Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are my least favorite days in the gym. Why?? Because those are the days that I do HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). Yesterday I did 30/60's 20/40's are actually my favorites and I'm building myself up for 60/120's but those are a long ways away I think. HIIT is not one of my favorite things, but I do have to admit, I feel awesome after everything's over and I crawl back to my car. I was reading an interesting article yesterday by Craig Ballentyne about HIIT and why he feels it's superior to longer steady-state cardio and it did make me feel more excited about doing them. I still do steady state, but I can say that I have seen the most fat loss and cardiovascular improvement from intervals. I do my intervals on the bike. I don't think my bum knee could handle the treadmill anyway, but I don't think I'd ever do them on the treadmill or stepmill even if I had great knees. HIIT on these two things just scream "if you even think of trying HIIT on me, I will make sure you hurt yourself, trip and fall or in some other way make you look like a complete and utter fool. Step away from me and get your butt back on that bike." :lol: Today is lifting and maybe 20-30 mins of steady state afterwards....a much better day. I kinda enjoy lifting once I get there and get in the groove. The hardest thing is definitely making myself go after work. The funny thing is, I.AM.STRONG. I remember the very first time I did lat pull downs I started at 75lbs, which not bragging are some people's PR's. The hardest exercise for me to gain strength is the bench. I started out benching just the bar and am still at only about 75lbs. I have this mental block and this fear of the bar falling on my throat. :lol: I'm very conservative with my Ass-to-Grass squats too every since I hurt my knee over a year ago. I swear if I ever feel that pain again, I will just shoot myself right there on the gym floor. I was doing jumping jacks and when I landing with my feet out, my knee just caved inward. I guess my poor knee just couldn't handle the massive tonage called my bodyweight that was being forced upon it. Poor baby. It was the worst pain and has taken forever to heal, which was my fault because I didn't see a doctor and tried to rehab it myself. Yeah, bad move I know, but I had my reasons at the time. I still baby it. Now deadlifts are a different story. I love me some deadlifts. I love my pink lifting straps too because my grip strength cannot accomodate the amount that I can lift. RDL's are my favorite. Oddly enough but I think due to my knee as well, I lift more on RDL's than I do CDL's. My goal this year is to break the 200lb mark. I cant wait to see what's underneath all of this fat muscle-wise once I start leaning out.

Wow!! Was that an amazing game yesterday or what?? I'm not a huge football fan but that was a great game. I went to my first SuperBowl party and hung out with some friends of mine. I took a little break from the dieting and enjoyed some of the food that was there; you know a nibble of this, a taste of that. I had Rotel dip which is one of my all-time favorites and this buffalo chicken dip that was sooo good. I could have eaten the entire bowl easily. I was actually suprised I liked it since I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy stuff. Mild is usually more of my speed. I'm making an effort to be more social these days. When you are heavy it's easy to isolate yourself or as I call it become "an army of one". It can be especially hard when many of your friends are competitors or very lean. Remember that song from Sesame Street, "One of these things doesn't belong here, one of these things just isn't the same"? Sometimes I feel like that lone apple in the group of bananas. Hahahaha!!! Anyway, I digress.

I think that I'm one of those people who does best when I have a goal or some kind of date to look forward to. My first short term goal is to be below 200 when I go see a friend of mine and go to the Jr. USA's in Charleston, SC in May. It's a totally doable goal as long as I stay focused and stick to my diet and training. Sometimes when you have so much to lose looking at the big picture is overwhelming, so little goals make you feel like you are still accomplishing something even though the Big One is still a long ways off. I try to attend at least one national level show a year, sometimes more if possible. Seeing these athletes at their physical best is so motivating. The energy is so positive at these shows. I really enjoy them..local ones as well. In 2008 I was fortunate enough to attend two national shows..Jr. USA's in Charleston and Nationals in Atlanta as well as one of the local smaller shows in the Atlanta area. I'm a people watcher so I really get alot of bang for my buck at these shows, not to mention I always walk away with a renewed motivation to do better with my own diet and training. Ahhh..if I could just go to a show every weekend I'd be set.

Ahh, nothing gets my blood flowing like a good bargain. I love workout clothes but I hate workout clothes prices. Maybe one of these days when I'm a lean mean muscle machine I won't mind paying $65 for a pair of workout pants, but in the meantime, this makes me happy and it's in my favorite color.....PINK!!!

Jockey workout pants.....$10 at Marshalls

Hot Pink matching top.....$3 at Walmart