your delts aren’t smashed from all the push ups days in a row?
do you also notice that your lats get hit with them as well, or am I just weird??
A lot of bodybuilders think they know it all when it comes to weight. I say bullocks.
One guy, as sweet as he is, thinks that I can compete in Middleweight (which is sub 125#)
I said no way that can happen without losing a limb. He has doubts. I don’t think he knows how I long I dieted and haven’t seen a maximum of 139 since weight training. I love it, but still, I gotta lose a limb. A big one lol
safe travels
did you do the 60 pushups in 1 shot? that is so hardcore.
and damn your bench woman.
Ppuff: Thanks! I will do my best to keep up with posting (and reading!) while I’m there. I think you’re right about the spurt theory. I really wasn’t complaining about it. I figured it would be slow going from here out. I’m about to have much less control over my daily life for the next 5 weeks, so now’s not a good time to worry about weightloss. Btw, every time I look at your avi, I think: I want that skirt! 
Veggie: Thanks much, lady! I have resumed my affair with the leg press. I can’t promise it will be a long-term thing, but it has potential. 
I was missing the pump I get from it. And of course, now that Nikki’s challenged me, I have to do it! haha Do you ever leg press?
Brute: Thank you! I’m excited, too, but right now it’s covered up by extreme stress. haha Once I’m out there, it will be better. Unfortunately I doubt I’ll be able to take many pictures because it’s illegal in most places, but I will try! Also won’t be able to upload until I get back… lame Congolese interwebz. I’m hoping I will come back both refreshed and hyped!! Not asking too much…
MiM: hmmm… not sure. I think my body has adjusted much more to the pushups since they’re a daily thing. My lats don’t seem to complain… I should try to focus more on my lats, though. I think my chest often likes to run the show when it can.
Nikki: I hear what you’re saying, girl. Even the best intentions… Why would you bother with 125 when you look fabulous at 148 (or whatever you’re up to now!)?
Main: haha, merci bcp! Yep, 60 all at once. Although, on the one-leg ones, I like to switch legs halfway through.
Thanks to all for picking my spirits up! I’ve been so horrible this week with keeping up with logs (including my own). Sorry! The stress is really getting to me. Lots going on both at work and outside of work (although most of it has to do with this trip), and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. I probably should have taken today off from the gym. This morning’s lifting was pretty unsatisfying, but it was also coupled with a trainer talking to me for about 15 minutes. I just let her talk. My lifting was pretty shot anyway.
Thursday
Dec Push-ups 58
CL WG pulldowns 120x6 120x6 120x6 120x6 120x6
SL sit-up 35x12 35x10 35x10
UH BB row 90x5 90x5 90x5
DL 135x10 185x4 135x10 135x7 135x7
185 on the DL just didn’t feel right today, so I bumped it back down. After doing rack pulls so often, doing a full ROM feels weird. For now, I really just want to build up back strength, so I don’t really concern myself with full DLs too much since I can pull more from pins. Anyway, left off two exercises since I ran out of time. Aiming to get to bed early so I don’t go into my trip on a sleep deficit and perhaps my mood will be better tomorrow. On verra! (You may have to put up with random French from me while I’m in the Congo. You have been forewarned.)
[quote]I just let her talk. My lifting was pretty shot anyway.
[/quote]
LOL you sound like you’ve given up =)
I know exactly what you mean lol ;D
I for one am very happy you’ll still log on when you’re in Africa.
Safe travels! <3
haha, Yeah, was in a funk all day, Nik, even from the start. My numbers weren’t all bad, but I just didn’t have the “oomph” today.
Glad you can sympathize! 
Awww, thanks, gorgeous! Me too!
Ok, so last day at the office before my trip. I’m sure I’ve wreaked havoc on my body this week with my cortisol levels alone! I am feeling a little less stressed now. Hopefully packing will “finish” tonight (packing never truly finishes until I’m on the way to the airport), and I’ll be able to spend Easter weekend enjoying myself.
This morning’s workout was cut a little short. (ahhh I can haz moar sleep?!)
Pushups (1L) 50
Hip thrust 35x12 35x8 35x14
Plate back ext 45x10 45x10 45x10
CL Squat (105x10) 185x6 205x6 205x6
BB SL DL 135x5 135x5 135x5
Seated calf raise 125x5 125x5 125x5
Nothing much to say, except that I’m planning on getting a good, long workout in tomorrow (after sleeping in, I hope!).
Off to do more packing!
