March is coming soon and I need to write a post. As a life update here's what's going on: I turned 27 on the 19th, I decided that May 31st is my last and final day as a high school athletic trainer, I may be moving again in May with my roommate, I'm going to be in Europe in April with 2 of my besties from college, Jonathan and I are planning a couple trips later this year, and I really like my new job at The Athlete's Advantage. The commute could be better but that's a different conversation. I've been working a lot lately, in a way that's good since my clientele is increasing. At the hs things are slowly transitioning into the spring sports which will allow me to be done with the work day earlier. So as soon as my contract expires at the high school I'll be working full time at Athlete's Advantage (referred to as AA from now on.... awk).
This month I wanted to see if I could count my macronutrients. I figured out that it was a bad month to start because 1) I didn't have a food scale, 2) It's my birthday month so measuring things wasn't gonna go well or accurately enough. Sigh. So the month of March needs to be on track, and I need to be diligent. Jonathan's been guiding me with counting and measuring to make sure I was doing this counting macro's thing correctly.
I've increased my workouts to 4x/week. Well, 5x/week if you want to include a day of cardio. My workouts look like this:
Monday- Legs (push)
Tuesday- Arms (pull)
Wednesday- Cardio/HIIT workout
Thursday- Legs (pull)
Friday- Arms (push)
It's just about that time to change up my workouts since I feel like I'm getting a little bored/not as challenged with my workouts in the past.
Jonathan is having another photoshoot next weekend! He wants to see differences from June of last year to this one. He's been working his ass off... well kinda literally. I don't know how many of you know but he wants to compete someday. He really looks up to his idols and wants to be on stage with them one day. Please support him as much you can! I know he posts nothing but fitness related topics but this is his greatest passion. I'm sure his photoshoot will be awesome and the pictures will show the amount of hard work he has made since June... actually, ever since he started. I'm extremely proud of him, and very inspirational. I for one am still trying to come to terms with looking at myself in the mirror and seeing something that I admire (always a work in progress...). It's funny to catch him checking himself out in glass reflections or in the mirror (sometimes I wonder why he takes a little longer to get ready for the day, turns out he's just checking himself out in the mirror :P ) Anyway, Jonathan plans to compete in a show when he turns 30. Cross your fingers and toes for him please!
Lately I've been contemplating about what I've been doing with my life. Not so much that I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, more like how am I preparing for my future. Sure I may be on the right path and really know my strengths and weaknesses. But how sure am I about those things? I honestly, don't know. My greatest weakness is putting others before me, and knowing how to be selfish without the guilt. I work in a field where I put my athletes and clients first. Then worry about myself after I close the door and walk to my car. Ever since identifying this issue prioritizing has been a challenge. I could say that I've made some progress but there's always room for more improvement. I know what my strengths are: I listen to others pretty well, I am understanding, patient, affable, and I work really well with my hands. My hands are my prized possessions. I did wonder if there's a way to insure them... Jokingly. I'm sure there's a way but that's not my priority right now.I'm trying my best to be more aware of myself and trying to figure things out. I need to take care of myself to be happy. Maybe I am happy and don't know it. Maybe I just need to stop living in the future and live in the moment, living in the now so to speak. I have a bad tendency to be way over my head and not realize what the hell I'm doing in the present. Not having awareness in my present is a terrible feeling. I open my eyes and ask, "how far did I drive?" without knowing if I zoned out or just left my presence temporarily (luckily, I was driving in smooth traffic).
I am nervous about making decisions for my future... I know one thing for sure that I can't wait to have a future with Jonathan. Outside of that I have no idea what I'll be doing. I asked myself tonight "In 5 years what do you think you'll be doing?" as if I'm interviewing myself. My answer: the hell if I knew. I wish I knew how to answer that but I don't. Oh well. I have other things to take care besides worrying about my future. For instance, maintaining this blog.
So my fitness lifestyle is going well but at the same time I have slumps. This week has been interesting, there were times where I didn't feel like working out or I ate a whole giant bag of Pirate's Booty just because I have no motivation to eat clean or what have you. I don't know, maybe it's this work week on top of last week, I have never been this overwhelmed with Winter season sports before, it's chaotic and discombobulating. Despite my stressful week and a half I'm still getting my ass into the weight room to workout. Yesterday (Tuesday) I challenged myself and managed to do a working set of 3x8reps of 135lbs squats! I thought I was going to have a rough time but I did it! Yay! That motivated me to stop snacking on shit, get my act together, and eat real food. Now that February is coming up soon I may start measuring my macronutrients and eat according to my goals. I won't call it dieting because I'm eating, not starving myself. My other goal for this year is to do cardio at least 2x/week. Cardio would mean HIIT workouts that last about 20-30min depending on exercises and how many rounds I feel like going. Hopefully I can take some more progress shots soon. I don't have a mirror in my room but there is one in my bathroom with interesting lighting so we'll see. I will say that my arms and shoulders are becoming more and more sculpted. I feel like my limbs and back are getting stronger/sculpted/toned but my mid-section is just lagging. Sigh... I mean it's smaller than it used to be but it's one of those things that is so difficult to work on.
