You Know the Saying....When You're On Your Deathbed....

.....you aren't ever going to wish you spent more time at the office.

Yes, I know you have all heard it - I have - in fact, I have said it to others 1,000 of times...and seeing my grandma on her death bed - literally - it forced me to sit back and look at my life and how I am spending my time.

Right now so much of my energy goes towards my job - and as my loving husband pointed out - I may be reaching a point of diminishing return...meaning the long hours I am working may not be paying off in the quality of my work output. I think I function best when I am very busy so that feels comfortable to me...but there is a point at which being very busy and being overwhelmed prevents me from doing my best work. Does that make sense?

I am not going to beat myself up over not working out last week as much as I wanted or even the week before - I injured myself and lost my grandmother. Which brings me to my next update....on Saturday, June 21st my Grandmother passed away and moved on to the next place...she is now with the friends and family members she has lost along the way. I am so happy for her in that she is no longer in pain or hurting and that her life was long and full of joy. She had 6 kids and 20+ grandkids! What a wonderful life! Thanks to all of you for your support and thoughts. I love you grandma and you will always be a special part of my life! Please celebrate her life and don't be sad - she is in a better place and I guarantee she is reconnecting with lost friends and family looking down on us all with love!

Outside of losing my grandmother and thinking about how I am spending my time, one of Visionquester's posts made a big impact on me this week and that was Stephanie's email to her about taking it one meal, one workout at a time. For those of you who missed it, here is an excerpt from her email:

do the work and the results will come. Don't concentrate on 'I have "x" amount of time' - just concentrate on your next work out - your next meal - your next cardio session... Keep it small - keep it simple...DO NOT CHANGE A THING when it comes to your thinking...Not too much pressure on any one certain day, any one certain meal, any one certain cardio session...It's just one more - that's all- one more"

I am terrible at trying to think too far in the future or think about the past and focus on those things instead of focusing on having my next meal be a good one or getting in my next workout. Stephanie wrote this in an email to Cynthia and yes, I knew this one too but sometimes things just hit you.

This moment, I am focusing on my next meal and making it healthy and good and to feed my body the nourishing food it needs and I am also going to focus on my next workout. And once I have my next meal and my next workout complete, I will focus on the next meal and workout. Little bites....baby steps. So much better than thinking I have to tackle it in one fail swoop.

A couple other things:

• Jody finished the Ozark Valley Triathlon a full 3 minutes faster than he did last year for a time of 1:46 minutes! I am so proud of him - he did amazingly well and he is my heart, my joy!
• A HUGE thanks to Jody for going to Louisiana with me and spending time with my grandma. This is one reason I am so thankful he is in real estate because he could leave and go with me and even though he was COMPLETELY out of his element and hanging out with a bunch of red necks :), he was there for me and I couldn't have asked for more.
• On our way home we had a flat tire on the Jetta at 10:30 at night in BFE. We got the flat right in front of someone's house so we pulled into their driveway to use the light from the street lamp to change the tire. Lo and behold, Jody has completely PIMPED out our car....so we have custom wheels. Wheels that require a special lug wrench that will fit through the holes in the wheel....well, we didn't know this until we got the flat at 10:30pm in Fordyce, Arkansas - population 4700. But where we blew the tire was about 5 miles outside of Fordyce. Luckily, the guy that lived in the house we stopped in front of - who was about 75 and probably wondering why a pimped out jetta and two honkey's with a dog had everything in their trunk on his driveway - was SUPER nice and called his neighbor who ended up ultimately having the proper tools to get the wheel off. An hour and a half later we were on our way!

WHEW! Funny stuff.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I am back at it kids!
Jess


Jess

"Fat Loss Is Easy....Once You Realize How Hard It Is"

Happy Wednesday y'all!! I told ya I would be blogging everyday and HERE I am! :)

The above quote is a Craig Ballantyne special and I heard it this morning while listening to an episode of The Fit Cast and it really struck a chord with me. "Fat Loss is Easy....Once You Know How Hard It Is"....think about it....really, once you know how hard it is and how much work it will really take, it IS easy because you know what to expect and you know what it is going to take. You must recognize and appreciate how hard it is before it will become easy.

