Gaia

I call it "Intuitive Training" when you just listen to what your body wants to do and you do it. But I will say that there are times when I have to coax my body into doing something it does not want to do at the beginning, but ends up wanting to do it after awhile. And if it still doesn't want to do it after the coaxing, then I listen and do something different.

New name, and a new routine. I am now eating every 2-3 hours, with a protein source for each meal. When I wake up, it is a protein powder shake with a banana/powergreens/rice milk, and then alternates with brown rice, raw veggies, and a gardein product (1/2 a bag for one meal). I am working out at 10 AM and again at 4 PM. So far no cardio, but am incorporating supersets in my weightlifting routine to make it more cardio like, and I have so far supersetted heavy heavy weights with another exercise that has high reps and low weights. I am making it a priority to stay under an hour for each session at the gym - hopefully that will keep my fatigue to a minimum, and energy up - plus the eating every 2-3 hours to keep nutrients circulating in my blood stream. I am doing all of this as I have been burnt out the past couple of days, and have felt really sluggish and strangely fatigued in the body even though my mind is like "let's go!". Today was the first day of trying this new routine and it is now night time, and my morning workout session of Legs has them sore from doing light weights for high reps, and my evening session workout of shoulders has them not sore . . . yet?. Tomorrow morning, I will decide to go to the gym to workout my muscles (Chest and Triceps) or perhaps incorporate a cardio day - biking, as my legs will still be in recovery mode probably.

Much cooler. In fact, I switched up my workout routine starting today, and it looks like a bike ride in the afternoon might be on the agenda as it is cool outside/low humidity too! I high of 66 degree F for today, and 70 degrees for the rest of the week. Nice little rain in the wee morning hours helped the garden out alot too! I think the drought here in Michigan may be over - at least for this summer! Though August can be a rather dry and hot month, so we shall have to see. Massage is next week on Monday again. My back is almost back to normal, one side is still hurting from the bodywork she did on that side. I am going to try again to make sure it was my back that was messed up, and not the fault of the massage therapist. I am also changing my nickname as I no longer feel like a Beast lifting heavy weights, since I am trying to get ripped and the weight is going down both on me and the amount I can lift. Plus I feel like a Monster instead of a Beast lately. I did 4 sets of 25 with light weights for Legs in the morning session, and tonight I will do Delts (Legs need more energy, so I worked them in the morning when my energy is the highest - as long as I do not do a long time of cardio like going running for 12 miles or so). Inspired to get ripped now. Muscles just need to be maintained, and bodyfat needs to vacate the premises. LOL!

I am having an argument with my scale this morning. LOL! Really? and the usual WTF? can be heard. LOL! I am happy with the 141.4 lbs (4.2 lbs loss this week - almost back under 140 again), but then it spits out a 19% bodyfat/58% water weight. So I lost 4.2 lbs, but gained 1% bodyfat? Again, I can feel my abs beginning to be defined, so I am not going to believe that increase in bodyfat - not yet at least (I will change the battery first, and make sure that it is in optimal charging mode to zap thru my bodyfat in order for it to "read" me a statistical number for my bodyfat amount). So on that note, I have taken my supps for the morning, and the rain looks like it has stopped and the sky is getting lighter, and a bike ride is on the agenda. Not so hungry this morning, so I take 1/2 glass of Acai berry juice for a quick releasing into the blood stream carb to fuel part of my bike ride. Now to see if my partner's foot can take a ride this morning - bothers me that I do everything in my power to keep from getting hurt and sick, and yet other people don't. . . . obsession anyone? Who me? Hahahahaha.

Saturday is the day I head out for the Paint Creek Trail and go the over 12 miles from Clarkston Rd to Tienken and back again (Lake Orion to Rochester to Lake Orion). I was stopped at the end of my driveway to talk to a fellow Polly Ann Trail user (the one I usually go on that is right near my house), and before I knew it, 30 minutes had passed! Eek. Yeah I was late already, and it was very hot and humid on my way back to the place where I parked the car. Needless to say I walked about a mile, and it was already after 11 AM by the time I got home for my morning shake. I took a shower and passed out on the bed - just not moving but not sleeping, as I am already having problems sleeping at night. I always do when I am dieting down - the metabolism just kicks in at night for some reason. I could blame the Lipo6 Unlimited, but that is not the case as I can sleep at noon, which is about 5 hours after I had taken the Lipo6 for my morning cardio, and before I take them a second time at 1 PM for the caffeine induced supplements which is needed to power thru a grueling weight workout. Today was just Triceps, and I was able to use the caffeine to get over the fatigue from the jogging half marathon this morning. I was able to power down a Tricep Rope Pressdown of 130lbs for 8 reps for a PB. Couldn't match it on the Overhead Tricep Rope Extentions, but did a 120lbs for 8 reps. Needless to say I was fatigued by the time I did Dips, and those weren't so great. Maybe next time. Tonight I walked around the subdivision block that is right next door to our acreage/house - 30 minutes. Weigh-in is tomorrow morning. Last week I was 145lbs/18%bodyfat on my scale. Don't know if it is accurate, but I will just go with it going down week by week.

