Besides being busy with her arrival, I managed to get a ton of work done this morning and get a STRONG chest workout done–I benched 125×5 for a couple of the sets and my incline press was up to 130 for a couple sets of six also– my incline flys were done with 40’s today.  C-day 23= HULK in the weight room

Well, I gotta go for now– I’ll see you more tomorrow my sexy friends

www.msn.com
Happiness quiz:
http://pttest.msn.com/cgi-bin/transfer.cgi?partner=mns&test=happiness
http://www.queendom.com/
I-tunes: Listened to a tish of Britney’s new song
watched a bit of the video for the song Just Dance
and the pussycat dolls new video
www.bodyspace.com/buffmother
myspace
http://www.authorize.net/
http://www.fitnessamerica.com/index.htm
www.paypal.com …Checkin my account
www.guru.com

anyhow…I need to buckle down and get some work done- I’ve been “planning” our 6 week contest a bit…Now I just have to organize/simplify my thoughts about it :)…and GET the info POSTED!! I am so excited!!!

I am also going to head out to the gym after the BUG GUY comes to do my yearly “termite inspection” lol!
Oh and here is one more place I like to surf for GREAT inspirational massages
www.joycemeyer.org

Here’s a direct link to her “on-air” broadcasts http://www.joycemeyer.org/OurMinistries/Broadcast/TV/Archive/

…and here I-tunes podcast page http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=152564324

– I download them all to my I-phone so I can have inspiration anywhere anytime.

Now I am off to Surf the Rally Room!!
Love,
Michelle

…It’s been a GREAT hump DAY already!!
Kids got up and off to school with only about 3 problems (there are always problems…i can handle up to about 4, lol! after that I get a bit frazzled
Then I had time to stop back at home to grab a cup of coffee
Then I was off to my nail appt and after that I hit the gym for a great back, shoulder, bicep and abs workout :yay:

Here’s the quick run down:
Cybex lat pulls
lower back machine
seated rows
Hammer machine biceps
Hammer Iso Shoulder press machine
Ab wheel- 2 sets of 20
Arnolds
Hammer curls (angled to hit shoulder flare)
lateral raises
bent over raises
upright rows
t-bar rows
Knee ups- 3 sets to fail

I felt good and I really feel like I am getting a much stronger core– all that’s left for me to do today is STRETCH…and I’ll fit that in this evening- I like to do it on the floor in the living room when the kids are home and around because sometimes they join in for fun

Speaking of STRETCHING– here is a video showing some basic leg stretches

Love ya,
Michelle
p.s by the way I got in a great leg workout yesterday–
hack squats
Squats
Deads
Calves
Ab and Adduction
Oblique machine
Knee extensions
Smith lunges

My knee is a little stiff today but not bad–it’s handling strength training really well!

Over the past month I’ve been building my GUNS- lol! My arms including my biceps a bit more so I thought I’d share my favorite bicep exercise with you– Pose down Cable Bicep curls :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9I5FdZf2tU

Here is my poa for the week:
m- upper body
t- legs
w-chest
th-back
f-legs
sat- mish/mosh of upper body

daily: splits stretching, abs, low carbs (2 daily is the goal), take end of buffing(starting six2sexy pictures/stats in a couple days, take supplements!!
other: no cardio yet…I may try some next week if my knee stays like this, MRI should happen this week on my knee, knee is doing great with lifting on legs

And I wanted to mention here that I’ll be posting in a bit about the new contest we are starting NEXT MONDAY!! the Six2Sexy contest– It’ll run for 6 weeks.  WE are going to be so SEXY when it’s done!

Let’s have a STELLAR week!!!
-M

Since I didn’t blog yesterday- let me recap quickly how AMAZING my son did at his game on Tuesday night….HE ROCKED it!!
He drove the ball with his up the gut running attack capped off by a rushing touchdown, converted a 2 point conversion with a catch, threw an awesome pass completion, made an amazing block that freed the running back to score a touchdown and he even made a HUGE SACK!  Their team won 32-0!!!  :cheer:
I was and am a very proud Momma!!!
Then yesterday I took my little 6 year daughter old for a “date”– we went grocery shopping, then had salad and pizza, then got our very first pedicures and finished off the date with a trip to Krispy Cream for a dozen doughnuts.  Needless to say- I had a BIG cheat day yesterday, lol!!  I weigh 3 pounds extra today because of it  :snicker:  It was EXTREMELY worth it though– GG and I had a BLAST and made some GREAT memories.

