New addition to my home gym

OK, one of my new hobbies is searching on Craig's list and E-bay trying to find used gym equipment. Today I purchased this lat/cable machine for dirt cheap. It’s a Parabody lat machine that has a low row. So, I can do my wide grip pull-downs, narrow grip pull-downs, low rows, triceps extensions, cable curls, cable crunches, and a lot of other cable related exercises. My next purchase will probably be a standing calve raise machine or a hack/leg press machine.

Plan is going as planned

OK, so I'm down to 17.5% body fat!!! Yeah, I'm losing body fat like there is no tomorrow. I'm so excited. I'm down to 139lbs. I absolutely don't want to be under 125lbs. So, I'm going to stick to my diet, if I start dropping weight o fast, I will increase calories or decrease cardio. But, I'm fine for now. I will be posting pics by this weekend.

hardcore--workout regimen starting next week--muscle confusion and two per days

Monday morning:flat press, pull-overs, 1-arm bent-over rows, good-morning, and abs

Monday evening: back squats, sissy squats, dumbbell stiff-legged dead-lifts, calves

Tuesday morning: military press, behind neck press, upright rows, and abs

Tuesday Evening: barbell curls, incline curls, concentration curls, dip station dips, close-grip bench, triceps extension, and calves

Thursday morning: incline flyes, decline press, pull-ups, t-bar rows, and abs

Thursday Evening: leg extension, leg curl, lunges, and calves

Friday morning: shrugs, bent-over lateral raises, shoulder press, and abs

Friday evening: preacher curls, standing dumbbell curls, cable curls, tricep kickback, skull crushers, bench dips, and calves

******bicep and tricep exercises will be supersetted

Slight change in workout regimen

Ok, so I have been having some lower back pain. So, I will cut out deadlifting (both stiff-legged and regular deadlifts). I will replace my barbell stiff-legged deadlifts and my regular barbell deadlifts with lying hamstring curls and bent-over rows. So, my new workout regimen will look like this:

M,W,F
*chin-ups 3 sets, 6-8 reps
*dips 3 sets, 8 reps
*military press 3 sets, 10 reps
*lying hamstring curls 3 sets, 10 reps
*bent-over barbell rows 3 sets, 10 reps
*barbell flat bench press 3 sets, 6 reps
*Kettlebell snatches 3 sets, 10 reps each arm
*kettlebell swings 3 sets, 10 reps
*low ab, upper ab, and oblique exercises
*standing calve raises
*barbell squats 5 sets, 10 reps

5-6 days a week will I do anywhere from 30 minutes- 2 sessions of 60 minutes of low intensity cardio

*****I miss my sissy squats!!!! I will start doing sissy squats in a few weeks.

current diet and workout regimen

I have been dieting for the past 2 weeks and I'm already down to 141lbs @19.6% body fat. 2 weeks ago I started at about 146lbs and 21.6% body fat. I hope that by chronicling my fat loss journey that I will help to inspire others and to keep myself motivated. Currently, I'm following a High protein, moderate fat, and low carb diet. Here is my current workout plan:

M,W,F
*chin-ups 3 sets, 6-8 reps
*dips 3 sets, 8 reps
*military press 3 sets, 10 reps
*stiff-legged deadlifts 3 sets, 10 reps
*regular barbell deadlifts 3 sets, 10 reps
*barbell flat bench press 3 sets, 6 reps
*Kettlebell snatches 3 sets, 10 reps each arm
*kettlebell swings 3 sets, 10 reps
*low ab, upper ab, and oblique exercises
*standing calve raises
*barbell squats 5 sets, 10 reps

5-6 days a week will I do anywhere from 30 minutes- 2 sessions of 60 minutes of low intensity cardio

