Sarah s Blog

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Last night we were going out, birthday celebrations tend to do that to you. First time in ages. The plan was to have a pizza with one of the members of the gym. He’s a former British Army Commando, amateur boxer and now amateur bodybuilder. And he’s got loads of charm too. We’d decided to meet up at the restaurant (an old railroad station building converted into the best pizza joint around, they have the best coffee too - love the cappuccino!) after I closed the gym (8 p.m.)

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There’s a program on TV tonight, “10 years younger in 10 days”. They have a woman on, 1m50 (which is smaller than me at 1m65) who’s gone from a size 48 to 36. That’s what got me interested, because it’s exactly the size change I’ve made. The difference though, is that she looks like a deflated balloon there’s so much skin hanging all around on her. She’s only 42 but looks more like 80, stretch marks all over, wrinkles on her face, neck and décolleté, gray hair, she’s a mess! What they don’t say is how fast she lost the weight, and of course not a word on how. I’m willing to bet anything you like that she has made drastic cuts in caloric intake and not done any weight training at all.

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Nothing to do with the training of course, it’s purely technical. Strangely, my Internet connection seems fine, but the mail is down! Normally I’d go downstairs and talk to the guys at the “Datacenter” who have me hooked up to their system, but they’re closed for 3 weeks! The last time this happened was on a Sunday nigth, and the mail came back all by itself (?) so maybe it’ll do that today too … ? I do have the owner’s cell number, but I don’t really want to bug him if this corrects itself.

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154.5 lbs squats done! Sure they could have been deeper, I know that. The trouble is, with no one there to give me a hand IF I needed it, I didn’t want to risk going lower. Then I added weights to absolutely every single one of the leg-exercises, and got through the program anyway. A few reps short here and there, but next time … I don’t have the time to go on vacation now! Don’t even want to … Oh well.

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Since the photographer didn’t show, on July 4th my daughter shot this.

Last night one of my sisters-in-law came by unexpectedly. Hadn’t seen her in over a year. She took one look at me, and her jaw literally dropped! “Wow, now you look good!” she said. My husband tried to say I always had, but she just cut him off “No, before she was fat!” I had to laugh at the look on his face. And her words didn’t hurt at all, I did look awful! Did. Past tense
So this morning, I pushed myself a little harder on the Ergo-Stairs, and got more records on the arms routine. Total logic!

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Weekend come and gone. Saturday I could note a drop in bodyfat again. Not bad, but I must admit I’d hoped for more after busting my glutes on that Ergo-Stairs machine every morning for a whole week! Not even a full percent! Oh well, I still made 4.11% so I guess I shouldn’t complain, and I’m not really.

It’s just that I told my coach I was aiming for 12% for the vacation, and there’s just no way I’m going to drop 2.11% in one week so I’ve lost my “bet” on that one. Then again, when I said that, I hadn’t decided on a month of muscle building either! So never mind, I’ll go for it in August instead!

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Last day of the week, training wise at least. Tomorrow is rest-day, no cardio, no weights, even get to sleep in - a whole hour wow!

I was alone at the gym this morning, no one to give me a hand at the bench. No WAY am I going to try 121 lbs on my own. I’m crazy, ok; but not stupid! Even 110 is out of the question, so it ended up being a light-weight bench press today. Still, 99 lbs is the heaviest I’ve done alone, so it’s a record of sorts
Bench Press 99.23 lbs 4 reps, then 88.2 lbs 3 for sets of 6 reps each
Incline Db flyes 29.77 lbs for 3 sets of 10-8-8 (record)
Rope push ups 3 sets of 4+14 - 6+10 - 4+9 (the first number being straight, the second with bent knees) record on the straights.

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I’ve “got to” get to 150lbs squats! Last time I tried up to 121lbs and managed 5 not too perfect reps, so I figured today I’d go heavier right from the start. Makes sense, the last 121 were after 99lbs and 110lbs for 6 reps each. Being in kilos, I can only manage 143lbs or 154½lbs for the squats, not the 150 I should have.
Well, what’s 4½ lbs anyway!?

Today though:

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To think those slacks were just right a few years ago, then actually too small at one point! Terrible thought. I must say I prefer the picture from the lake

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Why Niagara Falls? I could have chosen any other cascade really. The point is, I was a cascade this morning. Of sweat! Oops, ladies don’t sweat, they perspire … guess that would mean I’m not a “lady” because I was sweating like a pig 77ºF in the shade at 6 a.m. already, the sun right on the window making it even warmer, the Ergo-Stairs right by the window, and me busting my glutes on the thing for 45 minutes (no telling how humid it was, but it was!). I was alone at the gym (obviously, at that hour I would be) and was just wearing … well, underwear, nothing heavy at all; and I was just streaming with sweat, no matter how often I wiped myself down with a wet towel. Felt great though
Yesterday I got this question in an e-mail from one of the coaches at GHF: