Category Archives: strength training

About that protein…

Don’t forget to enter the Lanacane giveaway – ends on Tuesday!

Ah humidity. It was like waking up to a warm wet blanket this morning. Ick. I had half of a balance bar and then drove to the gym because it was raining. I had enough biking in the rain on Saturday 😀

I started off with a jog on the treadmill. There were 5 of us working out and after I hit 1 mile, the power cut out in the gym! We all stopped dead. That was really weird. It stayed off for about 10 seconds and then came back on. I just decided that was enough of a warm up and moved on to the iron.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
Barbell squats 3 sets of 8 at 75# Lower body
Dumbbell pullover 3 sets of 10 with 25# DB Back
Barbell Good Mornings 3 sets of 10 with 45# bar Lower back and hammies
Rope Crunch 3 sets of 15 Abs
Barbell Chest Press 3 sets of 10 with 55# bar Chest
Reverse Fly on bench 3 sets of 10 with 12# DBs (24# total) Shoulders
Triceps press down 3 sets of 10 at 40# Triceps

The plan was then to run 2 more miles on the hamster wheel, but the legs were not having it.  Not sure what was up with that, so I walked for 20 minutes instead.  I think it was the extra leg work?  Running has become very difficult for me since my injury, but I am not sure if some of that isn’t mental.  I don’t know how to proceed with this.

Anyway, I went home and was ready for brekkie.  I had soaked some steel cut oats overnight and made custard banana oats topped with almond butter and 15 grams of dark chocolate chips:

It’s amazing that those chips are 70 calories.  It is so, so easy to overeat on chocolate.

Work was busier today, thank goodness.  I will either have to take some PTO this week or try to make up 6 extra hours of work at some point this week. Booo….

Lunch time was the leftover Palak Chole from yesterday!  Yum

Check out this humidity.  I had just poured this glass:

It wasn’t all that hot today, but the humidity was horrible.  Just blinking made me sweat 😀  Even poor Pixie was hot:

We finally turned on the AC downstairs and it got much better.

Susan had asked about protein on bagel days.  On any day, I strive for 100 grams of protein.  Most days I hit that pretty easily.  I do drink 15 grams of protein before most workouts in the morning, including the bagel days.  At least on days where we bike to breakfast.  Sometimes I take a Sunday as a rest day and obviously don’t need to eat before breakfast on those days.  I do try to make it up later in the day with heavier protein meals.   I have recently switched to whey protein isolate now, which is basically pure protein and has less calories and more grams of protein per serving.  I get the unflavored kind, so that I can add it to things.  It’s easy to make up your own flavored drink using something like Capella flavors and stevia.  Who needs 5# of cake batter protein powder?  I get bored with flavors pretty fast.

Plus, I can put some of this whey in my latte, and it is like the protein shot at Starbucks.  It is pretty much undetectable at about 5 to 10 grams of powder in a latte made with 8 oz of milk:

Afternoon snacks consisted of some Kashi and some chocolate.

Nibbler is in the house again…. sigh….

I wasn’t feeling like much for dinner.  I had plans to have just some toast for dinner with that yummy bread.  I sliced off a piece, and then noticed all these tiny ants on the loaf!  Ahhhhh!!! There was about 1/3 of the loaf left that we had to toss.

I decided just to have a no-cook dinner:

Good pears this week.

I am going to work for a little bit more tonight and watch some Tour de France preview shows on Versus.  The Tour starts this weekend!  Woo Hoo!

Evening snack is something I haven’t had in a couple of years:

This is the non Splenda version.  Those are harder to find now, unfortunately.

Question:  Which is worse for you, the heat or the humidity?

What’s blooming and dress find!

It’s Friday, so you know what that means!  Time to show off the garden again.  But first, must get the other important things out of the way.

Had a preworkout protein drink:

and biked to the gym.  I changed up the workout a little today in that I didn’t do any chin ups.  I just didn’t feel like doing any, so I left them out.  That’s when I could use a personal trainer, eh?

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff leg Deadlifts 3 sets of 8 with 75# bar Lower body
Wide grip lat pulldown 3 sets of 12 at 50# Upper body
Standing leg press 3 sets of 8 with just machine weight Lower body
Nosebreakers 3 sets of 10 with 25# bar Triceps
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 10 Abs
Push ups 3 sets of 10 Chest
Upright row 3 sets of 10 with 25# bar Shoulders

Today was a run day, and I decided that I would just hop on the treadmill and do it then instead of going back outside later. I did 3 miles and was soaked! Even though there was AC on, it makes such a difference to actually have the breeze from running outside on you.

