So, it's been almost a whole week since I last posted. I apologize to all two of you that read mine bloggy. But, for an unemployed person, I've actually been surprisingly busy this last week/ weekend. Pretty awesome right? First off, it was homecoming weekend for my beloved alma mater so I had a great time going to parties, attending the annual USC v. UCLA Collegiate Boxing Invitational (Hosted by Espada Boxing), tailgating, and just enjoying all of the USC love.
Photo: Wikipedia
Sunday I watched the Pats-Jets game, which was pretty painful for a while. Brady has not really been looking like himself lately. His passing game is off and he seemed pretty flustered. But he pulled through in the second half and really kicked some a** so he redeemed himself, and the game. With a lot of help from Gostowski, Hernandez, and eventually the ever faithful Welker. Our defense has improved somewhat, even though we're considered the WORST in the league hahaha. We've lost a lot of the first and secondaries so maybe all of the young talent that's being forced to play is hungry, and will magically take the defense to new heights!! A girl can dream right?
I'm just happy for the 2W in football this weekend. And OREGON BEAT STANFORD! That was awesome. Yay underdog! Now if only our boys can get it together and beat Oregon.... (Shanelle if you're reading this I'm just kidding, kind of)
Starting this week I decided, since I haven't got anything lined up that will generate a salary before the holidays, that I should apply for retail jobs! ...yay. So I went out on the hunt on Monday, got out three apps then, turned in 4 more on Tuesday and still have 3 to fill out, not including the apps that I need to do online. Here's hoping for some money so I can buy all of my loved ones awesome presents for Christmas and baby showers and stuff, while still paying my doctors bill and such.
And I've been getting interviews! That is such a huge answered prayer. I'm excited to see where I'll be in the new year. So for now I just keep waiting and praying. And then I have to make really big DECISIONS, which can be a daunting and stressful task. Oh decision making! How I love you. Occasionally.
Other than that, I don't have much else to weigh in on today. So have a great day & weekend, start a new book, eat something completely new and different, stay healthy, and be blessed.
So whence attempting to shed fat for a weight class drop, or just to improve your overall fitness, you tend to go through a research process. What workouts are most effective? Which ones are most convenient? What will take you to the next level? How in the heck do you just lose fat and not gain muscle sans-supplements? You know, basics. So recently I've been trying some new workouts to tack on to my training because I only have 1 month left to drop this weight class, and man is it tough. But instead of calling it research, I figure taste testing is a more appropriate name, because it's a treat! OK I'm lame, that's fine, I've accepted it.
I wanna be like Lucia
But more about the treats, I mean workouts. As I've mentioned before in a few posts I've been trying out some cross-fit, but it's a bit more difficult when you don't have the means or a spotter to do the olympic lifting stuff. I've been using the dumbbells that I have at home in place of the bar and plates which is good but not nearly as easy as a bar, and when it comes to increasing weight so that you can max out it's becomes very difficult to see how much your max could actually be. Regardless, I love (attempting) cross fit. If it weren't for the super expensive gym fees, I would join instantly. Maybe I'll just have to use the weight room across from our boxing gym and convince one of the guys to spot me. Shouldn't be too hard, right?
I have also been looking into basic fitness/ figure competitor workouts. Now trying not to increase muscle mass with these workouts is tough so I figure (haha pun-ny?) that sticking to calisthenic and body weight exercises recommended is a safer bet. Now why is it ok to do the olympic lifting from cross fit and not from figure/fitness lifting? Well to put it this way, competitors are aiming to look a certain way, cross fitters are working hard to create maximally functional muscles. Completely different. And I would go off of their diet-plans, but holy cow those ladies inhale supplements, and I'm not a big fan of un-natural stuff entering my body. I'll stick to my current semi-paleo diet (it's only semi because I do have a cheat day, so sue me). I am hungry all the time despite the crazy amount of food I'm eating, so if anyone has a really good diet plan for athletes please let me know.
Yesterday I also discovered Tabata training which has to be the coolest thing I have ever come across. You are supposed to max out your muscle consumption of oxygen which not only helps your body burn a lot of calories super fast, but also for a long long time post-workout. I tried it out with squats yesterday and loved it. You should check it out. And it's only a 4 minute workout, LITERALLY. You have no excuse to not try it.
