Albeus51's Epic Journey to Become an Amazon Warrior

[Brovatar Korra]

Hi everyone! I am so excited to have just joined this site, and to have an area where I can hold myself accountable. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I used to be very fit when I was in the Army, but I got out last year and had a 10 month binge of not working out at all and eating terribly all the time. Predictably, I gained 30 pounds and my body started getting curves in places where they shouldn't be! I'm resolved to change, and in the last month I went from 190lb on my petite 5'3" frame to 181lb. Nine pounds is a great start! 

 

My current stats:

Squat: 135lb (6x3)

Bench: 85lb (6x3)

Deadlift: 95lb (6x3)

I can barely run a mile without having to stop and catch my breath

 

I can do about 20 push-ups, but I can't do a chin-up without at 50% assistance. My goals are to reclaim my warrior status, build up my strength and endurance and reach these goals in 6 months (August 1st):

 

Squat: 200lb

Bench: 100lb

Deadlift: 135lb

4 chin-ups without any assistance

Weight: 159lb

Run 4 miles in under 44 minutes

 

I also love yoga, I don't have any specific goals other than to keep going to classes regularly 2 x a week. For my diet, I am not following a particular plan per say, mainly cutting back on processed foods, soda, fast food, and focusing on eating more vegetables, fruit, and protein every day!

 

I'll update stats at least 1 x week, I GOT THIS.

[Beanalicious1]

awesome!  You're already more of a warrior than I am, I'd say you're not going to have much problem making your Aug. goal!  I'm excited for the updates!

[Brovatar Korra]

Thanks for the encouragement! 

[marybelle]

Yay for all the Amazons! You will get back to where you want to be before you know it! Good job on setting goals and starting up. Wish you the best of luck with all your goals!

[Brovatar Korra]

Yesterday I did squats, deadlifts, bench presses, chinups, dips, and the lat pulldown machine. I know, machines are bad but I really like that one and I have a special affinity for it. When I first started lifting weights with my platoon sergeant in Iraq, the lat pulldown was the first machine where I ever moved 100lbs. It was super motivating and it became my favorite machine  No new maximum numbers yet, but I'm going for it on the next workout!

[Brovatar Korra]

Today I went to Gold's Gym and did the Body Pump workout and immediately did the Body Attack workout afterward. Ouch my muscles!

[KimPossible]

Welcome!  Sounds like you're going to be getting back to fit in no time!  Amazon Goddess more like .  Have you headed over to the Warriors Guild to chat it up with some of the weight lifters over there?  They focus on a lot of what you're doing and they are a super great encouragement.  Also, new six week challenges are about to be rolling around again soon.  Those are a great time to pick some specific goals to hold yourself to and build a support team.

Good luck, oh, and YOU TOTALLY GOT THIS!

[Brovatar Korra]

Thanks! I have! I just started getting involved with their threads, and I'm definitely jumping in on one of the next challenges! 

[Brovatar Korra]

I was home visiting the fam this weekend and everyone wanted to order pizza for dinner. Instead of giving in I opted to cook my own dinner instead: chicken, sweet potato, and broccoli. First temptation challenge bested!

[Brovatar Korra]

Thank you for the feedback Athena! I found that chart and it was a great reference guide to see where I'm at and where I want to go. I'm still a newbie, so I had no idea deadlifts were supposed to be the heaviest. I was just going off of what I can naturally do 

 

New goals are to hit the novice numbers for my weight class!

 

Deadlift: 200

Squat: 165

Bench Press: 120

[Brovatar Korra]

Last night I went to the gym and did a Body Pump class, followed by Body Attack! Finished off the workout with assisted chin-ups and dips. I can now do 5x5 dips using 64% of my body weight, and 5x5 chin-ups with 51% of my body weight. I also picked up two books, "Starting Strength" and "It Starts with Food" that many rebels around these parts have recommended to read. Looking forward to getting my knowledge on!

[KimPossible]

Last night I went to the gym and did a Body Pump class, followed by Body Attack! Finished off the workout with assisted chin-ups and dips. I can now do 5x5 dips using 64% of my body weight, and 5x5 chin-ups with 51% of my body weight. I also picked up two books, "Starting Strength" and "It Starts with Food" that many rebels around these parts have recommended to read. Looking forward to getting my knowledge on!

