From Skinny To Strong

I posted this picture on Instagram and I can't give enough gratitude for the feedback it received:

Yes, on the picture to the left (taken in April), I was 5 ft. 7 in. tall and 105 lbs. In case you aren't familiar with the healthy weights ranges, that is considered severely underweight. The two pictures on the right were taken recently this month, and at the same height I am at a healthy 125 lbs. and steadily gaining.

It's hard for me to look at old pictures and realize how slender I really was. I have a long way to go, but I am so proud of where I have already progressed. I have so much meat on my body, and I think it makes me look sooo much better. My legs are not sticks anymore, and this white girl finally has a DONK. My arms are becoming ginormous and my shoulders are not just skin and bone anymore. My abs are chunkier; my face has filled out. My collarbone is definitely not as prominent. 

I remember thinking that skinny was pretty. But as I saw more and more pictures of fit, muscular woman, my definition of beauty has significantly changed. Truth be told, I think ALL women are beautiful. I prefer the muscular look but some people don't, and that's perfectly fine. I know I have a long way to go before I achieve my dream physique, but at 16 I've already made a huge head start and will get there at a younger age than when most women even start their journey.

The past few months have been filled with eating more than I could possibly imagine, and not always feeling comfortable with it. But you know what? Being comfortable doesn't get me results. I had to leap outside of my comfort zone to change myself, and become healthier. 

Do I have my days where I feel like a fat lard rolled in shreds of grossness and triple dipped in disgust? HECK YES. But then I wake up on a different day, look at my progress and think "DAYUM. What's up sexy?! How YOU doin'?!" 

The point is, not every day will be your best. Not every workout will be your best. Not everything you consume will be in your best judgment. But everything counts. I can truly say that lifting weights is my ultimate passion, and one I am not willing to ever give up. It's how I clear my mind, and when I am having a craptastic day it's where I turn to for comfort. The room containing intimidating scratched and taunting iron is the place I call home.

I'm on a roll. I have goals for myself. I'm chipping away at my goals each and everyday. I eat well to get me closer to my goals. I lift heavy to get me closer to my goals. I do what I can to make sure I achieve the goals I foreshadow in my mind, but at the same time I'm living my life like a regular teenager: going out with friends, eating a few too many cookies at once, and enjoying my time being this age. YOLO.

Don't let people tell you that you can't get to where you want to be. I can't tell you how many times I've been called anorexic, too skinny/thin/slender/bony/gross-looking, etc. Wayyyy too many times to count. I've been told straight up that I won't ever get the 'gross muscle' that I want. Guess what (excuse my French) bitchezzz?! I'm already getting there.

It's been a year already since I started, and my whole life is ahead to continue. I can't FREAKIN' wait. :)

Food Prepping and A Competition

Confession: I have never food prepped before in my life until today.

*cue the gasps*

No but for real, I have a loving mother who loves to cook and she is a doll and makes everything for me. Not to mention I am lazier than a sack of rocks when it comes to that kind of stuff, so I will literally take a fork and eat my tuna out of the packet, or take an uncut cucumber and just start biting pieces of it off instead of slicing it.

Seriously, if I had a fairy godmother, I'd ask her to just wave her wand and prep clean foods for me so I wouldn't have to. It's a lot of exhausting work, but it's worth it.

Bags on bags on bags of clean eats.

In this picture, I have prepped turkey burgers, a medley of fish (cod, salmon, tilapia, and pollock), sweet potatoes, red potatoes, quinoa, cucumbers, carrots, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. 

Why am I prepping now, you ask?

Well, this holiday season, I've gotten lazy. I've eaten so many Oreos, Reese's chips, peppermint popcorn, puppy chow, and so many other decadent foods that I can't even keep track of it anymore. If you put a sugar cookie in front of me you better hold back your children. A WILD HUNGRY TEENAGER WITH A BOTTOMLESS STOMACH APPEARED! Hide your kids and hide your wife because I'm eating all the sugar cookies around here.

Do I regret it? Not one single bit. It was a superb mental break and something I have needed to do for a long time. But now, I have something to prep for, not just my LIFE, but something more.

In May, I will be competing in a CrossFit strongman competition. Yep! I said it! I'm competitive. I go BIG or go home. There is no one I want to beat more than myself. Proving to myself that I can set my mind to anything I tell it to is one of my favorite things to do. ;) I want to come in strong, I want to come in prepared. When I run on clean fuel (A.K.A. clean foods) I have a better performance. When I eat like a human vacuum cleaner inhaling all the sugar around town, my performance lacks substance and is significantly impaired. 

Gun show. POW POW.

