I was on to something...

When I first started this blog, it was just a place for me to log my workouts.  That lasted a few months and then I dropped off from posting.  On New Year's Eve of 2017, I wrote another blog post and in it was the first time I had this realization:

2017-2018

"I am glad I saved this post though, to remind myself that it is not even about looks or shape, I have to keep remembering that when I am eating clean and working out I THINK BETTER and I am a better teacher."

May 2019

It took me until March to get really going and by July I was making strides.

It wasn't until this school year that I really understood how much being fit was helping me be a better teacher.  Regular exercise and tracking what I eat (instead of mindlessly eating/stress eating) has led to the following benefits besides weight loss. 

• Clearer thinking and the ability to be more productive.  
• More energy to be productive.
• Confidence!  This is key when teaching middle schoolers!
• No sick days!  I haven't caught any cooties from my students, even when the nasty bugs were going around. 

This is not just my experience, the National Institute of Health has studies that show that exercise increases the production of a protein in our brain called brain-derived neurotrophic factor which literally supports the neuron growth and the development of new synapses! (Sleiman, Sama F et al. “Exercise promotes the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) through the action of the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate.” eLife vol. 5 e15092. 2 Jun. 2016, doi:10.7554/eLife.15092)

Summer 2018

On New Year's Eve of 2017, I wrote this blog post,  New Year's Eve Refections

While it was a rough start of the year, I am happy to say that I got my act together and am finally making progress! 

My new job has made me realize how unhappy I was teaching the younger grades (5th and 3rd).  I am so happy to be back teaching Algebra and teens.  It is amazing how stress affects your life.  I really needed that change to get things going.
I know that stress is a part of life and there will be and has been other stresses in my life, but I truly believe that eating healthy and exercising helps me deal with stress so much better!

New Year's Eve Reflections

On 9/20/16 I wrote this...
"I've been hesitant to write a new post because I didn't want to jinx myself.  But I am back and have been on track since last MAY!!!  I'm down 25 pounds and feel wonderful!

I can really say that eating clean and working out has really impacted my teaching.  I have tons more energy and think so much more clearly.

I'm not really going to update this blog too much since I'm tracking my workouts now on bodybuilding.com."

I saved it and never posted it.  In the middle of October I broke my toe.  Thus the end of my streak. I gained every pound back and am at my worst ever. 
I am glad I saved this post though, to remind myself that its not even about looks or shape, I have to keep remembering that when I am eating clean and working out I THINK BETTER and I am a better teacher.

As I get ready to start a new job in a few weeks, I need to be at my best.  I am going back to 8th grade Algebra 1 after teaching 5/6 and 3rd for the past 3.5 years. I need my brain to be as sharp as possible!

I know I can do it!  I just have to keep reminding myself of my why and its not my pant size!

Transformation Challenges

I am a total sucker for these. Back in 1999 two years after my daughter was born I entered my first one.  It was the Bill Phillips Transformation Challenge. I didn't win, but did finish and got a medal, certificate and cool tshirt!
More importantly it got me back on the fitness path which ultimately led to physique competition and made me very happy!

Today I signed up for the bodybuilding.com 2015 250K Challenge.  Here's what I love about it...win or lose, if I work my ass off to win, I will win either way LOL!

Goodbye 2015!

Happy to say that I got a final workout in for 2015!

I went with a friend to sample a cross-fit class!  Wow!

INTENSE!  Since you need to go through 4 weeks of up-ramp classes before you can take an official cross-fit class, we did the cross-fit lite class called be-fit.  Loved it!

This was the routine:

Wall balls (squat with a 10# med ball then throw it up to hit a spot on the wall)

Kettlebell swings (18#)

Burpees

Start with 3 reps, then 6, then 9, 12, 15, 18 for 15 minutes.  Lets just say I only made it to 12 reps in those 15 minutes!   My cardio conditioning is sheer poop.

Next it was 7 minutes of Russian twist tabata style. Couldn't even keep my feet up the whole time! Gonna add this one to my normal routine!

I think I might have to start taking this class once or twice a week. 

Getting Sloppy!

So here we are in the middle of December and I haven't posted since October.  The good news is that I have not given up entirely and I am still getting in some workouts and tracking my food.  However, as the title says, getting very, very sloppy about the whole thing.

I am going to recommit to my blog!  Lets see if that can keep me going for a while!

