Just how dedicated are you...

Thank you Waleska for sending me this.... It is wonderfully perfect...

Just how dedicated you are to your training?

1. If, on a job application, under "Previous Employment," you've listed weight training and under "Hobbies" you've listed your actual previous employment.
2. If you've ever made yourself so sore that it either takes you a full minute to sit on the toilet or you have to fall down onto it.
3. If you've been banned from an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant.
4. If you've ever broken a bone and tried to "train around it."
5. If you're buying a home and the first thing you look for is where your training equipment will go (not how big the kitchen is or if there's a furnace or running water or anything like that).
6. If you've ever mentally calculated the protein content of a piece of your own birthday cake.
7. If you'd vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger regardless of of his views, policies or even what he's running for.
 8. If everybody you know asks you to help them when they move because you can lift heavy things.
9. If Navy Seal training "looks like fun."
10. If you've ever had to scratch your nose in the middle of a set and you've used the weight to scratch it.
11. If you've brought skinless chicken breasts to a rock concert instead of beer.
12. If you can remember your One Rep Max for 76 different exercises but you can't remember your family and friends birthdays.
13. You've kept an old vitamin bottle for 12 years because it "brings back memories."
14. If your fridge has more than 6 cartons of eggs in it at any given time.
15. If, when you travel, you pack an extra bag just for your supplements.
16. If your marriage vows include the words "for better or for worse or for pre-contest dieting."
17. If your idea of a good leg workout is one where you work them so hard you can't take two steps without falling down after a set.
 18. If you use the squat rack more for squats than you do for barbell curls.
19. If your spotter is yelling "It's all you!" and it actually is.
20. You do bicep curls with your grocery bags as you bring them in.
21. You mix tuna into your cereal to get more protein.
22. If you need to go to therapy if you miss two workouts in a row.
23. If the thought of lifting a car sounds perfectly reasonable to you.
24. If you've ever set a 45-pound plate on your lap and used it as a TV tray for eating dinner.
25. If you set your alarm to wake up in the middle of the night to drink a protein shake.
26. If you don't even have to set your alarm anymore to wake up in the middle of the night to drink a protein shake.
27. If you've ever wrapped the calorie counter on a cardio machine back around to zero.
28. If you've ever had to add extra weight to a machine because there's just not enough weight on it for you.
29. You mix protein powder into your condiments.
30. If you're regularly the very first, very last, or only person in your gym.
31. If you've laughed at any single one of the items in this article because it describes you perfectly.

If only we could do ourselves out of a job....

Since I am still experiencing a lot of sleepless nights...it was a 1.30am start to my day today... I have a lot of time to ponder.... could actually do without this pondering time, but hey, since I have it I might as well use it....

Of course some of the time is spent cursing my insomniac ancestors... I can still hear my grandmother telling me that she does her best letter writing at 2am, and my Dad is ecstatic if he gets an hours sleep at night... gee thanx folks... love you lots but you could have kept those genes to yourselves...

Anyway... one of my wandering thoughts this morning was that as a personal trainer my ultimate goal should be to not have any clients.... see this is what a wandering mind can do at 2amish... do laps, circles, star jumps and back flips until it discovers an anomaly in your life...

The way I see it is that if every client of every personal trainer (well the ones that really care and know what they are doing, that is) did exactly what their trainer told them to do, followed the program, ate the nutrition, believed in themselves as much as we do, reached their potential and found their goal.... well that client would not need us anymore... they would be self generating healthy, happy and fit individuals who could go on to reach any goal they aspired to... and then.... no more PT sessions... next client please.... then eventually... no more clients... because the original clients would have learnt enough to teach their children the amazing benefits of a healthy lifestyle....

See... told you... If only we could do ourselves out of a job.... imagine how healthy and wonderful the world could be....

Meanwhile at the end of that particular pondering session.... it is still only 3amish and off my brain goes again to the next lot of thoughts....

I loved see the IFBB QLD Titles.... the competitors were in fabulous condition... and of course there was Kai Greene....

Kai was not only amazing to see... his posing routine was unbelievable... but this thoughts on bodybuilding and his journey to where he is now was mesmerising to listen to. He is a fabulous ambassador for the sport... and extremely easy to look at for hours.....