The other thing he says that if you want advanced results you must take advanced measures. Another awesome quote/idea. Think about it - there are no short cuts. This is life.

Couple things I have (I am into bullet points at the moment to bear with me :)):

• Worried about my family in Iowa who is getting pounded with tornadoes and flooding.
  
• My hubby is ROCKING it on his training for the Ozark Valley Triathlon in 11 days - he is really kicking it up a notch and even eating super good to lean up so he will be lighter and faster.
  
• This week I have been 100% on with my eating. I know, it is only Wednesday but it feels good.
  
• I need to incorporate weights more - I am getting in my runs, just not the lifts.
  
• Cynthia looks AMAZING and needs to keep working hard towards her goal.
  
• I am taking tomorrow off and I am FIRED UP! :)
  

Ran half mile sprints tonight - 7 rounds - 3.5 miles.

Happy hump day!
Jess

WONDERFUL Wednesday, Weekly Recap (late) and Eats

Today is better...it always is.... EM, to answer your question it really isn't lack of sleep it is just a crazy day at work. I have meetings all day and I have a theory on why it is so crazy in addition to those meetings....so on Monday people come to work and they are all "hey, how was your weekend?" or "I saw Iron Man and it was awesome" or "Kids were sick" blah, blah, blah and then Monday afternoon they start to think through what they need to get done during the upcoming week and then Tuesday morning it is like: "HOLY CRAP! I HAVE TO CALL JESSICA TO GET EVERYTHING DONE!".

But, I survived. And I love you guys for all your kind words. :) You are all awesome.

As for solving the Terrible Tuesday conundrum (whoa - big word), I just need to reschedule all of my meetings on Tuesday to another day. This way I can spread the madness out over a few days. BAM! Problem solved. Now, perhaps you are saying to yourself: "Why wouldn't she do this before?" to which I would answer "It isn't as easy as just rescheduling these meetings - A LOT of people are involved. Duh." Although maybe I would say the DUH thing under my breath. Anyway, it is like anything - if is isn't working do the following:

• Step back to look at the situation.
• Determine why it isn't working and what are the pain points.
• Address the pain points.
• Review and revise if it still isn't working.

I feel better - do you?

Below is my weekly recap. I actually am loving the weekly recap - I need to do the same type of thing with my diet on macros and calories. I am finding that tracking things proves more difficult than one would think. :) Especially on Mondays and Tuesdays!

Overall I am feeling really awesome about my workouts but not so awesome about my food. My workouts are SUPER intense and crazy and I feel awesome after I complete one - partially I think because of how hard they are and partially because of how fully activated my entire body feels.

What programs do you guys use to track your food? I know I have asked this before - does anyone use anything OTHER than Fit Day that they like better and why?

I have also not been sick for almost 6 weeks! How awesome is that???? But yet how sad is it that I am saying that??? Anyhoo, I feel really good about my health and my supplementation!! And I love my new attitude. And my hair is growing out. And summer is here. And life is GOOD! :)

I am gonna vlog tonight after my workout - or maybe before hand so you can see me without a hat on and my hair down and sassy.

You guys rock by the way - THANK YOU so much for all the awesome comments!
Jess

Weekly Recap:
Monday:
5 Mile Run - 550 Calories, 42 minutes
Tuesday:
Day 2 of UFP (see blog) - with chest/back/core emphasis
Wednesday:
Day 3 of UFP (see blog) - with back/shoulder emphasis
Thursday:
Day 4 of UFP (see blog) - with additional shoulder/chest emphasis
Friday:
Day off - AHHHH
Saturday:
Hill repeats (massive HUGE incline hill) super sets with leg work - walking lunges with 50lb barbell and 40lb kettle bells for first 4 sets then 4 sets of step ups with overhead presses
THIS WAS SUPER HARD! Glutes/hams smoked.
Sunday:
30 mile bike - OWWWWWWW!
Day 5 of UFP - Crazy cardio intervals

Great Post Competition Thread

Body Sport (company owned by husband and wife photographer and Pro figure athlete Terry and Elaine Goodlad) just launched a forum on their website. They are very specific and clear that the forum is positive and a place of support for girls in the industry.