W/E 10/10

Another awesome week!  I can honestly say the only lift that is hard for me right now is the military press.  However, I realized today that I have the formula on my spreadsheet messed up!  I fixed it now and hopefully that will help things along!

Here is how the week went:

Day 1
Squats: 3 warms, 110/3, 130/3, 145/5
Front squats: 2 warms, 55/12, 12
Leg curls: 2 warms, 40/12, 12
Leg ext: 40/15 x 5

Day 2
Bench Press: 3 warms, 80/3, 90/3, 105/6
Incline DB press: 2 warms, 32/12, 12
Push ups: "knees" 5 x 10
Triceps ext: 1 warm, 28/12, 12
Triceps pushdown:  1 warm, 40/12,12

Day 3
Deads: 3 warms, 105/3, 120/3, 135/5
One arm row: 24/15 x 5
Wide grip pulldown:  2 warms, 70/12, 12
Low cable row:  60/12 x 4

Day 4
Military press: 3 warms, 55/3, 60/3, 70/3
Side laterals: 2 warms 19/12, 12
Face pulls: 2 warms, 40/15, 15
BB curls:  2 warms, 45/12, 12
Hammer curls:  15/12, 12, 24/10, 10

W/E 10/3

So we started the 2nd wave of our 5/3/1 routine without taking a de-load week and it felt good.  Only thing was I only got 1 extra rep on my squat and bench and none on military presses :(  
Other than that we went up on a lot of exercises!

Day 1
BB Squat: 3 warms, 105/5, 120/5, 135/6
Front Squats:  2 warms, 50/12, 12
Leg curls:  2 warms, 40/12, 12
Leg ext:  40/15 x 5

Day 2
Bench Press:  3 warms, 75/5, 85/5, 100/6
Incline DB press:  2 warms, 32/10, 10
DB flys:  1 warm, 28/10, 10
Triceps ext: 1 warm, 28/12, 12
Triceps pushdown:  1 warm, 40/12, 12

Day 3
Deads:  3 warms, 100/5, 115/5, 130/10
One arm row:  24/15 x 5
Wide Grip pulldown:  2 warms, 70/10, 10
Low cable rows:  60/15 x 5

Day 4
Military press:  3 warms, 50/5, 55/5, 65/5
Side laterals:  2 warms, 19/12, 10
Face pulls:  2 warms, 40/15, 15
BB curls:  2 warms, 45/12, 12
Hammer curls: 2 warms, 19/12, 12

W/E 9/26

3rd week done!  5-3-1 week and it was pretty good!  Definitely skipping the deload week this week and pushing through.  Just getting used to the routine and adjusting.

Day 1
BB Squat
3 warms, 110/5, 125/3, 140/4  should have got more on this.  Shooting for 10 on all last sets next week.
Front squats:
2 warms, 45/2  these are getting easy!
Leg curls:
2 warms, 40/12, 12
Leg ext:
40/15 x 5
abs :
3x15

Day 2
Bench Press
3 warms, 80/5, 90/3, 100/6
Incline DB press
2 warms, 32/10, 10
DB flys:
1 warm, 28/10, 10
Tri ext:
1 warm, 24/10, 28/10
Tri pushdown:
1 warm 40/10, 10

Day 3
Deads:
3 warms, 90/5, 100/3, 115/10
One arm rows:
19/15 x 5
Wide Grip PD
2 warms, 65/12, 12
Low cable row:
60/15 x 5

Day 4
Military Press
3 warms, 45/5, 50/3, 55/10
side laterals:
2 warms, 15/12, 12
Face pulls:
2 warms, 40/10, 10
EZ bar curls:
2 warms, 40/12, 12
Hammer curls:
10/12, 15/12, 19/12, 12

W/E 9/19

2nd week in on 5-3-1 plan and loving it!  We are going to skip the deload week and maybe next since I've read you can skip the first two cycles.  I also realized I wrote the wrong numbers for my first squat day, they were my 2nd week weight, so I ended up doing them again.

This week we also had some schedule conflicts so I did two of the workouts on my own.  I really love training with my friend, but I'm going to make sure I don't miss any of my workouts unless I'm in the hospital!  

Here is how the week went:

Day 1:

BB Squat: 3 warm up sets (forever now known as warms) 100/3, 115/3, 130/6

Front Squats: 5 x 15 @ 35 these are feeling less awkward and ready to move the weight up.