Then I biked home.  That’s a lot of exercise!  I burned 600 calories and I was hangry for brekkie!

I cooked up some banana oats and topped with peanut butter and raspberry fruit spread.

I actually had some PB off the spoon, too.  Told you I was hungry!  I did make myself eat slowly, though.

Then I read blogs for a while before I even showered.  I told John I felt like I was being lazy and he reminded me that I had just done that workout.  LOL!

Spent the morning making almond butter, baking some bread, roasting coffee and puttering around outside.  This day is a picture perfect summer day.  The garden is just busting out all over with the schedule of rain and sun we have had:

Black-eyed Susans are starting:

Veronica (speedwell):

Clematis (Snow Queen) – and I thought this one was lost to frost.  Turns out only the old growth died.

My scentimental rose bush is bursting!

This smells absolutely heavenly, too.   Love it.

Daylilies are still going as well.

Can you believe how tall these are? They have to be about 4 feet tall.  Flowers and gardening just make me so happy.  I wish I could find year round work in this regard.

Back in for lunch.  But first, I got the bread ready for the oven:

This was made from the Healthy Artisan Bread in 5 minutes book and is the Milk and Honey loaf (with raisins).

While that was baking, I had lunch:

A redux of my curry chicken salad.  Just a couple ounces of chicken, chopped apple, light mayo, and curry powder.  Quick and good!

The bread finished baking and was a success!

Letting this cool was really hard.  I am a sucker for warm bread (or any bread, really).  I made a piece with some real buttah and blackberry fruit spread to have with my latte.

So good.  I can envision french toast with this bread, oh yes I can….

After snacking, I headed out to one of my favorite consignment shops and scored!  I got a work out top, plus the cutest little dress:

This mirror was tilted back, I wish I looked this thin LOL!  Now I need to get a cute pair of sandals.  The best part?  It was only $4.80 !!!  I loves me a bargain.

I was all kinds of happy when I got home and whipped up some pan fried shrimp with brussels and a pear:

All in all a good day 😀  I am thinking about some frozen yogurt tonight, maybe.  I do need to stay out of that bread LOL!

Question:  What is your favorite type of bread?

Lifting move of the week and some quake shaking!

Last Wednesday I talked about how I was feeling fatigued with the workout and biking to breakfast, so today was the day try a bigger snack.  I had a protein drink with milk and protein powder to the tune of about 200 calories.  Normally I have about 110.  It was really humid this morning, too, so biking felt like swimming on my way in.  I also took a Tylenol PM last night, and it left me groggy this morning.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Deadlifts 3 sets of 8 with 65# bar Lower body
Chin ups 1 sets of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
1-legged dead lifts 3 sets of 8 each leg with 15# DBs (30# total) Hamstrings and balance
Incline bench press 3 sets of 10 at 55# Chest
Decline sit ups 3 sets of 10 Abs
Arnold Press 3 sets of 10 with 12# DBs (24# total) Shoulders
2-point dumbbell row 3 sets of 10 with 25# DBs (50# total) Back
Bench Dip 3 sets of 10 Triceps

Lifting move of the week is the Arnold Press!  This move is for your shoulders.  Named for the famous Arnold, and if you want to be cool, you can pronounce it as the Ah-nold press :mrgreen:  It’s for the front and side deltoid muscles.

Welcome back to my spare bedroom for this video:


It’s pretty much a dumbbell press with an arm rotation for that little something extra.  It took me a few tries to get coordinated at doing it, too.  You can do this on an incline bench as well, for variety.

John met me at the gym and we biked on out.  I was very sweaty for this ride from humidity.  I don’t know as I noticed the extra 90 calories or not from my preworkout drink.

Lookie at the bagels!

They were starting to run low.

I got my wheat bagel with plain cream cheese and we sat outside.

Breakfast biking was 13 miles round trip.

After a slow morning of work, I got a hankering for some eggs for lunch.   On toast with some laughing cow and hot sauce.

Why, when it is hot and humid, do I proceed to make it worse with hot sauce?  Hello brain??

