Friday Favourites

My Friends!

Happy Friday My Peeps.

Whats new?

This Friday I am loving a few things and that all starts off with the fact that…

What are friends?

Just kidding. This exam period didn’t try to run me over with a truck this year and I’m so thankful that it was super relaxing. I had a total of two (unheard of for me!) and they were a week apart so I had the time to enjoy the beautiful weather that last weekend brought us with my housies.

So much love for them you have no idea. ❤

After all of it is said and done, I can say that my easy-peasy approach never led me to one of these moments…

Speaking of friends

I had a lil buddy for my ice cream tonight…

Adrian’s choice was spiderman –> mix of bubble gum and fruity flavours. The kids like the colourful ones I suppose.

My friend Rebecca’s lil cutie, Audrina. She literally would not let her Mom take her bowl away until she drank it all. Like ALL of it. So funny…

She’s got good taste in ice cream 😉

As for me, they brought my caramel Skor gelato back and so got that on top of my usual salty caramel because we all know that dat flavour ain’t going anywhere until they take it away from me…

More Ice Cream?

This…I need this! Holy moly I have wanted to try the cashew milk ones (apparently even better then the coconut milk varieties which are pretty good, almond milk ones…not so much and soy…no thanks), but omg the caramel make me officially get on it…

…and I don’t need to say much about this…

Grilling.

New BBQ (err. Dad’s…). First grill of the season. First halibut steaks of the season. Nuff said.

My job is intriguing me.

Despite the fact that I don’t get much time off, as I start my ‘job’ on Monday, I’m thinking my summa will still be pretty easy going.  I previously mentioned, I believe (?) that I got a job in Guelph doing research that had a component of nutrition. SO, I snagged that baby as fast as I could because a position in dietetics that isn’t volunteer is hard to come by! Anywho, basically after breaking down her research focus, I will be looking into couple concordance in health behaviours and interest in health interventions and early prevention/screening tools. In other words, does your significant other affect whether or not you would do a new screening for a given disease or whether or not you follow certain health behaviours? Cool eh?

On top of all of that, I get to do my work when and wherever I want just as long as I get it done and it’s full time paid work. I’m getting paid to do literature reviews on what makes people do things for their health!

Can I say winning yet?

I’m content. 😀

Finally, speaking of research, I came across an interesting article today on Facebook and decided to share…

Metabolic Damage…Again. 

I know I have touched on this topic time and time again, but heres to giving you another resource to take a peak at if you are still on the fence and not ready to drop the cardio and eat all the foods your body is crying out for.

Link

A damaged metabolism does more then just make loosing weight nearly impossible (and fat gain possibly…well, possible). Classic symptoms of your body being overly stressed including digestive upset (bloating, indigestion, etc), water retention, fatigue, etc are all very common and just plain annoying if you ask me. Furthermore, more serious things such as the loss in the ability to absorb some of your nutrients (because your gut is A-N-G-R-Y) and chronically high levels of cortisol (hello fat gain and overtaxed organs) also happen and are not things to mess around with.

So without going back into it, I will conclude with saying…

Eat more then 1200 calories because that doesn’t mean you loose weight, it often means you gain it.

The longer you starve yourself, the longer it’s going to take to heal

This same goes for cardio. More cardio is not better. More cardio just means more fixing later. Do as little as you can to simply keep your ticker tickin.

No hour to two hour treadmill or stair steppin session mmmkay?

So yeah, I hope you had a great Friday. Good luck with any left over exams for my fellow students and have a great weekend my friends!

❤

-Chelsea

Just One More Week…

…Until I get to see this face again

Miss Maggie just ridin in her carseat

😀

She makes me very happy! Why do I get said snuggle time with her in one week?? Cuz it’s Eastttaaa Weekend! Wooo and I booked it alll off.

Hey Friends!

How is your weekend treating you so far?

For me, I had my one and only day off today (Friday) as I have to work all weekend. #SadFace. I’m trying not to think about it too much so I don’t stress myself out about it too much, but I know that I will be exhausted by the time Tuesday comes around which is when I get a lil breaky once again. I can’t say I’m too mad about that Tuesday swap up though, you see, it’s exam time at McMaster and so our shift schedule at the gym has been changed up and I no longer have to work my double shift on Tuesdays!!! Weeooo!!

