Ameliorating... training journal.

[maybenot]

I'm actually happy with how my body looks in it.

You should =)

[Glasvegan]

I'm actually happy with how my body looks in it.

You should =)

Thanks!

[AndiMorris]

That acroyoga picture is amazing!

[Glasvegan]

Hon? I've been there..........DONE THAT!!! I was madly in love with a Bavarian bodybuilder. We meet in 2010 and got engaged during the month of May 2011. I left Berlin and moved in with him in Munich a month later. That's when the rose colored glasses came off. Long story short, his bad eating habits wore me down and I started to eat fish and chicken again. I also ate a lot of ice cream, pastries and bread. I gain over 75lbs in five months. I also developed a few health issues. I was miserable and disgusted with my appearance. I realized that I had to get out of that relationship like a burning house. I picked an unhealthy partner and therefore, I too became unhealthy. I called off the wedding, left Germany and stayed in the states for 5 months. During that time I went back to vegetarianism, did one hour of cardio everyday (no weights just cardio), lost the 50lbs and became vegan. When I came back to him in April 2012 I was a different person. I still loved him but I loved myself more. I just couldn't live with him anymore and had zero tolerance for having meat in the refrigerator. We fought constantly about my new eating lifestyle and so I moved out two weeks later in addition to ending the relationship for good.

Ever since then I refuse to date anyone who eats animal flesh (this includes fish). Now, it's very very very very very important for me to be with a partner that's either a vegetarian or vegan. I have a thing for German men but they have very bad lifestyle habits. They either smoke, drink beer, eat tons of meat or gorge on Weisswurst. So I gave up on them.

THE BVG IS A JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! Listen? I'm gonna send you a PM with my skype name. I'm gonna share a big secret with you that was told to me about the BVG by a few Americans who live in Berlin. I'm gonna school you on everything I know about them and that transit system. Once you know what I know you won't fear them anymore and you will be on the next ubahn heading to the destination of your choice.

Yikes, that all sounds tough and good for getting out. Curiously I find Berlin ok for men who are veg, the lifestyle in Glasgow is much worse. I wouldn't expect that from Bavaria though. One of my previous relationships I gained about 10lbs in 2 months from eating the wrong things when I was with him, that was a couple of years ago now, I haven't made that mistake again. My (recent) ex never ate meat around me, but his general attitude towards life - simply not wanting to face his problems, or the problems in the relationship - was what ultimately made me get out. I feel so much better since ending things. Another few requirements added onto the list of what I want in a relationship (including vegetarian/vegan)... but I'm happy by myself in the mean time, so I can wait for the seemingly impossible. More time for the gym

Sent you a message about the BVG, I'm very curious. I like the idea of not fearing them even when I have a ticket now I panic every time a likely looking controller gets on.

[Glasvegan]

I'M BACK IN THE GYM!!! Oh happiness. I've moved flat and the friend I've moved in with has given me her card to use for the month, because she never goes. So I bounced out of bed at 8am and was there by 9, the earliest I've been up in a while. The one where I was living (but didn't get to) for July was space age, this one is large but very functional. No fancy gadgets like in my Glasgow Gym, the machines are very stripped down, no individual tvs... I like it though. Except for having to swap between levels 1 and 2 all the time. Insanity I've stopped for now because of acroyoga 3x a week and cycling roughly 70km a week... (haven't done a week this intense yet, it's a consequence of where I now live)... and I have no space for Insanity now, so the gym it is! Back to weight lifting. Felt so good.

And...

Sunday - Acroyoga for 4 hours, including acrobatics - practising on the rings, handstands, etc. Moved flat, cycled 12kms.

Monday - carried shopping back from the supermarket and made cookies... not too sure I can count that but at least my diet's back on track.

Tuesday - Chest and Triceps (so much happiness)

Thought that I'd lost strength, but actually I seem if anything to have gained strength presumably through Insanity and Acroyoga. Only realised this when I just looked back over the last time I worked chest and triceps, nearly 2 months ago :O didn't do so well on the fly but other than that...

Dumbbell chest press: 9kg x10x10x10
Dumbbell chest press incline: 7kg x10x8x6
Chest press machine: 20kg x10x10x8
Fly machine: 15kg x12x10x10 - weakness in left arm
Rear deltoid machine: 15kg x10x10x10
Tricep pushdowns: 15kg x12x12 17.5kgx12 20kgx9 - not sure why I can do so much heavier than I could, I kept incredulously upping the weight.
Dumbbell kickbacks - 6kg x10 x10 7kg x10 (also could probably have been 7 throughout)

Couldn't find anywhere to do tricep dips.

