Thanksgiving Break!!

Hey! How is everybody? I'm so sorry that I haven't written in awhile. Thanks Apollo for asking about my training! Like every year at this time, things become hectic with shopping, family and everyday hassels. It definately has been crazy! My workouts haven't been consistent lately due to sinus problems and of course Thanksgiving. My weight has been holding steady. My diet hasn't been too bad. For Thanksgiving I did not eat any pies or dessert. I stuck with baked turkey and vegetables mostly. I had some Shrimp Etoufee the other day at Piccadilly. It was awesome. I'm drinking skim milk and eating bread. These are two foods I have to cut out when I'm dieting for competitions. They smooth you out and make you hold water. I have been feeling pretty good this week. Last week, I had some bad headaches and sinus problems. The sinus problems are new to me. I usually don't have trouble but it seems like for the past couple of years, it has gotten worse. The chiropractor cracked my neck today and said "You don't know how bad you needed that". He also pressed on some pressure points on the back of my neck!! OWW!! That was a sore spot. I didn't go see him at all last week and believe me, I know now how bad I needed it!
Tonight, noone came to my aerobic classes so I got to workout on my own in the weight room. It was pretty busy and I ran my mouth a little talking to a few people that I have not seen in a while. I worked upperbody. I performed 2x12-15 repetitions per exercise with no more than 15 seconds rest in between sets. This is what I did:

Chest Press Machine: 60# (no pushups today)
Lat Pulldown: 70#, 80#
One-arm Dumbell Bent Rows: 25#, 35#
Shoulder Press (dumbells): 15#, 20#
Side Lateral Raises: 15#
Alternating Incline Dumbell Curls: 15#
Tricep Pushdowns: 50#, 40#
Standing Calf raises: 80#

The workout was pretty light but it got my heart rate up and made me sweat a little. It took me about 30 minutes to complete. I went to the sunbed after that. I haven't been in awhile.

My diet today was: (drank lots of water, close to a galloon prob)
Breakfast: 4 egg whites, grits, 1 cup of skim milk
Lunch: 2 cups ofRed beans and rice, 4 oz. Coke
Snack: Chocolate Myoplex
Supper: 2 cups of Goulash (pasta, hamburger meat, tomato sauce)

I guess you could say it was High Carb day. I felt a little nauseated after my weight training. I don't think I ate enough today. I'm pretty active teaching PE. I usually run with the kids and do the warm up exercises with them.

GOOD, BETTER, BEST.
NEVER REST
UNTIL GOOD BE BETTER
AND BETTER BEST. ~ Mother Goose

Back On Track!

Hey! Last nights workout was OK. You can tell the season is changing. Noone really likes working out late in the afternoon after the time changes. It seems soo late. I have been guilty of skipping my workouts to. I have been so tired lately. One girl kept yawning during my class tonight. There weren't many people in my class. There were lots of people playing basketball on the courts though. Today, I am sore in my quads. We did so many different styles of lunges. It feels good though. I feel really good today! It's probably due to my diet yesterday.

This is what I ate:

Breakfast: 4 egg whites, bowl of grits ("can't believe it's not butter"spray
and pepper), 1 cup of skim milk

Lunch: 2 1/2 cups of plain rice and red beans with the butter spray and pepper. 1 20 ounce Coke (I'm trying to cut these out again but will do it slowly so I don't go through withdrawals like headaches. I cut Coke out cold turkey getting ready for competitions and felt bad for a week!)

Supper: 6 ounce Fillet Mignon and 1 chicken quessidillos with water

I only had 3 meals due to the abundance of food I had over the weekend. It's better to eat more frequent smaller meals than just 3 but I overdid it this past weekend so I'm trying to compensate. I have a bad habit trying to rationalize everything I do. I believe there is a reason for everything and try to understand everything and why it happens. That's really not a good habit to get into.. I'm trying to learn to "Let Go and Let God" take care of things I can't and don't understand. Journals are nice to have. They can show you patterns of behavior and you can go back and adjust yourself if needed. I don't know of any Boby builders or fitness/figure girls who don't have one.

I want to thank all of you for reading my Blog. I am very thankful for your support. It has been nice talking to some of you on yahoo. I need to put a guestmap or guestbook on here. I'm tying to learn how to do that. I have talked to people from Canada and London. In the USA, from Shreveport, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Mississippi to name a few.