It’s not that I don’t like working in the gym. I do. It’s just that 8 whole hours of a floor shift can be quite draining to make it through all in one go. Understand? I will leave you with the fact that I LOVE being a personal trainer!

Speaking of work, this made me laugh..

I Hope it did the same for you. 🙂

Also speaking of work, this made me smile this morning…

We had a part time staff get together dinner last week to announce awards for outstanding staff members. The awards for our department were Support Staff, Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor of the Year. Although I didn’t win Personal Trainer of the Year (Congrats Rachael, I voted for ya! ;-)), this was really nice to receive.

Lastly….kinda about work…

Do you ever wonder about dreams and how they are connected your emotions?

I sometimes wonder if my dreams are trying to tell me something that I’m unaware of in my conscious state.

What the heck is she talkin about?!?

I’m not crazy talkin! You have all probably heard theories about dreams being connected to your feelings. Almost like symbols of what you are really feeling. It makes sense when you think about it though as emotions can manifest themselves in very interesting ways, including, potentially, the topics of your dreams. I have heard a few thoughts about what dreams mean…NOTE: these are not from scientific journals or anything, I’m just saying what I have heard..

• If you are scared of something, whether it me psychologically or physically based, it may appear in your dream as a symbol. Take a ‘monster‘ chasing you for example.
• Falling is often said to mean that you are feeling out of control or overwhelmed about something.
• Being chased is thought to be that your are running away from some conflict or thing you need to deal with in real life.
• Flying may represent a feeling of control, empowerment or escape/freedom.

Source: http://www.dreammoods.com/commondreams/

So why am I bringing this up? What does it have to do with work?

Well, I rarely remember my dreams, but a few nights ago I happened to have a vivid dream that I was being chased or stalked by some murderer (scary I know!) guy. Nothing happened to me though as my boyfriend ended up waking me because I was making some whimpering-like noises so I needed cuddles. Aww he’s sweet 😀

Now it could totally be random that I remembered it but it could also be a sign of anxiety or a feeling of being overwhelmed as I had this dream during one night in and amongst working about 30 hours in a mere 3.5 days. Coincidence?

Perhaps BUT one other reason I’m thinkin it’s stress related is because I used to have a lot of the same types of dreams (falling/being chased/ being murdered) as a child when the high anxiety part of my personality was at it’s worst. This anxiety was so bad that I was going to have to be tested for epilepsy following a period of time suffering with petite mal seizures. I wasn’t actually diagnosed because one smart doctor of mine suspected they were stress related and told my parents that I needed a dog…

Miraculously, the seizures ceased after the arrival of Lacey. Following this logic, perhaps I just needed an outlet for my stress and a pet (we had lost our beautiful border collie not too long ago before the seizures started) was the perfect solution. It’s amazing the healing abilities that simple contact with an animal can have on people.

So could this dream mean that I’m feeling overwhelmed by work and in desperate need for a break? Is that why I’m really missing Maggie right now?

It’s all possible and all I can say is…

Just one more week.

Do you wonder about the meaning of your dreams?

Any plans for Easter?

What are your most common dreams?

-Chelsea

Friday Fav-Finds Numero UNO

Hey Friends!

I didn’t have time to join the WIAW partay this week but it’s prolly for the best as I didn’t really have anything too exciting to share. Thanks digestive problems for still keeping me stuck to my safe foods. ANNNNYYWHOOO, I have seen a couple other bloggers do these types of posts (Friday Faves a la Sweat The Sweet Life with Lauren, Friday Finds with Crystal over at Spoonful Of Fit) and I thought that since I missed out on one foodie share, I will just fill that void in your lives with another one 😀 You missed me right?

So, I’m going to be super cool and combine the two post ideas, starting with…

My top fav food of this week was this..

