Conditioning the mind is so important. Where the mind goes the body follows

For me the most difficult part of competing is not the clean eating, not the hard workouts but waking up earlier to workout.

I found the following quote "Conditioning the mind is so important. Where the mind goes the body follows". I really needed it and I found it just in time for my workout. You see, I spoke to Tony yesterday and he gave me a gruelling workout. I have 17 days left and I have to step it up and really focus for the next 17 days. I am attempting to workout in the morning, and when I can't, I do it during my lunch hour. To me conditioning of the mind is believing that you can do it. All throughout my workout I keep on thinking "conditioning the mind, conditioning the mind" and this helped me get through my workout. I find that I have to do "self talk" all day long, particularly now when my workouts are more difficult and I have to be 100% clean with my diet.

Last weekend my in-laws invited us over to dinner and guess what my father-in-law made for dinner? Fried fish, he knows I don't eat fried foods so he told me that he had crab cakes for me (extremely nice of him, but I can't eat that either). My in-laws do not eat anything unless it's fried (I may be exaggerating but only slightly). For dessert they had 3 different desserts, german chocolate cake, a pineapple coconut cake and some type of cream pie (thank God I am not a dessert person). My mother-in-law offers me cake. It drives me crazy because for the 7 years they have known me, I have don't think I have ever said yes to dessert when she offers, yet she will ask me if I want dessert or onion rings or any other greasy food that they eat. So on Saturday, after she offers, and I say know, she says, I don't know why I ask you if you want because you always say no. My response was, I am not sure why you continue to ask either? I don't get it and she really doesn't get it either because even though she has diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, liver problems (just to name a few of the things that are wrong with her, since there are many more), she refuses to clean up her diet or do any type of exercises (even walk) that my help her. She actually checks her blood sugar level and if it is okay, it means that it is okay to have more cake? I know I am going off on a tangent but but they are the exact opposite of my parents and the way I was raised. Growing up we didn't my mother didn't buy cookies, or made us pancakes, we didn't eat McDonalds and ate desserts like cakes on special occasions. We didn't have those things in my house and I thought it was normal. The first time I had McDonalds, I was a teenager. My parents gave us grapes for dessert and every now and then on a really hot day we went to Dairy Queen as a treat. Now I am told that this was not normal but now I am certainly not complaining and as a child I did not feel deprived. It's funny because when my mother visited, my in-laws offered her all types of junk as well and her response was no, I don't eat this or I don't eat that. Then my father-in-laws says, you know your daughter always eat healthy. Duh! See knows that, who do you think I learned from?

Happy Training!

Always have a Plan "B"!

My competition is only 22 days away and Tony has asked me to do more cardio. Not a big surprise, but he recommended that I do it in the morning! You know what is worst than doing more cardio? Doing more cardio in the morning. My first thought when Tony and I spoke was, I know if is going to be difficult, but I will try. I am going to have to go to bed earlier so that I can wake up earlier. I also asked about other options, like doing cardio at lunch time. Luckily, Tony was okay with that, as long as I had enough time between my weightlifting.

So it's been 4 days since I've started implementing extra cardio. I know I have never been a morning person, I don't function early. I've always known this but what I've discovered this week is the following:
I cannot fall asleep earlier even when I go to bed earlier, I've tried many, many times before now, and I just cannot seem to fall asleep early. I once tried an Ambien sleeping pill that knocks my husband out and it didn't do anything to me? I also found out that I need at least 30 minutes after waking up to actually wakeup. When I wakeup in the morning, I am so out of it that I do things that I don't remember doing. It's like I am sleep walking. Needless to say, the cardio in the morning is not working out. So far I've been able to get up and do cardio 1 morning so far.

I knew I had to have a Plan B. My plan B is to workout doing my lunch hour instead. I am still working on going to bed earlier so that I can wake up earlier in order to have enough time do cardio in the morning, but until then, I am going to have to go with Plan B. I have to be at my best for my competition and if Plan A fails, always have a Plan B!

I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday

Thirty days until my competition, everyday I am closer to the big day. I am slowly getting leaner. I have a friend who competes and when asked what motivates her to eat clean and not cheat, her response was “not wanting to have a fat butt on stage”. Now that’s motivation! I am going to post more frequently but I am so busy, my workouts are longer since I’ve been doing more cardio.

Today my motivator was my husband. He saw that I was procrastinating so he came to the gym with me and spotted me for my squats. I was able to squat 145lbs for six reps which was nice. It's really nice to have his support and even if we don't workout together whenever he is at the gym at the same time with me it is nice to know that he is there with me.


Tomorrow I am going to send my check to OCB for my competition fees. I am going to compete in novice and over 35. Sending my check will be another motivator because once I send my check, there is no turning back. I must train harder and eat clean for the next 30 days so that I look great on stage. I am also looking forward to eating pizza after my competition. I've already decided that I want pizza. I have not eaten pizza since last year. Wow!

The Importance of Positive Thinking

I try to be positive as much as I can but, every now and then a negative thought crosses my mind. When that happens I try to get rid of the negative thought immediately and replace it with a positive thought.

I have been training with Tony since April and preparing for this competition next month. It's exactly 40 days away. I have been positive all this time and suddenly, as it's getting closer I am having these weird negative thoughts. I've spoken to a few competitors who say that it's natural to start doubting, but why? Is it just human nature?

My goal of course is to improve from my last competition and to put on more muscle mass. I definitely do not want to look skinny. On Friday I was not pleased with the way I looked and I felt that I really, really needed to practice my poses because they did not look right. I didn't give up and continued to practice. On Saturday, I continued to practice and took pictures. I definitely felt better and thought that I looked better. I know that I still need to practice everyday but what a difference a day makes!

On Friday, I could have just given up, but I knew that giving up was not an option and would not help.

Yesterday I went to the track in the morning to do my cardio, that I love so much and later in the day I trained my biceps and triceps. It was a grueling workout and lifting my arm was difficult after that workout. Somehow, I like when I have those types of workouts because I feel a sense of accomplishment.

Tony took away the berries from my meal plan. I just love fruit and I take advantage of the fresh fruit during the summer and eat all that I am allowed to eat. I have been eating fresh blueberries with my oatmeal in the morning, and breakfast will not be the same without my blueberries. I guess I have to get excited about something else on my meal plan. It will have to be the cherry tomatoes! I know that may be strange to some, but appreciating the little things (like blueberries and cherry tomatoes) helps me get through my strict competition diet!

Happy Training!