What’s a CL squat? I feel sure I’ll feel silly when you tell me, but I surrender to the riddle at this point.
Ha, I don’t ever feel like I’ve finished packing. I have settled on telling myself that as long as I have clothes on, ID/Passport, and some sort of arrangements for quarters when I get there (or enough cash to make that happen) I’m good to go.
No worries, I make random abbreviations. I may or may not have mentioned it before that Cl= cluster. So those are my cluster squats: 2 reps, 10 second pause, 2 reps, 10 second pause, 2 reps. I’ve been doing that with several exercises.
I try to think that way, Kris. I used to say, “Well, if I forgot something, I can buy it there.” But unfortunately this is not true of the Congo! Lots of pressure. But I also need to remember that I can live without a lot of things. breathes deeply
I hit the gym this morning for a nice 2 hours of not thinking about my trip! I may record it later since I did hit a new leg press PR. 
But off to shower and shoot down to Richmond for the rest of the weekend.
Happy Easter!!
Curse your leg press PR
Regarding your question about the leg press: Yes, i have leg pressed in the past. My man and I used to load that bitch up many moons and a couple of gyms ago. Then I started training at a gym that had the most useless leg press. (It has since disappeared, hopefully it has found a new use as an anchor!) It was weird, carriage came down on an arc?! Never got comfortable with it, so I just cut it out of my program(s). Been a while, but I have used a cybex ‘squat press’ on occasion more recently (last summer.)
Safe travels! Hope the Congo treats you well
Ahhh, Veg, I think I’ve seen one of those kinds of leg presses before. Very weird. There’s a lot of variations (which I find kind of strange).
I’m taking advantage of the fast internet while I have my layover in Paris (fyi, I hate Air France). Call me crazy, but I’m super paranoid of having suitcases/items in my luggage go missing in Kinshasa, so I kept my training log with me for safekeeping.
Saturday
Spiderman 12 12 12
Dips 15 12 12
Chins 4 3 3
Bulgarians bwx10 30x10 30x10 30x10
Leg press 90x10 270x10 450x8 540x5 630x5 720x5 810x5 900x5 (PR) 90x50 (ooo, that last set killed me!)
(ss calf raises) 90x30 270x25 450x15
Frogkicks 50 50 50
Around the world 20sx7 17.5x10 17.5x10
(ss) DB chest flyes 17.5x12 17.5x10 17.5x12
Skullcrusher 40x10 40x10 40x10
(ss) CG bench 40x10 40x10 40x10
Upright row 60x7 60x7 60x7 60x7
Hanging knee raise 8 7 7 9
Diamond pushups 7 7 7 7
Hi cable curl 40x10 45x10 45x10 20x25
BB wrist curl 45x25 45x25 45x25
Dips are (were) slowing creeping back up, but I’ve been having incredible soreness when I do them. Talked to my dad about it, and he thinks the muscles are growing faster than the tendons. Leg press was feeling good but 900 felt pretty heavy. I think I’ll need a spotter from here on, at least lifting it off. I’ve been trying to be diligent with my forearm work to strengthen my girly grip! Not sure how much progress I’m seeing. :-/ Patience…
Monday (just a short one before I left!)
Push-ups 60
Bench 95x10 115x8 135x6 155x2 (this felt heavy today…hmph)
Lat pull 100x8 100x8 100x8
Frogkicks 50 50 50
1A DB row 55x5 60x5 60x5
Facepull 100x10 110x8 120x8
Tri ext 100x8 110x7 120x5
Rev flyes 12.5x20 12.5x20 12.5x20
I don’t think I mentioned this yet, but there was a rumor that the new wing of the hotel in Kinshasa that was just finished has a gym. I don’t want to get too excited, but that would be great! Even if it was just a few sets of dbs, I’d be happy! Anyway, I’m feeling less stressed for the moment and looking forward to seeing some of my Kinshasa coworkers. They’ll be happy to see me, especially since I’m their American goods mule. Almost there…
i read it way fast and didn’t stop to realize just how stressful it is! WHOA! any type of travelling wears me the hell out–but your destination is a bit more exotic!
safe travels i wish you a smooth transition, all flights and connections on time, clean hotels etc! oh and gym in hotels!!!
what are you going to be doing? if you are allowed to say? what kind of work do you do? sorry if you’ve mentioned it before 
You might like the green skirt, but I’m envying your awesome trip more.
For now, my travels are limited to places I’ve been in books.
Have enough fun for the both of us, OK?