MaraNatha roasted almond butter. Now I know that this may be nothing new or exciting for anyone else but I’m a lil behind on the almond butta train ookkkaay. I didn’t even think I really liked almond butter. I mean my peanut butter is amazeballz and the new cashew butter that has infiltrated my heart is liquid gold. What’s special about almonds? Well, apparently my body suffered a small loss when my eyes were forced to watch my boyfriend polish off that rather large jar of my homemade Nuttzo as I started to randomly crave almond butter. Weird? For me, yes. Anyways, wouldn’t you know that during this rando craving state, it was almond butta that was the ‘to be put on sale’ winner at Fortinos this week. So I took that as my sign and snatched one up. I must say, it tasted preeeety tasty in my banana-berry-tastic zoats!

Favourite Meal of this week…

A beast of a salad at the best salad place I have been to yet, Fast and Fresh. It is located in the Urban Eatery at the Eaton Centre and is always my treat when I go downtown. Salad base of kale (yes kale, cool they offer this now eh?) and mixed greens, which I told them to take it easy on as this girl is alllll about her toppings! Who’s with me on that one? Roasted turkey breast chunks, celery, cuc, broccoli florets, carrot shreds and the best toppings….sundried tomatoes and sauteed portabello mushrooms. YUMMO. Lightly dressed in their house made balsamic regretting. Don’t be fooled by this picture, this salad is about the size of my head and I can never finish the whole bowl but I definitely don’t leave any gourmet toppings that’s for sure!

Favourite Pin

ICE CREAM!! Healthy, dairy free, gluten-free ice-cream to be exact. That makes for a very happy girl!. 😀 <- yup, just like that

This is a delicious and more nutritious version of Bananas Foster Caramel ice cream a la Desserts With Benefits. Jessica is a genius when it comes to making some of the greatest sweets healthy and guilt free. She has sooo many more ice-cream varieities on her blog along with other cakes, cookies, sweets and much more. Check her out here.

Four O’Clock Teas. I got a sample of the Truffle Mint flavour from work and WOW this tea is tasty!  I really liked that it was an herbal tea because of the natural medicinal properties of herbal blends in addition to the fact that as I tend to drink my teas at night and prefer ones with less or no caffeine. All of their their amazing flavours are organic and comprised of wholesome and natural spices, herbs, roots, extracts, pure cacao and much more so you can feel good about sippin them all up. Aside from the herbal varieties, they also carry loose leaf teas, rooibos tea (If you haven’t heard of the amazing benefits of this tea, go here), green, black and white teas, energy teas and assorted boxes that allow you to sample a variety. Definitely a brand to check out if you are tea lover. Here’s looking at you Miss Molly! Top 5 flavours I want to try now that I have found this tea….

1. Banana Cinnamon Spice (black tea)

2. Gingerbread (herbal)

3. Chocolate Spice (herbal)

4. Apple Caramel Spice Black Tea

5. Almond Biscotti (white Tea)

If you want to see more check them out here!

Got Camel? Okay that was cruel, I don’t like to think about where my meats come from but I got super excited to go to the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto this week to pick up a new variety of exotic meat. This time it was ground camel AND ground venison

So if you have any cool recipes to share or ideas on how to use these guys, let me know. I feel like venison will be easier to find something (other than burgers) to base a recipe off of but camel…hmmm I will have to think on that one!

Well that’s it for me today. Time for snackie and Entourage with Andre 😀 ❤

Any Friday Faves?

Did you find anything cool this week?

TGIF, Happy Friday evening all

-Chelsea

Dem Gains Doe…Fitness Friday

Hey Friends,

Another late Fitness Friday post due to workin my lil tush off all day. Gotta share those workouts and progress reports though right? 😀 I had a really good set of workouts again this week that involved lots of PR’s and just pushin around some heavy weights. Just the way I like it 😉 Without further ado, I give you my week of sweatin it out in the gym. Oh and don’t forget to check out the wonderful Lindsay and her Crossfit workouts over at The Lean Green Bean!