After seeing all the comps this season I am now pretty sure... well almost positive... maybe... sort of... yeah ohhh okay... looks like I will consider doing more comps again May 2012... I had decided I was too old then along came these damn women older than me looking amazing and loving the life and I realised I still had time to enjoy my passion for a little longer... damn those women!!! How dare they compete at 52 and 53... damn them... hehehehe

So I continue to stay on my cutting diet... I continue to train and do cardio... which I am once again almost enjoying... weird... shudder... cardio... ick... Yesterday I played in the Tabata class.... which may sound like some sort of exotic yoga but in reality is the most excruciating half hour of your life... and then the instructor (Brutal Brooke.... yes it is an apt name) and I did a round of the 300 workout just to make sure we were totally smashed... and because we are both vaguely insane...

But now its back to the vacuuming.... woohoo housework how lucky am I!!!! Yes that was sarcasm... I am not that insane!

Sandstorm, sightless, sleepless and dreaming...

Over the last few weeks I have been experiencing the feeling that I am standing in a glass jar while endless sandstorms rage around me.... I have had days where I have loved every tiny minute of it and days where I just wanted to walk away from my world as I know it and start again far far away... yes once again Outer Mongolia has been calling my name...

I literally fell into a hole and twisted my ankle and spent the afternoon trying not to hobble through my PT sessions... only to wake two days later to a closed up weeping eye and the feeling of having a trailer load of sand stuck under my eyelid... this made me forget about the ankle but resulted in having to make a quick visit to my ex doctor... since I couldn't drive to my new doc... to find I had somehow contracted conjunctivitis and could not wear my contact lenses for two weeks... okay so 2 days later I am wearing them again... ahhmmm I never was good at following instructions... The interesting thing about the doctors visit was I ended up with the doctor who had advised me to "Eat Air for a week" to stop from getting fat... so how hard was it for me to not bring this up when the Doc decided to remind me that he had treated me once about 3 years ago but that I hadn't been back since.... I just smiled and told him I knew that.... see I can hold my tongue... sometimes... although all the way home I snarled all the answers I wanted to give him.... which can not be repeated, mostly because I refuse to let that sort of poison lurk around me.

I have been to the INBA QLD Titles and yesterday the NABBA QLD Titles... loved both shows although I have to admit that after an hour and a half of sports models at the INBA I was starting to wonder why I was even bothering to attend... sorry to all those that I offend but I go to a body building show to see muscle not to see who can afford the best breast augmentation... So we watched the start of the NABBA show and loved every minute of it and left before the sports model and WFF section... Now I am not saying that the sports models don't put work into looking the way they do, I think they work just as hard and diet just as long as the other competitors... its just not my thing... BUT I would like to praise the women because at least they put some effort into how they present themselves.. really the men are ridiculously casual and sloppy.. can someone please take the time to make them learn how to stand and pose... please!

Next week we are off to the IFBB show... can't wait to see  the local competitors and I'm really excited to see Kai Greene!! ... droool...

All these shows are creating a craving for the stage in me... I am presently cutting up mostly just to look good for summer, but more importantly to present a professional appearance as a Personal Trainer....  how can I expect my clients to watch their nutrition, exercise there hearts out and work towards their goals if I don't do it myself! I struggle when I see personal trainers who are obviously out of condition and flabby... walk the walk people if you are going to talk the talk... 

So cutting up for me involves pre-comp nutrition, a change in training focus and extra cardio... If I expect my clients to work I must work harder! My training now consists of an hour of weights and an hour of cardio in the middle of every day... the only time I can fit it in... so although I crave to compete again I have no idea how i could do it logistically... for me to fit in a hour of cardio on an empty stomach in the morning before work would mean I would be doing cardio at 2.30am!!! then again at night after work... hell that's 8.30pm... ummmm seems to be a hell of a challenge... still heaps of time till the next round of comps for me to work on a plan and make a decision about if I do want to go there again at... shit by then I will be 52... arghhhhhhhhhhh

Apart from the shows there have been Josfus Nofus's 7th birthday and Miss Lily's 4th birthday... Love them to bits and still have trouble fitting them in as much as I would really like to...

I am now so used to the 4am starts that I can no longer sleep past 4.30am... sigh! I have had a lot of sleepless nights as well mainly due to the sandstorms and the uncertainty they create and this is also starting to get me down... tried lots of different things to help but nothing works for more than a couple of nights... of course the Furkids think that 4am is the time I should get up every day now so they get a bit panicky when i don't... this doesn't help on a Sunday morning when I could actually sleep in... except that I am also awake at 4am anyway... sigh...

So that's a quick update... hmmmm seems all a bit boring really... although the sandstorms have been interesting to watch they are also boringly tiresome and I wish stability would arrive soon... then I would no longer be sightless or sleepless but I will always be dreaming.....