Hey Andrea, just checking in with your battles

  Awesome job with jumping right in to chin ups and dips - hard stuff!  Also makes me want to put my chin up bar back up even though its my rest week....hrrrm.

If you're still looking to get your knowledge on, I have friends who also recommend the book New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women.  And if you have access to netflix, there's a lot of great "foodie" documentaries about diet (take with a grain of salt - as all documentaries contain some bias) like, Food Inc., FoodMatters, FatHead, King Corn, etc.  Maybe less for information and more for interest, but still enlightening!

[Brovatar Korra]

Thanks Kim I'll have to check those out too! I did not eat that well this weekend, spend a total of about 10 hours driving around but I got to see my 80 year old grandmother who has Alzheimer's but she was in great spirits. Also got to see my aunt who lives in Alaska, I haven't seen her in 7 years so that was a nice reunion. Definitely worth it to visit family, but I ate a bunch of snacks in the car that weren't so good for me. Old Andrea would have been deterred and probably just kept slacking the rest of the weekend. New Andrea woke up and had a healthy breakfast and now I'm getting ready to go to the gym! 

[Brovatar Korra]

Okay here was my workout focusing on form and technique today:

 

Bench Press:

85lb x 5

95lb x 5

95lb x 4

90lb x 5

90lb x 5

 

Deadlifts:

95lb x 5

95lb x 5

115lb x 5

115lb x 4

105lb x 5

 

Squats:

85lb x 5

105lb x 5

115lb x 5

105lb x 4

105lb x 5

 

Then to finish up chinups 5x5 88lb of assistance, and dips 5x5 70lb of assistance. These are getting better by the day!

[Brovatar Korra]

I must just be a very dense person. Yeah, it takes me a while to catch on to new concepts, but I'm talking about body mass. Everywhere I read about women's height/weight ratios, for a 5 foot 3 woman like myself I see national averages of 140-150 pounds. But what confuses me is those same averages/norms are for people who are size 10-12, and have average measurements of 30" waists and 40" hips. And I think, what the hell, I'm a size 12, my measurements are neck 13", waist 31", hips 41", but I weigh 180lbs! How can I be about the same height, pants size, and measurements, but I weigh 30-40lbs MORE? I know I have large breasts, but I doubt they weigh 20lb a piece!

Argh, I know weight is really a horrible indicator of true fitness, and I just need to start ignoring it completely but that is so easier said than done.

[Brovatar Korra]

I am so excited about jumping in on the next challenge that starts February 25th! I already have my goals set, you can follow the Three Trials of Albeus here!

[Brovatar Korra]

Had a great workout at the gym yesterday!

 

Squats:

85x5

105x5

115x5

115x5

someone was waiting very patiently so I didn't do my fifth set

 

Deadlifts:

95x5

115x5

135x4 (woohoo, my highest ever!)

125x4

125x5

 

Bench:

85x5

95x5

100x5 (yeah! first time I've hit 100 in 2 years!)

105x5

105x5

 

Then I came home and ran a mile, my time was horrible 14 minutes 5 seconds. OF course, I did do this AFTER all those squats, which probably didn't help. I'll be going to yoga this afternoon, and doing my chin-ups / dips afterward.

[Brovatar Korra]

I have been absent from the website, but not my goals. I have been actually been putting a lot of thought AND action into reassessing and creating new goals. I am in the middle of my first year of pharmacy school. It is a vary rigorous program (16 hours a semester) that also requires a lot of non-official time spent participating in student groups, "highly encouraged" extra-curriculars etc.

During all of this I have not had much quality time with my husband. I decided that I needed to find a way to better balance taking care of myself, succeeding in school and furthering my career goals, and making time to spend with the most important man in my life. Throw financial woes on top of that pile, and you have created a recipe for a me meltdown. About 8 month into it, I think I have finally struck a decent balance. I am changing this battlelog, no more listing calories, no more listing details of how much I lifted (I already keep all that raw data in a spiral anyway.) Henceforth, this thread will about general kicking ass on a daily basis and details will be reserved for big milestones.

And you know what I've realized? I can't oversell this because it is a huge revelation for me - I like my body! I like my curves, I like how strong I am, and I am so thankful that I don't have any serious health issues or chronic pain problems that so many of my friends and family deal with. The shit I'm working on is so minor in comparison...

