Now that I have competed a few times and keep notes of everything from how I feel, to exercise and what I eat, I have learned a lot along the way about myself and how my body reacts. Just like previous times before between 8-6 weeks out are always the toughest for me. It's still far enough away that you have to be "smart" about not overdoing it with your training and diet, but there's that inherit sense that it's time to work and work hard! Your body is fighting you in every sense of the way both physically and mentally. When this happens I always know good changes are happening. The toughest weeks usually always bring me great rewards.
I have to admit this past week was extremely trying on my nerves as I had added stress professionally all while trying to keep my energy levels up to give my training all that it deserves. Sometimes being moody or fatigued is a good indicator you are pushing hard and your body is pushing just as hard to change. As I look at my body comp readings from my Tanita Scale in which I will get into later, I am so impressed with the changes made in these two weeks. I have lost 2.3% of body fat, gained 1.8lbs of muscle and lost 1.6lbs of body weight. What this means is I am trading body fat for muscle! Of course I would love to see the number on the scale go down for body weight, but this is the first time ever I have actually gained muscle while dieting. I guess those high intensity weight training sessions are paying off.
My husband Kevin has been teaching me to think differently about weight training. I am finally learning it's about maximizing your efforts during a workout. I have been focusing on a unique technique of slow and controlled strength training to achieve maximum strength and conditioning. The basis of this exercise is to move the weight slow and controlled. For example 10 seconds up and 10 seconds down, but never fully locking out or resting until failure. With enough resistance the muscle fatigue will become so intense and the set should not last longer than 2 minutes. This method is taxing, challenging as well as motivating.
Each time I train we switch it up from supersets one workout, negatives the next and even drop sets. It may not sound intense, but just like the article I wrote the other day about Tabata training it is similar in many ways. You've got one shot to make it count, so you better push as hard as you possibly can all while maintaining control of the weight. It's one set-period and you work your entire body in one workout!
I started by doing this technique 3 times a week, but quickly realized I was not allowing recovery time or giving my body the ability to grow. Now I have backed off to 2 days per week and the results are amazing. That's right just 2 days a week of INTENSE weight training and look I am still gaining muscle and most importantly strength! This is tough to achieve when your caloric intake continues to drop which ultimately may affect your energy levels. I have to say I am loving my training and get so excited to see my weight, strength as well as number of repetitions continue to grow each time. It makes me push harder to keep reaching my goals.
Preparing for a competition is about not only working smart, but thinking smart. I am very organized with charts, weekly meal plans, progress tracking, exercises and even tracking feelings. Ultimately all this information becomes my guide and example for each time I compete. As I mentioned above I use a Tanita Scale to help me track my body composition.
For a long time I have wanted to be able to track my progress on a daily and weekly basis that would give me accurate and unbiased data unlike body calliper testing. I still believe to get the most accurate readings are through Bod-Pod or hydrostatic weighing. Since some of these options are unavailable or costly, this is why the Tanita Scale is the next best solution for tracking progress and accuracy. Having a Tanita Scale during contest prep helps me monitor changes and progress with body fat% as well as muscle loss or gain. I would recommend it to anyone who is not only a competitor, but anyone who is serious enough about weight loss and overall health. By having this information available to me daily allows me to adjust exercise levels as well as diet. Besides my heart rate monitor it's the one tool I use all year long!
So, what is a Tanita Scale? It is a state of the art scale that measures your Weight, Body Fat%, Body Water%, Muscle Mass (nice), Physical Rating, BMR (This is the calories you need to survive through a day.), Metabolic Age (sweet), Bone Mass, and Visceral Fat (This is the fat you have around your stomach and organs.) With just a click of a button this scale is very simple, quick and easy to use. If you are just looking for your body weight and not all the other info, you can get just that.
Check out Amazon for the best pricing on the Tanita Scales. Here is a link to the one I have and am very happy with it: http://www.amazon.com/Tanita-BC533-Innerscan-Composition-Monitor/dp/B0007Y6BS4
To wrap up this week's report I am feeling stronger and more confident each day. Not much has changed with my diet other than reducing my calories by 100 and slightly increased my cardio. Since I have pain in my knees and joints after a lot of running I replace running a few times a week with spinning, but have also added in Tabata's 2 times a week. It is also now time to begin posing practice:) Thanks again for allowing me to share my thoughts and experiences with you! I look forward to sharing more details next week.
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