Sunday was Back and Biceps

Warmup: Decline weighted (30) oblique situps + weighted (7.5) leg raises on captains chair x 3 sets = Superset

Unfortunately for me, my lovely workout had to be cut a lil short due to having to run off to work for 11am. I really wish my gym’s hours didn’t change on the weekend….8:30 really?!? Ain’t nobody got time for that! Anyways, still managed to get almost all of it in before I flew out of the gym at 10:30 to bike to worky. I chose to do wide grip pull-ups at our squat racks this week as a lil challenge. This meant no added weight, but they did NOT need it. Wide grip is super tough all on their own. Still good numbers though as I managed to bang out 7-8 good reps for all 5 of my sets 😀 I did another week of dumbbell rows with the 40’s and they are still feeling pretty good, although my grip strength is terrible! Curse you small hands! It seems not matter how long I do back for, my forearm and grip strength just does not improve because my hands are soo small they are always straining. Any tips?

Monday was Chest and Calves as per usual

Warmup: Decline weighted (35) situps + pikes using the exercise ball x 3 sets = Superset

New PR on incline chest press! Well, actually I have tried the 35’s before, but never for this long and for this many reps, so I would say that is a gain for sure. 😀 I really surprised myself by working at about 6 reps per set. Much better than I thought I would do! If you take a closer look at the rest of my workout you can see a slight trend….My stamina starts to die off slowly. I decided to be all cocky and go for 35’s on flat bench directly after my incline press and, well, I was too optimistic for my own good. Without a spotter on my first set with the 35’s I struggled too much to get the weights up and was only able to do 3 (to get those reps up I did a drop set with 25’s). The second attempt was much better after a spotter helped me get the weight up. My dumbbell flies were still strong, but by the time I hit my last superset my muscles were a lil tired so I had to drop the weight on my peck deck by 5lbs. Ugh. 😦 I suppose that means I drained my chesticles (as my bf would call them) of all their energy.

Wednesday was Shoulders and Triceps

Warmup: Decline weighted (30) oblique situps + weighted (7.5) leg raises on captains chair x 3 sets = Superset

I decided to try something a lil different on this day. Nothing too crazy but I wanted to see if I felt the burn in my shoulders more if I did ALL of my shoulder work first and left dips to the end. So what happened? Well I was able to do heavier dips than normal! It’s been a while since I have done 90lbs in my lap woo 😀 I would say that was a success. What else was successful? Having the guy who was helping me to pile on my plates for dips ask me “you want ALL of that weight?” Yes, yes I do 😀 Still going hard with those 30’s for shoulder dumbbell press and still loving to hate that exercise 😉 Also, just cuz I added 3 sets of tricep pushups at the end of my workout…cuz I’m a workout-aholic. One thing I have thought about is whether I should isolate my shoulders and delts to one day and work tris in somewhere else. I really want to bring up my shoulders and because of this I don’t feel my tris are getting enough attention. Despite my biceps requiring only a few isolated exercises to pop, my tris are not as nice and need a lil more work. Hmmm things to think about.

Today (Friday) was Legs

Warmup: Decline weighted (40) situps + rope cable crunches (52.5) x 3 sets = Superset

Man oh man, do I ever kill my legs every time I work’em. I love knowing that I have demolished them, but the process is a tough one to keep plowing though. I PR’ed on barbell squats, upping my weight to 140. Yes, only 5 total points extra, but hey, any gain is a good gain! I was also informed that I tend to dip a lil to the right when squatting unintentionally. Not by much, but still something I definitely need to correct. One thing I want to mention is that if you have never tried supersetting a leg exercise with weighted wall sits, you are missing out on a world of pain! Please, tell me on a scale of 1-10 how much I have made you want to work those into your routine? Lol. I generally like to finish my workout with quad extensions to completely burn out that muscle and it’s even more ‘fun’ when I do those wall sits too. On a positive note, still rocking the minute and a half on those babies 😀

Well that’s it for tonight, time for my snacky before beddies. Mmmm peanut butta and chocolate Casein puddin 😀

Keep rockin those workouts!

-Chelsea

I may not be the strongest. I may not be the fastest. But I will be damned if I’m not trying my hardest.

