Lindsay's Ramblings

1. The pool is up!! Finally summertime is here!! I floated for a little bit yesterday, and it was wonderful . What I've been waiting for... 2. New yummy protein shake recipe (got the idea from Kate at BeyondFit Physiques!): Blend a scoop of chocolate protein, 1 tbsp sugar free butterscotch pudding, 1 spoon cocoa, and 3/4-1 cup almond milk-tastes like brownie batter! 3. Some good internet finds : Bodyweight glute workout- http://greatist.com/fitness/bodyweight-glute-workout What is the best diet? http://www.precisionnutrition.com/best-diet Things you think about too often: http://www.marcandangel.com/2013/03/31/10-things-you-think-about-too-often/ Stop these unhealthy habits: http://rachelsfithealth.tumblr.com/post/51652479711/1-still-think-a-lower-body-weight-is-the-only-way   4. My workouts this week : http://lindsaystraininglog.blogspot.com/  I'm taking a deload week next week and then starting a new training plan.   5. Current obsessio...

Another great one from Nia! Check it out: http://www.niashanks.com/2013/05/back-to-basics-reset-workout/ "Even if your goal is to lose fat, build a better body, improve your health, or get stronger, one of the best things you can do is just quit . Quit looking for the “latest and greatest” or “optimal” workout routine. Quit looking for the “secrets” to losing fat and building a better body. Quit following unrealistic, non-negotiable rules that can’t be sustained long-term. Quit stressing over the tiny, insignificant details of strength training and nutrition. Quit trying to optimize a supplementation protocol that you think will increase your rate of success. Quit over-thinking the entire process. Quit forcing yourself to follow a workout program that you know isn’t practical or that you absolutely dread. If you’re constantly stressing about your workout program, or even worse, revolving your life around a rigid routine, your results will be less than optimal de...

Hope everyone had a great Memorial weekend! We had our annual Memorial weekend family cookout Saturday and had a great time, as always! I think this was the first year EVER that I remember it being below 80 degrees, but it was so nice.   I had fun running around with my cute little cousin Landen, meeting my new baby cousin, Maci, playing volleyball and kickball, and of course, eating lots(okay, maybe a tad bit TOO much) of yummy cookout food, including my favorite , potato salad! Just couldn't resist all the good food and wouldn't want to.  ;) Landen says 'Happy Memorial Day'!   Holding baby Maci for the first time! She is adorable!   Always have to get a pic with my beautiful cousin, Olivia. My mamaw holding baby Maci My brother playing wtih Landen   My love :)   I took SO many pictures of him! He is so cute and funny, I can't help myself!   Sisters :) Only 2 more months until the baby comes...

  "To discover your purpose in life you must turn to God's Word , not the world's wisdom. You must build your life on eternal truths , not pop psychology, success-motivation, or inspirational stories." -Rick Warren The world tells me one thing; the Bible tells me another. The world pulls me in one direction; the Bible pulls me another. The world focuses on the temporary, the here and now, while the Bible focuses on eternity and tells me this world is not my home. The world tells me that life is all about ME: my pleasure, my needs, my wants, my happiness, MY success. The Bible tells me to DENY myself, to be humble, to GIVE UP my life, to put OTHERS above myself, to put GOD's will over MINE. It's hard, and it's unnatural, but I want to live the way Jesus tells me to, not the world. And unless I stay in God's word, unless I constantly fix my mind on Him, the world will have the most influence on me and try to pull me in its direct...

For the past year and a half I've pretty much been doing an upper/lower split, rather than the typical bodypart split that you see in most fitness blogs. I did the bodybuilding style workouts for years, but after experimenting with CrossFit for a while back in 2010-11, now they just no longer appeal to me. I don't enjoy having a day where I do all back exercises or a day of just chest exercises. There is nothing wrong with this way of training, I just find that now it bores me! I think that you can get just as good, if not better, results from training your muscle groups more frequently rather than just once per week. I thought I would share how I set up my workouts for anyone who might be interested in trying out an upper/lower split. UPPER BODY DAYS: Upper body days always include two push movements and two pull movements. For the push movements, I pick one exercise that works the shoulders and another that works the chest. For the two pull movements, one of them is a...

So since increasing my carb intake, now I really don't even want them(okay, yeah, I do, just not like I used to)!  Hmmmm....funny how when you restrict yourself from them, they're all you crave! Back when I was keeping my carbs pretty low, all I wanted was rice and pasta and potatoes! That's why I'm not a fan of restrictive diets or any nutrition plan that has you restrict yourself from any food group or says you "can't" have certain foods. They're not sustainable and you'll most likely have major cravings and then give in and end up bingeing! Restriction is  NOT the way to go. Yeah, it's nice to be super shredded with nice abs...but it's just not sustainable for most people. Trust me, I've been there! Yeah, I'm feeling a little bloated eating all this food and more carbs, and I definitely don't have abs right now, that's for sure...but it's okay! I'm learning to be okay with where my body naturally wants to be,...

