Monday, July 26, 2010

Sprints on a Rubberized Track!

I'm a huge fan of sprint work on rubberized tracks when it comes to sculpting the bod! In my travels up & down the west coast, I've found these tracks are not readily available for public use...bummer.

Benefits of running on a rubberized track:
~not as hard on joints as running on cement/pavement
~easy to measure distance
~the flat surface is better for ankles...less likely to roll than on dirt, sand or grass training areas
~can gauge speed during drills
~makes for good plyometric surface: bounding, jumping, skipping, etc

Some of my "favorites" on the track:
~buildups
~sprint corners, jog straight-aways 4 laps
~set up cones (markers) 50-60 meters apart: run down back down back, then take 30sec break and repeat 4-6x
~sprint 200m, jog 100m, walk 100m, repeat 4x

Those are just a few ideas. No matter what my sprint workout is, I always add 2 warm up laps & 2 cool down laps.

Here's the bummer. A lot of tracks are locked up due to vandalism. I also find it odd that so many tracks at California high schools are dirt. Sometimes you can contact the school's Athletic Director or a Track Coach and they can let you know if the track is ever open to the public or where you might find one close by. I've found it's not always and easy task to find an open track though. Good luck!
Sheesh! It's been a long time since I've taken time to write here. So it's time I get back on the ball! My time has been consumed with studies for the last year. I had to focus by putting the rest of life on the back burner so that I wouldn't get distracted.

Speaking of school I've finished ALL course work for the Meteorology program, but still have the final for this class and a big test over the WHOLE program coming up. I am so looking forward to having it done!!

Figure/Fitness competitions have been on hold, as well as the job search. I have been consistent with workouts, but I look forward to raising the bar again when school is behind me! I'm looking at September to raise intensity levels and start leaning out again...reconfiguring the diet & cardio! I'm excited! I did buy a new competition suit in early 2010, but I'm training in hopes to wear that suit on stage in 2010.

As far as job search goes, I'm looking at different sports and entertainment outlets. I'm fine even working freelance for awhile. We'll see what opens up come September when I'm done with school. I look forward to being back in Southern Cal in the fall and exploring whatever opportunities come my way!!

That's a quick update. The blogs will also come more frequently once school is DONE!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Blogging more...

Heya! I'm slowly getting caught up. Just finished finals for spring semester an hour ago. Heading to Sacramento tomorrow, SF Wednesday and then So Cal by Thursday. Saturday fly to Reno for a birthday party...I can't keep up with myself.

The goal for me is to get back to my workouts. I've had a good 8-9 days off...too long for me, but I had homework and my body was retaining a too much water from post competition so it actually hurt to try and do cardio. The things I'm learning. I'll write more on that later. Need to catch some sleep.

Night!

Friday, April 24, 2009

The best core workout ever...in my lil opinion!!



Love this one!! And you look cool if you learn to do it well (: Since the gym is really all about "looking cool" right?! Ok...not really! If your gym has this, play with it a little. Takes a little upper body strength too. You don't want to land on your face.

Good Luck!!

I lied in my last post...oops, sorry!! I was supposed to do Next Blog: Vancouver Prep to Emerald Cup Prep...My Personal Experience. Yeah, yeah...I'll get to it! (:

CUT THE CRAP!!! (Pre-competition diet)

Learning to Diet as a Figure Athlete!! An ongoing process and experiment!!

Yep...it all started with cutting out the crap! Alcohol - out, pizza - out, white starchy breads - out, almost everything processed - OUT OUT OUT, chocolate - out!!

