Fitspiration: Misty Copeland and those legs!!

I have about 4 girl crushes; Michelle Obama (although I'm not a fan of her new bangs), Jane "FitKenyanGirl" Mukami, India Paulino and Misty Copeland.  Wait let me back up, girl crushes, for me are women who have already achieved the levels of success or fitness, that I hope to one day achieve as well, for the purposes of this blog I'm focusing on my 4 fitness girl crushes. My biggest girl crush at the moment is Misty Copeland.  Her physique is AMAZING, she's gorgeous and she's a professional ballerina, with a never ending cache of amazing photos showcasing her talent, as a ballerina, and her physique, like these. Additionally, her story is amazing. she started dancing at 13 at the recommendation of one of  (non-ballet) school teachers.  Within 3 months, she was dancing en-pointe, and 4 years after she ever started dancing, she was dancing at the American Ballet Theater. 

Obviously, as a ballerina her legs are amazing. Those legs are a definite source of envy for me. As I've stated before, that's where I carry most of my weight, and, sadly, seems to be the hardest area for me to get definition.

Loving her quads and hams in this pic! Werk boo!!

I've been taking ballet classes, in addition to trying to lift heavier on leg days in the gym., and have made great progress but still lack definition in my legs.  Again that's my problem area, there's still a lot of fat down there, that will probably benefit greatly from a good cardio day or 2.  However, if you already have great legs and just want to tone or add a little definition.   You can either do my leg day work out,

Exercise	Weight in lbs	Sets	Repitions
Leg press	270	1	15
	320	1	12
	360	2	11
V-squats	75	1	15
	90	2	12
Leg ext	35	3	12
Ham curls	35	3	12
Circuit
Lunges	20lb dumb bells	3	15
Step ups	n/a	3	15/each leg

or if weights aren't your thing yet (although if you're reading this blog you should already know I'm a strong advocate of weight lifting), but I understand how scary the weights section of the gym can be, so you can always try this ballet work out video until you're ready to find a ballet class or start lifting with weights.  However, if you're already gym rat and not afraid of the weights feel free to use this video to supplement your regular leg work out.

Day dreaming of professional ballerina legs,
Candydiva04

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Alternative fitness post #3

By now, you should have guessed that I have a love for all exercises that are Circus related.  Hand balancing/Circus Acro, contortion and martial arts are high on my list of Alternative fitness activities to try, specifically hand balancing.  I've been trying to RR into it for the longest, you think as strong as he is and as into fitness as he is, it wouldn't be this much of a challenge for me, but alas he continues to resist me.  :(

If you're scratching your heads because I'm currently "speaking greek", this video should help clarify things for you, enjoy!

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My Journey: Why I lift weights and why you should too

A friend of mine, whom I'll call "JBoogie" has decided she needs to start working on her health and fitness and asked to workout with RR and I. Seeing her initial struggles this week, reminded me of where I started, and made me realize that I've never really discussed the importance of weight lifting here in my blog.  As you may or may not know, I believe in lifting and lifting heavy. I lift weights every day, I do more lifting than cardio (although I do need to do more cardio), but I did not start here, getting here was a loong process. Although, I bet it feels like dog years to RR, because I was... uh, how shall I put this... less than cooperative in the beginning. 

 Two years ago when I first started working out with RR, I fought him tooth and nail about not wanting to lift. I only wanted to do the elliptical, attend a few fitness classes and maybe run on the treadmill, while he lifted weights. Weights were not for girls, in my opinion.  I just knew that if I lifted weights, I'd wind up looking like this.  

What I was afraid of

The body I wanted

And I did NOT want to look anything like that.  So we fought, for a few months, and I don't remember how he got me to do it, but finally he convinced me to try it his way.  I actually think he bombarded me with info on how just doing cardio wouldn't get me the body I wanted, then he compromised with me, the main terms of my surrender being that if I tried it his way, I could quit whenever I felt I was getting too bodybuilder-esque.

So I started lifting with RR.  At first it hurt (a lot) and it was intimidating (as hell).  I'd go home sore, I'd be sore the next day and even though I didn't believe it was even possible, I was even more sore the 2nd day! I should have bought stock in Icy hot, epsom salt and Bengay I was so sore. I couldn't tell if it was killing me or making me stronger! When it finally started to get easy, he'd start adding more weight or more reps, or both.  Most days, I just thought RR was torturing me. 

After a few months, I noticed my clothes felt bigger, despite the fact that the number on the scale hadn't changed too dramatically. I complained to RR about not seeing a difference on the scale.  He bombarded me with info about the "myth" of muscle weighing more than fat. The myth stems from the fact that muscle is denser than fat and it takes less volume of muscle to be the same weight. 