Here is an awesome thread on Post Competition blues. Very good information about the psychological affects of competing.

Click here:
Body Sport Thread on Post Competition Blues

Happy Monday!
Jess

How to Look Great Naked and Next Steps

My DH had a poker game on Thursday night...which I was thrilled about. My first night home alone in a long, long time. Well, as we all know, everything happens for a reason and in addition to getting caught up on some of my personal conversations I was also able to watch a little TV - specifically re-runs of Oprah. Which I love. I think Oprah has taught women to know themselves better and to take care of themselves emotionally.

Anyhoo, one of the episodes was all about Lifetime's newest show "How to Look Great Naked w/Carson Kressley. And LET ME TELL YOU, I couldn't have watched a better show. Now clearly this show is focused on women who are overweight but the the KEY to this show is how deeply rooted body images are in our society. The show they focused on was a woman who was a former model who had a few children and was so depressed about her body that she stays in bed at night and on the weekends and doesn't go to any social events because of how frightened she is of what other women think of her. It was so sad and so touching and so emotional for me to watch.

Here is a preview of the show:



You can watch the actual show on Lifetime's site at the link below. Cynthia and Krissa, if you haven't seen this show you MUST watch it. It is truly amazing to see what self care and learning to love yourself can do for your body image. I won't do it justice but what I will tell you is that in addition to helping women dress to their body type he digs DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP into their hearts and souls and takes them to the spa for facials and massages and allows them to love themselves.

By the way, it is Lifetime's number one reality show EVER in the history of Lifetime television. Go figure. Maybe all of America has issues with their body image. Duh.

Click this link to see the episodes: How to Look Great Naked!

This is a show that will force you to think about your genes not your jeans. :)

Ok, so - on to next steps. Made a couple of decisions this week about how I am going to workout going forward. I will use the extra time I have on the weekends to focus on my workouts and then manage my work schedule to workout during the week. Not rocket science but my problem was that if I didn't workout for 2 hours on Monday and Tuesday I made myself feel like I had failed for the week already. Silly, silly.

Today's plan:

Go to the gym this afternoon and get in a great upper body workout and some post lifting cardio. Simple, basic.

Hope everyone is well. No go watch "How to Look Great Naked".

Jess

Tuna Boat Haters: Don't Hate the Tuna - Hate the Boat! :)

I heard a nasty rumor that some of you out there hate the tuna boat. For me, I LOVE the tuna boat. Love it. But I also LOVE green peppers (eat at least one every day - most days two). So, I wanted to throw a few alternative snacks/meals out there. :)

Drum roll please............Top ten alternatives to the tuna boat (protein and fibrous veggie):

10. Apple and Naturally More Peanut Butter (regular serving size)
9. Celery and Naturally More PB
8. 1/2 cup non-fat cottage cheese and an apple or 1/2 cup strawberries
7. 1/2 cup non-fat yogurt w/a 1/2 scoop protein powder and an apple or 1/2 cup strawberries
6. Two pieces low fat string cheese and an apple or orange
5. Dinner salad with a scoop of tuna with ranch mixed in on top!
4. Dinner salad with 4 oz. chicken and 1 tsp balsamic vinaigrette on side
3. Dinner salad with 4 oz. smoked salmon and 1 tsp balsamic vinaigrette on side
2. Chicken boat - same concept as tuna boat, just with chicken.

And the number one substitute for a tuna boat.................





1. A TUNA BOAT! :) There really is no substitute for me!

More later! Have a great day everyone!
Jess

Don't Leave Home Without It!!!

Your food, that is... :) American Express' old advertising campaign was "Don't leave home without it" and it also happens to be my own personal slogan. Every day, even on the weekends, I don't leave home without my food for the day. This is THE most critical factor in your success with maintaining your fitness goals!!

Leaving the house without your food for the day is like...

....going to the gym without your gym clothes.
....going on a trip without a map or an address.
....taking a test without knowing the subject.
....going to work without knowing your position.