Tragedy

Hello everyone,
I know I haven't posted in a while, and I apologize. I haven't been in the mood to blog because of a tragedy that has left me broken-hearted and bothered.
On December 4, 2005 me, my oldest son, and my daughter went brought my youngest son a Dwarf hamster named Max for his birthday. Max's nickname is little Maxie. Maxie was so precious and really cool. Maxie was also spoiled. We would let Maxie out of her cage every day to run around the house. We used to try to block her in one area of the house, but she was so small (about 3 times smaller than a regular sized hamster) we was unable to limit her to one space in the house. We even brought a hamster gate and she could go right through the small spaces in the cage. So, we let Maxi have her way and have run of the house a few hours per day. Every morning when I got home from work to work out with my kettle bells, I would let Maxi out and she got her cardio on by running around the house. Well, one day when the kids came home from school, she was flipping on her back (which means she wants to get out her cage and play). So, my oldest son asked if he could let her out of the cage and I told him to let her out. Well, my youngest son wanted a PB&J sandwich. I went to make Jason a sandwich forgetting to take off me shoes. Maxi loves to walk along with me and the rest of the family like she was human. Well, I was in the fridge and stepped back and ended up stepping on Max. Max was still alive, laying with her eyes open. She couldn't move and was bleeding. I screamed and cried. I told my oldest son to hold Maxi and talk to her while I called my husband and the vet hospital to let them know we were rushing her to the hospital.
By the time we got Maxi to the hospital, she had passed away. I felt absolutely horrible. I loved little Maxi. Losing little Maxi was very painful. I still have a pain in my chest when thinking about her. What makes things worse is that it was my fault that Maxi passed away. For days, I couldn't sleep, I didn't go to work, I had bad dreams about that day Maxi passed away, and I couldn't walk in the kitchen without feeling pain. My whole family misses Maxi.
We had the vet cremate Max. After we had Max's memorial, I started to feel better. I have to say that my family and friends are wonderful. So many friends and neighbors came to Max's memorial to remember her.
My youngest son didn't know that Max was a girl until after her death. Everyone, including the neighbors, knew that Max was a girl. We told Jason that Maxi was a boy because he insisted on and asked for a boy, but Maxi was so cute that we ended up picking her and lying about her gender to my son. I remember when I first started letting Max out to have run of the house that she was lost for three days. We looked up and down the house for three days and couldn't find Max. I finally found Max in a closet deep into a comforter. She was fine. She even had food (the food that she had stored in her cheeks. Max loved sweets. She used to love picking up and trying to eat cake or cookie crumbs from the kids. Of course we would take the sweets from her. The morning of the day she had passed I gave her a pecan. She tasted that pecan and ran with it. I guess she thought I would take it from her. She didn't run very far because that pecan was very big. But, she enjoyed her pecan.
My family and I loved Max and we miss her so very much!!!!
My kids and I have been going around visiting churches around the neighborhood, and we finally found this wonderful church called Calvary Missionary church. I knew from the first time I stepped into that church that it was going to be my church home.
I'm still working out. This morning I worked out on the elliptical for 60 minutes. Later on this morning I will be doing a kettle bell leg workout. Here is my kettle bell leg workout:
*kettle bell 2-handed swings
*kettle bell rack lunges
*kettle bell rack squats
*cable squats
*kettle bell hack squats
*cable butt blasters
*cable calve raises
*standing weighted calve raises
*kettle bell deadlifts
*plie squats

Tameka

Shoulders and laziness

I’ve been working out on a consistant basis, but have not been blogging my workouts lately. My metabolism is very high again. I get hungry and eat every 1.5 hours when awake. Yesterday, I decided to cheat on my diet and I ate 10 or 12 Reese cups. I know, a little bit much. But, nothing is sticking to me--so, whatever.

I’m excited because I ordered a fantastic row machine. It should be delivered to my house sometime next week. I love rowing. Concept 2 rowers are the best rowers ever. Currently, I have this old Precor piston rower, which is ok. Next week I will be receiving my Schwinn Windrigger row machine. It’s similiar to the Concept 2 rower. If I don’t like the Schwinn Windrigger rower, I’ll be replacing my windrigger with a Concept 2 rower. Rowing is excellent because its a nonimpact full body cardiovascular exercise as well as a muslce building workout. I have about 6 weeks to go until I take professional photos for the BFL challenge.

My only cardio today was 10 minutes of kettlebell swings. Here is my shoulder workout that I did this morning:

*Kettlebell swings 30reps, 10 sets (10 minutes total)

*Kettlebell 1-arm military press 3 sets

*Kettlebell 1-arm waiters press 3 sets

*Kettlebell 1-arm bottoms up press 3 sets

*Kettlebell 1-arm sitting press 3 sets

*behind the neck press 3 sets

*shrugs 3 sets

*bent over lateral raises 3 sets

*front raises 3 sets

*cable upright rows 3 sets

*Kettlebell seated Russian twists 3 sets

*ab crunches 50rep, 3 sets

Happy belated Easter everyone. Jesus is awesome!!!!!!



Tameka