 It took him a while to learn that if he gave me too much info, I'd just tune him out, but eventually he got it through my thick skull that technically, an equal volume (not mass) of muscle will weigh more than an equal volume of fat, but that's not how your body works.  It won't immediately replace 5lbs of fat with.. say 15lbs of muscle.  Unless, of course, you're on steroids, otherwise it takes a long time and a lot of hard work.  However, if we make the comparison solely on mass, (as shown) a 5lb piece of muscle looks smaller than the 5lbs of fat. Which is why two people can be the exact same height and weight and look completely different.  

Moral of the story, 

So

 So ladies, I implore you go pick up some weights, maybe skip the Zumba or Cardio kickboxing class a few days a week and pick up some weights instead.  Oh and learn to not only embrace the soreness, but learn how to work through it, as well!

Hoping my story will inspire you,

Candydiva04

P.S - RR insists I put emphasis on the fact that I do both cardio and weights.  Your workout routines should include both, because neither weights nor cardio alone, will get you where you want to be. Also, while I say I'm eating poorly, my "poor" dietary choices are sporadic, the majority of my diet isn't that bad.  I try not to eat too much sugar and focus on eating the right amount of Protein, Carbs and Fats everyday.  I generally don't eat processed food, and almost never eat fast food. But I'll get deeper into that another day, probably whenever I do my BMI post.  :)

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Incentives

I used to reward myself for meeting goals with food, but then I realized that I am not a dog and i need to stop rewarding myself like one.  Plus rewarding myself with a 2,000 calorie cinnabun is sooo counterproductive. Instead, I'm rewarding myself with clothes and shoes, and activities.  My latest milestone will probably be linked to this dress.  I can't think of a better dress to show off my guns and clavicles this summer.

So if this becomes my next reward, I'll need to find someplace to wear this (overpriced) Boston Proper dress!! I mean $140 for a scuba dress... yikes!!  But to say I'm infatuated with it is an understatement, so I think it just might be worth it if I attach it to a good enough goal. Like if I can buckle down and CONSISTENTLY get down to 135 by the end of March, I think I will reward myself with this dress in a size Small, and tell RR, he needs to plan a date night around my future new dress!!  Because guys just love planning activities around their woman's wardrobe.  *snickers*   What are your goals, and how do you incentivize yourself? (Don't be afraid to use the comments section people!)

  

Stylin and profilin',

Candydiva04

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Form and Function: Upper body strength

A few months back Livingsocial made me a deal, that I just couldn't refuse, a 2.5hr class consisting of Flying Trapeze, Silks and Trampoline, topped off with a cupcake tasting at the Trapeze School of New York- Washington, DC.  That is like my perfect evening!!!  So I signed up, so did my sister in law, Miekspeak, and my friend and fellow blogger, CO.  After months of anticipation, we ran off to join the circus yesterday. 

Ready!

I LOVED it; I believe Miekspeak and CO enjoyed… parts of it.  LOL.  Apparently, after climbing the ladder of death, they spent some time on the flying trapeze platform cursing me for suggesting they join me on my circus adventure.  I know this because when I climbed up the 2^nd time and the new guy asked my name, he said something to the effect of “OH!! YOU’RE Candydiva04, your friends are loving you right now!”  We had a brief chat about my circus interests and why I was there, and then I was off soaring through the air again.

Ecstatic!

From a fitness perspective, these activities require a ton of upper body strength, and I was reminded that women in general lack the upper body strength of our male counterparts.  The guy in the background of the photo above us, looks skinny but easily has more upper body strength than the 3 of us combined.  Believe me; I know building upper body strength isn't fun, or even sexy, but I think the ability to support your body weight is important.  Not just for “extreme” activities like Rock Climbing and Aerials, but upper body strength is great for general fitness, and every day activities like lifting heavy objects, opening jars, carrying heavy purses, or bags of groceries.  Before I started lifting my “shoulders” (I now know this muscle group to be my traps) were always sore, I mean ALWAYS! A few months ago, I realized that for the past year, unless they were sore from a good workout, my traps no longer hurt, likewise with my lower back.  

Don't be this guy!

 After all, how many of us have chuckled at cartoons or gifs depicting men with a HUGE muscular upper body and little scrawny legs, mocking the fact that most guys don’t work out their lower body.  It looks funny, but if we don’t work on the muscles above our abdomens, we’re essentially doing the same thing!  Ladies, we gotta do better!!  So grab some dumbells and come join Michelle Obama and I at the gun show!

For those of you new to lifting or unsure where to start here's a little video from fitsugar.com with some great arm workouts, to help get you started.

Armed and dangerous,

Candydiva04

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