One magic year…and Upgrades

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I like to use this blog as my online diary where I share my training, diet and stretching techniques but also my personal thoughts and reflections about life. Today is a mix of both :)

In less than 3 weeks, I’m gonna celebrate the end of a crazy, happy, fun, incredible year… and the beginning of many more to come ;)  It’s gonna be an year ago that I met my husband Todd. So many happy moments and life-changing experiences in only 365 days. I would have never imagined me being married in the first place, and now I’m here in Vegas, with a great job, having the time of my life with a man I crazily love…?Whoa. Being married made me a more mature, rational, less anxious person lol. I loved each year of my past, because everyone of them meant so much in creating the person that I am today. I have no regrets and I wouldn’t change anything, I know I did always what I thought was the best to do at that time of my life. There’s still tons of room for improvement but I can’t complain about where I got so far.

21 years old me first month in Miami lol

As far as training, I’m pushing the weights heavier after few weeks of “less enthusiastic workouts” where I saw myself slacking a little… So to pump it up I forced myself to do more tiring exercises (uggg overhead squats for shoulders anyone?), added sets (4-6), drop sets (decreasing weight each set no stop) and more plyometrics, which really destroy your lower body if done appropriately (try 4 sets of jump squats with 45lbs barbell, for example).

I’m also turning into a flexy freak, not only I doubled my pole training but stretching as well got to a whole new level. I even name it more professionally now, no longer stretching but FLEXIBILITY WORK ah! Upgrade :)

Check out this video that I did this afternoon, not even planning to do anything but then I thought, why NOT?

Stretch like a cat!

Performance or Look? It’s all about goals

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Training is such a powerful tool, and so it’s dieting. Those two combined can maximize your physical and mental performances, depending what your end goal is.

When you train to develop a skill, run a marathon or perform a dance routine, your diet must follow your goal (Performance) so that your body can have the right type AND amount of nutrients to sustain your training. As a general rule, the more hours of strenuous training, the more (clean) calories will be needed.

If you train to lose weight, compete or be a fitness model, you’ll have to work hard with both your diet AND training. Your goal in this case is Look, your body appearance is what you focus on. You’ll need to be very strict with your diet, and at times your training will suffer from the lack of calories. But you’ll get used to it and your energy will adjust.

During the years I was competing, I was pretty lean year around and didn’t allow myself to gain weight (nor strength, consequentially), my goal was LEANNESS, rather than being stronger or able to perform different skills. I used training to complement diet. Diet alone would have left me skinny and flat. Lots of cardio and weight training gave me a shredded look and this combination worked well for few years. Only thing, it didn’t leave much space for improvement or gaining new skills,  my energy was limited and I knew I had to use it wisely.

The moment I put Performance before Look, I started to explore my body in a whole different way. I added pole dance back to my routine, more stretching and few weeks ago I even started contorsionism. I learned new skills, added muscle mass and strength. I faced body challenges I wouldn’t have even considered in the past, because I was all about the “Look”.

You can have times where one goal prevail on the other one and vice versa. I still spend a lot of time taking care of how I look, after years of doing that I wouldn’t have just stopped :) Clean eating is a good habit and knowing your body makes things easier (knowing how much you can eat of something etc.).

To sum it up: Performance needs quality diet and training. Look needs strict diet and training.

See you next post!

Circus training

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No more just stretching sessions, foam rolling, yoga and what have you. I decided to give it a try: I’m gonna train to advance my flexibility to the max, and what’s better than training with contortionists and first class performers, directly from Circus de Soleil?

I attended my first class on Sunday at Shine fitness, a studio managed by Circus professionals here in Vegas. Spacious, peaceful and super friendly people. The class from the beginning was no joke. We focused mainly on back flexibility (my request lol) and I was surprised to see how many ways (unknown to me) there are to stretch your neck, vertebrae, lumbar muscles. For example, laying with our stomach down, we used a belt to wrap one foot around, pulling our leg up and reaching back with our hands. The teacher, David Owen, was also following each student individually by “squishing” (Circus terminology!) the pose we were holding for 5-10 seconds. I never felt so much tension in my body, I thought my shoulders were gonna pop out and my back break in two!

Overall was an amazing experience that I’m determined to repeat every Sunday. I don’t wanna work in the Circus but I’m really interested in learning new techniques to be the most flexible I can be.
After class (I did almost 3hrs, pole as well) I had a big tasty meal, hot bath and cuddle time with hubby :)
Watch out Circus, I’m down for the challenge!!!

Evolution

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Just got back from a week in Miami where I got a chance to see my friends and relax, away from busy Vegas.