Quite the interesting time this afternoon. There was an earthquake here in the early afternoon:

And we felt it at our house.  I was working and at first I thought I was getting dizzy, but then I realized the house was rocking.  You could see the mirror and pictures moving.  It lasted for a while, too.  Very strange sensation when you are not in an area prone to this!

Snack time:

Plus a latte.

I am posting early today, as we are going to my niece’s moving up ceremony today and having pizza afterwards!  Congrats to Logan for moving up to the 6th grade 😀

Added note: So far, I am still snacky on Wednesdays despite the extra calories.  Need to research more….

Stay tuned for an appropriate hot weather review/giveaway on Thursday….

Question:  Ever felt an earthquake?

Fruit-full day

Happy Monday! After taking Sunday off from all but a short walk, I was up to hit the gym this morning. Drank some protein and biked there. My legs felt pretty good, I have to say. 😀

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell split squats 3 sets of 8 with 55# bar Lower body
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 2 sets of 1 Upper body
Cable squat to row 3 sets of 10 at 60# Lower body and back
Horizontal wood chop 3 sets of 10 (each side) at 30# Abs
Flat chest fly 3 sets of 10 with 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Face pulls 3 sets of 10 at 30# Shoulders
Good Mornings 3 sets of 10 with 35# bar Low back, hamstrings
Triceps pull down 3 sets of 15 at 30# Triceps

Then I biked home. I proceeded to have all kinds of problems cooking breakfast, including a cornstarch explosion in the kitchen.

Hungry Lori + no coffee Lori = big problems….

I also pulled my camera case out of the bike bag and it was covered with sunscreen, since my jar popped open and emptied its contents. You can believe I was filling the swear jar this morning.
Breakfast finally happened and I had my caffeine (my personal binky), so I was much better.

I did not even want to log into work after that start to the day. I have to say, my job is getting really, really stressful. They are implementing changes that interfere with production and then are cracking the whip for us to work harder with implied threats. It makes absolutely no sense. I really need to look harder for something else. I have become unhappy here.  I think I would even work at Dunkin Donuts down the street about now.  I miss being my own boss, too.  But that is another whole scary proposition unto itself….

Lunch break and I wanted something refreshing.

Pumpkin protein smoothie!  Made with 1/2 cup pumpkin, 30 g unflavored whey isolate, stevia, pumpkin pie spice, water and ice.  It would be even better with milk!

The carrots were kind of lame, though.  And didn’t I just have blueberries with breakfast?   Oooops….

Pixie has been sleeping through the heat:

I still wanted a latte in the afternoon, though.

Plus a couple of dates and nut buttah:

My appetite still has not come back all the way from Saturday’s ride.  I had a very hard time getting in enough calories that day because of the heat and how much water I was drinking.  John and I joked about our respective water babies we were carrying around during the ride – which then evaporated to thin air.  Anyway, yesterday and today my appetite has been less ravenous than usual.  Guess Nibbler is on vacation?

Dinner time was some toaster oven roasted sweet potatoes, chicken and broccoli!  I haven’t had broccoli in days.

I had thoughts of running today, but I think my legs needed one more day off from cardio, so we went for a 2 mile walk tonight instead.

Then I did want a snack, but I was craving more fruit.  Delicious red pear – come to mama!

Off to relax!

Question:  Does the heat affect your appetite?

Lifting Move of the Week

Glad you all like my jersey! 😀 I purchased it from here.  Woke up a little tired and puffy today.  Had a protein drink and biked to the gym:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff Legged deadlift 3 sets of 10 with 65# bar Lower body
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 2 sets of 1 Upper body
Split squats 3 sets of 10 (each leg) with 35# bar Lower body
Close-grip lat pulldown 3 sets of 12 at 50# Back
Push ups 3 sets of 10 Chest
Reverse Crunches 3 sets of 12 Abs
Arnold Press 3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Triceps pull down 3 sets of 12 at 30# Triceps

Strength Training Move of the Week:  Stiff-Legged Deadlift. This is one of my very favorites.  Maybe because it is easier than a regular deadlift 😛   Actually, I really like how it works the hamstrings.  With this exercise, it is important to keep the knees from being locked and hyperextended.  Did you know it is very easy for women to hyperextend their knees?  Bend from the hips and not from the waist because you want to use the legs and not the back for this. Also, you want to squeeze your butt at the top of the move, just for that little extra something.  Note how I keep my head looking up during the move.  I found that if I do not do that, then my my shoulders droop and my back rounds out.  Funny how keeping your head up keeps your shoulders back.

