My back is sore

Somehow I have injured my back. I am really not sure of the moment that it happened, all I know is that a small niggle on Friday developed into a rather debilitating pain over the weekend.

I have just been to the physio and it looks like I will only be out of action for a few days - not that there is ever a good time for an injury, but at the end of the season a bit of extra rest is not going to harm me.

This did lead me to think about what I am doing at the moment, and how I am spending my time. What would happen if I couldn't lift? My trip to the States has about 3 other objectives other than competing and have those objectives over shadowed the original reason for me trip? After thinking about all that is happening right now I decided it was time to make list to be sure that I achieved what was important and not just end up half doing things. This list is just for the next 23 days

1. Focus and recovery and lift well at training.
2. Focus on weight and ensure a stress free weigh -in.
3. Complete Study for PICP and Biosignature courses
4. Leave time for rest.
5. Complete new website and business activities around the launch.

These are my top 5 (obviously family is always No.1 and assumed), so I need to ask myself how are my daily tasks contributing to my top 5.

A day on the couch and some extra fats.

It has been a pretty intense training week, plus all the other things that happen in life and I am feeling very stiff, sore and hungry today. It is a total rest day and after watching my daughter row at the Head of the River, I positioned myself on the couch and have been eating a wonderful selection of higher fat foods to assist my recovery. Other than increasing my fish oils - great for inflammation, I have had 100gms mixed raw nut, egss, beef mince and lots of vegetables, vital greens and glutamine.

I should drop into the sauna, but I don't think my legs would carry me up and down the stairs right now. I am afraid that after sets of deadlifts at 100kgs, shrugs of 110kgs, 10 sets of lights squats a a few other assistance exercises yesterday that tomorrow is likely to see me with additional muscle soreness tomorrow.

Time to log off and watch another movie..and maybe 20gms of dark chocolate.

Lisa

Rohan's 200kgs Deadlift

I started coaching Rohan earlier this year in power lifting. At the time he had done a local grading and had a deadlift PB of 175kgs. His goal working with me was to pull a 200kg deadlift this year. As you can see from the video he achieved that at a comp this past weekend.

It was a tough lift and you can hear me coaching all the way.

Well done Rohan!

I love my job!

Lisa

The life I have chosen.

My calender reminder when off today telling me it is 4 weeks until I leave for the US for World Masters. I have to admit that I am getting nervous before each lifting session now. In fact I am writing this just 20 minutes before my squatting session and the nerves and adrenalin are pumping through my body. I am lifting with my suit on for the first time since Nationals and that only means one thing - heavy weights and pain. The sessions are long, intense, sometimes uplifting and occasionally soul destroying.

The 4 week reminder also signals that it is time to think of my weight and ensure that I am well positioned to weigh in just under 60kgs. My food needs to support my lifting and recovery, and I need to walk that fine line between training intensely but careful not to over train.

I have mentioned before that this has been a long season and while my body is holding up well, and in fact is very strong, my mind is starting to tire as I face the nerves and self doubt that always come pre comp.

I told a client this week"..if it was easy, everyone would be doing it", and it is time to heed those words myself. This is the life that I chose, one that I have fought hard to have, and now it is time to prove to myself that it is the life that I really want. Suck it up and hit that platform.

Lisa

I am sure I am free falling right now....without the bungy rope. There are so many great things happening for me that I am struggling to keep up with what I have to do next.

The next 4 weeks before I head off the the US are going to be real test of my time management and business acumen to get everything done. It is all very exciting and it is wonderful to be able to create such a happy life

The warning signs are going off this morning. I slept reasonably well, but my joints are aching a little and I have a headache and mild sore throat. Many people in my circle have a very bad flu that is keeping them home from work for days on end so I am deciding right now whether to stay at home and keep myself in a clean environment.

5 weeks away from the most important comp of the year is the time to take precautions.....so I think today will be a day on the couch for me.

