Happy New Year

I wanted to wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year for 2009, I hope we all achieve all our goals for the year.

My goals for the new year are to continue to focus on my new career as a Personal Trainer and to find time for my own training and preparation for my next competition end of May.  This in itself will be a challenge on it's own as I am getting very busy, I have picked up more clients and January is set to explode.  I'm stoked at having a good clientele base already but I get a little overwhelmed with trying to stay in control of time, it seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day.  I will work around this, i'm still settling in.

Next year is going to be a trying year for me for personal reasons, I will be going through some very rough patches early in the year, i'm hoping I can get through my comp prep at the same time, if not, I will have to leave it until October when everything in my life has settled, but at this stage I am willing to give it a go for May.

I guess this is the last post for 2008, so I will be starting a new blog for 2009 and will post the link in a day or so.

I really look forward to our continued support and friendship here in blog world, I know it's one of the best places to come for moral support, laughs, helpful information, advice and pretty much anything else.  And it just continues to grow from year to year which is wonderful to see :-)

All the best,

Deb xxx

On New Years Day

I need to detox - enough said!!!  :-)

Just a quick update

Sorry about the rush!

Just wanted to update you on my skin folds, my weight is the same 63kgs and I lost 1ml.  This is over a four week period.

As I mentioned in Lindy's forum i'm not phased by this as I know I have dropped more then that, it's visible and i'm happy i'm going in the right direction.  It is TTOTM also.

I will post again soon, just wanted to let you know what the results were.

Hugs,

Deb xxx

Silly me

I have been mentioning how busy I am lately and that I have cut back on my cardio to twice a week, well I called JD yesterday to re-schedule our time for Monday's appointment for my skin folds and whilst I had him on the phone I told him about the two day cardio situation.  From the sound of his voice I knew I had to ask him if that was a problem?  He said "it's just that your calories are structured with the cardio  prescribed".

Oh shoot, my heart sank for a minute, but then I thought i'm not going to worry until I see him as I am pretty sure I have dropped a little, I will weigh myself on Monday also.  I know he wanted me at 70mls by then and I hope it doesn't throw things out to much with his plans and the way he does this.

I can only blame myself, I should have contacted him 3 weeks ago and told him, he may have made some adjustments to my daily meal plan.  Silly me!  I won't make that mistake again especially coming closer to the 20 week out mark.  He is my trainer and I need to tell him this stuff, it's important, lesson learnt and better now then later :-).

Anyway, i'm just to busy to worry about it which is good.  I'm staying positive because I have been so good with nutrition and weight training (5 day split).  Plus I am moving around  more then what I used to now that I am at Goodlife so i'm sure that accounts for something ;-)  here's hoping and grasping at straws!

Gosh I love my Iphone!!!!  I have started using Ical (calendar) and it's so amazing, I feel so organized lol.  I don't know why I never used it before, I do like to take my time with things sometimes.

I've read blogs but not commented so I am up to date, will comment soon.

Deb x

Alcohol

When you drink alcohol, your liver breaks it down into certain compounds, one of these is acetaldehyde, which makes you feel rubbish. Other compounds known as congeners also contribute to your hangover. These compounds give alcohol its colour, flavour and smell, and are more abundant in dark-coloured alcohol such as red wine, brandy and rum.

Sleep deprivation is another hangover factor; not just the late night, but also because alcohol impairs your ability to get a good night's sleep. So you might pass out easily, but you are not getting the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep you need to feel rested.
Prevention is the best cure

If you want to avoid a hangover then don't get dehydrated in the first place – this means drinking plenty of water before you head out and drinking water or other non-alcoholic drinks throughout the night. You should also have more water before bed and again when you wake up.

However, drinking bucket loads of water will not inoculate you against a hangover if you go on a drinking binge as you 'poison' yourself when you consume too much alcohol, warns Allsop.

You can lessen your chances of a hangover, if you:

* Don't drink on an empty stomach
* Eat throughout the night
* Dilute your drinks or chose low alcohol alternatives
* Enjoy your alcoholic drinks – slowly
* Avoid dark coloured drinks – red wine, brandy etc...
* Limit the number of drinks you have

But once the damage is done there is no quick fix. All you can do is:

* Rehydrate yourself – drink water, juice, etc.. but steer clear of tea, coffee and other caffeinated drinks as they will dehydrate you more.
* Eat small amounts and go for something healthy and easy to digest rather than the big, fatty fry up – especially if you're already feeling nauseous.
* Rest – take it easy, you are not going to be at your best so you should avoid doing anything that requires intense concentration – driving, operating heavy machinery etc...

There is considerable debate on what is a safe amount of alcohol to drink but the National Health and Medical Research Council has guidelines on alcohol consumption, which are under review. Based on the existing guidelines, men should drink no more than four standard drinks a day on average and no more than six on any one day, while women should drink no more than two standard drinks a day on average and no more than four on any single day.

We all know the best cure for a hangover is not to drink too much in the first place, so take it easy when you head out and you won't feel like death the next day.

