Just Pain

Again, another eventful morning in Iowa! I was woken up at 7:13 by Bean sitting on my bed. Then Bliz came in and wanted some attention so Bean laid flat on top of me pinning my arms by my sides so I couldn't pet either of them. So I start talking to Bliz so she knows I love her (no, it's not weird that I talk to my dogs) and Jilly comes in snorting and groaning and wiggling her butt and I know I have no choice but to get up and go play ball. Haven't done much else today, and currently I'm sitting in the same spot as always icing my ankle.

We learned in class this last semester that the feelings of icing goes something like this: cold, burning, throbbing, numbness. Well, actually, it goes like this: cold, so f.ing cold that I want to cry, numb. Except that first stage is like 1 second long and that middle stage is about 15 minutes long. It's all just pain to me.

I'm getting a little stir crazy not working out, but I know it's what I need to do if I want to be at my best. I figure 1, maybe 2, full weeks of rest should be enough so that I can really push myself again and not risk re-injuring my ankle. I don't understand people who workout and don't push themselves or give it their all. What are they trying to accomplish? Do they really think any gains will come of it? Sure, I agree, if you only have 20 minutes to workout, that 20 minutes is better than nothing. But 20 minutes spent lifting light weight or walking when really your body should be lifting heavy or running, is not doing much for you. That's like telling me going to walk 2 miles is enough exercise my body needs. Uh.. right.

I think I finally have finished writing my workouts for the next four months, although I'm sure I will constantly be changing them. I started with workout goals of getting a PR in some lift every day, and to lift 5 days a week and do cardio 3-4 days a week. But then as I wrote all of my workouts, I'm lifting 6 days a week. I also want 1 day a week to be outdoor, body-weight stuff on a track/football field/stadium. I need more days in every week. I think my plan will be to drop one lifting workout a week (since I usually repeat 2 muscle groups/week) depending on what's sore and doing a whole-body body-weight workout outside that day instead. We'll see what ends up happening. I'm starting with 10-12 reps/set, then dropping to 6-8 reps/set, then to 4-6 reps/set, and then finishing with high intensity and high reps to try to lean out. I'm hoping this will help me build up my muscle enough so that when it's time to lean, I don't have much muscle loss occurring, and have a good base built up. It's important to switch up your workouts every 4-6 weeks to keep your body from adapting, whether it's reps, sets, grouping body parts together, the order of your lifts, the rest time, whatever. So that's what I've designed my workouts to do, and hopefully I get some good results. I need to get to 11-13% body fat to really be a good competitor, so my goal is to be at 13% by week 14. We'll see what happens.

Tonight, I have plans to get together with some girlfriends. I'm really excited. It's funny how now every time I come back home I hardly see/talk to any of my high school friends, but the girls I really look forward to seeing are my grade school and middle school friends. Probably because everyone sucks and isn't themselves during high school, they are all trying to be cool and popular and like everyone else. I'll stick with the girls I hung out with when I was 10.

Alright, people, go make something of yourselves today. Mediocrity is a daily choice. Refuse it and be awesome.