So here are a few things I have learned this year that is signifigant in my life. .... Facebook has taken over the social world. Fact. The older I get, the harder I must train. I seem to accumulate "friends" that are inconvenient. I am thier friend because of convenience. My human body performs best on a very basic grouping of nutrition. My horses and my physical fitness are my favorite things in life. (Mom and husband don't count) 2012 is going to be a huge challenge.
This past year, I have rebooted myself, and finally figured out how I was before I was tainted by mass opinions, diet advise, training advise, competition advise, etc....... Since 01, I allowed all kinds of people to tell me what is wrong with me, what supplements I should take, how I should eat, that it is okay to eat crap like diet soda's, artificial sweetners, synthetic supplements, ....my mind was so filled with bullshit I honeslty got lost in the Tron world of life.
Here is what is good for ME..... I believe in logical training. I have been doing it since 1976--ish. I practice resistance training with the same logic as brushing my teeth. I train ALL muscle groups equally for what they are, based on the size of the muscle bellies and how they are affected on my daily physical lifestyle. I stretch daily, do cardio daily, and yes, I always do some sort of resistance training daily. I don't train so freaking hard that I have to give myself a break. I am a "large" as I want to be. I am completely content with my symmetry and strength. And....I do consider myself a bodybuilder when I choose to compete.
For 3 solid decades I have been around people in many, many gyms, and health clubs that train "HARD", "LIKE AN ANIMAL", lifting heavy, with the the aspiration to lift even heavier the week after, and God bless them for achieving thier goals. However......me being an old gal, still practicing the art of resistance training, in my redundant, boring way (like brushing my teeth), only will see less than 5% of the people I saw in the gym years ago. I can say that they love the dedication, and the diligence, and I cannot say anything negative about it, but, most of them are not in the gym anymore. If they are, they cannot train anywhere close to they way they did before. I guess I am just plane ignorant when it comes to this subject. My theory behind training is, I practice resistance training so when I am on one of my horses, hauling ass down a trail, and the inevitable happens, ...flying off .....I get up with no injuries, wipe my ass off, get back on and carry on, thankful that I train diligently for injury prevention. Other things like, falling off a ladder cleaning gutters, running in the woods tripping on a log in the dark twisting an ankle (able to continue running) Splitting wood and not being sore the next day. My theory behind lifting weights is for longevity, not sport. I train for sport. I just don't understand, in my thick head, what is so cool about getting injured lifting barbells and plates in a gym? I feel I can say this, for after all, I am just a crazy old lady.
Nutrition..............I am DEAD SET on NOT making a "cheat" meal involve stupid crap like ice cream, fast food hamburgers and fries, packaged, cakes and cookies. Prepping for contest, I let people encourge me to drink diet soda's and use chemical sweeteners "to curb my appetite?". Then after 12 weeks of diligent training, they would say "Go treat yourself to an ice cream, pizza, or cheescake" and boyeeee, would I! Ten years ago, when I wanted to pig out, I would make a whey protein shake with frozen bananas, and throw home made granola (lots) on top, OR, make my own damn cookies. Dieting for competition I just plain DID NOT EAT ANYTHING SWEET! The more artificial crap I did of ANY kind, the worse I felt and the worse I got. It has taken me almost FIVE years to remember who I am. It has been just like a suspence/mystery movie.
I am not going to judge anyone, for I do not have any right. But for myself, I will continue my practice of health in nutrition in my own way. If you come up to me in the gym and complain about an injury, and it was created in the gym........be prepared to have an ass chewing. Or, maybe, I will just smile and walk away.