vodka and creatine

[dreahere]

There will be very little vodka in this journal, but there may be daily wine. And occasional whine. Um, hi.

I got up early on my day off today because my electrician was supposed to be here at 7:15 am sharp and, god knows, I wanted to be showered and dressed before he got here. No use maybe incurring the Bad Hygeine Customer Surcharge. When he and his little helper showed up at 7:05 and promptly diagnosed my problem as being NOT simply a bad breaker like the appliance repair guy thought when he was here last week, but instead THAT THIS HOUSE WAS WIRED IMPROPERLY WHEN IT WAS BUILT IN 1985 (excuse me, I got all caps-locky there) and thus he'll be back *after* his vacation to fix it and meanwhile, yeah, don't use more than one burner at a time on the range, all I wanted to say is, "I'm fukcing bulking. Don't you think I need a stove?!??"

No, that's not true. I had a lot of things I wanted to say. Some of them I did, like, "I've had this stove for seven years. Why is it only drawing too many amps now?" Some of it I did not, like, "So, John, how much is this gonna cost me?" because I prefer not to think about it until I have to. But he's estimating three hours labor, so north of $300 fer shure.

But, yeah, not much cooking up in here for another couple weeks. It's a damn good thing I like sandwiches and sludge and pizza delivery, yo. I need my calories.

This afternoon I have an appointment for acupuncture. I'm sure all this is making my chi even more effed up than usual, so whew. :eye roll: Then I do believe I will go to the gym and do back/shoulder day instead of waiting till tomorrow. Unless the acupuncture wipes all the rage and frustration outta me. Stranger things have happened.

[squeaks77]

You had me at vodka and creatine, lol. What workout program are you doing now? I'll stay tuned for more.

[danibel]

I'm all up on this post. Do you do acupuncture to treat something specific?

[nvrstopworking]

I think I just found P's new best friend. lol.

[squeaks77]

I think I just found P's new best friend. lol.

^^^totally what I was thinking. LOL!

[lil_terror]

was hoping I'd find you over here
In!

[dreahere]

You had me at vodka and creatine, lol. What workout program are you doing now? I'll stay tuned for more.

I've been doing "Baby Got Back" for about the paast six weeks: http://www.wannabebig.com/training/b...baby-got-back/

I have Lat Deficiency Syndrome (which I am campaigning to make a recognized clinical entity). Ahem.

I'm all up on this post. Do you do acupuncture to treat something specific?

About three years ago in the fall, I had an enormous number of minor health problems that cropped up at the same time and seemed to have nothing to do with each other. My anxiety was cranked to 11 (not that unusual). I was getting heartburn (extremely unusual). Coming down with every virus that came along (unheard of). Broke out in a weird rash on half of my abdomen that had my PCP's office flummoxed (note: when you're being examined and your health care provider opens the door and grabs the next doctor walking by to "come take a look at this!", it's generally, y'know, not how you want things to go). Etc.

So, my guy-at-the-time said to me one day in the midst of all this, mostly facetiously, "Maybe your chi is imbalanced." And I was like, "Well, damn, why don't I get that checked out then?" I found a wonderful acupuncturist who attributed all those symptoms to being an excess of "heat" in my body and whether due to the palacebo effect or not, it helped a lot. I haven't had heartburn since, no more mysterious skin conditions, my immune system is back to way better than average. And I've been going to her semi-regularly since, for tune-ups. Helps a lot with my anxiety and mood, especially with my perimenopausal soup of hormones going whacky.

I think I just found P's new best friend. lol.

It's only symbolic vodka, all y'all. Taken from the lyrics of one of my favorite songs to lift to. Sorry to disappoint.

Last night's workout proved to be awesome and, having taken advice from my bb.com friends, I reduced my shoulder press warmup and thus conquered the 25lb dbs. Or maybe it was just the residual rage. Anyway. Got 'er done.

[nvrstopworking]

It's only symbolic vodka, all y'all. Taken from the lyrics of one of my favorite songs to lift to. Sorry to disappoint.