Camo Day!

Today was "Camoflauge Day" at school. This has been an exciting and fun week for the kids. I believe the teachers have had just as much fun dressing up! My diet has turned to "WHATEVER" this week. I desperately need to go grocery shopping. I will this weekend. My "Buns" aerobic class was pretty good tonight. I had a good turn out. It seems like there are always new people coming to class. I don't have "regulars" right now it seems. The Aerobic Fitness class brought a few new students. One of my students, (not new) said she has lost 50 pounds since this past June! I am so excited for her. I could tell she'd lost some weight. I love it when people progress in their workouts! It makes me feel good about helping out, guiding them to their desired goals! It was kinda hot in the aerobics room. It seems to be that way lately. I worked legs today with just dumbells, no machines. I did some squats and lunges until I felt the "burn". I will start working them harder in a couple of weeks. I go to the chiropracter tomorrow and will ask how my pinched nerve is doing. My lower back is tight right now. I probably need another massage. The cold weather is coming! I really don't enjoy it. I believe I have SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. Winter depresses me. I can't stand the way I look in blue jeans sometimes. It depends on the brand, I guess. I have to lay in the sunbed at least twice a week in the winter so I wont become depressed! It is good hunting and football weather though. I try to keep an open mind and look at the good in everything.

EXCELLENCE IS NEVER AN ACCIDENT; IT IS ALWAYS THE RESULT OF HIGH INTENTIONS, DETERMINED EFFORT, AND SKILLED EXECUTION.

ULM Football Players signing autographs during 3rd grade PE!  

Yesterday.....and Today!

Yesterday was a very busy day, like always. I wasn't very active teaching PE cause we had guest speakers. Joey Trappey and Josh Jenkins from the ULM Football team came to talk to some of my classes about the importance of warming up properly, exercising, keeping your grades up and staying healthy. It was great! The kids really enjoyed it! Everyone wanted their autographs. I went to teach aerobic class later and NOONE SHOWED UP!! I couldn't believe it at first and then I remembered that Bill Cosby was performing tonight so I went and worked out in the weight room for a little bit. I did Back and Bi's. I felt pretty strong. I did 90-100#, 2x12 on Lat Pulldowns and used 30# dumbells for one-arm bent over rows. I worked my biceps with high reps of 20 with 15#. I worked my abs for about 3 minutes with minimum rest and variety to hit all areas. After 7PM, I went back to JGS to be with the Cheerleaders. When I walked in I smelled chili. It smelled so good! Guss what I did? OMG........I HAD FRITO PIE! I can't remember the last time I had that! It has been years!! My stomach cramped a little later and I had some trouble sleeping. I didn't feel like drinking the Protein drink I had brought. It's so easy for me to talk myself out of healthy eating right now. I guess it's cause I don't have a competition coming up for awhile. I won't be able to do this later! I still gotta watch that weight. They say it's easy when your a Pro cause you have to sign a contract saying you will not get past a certain weight and also what shows you DEFINATELY will be competing in. If you don't compete and/or go over your contract weight, you could be fined up to $1500. Serious business there!
Today, I was tired and fatigued! It probably had something to do with what I ate for supper last night! Shame on me! I did not work out at all today. I am about to go to bed early tonight. I am actually a little sore in my biceps today from yesterday's workout. My lower back is tight and achy also. I go back to the Chiropracter Friday.

THE BEST PREPARATION FOR TOMORROW IS DOING YOUR BEST TODAY.

It's Beginning To Feel Like Fall!