Leg curls: 2 warms, 40/10, 12

Leg ext: 1 warm, 50/10, 10

abs 3 sets

Day 2

Bench press: 3 warms, 75/3, 85/3, 95/10

Incline DB press: 2 warms, 35/10, 10

Flys: 1 warm, 28/10, 10

Tri ext: 1 warm, 24/10,10

Tri pushdown: 1 warm, 40/12, 12

Day 3

Deads: 3 warms, 85/3, 95/3, 110/10

one arm row: 5x15 @ 19

Wide grip PD: 2 warms 65/10,10

Low cable rows: 5x15 @60

Day 4

Military Press: 3 warms, 40/3, 50/3, 55/10

Side laterals: 2 warms, 15/12, 12

Face pulls: 1 warm, 35/12, 12

EZ bar curls: 2 warms, 40/12, 12

preacher curls: 2 warms, 15/12, 12

9/7-9/12

As I figured once the students were back and school started things would get crazy and it did!  The best part is that we kept up our workouts and I did an awesome job with my food intake.
My lifting partner went on a weekend trip last weekend and didn't get back until late Monday and then had to babysit her nieces in the city on Friday night so we had to change our schedule to Tues, Weds, Thurs, Sat.  We also started our 5/3/1 program and oh boy I am in heaven!!!  LOL, math and working out my two favorite things.  It is so much fun doing the calculations to figure out our weights based on the percentages.  We are following the bodybuilding routine and its recommended not to go to far on the last set, so some of them are only 1 or 2 over.  For those of you who don't know what 5/3/1 is, you can read about it here.

Tuesday:
Squat:  55/10, 70/10, 85/10, 100/5, 115/5, 130/6
Front squats: 30/15 x 5
Leg curls: 25/10, 10, 40/10, 10
Leg extensions: 40/10, 50/10, 10
abs 3 x 15

Wednesday:
Bench Press: 45/10, 60/10, 70/10, 70/10, 80/5, 90/10  (Too light!)
Incline DB press: 19/10,10, 32/10,10
DB Flys: 19,10, 28/10,10
Tricep ext: 15/12, 24/10, 10
Tri pushdown: 20/10, 40/10, 10

Thursday:
Deadlifts: 45/10, 65/10, 10, 80/5, 90/5, 100/10  (light)
One arm rows: 19/15 x 5
Wide grip pulldowns: 50/10, 10, 65/10, 10
Low cable rows: 50/15, 55/15 x 4

Saturday:
Military Press: 25/10, 30/10, 10, 40/5, 45/5, 50/10
Side laterals: 10/10, 10, 15/10, 10
Face pulls: 20/10, 10, 30/10, 10
EZ bar curls: 30/10, 10, 40/10, 10
Preacher curls: 8/12, 10/12, 12  (too light!)

9/1-9/4

Another solid week in the books!

9/1:
Squat:  45/10, 10 ,120/10, 10, 125/10, 10
SLDL: 45/10, 10, 75/10, 10
One arm row: 15/10, 24/10, 10
Close grip pulldowns: 50/12, 70/10, 12
BB curls:  30/10, 40/10, 10
abs: 8/15, 10/12,12

9/3
Bench Press: 45/10, 65/10, 10, 90/10, 10, 10
Incline press: 19/10,10, 32/10,10
side laterals: 10/15,15, 13/15, 15
OH bar press:  20/10, 30/10,10
Tricep ext: 15/10, 24/10,10
Rope press: 25/10, 30/10, 10

9/4
Squat: 45/10, 65/10, 10, 95/10, 10 ,10
Leg curls: 25/12, 12, 40/10,10
wide grip pulldowns: 50/12, 12, 65/10, 10
Tbar rows: 65/10, 75/10, 10
Alt DB curls: 15/10, 24/10, 10
abs: 3 sets

Want to change things up starting next week or the week after.  Looking to go back to a 5/3/1 routine and start throwing in deads!

I am clearly not in school mode yet since I had my dates all wrong! LOL

Catching up!

What a weekend!  We took our son to college for his freshman year!  He's 4 hours away from us in Rhode Island and let me tell you I am a little emotional!  Workouts have been wonderful and I am more determined every day to just crush it!