"The mirror is not your audience. Bodybuilders...embrace your smallness. Models...it's not about perfection. Remember, abundant health is more of a byproduct of obedience than the ultimate goal. Our health is a means to praise the Lord, not a means to praise ourselves. Our bodies are meant to serve one another, not to be observed by one another. If we let our reflection be our refuge and strength, then we have no refuge and strength. I know it's crazy in this day and age, but let's be reckless. He gets the glory."  - Jimmy Peña

I forgot to post this pic from Mother's day last weekend~   My little brother should've been in here, but he was in one of his moods!   We went out for pizza and then to Mom's and played some Catch Phrase-we love that game! :) Mom's doing good, just still having issues with one knee. She was basically told it may never get better, so she is a little upset about that. I'm still just glad she's alive and not a brain damaged or paralyzed!  So this weekend we finally had WARM weather-what I've been waiting for!! I spent most of my weekend right here, and it was lovely....   Saturday night we went to church and then down to the waterfront. It was such a pretty evening! I love this picture of the bridge as the sun was setting. Sunday we went out to eat at our favorite restaurant, Cheddars! I had a really delicious meal-chicken and mushrooms over rice with green beans and mashed potatoes, and then we had some i...

“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” ― Oswald Chambers

Hey! Happy Friday!  Hope everyone had a good week! I had a great upper body workout today! I did pullups, handstand pushups, 1 arm rows, DB chest presses, bicep curls, tricep pressdowns, and then finished up with some handstand practice. Fun! I love my workouts. I seriously don't know what my life would be like without lifting! It just makes me feel so good and puts me in a great mood! For those who are interested, here are the workouts I did this week: http://lindsaystraininglog.blogspot.com/2013/05/may-13-18.html So...I'm going to make a few tweaks to my nutrition. I haven't been tracking what I eat because I really don't like doing it, but I did the other day just because I wanted to make sure I was eating enough....and turns out, I'm not! Soooo I'm going to be adding in MORE carbs(even at dinner, ohmigoshI'mgonnagetsofat)and increase my calories back up to 2400-2500. I have got to get over this fear of getting fat that I have and just freakin...

"My sheep recognize my voice; I know them and they follow me." John 10:27 Well, when God wants you to do something or teach you something, He sure does let you know! In the past couple months, I've felt God speaking to me, calling me to go out and DO, to put my faith into action. But I've been trying to ignore Him, I'm not gonna lie. Because I'm scared . I'm scared of what He is going to want me to do.  Fear is stopping me from surrendering completely to His will. I mean, it's just easier to float through life, taking the easy path, focusing just on myself and living my "happy little life" all about me...but I just feel that God is calling me to something more than that. And it's scary. Lately, I keep hearing "mission trip"....those words just keep popping up everywhere: the radio, a church sermon, a book or something I've read, or online. I keep trying to ignore it and push it aside...but God is making it pre...

Turkey Meatloaf Ingredients: 2 lbs ground turkey(I used 93% lean) 1 egg + 1 white 1/2 cup ground oats 1/2 cup diced onion 1/2 cup diced green pepper 1 T mustard 1/2 cup chunky salsa salt & pepper to taste garlic and onion powder (I didn't use the onion and green pepper!) Instructions: Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients in bowl. Mix thouroughly with hands. Spray 9x13 baking dish with Pam. Shape turkey mixture into a loaf shape and place in dish. Bake for 1.5 hours. Let set for 5 minutes before slicing. I made this the other day and it turned out really good! Very easy and made for great meals during the week.

Like I always say, I am NOT a perfect eater and never will be. I strive to eat healthy, but I am in no way one of those all “organic, all natural, no sugar whatsoever” people.  Nothing is wrong with that, it's just not me. I like a diet Pepsi every now and then, I like cream and a little sweetener in my coffee, and I like my weekly treat meals loaded with fat and sugar(feel free to unfollow me now)! ;) Not being super restrictive keeps me sane and able to maintain my healthy eating for the long run... not constantly going back and forth between either "dieting" or eating all out horrible, like so many people do. Life is all about balance and finding a nutrition plan that you can maintain, not restricting yourself from all the things you love. I will never pretend that I eat 100% perfect ALL the time. I’m just a junk food lover at heart who tries her best to eat healthy! I’ve made many changes to my eating habits in the last 5 years. A typical day of eating f...

