Mad as a hatter!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8528100.stm

How's this for an eye opener?  Insurance companies want to raise their rates unchecked without question b/c Obama wants healthcare coverage for everyone.  This should outrage people.  But on Thursday, while Pres Obama was releasing this information, guess what the American people were watching - Tiger Woods apologize.  How's that for being interested in what big business is doing here!

We are more interested in watching the dealings of a celebrity than getting on the backs of corporations that are going to put the broomstick even futher.  When people are losing their jobs and not able to afford COBRA coverage, why do insurance companies feel they can just raise their rates to keep a high profit margin.  As it stands, insurance companies bank on 80% of the subscribers paying for the 20% of the subcribers who use the coverage.  That is a statistical and business model fact, that insurance companies use in order to maintain their profit margin.  They don't want national healthcare coverage.  They want to maintain the status quo b/c it means more money in their pockets.  You would think they want more subscribers, but with the current health status of the American public, I can understand why they want to jack up their rates. 

We are not doing anything about our health.  We would rather relie on someone else prescribing a pill than exercising and making lifestyle changes.  How many of you would get a personal trainer and stick with it, if your insurance company paid for it rather than gastric bypass surgery?  Lifestyle changes are hard to do, but the reward is priceless.  Your health and the ability of you taking care of yourself is being stripped away.  You better do something about it.

Chest and biceps

Got them in today. 

Chest
Incline press - bar 15 x 2, 95 lbs 10, 135 lbs 5, 115 lbs 8
Cable flyes - 40 lbs 12, 50 lbs 10 (machine started sticking), 40 lbs 10 (machine sticking again)
Decline press - 95 lbs 10 x 3 (right shoulder tight on this movement)

Seated bicep curl 30 lb DBs 12 x 3
Cable curls - 60 lbs 15 x 3

Decline abs 25 lb plate 15 x 3

30 minutes ellipitcal cardio.

Scheduled cardio two later this evening.  Time to eat!

Totally forgot to post back and tricep training!

Back
Seated cable rows high - 105 lbs 10 x 4
Hammer strength close grip pulldown - 90 lbs 12, 140 lbs 15, 180 lbs 12 x 2
Lat pulldowns single arm - 80 lbs 12 x 3

Triceps
Overhead extensions - 70 lbs 15 x 3
Tricep kickbacks - 12.5 lb DB 12 ss w/rollouts for abs 3 x 12

Cardio - 90 minutes total for the day

Gotten behind

Really got behind on keeping track of my training.  Glad that didn't translate into a misisng in the gym.

Wednesday - 1 hour cardio, 1 hour karate

Thursday - 530am cardio - 1 hour - it sucked wind like a mug!  30 min stepmill, 10 min ellipitical (yes, i punked out) 20 minutes treadmill

Quads - Smith machine squats - 135 lbs 10, 185 lbs 10, 225 lbs 7 x 2 (hadn't reached that weight since before my perimenopause diagnosis)  thought my strength was gone. granted i used to squat that for 15 reps and could do 285 lbs for 10, but i think my body is coming back to what i know!
Single leg lunges Smith machine - 135 lbs 12, 155 lbs 12, 185 lbs 10
Leg press - 495 lbs 15, 675 lbs 12!, 765 lbs 8!  again heaviest i have gone sine october of last year!

Friday 1 hour cardio - ZONKED!  no chest training.  gotta get glutamine and branch chains in me now that i have stepped up things.  can feel my recovery for prep is not there and this is only the beginning.

Well off to the races.  Gotta get chest and biceps in along with 30 min of cardio.  Then this evening 1 hour of cardio.  Stick with the plan and things happen!

Shoulders and Hammies

Yesterday I hit my favorite and least favorite body parts.  Love hamstrings, never had to do much in order to improve and grow them.  Shoulders on the other hand, feel like I need to stuff something under the muscle in order to have that classic X factor in them to compliment my quads.  They were a little tight from training back the day before, but I managed to put them through a different set of paces yesterday.  It was nice really focusing on the medial head of my shoulders and working to bring out the tapper.  I have such LONG muscles, I swear it is going to take an act of magic to bring them to the level where I want them.  Gotta go back to heavy duty lifting on every movement.  Cleans w/heavy uprights are in the future.  And it never fails when I train shoulders at the dojo we do a million pushups.  They kill my shoulders tremendously and it is hard to focus when you feel the beating you put on them earlier that day.

Shoulders

Rear delt machine - 50 lbs 20 reps
                              70 lbs 15 x 2
                              70 lbs for 10, then 40 lbs for each side for 10

Seated lateral raises - pinkies up
                                 15 lbs 10, single arm 15 lbs 10
                                 10 lbs 15, single arm 10 lbs 15
                                 15 lbs 15, single arm 15 lbs 12
                                 10 lbs 15, single arm 10 lbs 15
                                 15 lbs 10, single arm 15 lbs 10
                                 10 lbs 15 reps - all this was done in superset fashion w/rest between 10 lb and 15 lb

Leg curls
             Single leg 30 lbs, 40 lbs, 50 lbs 10 reps each x 2
 
Abs - rollouts balance ball 12 reps x 3

1 hour cardio done

1 hour karate training
            

Back and triceps

Yesterday I managed my 90 minutes of cardio in along with hitting back and triceps.  Energy level felt good.  Cardio still feels hit or miss to me.  Not exactly sure why that is going on.  So, going to re-evaluate it.  Just don't want to feel like I am on the treadmill going nowhere.  When I drink my coffee, things really feel like I can go forever.  But don't want to rely on caffeine to get through workouts, esp with the fibromyalgia pains I get in my legs and lower back.  This perimenopause is something to manage.  I know for certain I can manage it as I wouldn't have been given the task of it.

Back:

One arm rows - 50 lbs 10, 60 lbs 10, 70 lbs 8, 80 lbs 6, 65 lbs 10
Hammer strength pull downs - 45 lb plate 12, 70 lbs 8, 90 lbs 6 (reverse grip)
High seated cable rows - 90 lbs 12 x 2, 105 lbs 12

Superset overhead extensions w/bench dips - 10/10 (40 lbs for extensions, then 50 lbs x 2)

Calves - 180 lb toe presses 5 sets 10 reps each leg

Re-thinking things

I sit and ponder my comp plans along with everything I am doing for 2010. Things are moving quickly and not quickly. My body has done several things this year:

1) I have added more muscle to shoulders (YEAH!)
2) Obliques are more developed thanks to lots of training
3) I have entered perimenopause - genetically pre-determined (wasn't expecting this one)

We lost my grandmother this past Thanksgiving and I took it really hard. So all during xmas, I didn't train, and the symptoms from perimeno was kicking my butt. January rolled around and my energy finally came back and I was able to get back on track with training. Felt good. Right now I am getting busier and busier by the week, so not sure how to juggle all that I am doing with keeping a tight focus on comp training. Going to re-eval some things this weekend and see if I can work my magic.

TTYL - QUADS today with the beast. Hope I survive.