Sunday, July 6, 2008

Fireworks Shrapnel Workout and Houston Pro

Hey y'all! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July holiday! We had a fantastic holiday - Jody is still recovering so we are taking it easy and relaxing! :) On Thursday we went to bed at 10 and slept in until 7 (so awesome) and then relaxed most of the day Friday. He was still pretty worn out and wasn't feeling very spunky. Our neighborhood was having a block party so we just waited for the fun to begin.

I had a very interesting hill repeat workout on Friday - I started my hill repeats right after a 1 mile warm up and 3 hill repeats in my left glute cramped up like crazy! At first I thought I pulled it so I walked slowly back to the house and stretched, took some advil and stretched some more - literally about 30 minutes. After that I decided to try to finish out the workout - hoping it was just a muscle cramp and not a pull. Luckily it was and I got in a KILLER hill repeat workout. I did 12 hill repeats and jogged back to start on a 1/4 mile hill so I ended up getting about 7 miles in just through the hills. It was super hot and super sunny so it was very difficult to get through them all but I did it! And I LOVE to run hills and do track workouts - 10x more than I like to just run. Running is so boring on its own but it is also necessary. What I have found interesting is how firm my legs feel for the few days after a track like workout. I should have done lots more of those kinds of workouts for my last shows - it would have really made a difference to the bootay although at the time telling me to do one more thing probably would have sent me over the edge. ;) I have found that I should lift before track/hill workouts b/c I am exhausted after and really have nothing more to give.....nothing!

I did have some fantastic workouts this week! Really excited to be back at it and feeling as fired up towards the workouts as I have been...the bug is in my blood again - even the hubby made a comment about it. I guess I just needed a year off ! Ha ha! :) I didn't really take a year off but I have had a year of inconsistent lack of love for my workouts.

As for the Fireworks Shrapnel Workout here is what you do:
  • Gather 30-40 of your neighbors in your cul-de-sac.
  • Purchase or use $2k worth of fireworks (one of our neighbors had some left over from a fireworks show for his church)
  • Shoot fireworks off for an hour - bringing people in from many other neighborhoods to watch.
  • Go to sleep.
  • Wake up the next morning to a post warlike scene in about 6 yards of neighbors out of town or not home during the fireworks show.
  • Get a garbage bag and lunge, dead lift, squat as you pick up all the pieces of fireworks shrapnel (approx 1.5 hours).
  • Feel the burn! LOL - another functional workout!

Later in the day, I also had a killer upper body circuit workout (courtesy of Scott Abel) and then rode my bike with intervals. Toast, brutal, smoked.

Congrats to the top 5 of the Houston Pro figure:

Go to http://www.musculardevelopment.com/browse/index.php?mode=contest&eventcode=1261 to see more pics of all the competitors as well as comparison line ups.
  1. Felicia Romero
  2. Lenay Hernandez
  3. Heather Mae French
  4. Jelena Abbou
  5. Paola Almerico

What is everyone's thoughts on how the judges judged this show? Are they staying consistent with their 20% rule? Rewarding the softer look still? Put your thoughts in comments. ;)


Hope your Sunday is wonderful!
Jessica

3 comments:

Cathy said...

I think the judges are rewarding the total package. Not one of these ladies is soft. They are in excellent shape and beautiful too! Judging has simply gotten away from hardened, overconditioned physiques, a direction that I don't think they ever intended for Figure. All of these ladies present a beautiful package with balanced physiques.
Glad to hear you had a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

You are an AMAZING runner, holy cow. I love your workouts, but damn if they wouldn't kill me! :) Are you still enjoying the Abel videos?? Hope your Tuesday is going well!!!!!!1

Anonymous said...

Well said.