Today I go to the doctor for my knee appt.- I expect that he will order an MRI on it, so we can see what’s happening in there…as I’ve mentioned before I had my knee scoped in 1997 and they found degeneration (I was only 21 at the time)…anyhow, I am so happy that I’ve been able to be as active as I’ve been these past 5 years with my “bad knee”…one of my proudest accomplishments was training for and WINNING a college track race after almost 11 years away from the track– Here is the address for that video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iBg78×69jA

I am thankful for my family!  Do you know how wonderful it is to have an amazing husband and 4 magnificent children~ I am so blessed and very thankful for them!!

I am thankful for my friends! The past 4-5 years of my life have been filled with GREAT friends and everyday I meet more and more people that I am honored to call my friends!!  This past weekend in Council Bluffs was such an amazing friendship filled time~ I expect more and more great weekends like that in the future!

I am thankful for my body~ I am very blessed that God has given me the knowledge the desire and the work ethic and the miracles needed to have such an nice physique– I will never take my body for granted!  It is a blessing from God that I am so thankful for!!

I am thankful that I was able to lift legs yesterday and am still able to walk today!!  My knee handled the workout quite well!! I know it will be at least a month until I’ll even attempt to do cardio, but I am so thankful that I can at least lift with legs again!!!

I am just so thankful today!!  I really feel honored to be where I am at in life and I appreciate the wonderful blessings God has given to me!

As I mentioned I worked out my lower body yesterday– nothing too intense or amazing– just and EASE back into it/test the knee type workout.  I am sore from it though!  I also worked on my stretching twice– once at the gym for about 15mins and then again at home in the evening.

Today I lifted Chest, tri’s and bi’s–also quite a bit of ABS and STRETCHED again:
Bench
45×15
95×12
115×8,6,6
one set of knee ups between sets

Incline Hammer press
90×10x4
3 sets sit ups between sets

Incline Flys
35’sx10×3

Skull Crushers followed by Bicep curls at the same wt and reps
40+curl barx6
30+curl barx12×3 sets

Tricep push downs
70×12x2
90×10
100×10x2
paired with Cable bicep curls
70×10x3
60×15x2

tricep kick backs
12#x10×3

Abs stuff–
5 diff exercises-
Stretching

home–
I’ve eaten:
Coffee w/ cream and sugar
1/4 of a waffle
Salmon
Carrot
Sardines
boca w/a tsp BBQ sauce
Lots of water~
Supplements- joint, Buffing pill, vit c, garlic, allergy meds

My son has a football game tonight!! I am so excited~ he is really getting good!!!  It should be fun to see~ Go WAR EAGLES!!!

Thanks for being my FRIENDS and reading this
Love,
Michelle

What can you sow?
You can Sow: money, time, energy, emotions, thoughts, actions, gifts, faith, belief, prayer, knowledge, photos, being an example, touch, life, truth, fun, peace, love, hope, loyalty, commitment, thankfulness, appreciation, character, manners, smiles, food, nutrients, desire, environment……..

Are you Sowing into what you want to reap?

I’ve been asking this myself a lot…I’d love to get to the point in my own maturity to where each moment of my life SOWS into something for the future.

have a GREAT Hump day~ I’m off to sow into my relationship with DH!
Love,
M

I can’t wait!!

To fill you in a bit on where I have been, I’ve been here working…I had 4 BIG projects come up last week.  I did decent on working out~ despite not being able to lift legs or do any cardio, I got to the gym 4 times and stretched A LOT for our splits challenge.  Stretching is HARD WORK!  I’m sure it burns calories!

