I had a great workout today. I focused on back with the trainer. Unfortunately, I have been doing dead lifts wrong this whole time. When I perform it, I didn't place the bar on  the ground. She had me bend much lower than I have been going.This made the exercise much harder. The bar was heavy trying to pick it off the floor. She said that I could do it, and I did. Concentrating on arching my back and keeping my shoulder blades down and in while standing up was difficult. As I lifted, I had to concentrate on pushing away from the floor. This helped to focus on the movement.  I started with 115 pounds and she bumped me up to 135 for 6 reps. I felt like a heavy weight lifter squatting in this position with my butt down and shoulders back. It is not the most comfortable position.

She also wants me to start doing pull-ups and push-ups everyday at home. This will help with increasing my grip strength and for back strength. I also was told to separate shoulders from back which will help give me another day of body building.

After talking with her about the body building competition I went to, we spoke about another competition. This one is in July. I was curious. Could I actually be ready for this competition? Do I have it in me?  I asked her if I would be ready for competition in July. She seems to think that I can do it. If I wasn't ready, then it's easy enough to do the competition in October instead.

 I would have to start dieting down in April for the July comp. If I did the competition in October, I wouldn't diet down until July. But, I want to look good in a bikini next year, so the July comp. would get me nearer to my goal, sooner. I liked that idea. I want to look good for the summer at the beach. I can not wait to get the rest of this weight off. It is driving me crazy. The trainer says not to worry about it and concentrate on lifting but I can't get my head wrapped around it. I continue to ask her in multiple ways about cardio exercise and weight lose, and she keeps answering the same. I keep asking her the same questions in a different way until I get the answer that I want. So far she is sticking to her guns and not answering the way I want her to. I need to go light on cardio and build, build, build. I can do more cardio during the diet down faze. I am not looking forward to eating extremely strict without any alcohol. That will be the hardest part. The weight lifting is the easy part. But I am very excited to see this muscle grow and the fat to melt off.

Scott's only concern about the dieting is if it will interfere with vacations. Fortunately, her program is for a four month diet down, in cases of sickness or vacation. It is not a 6 week "starvation' diet. The slower I lose it, the longer it will stay off. I am looking forward to that. However, if I compete in July, then the Danskin triathlon will be out the window. I will not be able to diet and train for the triathlon at the same time. The tri takes too much energy and will deplete my mass that I am trying to build. For now I will stick to body building and cross the triathlon rode when it is time.

6 Week Checkup

Yesterday was my 6 week re-evaluation. I knew that my weight didn't decrease since my first visit.  However, I hoped that my measurements decreased. 6 weeks ago, I was 29.7% body fat and BMI of 25.5 . I still hovered around the over weight category. But I knew that I made great strides since April ,so I wasn't too upset. Moving on to today, the trainer proceeded to hand me the body fat machine. I held it out with arms straight and waited. It was a long 10 seconds. Then the numbers appeared. I looked at them and then down at the paper and back again. What I saw was not right. My numbers remained the exact same as 6 weeks ago. I did not lose any body fat. I was not too happy. But it is what it is. I have been lifting weights for 6 weeks, 3-4 times a week with light cardio on off days, and I lost no body fat. After receiving that blow, he continued to measure my waist, hips, thigh, biceps, and thighs. Holding the tape measure on my belly button, I proceed to turn to wrap the tape measure around me. He was very careful to observe boundaries. He repeated this for the hips. I was not expecting much since everything else remained the same. However, I lost a half inch in my waist and 1.5 inches in my hips. I smiled in enjoyment. I couldn't believe that I lost inches. I also lost inches in biceps and thighs. My weight training was working. I am starting to slim down and gain more muscle. I can see the muscles on me becoming more defined. I can see the door at the end of the road. But I still have a long way to go to reach my goal.