Ok, you get the idea. DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT YOUR FOOD! When you are trying to achieve your fitness and nutritional goals you MUST have a plan. First of all, you should be eating between 5 and 6 meals a day - about 3 hours apart. So, if you work a full time job, you should eat at least three of your meals away from home. If this is the case, leave with at least four meals. And if you are leaving your house for more than two hours - take a small snack. If you don't, you will make BAD choices and therefore compromise your goals.

I take two bags with me to the office - my lunch bad and my briefcase. My lunch bag acts as my purse. I shove my wallet in the side pocked of my insulated lunch bag and keep all my food and necessities in that one bag. Here are two super cute lunch bags from Target:


How cute are those lunch bags????? CUTE! And less than $15! You can find them in the sporting goods section. Pack your bag with a powdered baby formula holder full of your favorite protein powder and a formula mixer ($3.00) for mixing protein on the run. These baby formula containers are awesome - they have dividers and carry three scoops of protein! Awesome!! The battery operated formula mixer makes nasty clumpy protein powders taste awesome.


That way, NO MATTER WHAT, you have a meal on the road. :)

I usually spend a half hour at night or in the morning preparing mine and my hubby's food for the day. We walk out of the house with all our healthy meals on us. :)

Have a great day everyone!
Jess

P.S. Bulking plan tomorrow - I PROMISE!

P.P.S. I am back on the workout track - just like I knew I would be after four days of skiing! :) WOO HOO!

Friday night I did a super heavy upper body circuit and abs. Saturday I ran the lake - 5.5 mile trail run and did the same run on Sunday. Was still sore from the Friday workout so just ran both days. Tonight I did chest and some pull ups then was planning on doing cardio but bike wasn't cooperating so I did 10 sets of 10 of the following: push ups, split squats (10 each leg), body weight squats and sit ups. Felt great! I am back! :) And I mean it this time!

It's All About Perspective

If you aren't sure if you feel up to training today or tomorrow...or if you ever are feeling down or blue....watch this video....I guarantee it will inspire you to make it to the gym no matter what AND make you gracious for everything you have in life.



Amazing. I am off to the gym!! :)
Jess

Wuv, True Wuv - HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Happy Valentines Day to all of you fitness lovers out there! I love, love, love, love, love Valentine's Day because it is such a celebration of love and gratitude! So today, I ask that you tell those you love that you love them and be grateful for the gifts you have in your life.
One of my favorite quotes:

This quote became VERY special to me with my husband because I let go of my fears and embraced life as opposed to being scared of being hurt again. I smile each and every time I read this quote because I think of how liberating and free I feel when I do each of these things. I'm so fortunate to have my wonderful husband in my life - he is my soul mate and my heart. He is my best friend and my biggest fan. And we both feel like every day is Valentine's Day! Here we are having a smooch on our boat this summer. Luf.


Ok, enough of the mushy stuff!

I have had a couple of great workouts this week - did my kettle bell cardio on Monday and had a great chest workout that day at lunch. Tuesday I had another great cardio session in the morning - more running and some burpees. Wasn't able to lift over lunch but was still happy I got in my cardio. I had to take yesterday off because of work (worked 16 hours straight) but am hitting they gym over lunch today.

I wanted to talk a little bit more about carbohydrate timing in today's blog about nutrition. Carbohydrates are not bad for you - especially if you are eating slow digesting carbs and whole grains. This would include sweet potatoes, brown rice, oatmeal and whole grain bread - Ezekiel bread is hands down the best you can purchase. The absolute most effective way to eat carbs is to bracket your weight workouts with carbohydrates.
Vision your weight workout like this:

slow digesting carbs - approx 45 minutes prior to [weight training session] fast digesting carbs w/in 20 minutes after

This will allow your body to utilize the slow digesting for energy during your workout and the fast digesting for restoring glycogen and building muscle after.

Make sense?

Examples of fast digesting are simple sugars including maltodextrin as well as dairy sugars found in milk or yogurt, rice cakes, and fructose in moderation. If your goal is to maintain or build muscle you should be eating some kind of fast digesting carb after working out. Chocolate milk is great after a workout because it has protein and fast digesting carbs. Just make sure to add a bit more protein as you want 20 - 30 grams total.

