Day 25...almost through Phase 1

Hey everyone-- tomorrow will be DAY 25-- almost through phase 1 (day 26 is last workout in phase 1)-- and I'm feeling great. It's funny that when I heard there was no cardio in Phase I-- I completely freaked out. But...it turns out that I've really loved being a weight rat at the gym. I know may way around that place now...using the benches with the big boys...and have steadily increased my weights. I also think (code word, think) my body is changing. I'm pretty positive my legs are-- and now I'm killing myself for not weighing/measuring before I started-- but I've decided to use the towel test.

PS-- that's not me in the picture (shocking). that's Jamie Eason. And she's a badass.


You see...my normal bath towels don't wrap all the way around my hips/ass....but I think they are getting closer to doing so....goal for the end of the challenge-- 100% towel wrap.

Next week we will add moderate cardio in 4 days per week-- I'll keep lifting 6 days a week and we go to only 1 rest day....I'm NOT thrilled about only 1 rest day but it's all I was taking when I was training for my last race so I guess I got spoiled.

In the last Phase-- 3-- we do 5 days of high intensity cardio and 6 days of lifting per week. WOWZA.

The good news is that I'm almost done with the first phase and I've managed to keep at it after mostly being on the road. My next big challenge will be figuring out how I'm going to handle Bonnaroo-- 5 days of living on a farm-- definitely no gym on the farm. Can def get cardio in but the weights will be a challenge.

This is how we do it....

To say I'm tired is an understatement. 3 weeks ago I started Jamie Eason's Live Fit program....and in those three weeks I've traveled to New Orleans, worked and attended Shaky Knees Fest, worked 7 days at Hangout Fest and traveled back to New Orleans. In 3 weeks. I'm exhausted. BUT...I'm loving the program. I haven't been nearly as good with the food as I should have (shocker) but I've gotten all of the workouts in and I feel stronger already. Next week is the last week in the first phase and then we go to phase 2 which introduces cardio and limits carbs even more. Yikes.

The good news is that I have the next 3 days off and have very few plans...mostly to eat well, take my well deserved rest days, and to get back to the gym on Monday. I'm also not traveling, per se, until June 4th....Hallelujah. Right now I'm in Nashville for 5 days or so but that doesn't really count as traveling since I have my own bed, a kitchen, my car, etc.

Consistently the chest workouts are the worst-- I suppose you don't understand how much you NEVER work out your chest muscles in real life. The most recent reiteration of the leg workouts are horrible-- she added dead lifts which have always made me SUPER sore. I can also tell my posture is getting better.

Alright...enough enough. Off to bed.

Day 1 of 12 weeks

One of my dear friends and co-workers Billie decided that she was going to get her body looking super fit and she wanted to do a 12 week program that involved serious weight lifting, a clean eating plan and then some cardio towards the end.

It's called the Live Fit plan by this crazy healthy ladie Jamie Eason: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-easons-livefit-phase-1.html

It took me some time to figure out if I was ready to dedicate the time & energy-- and WILL POWER to give this a try-- but I decided after some thought that I was going to give it a try.

Today was day 1-- chest and tricep day. I did the workout in about 35 minutes or so and I immediately felt it. I was able to eat clean today as well-- and I went proper grocery shopping for the first time in months.

I'll be in Atlanta for 7 days now-- although 3 of those are a music festival and I have a good friend coming to visit so I'm going to do the food as best I can.