One of the clues you may be more fan than follower is that when I asked ‘Are you a follower’ your mind immediately went to the fact that you come to church, put some money in the plate, volunteer from time to time. Let me just ask you a really blunt question: do you think God needs your help? Do you think you’re earning His gratitude by ticking off a list of religious busywork? No, I’m not saying that attending church or giving money or reading your Bible are bad things to do. But think for a second. Why would those things matter to God? I believe they only matter to God as an expression of your closeness to Him. He doesn’t need your help, you aren’t going to impress Him, but He does long for you to be close to Him, for you to know Him intimately. And really, that’s the question, isn’t it? Do you know Jesus? Does He know you? That’s what it comes down to. Does He have your heart? Is He your everything? Do you invest more in your relationship with Him than any other relationship...

It's a hot one today in Kentucky! And I'm lovin' it! So after yesterday's leg day, my booty is SOOOOORE today! Mission accomplished! :)   I did front squats, barbell hip thrusts, walking lunges, calf raises, and ab wheel rollouts, then finished with some 1 arm kettlebell swings and battle ropes. My abs and quads are sore, too, which hardly ever happens! And I don't know if it was just from taking a week off or changing up my routine, or because the gym felt like a SAUNA, but I really struggled through that workout. Just felt like I had no endurance and couldn't breathe the whole time!   So anyway, I finally tried the cauliflower pizza crust that everyone online has been raving about.... Um, yeah.....totally not worth it to me. It wasn't that it tasted bad...it just wasn't....right. I don't know. If I'm going to have pizza, I just want the real thing!  BUT I did use the leftover riced cauliflower to make mashed cauliflower for di...

I've been lifting weights for a LONG time. 10 years ago I honestly never thought that scrawny little me would look the way I do today. Not that I think I look amazing or anything(and I still feel scrawny most of the time!), but I have  come a long way in all those years. The changes in my body were not drastic. They sure didn't happen overnight . I never had huge weight fluctuations or measurement changes, just very  minimal changes from year to year to year.  There were many times when I felt like I wasn't really seeing any change at all, but I kept on, and now looking back at photos throughout the years, I can see the progress I've made.  The last 2 1/2 year's progresss 2010-2013 It's much harder and takes longer to build UP than to diet down! Especially while staying relatively lean. And the longer you've been training, the slower your progress will be. 2010 was the year I really "cleaned up" my nutrition. I got leaner but somehow...

After a week off, which felt like FOREVER , I was so excited to get back into the gym today! I decided to write out a plan to follow rather than just do whatever, so here was what I did for today's upper body workout: 1)Snatches: 3x6 w/65lbs (just went light on these today) 2)1 arm overhead DB press: 3x6 w/30lbs, 1x9 w/25lbs 3a)Dips: 3x8 3b)Neutral grip pullups: 8-7-6-5 4)Hanging leg raises: 4x8 (I forgot how much I hated these!!! UGH. Not fun.) *Incline treadmill sprints: 6 x 15 seconds* This month's tentative training plan: DAY 1 UPPER 1)Snatch 3x5 or 6x3 2)1 arm DB overhead press   4x6-10 3a)Chinups/Pullups 4x8-10 3b)Dips 3x8-12 4a)Hanging leg raise: 3x8-10 4b)Cable face pulls *5-10 MIN. FINISHER DAY2 LOWER 1a)Leg curls/pull-throughs/glute warmups 1b)Standing calf raise 4x8-12 2)Front squat   2x6/1x8/1x10-12 3)Hip thrusts 4x6-8/1x15 4)Bulgarian split squat or walking lunge 4x8-10 5)Ab wheel rollouts 3x8-12   *FI...

“Your body hears everything your mind says.” – Naomi Judd

It has been SO gorgeous and warm here in KY the past 2 days- finally ! This has been the coldest Spring EVER, and I am just ready to be able to wear shorts!! It's supposed to be cool and rainy this weekend for the Derby, but I can only hope that it will go up from there. I'm ready to put my pool up and get my float on! So anyway, this week I'm taking a week off from the gym, which is absolutely NOT fun for me! Going to the gym is something I really look forward to! But time off every now and then IS necessary-ya gotta do it! So I'm just walking/rollerblading and doing some glute and mobility exercises. I'm not sure what I'm going to do as far as my workouts when I get back...was thinking about having a few weeks without following a planned workout. But once you've gotten used to following a structured plan, it's really hard to just go in and just "wing it"! I am going to write up a new plan for me to follow eventually, with a few changes ...