This is the smile the comes at the end of a Powerlifting competition. In 6 weeks today I will be smiling like this regardless of the outcome of World Masters. It has been a long season and I have taken my PB from 315kgs to 330kgs, while moving up a weight category. Even as I sit here and write this I can see the additional muscular development that has come as a result of expanding my weight from 56 to 6okgs, and while my body is in great shape and injury free I am feeling every rep I have performed to achieve what I have. I will look back on this year as a tipping point in my lifting career, however right now I am keeping it all together to get to the end of a very long campaign.

6 weeks.....just 6 weeks

I have just been going through my articles and I came acros this piece that I posted in March of this year. It seems almost foreign to me now that I struggled with balance so recently, so I thought I would post this today as a mark of how far I have evolved in such a short period of time......

Where does the light go?

Why is it that we can be on our path to success and happiness and then totally inexplicably we wake up one day and have lost the light? A feeling of predictable failure sits in the pit of your stomach and all the things you have been working towards either seem trivial or unachievable. I guess these are called our emotions cued by hormones, but wouldn’t it be great if you knew the secret of where the light goes, and all you have to do is open the right window to let it shine in?

What happens to you when the light disappears? Do you give in and binge eat, exercise excessively, cry on the sofa, hate yourself? Do you mourn for a moment and then go in search of the light? Or are you enlightened enough to know which window to open? Years ago I definitely did one or a combination of the first group. I recall when the scales used to say I hadn’t lost weight for a couple of weeks I would tell myself “I have done everything right, and I still can’t lose weight so I might as well eat this cake”. Of course I then dished out a good serve of self loathing for seconds. I am very happy to say that I have evolved from this victim mentality, as the truth is I am a fighter.

However being a fighter then moved me into the second category of mourning and searching. So after feeling sorry for myself for a short period I would then search and plan, and all else in my life stopped until I could find the right window. In a way I think all this energy that I burned up probably extinguished the light anyway. I have to admit to you all at times I still fall into this category and often end up so exhausted that I do think about why I am chasing my dreams?

Imagine that in that moment when the darkness closes in all you have to do is open a window or flick a switch to have your belief flood back in? Today rather than expends tons of energy searching I am going to sit on the couch, close my eyes and remember the feeling of lightness in my body and when I open them I am going to hold onto it!

Lisa

Yesterday I had an unexpected work out. After finishing lunch with my powerlifting buddy Pavel, he asked if I wanted to train. Now I am allowed an extra days rest this week, but I figured I was having fun in Melbourne, feeling relaxed and I always loved training with Pavel, so back to to gym we went to train with his new training partner.

Pavel has been in Melbourne for about 3 months now as we really miss his skill, enthusiasm and the fun he brings to hard sessions. He told me he had found a great new powerlifting training partner and was learning new exercises and was really pumped. 4 out of the 5 exercises we did were completely new to me, and very challenging to say the least. I thought lifting chains with my legs while lying across a fit ball for core stability was gruelling enough and then at the end the session the sled came out! So in the cold and rain of Melbourne I was dragging a sled across the car park of the gym. I was freezing, exhausted and loving every minute if it.

Lisa

I love staying in St Kilda....mainly because of the food! As I was waiting for my hotel room to be ready today I walked down to a local cafe and had a fantastic omlette for Meal 2. I am guessing ...2 eggs, smoked salmon, spinach and feta. Perfect Paleo - well the cheese was a stretch but I as I don't have much salt in my diet I like to add a bit on occasion, and it seemed like such a shame to ask them to "hold the feta".

I have a couple of clients to see then I am off to South Yarra - in search of more great food and catching up with friends. I feel like some seafood tonight, it is cold here so probably an oily fish to keep my metabolism firing. It is so easy to eat Paleo/PN/Lean and Green style when you travel....omlettes, seafood, salads, nuts & seeds as snacks. However I did have oats for breakfast today as it was the only thing on offer at my friends house and after a long and late (very delayed flight) last night, and being quite carb tolerant I do like to have oats at breakfast on occasion - individualisation PN style!

I have reports to finish and client to e-mail so I should get them done before my next client arrives.