Last night's workout proved to be awesome and, having taken advice from my bb.com friends, I reduced my shoulder press warmup and thus conquered the 25lb dbs. Or maybe it was just the residual rage. Anyway. Got 'er done.

Ha! Well symbolic or not, you remind me of one the other gals here (Pharty) a little bit. Similar sense of humour. Funny gal. Always keeps the journal entertaining.

Welcome!

Can a guy welcome a chick to the Fem section journals? Ummm.... now I kinda feel weird.

[dreahere]

Ha! Well symbolic or not, you remind me of one the other gals here (Pharty) a little bit. Similar sense of humour. Funny gal. Always keeps the journal entertaining.

Welcome!

Can a guy welcome a chick to the Fem section journals? Ummm.... now I kinda feel weird.

Aww, you're just being a gentleman. We chicks like that.

Yesterday was a very very very sedentary day, though I did manage to walk to the farmer's market after work. Whereupon I bought a huge loaf of sourdough bread. Good thing I'm bulking because when you weigh a chunk of that? Calories and carb count are skeery. Totally worth it though, it was delicious. And will continue to be delicious as I eat my way through it all weekend.

Today is squat day, my first official squat day without Liz. :sad panda: I have two worries. One is that I will not go deep enough on all my reps without someone watching me and letting me know I've got another couple inches to go. My proprioception of "at or past parallel" is not quite 100% yet. Especially if some cluster of douchebags is standing in-between the squat rack and the mirror, thereby allowing me no visual cues of how low I am. My second worry is that I will rush through my sets without taking enough rest between them, and thereby not doing as well as I could, because I'm self-conscious about tying up the rack if I don't have Liz with me. It's part of this whole "women are socialized to be polite and accommodating" bullshiz. I have no problem with this when I'm doing rack pulls or SLDLs, because I don't need to rest as long in between sets. But squats, yeah. They take it all out of me. Even with my pitiful little weights I'm throwing around.

I will report back on how I worked through my psychic trauma and social conditioning. No worries.

Happy Friday!

[dreahere]

Reporting back. Never let it be said I don't keep my promises to tell people stuff they couldn't care less about!

First wrinkle in squat day: I was going to leave work when I realized it had started to pour outside. Isolated thunderstorm, blah blah, and since I walk the mile from my office to my gym, I figured I'd just wait until it stopped or at least slowed down. About fifteen minutes later, it seemed all clear, so I made my break for it. It was sprinkling very lightly at that point. About halfway to the gym, it started thundering again. But the direction in which I was walking was actually brighter. "I got this," I thought. "I'll make it before it starts up again." Well, no. Three blocks from the gym, the skies opened up and despite the fact that, yes, Virginia, I did have my emergency office umbrella, I proceeded to get totally soaked from the waist down.

I stagger into the Y and the new girl at the front desk who swipes me in picks that moment--y'know, the moment where I am standing in front of her looking like I just took a shower with my clothes on--to tell me my payment for July didn't go through. Note: it is the middle of August and I'm at that gym 5 days a week on average. (It occurred to me later it has to be because the expiration date on my old debit card was 6/11.) I take my wet, irritated self to the locker room and dry off with my complementary towel and change into my gym clothes. And I am thinking, man, I'm going into this with my head in the wrong place, squat day is gonna suck.

However, there was next to nobody in the weight room and I cranked up the appropriate music on my iPod and all went well. Can't swear to you on my dead mother that all the squat reps were clean, but if not, they were damn close. And I even did all my hip flexor stretches afterwards, so yay, me.

Then I took myself home on public transport wearing yoga shorts which I vaguely am aware might possibly give me camel toe just because my dress I wore to work was still too wet to put back on. That, and because apparently I have little to no shame.

In one other vaguely gym related bit of news, a friend who lives in another city (and thus goes to a different Y) called me at work today. I knew something was up with her because when I forwarded her something in email the other day, she emailed back that she wanted to talk to me soon. Well, her top secret news is that she's having a torrid fling with a guy she met in the gym. I was like, "Hey, how come you meet guys at the Y and I never do?" and then I was like, "Oh, yeah, because I always have my bitch face on--never mind." Ha! There's an explanation for everything if you just look at the problem hard enough.