Catching up… Have a good trip. Hope stress levels are down now. And Fuck your diet advisor.
Look how dedicated you are!
A layover in Paree sounds love Ma Cherie
Awesome leg pressing, glad you got some workouts in.
Safe travels for the rest of the way =D
Hi Veg, Brute, Ppuff, Nikki, and Nadia!
Just logging on briefly to report that I’m here and I’m alive. There wasn’t any internet in the office the last two days and the connection at the hotel has been spotty. I am pleased to report that my room is bigger this time (yes, Kris, even us “short” people appreciate a little space), and I have two equal-sized chairs which I did some dips with the other day. I have been doing my resistance band circuits in the morning (although I had trouble sleeping last night and took some sleeping pills in the middle of the night which totally knocked me out this morning).
I also ran by the embassies by the Congo river the other day (the only safe place to run by yourself, although I get dropped off and picked up) in the sweltering heat and humidity, maybe about 4 miles or so. In the words of “regular ordinary Swedish mealtime”: is good for you! Meatball Massacre - YouTube
Hopefully my internet will work at the hotel tonight and I’ll be able to catch up with everyone and post my workouts! Thanks to all for the well wishes!
Glad to know that you’re alive and relatively well.
WTF? The vid was ridiculous. Whoa! Was all of that abuse to the meat really necessary?
Hoping that the internet connection is favorable for you later
You live!
Very glad to hear you’ve made it, settled in (with more space to boot; should I call you L among the Lilliputians, or is it not ‘that’ much more space than last time? :P), and already hard at work on your assassin’s exercises. Maybe it’s silly but I think it’s pretty awesome that you can say you’ve run by the embassies by the Congo river. Cool stuff.
Veggie, are you not familiar with Epic Meal Time? I’ll assume not, and supply an example:
Fingers crossed for working internets at the hotel.
Ok, catching up! (yay working internet!!)
Brute, stressful indeed! But actually, as soon as I was on the plane my stress was greatly reduced. Once I made it through immigration in Kinshasa, then I could breathe easy. My job in international development. I work on a health project funded by USAID. The project actually has offices in Uganda and Thailand, as well, but because I speak French, I’m lucky enough to be assigned to the DRC office. I work on the operational side of things, so this time I’m helping with the office move, organizing a large conference, and hiring some additional staff.
Puff, I can’t promise fun but probably adventure. Unfortunately my trip requires a 6-day work week and typically 10+ hr days. Although this week has been fairly easy in that I’ve only been working about 9 hrs, especially given that the internet at the hotel hasn’t been working (mixed blessing).
haha, thanks for the support Nadia! Things are looking good right now.
Nik, don’t get too excited, it was about a 4 hour layover spent at the airport between about the hours of 1 am and 5 am EST. Lastly time I flew home, I spent a few days in Paris, but it was during that extreme cold spell they had and I was pretty miserable for those few days (extreme temperature change, was sick, and I’ve been to Paris several times before). By then I just wanted to be home!
Thanks, Veg. Haha, I don’t know if it was necessary, but it certainly made it amusing!
Hi Kris! I do, I do! Haha, I think you can stick with L. I actually haven’t seen that video before; I wish I could watch it, but it’s not loading. I have a feeling it will make my life even better. When I stop to think about it, it is pretty cool to have been running by the Congo. It’s something I’ll be able to look back fondly on. There’s a certain romance to it, seeing the palm trees outlined in the sunset. I probably ran faster than normal, too, because of the machine gun-toting police/guards. Hey, how was the first week of GVT??
So, I will admit to not having done my workout today since I had some trouble sleeping last night and finally took some sleeping pills around 3 am, which was quite a mistake because I couldn’t wake up this morning. Anyway, tomorrow I will make up for it! That is, before seeing a local staff member (though not a Congolese) get married!
Wednesday (Circuit 1, performed 3x)
Chair dips 10
Dec push-ups 50
Alt chest presses 50
Band squats 25
Bat wings 30
Uprite row 20
Lat raise 15
Curls 15
SL Situp 30
Plank 1:00
Thursday (Circuit 2, performed 2x)
Spiderman 20
X-walk 30
Glute bridge 1:00
Hip thrusts 15
Lunges 30
Shoulder press 12
Diag. woodchop 40
Bent over row 20
Tricep ext 50
Rev crunch 30
I have to play around with the bands a bit to get the movements down and the tension right, but for the most part I’m pretty satisfied. I did break a sweat, so that’s a good sign! I’m going to see what logs I can read before my internet goes out.