December 2011
109 posts
I feel like I should be doing some sort of yearly recap.
Well, let’s see.
This time last year I was still hung up on an old boyfriend. I was semi-dating another guy. I was having a TONNE of fun at the World Juniors. I had just found out my mom was sick. And I had a tonne of self confidence issues.
After feeling like crap for two years, I enlisted my friend to help me strength train, so I could look decent in a bathing suit by the time I went to Florida for reading week. That completely failed. I felt self-conscious and yucky the whole trip. I came home wanting to get better, but I still had major issues with food. I spent the remainder of the semester lolling about in the gym, doing random workouts and eating anything that wasn’t an animal (except shrimp). By the end of the semester I had started this blog with a goal to lose weight. That made me even more unhappy. On top of all this, everyone in my family was stressed about my mom’s treatments.
Nearing the end of the school year, I started looking into speed skating training again. My biggest regret of my life thus far has been that I didn’t stick with it, and continued figure skating instead. I did some reading, and it got stuck in my brain that my cardio must really suck. So I started running. And then in April, I got a chunk of sewing needle stuck in my foot.
Well, fuck. How was I supposed to run like that?
I dunno how. But I did. I started out sucking. I could barely run 2k before having to walk home. After spending most of my life involved in competitive sports, this was terrible.
But I trained through the summer, got better, and ran my first half marathon, finishing in 6th place in my division. And ran the needle out of my foot.
I was still fumbling around a bit on the food front. I started out the year mostly vegetarian. Then considered going vegan, then realised I needed a lot more protein, tried paleo and figured out I was gluten intolerant. I went from esting way too much, to eating way too little, to just eating all the things (but within my macros). I made a bet at the beginning of August to not eat ice cream until 2012. I haven’t had ice cream since August 7th.
I also met someone at the beginning of August, and he’s been an amazing, amazing friend and supporter since. I can’t write a recap without mentioning it, because he’s the one that finally made me feel like a badass; he made me feel great about myself again, and I don’t think I could thank him enough for what he’s done for me.
I tapered off the running into the beginning of the semester, took up weight lifting, and finally, FINALLY started speed skating again. And I haven’t looked back! I love going to the gym. I love going to skating. I went from thinking squatting just the bar was kinda heavy to squatting 175lbs yesterday. I went from feeling super out of my league to PR’ing in 59.72 seconds on a 500m race, and I can keep up with the fastest boys in the club. I’ve accepted that my ass will always be big, that my boobs will always be small, and that my legs will probably get bigger. And that’s all awesome. I’m stronger, tougher, and faster than I was before.
And the losing weight thing? Well as of right now, I’ve gained weight. But I’ve lost inches on my waist, and definitely lost body fat (I found abs earlier this week?!). I’d say that’s a win.
TL;DR? This year started out shaky, but I got it eventually and haven’t stopped kicking ass since.
Happy New Years, everyone.
:)
“If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”
—Obi-Wan Kenobi
I'm catching up! Better go hard on those squats today.
This is what happens when someone tells me they’re catching up to me:
lgoulet is now level 24!
lgoulet earned 350 points for completing the Functional quest!
lgoulet earned 400 points for completing the When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip quest!
lgoulet earned 100 points for completing the Press Press Press quest!
lgoulet earned 100 points for completing the Hip Drive quest!
lgoulet earned 100 points for completing the As Seen On Tv! quest!
lgoulet earned 1947 points for:
- Spinning:
- 0:23:00 (+38 pts)
- Warm up, waiting for a rack to open up.
- Barbell Squat:
- 95 lb x 6 reps (+59 pts)
- 115 lb x 4 reps (+67 pts)
- 135 lb x 4 reps (+79 pts)
- 165 lb x 2 reps (+91 pts)
- 175 lb x 1 reps (+94 pts)
- 135 lb x 4 reps (+79 pts)
- 135 lb x 4 reps (+79 pts)
- 155 lb x 2 reps (+85 pts)
- 95 lb x 8 reps (+62 pts)
- 95 lb x 7 reps (+60 pts)
- 95 lb x 6 reps (+59 pts)
- 95 lb x 5 reps (+57 pts)
- 95 lb x 4 reps (+55 pts)
- 45 lb x 5 reps (+27 pts)
- 45 lb x 5 reps (+27 pts)
- Running (treadmill):
- 0:09:00 || 1.2 mi (+140 pts)
- Barefoot on the treadmill was a terrible idea. Blisters on ALL the toes!
