PLANTS ???

Well, yes :)

I have always admired those who have lots of different plants in their homes, all looking healthy and some even with flowers year after year. Me, I can kill a cactus! So when I came across this little gem Ten Plants You Can't Kill at only $8.- I figured I'd pass on the information. I've spent several times that sum just trying to have a plant in my home for more than 6 months - in vain. The plants I have now look like they might make it to old age :)

NEW ROUTINE

Starting today, until January 1st, that's 4 weeks exactly - 28 days. If I take out my copy of All Stars Training Secrets , all the programs there are for 30 days. I did one of these in June of this year, packed on 8 lbs of muscle and dropped a consequent amount of bodyfat; in time for the summer on the beach! According to my teen-age daughter I had the best female body on the beach, and if you have a teen-age daughter, you know how much a comment like that means: a LOT.

So why not reiterate this for the Christmas/ New Year's celebration? Why not look as stunning as possible in that slinky red dress I bought last year (but which didn't fit all that well, as it pulled across the tummy)?

So here goes :)

I can't give away the exact program I'll be using, as it's from the book and the author would not agree with my giving it away obviously. I'll just give you an insight into how I organize my day around it all, and one or two workouts along the way, as well as - and especially - the results!

I'll be going with a 4-day split routine. Chest, shoulders and abs is day 1 (today), then lats, traps and calves tomorrow. Wednesday, no weights. Thursday will be arms and Friday legs, Saturday totally OFF even cardio. Sunday I start over with Monday's routine, Monday I do Tuesday's etc. keeping Wendesday weight free and Saturday totally rested.

In short, weight training 5 days a week, cardio 6 days a week. Then on Saturday morning I do the measuring (total weight, bodyfat reading, calculation of muscle mass (LBM) vs. fat mass, and working out the required calories for the coming week based on the LBM).

This is the one day I sleep in a little (till 8 am rather than getting up at 5:30), don't worry too much about what I eat (as long as I stay within the daily calories) and allow myself a meal out (i.e. with no control over the ingredients and cooking methods), and even a glass of wine with that meal! One mind you.

Sunday it's back to gettin up (at 6:30, let's not be too strict!) and getting on the Elliptical Trainer before breakfast. The rest of the week I don't have time for that, but do my cardio between breakfast and the mid-morning meal. The weights I either do right before lunch, or I wait until 5 pm. The reason for these different times, is dependent on whether I have a training partner in the afternoon or not. If we have appointments after 4 pm, I hit the gym alone in the morning rather than skipping the workout!


On a chest-day, this means working with dumbbells for the press rather than the barbell, just to be safe. I can keep the heavy weight on the Dbs alone, as they are easier to drop should I need to. A sudden muscle failure with a Bb across your throat is dangerous, so I NEVER do Bb presses when I'm alone - or with such ridiculously low weights that there's really no point at all!

Today looks like a Db workout :) so I'll go with the 30-pounders for the flat-bench press and the incline flyes, starting with 8 reps and keeping as close to those as possible for the subsequent sets as well. To finish off the pecs I'll be doing push-ups (not on my knees).

Shoulders I always start with Arnold presses, whatever other shoulder exercise I do afterwards. 20-pound Dbs are good here, then I'll do a special series of L-laterals I learned from a competing bodybuilder and which is a total killer! Love it :)

Abs ... probably some basic core exercises today, the plank, and some ball weighted crunches to finish.

First of all, right now (it's 8 am and breakfast was over an hour ago) it's cardio time. Since I've been lazy with that these past two months, I'll just do 30 minutes this week, getting back to the 45-minute workouts next week.

Starting stats:

159.2 lbs total bodyweight
18.27% bodyfat
130.12 lbs lean mass