Lindsay's Ramblings

Reject the notion that you have to revolve your life around a list of “do not eat foods” or that you have to spend a lot of time at the gym.  Health and fitness isn’t near as complicated as some people make it seem. Don’t be afraid to listen to your body and find the balance between eating well and being able to enjoy your favorite foods in moderation and being physically active through  progressive strength training , bodyweight workouts , or whatever it is you enjoy. -Nia Shanks

MONDAY UPPER BODY Nothing really to speak of for this workout. No PRs or anything crazy. Was too sore from Saturday to do a glute circuit, so I did some off set Farmer's walks instead, which I really like! 1)Clean + push press: 95x5/105x5/105x5/Push jerk-120x3/3/3/ Strict press: 80x3x5 2)Weighted neutral grip pullups: 25x4/35x3/35x3 3a)Overhand grip pullups: 10x5/10x5/ 0x8(rings) 3b)Incline DB chest press: 40x10/9/9 4)Hanging leg raise: 2x10/TRX pike: 2x12 Finisher: Off set farmer's walks: 45lb/60lb(kettlebell) x40 seconds/ twice each arm +Pullaparts 5x20 WEDNESDAY LOWER BODY This workout went great besides me tripping on my first set of box jumps! Makes me so mad when that happens. So yeah, I bruised and scraped up my knees real good. I'm done with box jumps from here on out. Not a great start to the workout, but luckily, everything else went well. But look-I think my thigh gap is getting smaller! And I am up 2 pounds, so that's good news. :) I kept f...

My favorite way to satisfy a sweet tooth is quite simple, really-eat something sweet! ;) In all seriousness though, I know this can be a major issue for some. When people ask me how they can satisfy their sweet cravings, what they are usually asking for are some healthier options that they can have in place of a candy bar or ice cream. Now, I have to say, I absolutely LOVE sweets. Some people are more savory/salty people, but I am definitely a sweets person. So I get it. I couldn't imagine life without sweets, so I will never be one to tell people that they just need more willpower, or that they need to cut out sugar completely. I don't believe in that. With that being said, even though I love my sweets, I actually don't have major cravings for them, as long as I have a few strategies in place. First of all, I don't deny myself anything. As soon as you tell yourself you can't have sweets, what's the first thing that will happen? Yup, you guessed it-you wil...

UPPER BODY Jerks felt weak this week, so I got mad and dropped the weight and ended up getting 5 with 115. Everything else went fine. Was finally able to hit the glutes, since I wasn't sore from Saturday's workouts. I really think it's the walking lunges that never fail to get me! 1)Push jerk practice: 125x3x1/115x5/ Strict press: 80x3x5 2a)Incline chest press: 45x8/7/7 2b)Weighted wide grip neutral pullups: 20x5/5/5/4/0x6/0x5+10 second hold last rep 3)Modified dragonfly: 3x8 4a)Swings x12/back extensions: 25x3x12 4b)Band walks: 4x15 Pullaparts x100 + handstand practice LOWER BODY I got a PR today! I decided to up the weight this week on front squats and just see what I could get, and I was able to get 3 reps with 155! This week was a deload from deadlifts, so I just did a couple sets of RDLs and added in reverse hypers. 1)Box jumps 30" 3x3 2)Front squats: 115x5/135x5/145x5/155x3 3)RDLs: 155x6/175x2x6 4)Glute ham raise: 0x8/10x3x8 5)Reverse hypers: 11...

 Pool days Everyone's talking about being excited about Fall, and I'm just over here thoroughly enjoying the last few weeks of Summer. It's been so nice the past few days. I don't want Summer to end!! Post Workout Ice Cream I enjoyed this beauty after leg day Wednesday. I mean, that is just perfection! I think Burger King has my favorite cone. It's one of my fave post workout treats in the Summer! Front Squats & PRs I got a PR this week! PRs come very rarely these days, so I'm happyyyy. :) I think my previous one rep max was 155. Then I saw this video  of me doing front squats with 140 for only 2 reps, so I guess that's progress, even though it was beltless. Now I really wanna get past the 225 mark on back squats! Bench press also felt awesome today, too!  :) This quote: This Song Such a pretty voice and pretty song! I'm loving it right now.

I'm all about striving to be the best version of yourself that you can be.  But you know what? Your best may NOT be at 10% bodyfat with 6 pack abs. I know mine isn't!    Your best self may actually be you with a little more body fat, because that is when you feel most strong , most energetic , most happy , and most healthy . And that's what being your best self is truly all about, at least to me! Abs are cool and all, and they require major dedication, no doubt about that. Just keep in mind that they aren't always the epitome of health. My best self is me living life to the fullest - happy, healthy, balanced, and FREE. Free from stressing about every morsel of food I eat, free from obsessing about how my abs look from day to day, free from anxiety over food and workouts. I fear that SO many people in fitness world are missing out on truly being  their  BEST ... because they've been led to believe that it's about super low body fat a...