Just Workin’ on my Fitness with Fitness Friday

Hey Friends,

Due to me just getting off of worky, this post will be short and sweet…just like me 😉 Like always if you are interested in seeing where this awesome idea of a blog event came from and for more fitness inspiration check out Lindsay’s page at The Lean Green Bean. You won’t regret it!

Anywho onto the main event…What did Lil Miss Fitness Freak do in the gym this week?

1. I kept going with my goals of pushing myself hard to maintain those 5×5 sets for my first major exercise of the day and let me tell you, it feels amazing to do so! I have made quite a few gains this week, which I will share as I go through my workouts
2. What happened when I didn’t sugar load this week? ….well I can’t give a confident statement that anything changed because I was dead tired this morning for my leg day due to not getting my snoozies on til late last night. Ooops. Despite the weights hitting me a lil bit harder, I still surpassed some of my normal weights and rep ranges! In any case, the experiment presses on and I will continue with the lesser amount of sugar next week too and keep you posted!

Alrighty, on to the workouts!

Sunday was Back and Biceps

Warmup: Decline weighted (30) oblique situps + weighted (7.5) leg raises on captains chair x 3 sets = Superset

New PR! I did 10 chin-ups without weight! Wooo 😀 I have never done that before as I find chins harder than the various pull-up variations. I was so happy! I also managed to bang out 4 sets of weighted chin-ups (10lb dumbbell between my feet). Another smaller accomplishment, although still means I’m gettin stronger, was that I got another rep with the 17.5’s for seated hammer curls. My biceps were killin it that morning as those were after triangle pull downs which also place a heavy emphasis on bicep action. Baby biceps are lookin to push some weight!Monday was Chest day + Calves

Warmup: Decline weighted (35) situps + reverse situps on the decline bench x 3 sets = Superset

This was the day…the day I was going to push those 40lb dumbbells for my decline chest press. Guess what? I did it! Biggest accomplishment and moment of self-pride for the week. First set I got 4 on my own (no guidance from spotter) than aid on the last rep. The second set was frustrating because my right wrist gave out on the 3rd rep and led to the dumbbell collapsin on my chest (to my spotter…thanks for saving my face!). That was annoying because I knew I could have done more! For the last set with the 40’s it appeared that I was fired up from the frustration from my previous set as I banged out 5 on my own and then on the 6th I had help from the spotter to complete the rep before my wrist gave out. (dumbbell splat again..). Sooo apparently my wittle wrist needs some conditioning. Breaking that mental block I tell you! Also, side note, by biceps killed after this workout. Still tired from Sunday’s action I suppose.

Wednesday was Shoulders and Triceps

Warmup: Decline weighted (30) oblique situps + weighted (7.5) leg raises on captains chair x 3 sets = Superset

I was determined to do more sets with the 30’s and so I ended up doing 4 and did really well. I would hit about 5 on my own which is better than last week even! Again, that self-concept is suuuper important for your lifting progress. My overhead barbell presses felt great that day too! The 50 bar seemed lighter (shoulder boulders be growin!) and I felt a really good squeeze on those lateral raises. Overall, great workout for the shoulders that morning. I was content.

Today (Friday) was Leg Day

Warmup: Decline weighted (40) situps + weighted leg raises on captains chair x 3 sets = Superset

Wowza was I ever tired this morning. Didn’t end up sleepin until fairly late last night so I walked into the gym feelin like I was rockin those heavy eye bags hardcore! Despite the fact that the sleepiness made the weights feel a bit heavier on the first round of my first exercise (perhaps that’s a mental thing too…?) I bumped up my barbell squats for the first super set (was workin with 105 the last time I worked them in with lunges) to 125! NOTE that this weight is directly following walking lunges using a weight that is more than me (100lbs). I then proceeded to push my leg press (close feet) up to 250 which is 20lbs heavier than the last time. It shows me that maybe tiredness is truly a mental block as well and doesn’t actually make you any less capable of progressing and doing well in the gym!

Anyways, like I said, short and sweet. I just want to mention that I love pushing this hard and seeing gains so I will continue to keep progressing and seeing what this lil body is made of! Perseverance can be tough but the results make it all worth it!