Anyway I've signed up for a Tough Mudder on May 3rd, hell yeah! Best of all I convinced my husband and my old platoon sergeant to do it with me. My journey over the next 2 months (eep - 1.5 months now) has nothing to do with changing my body shape or losing weight, it is about getting ready to take on those obstacles and earn that orange headband!

[Brovatar Korra]

Lifted today and got 80 pounds up in the air for OHP! That is tied with my previous PR set back in November. Next time going for 85 and a brand new PR!

[Brovatar Korra]

Going to my first CrossFit WOD in about an hour! While I eat my delicious perfect portions oatmeal with flax seed and blueberries I'm pondering things. 

Every single day for the last 2 months I carefully catalogued calories (alliteration!) to make sure I knew what I was eating, and develop a sense of about how much is right for me in a day, and how many grams of carbs/fat/protein were in the things I ate. This week I decided to stop recording completely to see if I now had enough knowledge to intuitively handle my nutrient intake. At the end of the week I have lost .5lb! That made me feel very empowered and excited that I could maintain my new nutritious diet and progress without being shackled to the excel spreadsheet. And if I ever start to move in the wrong direction, I can always start counting again for a few weeks to get back on track.

Finally I was looking at my goals set over a year ago at the top of the page:

 

Squat: 200lb     -> I hit 155lb squats in November, after my 3 month lifting break I'm at 135lb but moving back up again!

Bench: 100lb     -> I hit 120lb in Nov, but I was at 100 again yesterday

Deadlift: 135lb    -> because this was an uninformed goal (it should be my heaviest) I blew it out of the water with 195lb in NOV, and yesterday I was back up to 165

4 chin-ups without any assistance    -> this is yet to happen. I think I underestimated how tenacious I need to be to accomplish this goal. Still working on it!

Weight: 159lb     -> I don't give a shit about this goal anymore! Bring on the other stuff!

Run 4 miles in under 44 minutes     -> I can run 4 miles straight now, although it takes closer to an hour. But you know what? I'm pretty damned stoked about that.

I need new goals for a new year. I'm thinking the next challenge ~April 6th is a good time to lay them out.

[Brovatar Korra]

At my first CrossFit workout I had a great time, the instructor is awesome and I'm going to start attending 2x a week. While I was there I set a new PR - 85lb on push press!

 

This afternoon I'm doing squats, bench press, assisted pull-ups, and deadlifts. Trying to make time to get my lifts in, even though I have a ton of studying to do for my Pathology exam tomorrow.

 

Random fact - I have started drinking a glass of chocolate milk mixed with whey protein post workout - it tastes so 'effin good.

[Brovatar Korra]

Tuesday was a 3.5 mile run, Wednesday was CrossFit, today I tried going to the gym first thing in the morning before classes to do my SL5x5. This was a huge mistake. Even though I ate a bowl of cereal first and sipped on my BCAA drink throughout, I still felt like I had no energy and everything sucked. I'm not sure if I just need a day of rest, or I just hate lifting in the morning. Tomorrow will be a rest day, Saturday is more another CrossFit (which I am really enjoying), and then I'll try lifting again Sunday afternoon. We'll see if it was just the morning throwing me off, or overtraining in general. If my lifts still suck this weekend I might to tone down the training. 60 minutes 6 days a week might be too much for my poor body.

 

Plus side - I am down 8 pounds since January and keeping it off. My plan is to drop 3 more and break 180 by the end of the month.

[Brovatar Korra]

Today my husband and I did a Daily Burn workout called "Animal Core." It was 41 minutes long, and the guy leading it was so ridiculous I couldn't stop laughing at him. I'm pretty sure the other 2 people exercising in the background were exchanging glances, and trying really hard to get caught laughing at him on camera. It was a very tough workout though, they are not joking around when they say "medium" difficulty. Tomorrow I'm going to play Kickball in the park! I haven't played an organized team sport since... 2002. Yikes.

[Brovatar Korra]

CrossFit this morning, new PR 125lb on bench press! Then this afternoon we played kickball. My school organized a tournament to raise money for St. Jude's. Tomorrow I'm going on an epic 8 mile run/jog/walk. I don't care how I get there, I just need to clock 8 miles. Then next weekend it will be 10. I just want to make sure I have the endurance to get that far, even if a lot of it is walking. 30 days until the tough mudder!

[Brovatar Korra]

8.07 effin miles ya'll.