I mentioned increasing carbs to twice bodyweight on lifting days, but I tracked my carbs and found that I'm actually already at about 240 on most lifting days! So now I'm thinking that I just need to increase calories on rest days. Because really, I am maxed out on training days and am not going to force feed myself when all my meals are super filling. I'll just increase off days, and usually my Fridays are a little lower, so I'll add some carbs there. MONDAY UPPER BODY This week I decided to add strict presses back in. They didn't feel as hard as I expected them to from not doing them in a while. I switched flat bench to incline and then did weighted pullups for the first time in a while. They did feel really hard! My glutes were so sore from Saturday still so I did farmer's walks instead of a glute circuit. 1)Military press: 65x5/75x5/80x5/80x5 2a)Incline dumbbell chest press: 45x3x7 2b)Pullups: 25x3x5/ 10x6+3 w/no weight 3)Hanging leg raise: 10/9/8/8 ...

Tell me if this sounds familiar: You're caught in a cycle of restrict --> binge --> shame --> restrict. 'Restrict' can take the form of a fad diet, a 'detox', o r simply extreme calorie restriction. You do GREAT for a while, then you find yourself losing control and binging. And then you feel shame and guilt, so you double down on your restriction efforts. Most people, when they recognize this pattern, attempt to stop the cycle at the binge. "If I can just avoid binging this time, I'll finally succeed". Binging is a normal physiological response to restriction. You can stop the cycle, but you'll have better luck stopping it if you stop it at the restrict stage. When you take a healthy, balanced, MODERATE approach to eating, the binging begins to fade away. It may not stop immediately, but it'll get less severe, and further apart, and then one day you'll realize that you haven't binged in weeks and weeks and weeks. ...

Oh, the unending IIFYM versus clean eating debate... It irritates me to no end when I hear people say things like, "I'm against iifym", or "I'm against clean eating". Okay, well, why? Just because YOU don't follow a particular nutrition protocol doesn't mean it can't work for someone else. If someone has found what works for them , isn't that what really matters, whether you agree with it or not?  Maybe someone developed an eating disorder by trying to eat "clean" 24/7 and IIFYM has helped them find freedom from fearing certain foods. Or maybe it's the opposite: someone enjoys clean eating because it allows them the freedom of not having to track and calculate grams, ounces, and percentages, or weigh and measure every single thing they eat. Have you thought about that? I'll tell you what I'm "for", and that's anything that helps someone get results in a stress free, enjoyable , sustainable ...

Since switching front squats and back squats, I'm getting great results and really liking it! As I've said, front squats feel SO much better in the lower rep range, and I'm suprisingly enjoying the higher reps for back squats. No hip flexor or any hip pain whatsoever, which makes me happy! I'm hoping that this change will help me to grow my quads! I'm already seeing a difference, but it could just be all in my head. My weight isn't up, so it really wouldn't make sense that I would be building muscle. Speaking of building muscle, I think I'm going to change up some things nutrition wise to focus on gaining a couple of pounds. I know, I know,  that doesn't sound like much, but on my body, it is. I'm consistently around 118-120 pounds, and I'd like to get that up to 121-122 again. I've already somewhat increased my calories in the last few months by adding more carbs pre and post workout, but my weight still hasn't gone up, so it's...

We just got back Tuesday night from a great visit to see the family in New York! It was so much fun getting to see the boys! They are both about to turn 5 and 3, and they are just adorable.   We had great weather there, so most of the time was spent playing with them in the pool... ...doing cannon ball... after cannon ball...   after cannon ball... And chicken fights! Look at the cuteness! Ziplining at Grammy and Poppi's house! Yum! We went to Seabreeze one day to ride a few rides. Of course our trip to Caledonia wouldn't be complete without a stop to Pizza Land, for some of "the best pizza anywhere"! It sure was good. And pizza wasn't the only "treat" I had on this trip, that's for sure! Always have to stop and visit Grandma Jo. She's just as fiesty as ever!  And of course, our annual family photos!

MONDAY UPPER BODY  This week I wanted to work up to a heavy single on push jerks, which didn't go so well. I've been doing 125 for 2 reps, so I figured I'd go for 135, a weight that I have jerked in the past. But I failed. Dropped down to 130, failed again. I really think it was mental though-I wasn't committing to dropping under the bar out of fear. So I just dropped the weight down and did more sets to practice. No worries, just going to keep working at them! Everything else went well. I was able to get an extra rep on chest presses on my first set. Did some muscle ups that felt really good. Maybe now I'll be able to start working on strict muscle ups again! No glute circuit afterwards because I decided to do my lower body workout Tuesday instead of Wednesday. 1)Push jerk: 115x1/125x1/135xfail/130xfail/125x1/115x4/115x4/95x5 2a)DB chest press: 50x7/6/6 2b)Ring pullups: 2x8/ T-bar row: 70x2x6 3)Muscle ups- 5 singles with 15-30 second rest 4a)Face pulls: 15/1...