Under Other Ingredients: Acesulfame Potassium, Sucralose, Natural & Artificial Fruit Punch and Strawberry Flavors, Citric Acid, Silicon Dioxide These do terrible things to my body. I also do not use anything that uses Calcium as the positive ion to go with the anion, and in this case it is the following: Vitamin B9 BioB9™ (as Calcium L-5-Methyltetrahydrofolate & Folic Acid) But I do like how they have Methylcobalamin as their Vitamin B-12 derivative. Other than that, you would have to figure out if their amino acids (the BCAA's) are from an animal source or synthetics (email the company). Are you taking BCAA's now? If not, then go with one that just has Isoleucine, Leucine, and Valine only (also cheaper). When you see results with that basic standard, then I would look into adding other stuff to it to help you get out of a plateau (stalling) and into the next level of training. I did the basic BCAA's, and then added Glutamine, and increase my recovery time (less soreness but the same amount of pushing the weights heavier and heavier/intensity). The concept of BCAA's is that they are the branched chain amino acids that go right into your blood stream, and are available to be utilized by the muscle tissue that you are tearing apart hopefully by ripping the muscle cells with heavy weights, and not just using the muscle to work (with no tearing at all). So if you use BCAA's during a workout, the repair can begin right away, or at the end of a workout is also a prime time to use the BCAA's. I kind of speculate that before a workout, just before a workout, the muscles will use it as fuel instead, especially if you have limited carbs to fuel your workout. I personally have BCAA's in my workout drink (with Acai Berry juice - my choice of antioxidant to counteract the (1)free radicals produced by tearing the muscle tissue during a workout and (2) the mitochondria producing energy/ATP to fuel the workout) and use it sparing throughout my workout, but then down it at the end of my workout. I also have a meal with mostly carbs, an hour before I workout to fuel my workout.

How has your muscle mass increased in the past 2 months?

I would say it depends on what the food is (easily digestible carbs, slow to digest fats, and muscle building blocks due to the breakdown of ingested proteins), when you eat it in relationship to when you work your legs, and of course there is genetics/your unique metabolism. All of these will need to be taken into consideration when you are stimulating your legs for mass, or even in a different direction of endurance (running, biking, etc.). Generally genetically speaking, doing squats with body weight by only increasing the reps will get you only get you so far. You will need to start picking up weights in your hands (or even putting on a backpack with weights inside for a home gym) to stimulate the legs to build more mass. Now if you just want endurance, yeah, increasing the amount of squats will get you there.

Leg day was awesome. I was too scared to try the 300lbs Power Squats, but I did do 270lbs for 10 reps instead of 8. I was scared that my lower back would not be able to handle the weight. I have a fear (from a previous accident of not putting up the safety catches on the Smith Rack, and as I tried to put the hooks into the Smith Rack, my shoulders bumped the bar back out of the hooks and I plummeted down the whole length of the Smith Rack with 270lbs on my back - I was thrown down the ground with my feet out in front of me and my back severely compressed) that nags at me. Which is good in a way, as it keeps me on my toes with a focus of safety in my mind. Today was a light biking by myself this morning - well with music blasting in my right ear. I increased my weights while doing Chest today in the gym. Nice and quiet day in the gym on this Friday afternoon. Was able to do 200lbs on the Hammer Strength Incline Chest Press Machine for a solid 10 reps (as oppose to 8 short reps last time). I also caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror in the bathroom (nice lighting for muscle def in that room) and having eaten only rice as carbs for 2 days now, my veins were popping out here and there. Nice. Keeps me inspired to watch what I am putting into my body more closely in the next 8 weeks. Laid out in the sun also: free tanning session. Sweet!

