In a New City & Establishing a New Routine!

Check out more pics of me in my temporary new city by clicking the link below!

http://www.vitrixmodelteam.com/team-blog/my-multi-city-adventure.html

For the past few weeks, I have been adjusting to living in a new city, and with that comes adjusting to a new routine. I have been fortunate to have experienced living in a few different parts of the country over the past 3 years. I love a new environment, different people, different pace of life, different scenery; it's really allowed me to grow both professionally and personally in such great ways. Very soon I will be moving one more time (always prompted by professional/job-related reasons) and staying put for a much longer time, so I am enjoying this adventure of multi-city living while I can! The hardest part for me about moving somewhere new is finding my routine. Anyone who is passionate about health and fitness and truly dedicated 365 days of the year to their fitness goals will tell you that routine is key to staying on track! I have to have my exact time of day that I schedule my workouts, when I prep and pack my food, which gym I am going to on which days (since I sometimes have at least a couple memberships), what's my split, etc. My routine becomes even more important working from home with online clients in order to stay on task and remain productive. Generally it takes me about a week or two after moving to find a daily routine that I am comfortable and satisfied with, and for me, finding this is extremely important in order to eliminate/minimize my own stress levels! Yes, I come across as easy-going and laid back but I can be pretty high strung behind the scenes. Sure it's good to be flexible too, but I can assure that you that any successful personal will tell you that a daily routine and structure is key to their success. I would encourage anyone who is struggling with meeting their goals - whether they be fitness, professional, or personal/emotional related - to take a look at their daily routine. Is there a routine? Do you fall off of the routine completely on weekends? Where are you lacking discipline? I think we all can say we are more productive when we have our daily set schedule. Here is what a typical weekday looks like for me:

6am: Wake up, take fat burners, get dressed and drive to gym

6:30am: Am cardio

7:45am: eat breakfast

8am: take dogs out for am walk

8:30am: answer emails, be active on social networking sites, study for CSCS

10:30am: eat meal #2

10:45am: write and update online training programs, study for CSCS

1:30pm: eat meal #3

2:00pm: walk to grocery store or anywhere else I have errands (I live in a downtown area, so I walk almost everywhere).

3:00pm: write for different blogs and online fitness magazines, edit video for my website and youtube, update my personal website. (Mondays and Fridays I will also do laundry here & other house cleaning chores)

4:00pm: eat meal #4; cook any food for next day needing to be cooked

5:00pm: feed and walk dogs

5:30pm: more email; social networking; drink an energy drink, coffee or take another fat burner

6:30pm: eat meal #5

7pm: drive to gym and workout! Weights and sometimes pm cardio

8:45pm: shower, watch TV, make to-do list for following day

9:30pm: eat last meal, drink some decaf coffee

10:00-10:30pm: Bed!

Weekends

Am cardio and all meals and meal times remain the same. I workout earlier though, usually after meal 2 or 3 and I have a cheat meal Saturday night - yay! The rest of the day I shop, relax and do other errands, more email.

Summer Updates!

Shoulder Training at 7 weeks out from Jax Pro
With my friend Tiff at the NPC Mid Florida - a fun night passing out awards!...sporting a Fantasy Tan glow too :)

Jason and I took a Bahama cruise end of April, right before I started contest prep. The perfect end to a great off-season :)

Crazy how time flies by so fast and I realize my last post was before the AC weekend! I have a new business going, which is taking off so fast it's keeping me very busy! It's a mobile airbrush tanning business in the greater Orlando area. I use Fantasy Tan airbrushing systems and products for the most even, flawless, natural looking tan you can imagine! The website is: http://www.tropicaltans2go.com/.

I'm still training clients and holding outdoor women's bootcamps. I have such a good clientele - dedicated and motivated, it's the best! Even despite the summer heat, the outdoor bootcamps are going strong. Nothing wrong with sweating a little more :)

I am 6.5 weeks out of the Jacksonville Pro. I began prep almost 6 weeks ago and I feel really good about where I am at. It's been a LONG off-season of rebuilding and reshaping for my next appearance on the pro stage, but I can see now it was worth it. It's not that I wanted to be absent from the stage this long (hard to be that patient!), it just was necessary. My body needed a lot of heavy, volume training. I hit back and legs twice a week, shoulders once. I had a very healthy and fit off-season, staying close but not too close to contest weight. Cardio I kept at 5x/week and had 2 cheat meals a week. Once I started prep, my diet was being manipulated pretty much weekly, and cheat meals are given as needed (which is still double chicken burrito from Chipotle with a bag of chips!). My cardio was up'd significantly the first 2.5-3 weeks (twice a day), but now has been reduced more than in half (once a day). My body gets to a point where it just wants to start dropping weight VERY quickly, so it was time to pull back on the reigns. Good news is, this prep is flying by and my energy is really good!

I have another shoot with Walt Ostarly next week...lots of video and galleries will be posting to the member's section of my website from that next month. I have new training videos posted in both the member's section of my website and YouTube, so check them out :)