Have a wonderful V-Day everyone!
Jessica

You Asked For It! Nutrition and Diet (And I Changed My Blog Template - You Like??)

As we near the end of voting, I see a common thread of requests in the form of learning more about nutrition and diet. I am assuming this is MY nutrition and diet plans with perhaps a little sprinkling of general knowledge.

First, let me set the record straight...unlike my friend Cynthia (www.visionquester2.blogspot.com), I do not have a personal training certification. It IS on my list of things to accomplish this year along with an additional certification in 2009 for nutrition however my knowledge comes from three areas:

1. I read A LOT. Anything I can get my hands on related to diet and nutrition - blogs, websites, magazines, books, forums etc.
2. Personal experience. I have competed twice at this point and feel like both of those experiences gave me excellent insight.
3. Friends/family experience. Anyone that I know who trains or workouts or who is passionate about what their fitness goals, I quiz. Lots of questions.

Here is the one thing I have learned overall:
EVERYONE is different. EVERY BODY responds differently HOWEVER there are some universal truths. I have found these from reading the diets of hundreds of competitors over the years. In fact, I have a notebook that has them all! :)

• You must eat as much whole, natural food as possible.
• You must give your body ample protein - especially when training and building.
• Diet is AT LEAST 75% of your success (it took me a very long time to believe this but now I do - without a doubt).
• Fat is not bad if it is healthy fat.
  
• You MUST, MUST, MUST be consistent.

For me, the later has been the most difficult over the last two months. With work being as crazy as it is and my workouts being LESS than consistent, I have allowed that to affect my diet. Most significantly, not eating enough and not eating the good, clean foods I know and love.

Today, I would ask each of you to think about your food and how you view food.

• Do you think of it as FUEL for your body or do you think of it as a pleasure point?
• Do you understand how it digests in your system and how it fuels your workouts or do you just think of it as something you put in your mouth?
• Do you expect that 95% of your meals will be for fuel and only 5% will be for pleasure?

As you think about those things, relate it back to your goals. You MUST make paradigm shifts in your thinking to achieve your fitness goals if you do not view food as fuel and understand its purpose and breakdown in your body.

More on my diet tomorrow.
Jessica

A+J Kicking Sunday's BOOTAY & Finishing the Fight

First and foremost, Amber and I had PLANNED on doing legs but as most of you know my foot is kind of gimpy still and I wanted to take it easy so we ended up doing bi's and tri's and cardio. As you will see, we still ROCKED it!

• Warm up on step mill - level 9/10 for 10 minutes
• Barbell curl w/2.5lbs on each side (bar weighs 45lbs) - 4 sets of 10-12 supersetted with:
• Tricep pushdowns w/60-65lb - 4 sets of 15 w/added drop sets at 30 lbs for 8-10 reps
• Preacher curl w/10lbs on each side - bar weighs 25lbs so 45lbs total - 4 sets of 15 supersetted with:
• Skull crushers w/curly bar (25lbs) plus 2 10lb plates - 4 sets of 15 w/chest press burnouts at end
• Standing cable bicep curls behind the head w/60lbs for 10 reps & 40lbs for 10 reps - 4 sets of 20 total reps supersetted with:
• Bench tricep dips with feet up - 4 sets of 25reps
  

Then moved to cardio and did:

• Step mill for 20 minutes at level 9-10 - alternating single steps, double steps, side steps
• Arc trainer for 20 minutes starting at level 21 (?) and 3 incline and increasing resistance by 2 each minute and incline 2 every 5 minutes

Abs:

• 10 full sit ups w/25 mini crunches (shoulders never touch floor)
• 10 full sit ups w/35 mini crunches
• 10 full sit ups w/45 mini crunches
• 10 full sit ups w/45 mini crunches

Final cardio finish was 20 minutes on the nordic track treadmill.

