Bombshell Training in Full Force!
Well, I am well into my second week of full-fledged official Bombshell Training and Dieting. The reason I haven’t written much about my experiences so far is that I have been so thoroughly worked out that my fingers wouldn’t even type!
Nah–just kidding, but this new schedule has taken some adjustment, and is great because it is forcing me to be much more organized and efficient. I need that. My biggest downfall is my utter lack of organization, especially in my home office and my schedule.
I am now doing at least two workouts a day, sometimes three, although the third one is just a short wind sprint session that only takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Plus I am eating literally seven times a day–small meals yes, but think how hard it is for anyone who is busy to even fit in three squares a day!
You know, I thought I worked out really hard and pushed myself. Maybe compared to most I did. I want so badly to gain some beautiful muscle and I was really lifting hard to try to achieve that. But I have learned in the past few weeks that I was wrong. I was nowhere near pushing myself to the extent that I need to achieve my goals. The training that Rob and Shannon set forth for us is truly world-class. I have seen similar workouts extolled by the elite superstars of the NFL, like Jerry Rice, who is legendary for his work ethic, and Matt Leinart, who works out so hard that he has a bucket nearby so he can throw up and keep right on training! (And I thought he was a wussy pretty boy–guess I misjudged!)
So far, a bucket has been unnecessary, thank goodness. But I do have to say that my leg workout last week was the hardest one I have ever been through in my life. Gone are the heavy weights with nice rest between sets. Oh no, I am no longer pushing 500-lb leg presses for 8-10 reps and then recovering before doing it again. Now it’s supersets of at least two exercises, done with no rest at all in between, so it becomes 6 to 8 exercises back to back that pushes every muscle fiber to its limit of endurance. The leg press has become 30 reps with about 200 pounds, which I would have scoffed at before. Hmmm….do 30 reps of that, jump to another leg exercise like deadlifts, and then back to the leg press for 4 rounds with no rest at all, and 200 pounds feels like a thousand!
The cardio is not the powder puff sessions of endless, mindless pedaling on an elliptical machine. No, it is intense intervals that are really high-rep leg workouts in disguise, building extreme muscular endurance while sending the heart rate through the roof and sweat dripping all over the place. I said I wanted a bigger butt and legs. Well, be careful what you wish for! I am definitely heading in that direction and it hurts!
To ahcieve a goal you have never attained, you must do things you have never done. I am definitely pushing my boundaries way out beyond my comfort zone. It’s hard. I am hurting. I am sore. I also have aggravated all those lovely old horseback riding injuries that had been lying dormant and not giving me much trouble. My right lower back, hip, and especially knee have been screaming at me for a week. Walking on my right leg has been literally difficult for nearly a week, but I gutted out every single rep of my workout schedule. We get two days off on the weekends, and I have never been so glad to have a chance to heal!
I finally was able to see my A.R.T. practitioner extraordinaire Dr. Renick, my massage therapist Shelly Daugherty and my naturopath Richard Weiler today. Today was all about getting Christy fixed! These people are all incredible professionals who truly support me and care deeply about my well-being, and also my success in attaining my goal. No goal is ever achieved in a vacuum and I couldn’t make it right now without these fabulous people. I love you all!!!
My diet–wow that’s a crazy subject. I have been forced to make a decision to depart from some of the principles that have guided my nutrition for the past two years. Anyone else would look at the diet they have me on, and think it was the healthiest diet they have ever seen. But my perspective is different. I am only eating fish, but I don’t even like doing that. But so far, I have not found any raw vegan protein sources that truly mimic the effects of the fish, except for the Sun Warrior. I am substituting seitan and tempeh for some of my meals, and they are great (although not raw), but they are higher in sodium and carbs, so I don’t think I will be able to eat them closer to a show.
There are many fabulous protein sources in the raw food world, but most have a very high fat content. For every day, that is just fine–the fats are necessary and healthy. But doing what I am doing is not the real world. For example, you all know I am very lean, usually hovering around 8 to 10 percent body fat on my every day diet, eating as much and whatever I want. But for stage, Rob wants me to shed 10 pounds of bodyfat and gain a significant amount of muscle. Stage is NOT real life! So temporarily, I am going to trust their expertise and do what it takes to achieve my goal. All my other foods I am eating raw. For example, where they say oatmeal, I am eating sprouted raw oat groats. All my sweet potatoes, veggies, etc are raw. So as a percentage, I am still very high raw in my diet, and so far it is working pretty well.
I took measurements last week, and my waist has already come down over an inch! Wow! all others were about the same, so that means no muscle is being lost. I am going to try to measure every week to see how things change. Also, I will be taking progress pics. I will share some of those, also.
It’s funny. We get one ‘cheat meal’ every week, where for one meal we can have whatever we want–within reason. This really helps jump start the metabolism and replenishes a lot of the lost glycogen depleted during the week’s workouts. But I wasn’t craving pizza or cake like I used to. No, I wanted more than anything—–a green smoothie! Some fruit! And Spirulina pie! I ended up eating Amy’s burgers on awesome Ezekiel buns (those are fabulous–give them a try!), slathered in organic BBQ sauce, grapeseed Vegenaise and my homemade guacamole. And I made a delectable white chocolate macadamia cheezecake for dessert, from my birthday cake recipe. I thought I would literally eat at least half the cheezecake, but I was only able to eat about 1/4 of it. I savored every bite, though!
Another cool thing I did this week was straighten my hair! Shannon wants me to straighten it for stage, and I have never been able to do it and get it to look half decent before. With some advice from some friends, I tried it last week for a costume party Michael and I were attending, where we were pirates and I wanted to wear a skull rag and that wouldn’t work with my big hair. I loved it! It turned out beautiful and was so easy to maintain, once the initial time-consuming work was done. It takes me a good two hours to get it straight. Hopefully, that will lessen with experience. I also discovered I can just put a nice curl on the ends and end up with a great style. The front isn’t cut right, though. It’s probably just too short. I am going to see my stylist Sept 8th, and we are going to work on it.
Here’s a pic of the new ‘do!
Arrrrgh, mateys! Swashbuckling pirates are we!
Time to head to bed. I have AM cardio so I am definitely improving on my bedtime habits. Left to my own devices I will stay up half the night. But this workout schedule will change that in a hurry!
Be Defiant! Find out how far you can go if you defy pain and fatigue!
Christy
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Christy,
Wow, I’m on the same path! I’ve been raw for about a year, but changed my training regimen to one a bit like yours (superset, no rest) a few months ago. I have been sore after EVERY workout, even after conditioning similarly for weeks. It was recommended that my protein sources may be the problem and that I should try to incorporate new ones. I’ve added beans (cooked), split peas (cooked, TONS of vegan protein), and salmon (just lightly cooked on the outside to kill possible microbes). My main ‘high protein’ source is still Sun Warrior. I must say I’ve been able to train harder and experience less DOMS. So, in effect, I’m glad you are varying your protein sources so that you don’t have the same problem I did!