Remember, I decided I was going to TRY and get my act together to train for this competition and we hadn't even rolled through the holidays yet. Looking back I did well. I think there were three days around New Years where I felt a little guilty about how much I'd eaten. See, since I'd never dieted for competition I didn't know how early I actually needed to start. I didn't hire a nutritionist this year, but I asked a lot of people a lot of questions. I just did a lot of research. I also had my best friend to bounce ideas off of...she's a dietitian. I kept my meal plan super duper basic and it worked for the most part...at least to lean me out. It worked well with the amount of time I trained at the gym and my overall lifestyle. Here's a sample day for me in the Jan/Feb (March/early April much stricter):

breakfast
Oatmeal/egg whites/ grapefruit

midmorning
tuna

lunch
tuna or chicken (plain...no salts)
half sweet potato or brown rice
asparagus or broccoli or spinach w/ apple cidar vinagar as "dressing"

afternoon snack
handful of plain unsalted peanuts/ or scoop of NATURAL peanut butter w/ grapefruit

dinner
tuna or chicken w/ one of the above listed veggies. veggies are all great really...it would change depending on what you're training for

(I'm not giving specific ounces/amounts of anything because I think it's very important you do your research, and do what's best for you...Talk to a professional nutritionist or dietitian)-- Too much of a good thing can also be unhealthy!! (example: high protein intake can be hard on your kidneys)

Remember what works for me as a competitor, won't work for everyone as a competitor. Our bodies are all very different! This probably has too much protein to be an everyday diet for a non-competitor, but it gives you the idea. Now the final month carbs get cut and it's basically fish chicken and several kinds of veggies.

I was so low on energy my last two weeks before Emerald Cup, my workouts were just going through the motions, but I was doing them. I was cutting fat!! Crazy stuff!

Next Blog: Vancouver Prep to Emerald Cup Prep...My Personal Experience

Journey Into Figure Competitions...

What an awesome experience!!

Well I just finished my first 2 competitions 3 weeks apart and had drastically different results between the two of them. And now people are asking me when I became interested in lifting and competing...here's the story...

A little history on me and sports...I've done it all, or a lot of it anyway. I wasn't the best at all of it, but I had to try a bit of everything. If you've looked over my website you've probably read what I've been involved in over the years.

When I was 14 I became more aware of fitness and health in general. Dad started taking me to the YMCA to workout. THANKS DAD!!! I also started reading "workout" magazines. I was fascinated by an event, the Galaxy Competition. It had a sweet obstacle course as part of it, and I think a swimsuit round as well. I followed a gal named Mia Finnegan. So that's how I got this idea in my head. Then I went on to follow Monica Brant and Tanji Johnson both Fitness/Figure athletes. (I used to rip pictures of Monica out of magazines and to stick on the mirror for motivation. I thought I kind of look like her...so it was easier to picture getting in that kind of shape. And you know what!!! At the Emerald Cup last weekend 3 different people told me I look like her!! What a compliment for my rookie self!!)

Ok...on with my story (:

After my Freshman year of college (and three broken feet), I came home to stay with my parents, and found a little gym where the owner trained me for free over the summer. He told me I had the body to compete and he put the idea back in my head.

In college I played some soccer and became better a lifting. I remember telling some of the football players if I don't make the soccer team, I'm going to train for fitness competitions.

A few years later, in the town where I had my first weather anchor job I was asked again if I competed. No, don't have time was my answer. The guy that asked me this time used to be a judge for Idaho competitions and he told me I should consider it because I have the legs.

So finally in November '08 I went to a workshop IFBB Pro Tanji Johnson held in the Seattle area. And I put it in my head I can get in that kind of shape by March '09. She and her team, Save Fitness have been great mentors!

Next Blog: The Diet!!!!

Monday, March 2, 2009

My reels all over the web...

...so I thought I'd put it on my own blog as well. Here's some of my past work. My montage was edited off of the second reel by the marketing company who posted them, but you can still learn a little about me and what I do...






How'd it get all over the web??? I wondered the same thing! Then as I kept doing searches for it, I realized it was posted by a marketing company who hired me to Emcee an event a couple weeks ago. I did send my reel when I responded for the job so all the hiring parties could see my personality. It was just weird to see my video all over the web later when I had no idea it had been posted. Oh well (: