My Garage Gym Makeover

I have been so excited over the past week, as I found some great deals on gym equipment.  I can say that my masterpiece is almost complete. It's taken me 8 years to get the gym this far, and I'm so proud of what we've accomlished.  It's hard to imagine that in 2003, we started with an elliptical, a step, and a stability ball. My how we've grown! 

We've been feverishly working over the past several days to position our new equipment while making the gym functional.  Aside from the addition of one piece of equipment down the road, we have finished the process.  Welcome to the new look of the Underground!  If you want to come train with us, just fill out my contact form!  You can view our blog site anytime at http://atxunderground.blogspot.com/.

Here's a trip down memory lane.... :-)

September 2005

October 2007

April 2011

Day 22: Getting back in focus...

As I mentioned last week, I tore up my hands and had to back off of my kettlebell workouts.  I also hurt my wrist last Saturday when I was filling my Wavemaster with water and sand. I took some sand from my 50lb sandbag and used it to help fill the Wavemaster.  Well, the filler bag (with 50 pounds of sand) fell on my wrist.  It's been twingy all week. 

Anyway, my hands at least seem healed enough to resume L2 workouts again, so that will be my emphasis this week.  I'll take it easy with snatches and such to make sure my wrist is protected.  I also stopped by Academy on Friday night and got some new gloves. I tried using football gloves with full finger coverage, but they seemed to catch and generate friction to make my torn hands worse.  I found some Bionic Women's gloves at Academy.  They're kind of tight, but I wanted to see if they would help.  My friend, Lisa Shaffer, recommended them a while back so I decided to give them a try. They are pricer than what I like to spend on gloves, but if they help me get back into training faster and safer, then they'll be worth the investment IMO.

Focus for this week: I noticed that last week, I stopped planning and advance prep of my meals, so my nutrition is lagging behind.  My emphasis and focus this week will be on getting structure and routine back. I'll have a couple of time consuming events this week, so planning will be more imperative than ever.  I really want to do better about having my meals ready in advance. I do so much better about staying on track when I have them ready to go.  From an exercise point of view, I want to get 3-4 Skogg workouts in this week, along with cardio at least 5 out of 7 days this week.

Anyway, I'm off to grab breakfast, plan today's meals, and start cleaning the gym.. Yesterday's delivery was cancelled due to bad weather, and we will try again today.  While I am glad that they'll be coming today, it does mean that I'll be rushed this afternoon to get the gym back in order for my evening clients. It will be hectic for sure, so I better eat my Wheaties today!

I'll post back later....

Day 21: Happy Easter!!! (took day off)

Today was a good day.  Started it off with church and then came home to get ready for the gym delivery.  I took time to make phone calls to friends and family (which is meaningful as I don't enjoy talking on the phone).  I also decided to cook Easter dinner at the last minute. I hadn't planned on it at all, but it didn't feel like Easter without having Easter dinner.  As a result, I'm giving myself a full day off from my eating plan to enjoy the foods that I will prepare for dinner.  I'll keep it reasonable, but I do plan to have some ice cream for dessert. 

ETA: the gym delivery was cancelled due to heavy rain & winds...Dinner turned out well, and there are leftovers (none of which I'll be enjoying).  I had my ice cream for dessert, and made a banana pudding as well. I only tasted the pudding, as I didn't want to go overboard.  The rest will be taken to work tomorrow for office treats :-)  Whenever I get an urge to bake treats, I just send them to the office the next day by way of my bf. 

Anyway, tomorrow will mark me getting back on track. My hands have healed enough to probably do some short KB workouts, and I'm going to try to get motivated to do more cardio this week. Last week, I was bogged down emotionally with other things and there were many days where my schedule was just packed. I can't wait for my days to become more predictable. It makes sticking to a schedule alot easier.

Hope everyone had a happy Easter!!

Day 20: Gym Re-Organization Day!!

Well, I spent the better part of 5 hours today working in the gym. We got 3 new horse stall mats (from Tractor Supply Company) to complete the mat layout on the main workout floor.  If you've never moved a stall mat, they are heavy. I was sweating buckets. Luckily we had a very cool breeze today, which was nice!  In addition to installing the flooring (and sweeping, mopping, etc), we moved alot of equipment around to improve overall functionality.  Tomorrow the treadmill and bikes will be delivered.  We will finish placing everything once they arrive.  I sold a few pieces of equipment that I don't use much anymore to make room for the newer stuff.  Like I said yesterday, all that's left now will be to add the Versaclimber, a new rope, and a few new kettlebells once the renovation is complete.  It's looking good, but I'm exhausted now :-)

Time to take a hot shower and cuddle up with a movie of some sort.

This has been a better week!

