Sore, Sore, Sore...ouch!

Yesterday I had a great StairMaster aerobics session, as I usually start my day at 6am.  After the StairMaster, I decided to work legs fairly heavy in the leg press, and the leg curl supersetted with leg extensions, and then finished off legs with a few good sets of seated calf raises.  Today I am very sore in the leg department.  Even though I have been on the StairMaster every morning for 45 minutes for two weeks now, an intense leg workout with fairly heavy weights really stimulated my legs unlike the StairMaster does.  I actually feel like I need a day off from the gym all together to rest.  I have gained about 6 pounds in the last 2 weeks and have gotten stronger.  I feel bigger in my shirts and pants and my waist seems to be staying fairly slim so I must be putting on muscle, which is what I want to do right now.  I am trying to stay on a fairly healthy diet, but I would not say it is exactly clean at the moment.  I am not dieting to loose fat, that is for sure!  My main diet goal now is to just get in enough protein and calories in general to put on muscle and strength, which is what seems to be happening.  My heart is getting stronger with the regular intense cardio sessions, and that will give me more stamina on heavy back and leg days.  A really heavy back or leg day can take your breath away if you have not been staying up to speed with the cardio training.  I know that from much experience.  I have seen stars on many occasions during heavy leg presses, which is due to not getting enough oxygen to your brain during a lift.

My sore rib is getting much better now, and I can barely feel any pain there at all as compared to a week ago.  I still feel some pain when I take a deep breath, but it is not a stabbing pain like it was, but just a dull pain now, so it should be gone by next Saturday I pray.

It seems weird to already be 1/4 of the way through January in Minneapolis and so far our winter has just been a cool/frosty Fall with only 5 inches of snowfall so far this year.  If we are going to get 50 more inches as forecasted, the weather will need to do some serious shifting ASAP...LOL!

 I wanted to mention that I subscribe to Gaspari Push Harder daily motivational text messages and today was a great text I will share with you.  Here is the link if you want to subscribe yourself:  

http://www.gasparinutrition.com/speakup/smstext/listmessages.aspx

Today's text was:  "You can only become truly ACCOMPLISHED at something you LOVE.  So do what you love and do it very well!"

This was very fitting for my day today because part of me did not want to go to the gym to be on the StairMaster for 45 minutes, but because I did go and do it, I learned things about me that I would not have learned if I had not gone.  I have found in the past as well as today that even on days in the gym when you feel like you should not be there, you learn things about yourself that you would not have learned if you had not gone at all.  So it's not a loss by any means if you don't have a typical day or a great day in the gym.  The StairMaster today actually felt good to my sore legs and getting the blood pumping in my body in general always feels good to me.  Listening to my favorite upbeat tunes on my mp3 player is always a great way to get the day's momentum going.  I probably would not be here now writing this blog entry if I had not gone to the gym because my momentum for the day would obviously not be the same.  I decided to record a YouTube video about the day as well and that would not have happened if I decided not to go to the gym.  As you can see more positive things came from the day than negative.  Action vs. inaction always generates more positive than negative outcomes.  Getting in the habit of being continuously lazy is much more negative than doing too much!  The main negative about being habitually lazy is the unhealthy conditions it creates which can take a lot of energy to reverse.Steven Brick