Training at my gym, Gold's Gym Dr. Phillips, Orlando, FLMy off-season training is going great, and has been really productive! I'm up almost 20 lbs since my pro debut at the Orlando Europa in mid-April, and I feel great. It's been a gradual weight increase, in order to keep it very solid. I never gained more than a 1lb a week, and some weeks my weight held steady. I'm stronger than ever and eating a lot of clean food - 6 - 7 meals a day, about 2700 calories worth each day (about 350 grams of carbs a day! Woohoo!). I have my weekly cheat meal on the weekends, and pancakes w/regular syrup one morning mid-week with my egg whites, so no, I am not deprived at all LOL My goal this off-season has been to bring up my shoulders, legs and BACK...wait, that sounds like my whole body! :) It's working though; I keep getting told I look a lot more shapely and full and round through my muscle bellies - yay! Still getting there though ;) I'm training legs 2x a week, back 2x a week, and lots of volume on shoulder days. I'm weight training 5-6 times a week, doing 30 minutes of cardio 3-5 times a week, mostly on the spin bike and some step mill - all steady state, keeping my HR around 145 bpm.
I miss not being on stage this fall, but I had some gaps to fill in on my physique. I've always been an athlete and a competitor, so I really don't ever want to step on stage not feeling like I could be ranked in the top 5. I do love competing, and there are so many fun aspects of competing, but I want to be at my very best the next time I hit the stage. Come January, we'll make the decision as to where I will begin my 2010 season. Can't wait!!