Anyway, thought I'd share my random thoughts and life "issues" that are occurring but I remind myself to be thankful everyday for a job, a roof over my head, food to eat, to be loved by someone, and to love someone. I hope you're all having a good week! And pray that it'll rain for a good amount of time, the Bay Area needs it big time.
Can you believe it's the middle of the month already?! Crazy how fast time seems to tick. According to my Blogger stats the last time I wrote an entry was February of Last year?! Yeesh, I've really slacked off. Not goo, not good. However, on a better note a good number of things have happened since then.
As of this past Wednesday I started a new part-time job in Los Altos called "The Athlete's Advantage." We offer massage/bodywork, yoga classes, yoga therapy, integrative personal training, and corrective exercise. Everythign here is manual therapy, no crazy machines to be hooked up. Just applying our knowledge with our hands. I'm really happy that I can be an Athletic Trainer and a massage therapist, otherwise there's no meaning to have to gone to school for either of these credentials. A handful of you have had sessions with me and every time you all feel better. That's my goal with each session: to make sure you feel better than you did an hour ago coming to see me. If you need my business card let me know! :D
I also moved down to San Jose renting a room in a townhouse close to Japantown. I got fed up with my Caltrain commute, I lost plenty of hours of productivity on it thanks to delays or late nights at work. I was tired of it. So renting a room was the more affordable alternative I could do. I could not have asked for better roommates. I live with 2 other girls, we're all in our late 20's early 30's so it's a nice combo to have. Oh, and a turtle named Buster who is frenemies with that weird black bottom feeder fish thing. We don't throw parties, instead we watch a lot of tv shows via Netfliex/Hulu+ thanks to Jonathan :D.
Speaking of which Jonathan and I are still healthy and happy. We are still active with our workout dates, continuing to encourage and push each other to surpass our challenges. Outside of fitness we are a very content couple. One thing we are really trying to work on is to be more open and honest with each other, especially when it comes down to whatever is going on in our minds. We have witnessed, in ours and other's relationships, when couple's expect to read each other minds or just don't communicate what is going on. We've had a few conversations so far which have really improved our relationship. Our bond is much stronger than it used to be. this takes a lot of courage and openness to just say it and receive it. It's one thing to say it and it's another to really control how one receives what the other is saying. Open conversations are a daily work in progress for us. And please don't ask "Why are you guys engaged/married yet?!" Truth is we don't have a timeline, as long as we get married before/in our 30's we'll be okay. For now we're taking things a day at a time.
What else has happened? I had a wonderful holiday season spending time with my family, my sister's fam, and Jon's family. New Year's was quiet, I started a new job, and plotting my future (career-wise that is).
Fitness wise I am a hell of a lot stronger. I 've been trying new exercises throughout my workouts. I workout 4-5x/week challenging myself every time to lift heavier. It feels good to push myself like that. My last personal records are as follows: Deadlifts-175lbs, Squats- 160lbs. Reassuring that I'm getting stronger. Hopefully my muscles will have more tone soon... Eating lifestyle hasn't been exciting. For a couple months I was doing Intermittent Fasting, where you fast for 16hours and you eat for 8 hours. I did it for a while but my motivation to continue died. So now I just eat 3 meals a day, with a snack in between meal 2 and 3. I've been eating clean/dirty with a ratio of 80/20. During the week it'll be really clean, once the weekend comes by I eat 2 cheat meals, or more depending on my monthly cycle. Jonathan has been flexible dieting, or counting his macronutrient intake. He's had a lot of success and I've expressed that I might want to do it starting next month. I'm just nervous about weighing myself everyday to get an average, and not excited about weighing out everything... We'll see what I decide to do.
Reading about other women challenging themselves getting fit and becoming healthier has been very inspiring. For example, my colleague/friend from college Sheena lost over 100lbs after moving to Louisiana, where obesity rates top the U.S. She defied that with hard work, diligence, and will power, and today she looks and feels amazing :) I give you a standing ovation Sheena! So awesome :) Another inspiring woman is LaKeisha Shurn. The woman who filmed herself going to the gym for 100days. Her video is below. To truly expose her vulnerability on social media, especially in a video, is one of the bravest things a woman can do. Breaking down, almost admitting defeat is one of the rarest things I've seen on any social media outlet. Another standing ovation to her and her immense courage to show her progress from day 1 to day 100. I hope she makes another video soon. :)
It's the new year and we all have resolutions. Resolutions need to simple and achievable. These are mine:
There are many but they are something I know I can and need to do. I taped it on my wall above my desk so it's always visable. I might actually put it as my background screen for my phone to remind myself often as well. I think another resolution I could add is to update my blog at least once a month! There's a lot going on so I need to make the time to do so.
Thank you for reading this. I know it's long but, hey, I haven't been on this for a year so forgive me. I hope you are having a great week/weekend. If you're sick get well soon! I know some of you are so please take care of your selves!