Today's workout was great. I did 30 minutes on the Elliptical Rider at a low to moderate pace achieving 2.16 miles. I worked my shoulders and triceps lightly after that. I usually do weights before cardio but I am changing it up right now. The key is to keep variety in your workouts so your body does not get used to it. This helps keep you from hitting a plateau. Do you ever see people working out day after day doing the same routine over and over and complaining about not getting the results they are after? Well, lack of variety is one reason why. Looking at it through exercise science, your body burns mostly carbohydrates during weight or anaerobic workouts where as cardio burns carbohydrates and fat. You don't want to deplete your glycogen stores (carbs) by doing cardio first all the time because then you will be weak when lifting weights. Make sense? Hope so. I would never do cardio first during competition training. When you are dieting very strictly, you want to try and hold on to as much lean muscle as you can. Strict dieting will cause you not only to lose water weight and fat but lean muscle tissue as well sometimes. It is crucial to keep up with your training and diet and to assess yourself regularly to determine how you are progressing. I have not taken my measurements yet but will soon. Right now, I'm assessing myself by how I feel in my clothes. When they start getting tight.....uh oh..... it is time to reassess. When my clothes are feeling loose and I feel comfortable, I know I'm on track. It's amazing what we can learn by just noticing little things and paying attention to how our bodies feel! I don't understand how some people can go to buffets and stuff themselves full until they're miserable and then turn around and do it again the next day! Remember: You Are What You Eat! This is so true! I feel heavy and tired after a high fat meal. You oughta see me after eating something high in salt! My eyes get really puffy and I look like I need sleep! I'm real sensitive to salt, I believe. Over the weekend, I did not eat well! I had SONIC! That was so salty, I can't believe people would even consider salting their food more! I also had Mexican Food last night and 2 Strawberry Margaritas at Superior Grill in Shreveport! OMG!! They are soo good! If I consume alota salt, I try to increase my water uptake to flush it out of my system. Can't wait until tomorrows workout! Until then, remember EVERY CONTEST IS A NEW OPPORTUNITY TO TEST OUR COURAGE AND RENEW OUR COMMITMENT.

I'm Behind .....Oops!

Hey! I have been really busy lately. I've been sleeping so hard the past few days. I woke up this morning at 11AM. I haven't slept that late in months! I guess I musta needed it. I felt really good and energetic today! I almost missed the Cross Country Championships this morning. I made it just in time to see two of my first graders run 1/2 mile. They were great! I had 4 students show up from JGS. Later we went tailgating at ULM and then to the football game! I had chicken and rice! It was great! Thanks Jimmy, you're the best chef ever! Ulm beat Utah State 32 to 25! I'm so proud of those boys! They have been working so hard! They have won 4 games this season now! Last night we watched "Shrek 2" and "White Chics". They were pretty good!
Thursday nights Aerobic Fitness class was awesome. For our warm up, I free styled a hip hop dance to "I've Got That Boom Boom " from Britney Spears featuring Ying Yang Twins. Everyone seemed to enjoy it! They were smiling and we were dancing! My arms seem to be shaping up again. After my last competition, I began "leveling out" as they call it but now I'm getting defined again. I've gotten a few compliments on them lately. Some guy said, "your biceps look like you could be a bouncer in a club". Never heard that one before! My shoulders are feeling better! I really do believe the Chirpracter is helping. I look forward to going and can tell a difference. My lower back is not as tight after teaching aerobic class like it usually is. I'll start squatting again soon. I really want to go run stadiums but it's hard right now finding the time to go when it's still daylight. I hope to go some more before it gets really cold. I don't like working out outside in the cold nor the humid heat. It's so hard on your cardiovascular system until you get acclimatized to it. It felt really nice today. I think the temperature was in the early 70's. THOUGHT OF THE DAY: PEOPLE WHO ACCOMPLISH BIG THINGS DID SMALL THINGS WELL.

Coming Along.....

Hey! I am 13 pounds away from my competition weight. It's amazing what you can do just by watching your diet! It is so important to plan and prepare your meals ahead of time. You have to if you want to be successful! I need to keep my protein higher. I am eating alot of carbs right now but watching my porportions and serving sizes. I'm trying to eat a little bit every 3-4 hours apart. Drinking water is important to. I've gotta get off the Cokes again. I'm drinking them every day again. I can't believe I went 15 weeks without one almost! I always drank about 8 ounces to 16 ounces of Coke after prejudging. It tastes even better when you haven't had it for awhile. The weather is getting cool enough to start running stadiums again. I can't believe it's November already. June 2005 will be here before I know it! That's when I'll start competing again! I can't believe Monica Brant got 3rd in the Figure Olympia! She is so awesome! Some friends of mine went to the Olympia this past weekend. They said it was pretty awesome! I plan on going next year!.................YOU CAN'T STUFF A GREAT LIFE INTO A SMALL DREAM!

LSU Vs. Vanderbelt 10/30/04: Over 90,000 people attended this game. I had a blast. We walked around alot. I guess you could say, we did our cardio! Haha!