Warm Up - Day 1

   I grew up playing sports: namely soccer and running track & field, and then dabbling in dance for my high school's dance team.  Dance seemed to carry the most weight, as I later went on to dance for the 1st Season of my local Bellingham semi-pro basketball team, known as the "Bellingham Slam!", and then I tried out for WWU's Hip Hop team at Western Washington University and danced there for 3 quarters. I have always been active and usually in pretty good shape. When my name comes up in conversation, usually the words "buff" or "glutes" (see picture below) get tossed around. It's pretty comical actually.

Elisa on the left, me on the right...in Barra De Navidad, Mexico for Liz's Wedding in March 2010. 

A friend of mine posed the question in 2006, "You should be a figure model, why don't you try it?" I didn't get it. "Figure, what?" Haha. Not until I worked at lululemon athletica, and met a REAL body builder, did I truly understand what Figure Competitions were about. And so, since 2009...my obsession with the IDEA of doing a Figure Competitions has strung along side me, unfulfilled, but full of hope.


It is SO incredibly easy to come up with a million excuses not to work out, or eat healthy, or to get enough sleep. TRUST me... I have a 12 month old. Nothing comes quicker than that midnight hour of hearing the faint cries of Weston, pleading for some 1 on 1 time to nurse.


So really, I get it. I get why it's so hard to stick to your guns and carry-out a fitness goal. The one excuse that is very real for me is my Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and bursitis. Click this link to check out what RA is: What is RA? It has hindered me in every area of my life to date. But I will say that if I eat clean: paleo, cave-man, primal, hunter-gather... whatever you want to call it, essentially no grains, gluten, legumes, dairy, night shades (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers: due to my RA) added sugar or vegetable oils (oh and stay away from HFCS, high fructose corn syrup)... this leaves me inflammation free! 


So the DO EATS are essentially:  lean meats, grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, berries and a whole-lotta coconut oil and olive oil. The key is to balance my omega-3:omega=6 ratios to about 1:2. I need OMEGA-3's to help combat my RA (rheumatoid arthritis). 


If you're interested in learning more about this life-style of eating, I highly recommend Robb Wolf's book, "Paleo Solution"( robbwolf.com ). This has changed my life! 


Anyway... enough excuses for me! I am finally registered for a class at Urban Fitness called "Train Like a Competitor". Here's a link to see a testimonial of the class: Train Like a Competitor! A few girls at work who have competed in figure or bikini, highly recommend the 12 week program. It's one day a week, every Sunday. It starts this Sunday, January 15th!


So in order to gear up for this, I decided to wait 'til the last minute :P 


I worked out today and did a mini-overall body preparation: 

• Jumped-rope for 3-5 minutes
• Side-to-side squats with a resistance band around my ankles
• Lunges with 10 lb. dumb bells
• Tricep pull downs
• Bicep curls with 10 lb. dumb bells
• Glute raises, on all 4's, placed 10 lb. dumb bell behind knee and lifted leg up, heel to ceiling
• Lat pull downs
• Stretched

This is a brief and quick overview of what I did. I did some things in reps and others only once. I just listened to my body. I wanted to get a little warm up in before I hit a harder work out tomorrow. 

Picture of my body the week before Train Like a Competitor Begins: ahh, this is scary to show. But I have to be vulnerable if I want to succeed! Weight: ~118 lb.

Front view  &                                                                              Left side view

Let the fun begin!