My oh my how this week has flown by!  I just realized that it's now Saturday, and I haven't posted an update since Monday!  Even though last week was killer, this week was brand new, and I treated it as such! I was able to score some really great equipment for my garage gym at a deep, deep discount.  I am adding 3 indoor cycling bikes and a Woodway treadmill (been wanting one of those for several years!).  All that's left to make me happy will be my Versaclimber, a new rope, and a few more kettlebells...I know it's coming soon :-)  So, I am truly having a great week so far!  Next week will be even better, as my current group of clients are going to test drive my small group indoor cycling classes for 4 weeks before I launch them mainstream.

So, tomorrow I will be working on the gym and getting ready for the equipment delivery on Sunday afternoon.

Lastly, I just wanted to wish everyone who celebrates a Happy Easter.  This is the most holy of Christian holidays to me. I feel very blessed for the gift and celebration of life. I know sometimes it's hard to see the forest through the trees, but I'm learning that sometimes we aren't supposed to see it until someone else is ready for us to.  Be faithful and good servants... :-)

Day 15: Late Start, but Good Day

Today is a full day of work, clients, and other stuff. I'm going to do my best to keep the stress levels at bay and just enjoy getting things done one at a time.

I was a bit off schedule this morning.  I woke up, tended to a few things around the house, took my supplments, and immediately started working.  I'd fully intended on doing my morning workout, eating, and then starting my work day.  However, the minute I sit down at the computer to do something "quickly," I wind up spending time accomplishing other tasks on my to-do list.  Anyway, I was still able to get in my morning workout before continuing on with my day. However, my eating schedule has been somewhat compressed as a result.

Exercise Component
I wanted to get a treadmill workout in first thing to continue flushing the lactic acid and soreness from my body.  Boy, it was actually just what I needed!  I took a break around 9AM to get 45 minutes on the treadmill done. I mostly walked and jogged at various speeds and inclines.  I think that this week I will reintroduce more walking (either treadmill or outdoors) into my routine, striving for 20-30 minutes each day to supplement everything else that I'm doing.  The good thing is that the analgesic cream was still on my skin, and I felt my muscles warming and responding to it during and after my workout.

Later today, I still plan to get in a Skogg Flow workout, but I haven't quite decided which level to do.  I will more than likely lighten up the weight since I'm still pretty sore, probably to 12kg.  I want to get some additional stretching and foam rolling in at some point today as well, probably before I go to bed.

Updated to add: I did Skogg Flow at level 3 with the 12kg tonight.  However, I cut and filed my calluses over the weekend.  Unfortunately, I filed them too low, and they started to tear and blister slightly. So, I stopped the kettlebell portion of my workout early.  I made it up the ladder from rungs 1 to 5.  It felt great. I love Flow. It's my favorite workout in the series.  I can't wait to really tackle it with the 16kg. Anyway, until my hands heal, I'd better train smart and do short KB workouts with moderate weight.  I should know better than to have trimmed them so low; I was being somewhat vain and not wanting to have hard, rough calluses when shaking hands in a professional setting. 

Nutritrion Component 
As a result of my workout, I was kind of late eating my first meal. I'll do my best to get back on schedule throughout the day. Updated to Add: Mission accomplished. My eating today was rock solid and in 100% compliance. I recovered even after a late start. I also managed to get in all of my supplements as well.  I haven't felt hungry or had any sugar cravings today.  Yippeee!!  I also drank plenty of water and have generally felt good today (though still a bit sore).  BTW - I am sooo on a quinoa kick (as if you couldn't tell from the quinoa for breakfast recipe post earlier today). I can't wait to have some for breakfast tomorrow morning. I also had some for dinner tonight :-)  I love the fact that it counts as a carbohydrate/starch and has a substantial amount of protein as well.  I think that's why my main meals have been so filling today because of the protein, healthy fat, and carbohydrate combination.

Make it a great one, people!

Sharing: Quinoa for Breakfast Ideas

I always thought that I was limited to using quinoa in lunch or dinner dishes.  However, yesterday during an internet search about the origin of quinoa, I discovered that it can also be eaten as a breakfast dish.  Naturally, I had to try to find some palatable recipes.  I came across Cookie & Kate's blog, where they'd just posted a series of recipes and photographs for breakfast quinoa recipes, which I can't wait to try!  I wanted to share the information here as well.  I plan to try one of the recipes for breakfast after my cardio workout today, but will not prepare the recipes with milk. 

Here are a few pictures (with credits to the source) to futher entice you to give quinoa for breakfast a try:



Original Recipe from Joy the Baker
Recipe URL:  http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2011/04/breakfast-quinoa-with-toasted-coconut-almonds-and-fresh-mango/

 


Warm & Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa from Heidi Swanson @ 101 Cookbooks
Recipe URL: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/warm-and-nutty-cinnamon-quinoa-recipe.html

 


Cookie & Kate's Warm Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Quinoa
URL: http://cookieandkate.com/2011/breakfast-quinoa/