Link to video

(I edited out the sound today to something better than the godawful stuff at the gym.)  You can go lower down than this, too, but I find my back rounds too much when I do much lower, or I lock my knees.  My form isn’t always perfect, but I really try.  Also, this can be done with dumbbells.

John was out playing poker last night, so when he didn’t show up to meet me, I wasn’t too surprised and just texted him that I was biking my way to breakfast.   He texted me back a bit later that he was on his way via car (I was about 1/2 way to bagels at this point), so we were able to meet up.  I had a nice wheat bagel with maple walnut cream cheese:

I snarfed this down.  I think I need to eat more on Wednesdays before I leave the house.  I have a protein drink before going to the gym, but I think a strength workout plus a 14 mile bike ride needs more food.  Even though half of that ride is after breakfast.  I have noticed that every single Wednesday I am so hungry for breakfast that it sets up the rest of the day as a snacky day.  Will experiment next week with this.

I ended up just putting my bike in the car and riding home with John because I was feeling a little tired and lazy. 😳

Break from work for lunch.  More tuna.

I laughed when I noticed where I had set the other can of tuna on the shelf after I opened up the package.

Note to self – it is extremely important that you remember there is only 1 can of tuna left.  Do not eat any other cans…..

That cat food is what we call ‘kitty crack’ around here.  Pixie gets 1/4 can a day of this junk, along with her Iams weight control/hairball dry food.  She adores this stuff.

Had a slice of this apple yogurt cake that John made.  It is very good.

I finished it before I even got my latte.  Ooops.  Nibbler is out in full force today.

Cause this happened before dinner:

This was up high and I even dragged a chair out to get some.  Just being honest here.  Today has been a challenge.

I had a hankering for grilled cheese for dinner.  So, I made some using  1 oz of colby jack and 1 wedge of laughing cow.  Then I added some sun-dried tomatoes for an adult version.  I remember the old days of slathering butter on the bread and a boatload of cheese…..  Now I sprayed a little ICBINB on the bread and used Pam to grill it.

I have to say that this was really good and a much healthier version of grilled cheese. The sun-dried tomato really gave it extra flavor.  And it wasn’t greasy in my hands!

So tonight is a battle with Nibbler going on, I think.  Wish me luck.

Question:  What’s your favorite sandwich?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5PlohSHImM

Lifting and Nibbler visits.

Happy Flag Day!

Got some good sleep last night and feeling no after effects of the race yesterday. Of course, I would have felt it yesterday if there were problems. I drank a protein drink and biked to the gym:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell squat 3 sets of 8 with 55# bar Lower body
Chin ups 3 sets of 2 !! 1 set of 1 Upper body
Pliet Squats 3 sets of 10 with 35# dumbbell Lower body
Barbell chest press 3 sets of 12 at 45# Chest
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 10 Abs
Standing straight arm pull down 3 sets of 10 at 50# Back
Reverse fly 3 sets of 10 with 12# DBs (24# total) Shoulders
Kickbacks 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs (30# total) Triceps

Then I did 20 minutes on the stationary bike because it was supposed to rain later in the day and I didn’t know if I would get a ride in.  Then I biked home (redundant, no??)

I was hangry!  In the mood for protein waffles, but with a different topping.  I decided on bananas and chocolate fluff!

This was quite tasty, I have to say.  I almost never have a banana in its whole state.  Usually mashed and cooked into something.  Not sure why, but they do make me burp when I eat them straight up.  (Bet that’s a fact you didn’t need to know…)

Worked straight through to lunch.  Yesterday was pretty slow, but not today!  Took a break for lunch and made a tuna wrap with lemon pepper.

Don’t you love my snack bowl of Kashi.  Uh oh…  I had 2.  It’s in the house.

I have this like/dislike thing with tuna going on.  Not strong enough to be a love/hate relationship, which is why it comes in and out of my diet.  I like the protein in tuna, and I like that it gives me Omega 3s, and sometimes I enjoy the taste.  Then I decide I don’t like the taste, and I don’t like the smell, and I don’t care about my Omegas (I do take flax oil).  Then it goes away for a while.   Currently it just wavered back into the like after a hiatus.

Afternoon snackie with my latte:

Last of this chocolate.  Now I am sad.