Keep sweatin,

-Chelsea

Fitness goals are attained not by strength but by perseverance. ~ Felicity Luckey

Fitness Fri….err opps

Hey Friends 😀

Well this is embarrassing. It’s only my third week of Fitness Friday’s and…well…I forgot to make a post! I hope you can forgive me. Anyways, this will be short and sweet because it’s a lil late, so here are my workouts from the week of May 26-June 1

Chest was done on Monday as per usual and this time I decided to do all calves as my secondary muscle

Warmup: Decline weighted (35) situps + reverse crunches on decline bench x 3 sets = Superset

My next goal here is to bump those 35lb dumbbells up to 40’s for my decline bench press. I think I could do it right now with a spotter but I just have to get past the psychological barrier first. Oh that mind is a powerful thing.

Shoulders and Triceps was done on Wednesday

Warmup: Decline weighted (30) oblique situps + hanging leg raises x 3 sets = Superset

I switched it up a lil bit this week by starting off with overhead press rather than dumbbell press. I do this every couple weeks to see if that helps me to lift the 30’s better for seated shoulder dumbbell press. This particular exercise has been one of the hardest for me to bump my weights up, so I try to confuse my muscles to see if that helps me get stronger. I also did single arm dumbbell shoulder presses which are great for gaining symmetry, strength and working your stabilizer muscles.

Legs got pushed to up to Thursday as I was working an open shift on Friday

Warmup: Decline weighted (40) situps + cable rope crunches (47.5) x 3 sets = Superset

Again this workout was a very sweaty one for me. Working in a sauna is not my idea of fun, but you gotta get’er done right? My legs were pretty shaky after the barbell squats and I definitely felt it during my walking lunges. One great thing was I didn’t feel any knee pain this time! Wahoo! 😀 I was getting a lil worried about that. Other than still feeling sore today (days of DOMS = 3 and counting) I felt good overall in terms of energy. Thank you raisins in my pre-workout oatmeal! 😉 I tried weighted planks (used 25lbs) today (elevated feet still) and they were tough! I got just over a minute for most of them and was surprised when I couldn’t make it to my normal 1:30. Try them out!

Back and Biceps was Saturday’s workout

Warmup: Decline weighted (30) oblique situps + leg raises and knee ups on captains chair x 3 sets = Superset

I managed to do one set of 4 weighted pullups with a slightly higher weight (12.5lb vs. 10lb) due to peer pressure 😉 Oh well, it was good to try it out. I also managed to bump up my single arm dumbbell rows to 40lbs! Back is gettin stronger! With my bicep work that day I decided to try and superset my two exercises together and man was that tiring. Made my arms swell right up! Lastly, I also have been wanting to try weighted side planks for a long time as no matter what variation I have been doing (note that I don’t want to be holding it for like 5 minutes), side planks are just too easy for me. So, I balanced a 10lb dumbbell on my side as I was doing them and I definitely felt it. If you try it out, just place the dumbbell’s bar on your waist (perpendicular to your body) and if it’s shaky, than place your hand on top of it like you would if you were resting your hand on your waist.

Just one other lil piece of exciting news, if you follow me on instagram you would have noticed that I got featured for my workouts in the #mayfitmonth challenge being run by Kim over at The Coconut Diaries and Alina at Cleanlovin. I just wanted to thank these two ladies so much for the feature and their kind words as it brought a lot more people to my page to check out my workouts for inspiration! If you haven’t found their websites or instagram accounts you definitely should take a peek at their sites as they have some amazingly delicious recipe ideas.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend 🙂

-Chelsea

Good habits are as addicting as bad habits but much more rewarding

Fitness Friday Numero Deux

Hi Friends 😀

As Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean says, it’s time to get motivated! I hope you liked my workout routines from last week cuuuuz I’m going to give you a fresh list of this workouts that I did this week. 😉 Please feel free to give any suggestions for different exercises or to ask about any of the exercises that I have mentioned. I’m all ears 😀