Stay Strong!

Lisa

Back in Melbourne

I am back in Melbourne for a long weekend from this Friday. I do have a few places left in my diary for consulations if you want to see me.

Lisa

lisa@bodyworx.net.au

Bodyworx Supplementation line

Rod has been working with an organisation that specialises in Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs to come up with some formulations especially for our Bodyworx clients. We started providing these to our clients at the end of last month. Our products are all high potency and include additional mineral and herbal support in to increase effectiveness and include;

• Multi Vitamin, Mineral and Anti Oxidant support - a broad essential capsule
• Ashwaghanda - Muscle and adrenal support
• Rhodiola Rosea - Adrenal and energy
• Green tea extract - a huge 1200mg per capsule
• Acetyl L Carnitine - forms part of our fat burning stack with green tea tabs
• Magnesium Complex - to aid recovery, PMS and sleep

Be careful what you wish for.....

So after my blog yesterday on collecting "stuff" that I don't really need, my favourite appliance broke this morning.....my Brita water chiller.

Well true to my word I am not going to replace it as it is an appliance, however I will buy a brita jug so that I can still filter my water.

Lisa

My Microwave blew up....

..a few days ago. I have been very conscious of not using it to cook food in recent times due to the health issues with radiation and depletion of all the good stuff in the healthy food that I buy. However I do admit to cooking my oats in it a few times a week and reheating my food - never in plastic containers though :-)

When I heard it "zap" my first thought was..."damn I have to go buy a new one", then I thought what should I? I have been without it now for 4 days and I have only gone to use it 2 or 3 times forgetting that I have taken out to the garage. Today I cooked my post work out oats on the stove top and they were really yummy and creamy - just like Mum used to make. Luckily I have a gas oven and stove so it really is quick to cook and reheat. I am actually thinking I may buy one of those old fashion toaster ovens for re-heating??

My clothes dryer also died 2 months back and I have survived without a new one of those too. Luckily I live in the Sunshine State so my washing does dry in a few hours.

This makes me wonder do we really need all this "stuff" that we collect? As I gaze around my apartment I am looking at my possessions with different eyes now. Is all this stuff really necessary, or is it just clutter that creates stress as we drive ourselves to earn enough money to buy it?

Lisa

I have a Powerliftng article in the latest edition of Ultra Fit Magazine, so go get your copy and start snatch deadlifting today!

Lisa

September 30th to October 4th

I am lifting on 1st October at 10.30am - 8 weeks this Wed

I started back in training last Friday, and have 7 weeks of training before Rod and I fly out to the US. I checked on the nominations last night and there are 8 lifters in my category, another from Aust, 2 USA, 1 NZ, 1 Hong King, 1 Sth Africa and 1 Norway. We are all booked and ready to go , but I have been so busy with Nationals and Bodyworx that I haven't really thought about it too much. I guess I need to focus on the areas I need to improve and see what can be done in 2 months.

I am really pleased with the way I went into, and then recovered from Nationals. I was far more relaxed pre comp, and I think not having to worry about weight or expectations of placing really made a huge difference. My goal at Nationals was to do 3 technically clean squats, which I did. This time for Worlds I am aiming to continue with great squat technique and get more weight on the bar. I also want to consolidate my progress in the bench and take another step toward 80kgs. I am working on my deadlift technique and as such a good equal PB(or close) will make me happy.

My decision to move up a weight category for Nationals and the hypertophy training for it saw me add 4 kgs of lean mass, and I competed at the same bodyfat %. My body obviously loved the extra food and less stress. My goal this next 8 weeks is to increase my lean mass again by another 1kg. That will put my lean mass at about 55kgs. I now need to use that extra muscle for more strength gains on the board.

This is so exciting!

Lisa

My winning daughter

My 16 yr old daughter Charlotte won the Yr 11 single scull at the Brisbane school girls rowing regatta yesterday. There are 3 more weeks till the Head of the River, and hopefully she will continue to pull the same form as yesterday.

75 kgs bench from Nationals.