[nvrstopworking]

LOLZ @ "camel toe"! Not sure that I've ever heard a female admit to that before!

Good on ya for getting in there and getting those Squats done! (who's Liz? Did I miss that?)

Ah the bitch face... yeah.... tough to approach when the "force field" is up... so when that happens I just wait until their backs are turned and then discreetly stare at their asses.

[squeaks77]

LOLZ @ "camel toe"! Not sure that I've ever heard a female admit to that before!

Good on ya for getting in there and getting those Squats done! (who's Liz? Did I miss that?)

Ah the bitch face... yeah.... tough to approach when the "force field" is up... so when that happens I just wait until their backs are turned and then discreetly stare at their asses.

I usually get talked to by people when I'm all done. My gym doesn't have lockers, just cubbies, like preschool. When I am putting my stuff in my bag, ppl always come talk to me then since I think that's when I take my bitch face off. LOL!

Anyhow, I'm enjoying this journal so far. Fun stories.

[dreahere]

LOLZ @ "camel toe"! Not sure that I've ever heard a female admit to that before!

Good on ya for getting in there and getting those Squats done! (who's Liz? Did I miss that?)

Ah the bitch face... yeah.... tough to approach when the "force field" is up... so when that happens I just wait until their backs are turned and then discreetly stare at their asses.

I'm not saying there was definitely camel toe, I'm just saying it was in the realm of possibility.

Liz was my trainer who introduced me to lifting. We bonded. I'm like the only woman in our godforsaken gym besides her who wants to have big muscles and lift heavy stuff.

I usually get talked to by people when I'm all done. My gym doesn't have lockers, just cubbies, like preschool. When I am putting my stuff in my bag, ppl always come talk to me then since I think that's when I take my bitch face off. LOL!

Anyhow, I'm enjoying this journal so far. Fun stories.

For some reason, the description of your gym having cubbies like preschool made me literally lol

I think my life is more interesting when it's boiled down to a series of colorful anecdotes than it is in, y'know, reality. But I'm glad all y'all are enjoying.

I dunno what exactly I did yesterday to cause it, but the DOMS in my glute/ham tie-in is ridiculous this morning. Yesterday was my lower weight/higher reps for SLDLs day, so I did 95x12x3. Maybe that was the culprit. I thought it was my grip strength, not my hammies, that was giving out by the 12th rep, but apparently my body begs to differ.

[thepowerwithin]

Oooh, lookey what I found In for the lulz and, of course, fitness-related stuff. Camel toe...LMAO .

[nvrstopworking]

I'm not saying there was definitely camel toe, I'm just saying it was in the realm of possibility.

Liz was my trainer who introduced me to lifting. We bonded. I'm like the only woman in our godforsaken gym besides her who wants to have big muscles and lift heavy stuff.



For some reason, the description of your gym having cubbies like preschool made me literally lol

I think my life is more interesting when it's boiled down to a series of colorful anecdotes than it is in, y'know, reality. But I'm glad all y'all are enjoying.

I dunno what exactly I did yesterday to cause it, but the DOMS in my glute/ham tie-in is ridiculous this morning. Yesterday was my lower weight/higher reps for SLDLs day, so I did 95x12x3. Maybe that was the culprit. I thought it was my grip strength, not my hammies, that was giving out by the 12th rep, but apparently my body begs to differ.

Recently I've been doing high rep, high volume (10 reps, 5-6 sets) deads and lemme say that the DOMS I get from THOSE is worse than anything else I feel. Much, much worse than what I felt when I was 1-rep maxing or doing triples.

[dreahere]

Yesterday: back and chest, horizontal plane. Because I deadlifted Friday, I did not do rack pulls yesterday. Disappointing, because I loves me some rack pulls. Instead, I did db rows as my 5x5, and found to my delight, that 40lb dbs are really getting too easy for the 5x5. 45's, here I come. Oh, hell, yeah. Because of my Lat Deficiency Syndrome, my back is not getting wide, but, man, it's getting thick. Which is a whole nother paragraph. Coming right up!

