Week 1 Frumpy

I am by no means overweight or obese, but since my back injury I may be "fatter" than I am used to. I mean that I no longer have the muscle tone I used to have when I was teaching aerobics and training for martial-arts competitions. Just a couple weeks ago I was complaining because my shorts didn't fit, but when I weighed myself I was lighter than I've been in a long time. FAT! Fat takes up more space than muscle. If you want to see a gruesome picture, Google images of 1 pound of fat versus 1 pound of muscle.

Now that I've decided to train for figure competitions, I have been checking myself out. My guns are now just straight sticks, my glutes are droopy, my hamstrings are dimply, I have no idea where my quads have gone, and my back is squishy flesh. As far as abs are concerned, I never really had a good mid-section. Nope, I prefer to eat pizza, pasta, bread, rice, chocolate, and cookies. Good news is that I still have decent shoulders, bad news is that I have got a lot of work to do.

This brings me to the end of Week 1. I decided for this week that I would start training for the figure competitions. I was pretty happy with the cardio that I had been doing because the cross-training has been good for my injuries. The only change I made to cardio was to add one more day of cardio. I had already been weight training, but not with any goals or focus. This week I started lifting harder and focusing on building muscle.

I didn't start training for the US Open yet or start the diet for figure competition because I am breaking into these things a little at a time. But after my first week I am noticing big differences in strength. I am starting to look a little less frumpy, and I am starting to feel some muscles tightening up. While I was running yesterday morning, I could feel a big difference in my strength.

I finished Week 1 stronger and even more excited about my goals for the US Open and Figure Competitions. On to Week 2...