My diet has had to be extra good since I’ve been so limited in my activity level due to my knee–I think it is slowly getting a bit better, but I plan to get an appt. with a surgeon next week.  I think I may need it scoped again– I had it scoped in 1997 and that seemed to help it, may be time to “clean” it out again???  Who knows though– all I know is that I want it FIXED!

I was in a shopping mood today- I bought stuff online on Steve Madden (*I love his shoes), VS and  in person at Old Navy– they have some cute stuff right now!  The kids also got some stuff~ the twins got dresses, Gunner a coat and GG a hat.

Here is a POA for this next week:
Diet hard-
Proteins and GREENS almost exclusively
STRETCH DAILY;  LOTS OF ABS daily; maybe do some SHIMMY (from FitTV)
M- lift back, sh, bi’s
T- lift chest
W- lift other stuff– lots of ABS and try out a little bit of leg stuff
Th- lift back, sh, bi’s ABS
Fri?
Sat?
Sun?

Well, I am gonna watch some of the Cowboy’s game with DS now~
Love ya!!
-M

I wanted to say THANKS for all the great responses to my blog post yesterday!  I Love you!!
It is so neat to have a group of friends who care about me, pray for me, encourage me and help me!  With you I can get through any obstacle and accomplish things beyond my wildest dreams.  Thanks for being my friends, you really are special to me!!!

I did have a great day yesterday~ and today so far too!! which is amazing considering I am on cday 22 which is typically one of my worst days of the month~ whoohooo

I got to the gym as planned yesterday and lifted hard and heavy on my CHEST, TRIs and ABS~
warm up tanning bed
Bench
45×15
95×10
115×8
125×6
115×10

Incline Hammer Strength Press
90×10
110×8
120×6
110×6

Incline Flys
30’sx10
35’sx8×2sets

Tricep extensions
45×10
55×8x2 sets
paired with bicep curls
45×10
55×7x2 sets

Tricep push downs
80×10 flaring/flexing at the bottom of each rep x 3 sets

Assisted dips
40×10
30×10
20×10

Abs between sets:
Knee ups on bench 2 sets
Crunches on bench 3 sets
Knee ups on  roman chair
Ab roller 3 sets

Spit’s stretching between sets also…I was amazed at how flexible I was!  I am stoked…I think I may be able to do the splits one day.

Well, I am off to hit the gym again now~
Have a Terrific Tuesday!!
Love, your friend,
Michelle

I guess the reason why I need to focus on  this shift in perspective today is that I’ve been a bit down the past few days…as it turns out actually did hurt my knee rather bad last week and have to let it totally rest this week (NO CARDIO that utilizes my lower body at all and no lower body lifting).  I was quite bummed about it on Friday and Saturday, but now I’ve shifted my focus towards what I can still do vs. all the things I can’t do.  I can still do upper body workouts, do abs, do stretching, do some pilates and I can control my DIET! I can do a lot and I will!  I just have to keep focused on the fact that I can still do a lot to impact my future life for the positive and getting my knee healthy is key component of that.  I also need to look into the medical advances towards the treatment for my knee issues…it’s been 11+years since I had surgery and was last seen by a doctor for my knee problem (I have a degeneration of my tibia called chondromalacia)…and I expect that there may be new treatment options for my knee issues. I plan to attack the SOLUTIONS and stay focused on the things I can do….

So on tap for me today besides laundry and work, is a trip to the gym this afternoon…I will warm up in the tanning bed and then hit my chest and tri’s and abs for a good solid workout!  I think it will feel great to get a workout in…I’ve taken the past 2 days off.  I am also going to join in on the splits challenge, but may have to “ease” into it this week since my knee is more stiff than usual and I am joining KIM and several others here in the RR for the 14 day super focus challenge– I am boosting, so it’ll be a challenge for sure, but I need it!

I also need to say: Congrats to DEB for her great job on Saturday!! She is fired up and ready to rock her next contest in 2 weeks~ I am so excited for her!!!

Well, I am off to attack day 1 of the rest of my life!!!
Love,
Michelle