Glory Days
Sorry I missed yesterday. When I dragged myself in the house last night, I could barely hold my eyes open. I had to crash. I didn’t even stay on Crack-book–I mean Face Book–for very long. That is the most addictive thing I have encountered in a long time. It has been incredible reconnecting with people I haven’t heard from in over 20 years.
Some of the reconnections bring back long-forgotten memories. Like my friend who used to be our trainer for the basketball teams. We became good friends because I was always hurting myself, and he had to tape my ankles up–a LOT—so I could still play. My style of play was somewhat of a cross between kamikaze and the Tasmanian Devil. Of course, I am approximately the same height as the Tasmanian Devil, which is a disadvantage among the trees on a basketball court. So I just had to be quicker and more aggressive. I hurt myself almost every game, diving after loose balls, into the bleachers, into the walls, the cheerleaders, whoever or whatever was in diving distance. And I would get in and fight for rebounds, since I have always had a great jumping ability. But I would often land on someone else’s foot. My ankles were always sprained, and my toes always seemed to be bleeding even through two pairs of socks. (I have never been able to find shoes that fit right. I just have odd feet, I guess.) Anyway, I had forgotten all about the bad ankles and so many fun details of my basketball years, and it all came rushing back.
Many have asked me if I have always been into fitness. I totally lived for basketball in high school. I had the opportunity to play for some small colleges on scholarship, but in 1987 there was no WNBA or any way to make a living playing basketball. So I took my academic scholarships instead. I thought often about coaching. I was an assistant student coach to the JV basketball girls in high school and loved it, but I never pursued it any further. Those were the ‘glory days’ for sure. I also was big into track, was a fixture at first base in softball, and did play a little volleyball, but only one year. We won the state championship though, so that was cool. I gave it up because I was doing so many horse shows during volleyball season and it was too much. I loved working out even way back then, and often joined in some of the drills with the football players. Like those big, heavy rubber jump ropes that weigh like 10 pounds. I got so good with those that I could cross them in front of me as I jumped. It was hard to give all that up after high school, so I feel blessed to have discovered bodybuilding and fitness. I knew I had found my niche!
Speaking of niches, I did get a couple of great workouts in yesterday and today, even though I am STILL fighting this darn detox or whatever the heck it is. I am still sniffly and stuffy, and it’s hard to breathe. Yesterday was chest and abs, just a quick light workout with cardio intervals. And today I worked out with a new dear friend of mine, who really pushed me into a great leg workout.
Chest/Cardio workout (yesterday)
- Warmup on elliptical machine with moving arms
- Hammer Strength Incline Chest Press, 3 sets, 12, 10 & 10 reps with 40 lbs each arm, supersetting with jumping rope in between sets
- Dumbbell flyes on incline bench, 25 lbs, 3 sets of 12, supersetted with step-ups on bench holding 15 lb bells. (I am proud. This is the best weight I have ever done on flyes)
- Fly machine, 3 sets of 12 reps, 40 lbs
- Pushups with varying hand positions, 6 sets of 10 reps, each set different. Between sets, I was doing jump lunges for cardio and some ab work.
- Finished with some squat jumps
Today, I worked legs with higher reps and lower weights. My friend Colette worked with me, and really helped me get my full range of motion on each rep and control the movement so each rep was more effective. Hey, even trainers need a trainer! The motivation, encouragement, and watchful eye on form is so important.
Leg Workout:
- Warmup on recumbent bike
- Squats in squat rack, warmup with 2 sets of 15 reps, light weight–95 & 115 respectively
- Deep squats on Smith machine, 3 sets of 15 reps, increasing weights
- Leg press, wide plie stance, 15 reps full deep range of motion, 295 lbs, 3 sets
- Calves on donkey calf machine, 3 sets of 3 foot positions–12 reps each position, so each set had 36 reps. Wow! That burned!
- Isolateral Hammer Leg Extension machine, 3 sets 40 lbs each leg, super slow reps to failure
- Lying Hamstring Curls, 50 pounds, 3 sets of 12, super slow reps
Whew, that was a good workout today! Longer than I normally do, especially with the slow reps. But it was great, and I need to really whale on my legs to get some quick growth. So I am up for working them as hard as I can! Thanks, Collette! 
My post-workout smoothie was an awesome Apple Pie Smoothie. Just blend apples, banana, spinach, coconut water, cinnamon or apple pie spice, and Sun Warrior protein for a decadent treat. I bet you had never thought about cinnamon and spinach together, huh? I videoed this one, so it will be up soon.
I am so excited about how well my first Living Foods Preparation Class went on Saturday. I am doing a short presentation at my Network Club tomorrow, and I am going to talk about Living Foods. And I have another class coming up on Feb. 12th. For that one, it will be a Valentine’s special: Decadent Desserts in a Red & Chocolate Theme. I am going to prove you can eat your cake and have your abs too! I am also planning to team up with a dear friend of mine who is an Arbonne consultant extraordinaire, and teach her clients ‘How to Eat for Beautiful Skin & Hair’. That will be a fun class–teaching about which foods specifically promote younger-looking skin and healthy hair.
Thank you for all your kind words and encouragement. It means the world to me. Thank you for following along on my journey, and making it more enjoyable every step of the way. Blessings!
As always, LET IT RAWK!
Be Defiant!
Christy
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