Slap me with a wet fish!

You would think I would have it all sussed by now wouldn't you... Come on not only am I officially Senior but if maturity hasn't found me by now it never will.... But Nooooooooo... everyday is a learning curve which I luckily really enjoy!
So even though I have been playing this fun game called bodybuilding since January 2008 it has only been this last week where I have been slapped in the face with a wet fish and realised that I love structure!
If you subscribe to DISC profiling I am an "I/S" personality which can be an awkward thing... this is because an "I" is all about spotlights, innovation, ummm well really it boils down to LOOK AT ME while I dance and follow shiny things from one spot to another like a cat chasing a torch beam.... BUT the "S" is all about being sensitive, caring, loyal and putting everyone else first... this can be hard to do when you are dancing in the spotlight screaming me, me, me... It is also hard to dance when you are worried about everyone else but you....
Neither of these have any sort of leaning towards being structured and limited and locked into anything stable....
Then this week after going back into a very structured nutrition and exercise plan, being measured weekly and counting heart rates and calories burned, my life has suddenly become exactly what I love!
Soooo after one week of structure I have removed 3kgs of fluid from my body, 16.6mils over 8 sites have disappeared into soggy drops of sweat... go figure... structure rocks!
What I love is that I now realise it is harder for me to live in an unstructured way, having to decide what I should or should not have for lunch, making constant choices on "best foods". My training has become concentrated and focused now that I am again training according to a strict regime counting reps, sets, weights... ahhh bliss....
Of course I do all of the rep counting and weight pushing while listening to dance music... or should I say music that I can imagine using for a routine on stage...... even though I said I wouldn't ever again... its hard when suddenly the perfect routine music hits your ears and you are someone who just MUST dance in a spotlight.....
This weekend is the INBA QLD Titles, then the NABBA, then the IFBB shows are coming round and I already have tickets to all three.... this will give me my fix of the smell of show tan... or will it just cause more cravings..... hehehehehe

How important is it... really....

Deciding to reach for a goal is an important decision... Goals need to be clear and literally picture perfect...
You must paint yourself a picture in your mind of exactly what your goal will look like... if you can add a specific date for this goal it is even better... You must paint this picture with colours not some vague black and white-blurry-maybe-it-could- change- shape picture... It needs to be bright and clear and exact....
The thing I am finding is that those who can do this... who can more than just imagine their goal, but actually smell, taste, feel and see how they will be on the day that their goal is reached, are the ones that succeed...
They are not swayed by passing temptations... they do not care if it's Saturday and everyone else is going out drinking... the focused ones offer to be the designated driver and sip their water or maybe their diet lemonade enjoying the night with friends, keeping their friends safe and at the same time not wasting one day on the road to their goal...
They do not make a big song and dance about being on a tight plan... they do not find reasons to not make it to the gym... they do not whinge and feel deprived... No these goal setters feel special and excited that every day is another day closer to reaching that exact picture they have painted...
Yes life does get in the way of these focused ones... yes they do trip and fall off the slowly moving wagon... but they certainly don't lay on the ground next to the wagon giving up on their goals.. they admit the obstacle exists, they take the time to see why it happened and where the road around the hole in their road is... cause there IS always a way around... no matter how wide or deep the hole may seem.
Sometimes it may take a while to find this way around, but  they have this picture in their head and they pull it out and shine a big light on it and they know how much this picture really means to them so they climb and scramble using tooth and nail to get around the hole... cause it is worth it to reach the point where they are standing in the picture...
I am not a social kill joy... I do enjoy a drink out with friends... I do love a get together... I don't expect anyone to become a hermit to reach a goal... unless, of course, it is to become a hermit...
hehehehehe
What I can't understand are the ones that paint the picture on a Monday and then decide on the Friday that even though they really do want to reach that place and time, that really they are not important enough to deserve their goal... what is more important is giving into the pressure to be "normal", that it is too hard to stand and say "No! This really matters to me! I deserve to reach for a dream and get it, I am worth it!" so they cave into the expected and then on the next Monday they repeat the whole process and when the special date arrives they moan that they tried so hard but that they never can get to where they want to be....
How important is your goal.... Are you worth it... Of course you are, everyone is... but only you can make that decision... to put yourself first... it's not selfish, in fact in some cases giving up is far more selfish... like if  you decide your health goal can wait ...what happens to the people who love you and need you to be fit and healthy...
SO paint the picture... find the date... focus and have a ball reaching it! Don't let it become a vague picture that no one gets to see and enjoy... paint the picture then show it to the world!