Now that I got that first race out of the way, I can think about a few more.  The next one will be another 5K in July, which is sort of my race because it was my very first 5K 2 years ago.  I know I am going to do the duathlon again for sure in October, and I even convinced John to do it as well!

Now we are just working on increasing those bike distances to do the 100-mile ride.  We are hoping to do 70+ on Saturday.  I got my coolest of cycling jerseys and I need to take a picture of me in it.  I love it!

Dinner time was stir fry time.  Cooked chicken, broccoli, coconut oil and stir fry sauce.  Love those easy meals.

Blueberries representing!  It’s almost picking time.

Tonight involved more of this:

I need to name my snack monster.  I think Nibbler is in order.

Nice walk tonight and some cleaning to do!

Question: Do you have a food on the love/hate list?

What’s blooming today and vegging out.

Ah the weekend. Fridays are never crowded at the gym. Guess nobody wants to work out on Fridays? Had a protein drink and then biked in. I decided to take it easy on the legs today with a race coming up Sunday.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff-legged dead lifts 3 sets of 10 with 45# bar Lower body
1-arm dumbbell row 3 sets of 10 with 20# DB Back
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 2 sets of 1 Upper body
Railing squats 3 sets of 10 – body weight Lower body
Standing Cable Fly 3 sets of 10 at 30# (each side) Chest
Shoulder Shrug 3 sets of 12 with 30# bar Shoulders
Horizontal Wood chop 3 sets of 10 at 30# Abs
Nosebreaker 3 sets of 10 with 25# bar Triceps

Nice non stressful workout today. I rest 1 minute between sets for the most part unless I am supersetting any of the exercises. The above workout took about 35-40 minutes.  Then I biked home for some brekkie!

It was a cooler morning, so warmth was in order.  Pumpkin cream of wheat – custard style.  Cooked with molasses as the sweetener and topped with a bit of crystalized ginger and toasted pecans.

Yum.  I spent a good chunk of the morning puttering around in the garden.  A few new things today:

Potted painted daisy

Allysum:

Gazania:

Clematis:

This thing is a monster, too.  The twine broke that it climbs onto the porch along and it is just drooping in a big mass:

Lunch break!

More sweet potato with laughing cow and sauteed broccoli.  I was trying to find a good protein source and didn’t feel like eggs and chicken was set for dinner.  So I mixed some strawberry protein powder with greek yogurt.  I think I would try freezing this mixture.

More miscellaneous outside work today.  We are working on the southeast side of the house which is kind of overgrown with vegetation.  It is really a nice day outside today!

Straight up latte snack:

plus a granola bar.

Think the warranty on a PlayStation would cover cat butt?

It’s off the floor so it doesn’t get stepped on, but Pixie thinks it is her personal seat.  This is why we can’t have nice things….

Classic Lori salad for dinner:

Those bagged salads are so handy.  We get either Dole brand or Fresh Express (I like spring mix).  One bag makes 2 salads for me 😳   That’s a lot of greens.  I am totally vegging out in a good way today.

I didn’t bike today (other than to the gym) so that I could get in one last run before Sunday’s race.  I wanted to do 3 miles one last time.  I did pretty well.  Completely pain free.  I finished up in 33:33.  A little bit faster than last time.  Tack on 0.1 miles and I hope to finish up under 35 minutes on Sunday.

Treat afterwards:

Banana soft serve.  I put cinnamon in it and topped with a bit of chocolate sauce.  What a great post run treat!

I am in a really good spot with food lately.   It feels good.

Question:  Do you do bagged salad mixes?

Strength training move of the week.

Chilly night last night. There actually was a frost advisory out for last night. WTH??? Didn’t seem to get any, but it sure was chilly biking to the gym – mid 40s.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell squats 3 sets of 8 with 55# bar Lower body
Chin ups 1 set of 2, 4 sets of 1 Upper body
Dumbbell pull over 3 sets of 10 with 25# DB Back
Reverse crunch 3 sets of 15 Abs
Incline Dumbbell press 3 sets of 12 with 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Reverse lunge with single dumbbell 3 sets of 10 (each leg) with 15# DB Legs
Lateral raise 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Lying french press 3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (30# total) Triceps

I was working hard on these today. The barbell squats and the reverse lunges always get my heart rate up there! A little more weight on the squats. Not back at the 115# pre injury, but I’ll get there.

