At the half way point

I’m half way through my 12-week muscle building program. The place I’m seeing the biggest gains is my legs – mostly in the quad sweep. I’ve been working legs twice a week so it’s no surprise it’s starting to show. In fact, I met with Kim last Friday to discuss my progress and we decided that for the rest of the program I will alternate double legs and double back workouts so that for one week I’m working legs 2x and the next week I’m working back 2x.

I’m struggling a bit with achy joints – my elbows and my knees. I think the hack squat is the culprit for my knees so I’m edging my toes higher on the platform. Kim told me to start taking a joint support supplement. I’ll give it a couple weeks and see how my joints are doing. If they are still a mess I’ll need to lighten up on the weight I’m lifting. It’s pretty heavy and I’d like to keep lifting heavy, but it could be I need a rest/change.

Steak is on my weekly meal plan 3x per week now which is great news. For some reason white fish for dinner just isn’t doing it for me right now so if I can eat steak 3 dinners per week that means I only have to eat white fish 4 dinners per week. That’s not too bad. :o)

I was in Silicon Valley on business a week ago and keeping on my nutrition plan continues to be a challenge. I brought a couple meals with me on the plane since my flight was short and I figured the food wouldn’t spoil. I also brought my whey protein with me and a meal replacement shake for emergencies. When I got to my hotel I immediately went in search of bottled water. The hotel (a Hilton) didn’t have a convenience/gift store so I walked to the Hyatt and bought four 1-litre bottles of Fiji water for $15.00. Yikes! Later I realized the fitness center had one of those 5 gallon water dispensers and realized I could’ve probably just purchased two litres of water and refilled them there. Another challenge was room service for breakfast. I wrote on the order form that I’d like 5 egg whites, scrambled, and a bowl of oatmeal. They delivered it promptly in the morning as requested and as I signed the bill, I realized they had charged me $33. Geez. Clearly I need to figure out something or I’m gonna go broke!

Some competitor friends suggested I try bringing a cooler of my own food on the plane, packed with hard plastic blue ice thingys to keep the food cool. Others suggested I bring the cooler with food and, once past security, to place ice from the food stands in ziplock bags in the cooler. Definitely worth trying one or both of these ideas. I’m going to New Mexico this week so I’ll let you know how this goes.