- Jumping Jacks:
- 100 jumping jacks (+39 pts)
- Push-Up:
- 5 reps (+9 pts)
- Body Weight Lunge:
- 15 reps (+24 pts)
- Bicycle (abs):
- 20 reps (+10 pts)
- Body Weight Squat:
- 10 reps (+8 pts)
- 15 reps (+12 pts)
- 15 reps (+12 pts)
- Plank:
- 30 sec (+13 pts)
- Crunch:
- 30 reps (+19 pts)
- Dumbbell Squat:
- 17.5 lb x 10 reps (+18 pts)
- Goblet Squat (dumbbell):
- 17.5 lb x 10 reps (+10 pts)
- Dumbbell Bench Press:
- 17.5 lb x 10 reps (+25 pts)
- Burpee:
- 10 reps (+29 pts)
- 10 reps (+29 pts)
- 10 reps (+29 pts)
- 10 reps (+29 pts)
- 10 reps (+29 pts)
- 10 reps (+29 pts)
- 10 reps (+29 pts)
- 10 reps (+29 pts)
- 10 reps (+29 pts)
- 10 reps (+29 pts)
- Dips - Triceps Version:
- 10 reps (+30 pts)
- 10 reps (+30 pts)
- 10 reps (+30 pts)
- 10 reps (+30 pts)
- 10 reps (+30 pts)
- 10 reps (+30 pts)
- 10 reps (+30 pts)
- 10 reps (+30 pts)
- 10 reps (+30 pts)
- 10 reps (+30 pts)
Bring. It. On.
Today's workout brought to you by complete works of Muse, Three Days Grace, Rise Against, and Linkin Park.
LET’S GO SQUAT!
:D
I think that if you have a headache from hitting your head on something that you're not supposed to sleep ... concussion???
Correct! But I’ve had enough experiences with concussions and it’s not that. Nap helped it go away. :)
70's Big Females: Lift Heavy, Be Sexy →
70sbig.com
Stumbled upon this post somehow today that was written on 70sbig.com. I enjoyed a few quotes from it and the overall theme of the post to tell women to lift heavy and get sexy.
Here’s a small excerpt from the article:
The following post was written by Cori and Ellee from Safe Fitness in Chicago. They are sick of the lack of leadership in the female 70′s Big community, specifically the need for better and bigger asses.
What does it mean to be a 70’s Big Female?
Easy answer, ass size must be greater than 38” around. Why does this matter? Having a big ass means you can move and squat heavy weight, preferably at least your body weight. You might ask, well what about having a fat ass, does that count? No. Being a 70’s Big Female is not just about having a dumptruck on your backside, but you must also be able to haul that dumptruck wherever life may need it to go. Example: chin ups, pull ups, overhead squats, etc. It is more about having a GREAT ass.
In Cori’s 24 years of life on this planet – nearly all of them spent in a gym (playpen positioned right next to the chalk bowl, barbell in hand) – she has seen many women who would qualify as a 70’s Big Female, but has also seen many who would not represent. These women prefer to be skinny rather than strong. SKINNY = FAIL! What they don’t understand is that training hard, squatting heavy, and lifting serious weights is sexy.
Hopefully this does not come off in any other way but as promotion of lady lifters in a positive light. I really felt the need to bold that last sentence in the paragraph. In fact, I really felt the need to copy that paragraph and e-mail it out to some of my favorite female gym rats.. which I did.
It has dawned on me that I’m not quite sure if the ladies out there really recognize how sexy it is to men, women that train hard and lift weights is. Not just to men either. Hell, I know women that just find lifting for themselves sexy. It’s not about lifting for men anyways, but I just wanted to point that out.. Also, just to put it into perspective I would say that it is mind-blowingly sexy.
Women, ladies, girls.. you will not bulk up. It’s an impossibility given the levels of testosterone you have comparatively to men. You can, however, get strong, build lean muscle mass and lose fat from lifting heavy weights. I mean, there’s really no reason not to.
I have the utmost respect and admiration for any women that make the choice to pursue a healthy, active lifestyle.. but to me personally, absolutely nothing beats the attractiveness of a girl that lifts weights.
Girls, READ. This makes me happy about my ass again.
I’ve got the 38” butt. And 1.3x body weight squat. Just have yet to rip my pants (but they’re lulu, they stretch).
The two things that stress me out the most: thinking about the future and getting my hair done.
I started writing my goals for 2012 tonight, which lead to thinking about what I’m going to do after this year, which lead to a full out anxiety attack over what I’m going to do with my life.
I have no idea and I’m absolutely terrified.
Monday Goals - December 26, 2011
- Don’t eat gluten.
- Book your license test.
- Stick to the December Ass-Kicking Schedule.
- PR as many things as possible.
- Get your room cleaned and organized.
- Go out for New Year’s, no matter how much you want to stay in and be a hermit.
- Go hang out with Patrick, you miss him. A lot.
- Hang out with Andrew at least once more.
- Organize and get editing and photo desks ready for next semester.
- Don’t freak out about your next races. You will not fail.
- Finish exchange application.