When I was a teenager/young woman, I was extremely small through the middle. Tiny waist, completely flat stomach. I didn't have abs--no one had a six pack in the 70s and early 80s; it's true, look it up!--but my stomach was a thing of beauty. Of course, with a 12 inch waist-to-hip differential, it made it impossible to buy jeans that fit over my Bulgy Polish Catcher's Thighs (because our pants actually came up to our waists in those days, while we were walking uphill both ways 6 miles to school in the snow, even in June, and not only did we not have cell phones, we didn't even have microwaves, and by the way? you kids keep off of my freakin' lawn). So after I had my son, my waist widened out a bit from the slight ab separation, and that was fine. It made buying clothes easier and I was still small through the middle. It wasn't until I reached middle age that that started to change. It was actually what drove me to losing weight last year. I am totally at peace with having humungous thighs and cellulite, but love handles and stomach fat? No. It was horrifying. So I lost twenty pounds and felt small through the middle again, relatively speaking, and all was good.

Except. I am becoming very aware that all this rack pulling and SLDLing and squatting and planking and rowing is making me muscularly thick through the middle. I can feel the thickness of my abs and my erector spinae and my QLs. And while I know that, objectively, this is a good thing--nice strong abs and lower back muscles being important to the health and function of us old folks, ahem--it bums me out in much the same way that I was freaking out earlier this summer with the whole I-love-my-arm-muscles-and-veins-but-do-I-look-stupid-in-a-sundress-now? thing. I wanna be strong but I'm still semi-attached to looking delicate. Sigh.

I'm pretty sure if/when I stop bulking and I strip off the water weight bloat and whatever fat I've gained, I'ma still be up in my waist measurement. And I gotta convince myself that's okay, because it's muscle, not fat. I got over the rocking my delts in a strapless dress thing so I'm sure I can do it. Sigh, again.

Data point: 119 this morning. Not possible that I've actually gained two real pounds in a week, but since it means I did successfully gain back that pound I inexplicably lost, I'm counting it. LOL. And not weighing myself till September some time.

Tienen un maravilloso Domingo.

[lil_terror]

A little bit thicker, muscular middle is nowhere near the same as a squishy, muffin-toppy middle. Not that you had that before! Just sayin' it will look good in clothes and nekkid too. On a side-note (and I don't really know why it's at all relevant here except than you mentioned being delicate and I felt compelled to share...), when I was born (apparently I was a pretty solid girl-baby), the doctor looked at me then looked at my mom and said "Well, she'll never be delicate!" :-/ Anyway, you can pretty-up rough 'n tough, but you can't toughen up soft 'n delicate....

[dreahere]

A little bit thicker, muscular middle is nowhere near the same as a squishy, muffin-toppy middle. Not that you had that before!

Oh, believe me, I did!

Just sayin' it will look good in clothes and nekkid too. On a side-note (and I don't really know why it's at all relevant here except than you mentioned being delicate and I felt compelled to share...), when I was born (apparently I was a pretty solid girl-baby), the doctor looked at me then looked at my mom and said "Well, she'll never be delicate!" :-/ Anyway, you can pretty-up rough 'n tough, but you can't toughen up soft 'n delicate....

Intellectually I know that being thicker through the middle from muscle is fine. Psychologically I just needs me some time to get used to the idea.

I went to the gym and did hamstring/triceps day today. Third day in a row that I've lifted, so tomorrow has to be a rest day. My whole body is pretty much screaming for mercy at this point, but ideally I'm trying to shift things so eventually I'll be lifting Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, leaving Wednesdays and Fridays open for yoga. I'd like to get myself on some kind of regular schedule if I possibly can. Life has its way of getting in the way though, plus I have to admit, I'm the kind of person who just likes to wing it.

Eating's been good. Yesterday i was in a solid 200 calorie surplus. Today--if I don't eat anything else--I'll be just slightly above maintenance.

[dreahere]

Went to the gym after work, mainly to get the debit card situation straightened out, and did a little cardio. Originally I was hoping to attend 6pm yoga by going into work early today, such that I'd have time to come home after work and then go to yoga. But since I hardly slept last night, getting to work early didn't happen. Which left me doing cardio. Felt good actually despite my feeling like crap today from lack of sleep and allergies.

