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!

It's been a while...

Eventually, I am back... almost a month has passed that I have been updating the blog. Well, I actually wanted to save you my constant moaning.

It is unbelievable: Since I decided to do this bodybuilding competition I have had more disruptions, invitations, and temptations than during the previous 5 years. I have been in restaurants almost every week, and once I start eating comfort food I am doomed. I have never felt more of a food addict like at the moment.

However, with a bit of luck I am back. I at least have trained well and I am getting stronger. A lot of the exercises feel more controlled, I could raise the number of repitions and in some even the weight. And the rear is definitely growing.

So yes, I will not give up! Even if I have periods during which I am not good with the food or the fat burning exercises like walking, I do not neglect the weight training and am feeling good there.

Will be back more often now and put on further videos. Those actually have been proven very helpful. I got a good comment on the shoulder exercises and will follow that advice.

Off I go into the stretch towards Christmas. No excuses!
See you around...
xx

Oh, all this going out....

Going out again tomorrow!

This really is a big hiccup - sports project, being determined and wanting to keep your friends... or making new ones for that matter.

I am getting better in not even wanting the little things one grabs on the site when making a trip to somewhere. I can resist the ice cream man in the street, and the waffles. But the social meetings are something one has to practice, apparently.

At home I prepare portions about which I have a rough idea how much it will cost me, in a restaurant I have no clue; but not eating is not an option either people don't feel comfortable when being watched eating. I have a theory that a lot of food sharing from ones own plate happens not because one is full, but because one hates that the other one being finished and now watching.

However, I am starting to develop some rules now - as soon as I have rules to stick with things become easy, e.g:

A bit of cake - very very difficult! Which cake, how much, greed, timing, easily nibbled on the side... grrr

No cakes - easy! Don't think about it, if you think about it say a definite 'No' and the thought goes

So now the tasks are:

• to make sure that I know in the mornings so that I can plan the food for the rest of the day,
• to find good restaurants, and
• do the suggesting and booking myself.

Well, first one has to determine what a 'good' restaurant is. It cooks with little salt, has different sizes in portion and allows ordering separate things rather then one dish on a platter.

In the close proximity where one lives one always will find one or two restaurants in which one can stick to a particular dish. I used to always eat the Ceasar salad at our favourite Italian. But what if one is someplace else. Then one needs a particular style of food or a chain.

Last week I found out that Nandos is great. Firstly it is very plain food, you pop the sauces from a bottle. It is mainly chicken and it comes in different sizes and one can add a selection of side orders in two sizes. Perfect!

Tapas is good as well. One orders little portions of things, usually 3-4 per person and then it is all shared. Usually I don't particularly like that because people keep ordering things I don't like and then eat what I ordered. But that is sort of the point now. And Tapas is very much in fashion and Moorish and Spanish places are on the 'Up'.

And then of course there are some rules:
No starter, I will not even go there a little bit, not even a salad, not even shared. Be honest: One usually is already full after the starters. And given that my usual dinner has something around 600 cals, an amount that makes me happy and feel good... a starter would do! But then the whole watching people eat thing is happening again. Not eating starter is more approved. They are all so hungry that they don't care.

No desert! Again, I will not even be thinking about it. And again it is the watching people eat thing. Apparently the fuller they get the less they like being watched. I noticed that once one declines having desert all the others do as well. So I have coffee! Luckily it doesn't affect me at night. Propblem solved!?!

Now I will have to fight off all the well meaning people asking me if I want to try; 'Really, it's really nice, you should try a bit, that bit won't hurt you, it's a lot I have here, you can try!' NO! I don't want to! If you feel guilty about stuffing your face with sweets, then deal with it, but don't blame it on me! If I wanted I would have ordered myself! I AM NOT HAVING IT!

Holiday's Over

The holidays are over, back to normal now. Well, it's only 6 hours 15 minutes in and I am not feeling entirely back. Got up at 5:40 and now waiting for the cappuccino to kick in.

This hols showed me that there is a need to consolidate lives: There is still my normal daily life with work, household, friends, going out and hobbies, and separate from that there is my bodybuilding life. The task of the next couple of month will be to bring those two together. The other things have to bend to the bodybuilding regime, otherwise I won't be successful.

It is a bit easier here in England because my friends support the bodybuilding stuff. Back in Germany I got so many raised fingers: "But not too much, girl!" I didn't even get to telling my family that I want to compete. That really brought the mood levels down. I had been quite excited to meet them and to collect my praise... silly! Still making myself dependent on the opinion of others and let them bring me down. But I guess a lot of you might know this feeling with family...

Then I had a lot of dust biting in bringing my house up to scratch. There is not a single shelf I didn't touch. Meaning the house is clean and I have the dust sniffles. There was a bit of cold at the beginning but now it definitely is allergies. In a nutshell: Holidays was not really relaxing, still feeling a bit under the weather, but it was very successful in a way that I have peace of mind with the house work now, and it was very unsuccessful in terms of training, indeed. Hence there is a lot to learn from this break!

At least I had a good session on Saturday and when going out with friends for dinner on Sunday, I did well with the food. So it seems that I am getting back on track, and am looking forward to having my routine back.

Today is shoulder, abs, arms day and we will see how that goes. I am thinking a lot about how to fine tune my training, still shifting the exercises a bit, but I'm almost there. I guess by end of September I will know if it is all working well and nailing it down in order to be prepared for the Christmas season with all its temptations.