• 5 minutes at 12% incline and 4.2 MPH forward walking
• 5 minutes at 15% incline and 2.0 MPH backwards walking with hands on bars close the the front electronics panel of treadmill in low squad duck walk
• 5 minutes at 15% incline and 4.2 MPH forward walking
• 5 minutes at 15% incline and 4.2 MPH backwards walking (like described above)

I burned 1385 calories total and Amber burned like 1290 or 1300 or something...point being for the FIRST time I actually burned more calories than her. WOO HOO! I guess that is what happens when you take off a couple weeks. I told her I was going to start getting sick every other week just so I could burn more calories than her! :)

As for Finishing the Fight....Debbie added a post the other day about the phrase "Finish the Fight". Her main message is to simply finish what you start. Probably something we should ALL remember as we start to reach one month in on our new year's resolutions. I LOVE this idea - we all should remember this because it not only pertains to our workouts but ALSO how we treat others, how we honor our commitments to people and how we see things through to the end and honor OURSELVES.

Jessica -signing out after Finishing the Fight! :)

Sunday Workout: Cardio Cleaning - OH YEAH!

Today I had some stuff blow up for work so I didn't has a much time to get done all of the house stuff I had wanted AND workout. So I decided....why not combine my house cleaning with my cardio???? Hello! Perfect solution.

Here is how to make cardio house cleaning work for you :)...

I got a couple of loads of laundry going and...
Hopped on the bike for a 20 minute warm up - at around 140 BPM.
Jumped rope for 2 minutes, did 10 burpees and 30 second of mountain climbers and repeated.
Did the following conditioning drill:

• Burpees x 30 seconds
• Mountain Climbers x 30 seconds
• Split Squat Jumps x 30 seconds
• Mountain Climbers x 30 seconds
• Split Squat Jumps x 30 seconds
• Burpees x 30 seconds

Wiped down all the kitchen counters and picked up the rugs (preparation for floor cleaning).
Repeated the above conditioning drill.
Cleaned the hardwoods (I use a mop and can usually keep heart rate up around 125 the whole time :)).
Jump rope for 5 minutes (w/15 seconds breaks every minute).
Repeated above conditioning drill.
Rode bike for another 20 minutes.

Total calories burned: 1000
Total time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

So next time you don't think you have time to do both, I beg to differ! :)
Jess

Addiction

It's official...I have an addiction! My whole life I have made it without one....an addiction that is. I don't smoke, drink occasionally and have never done drugs. I drink a couple cups of coffee a day but that is all...just a couple cups and sometimes on the weekends I can go the whole time without a cup at all. Clearly, I have no addictions.

Thursday I had my third training session with Debbie - which was two hours or torture...but awesome torture...and I had a thought at the end of it - I MAY be addicted to her training sessions/training style! No joke. She is amazing. Non-stop - constant muscle fatigue. Yes, it's official. And even though I have to get up at 4am to do it - and I am exhausted by the end of the day - it is TOTALLY worth it. Thursday's workout was a shoulder/hamstring emphasis with abs, burpees and push up sprints. No ladder drill for me...thank goodness. Almost 1000 glorious calories over two hours!

Working out with Debbie has officially become an addiction. And Debbie, I thank you for that!

Sorry for the time between posts...this week was crazy busy with work. More 14-16 hour days. Yuck. This typically means I am only getting 5 or 6 hours sleep at most. This week is another one that put me into a really tough position with my workouts and my sleep. I only worked out with Debbie twice and got in a couple weak cardio sessions in between. I cannot wait for next week to end....after that I will have a full 11 days off....I have so much planned but basically will replicate a Debbie workout every day. Amber and I have committed to pushing each other during workouts and I have a couple mini-goals in mind.

We are in Iowa right now with my family and just got through sledding down a big ass hill! Good, good times. I am so totally in love with my husband at the moment for spending this time with me.

Remember that for each and every workout you are making a choice to improve your health and wellness. You are making a choice to improve your body and your health and lengthen your life. You are showing those around you that you are capable of more!! Your mind if your only limit and it can be limitless - if you let it.

I made a decision on Friday that I want to start affecting those around me at work and in my life with health and fitness. I want to share my knowledge, learnings and enthusiasm for fitness with others. It is my passion and my love - I want to share it with others!

Have a great weekend all!
Jessica

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