Plus, I want to see how far I can push my body (in a healthy way, don't worry guys). I want to see how much (healthy) muscle I can put on with clean fuel. Will I have my treats? That's like asking Bugs Bunny if he's going to continue eating carrots. Obviously I will. But I won't have them everyday like I have been, and I'm going to treat food as fuel, which it technically is. :)

This is fuel right?! Cake batter, red velvet, cookies and cream, and cinnamon donut fro-yo. THAT'S what's up. With every topping they had. :)

Within the next week, I also plan on prepping more protein sources such as: chicken breasts, more salmon, ground turkey, shrimp, and hard-boiled eggs. I am consuming a lot of vegetables including copious amounts of broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, Brussels sprouts, carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, sauerkraut, spinach, kale, okra, you name the veggie, I eat it. I'm increasing my carbs drastically to keep my energy levels skyrocketing so I can push it at the gym, so this means tons of sweet potatoes, red potatoes, oats, wheat bran, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, quinoa, and rice cakes. And of course I'm going to consume my healthy fats consisting of egg yolks, avocados, my oils (I have peanut, extra virgin olive, and coconut), coconut butter, natural nut butters (got to have my peanut butter!), and raw nuts.

With my OWN money, and NOT my parents', I went to the grocery store and purchased all my clean eats because it means something to me. Put good in, get good out. I prepped all my food by myself. If you want it bad enough, YOU WILL WORK FOR IT. Nothing in life is handed to you. :) 

And yes, on a sidenote, I have removed dairy from my food consumption not because I'm going Paleo or anything but because it's causing me to break out like crazy. I'm a teenager and I already have crazy hormones that cause me to break out with the snap of a finger, and dairy is honestly not helping it. I'm cutting my beloved cottage cheese and Greek yogurt for a week or two to see if my face clears up, and I will gradually add it back in when I (hopefully) see improvement. 

I can't wait to document my journey on getting swole for this competition. It's going to be pretty awesome. ;)

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Questions: Do you food prep? Do you find it a hassle or a blessing?

Plyometrics Are Fun!

On my last blog post, I promised a plyometrics workout and you will get one!

If there is any type of "cardio" that I prefer, it is definitely the HIIT form of cardio, and to be more particular, plyometrics. I enjoy plyometrics because they are high intensity, they really get the heart pumping, and they actually help to build muscle and agility instead of tearing it down like your typical steady state cardio would do. 

Plyometrics are exercises that are meant to build power and speed. Typically, plyos are associated with jumping movements, but they are really any type of movement that is explosive. I like to do both upper body and lower body plyometrics at least once or twice a week. 

I especially love lower body plyos because of what they do to build the butt! I firmly believe that not only does heavy weight training that includes squats and lunges build a booty, but high intensity lower body plyos shape them even more. I can't tell you how well my glutes have developed since incorporating plyos into my workout routine.

I usually do a plyometrics circuit, where I will choose a few exercises and do all of them straight through and repeat a few times. This workout can be done anywhere, which is great when you're on the go and don't have a gym at your disposal.

At the end of this workout, although it may *seem* like nothing and maybe takes up about 20 minutes, you will be dead. This is much more effective in 20 minutes than the elliptical is for an hour, guaranteed. My legs feel like blocks of cement but I feel accomplished and beastly!

If you are focusing on building muscle but want to improve or maintain endurance, than this is the way to go, not steady state cardio on a machine.

Let me know if anyone tries this and enjoys it! It's seriously one of my favorite workouts.

I shall be back! :)

Questions: Do you incorporate plyos? What's your favorite plyometric exercise?

A Quad-Tastic Leg Workout

On the blog this year, I will be sharing a lot more of my workouts with all of you. I am even contemplating putting in a workouts tab for anyone who is interested. I always get asked by people I know personally as well and I receive numerous e-mails, so I'm thinking about it. We shall see! :)

I am going to share a good leg workout with you that I did. I've been on and off with legs recently. In the beginning, my legs were like toothpicks and I was always really self-conscious of them. Therefore, I loved working legs whenever I got the chance. Then, I reached a period where I absolutely dreaded doing legs and had to force myself to complete a workout, which is sooo not me. But I've switched up my mindset when it comes to training legs now and I actually enjoy it!

To build the legs, I believe you always have to switch things up. Doing the same thing over and over again will get you nowhere. However, what remains a staple in building shapely legs, in my opinion, is doing heavy squats, lots of plyometrics, and switching up rep ranges every now and then to give the legs a stimulus to grow.

Here's the workout that I competed, and yes, unfortunately for the squats I had to use the Smith machine because someone was using the squat rack for bicep curls... don't even get me started. 

(Source)

...Anyways, this is it:

That is an image, so you can save it if you would like. Here is a good video that demonstrates what a Smith machine donkey kick is. Do NOT put too much weight on and focus on form, or else the exercise is pretty much redundant. Here is a video demonstrating the Smith machine vertical leg press. Like the donkey kicks, focus on form and if the movement doesn't feel right, listen to your body because it probably isn't.

I did more reps with this workout because I've been training my legs with heavy weights for awhile, and my training needed a shake-up. Do not fear high reps, because I know the traditional bodybuilding mindset is that high reps are for muscular endurance and won't shape your body, which is untrue. Your body will plateau if it gets too used a certain rep range, even heavy. You need to switch up your rep ranges if this is you. Not to mention that your body can only lift heavy for so long before it needs a slight break.

I will be posting a plyometrics workout that is my staple soon. Plyometrics are my favorite! I hope you enjoy this workout; it focuses more on the quads but you get some hamstring and glutes work in there as well.

I will see you all soon with that plyo workout!

Questions: Do you like training legs? What's your favorite leg exercise?