Sweating away

Started the day with an upper back session followed by some sprints today. On empty stomach since I'm not too hungry when I wake up anymore. And yes, it works perfectly fine. Estimated my calories to about 1250 yesterday, but I still managed to raise some weights at the gym today!

Morning visits to the gym are the best way I know to start the day. That's where I kinda do what I do best. I feel invincible! I feel confident! I feel strong!!! And honestly, it feels even better here in Australia since it's quite uncommon to see women lift heavy free weights. So when I am there on the floor where usually only the hardcore guys set their feet, I can notice some curious looks and I know that people are impressed :)

What's more - it slightly feels like I have seen the light and the girls on the crosstrainers or the fit balls, are living a lie. I wish everyone could begin to understand that torture will not give you the results you want. Eating real food and do more efficient training with heavy weights (no machines) and maybe some sprinting is what will get you there! And that is not torture. Well, not to me anyway. You will not be bulky, but you will finally get the results that you dream of!

Pictures of what Sofia feels like at different stages after sprinting. Dinner. And the tool that hopefully will fix my grip during deadlifts :)

What is this magic???

I think it might be called ketosis! But I should not be there yet. So I suppose it is just a seriously kickass diet! Great results on the third day for both my wonderful housemate and me!!!!

So what happened? Well, I felt terrible all day, in a bad mood and sooo tired. But - I had brought my gym gear to uni just to be able to do a chest session immediately when I was done there. So I forced my ass there and, tadaaa, my energy magically came back to life, the weights were raised in all sets and I even managed to end it with 15 mins of sprinting afterwords! This happened after only having two meals today with the last one 4-5 hours earlier. Fuckin' kickass!!!

And you know what else is fuckin' kickass? My housemate is obviously also suffering from an adapting body. Probably a lot more than I am since she is all new to the concept. Despite this, she woke up without a headache today for the first time in three weeks!!! And she's really pushing herself with this new way of eating. She is truly amazing!! Go miss Housemate!! :D

Breakfast in the bottom (yep, that's right), post-workout snack in the top and a happy Sofia filled with endorphins to the left:)

New found love: HIIT

I have already described my overwhelming love for sir Gym. The main thing that makes me so attracted to sir Gym is the weight lifting. Heavy free weights. I've always kinda hated doing cardio though. But - about a week ago a realized that I was not as tired as I should be after a session of my new program (4-split instead of 3-split which makes the sessions a lot quicker) so I decided to try sprinting. Intervals has always been my thing since my endurance is pretty shitty and I don't know how to motivate myself to keep running when I feel like I am about to die, but it has always been longer intervals with the goal of being able to run for as long as possible without resting.

Now I've been quite inspired of the Primal Blueprint lately and by listening to their podcast I was curious to try really high intensity sprints after my workout. So I did. And then I did it after every upper body workout session this week. And I must say that wow, sir Gym - why didn't you show me this side of yourself earlier??? So what I've been doing is just 15 min sessions of 45 sec - 1 min of running at the top speed of what I have previously been capable of, followed by 1 min walking.

Why I love it you ask? Because it is over quickly so it is easier for me to push myself into both starting and continuing for the remaining time; because it releases all the happy hormones that I love from cardio exercise without being as torturous; because it is not as tough as aerobic exercise so I can do it after my strength programs which I have never managed before (I suppose - not really surprisingly - that anaerobic exercise is my thing), because I notice results after only one week of doing this!

Mark Sisson wrote an excellent post about this a while back, describing the benefits you get from sprinting. I am really looking forward to keep up these intervals and see how it will affect me in the longer run. What I can notice after only a week is: more energy and feeling a lot better mentally, starting to actually recognize my hunger signals which I haven't felt for a long time, increased speed (I suppose it is the same as when you start lifting - rapid progress in the beginning) and better focus. I mostly feel more stable mentally. I don't know if I can put all credit for that into the sprints of course, since my food intake has been really good the past week as well, I have managed to stick to my exercise routine and I have had a humane amount of things to do at uni (meaning: no stress). Although I definitely believe that the new addition of short HIIT sessions have strongly contributed to my new well being that has been absent for quite some time.

A pretty exhausted Sofia just off the treadmill. Sweaty and very satisfied with herself! And the eyes were a lot more energetic after some recovery ;)

Gym - my rock

My gym - my love - my comfort - my well being - my supporting rock. 

Felt absolutely terrible today. We all have those days when it feels like everything is shit. We feel sorry for ourselves. We feel like nothing we do is enough. We feel like we are not enough. Today was a day like that. 

I brought my gym gear to uni just to be sure that I'd go there immediately when I was done at uni... But after a shit day I would rather go home, shut the door to my room and feel sorry for myself. Instead of doing that I sat down at a bakery, had a cappuccino and complained to my journal (who always listens and cares and sometimes even give helpful advice). Went to coles and bought some macadamia nuts. And forced my butt to the gym. 

And seriously - it's crazy how that place affects the mood!!! I was about to start crying at the bakery, but after just a couple of sets I started to notice how great my ass is and forgot all about the other issues. The gym brings confidence, strength (physical and mental) and happiness. It makes me feel like I belong. 

Normally I would buy shitloads of poisonous comfort food on a day like this. That would not have solved any problems at all. It would make me physically sick with a racing pulse and nausea, plus mentally worse than before.

No, sugar is not comfort. It's a false fucking bitch who tricks you into its embrace just to stab you in the back a minute later. The gym though - that's love and pure happiness. That's true comfort that pours a stream of feelgood hormones into the bloodstream and makes you feel awesome.

Now - remember that next time you want to dismiss the gym. The gym deserves more appreciation than that!!

Shoulder pat of the day: to my housemate who put a nicotine patch on her arm today and made chia pudding instead of comforting herself (and her abstinence) with ice cream!

SCORE!

Oh yes, she did it!! Was it good? Oh yeah. Did it give me new energy? Oh yeah. Am I more optimistic now than before? Hell yeah! Did it make my headache go away? Unfortunately not, which obviously affected the training, but hey - I did it! :D

And the after-pic:

Now Sofia - how about remembering this next time you feel like spending time with your laptop instead of the gym?!

To force motivation

I have tried to lose my extra kilos that I've gained a number of times now, but I am still going to see this as a start. The last week have been absolutely horrendous in the healthy perspective with shitloads of crappy food and hardly no exercise. This means that I have to really force myself to the gym now. That's how it always is when you start. But force yourself for a couple of times and then it will be a routine and no probs at all.

It is really hard to leave the computer at the moment and get my ass to the gym so here's my strategy:

1. I put on my gym gear first thing in the morning before even having my coffee.
2. Deciding when to go - after breakfast and one episode of Big Bang Theory!
3. Write about it here with a picture of how I feel about it (so I can make another update when I come back with a new picture of how awesome I will feel then! Great for future motivation!!!)
4. Repeat all the reasons for going there as a mantra: "Sofia - you do love lifting weights, you do want to raise the weights to feel less embarrassed at the gym, you do want to look fit again, you will get rid of your headache if you go out for fresh air, you will feel awesome afterwards, it will be easier to focus on your studies when you get back etc etc..."
5. FUCKING JUST DO IT WILL'YA?!?!?!?!

Pat on the shoulder for: Pretty good breakfast with hardly any carbs. Good on ya! :)

Weight lifting - YEY!!!! :D