WTF on the massage! My fingers all hurt, and my traps are so sore that Delts was a real no go on the heavy weights today. In fact, it has been 3 hours and right between my shoulder blades it feels like it is tight and contracted and very painful. So I am thinking, am I that out of wack with my muscles (one side being all knotted up, and the other too loose), aka imbalance, or did the massage therapist do a bad job? So how to proceed? Well, I will first let my muscles heal up correctly, so I will back off on the weights, and while lifting, keep all my alignment training from Anusara Yoga in focus as I execute the movements. Maybe some yoga poses for stretching out the neck/shoulder/upper back tie-ins. And some pycnogenol to keep the inflammation down and speed up healing. Then, I will get one more massage and see what happens. Bummer. Tomorrow is Leg day, but they are not hurting, so it should be doable for heavy weights with the leg exercises. I did only 5 miles for morning cardio jogging today, and I will walk tomorrow morning to keep the Legs primed for heavy weights. Power Squats this time instead of Leg Press. My PB was 270lbs for 8 reps. Shall I go for 300lbs? and some glute machine exercises to help get more mass on the upper shelf of my butt (what else do the bikini girls do to get the perfected round butt for competitions?).

LOL! It does have alot of fiber in it! Though I will say that I put the protein powder in alot of water/rice milk in my blender when I do make a shake (or in the shaker bottle - fill it to the top). Never had a gritty taste to me though. Strange. I had no problem with Plant Fusion, it was just a preference of taste - too sweet for my tastebuds (for the Vanilla flavor).

My first response to this is that thru the eyes of a raw foodist: it is a mild acid and should be treated as such (poison). My response today seems to be that it is a counterattack kind of health benefit. I read about how to counterattack pimples, indigestion, suppress appetite, change your pH, etc. I do not take this kind of path. It is a conventional Western mentality of counteracting the symptoms, so that we can ignore our problems and continue whatever we are doing in life comfortably. I am more of a find the cause kind of person, and then attack it from there (no matter how hard it is going to be - like watching what I eat/nutritional choices, exercise/body movements, and mentally calming my stress levels/breathing and thought guidance). This path results in not having to do ACV.

Yeah, instead of juicing, just eat the fruit and vegetables. That way you have fiber to slow down the digestion process and make you feel full longer. Right now I am eating melon balls as melons are in season here in Michigan. Gala and Pink Lady apples are my favorite go to snack (so much fiber in apples, and pectin to heal the GI tract). And since I am dieting down right now, veggies are going to be my favorite go to snack - Mann's sugar pea pods, baby carrots, celery sticks, jicama sticks, and cherry tomatoes.

Yes. There is a plethora of plant proteins out there now, and depending on what brand you buy, the types will vary considerably. From my personal experience I have problems digesting hemp, flaxseed, and soy plant proteins, so I look for ones that do not have these, or have them in the ingredients list down towards the end (minimal amount). You will need to experiment to find out what works for you. I think I have seen on this forum a place where you can special order the exact kind and percentage amount of plant proteins in powder form that you could request. It might be worth it to invest time and money into doing that.

My favorite: http://www.gardenoflife.com/Products-for-Life/Foundational-Nutrition/RAW-Protein.aspx

Welcome to the forum! Inspiring intro! I love it when the journey into healthy eating shows positive results! What kind of direction/help are you looking for?

Fruit leathers are good! Though being summer I go for just the plain raw fruit lately. So what are doing for lifting lately? are you at a gym? or being creative with the outdoors?

I saw this on Vegan Power Fitness facebook page: People get all and worked up about B12 as the reason why vegan diet is deficient and 'unnatural' while at the same time they find it perfectly normal to have to take multivitamins on a 'standard' diet... Go figure.

Soy is a good estrogen receptor stimulator. And I hypothesized that it can cause the mammary glands to proliferate IF soy is ingested in a large quantity at certain highly sensitive period of time during adult development in a male. Especially if that male is already accumulating estrogen receptor stimulating bodyfat (this is how some high bodyfat males are able to get the hard man boobs - not just the soft fat man boobs). And soy oil is in everything! I had to back off of soy when my overweight son started to develop hard man boobs -which went away after taking him off of soy for a couple of months. But it made me realize that even my jar of pasta sauce from the natural health food store (Whole Foods) contains soy! soy oil to be exact. So I now look for oil-free or a label that advertises for olive-oil containing food products.

This is what I use for my high carb (with my protein powder) post workout shake: http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/cytosport-cytocarb-ii-1-98-lb-powder/cy-1060#.U7vNrPldWSo Has no taste (at least this one. I see they have many flavors - but I do not need artificial flavors to get it down past my tastebuds) and dissolves instantly in water. Leaves one feeling very satisfied for hours after a workout. Sometimes I will put in a tablespoon of coconut oil for the MCTs also - as this shake has no fat except for whatever is in the protein powder.