Last weeks have been pretty exciting, my first pole photo shoot came out great and I started to teach pole dancing as substitute and soon will be certified and ready to be a teacher in full. Even tho weight training will always be my first love and passion, I’m looking forward to teach and learn from this new experience. Some pics from the shoot

  

I have been working more intensely on my pole skills and stretching, I really want to advance fast and be more and more flexible, even tho it’s hard to combine gym training with pole, the two don’t get along well. Weights make you sore and stiff, to be able to do pole work you need to stretch and be nice and fluid… so I kept my three heavy weight sessions (CAN’T stay away from weights too long!) and added double stretching and pole, minimizing cardio to one session a week. Seems to work ;)

I’m also excited because the weather is getting warmer, pools are opening and the upcoming months are the best of the year!  This is me today at Wynn

Lol not my best pic but such a nice day out here :)

So yeah, life is an evolution, some moments we stop and feel stuck, but those moments are the ones that propel us forward later on. I accept the evolution and I bring my body into it as well, as my mind evolve, my body has to follow.

Wish you a good Sunday!

Camaleon

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A Camaleon is an animal which changes its color depending on what it’s close, if it’s a leaf it becomes green, if it’s a rock he becomes gray, if it’s a tree trunk he becomes brown. When you are said to be like a camaleon, it means you are able to adapt to your environment and surroundings, whatever those are. It refers also to changes and situations, it’s your ability to be flexible, to let go previous situations, embracing new ones.

I always liked this quality and I think it’s determinant to not get stuck nor resist necessary changes to move forward in life. I think too often we are scared of getting out of our comfort zone or challenge ourselves. We all have an idea of how we want our life course to go, what our dreams and goals are, we have a plan or something like that, but so many times we get content with less, or we get distract, we wait, we fear bigger changes and our plan ends up forgotten. It’s also true that sometimes life chooses for you, and things might go differently, happen at moments you wouldn’t think you’re ready for, or just you’re forced into plan revision or plan updates. If you can be a camaleon and embrace changes, those you chooses and those you don’t, everything runs more smoothly, less stressfully and you’ll get where you want to be eventually (a good dose of courage is needed too). I can’t tell you how to be a camaleon, but I can say it starts by being open-minded in life and do not think only black or white, consider the diversity and variety of life, all it offers and the more you can get from it, the better.

I recently decided to meditate after a home stretching session, I sat down, closed my eyes and tried to detach myself from reality. I thought about all things that scare me in life, like not knowing the future, not reaching my goals, losing people I love, not knowing what happen after you die. My mantra (what I tell myself and I want to go by) was: go with life, not against it. Do not fear. Be the happiest you can, by being the best you can. Take the most out of this life, age gracefully, be kind. Those 15 moments spent meditating really relaxed me. I wanna be a camaleon and go with life’s flow, happily realizing myself and my dreams :)

Home injury

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Yesterday I had a great workout, did chest (which I usually don’t train) tri’s and abs. In the afternoon I watched some new pole dancing videos on youtube and decided to give few new moves a try.
While I was practicing twisted grip handspring, this happened

It wasn’t funny at all… At first I panicked thinking I broke my foot. I couldn’t walk and a big blue bruise started to form. Then I realized all the glass around me and noticed I had cuts on my legs.
Thank God hubby came home and we disinfected the cuts, put ice on my foot and later on cleaned up the mess. It scared me!

I learned I should NEVER underestimate the length of my legs…!!! I tried every angle and thought I had enough room, well apparently not.
Luckily I’m fine, don’t think I broke anything, just a bad bruise…could have been worst! How ridiculous tho that I got the whole thing on camera? Ah

Love/Hate

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The world is dominated by forces, and the most powerful ones are love and hate. Good and bad if you like it better.

I think of them as separate, but often times they melt together, alternate, overlap. I was thinking, for example, how I love and hate Vegas. I love it for its magic, surrealistic atmosphere, never-ending flow, lights, feels like living on a cloud of dream where you never wake up. I hate it for its shallowness, emptiness, irregularity, fiction, money-sucking game. Another example can be training. I love training more than anything, but do I love the days after legs? Feeling exhausted like today where all I could do was eating and rolling on the couch in pain…Ugh. What about when you love someone? Have you ever hated being so in love? Hating loving, knowing wasn’t the right person for you? And your family? You love your parents but aren’t they PROS to get on your nerves sometimes?

What about food. Don’t you hate being hungry but boy how you love eating. I hate feeling hungry, but I love when I resist temptations, makes me “proud”. And last but not least… your body. How many times I LOVED my body, felt so connected to it, thought how perfect was it in its own way… and other times HATED it, feeling trapped in it, carrying it around like a burden. It’s weird how feelings work, and how our mind can sense extreme opposites for the same thing. I think that for everything you care about you’ll always have STRONG feelings, sometimes contrasting. So where you put the most attention in your life, those forces will be flying around. I feel so Yin Yang today :)

Always like to end up my post with a new picture…

Took it one of those nights I love Vegas ;)