Lifting move of the week:  Reverse lunge with single dumbbell.  This move is good in many ways.  First, it’s good for the legs because lunges just are.  Using the single dumbbell also helps you work on balance – and who couldn’t use a little more balance in their life?

Do this for both legs.  I just filmed one side.  This is an older video, btw.  This was one of the NROLW moves that I like to have in my rotation.  Now that I can do split leg moves again, that’s what I did today!  John met me at the gym and we biked to bagels.  I actually started to bonk on the way there and had to eat a ginger chew.  I think it was not taking a rest day after the ride, plus a harder strength workout today.  I did have a protein drink before leaving the house, but obviously not enough.

I looked for the biggest bagel I could see, and it was a sunflower seed bagel.  Delicious!  I really had to keep from inhaling it 😀

After carb loading up, we headed home.  Total bike mileage was 14.3 miles.

Work went much more smoothly today.  So smooth that I was extra productive and did more lines in less time, so I did more than required.  I’ll take the extra money!  My new netbook is so awesome 😀

Lunch break was some greek yogurt mixed with plain whey protein, granola, strawberries and a little buckwheat honey.

This honey is awesome.  We bought it at the farmer’s market.  Need to get more.

That partial bonk this morning left me with one of those hungry things in my stomach all day.  Dislike that feeling.  I had some chocolate with my latte.

This is good stuff!

Pre dinner was some cashews while I roasted coffee for tomorrow (all done with work by this time).

Nibble, nibble…..

It was raining, but the birdies were keeping me company while I did the coffee:

(my liatris will be blooming soon – yay!)

I had that craving for BBQ from yesterday, so I had some BBQ shrimp.    1/2 of a microwaved sweet potato topped with laughing cow and sauteed broccoli.

I cracked open the Chef Hymie hot BBQ sauce for this.  Boy howdy that has a kick to it!  It actually made my nose run.  Loves the hot stuff….

I have been noticing a soreness in my left thigh lately, and I think I now understand what it is.  Before with the weakness, I was moving my leg, but not really using it.  Make sense?  Now I can actually use my leg and the muscles are sore from being worked again.  Yay!  My knee is still numb, but the feeling has come back in my calf.

Tomorrow will be a rest day for me, I think.  I also will talk a little bit about Nutrisystem, as I had done this for a while a couple years ago and was asked about it.

We are off to Starbucks for some coffee and for me to play more with my little netbook.

Question:  Do you consider the sweet potato a veggie or just a carb?

What’s blooming and paper weights

Long weekend ahead! Yes!  Need to tread a  little carefully as there will be some eating out this weekend and celebrating.  (Saturday is actual birthday).

Zee protein hit:

Then biked to the gym:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff-leg Deadlift 3 sets of 10 with 65# bar Lower body
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 2 sets of 1 Upper body
Stationary lunges 3 sets of 10 (each leg) BW Lower body
Plank 3 sets of 1-minute holds as superset Abs
Push ups 3 sets of 10 as superset with plank Chest
Cable low row 3 sets of 10 at 50# Back
Face pull 3 sets of 15 at 30# Shoulders
Triceps Pulldown 3 sets of 15 with 30# Triceps

That was enough for the day. My legs were a wee bit tired from yesterday. I realize how my stamina is still down. Good news is that I could do the stationary lunge with no pain! My leg felt tight, but it didn’t hurt. Yay! That means I can do more split leg moves again.  It’s probably going to take me a couple months to build my left leg back up again.

Biked home and made up some cream of wheat custard style and topped with 16 g of cashew butter and 12 g of chocolate fluff.

I made the cooked version of the fluff and it is even more like the jar stuff.  I just added a tblsp of cocoa powder to the liquid ingredients while cooking. Num.

I puttered around in the garden today. I could spend all day doing this stuff and be perfectly happy.  Here’s what’s blooming right now en le jardin de Lori:

Deutschland Astilbe (one that I got a few weeks ago, small but blooming!)

The knockout rosebush with its plethora of blooms.  This bush is amazing.

Flowering tobacco (Nicotiana)

My folks wanted to take me out for lunch today as an early birthday meal since we are going to be out tomorrow.  We went to Samantha’s.  I love this place!

I had a turkey sandwich with cheddar and granny smith apple slices on it.  Hold the mayo.  On burlap wheat bread that they make there.  Not sure why it is called burlap, but it’s tasty.