I realize that some of you have absolutely no desire to workout and get no joy from it, but I love it and have to share. And most of these workouts are pretty easy/ short to try out and modify for your personal fitness and equipment level. You can always find a way to do intense workouts with just your body weight, no excuses. Give 'em a shot
Mmmm flavors
Everyone please enjoy the weekend!! Stay safe, Have fun, Be blessed, and don't forget to smile.
This last week just flew by. I feel like I didn't do anything out of the ordinary but for some reason the week wanted to be over with, along with the lovely heat. But not sunshine, she's stubborn and has decided to stay for the time being... we're friends. Maybe it's because my workout/sparring schedule was just insane this past week and my brain got a wee bit bruised? No one will ever know! (Well, more realistically, it's probably the brain bruises, but we'll pretend they didn't happen)
Photo iStock. No actual brain scans for me, thankfully.
Last week I had lunch with a great friend to discuss his career and USC football and life. That was refreshing, it's been a long time since we last spoke. I also skipped a boxing workout in favor of Salsa dancing, sparred 3 times, got kicked in the hand by the future nephew (only 2 more months!!), had some delicious carbs on my cheat day, and received a really exciting call for a job opportunity. Don't want to spoil it, so please just pray... A LOT. Oh and I watched USC beat Colorado, of course. Other than the exciting call, unemployment proves to be on a winning streak as of last week, however I am determined to achieve a win from behind this week. Please feel free to share any successful strategies from your play books in regards to this matter. Thank you.
I was pretty frustrated with the Pats - Giants game so I decided to just have a How I Met Your Mother marathon (thanks Netflix) as I attempted to get/stay warm. Just FYI, I have a very difficult time getting warm, as in I have never functioned well in a cold environment, so that took a lot of energy. Contrary to popular belief, getting warm while having a TV show marathon in the early California winter is not a sedentary activity.
But besides the television, I have been keeping a closer eye on the Greek/ Euro crisis and I have to say that this is fairly frightening. But I guess people of the United States are too concerned with their itch to spend more and utilize layaway plans from department stores for worsening their personal financial/ credit problems to pay attention to global issues. I do have to say that, while I have decided to stay with BofA for the time being, I am very proud of the Credit Union movement that took place recently. Way to take matters into your own hands 99%ers! Also, in regards to Herman Cain, who cares? Yes the women should voice their abuse and he should be justly chastised for his actions, but does anyone really think he's going to make it to the presidential race? Sexual harassment accusations aside, Cain's 999 plan, complete lack of knowledge on global politics, and flip flopping on issues, along with his radicalized views on most everything make him a highly unlikely candidate. I mean he and Perry are tied for Republican Class Clown 2011, I'm sure. Romney is keeping it cool, and apparently Gingrich is up in the polls? We'll see. I'm just ready to see how the small percent of the nation that actually votes and has the right to complain about the government (I'll give you a hint, the percentage of 'Americans' that vote is nowhere near 99%) decides that the country should be run. It will be interesting!
In other news, Miss Venezuela won Miss World!!!! Go team. It's NOVEMBER! And almost Turkey/ Giving of Thanks time! So everyone get excited and happy, and remember to workout. I'll try to share some taste-tested healthy Thanksgiving recipes in the near future. And I am thoroughly exhausted from my workout today, plus have to go figure out how to sell things online so that I have some sort of income while God reveals his plan for my career. So ciao for now! Stay safe, be blessed, enjoy some hot chocolate, and smile.
Get it? ^ No? That's cool, it's dumb. I had no inspiration for a good title, apologies. Sooo today is Halloween. My least favorite holiday of all time. And because it is Halloween my coach had to go work an extravaganza so my gym was closed. Rude. Luckily cross-fit can be modified for home workouts. It's awkward that it's on a Monday, and we barely got any trick-or-treaters tonight, and I did not do anything halloween related this weekend. So I'm sorry that this will not be a pumpkin or ghoul themed post. But it is time for (drum roll)
Sports Weekend Update!!!