All in all, quite happy and here are some photos... because my arms have suddenly become much better.

right arm.jpg (14.75 KiB) Viewed 5746 times

left arm.jpg (17.96 KiB) Viewed 5746 times

cookies.jpg (53.37 KiB) Viewed 5746 times

and for anyone who wants... normally I can't make good cookies at all, which is why I haven't made any for over two years, actually they're the only baking thing I've never been happy with, but these are excellent:

Ingredients
1 c brown sugar
¼ c maple syrup
½ c oil
¼ c applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
dash nutmeg
1½ c chocolate chips
Instructions
In a large bowl, beat together sugar, syrup, and oil. It will become smooth and even in consistency after a little while; don’t skimp on this step!
Beat in vanilla and applesauce.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda, salt, and nutmeg.
Add dry mixture to wet; mix well.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Form into 1″ balls (or whatever size you prefer) and bake on greased sheets at 350 degrees for 6-10 minutes.

Long post. Phew.

[AndiMorris]

Love the "Show you are not afraid" poster behind the bicep pic. Nice work

[Glasvegan]

Love the "Show you are not afraid" poster behind the bicep pic. Nice work

Haha, I love it too I didn't even notice it was in the shot when I was taking it... but it's nicely appropriate, I'm going to ask if I can keep it when I leave this flat.

[Glasvegan]

Wednesday:

cycled 22kms to and from acroyoga, and 2 hours of acro... mysterious blue and greens bruises now cover about half of me, thanks to acro and the bike.

Thursday:

Morning - back and biceps.

Bent arm dumbbell pullover: 9kg x12x10x10
Lat pulldown: 30kg x12x10x10
Machine rows: 25kg x8 20kgx12x10
Rear deltoid machine: 15kg x8x6x6 (getting tired...)
Dumbbell bent over rows: 12kgx10 10kgx10 x8ish - lots of confusion over the rows, I wasn't doing them with my back straight enough, out of practice and my bad, so a guy corrected me... but then was telling me to do them starting with my arm diagonally straight in front of my shoulder, which wasn't right... so then a girl he was with argued with him while I looked on amused. Then he started faffing around with what weight I was using... all this when it was the end of my workout, I'd already done two out of three sets, and only had one to go, and my arms/back really weren't happy about being faffed with. Ah well. Nosy people in the Gym are really only useful to a point.

Finished with:

Hammer curls: 7kg x12x10x8 on each arm
Concentration curls 5kg twice to failure.

Afternoon:

Cycled 16kms, including some hills. I found hills in Berlin!

Very very stiff. Very stiff. Doing lots of yoga.

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

You're getting through a decent amount of cycling, nice work. You have a road or mountain bike?

The yoga will surely help to alleviate some of the stiffnes one would hope ?! Have a great weekend MF.

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

Those cookies look amazing btw! You use normal chocolate or a vegan type?

Was curious what people eat as their chocolate substitutes ?!

[Glasvegan]

Those cookies look amazing btw! You use normal chocolate or a vegan type?

Was curious what people eat as their chocolate substitutes ?!

I used dark vegan chocolate, but when I lived at home in Ireland I would always bake without chocolate and sugar for my mum who has a lot of allergies, and I'd use carob

[Glasvegan]

You're getting through a decent amount of cycling, nice work. You have a road or mountain bike?

The yoga will surely help to alleviate some of the stiffnes one would hope ?! Have a great weekend MF.

So much yoga needed... I get very tense from stress as well. I have a great (cheap) sports masseuse in Glasgow who I miss so much right now. I'm booking one a week for about 4 weeks in a row when I get back.

It's a... city bike? So road bike I guess. It's very upright, with 3 gears and a coaster/back pedal brake. I don't know much about bikes but it's serving me well.

[Glasvegan]

Friday:

Cycled about 20kms again (in 4 goes) and did an evening of acroyoga. Based quite a bit. There weren't enough experienced bases around for me to fly as much as I wanted and my legs were refusing to base. Ho hum.


Saturday:

Rest day. But still had to get places. Cycled 22kms. Feeling sore. But good.

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

Three gears, yeah I'm guessing it will be a commuter style bike. Kind of similar to a road bike, pretty cool!

[Glasvegan]

Three gears, yeah I'm guessing it will be a commuter style bike. Kind of similar to a road bike, pretty cool!

I have no complaints with it - considering I've covered more distance on a bike in the past month in Berlin than I have in my entire life, I'm surprisingly unsore I'm thinking of ways I can keep this amount of biking going when I'm back in Glasgow in a month.