Thank you C.O.! It is the morning after the massage at night. She worked on my neck, shoulders, and back (especially around my shoulder blades). I woke up so sore! All I can think of is how soft my skin is! I bought an organic grapeseed massage oil, being that it is an oil that is not too thin that it slips right over the skin and my other massage therapist said she can't feel the muscles with that kind of oil (hard to get at the knots) and my other rose oil was way too heavy and I did not like how it left my skin feeling cold and clammy! Grapeseed oil is just right. Now, if I can just afford to get the $100 for a teeny tiny bottle of pure organic rose oil (http://www.alteyaorganics.com/roseoil.html) to pour into the grapeseed oil (and possibly carrot seed and pomegranate oil also: https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/catalog/aromatherapy/essential-oils) for anti-aging properties. It is just going to take me some time this morning to get going. Biking is on the agenda! And it is a cool overcast morning (threatening rain, but not really) and the birds are chirping incessantly this morning! My Back was pushed to the limits yesterday. I was able to do a neutral grip Lat Pulldown with 180lbs for a set of 8 reps with a friend of mine's help. He helped me pull the bar down as far as possibly (by myself I could only get it down to where my elbow bent - 6 inches?) towards my chest, and then I struggled to eccentrically hold it steady as I let it go back up. On the 8th rep I was almost pulled from my seat, but I pushed down on the leg pad to hold me in place. It was wonderful to feel my back screaming to let the weight go! Today is Biceps with some Chest put in to keep them stimulated for the week (I have been doing one body part a day, which makes me do the bodypart twice a week, but it is on the two ends of the week, and if I do not take a break day). So I will go really heavy on the Biceps, and then I do some stability ball or Bosu ball stuff with the Chest (push-ups or maybe Pullovers today - that way I can start to work the obliques and serratus anterior for the Side Chest pose and the Oblique pose - warming up to the Physique poses - just in case I have to go into that category for the show). Does anybody else drink hot water (tea is good also, but it stains the teeth) in the morning to get a BM? Works for me pretty much all the time. Now with that out of the way, I can go for my 2 hour bike ride! See ya later vegan fitness enthusiasts!

Is there such thing as an hour of HIIT? I was under the idea that it was a 15 to 20 minute tops kind of deal. Do you go all out for a minute, and then do 4 minutes of normal exercise? and keep doing that cycle for 12 times?

Welcome Back! Time for some lifting yet?

Today as I was jogging, my partner reminded me that I don't have a Physique model body (tall and lean) and that if I go up against them I might not place. I have a short and stocky type of body - made for bodybuilding. Plus I get so worked up when I think about wearing bling bling and high heels (not that I don't like to wear them. I just don't want to be judged on them. My muscles should be all that is judged). Thus my mental focus is going to be on getting ripped/dieting down to be in the BB part of the show. I do hope I have some competition. Last year there was only one female BB in the Michigan Natural. I will have to go up and talk to the female BB contestant(s) in the upcoming show and ask them about the other shows coming up in September. Only 5 miles today jogging. I have Back today at the gym, and that always takes a huge toll on my energy, so I saved some energy up for the workout today. I also have a massage tonight (been a long time since I had one of those), and wonder if I will get reprimanded for all the knots in my quads. LOL. I will have to give an extra tip if she gets all of them out. Thinking about starting a facebook page. I wanted to wait till I got my iPhone and take some selfies to post on it. I have about 8 weeks out. Had my green smoothie today so far. Oatmeal after my shower, and Gardein with brown rice before my workout. I have to get creatine before my workout too. I love how that kicks in after half an hour of working out (extra boost of energy when the caffeine is gone). Still going to push the weights today, and hopefully the massage will not hurt too bad.

Been biking in the mornings. Quads have been so sore and fatigued since Leg day that I haven't been wanting to run in the morning at all these past 2 days. In fact my quad spasmed during the bike ride on the way back home (after 1 and 1/2 hour of biking pretty hard - partner is back and he pushed me hard today when I should have just backed off and coddle my quads. LOL!). Luckily today is Triceps, and Chest day was good yesterday (I was able to do just a little bit more weight than last Chest workout). Ran out of creatine, and debating whether to go to the store and get some before I go workout today, or just to go without it and do it tomorrow (which I will need as it will be Back workout day). Tomorrow it is. Looking at shows to do. I will go to the one that is 2 weeks from today, Michigan Natural NPC, just to see what is going on in the competitions here in Michigan. Someone told me that I would be perfect for Physique, so I will have to check out their poses and suits (and bling, bling stuff). There is 3 shows around here in September, so that is doable for me to get comp ready by then. And I see that 2 of them are National Qualifiers, and that Nationals is in October. So perfect timing. So time to get dieting down another 10 lbs away for Physique, or 20 lbs for BB. . . I guess I have a goal in mind now.