This week things got a lil bit shifted due to starting my new job…I now officially work at GoodnessMe! Waahhoo!…and the long weekend (don’t gyms know that I want to workout on holidays?!?! :-P). This meant that I had to place three workouts in a row (exhausting much) and today I’m currently on my 2nd day of that string. I was also struggling a lil bit by the end of the week due to ‘lady problems’…My fellow females will understand the this feeling. For the males out there, it’s like a string of ‘off’ days where you’re just plain tired and every weight you pick up feels heavier than normal. It’s so frustrating! #GirlProblems. Anyways, I pushed through them and still managed to pull off nice, sweaty workouts. 😀

Back and Biceps remained on Sunday as the gym was closed for the holiday Monday (Victoria Day for all my Non-Canadian Friends)

Warmup: 3 sets of weighted oblique situps on decline bench (30lbs) + reverse situps also on decline bench= Superset

My pullups appear to be getting easier, especially those first 6ish so perhaps my weighted pullup training is helping! 😀

My Monday chest workout was than shifted to Tuesday

Warmup: 3 sets of decline weighted situps (35lbs) +  Jackknifes using the exercise ball= Superset

If you have never tried push-ups using the bosu ball, you definitely should! It takes the toughness of this exercise up to a whole other level.

I had to work an early morning shift (8:30am) at my new job so my shoulder and tricep workout was pushed to Thursday

Warmup: 3 sets of weighted oblique situps (30lb) using the decline bench + leg raises and knee ups on the captain chair= Superset

This day I was really feeling the ‘lady problems.” I was exhausted and was struggling to hit my normal rep range for each weight. It was frustrating, but I have to learn to accept the fact that the body doesn’t perform exactly the same day in a day out. These lil challenges are actually a great thing because they allow you to grow and get stronger! This was also my first time trying barbell upright rows and they felt good! Grow lil delts 😀

Today (Friday) was leg day and, again, I was uber tired. I even got 8 hours of sleep! Geesh body what do you want from me. Anyways, I powered through it and it was a sweaty one for sure.

Warmup: 3 sets of weighted situps (40lbs) on decline bench + cable crunches using the rope attachment (47.5)= Superset

If you want a great sweat, try supersetting barbell squats with another dynamic movement. I did weighted step-ups today.

I have a wedding tomorrow afternoon and work on Sunday, so I’m off to the gym first thing tomorrow morning to complete my 3-day workout string. Phew, Sunday will be nice as my body will finally get to rest from the weightroom.

How do you push through your ‘off’ days?

That’s all friends. We will chat workouts again next friday 😀

-Chelsea

It’s a lifestyle – train like there’s no finish line.

Flex those Guns cuz it’s Fitness Friday

Hey Friends! 😀

Yeah yeah it’s Friday! One thing I have really wanted to get involved in is Lindsay’s Fitness Friday over at The Lean Green Bean.I think it’s a great way to share workouts with others for not only inspiration but also for keeping everyone motivation and excited to continue with their fit lifestyles. I hope that my workout routines can be used as examples of how you can set up a routine, if that’s your thing, or perhaps show you new exercises to incorporate into your own personal routine to help you reach your fitness goals.

Before I begin, I feel like I should give a brief overview of my training style and goals. Currently, I lift weights 4 times a week for about 2 hours a sesh. Although that may seem like a long time, I truly love training and actually find it hard to kick my butt out of the gym once I am there. If I could train more I would, but this is what I am limited to at the moment (I will explain why in a second). In these sessions, I isolate one to two muscle groups (with the addition of abdominal/oblique exercises in every session) with the ultimate goal of lifting as heavy as possible because my current goal is to build some good muscle on my lil frame. That being said, I would still be lifting heavy if I was working to maintain strength because I truly feel that doing a million repetitions of light weights will really get you nowhere and we don’t want that amirite? We want to be strong and moving forward!

And ladies, this means you too, repeat after me:

Lifting Heavy Weights Will NOT Make Me Turn Into A Bulky, Vascular Man

This just doesn’t happen on a woman’s frame naturally. I know you have probably heard this time and time again, but still many females believe they will bulk up if they lift weights. Don’t buy into that fear, lifting weights will allow you to build beautiful LEAN muscle mass that will make you look and feel tighter I promise 😀 Okay, preaching over…

The second thing that you may notice from viewing my workouts is that they lack a cardio component. Truth is, it’s missing for a reason. I don’t do it. Period. Now, would I like to be able to do some cardiovascular conditioning? Yes. Is it healthy to have cardiovascular training in your life? Yes. So why the heck do I choose to ignore it? Well, you see, my body just doesn’t like it….