I know you're all thrilled. Sooooooo LET'S GET IT GOING WITH BASEBALL!!!
I was so beyond disappointed in the Texas Rangers on Thursday night. They should've won it in game six. But nooooooo Cruz had to look cool making the final catch of the game and jog on over to the right outfield to MISS IT BY 3 FEET! And then the Cardinals go on to win the game and the series. Way to go Cruz! Way to go. Granted there were other mistakes throughout the game that did not help, but the pitcher set it up dude! The game would've been in the bag. Ugh.
Mind you, I never root for Texas in anything... literally. I am anti-Texas, minus my good friends and some family members that live there. They are obviously exempt, but Texas is never in my 'rooting-for' category. But the Rangers have never won a World Series, so for once I root for the underdog, plus I'm not committed to the Cardinals, so I figured I would take a chance. I was severely let down, and will not make the mistake of rooting for Texas again. Well played Cardinals, you really did play a great series, and made game 6 as stressful as possible for me. So thanks for saving the sport.
Not my photo. Obviously.
College football also brought on the stress this weekend. As many of you know, USC and Stanford went into triple OT! The sports world is conspiring to make me age faster or have an early on-set form of heart disease. Oh Kiffin, how I want you to leave NCAA and take Barkley with you. But alas, I must stand in solidarity with my team, and support both of them, despite my intense dislike. Curtis 'Moody' McNeal killed it this weekend. Kid is on fire, I just pray that Kiffin doesn't run him into the ground by over playing him. He's a baby! Give him a good chance in the draft for the love of goodness. TJ McDonald, please know that we as fans support you, and some of us know you are not a dirty player, you are just huge for the position you are playing in college ball. When you get to the NFL, you will have a fantastic career. Pretty bummed that you have to miss out on the first half of this week's game. Just get your shoulders down a bit more before you make a hit, or you know pull some crazy cool stunt to attack people in the correct zone. Keep it going buddy. Defense stepped it up this week, which was nice to see, but then again it was probably because both teams were playing a bit more of a pro-formation in general rather than the wide spread of college. Worked in our favor so I'm not complaining. Just don't get too cocky boys, I need you to win more games than are expected of you. I'm too competitive for you to lose.
Also Andrew Luck made the most mind-blowing play I have ever seen live. I just stood there with my jaw dropped, not understanding what I had just witnessed. Check it. Starts at 2:32 on the video below
Was your mind just blown... because it should be! Sad to know that the Colts or Dolphins will probably get this kid, but maybe he can bring them out of their droughts. Overall, Stanford played a really great game, however the refs this weekend were very... interesting, and selective. Apparently holding only counts at the end of the 3rd quarter? And multiple obvious calls were just looked over, maybe they were in costume for Halloween weekend so the refs just didn't recognize them? I don't know, but ultimately I was just happy the game was over so I could have a normal heartbeat and adrenaline level again.
NFL football was not at the forefront of my sports weekend. I started watching in the morning with the guys, but was so drained by the USC game that I had no gusto left to give to my Patriots, or any other NFL team for that matter. But yay Lions and Bills for winning this weekend! Ndamukong! I just like saying your name. Can I call you King Kong? Even though your real name is actually super awesome and means House of Spears? Thanks. Well done Bills with the shut out, by the way. Patriots - Steelers game was boring and our defense was crap. Brady was also not on his A game, but it's ok, I know he's more competitive than I am and will pull it together next week. And that's all I have to say about NFL, sorry kids, feel free to add your own in-depth commentary because I just don't have it in me. I hope next weekend I am more enthusiastic.
So anyways. Besides sports, I did get to spend some quality time with good friends this weekend, which was fantastic. I got to cook a delicious meal for people I care about, make chocolate chip pancakes, tailgate with some characters, salsa dance on a Friday night, chill with some awesome (current/ former) seminary students and eat large amounts of food. Loved it. Very blessed with the people in my life.
It's getting a bit late, and the sleep monster is not creeping up on me but insomnia shall not win. Peace, love, and left over candy. Stay safe, be blessed, ciao ciao.