I was tempted to even run a little on the treadmill, but I stopped myself. Like I said in the bulking thread, I really think I'm going to run a little in September and October because the weather here is generally just perfect for it. Once or twice a week a couple miles around the nearby pond. That's it. I'm sure I can eat enough to support that. I'll just get lil_terror's cookie recipe off her

[lil_terror]

Originally I was hoping to attend 6pm yoga by going into work early today, such that I'd have time to come home after work and then go to yoga.

I was tempted to even run a little on the treadmill, but I stopped myself.

Good job! Was yoga something you did pre-bulk as well?

Like I said in the bulking thread, I really think I'm going to run a little in September and October because the weather here is generally just perfect for it. Once or twice a week a couple miles around the nearby pond. That's it. I'm sure I can eat enough to support that. I'll just get lil_terror's cookie recipe off her

I'm sure something could be arranged . I love that kind of weather for running too.

[dreahere]

Good job! Was yoga something you did pre-bulk as well?

I have belonged to my Y for a year now and, even though free yoga was one of my reasons for joining, I still haven't made it to a class. Not once. I have no idea why. My yoga history is spotty. About four years ago I started doing yin yoga at home to work on getting my lower body fascia stretched out. I probably did it close to every night for six months and really progressed. Since then I've done it intermittently, you know, like 3 months of doing it frequently, three months totally not doing it. Right now, I've just mainly been doing a few asanas after I workout to stretch, when I have the time. [Note to self: make time.] I've also done some hatha, kundalini, and kripalu at home from videos, none of them on a regular basis. Then last spring (2010) I signed up to take a Sunday morning kripalu class through the health and wellness center at my work. I liked it but I kinda overestimated how willing I'd be to get there at 9 am on a Sunday, plus I didn't really like the teacher. I wore a Dropkick Murpys soccer-style concert shirt to class one time (ok, it was green and black stripes and had a skull on it) and she made a snitty remark about it. Bitch. So, long story long, I only made it to about half the sessions. And I've been dying to try more classes, because when you're just doing it by yourself at home, you've got no idea how good or bad your form is. Going to definitely try to make it tomorrow, no excuses.

Today was chest/shoulders/calves. It was okay. Not stellar like most of my recent workouts have been. I blame the fact that I ate and had a latte just before and my stomach felt funky and gassy. I did go up on the Hammer high row. And I'm ready to go up on my lat pulldowns. I have had a hard time progressing on those, but I did all my 5x5 today without struggling. So time to raise the weight.

[dreahere]

I lied. Even though it isn't September, I weighed myself today. 118. I'm wearing jeans that used to be slightly too loose back in the spring/early summer (needed a belt). Today no belt is required. Which, besides, being a bulking success (???) is also good in that I have no idea where the belt is that I usually wear with my jeans. Primo organizational skillz FTW! I'm sure it's just run off with the missing socks and earrings that I only have one of.

[karychuk]

Proverbial vodka, acupuncture, yoga and Dropkick Murphys...

I'm in!

[dreahere]

Proverbial vodka, acupuncture, yoga and Dropkick Murphys...

I'm in!

We should have some Dropkick Murphys all up in here, now that I mentioned it.

http://youtu.be/x-64CaD8GXw

Okay, also the story of that concert t-shirt, obtained St Patrick's Day weekend 2008, infamous as the time Andrea was denied service *at an Irish bar on St Patrick's Day weekend*, a fact my escort thought was the funniest thing EVAH. In my defense, I am ancient and thus no longer used to being carded, so I was unprepared and while thus wresting with the contents of my purse in order to produce ID, I dumped contents of said purse all over the bar's foyer. Seriously? I am so klutzy that could well have happened cold sober. Also in my defense? People kept sticking beers in my hand, so I kept drinking them. To do otherwise would have been rude. God.

