20 weeks to go!

Overtrained

Oh my goodness! Who would have thought that with just three sessions per week and a bit of cardio one could overtrain.

Well, I had been training with rather heavy weights quite intensely, but each muscle only once a week. I didn't think it possible that way, today however I got proof. Let me turn the story back a bit, though.

I had encountered the phenomenon of overtraining before: at that time I was training heaviest weights, in 3-5 sets with less than 8 reps each, twice a week. Then I learned about High Intensity Training, where each muscle is only trained once the week, the weight is reduced to about 70 %, the sets reduced to maximum of 2, repetitions raised to 10-12, the exercise executed very slowly and possibly weights are ripped at the end or half reps are done. It kicked in like mad, the number of injuries went down and I looked better than ever.

I however didn't have an aim at that time and so I always had phases when I trained less  intense or took breaks altogether, hence I never had problems. Now I had decided to do the competition and religiously went to the gym week after week. Then I realised that I got a persistent muscle ache from the slightest endurance session, I felt tired, I couldn't concentrate and the muscles felt flat. Those were exactly the same symptoms as last time, but  I still thought that it could not be and that I maybe coming down with something.

Well, eventually I caught a cold and took a break, but the next session still felt not right. And now we had the Christmas break. I felt rather grumpy about all the days the gym was closed, it however turned out to be the best thing that could happen to me. The reduced training during the weeks before and now another two weeks off gave proof that the reason for the whole moaning was overtraining.

Today I went back to the gym for the first time. And although I still feel some leftovers of the cold I had a really good training session. Got through the whole thing without feeling hungry or sleepy, although the gym was stuffed and oxygen scarce. I lifted max weight with max reps and it felt good. And then I remembered a blog about overtraining which I had read some years ago, confirming all the symptoms.

So it seems that I am back now, and it seems that I have to organise my training and my sleep even better. I will have to take down times with smaller weights and just pumping some reps, without actually exhausting the muscle and I will have to use those down times for posing training.

The task now is to count backwards from the 5th June - Competition Day - and to make a proper plan. Yay! I get to write another list.

Will keep you posted!

Now I have to!

I got the entry form for the Anglian Bodybuilding Championships, it'll go into the mail today.

Oh my goodness, I don't think it already has sunk in entirely. Although I had an inspired training session yesterday. Eventually! I can't believe that I was so down lately. I am just hoping the inspiration stays.

And here is the proof!

... and no! I am not giving you my address and telephone number...

Pics, pics, pics, ...

Eventually I have a few new pictures for you. I had a bit of a dreadful time. It's more than a week now since my last post about the back ache, and eventually it is getting better. I did a bit of light training just to see the extent of the damage, and I seem to have got lucky with something cold inflicted rather than a real injury. So tonight and tomorrow I will still be a bit careful but I hope to be able to pick it up again to the normal standards by next week.

At least I took my chances with my dear photographer friend Matt. This was our first shoot and it was a warm-up, so to say. Hence I couldn't go full power with the weights anyway. One has to find a rhythm and the light weights suited me just fine. A great pay-off for light training!

So those are not training photos, or real progress photos, but I think he captured ME quite well. It turned out that we are a really good team and that I am feeling quite at ease with him. This way the pictures which show me in exercise are not staged. This is how I truly look like when I am training on my own.

Neck Press

... prepare ...

... ready ...

... lift!

Cable Fly - one of my favourites!


Squats, ...
oh well... still need a lot of work!


... a bit of biceps for the fun of it ...

... and the whole package, still in need for posing practice!

I hope you enjoyed the update. I definitely will have more shoots with Matt in the nearer future, so stay tuned!

BTW: I have a whole series of blogs running now under the name of Incredible Ladies Project, still not a feminist thing, just everything seen from a female point of view as I am pretty much undeniably female... The ILP homepage has a twitter feed running now via which I am announcing new publications that happened on the blogs. If you would like to get a more selective notification there is still the option of subscribing to individual blogs via the RSS feed.

All I'm saying is: Incredible Ladies ... and Rika... are back!

No news is bad news

Oh this is so annoying! I strained my back... in my sleep!

... and now I am feeling a bit like a zombie, because it wakes me at night. It is one of those pains one can't locate really well, or which can be soothed by adopting a certain posture. It comes and goes as it pleases. So I cautiosly skipped the last two training sessions and haven't been walking either, since I am really feeling under the weather.

But it's not all bad news:
Diet seems to be ok. I am feeling so much leaner now and when due to the colder weather I got one of my sleek turtlenecks out of the wardrobe yesterday, I was so happy to see that the muscles nicely show underneath.

Well, and now that I have all the blogs for ILP are in place and a writing routine is kicking in again I will be focussing on this one again, as well. My list of supporters is growing, so again: let me know if you would like to be on there!

And yes! With a bit of luck I will have pictures soon. Big Matt - the one from the supporters list - eventually as moved passed his autumnal fishing phase and has come back to photography and this Friday we want to meet in the gym to snap a few pictures. I think he may be using a bit smaller camera though...

So that is it for today, I will keep myself under the radar training wise until Friday hoping that the back will be fine by then, and cross fingers that I will be back with a few photos!