To keep it short and sweet, whenever I have ever tried to add a form of cardio into my routine, I have dropped weight (read: my hard earned muscle). Take last year for example when I decided to do Tough Mudder. I figured that due to my own regime not including cardio, it might be a good idea to train for this event as there is an endurance/running component to it. So my boyfriend and I started going for runs about twice per week to try to get me up to par (and omg did I hate running!). This lasted about 3 weeks before I had to call it quits as I had dropped about 3 or 4 pounds (on a 5 foot frame, this is a HUGE amount) of weight that my frame really doesn’t have to give up. Even more frustrating was the fact that the bulk of that loss was muscle mass, which I have spent the last year trying to regain. Ugh. So the summary of the story is that I don’t do cardio on its own because apparently I cannot eat enough to sustain myself doing both cardio and weight training (hello metabolism!). Of course, this doesn’t mean that I have no cardio in my life. Instead of slaving away on a treadmill, I bike to the places I need to get to and I incorporate a lot of supersets into my workouts. So far, this works for me and has allowed for me to put on some good muscle.

So thats kind of where I am at right now and although I could have included a lot more (ie: my general fitness philosophy), I decided to save that for another post. Please Feel free to make any suggestions in the comment box, I would love to hear from ya! 😀

Ok so now onto the fun stuff! Here are this week’s workouts:

Sunday May 12

Warmup: 3×8 weighted oblique situps (using 30lbs) on decline bench + leg raises and knee ups to failure on captain’s chair (Superset)

Personally, I love training back because not only do defined backs look HOT (male or female), but I have been working at increasing my pullups and it has been working! PR of 10 continuous reps wooo! :-D. This day was the second day doing weighted pullups.

Speaking of pullups, check me out! This was my boyfriend and I just playing around in the park the other day. Not my best set, but pullups nonetheless 🙂

Monday May 13

Warmup: 3×10 Decline weighted (40lbs) situps + jackknifes on the exercise ball (about 8-10)= Superset

Chest is quickly becoming my favourite workout of the week! I love the gains that I have made 😀 Oh and as a side note, because I only target chest on this day, I always throw in a set or two of calves + a random leg exercise…just cuz 😉

Wednesday May 15

Warmup: 3×8 weighted (30) decline oblique situps + leg raises and knee up’s using the captain’s chair= Superset

Shoulders are my toughest muscle group to work. Specifically I have been stuck using the same weight for my basic dumbbell press (25’s) for a while now and it’s frustrating! That being said, I have been doing a set with the 30’s every time to see if it’s just a psychological barrier that I need to break (ie. ahhh where’s the 27.5? I can’t go from 25 to 30!) and they are tough! Gotta get myself a spotter for that one for sure. I have gone up for my overhead press though 🙂

Friday May 17

Warmup: 3×12 weighted (35) decline situps + crunches using the cable machine with the rope (weight:47.5)= Superset

….the dreaded leg day…Although physically exhausting, my legs are like tree trunks and so I can push around a good amount of weight so I can’t say that I hate training this body part (gotta love when a girl under 100lbs can lift more than a guy 😉 ). Don’t quote me on that though because the DOMS has been out of control lately even though I have been spending ample time with the stupid and painful foam roller! Today was particularly sweaty as I decided to superset heavy lunges with squats, but hey, no pain no gain right?…ugh I’m going to be cryin tomorrow.

So those were my major workouts for this week, I hope you enjoyed them! Just for your information, these pictures, along with my other foodie pictures, are also posted on my instagram account if you would like to check them out there! 🙂 Also, head on over to The Lean Green Bean for more workout fun!

Enjoy your Friday,

Chelsea

You focus your mind to train your body and the changes that begin to take place impact your mind as well. Dream it, believe it, and you will achieve it.

The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground – Unknown