Now I must stop procrastinating and go work on cleaning the basement so it doesn't scare my electrician (you need to approach them gently) as well as my patio where the weeds are winning. I've already taken a walk all the way to the post office to mail a birthday card in my procrastination attempts, but enough's enough. Shizz needs to be done! I'll be off the internet...any...minute...now.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to embed video on here. Grrr. To figure it out would only cause more procrastination, no?

[karychuk]

infamous as the time Andrea was denied service *at an Irish bar on St Patrick's Day weekend*

Wow! Impressive. I didn't think this was possible. Really. I didn't know that someone could actually be cut-off on St. Patty's Day, in an Irish pub.

People kept sticking beers in my hand,so I kept drinking them. To do otherwise would have been rude. God.

See, you were merely doing the people around you a service... being social... and completing the impossible!!

[dreahere]

Wow! Impressive. I didn't think this was possible. Really. I didn't know that someone could actually be cut-off on St. Patty's Day, in an Irish pub.

I mean, seriously. Luckily there was another one two doors down, so the evening didn't have to end!

Well, did I go to yoga today, boys and girls? No. No I did not. I did, however, get 95% of the patio in shape and ::mumble:: % of the basement, and with the walk to the post office and then another walk to the CVS just a bit ago, I'm in line for a 2300 calorie burn on the bodymedia. Luckily there was sourdough left and I got wine while I was out. I'm still only going to make it to maintenance calories I think. Should have gotten some Ritters while I was at CVS. This house is woefully short on chocolate.

And all this hurricane talk is scaring me. The only reason I'm not totally freaking out is that it's supposed to hit Sunday. Sunday is my ex/good friend's birthday and we used to jokingly call him Mr Gandhi, because his seemingly charmed life can only be explained by a crapload of good karma carried over from a previous life of sainthood. Surely he cannot and will not have a natural disaster happen and ruin his b-day, so I think that hurricane's going to sea. ::knock wood::

And tomorrow, if all goes according to planned, I squat. Yay!

[dreahere]

And because I am just THAT crazee, weighed myself again this morning. 117. It's official. I have no idea what I really weigh. And now I really really really really am not weighing myself till next month some time, pinky swear. Whatever little collection of digits comes up on the display has no basis in reality, so why bother or care?

[dreahere]

So, yeah, today was quad dominant day, i.e. squat day. Not sure how I'm liking it on a Thursday. Weight room was pretty busy. As soon as I was done with my squat sets, some kid took the rack over for like a half an hour, so I couldn't go back in there to do my SLDLs. I had to do them with dbs instead, which meant going lighter and grip problems. I also had planned to try barbell glute bridges, because I would like that to be my hamstring move on quad day instead of the SLDLs. But there was just no room for me to experiment today.

On a positive note, I increased my weight on squats slightly, I increased sets/reps on the leg press, and I increased weight on the db preacher curls.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to eat another 15g protein at least and 600 more calories. God knows how that's gonna happen.

[dreahere]

Today's workout was...cleaning the basement! 311 calories in two hours, suckahs. Only now I am on my way to an almost 2300 burn and I haven't eaten (or drunk) nearly enough. I better go pound down some wasabi wow before bed. My Gnarly Head has definitely kicked in, though, and I would rather sleep than eat.

Tomorrow, pre-hurricane, there will be back and chest, horizontal plane. I gots me some plans,--we'll see if they pan out. I'll report back with glorious victory or ignominious defeat.

[dreahere]

Well, food fail yesterday. I couldn't face the wasabi wow. I couldn't face any more food. I went to bed in a deficit And this after saying in the bulking thread yesterday that I *need* to get my cals up to 2300 EVERY DAY. I didn't have my usual 600+ calorie breakfast of sludge Friday morning, because I was running late, so I had it in the evening instead. And it's so filling, it's not like I can eat an hour or two after it. Yeah yeah yeah excuses. I didn't have my usual breakfast today, either, so I'm going to have to figure out something for lunch here at work that is a.) a calorie bomb and b.) contains protein. Those two variables appear to be completely separate in our cafeteria. Sometimes I try to eat their chicken salad, except it appears to be...extruded. I swear, it is the consistancy of paste. Yum. Okay, enough complaining about that. I will feed myself somehow.

Report on gym later.

Happy Saturday!