next two months - with daily workouts and sharing it right here on this blog.

Join me will you?
Jess

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Visual Goal Setting (Without a Design Program)

Before
After (Nationals in 08)

So, I have no design programs nor am I artistic at all. HOWEVER, I am mean with Microsoft paint and did a before and after pic of what I want my body to look like for nationals. You can all laugh at me but this is how I motivate myself. :) I basically just used a flesh colored paint to fill out my shoulders, arms and traps and then used black paint to make my hips and bootay look smaller. I think it is hilarious but it also gives me massive motivation. You can double click if you want to see it larger and laugh even harder at my after pic! :)

Peace out.

Are you happy now Vision Quester?

I have decided to start this blog for a number of reasons...one of which is Cynthia Herndon who has been prodding me to start a blog and I think she rocks - for a number of reasons some of which are that she is funny, dedicated and always honest....always.

My name is Jessica and I am a figure competitor who is competing in a national competition in June or July of next year (have to decide on my show). My role models are Jenny Lynn, Jen Hendershott, Adela Garcia and any other competitor out there who continues to rock the house.

Right now I am working out with a three day upper body split and lower body 3x per week - 2x light and 1 heavy leg day. I am strugging with consistent cardio however I know the first thing I need to do to address my lack of motivation for cardio is to determine what my barriers are...and I am in the process of doing that...I will keep you posted as I explore. Diet is going ok - I struggle on days when I don't have my meals planned or prepared....duh? Shocking? Not so much. Tomorrow I will outline my plan for the next few months in a weekly format and list it in the blog template.

Thanks to call of you who support me and keep me on the straight and narrow - you guys rule.