I think I left off on the 25th so I'll just log everything since then here:

8/27: High rep Chest
Bench press:  45/10, 10, 65/10, 85/10, 90/10, 10
Incline Press: 19/10, 10, 24/15, 32/10
Side laterals: 8/15, 15, 13/15, 15
OH bar press: 45/10, 50/10,10
Tricep ext: 15/10, 24/10, 10
Rope press: 25/12, 30/12, 12

8/28: High rep Legs
Squat: 45/10, 65/10, 95/10, 10, 10
Leg curls: 25/15, 15, 40/10, 10
Wide grip pulldowns:  50/12, 12, 65/10, 10
Tbar rows: 65/10, 75/10, 10
Alt DB curls: 15/10, 24/10, 10

8/31: Low rep Chest
Bench Press: 45/10, 65/10 100/5, 5, 5, 110/5
Flat DB press: 19/10, 10, 35/10, 10
Side Laterals: 10/15, 15, 15/15, 15
upright row: 20/15, 30/15,15
Tri pushdowns: 20/15, 40/15, 15
Kickbacks: 10/15, 15/15, 15

8/25/15

Legs/pull day
Solid squats, will be switching things up in a week or two to work on building more strength.

Squat: 45/10, 65/10, 120/5, 5, 5, 6

Stiff Leg DL:
45/10/10, 75/10,10

One arm row:
15/10, 24/10,10

Close grip pulldown:
50/16, 70/10, 10

EZ bar curl:
20/12, 35/10,10

Abs: 3x10

8/24/15

Press Day-felt strong getting the 100 up

Bench Press:
45/10, 10, 95/10, 10, 100/10, 10

Flat DB press:
20/10, 10, 32/12, 12

Side laterals:
8/15, 13/15, 15

Upright row:
20/10, 30/12, 12

Tricpes pressdown:
20/16, 40/15, 15

Kickbacks:
10/10, 13/12, 16

8/21/15

Left it all on the gym floor today.  I'm loving it!  Somehow I'm finally getting ATG squats.  Not sure if its just because I'm stronger or figured out the optimal foot position to allow it while keeping heels down.

Squats:
45/10, 65/10, 75/10, 85/10,10, 95/10
Leg curls:
25/15,15, 40/15, 15
Wide grip pulldowns:
50/12, 12, 65/10, 10
TBar rows:
65/10, 75/10 10
Alt DB Curls:
15/10, 19/12, 12
abs: 3x10

8/20/15

Cruising along.  Workouts are on point and so is the diet.
I got some samples of a preworkout supplement and tried it out, pretty good!  Even though my friend and I have decided to do evening workouts instead of 5am, I think it will be needed to get in the zone after a hard day at work.

Bench Press:
45/10, 65/10, 85/10,10,10
Incline DB press:
19/10,10, 28/10/10
Side laterals:
8/15, 10/15, 13/15, 15
DB shoulder press:
15/10, 19/10,10
Triceps ext:
15/10, 24/10, 10
Rope Pressdown:
25/10, 30/10, 15

8/18/15

5am workout.

BB Squat:
45/10, 65/10, 100/5, 5, 120/5, 125/5  This is starting to be more like it.  Quest for 200 is back on.
Stiff leg deadlifts:
45/10, 10, 75/10, 10
One arm row:
15/10, 24/10, 10
Close grip pulldown:
50/10, 70/10, 10
EZbar curls:
20/10, 30/10, 10
abs: 3x10

Going hiking with a colleague later today!  Looking forward to both the hike and the company!

8/17/15

7pm workout felt great.  Once school starts we are going to pm weight workouts and I will be doing cardio a few times a week in the morning.

Bench Press:
45/10, 65/10, 90/10, 10, 10, 100/10
Incline Flat Press:
20/10, 10, 32/10, 10
Lateral Raises:
8/15, 15, 10/15, 15
Front Raises;
10/10, 13/10, 10
Tricep Pressdowns:
20/10, 40/10, 10
Kickbacks:
10/10, 13/10, 10

8/15 and 8/16

Hit Planet Fitness both days for my walk/run on the treadmill.  Felt good but I can't wait for fall to get some outdoor runs in.
In addition to the structured workouts I also hit some high numbers on my Fitbit both days!  My goal is 10,000 steps and yesterday I got 13,890 and today 16,406!  Might have to up my goal to 15,000!