After lunch, I went back to my parent’s house and helped set up their new little garden.  They had a tree cut down and put in a little garden in its spot.  I brought along some cone flower and black-eyed susans to fill in.  Baby garden in progress:

You can almost see the plants we put in there LOL!  I’ll take a picture later this summer to compare (okay Mom, pressure’s on 😈  )

Came home for a latte and a protein cookie to read with the weekly free paper:

And of course, somebody didn’t want to be left out of the action. As soon as I opened up the paper, I received a paperweight:

I know all of your cats do this, too 😀  Probably dogs as well.

Dinner time was something pretty tasty.  The last piece of sausage with laughing cow and a couple egg whites.  I haven’t had real sausage in forever and it was sooo good!

Rye bread on the side.  I was going to make a sandwich with this, but the bread didn’t rise very well for some reason.

Baking cupcakes tonight to pass around for the birthday tomorrow.  We are using what we call ‘grandpa’s cake’ for my birthday.  It’s kind of a special praline-type frosting that we would have for my grandfather’s birthday (which was on Christmas Day).  I love it, so why not for me?

I can’t believe I have another 3 days off.  I really should use more vacation days this way.  Tomorrow we are biking to birthday breakfast (I am making John get up early, most likely heehee) and then hopefully spending the day at Yaddo Gardens to see what’s blooming there if the weather cooperates.

Have a great night!

Lifting move of the week and lost food.

Good old Wednesday! I was up too early again, but such is life, no? Took a protein hit and then biked to the gym.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff-leg Deadlift 3 sets of 8 with 65# bar Lower body
Seated Lat Row 3 sets of 12 at 45# Back
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
Horizontal Wood Chop 3 sets of 10 (each side) Abs
YTWL 3 sets of 4 (each letter) with 8# DBs Shoulders
Standing leg press 3 sets of 6 at 50# Quads
Dumbbell chest press 3 sets of 12 with 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Overhead Triceps Ext 3 sets of 15 with 20# DB Triceps
Standing calf raise 3 sets of 15 at 50# Calves

Little extra leg work today.

The lifting move of the week: The YTWL! Named for the shape your arms make when doing the exercise. Kind of like YMCA, but without the catchy tune (although you can hum it if you want). This is a great shoulder exercise because it hits all the different muscles of the shoulder. Start with a very light weight, as it is pretty difficult (and the shoulder is easy to injure).

You can do 4 repetitions of each letter.  I think a lot of women neglect their shoulders, but they really can make the difference in how your top half looks.  Nice rounded shoulder caps help with body symmetry.

John met me at the gym and we biked to our usual addiction bagel.  Nice morning to eat outside!

I was sitting too close to a barberry bush and got poked with a thorn, but it was so pretty I leaned over and took a picture:

It was kind of humid, can you tell? Such a nice morning to bike.  One thing I love about my workday starting at 10 is that I can do all this stuff in the morning like work out and bike to breakfast.

Fairly uneventful at work.  Before I knew it, time for lunch!  I actually found a can of tuna in the pantry.  I thought I had gotten rid of it all, but I guess I didn’t.  So, that was on the menu today.  Maybe it isn’t so bad after all.

Also found 1/2 a sweet potato in the fridge, which I microwaved and topped with laughing cow. Yum!

Somebody wanted some attention while I worked today, and I just cannot resist this face:

I was hungry, though – so she did have to get up after a while.  Made some cashew butter last night.  Dang I forgot how good that stuff is.  I had some on a date for a snack:

It was so good I had another with the latte:

I think the food processor might be on its last legs.  Like a lot of things in our house LOL!  Who needs to win the lottery? – raise your hand!!

John and I rounded up more leftovers to eat.  Funny how sometimes it just seems like there are a lot in the fridge at one time.  I defrosted some of the lentil/rice dish we made with the pan roasted broccoli!

Good stuff.

Going to spend some time in the garden weeding tonight.  My goal to keep the garden weed free is going well this year (of course, it is only early June).  If anyone wants black-eyed susans, please let me know.  I have a 100 volunteers growing that are in the wrong spot 😀

Happy running day to all!  Look at that, I didn’t even run today.  John ran this evening, but I already had done enough for the day.    I ate strawberries instead……

Question:  Do you ‘lose’ food in the fridge or pantry?