Week one complete!

I just completed the first week of competition prep. It went GREAT! My elbows and knees are holding up nicely. The only challenge I had was in holding dumbbells while doing wall ball squats. I want to hold at least 25 lb dumbbells in each hand but the weight is just too much on my elbows. One of my Twitter friends, @FitnessGirl911, suggested I wear a weight vest. I think that’s a great idea and today I went shopping for one. I found a 40 lb weight vest. It’s a bit lighter than the 50 lbs (and more) I want to use but it certainly will help the elbow issue. The only problem I have now is figuring out how to lug the 40 lb vest plus my gym bag plus my cooler into the gym twice a week (or more). I have to climb stairs to get to the workout floor and I think slugging the vest around is going be hard on my elbows!! Geez. I guess I could wear it :o) My current plan is to ask the gym manager if I can have a locker assigned to me for the next few months. That way I can leave the vest there and not have to lug it around.

The food part of my comp prep is super easy so far. I’m still at 1830 calories which is a lot. We upped my cardio to 25 minutes, 5 days per week to help jump my metabolism a little more. The goal is to keep the muscle I’ve built this last summer while leaning down and keeping my joints healthy. So far so good.

Tomorrow I am having an evaluation with Lou McGovern, a Z-Health joint mobility specialist. He was referred to me by Mike T. Nelson (@MikeTNelson on Twitter). I don’t know a lot about this type of thing but basically Lou is a performance coach and Z-Health “is a cutting-edge exercise system that helps people improve their health, alleviate their pain, and maximize their athletic performance.” (via www.essentialhealth.com) . Also, from Lou’s website: “Z-Health focuses on the whole-body approach with training principles that have the goal of re-educating the nervous system for maximally efficient movement patterns. Z-Health is very precise, uses a low number of repetitions, and emphasizes the perfection of movement skills. As a result, the program will help you improve joint lubrication and function AND will teach you how to eliminate poor movement patterns that may have developed over time.” I’m excited to check it out – plus a little nervous. I’ll report on how it all goes.