Now that I am coming up on the of my undergraduate career I thought it would be a good time to look back on these three years and assess a few things. At the beginning of college I was frantic about gaining the infamous freshman 15 or even now I think it's the freshman 20! That is gaining relatively a large amount of weight in college! However, I would like to present to you my experience with the freshman 15. I weighed in at 108 pounds at 14.3% body fat the dat before I started my freshman year. Keep in mind I had no idea I was going to be into bodybuilding and I didn't even know what figure competitions were! Today 3 years later I weigh in at 138 pounds and 17.3 % body fat. For those of you who don't know the specifics, let me break those number down for you. That is about a 21.5 pound gain of lean muscle mass and an 8 pound gain of fat mass over a 3 year period. That's about 7 lbs of lean muscle gain per year! Wow! Yes, I did gain some fat; however, the fat gain was necessary for my joints and bodily functioning due to the heavier lifting that I was engaging in.
So for all of you people who are terrified of the freshman 15, don't be so scared after all. However, it is important to know that I didn't gain that lean mass by sitting around or sleeping til noon. It takes hard work, dedication and most importantly consistency! But it can be done and I know I'm not the only one who has done this! I would just like to able to empower others to work hard and achieve their goals whether it be muscle gain, fat loss or increase in over all fitness levels! Take charge of your life and achieve the goals that you desire!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
Spices, Sauces and no more Diet excuses
So today's topic is based on the idea of NO EXCUSES. I dislike excuses a lot and I hear a load of crap lots of times when it comes to hearing people make up excuses for why they can't or don't stick to a diet. SO, today I am stomping all over their excuses with some lovely tips on how to literally spice up a diet so that it isn't so boring and bland.
Tip #1: Make your own spicy sweat and sour sauce. There are many ways to do this but I find that the products in the picture below provide the lowest calorie option. Liquid stevia drops, Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce and Walden Farms Ketchup can all be combined within the ketchup bottle to produce a great sauce that can be used to season fish, chicken, turkey or any other meat.
Tip #1: Make your own spicy sweat and sour sauce. There are many ways to do this but I find that the products in the picture below provide the lowest calorie option. Liquid stevia drops, Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce and Walden Farms Ketchup can all be combined within the ketchup bottle to produce a great sauce that can be used to season fish, chicken, turkey or any other meat.
Tip #2: Make your own honey mustard. By combined Stone Ground Mustard Sodium free (can be found at Whole Foods), balsamic vinegar and stevia drops you can create your own healthy, sugar free honey mustard!
Tip #3: Mrs. Dash deserves a Noble Prize for keeping bodybuilders sane during contest prep. These seasonings are sodium and calorie free! They are great for seasoning pretty much anything edible. There are also a wide variety of different flavors to keep from getting bored.
Tip #4: Green Valley Ranch is a brand a lot like Walden Farms. All of the sauces are calorie free. Green Valley Ranch offers some different flavors that Walden Farms does not make like Indian Curry, Teriyaki, Red Thai Curry and Hawaiian Sweet and Sour.
Tip #5: The god old stand by Walden Farms. Walden farms offers a wide variety of different salad dressings, syrups, BBQ sauces, dips, pasta sauces and imitation peanut butter!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
St. Patrick's Day Damage Control
Did you eat too much last night, have too much to drink or do you just not remember? Well, this workout is designed as a cardio intensive workout to burn more calories than the traditional weight lifting workout and also more than the traditional cardio workout. The workout is based off of Tabata intervals but also a little bit of my own creativeness mixed in. The circuits are designed in an interval like fashion and are to be performed as fast as possible (all out) for the 20 seconds at a time intervals. Be sure to take 1 -2 minute rest periods between circuits. Since I’m sure the majority of the population went out drinking last night on St. Paddy’s Day, I took the liberty of naming each circuit after an actual Irish Pub in Ireland.
Circuit 1 – The Brazen Head
- 20 seconds of bodyweight squats
- 10 seconds rest
- Repeat 8 times (will add up to be a round of 4 minutes)
Circuit 2 – The Woolshed
- 20 seconds of push ups (modified if needed)
- 10 seconds rest
- Repeat 8 times (will add up to be a round of 4 minutes)
Circuit 3 – The Submarine
- 20 seconds of box jumps (appropriate height to you)
- 10 seconds rest
- Repeat 8 times (will add up to a round of 4 minutes)
Circuit 4 – John Mulligan’s
- 20 seconds of pull ups
- 10 seconds rest
- Repeat 8 times (will add up to a round of 4 minutes)
Circuit 5 – Kitty O’Shea’s
- 20 seconds of sprints
- 10 seconds of active rest (walking or slowing down)
- Repeat 8 times (will add up to a round of 4 minutes)
Circuit 6 – The Auld Dubliner
- 20 seconds of shoulder press
- 10 seconds of rest
- Repeat 8 times (will add up to a round of 4 minutes)
** Take a 1 – 2 minute rest between each circuit
At first glance this workout may seem simple or the circuits may seem short; however, I assure you by the end of the workout you will want to be done.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Throwback
Here are all the thinks to my RXMusclemag.com articles if you have missed any of them! Just thought I would repost the links so everyone could have a chance to catch the articles they might have missed!
Creatine, Friend or Enemy
EZ Curl, Straight Bar Curl, and Prone or Hammer Curl
Why All This Caffeinated Hype
Muscle Fiber Type
Got DOMS?
Angular Motion: A Lesson in Physics and Biomechanics
Joint Articulation Biomechanics in Terms of Injury Prevention: Part 1 The Shoulder
Eccentric Contractions and Muscle Hypertrophy
Joint Articulation Biomechanics in Terms of Injury Prevention: Part 2 The Knee
The Nervous System and How it Applies to Training
Effects of Shoe Type on Squat Performance
Joint Articulation Biomechanics in Terms of Injury Prevention: Part 3 The Elbow
Muscle Memory Debunked
Strength and Conditioning Applied to Bodybuilding
http://www.rxmuscle.com/rx-girl-articles/5114-strength-and-conditioning-applied-to-bodybuilding.html
Effects of Shoe Type on Squat Performance
Monday, March 5, 2012
Arnold Classic 2012
Some photos from my weekend at the Arnold Classic in Columbus Ohio. Sorry for the delay! 
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