Professor Steve Allsop is the director of the National Drug and Research Institute at Curtin University of Technology, he spoke to Claudine Ryan.

4am is not right!

Three days straight of 4am wake up's, it's not right at all lol.  The days are so much more longer that's for sure.  I'm getting used to it though, I never was an early morning person in the past, in fact nobody could even talk to me until 10am, boy how things change!  The only times I saw 4am in the past was when i was going to bed after a great night out ;-) that was long ago now.

Works going well as I mentioned in my previous posts.  A couple of my clients think i'm a nutter due to my utter excitement when they went up in weights today and hit all targets I gave them.  I don't know what came over me but it is so exciting seeing them reach levels they have never been to before.  They are new to weight training so it's nothing major for the advanced but it's HUGE for them :-)  But they did appreciate my excitement as it got them all excited too lol.  Encouragement, support, motivation, care and supervision are all important traits to take on when becoming a personal trainer.

But other things need to be put in place too in regards to the business end of things.  Working smart and bringing a plan into place to avoid no shows or last minute cancellations.  I have seen this happen to many of the PT's at work and I figured I better put something together so I can avoid it or minimize it as much as possible.  So I think I have it under control, see how it goes, so far so good :-)

I'm really missing not being about to do cardio :-(, i'm so hoping that it's not going to be an issue.  My five day weight training split along with my nutrition should be enough to keep my body fat levels dropping slowly, fingers crossed.

My back is still bad, so my leg days have been light weight for a couple of months now, not how i'm used to training my legs but I have no choice.  I do go a little heavier on lunges as it doesn't hurt my back as much.  Front squats are not as heavy as before but good enough.  I have to say that I have noticed the definition in my quads coming through already and they don't look to bad, so a note to myself, don't stress about not being about to go heavy on legs.  I can't see my back getting better before my comp so it will be interesting to see how my legs look on stage this time.

Take care everyone :-)

Deb xxx

Iphone Apps

For those who have an Iphone I found a great application called "Around Me" (read about it below).  The great thing about it is it works perfectly here in Australia unlike many other US based apps, and it's free :-)

Around Me:

If you have ever found yourself looking for a cafe, ATM or bookstore nearby, you might consider this app a godsend. AroundMe 1.0, a new iPhone app by TweakerSoft, makes it easy to figure what’s nearby.  By leveraging the iPhone’s unique abilities, AroundMe quickly acquires the users location and allows them to choose the nearest bank, bar, gas station, hospital, hotel, movie theatre, restaurant, supermarket, theatre and taxi.

Choose a category, then browse the listings, which includes the distance from where you are. Select a listing, and this hand app displays a map and plots the route for you. You caneven save the information in your  contact list or even email it to a friend.

Another application worth using is Facebook, it makes it easier to use on your iphone.

Hi Guys!

Life has never been this busy and hectic before, I am trying desperately to keep on top of things and so far so good :-)

I'm really enjoying life as a personal trainer and I have been picking up some pretty special clients.  I'm really enjoying taking on the responsibility of helping them reach their goals (in due time) and getting to know them with each session we get together.

It's also a learning curve for me as most of my clients have never lifted weights before so I need to start from scratch with them and ease them into it slowly, but it's all going well.

I'm still managing to fit in my training 5 days per week, but i'm only doing cardio 2 days per week so i'm hoping it's not going to be an issue, I haven't spoken to JD about it yet as I was thinking of just plodding along until my next appointment at the end of the month and discussing it from there as I would have known from the skins that he will take if it's a bad thing or not.

The 5am starts are a killer on Tue, Wed, and Thursday's but i'm getting used to it a bit.  At least it's sunny here a 4.30am!

This year is coming to an end so I guess it's time to think of putting together a new blog for next year.

Deb xxx

Where Am I???

It's just so hard to keep up with myself these days, i'm just so busy.  Work is going great, I am already starting to build up a good clientele base which is great especially for this time of the year.

My training has been squeezed into available times and it has been intensive as I have taken on JD's program now.  I love it as it is very effective and since starting it last week I have had DOMS all week.  It's a 5 day split, that's how I like to train but maybe I should look at a 4 day split due to time management.

Cardio, what's that???  I have had no time for cardio, only training.  So instead of 5 cardio sessions, i'm only getting in two on the weekends.  I'm hoping this won't be a problem but time will tell.  I see JD on the 22nd Dec for skinfolds.

Nutrition, with preparation I have been on top of it 100%.  If I didn't prepare my food it would be a disaster.  So important to stay on top of this.

I had a lovely off plan meal Saturday night, garlic bread and pasta, I haven't had either in over a year I think.  It was completely guilt free, I felt awesome.  I washed it down with some red wine.  I was instructed to have my off plan meals once a week and I "had" to have it so i'm following orders to see what happens lol.

I've been reading blogs so I know what everyone is up to, just haven't had time to leave comments, I will be around soon.

Deb xxx