Sunday, September 28, 2008

Turbulence Training Twitter Transformation Results

Here are my results from using Turbulence Training for Mass for 4 weeks! I lost an inch on my abdomen, which was unexpected as I was eating a ton of calories to try and build mass. I gained half an inch on each bicep.









I also finished my video! I'm entering this in the "video diary" contest. I wasn't sure I was going to make a video this time, but finally decided that I would. You can also try THIS LINK directly to You Tube. Sometimes I think it plays better right on the You Tube website.




Thursday, September 25, 2008

Turbulence Training 3 Minute Arms Workouts

Here's a video for you with Craig Ballantyne explaining his new "3 minute arms" system. The video is 5:25 long so you could be watching the video longer than it takes you to do the workout!



Stay tuned this week as it's the last week for the 4-week Turbulence Training Twitter Transformation Contest. I will try to post my results right away on Sunday!

Friday, September 19, 2008

The Flash Diet

A new study from the University of Wisconsin....Sing! Varsity.....Varsity....U-RAH-RAH Wisconsin...ahem, as I was saying, a new study now has shown that those who take photographs of their meals stick to their diet better than others.

Keeping a visible record may help to curb calories and/or increase the quality of your diet by allowing you to see and think more about what you are putting into your mouth. You can read more about the study by clicking HERE.

And on that note, here is a back log of photos I have on my camera! ;)

Tonight's Dinner



Turkey mignon (a little too well done), barley risotto from Gourmet Nutrition, grapes and an apple (not pictured)


Last Night's Dinner



Baked stuffing-coated pork chop, stuffing, cauliflower, applesauce


Tuesday Night's Dinner


Fancy Fish Sticks from Making the Cut, quinoa, broccoli

Today tip: go forth and photograph everything you eat! :)

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Important Announcements

The last day to enter the Turbulence Training contest and get the full 84 days to transform is now September 22! Craig Ballantyne's speciality is fitness, not math. ;)

However...you can enter LATER......you just don't get the full 12 weeks. And you don't have to send in your photos now...you just have to get them in by December 14th at midnight EST. Please see THE RULES for where to send your pictures.

And you don't even have to buy TT. You can get a free 4-week bodyweight workout by clicking HERE.

So if you've been hemming and hawing about entering, you still have time. You can still lose that 10 lbs by Christmas and look good while getting that kiss under the mistletoe.


And in other news, for all you avid readers (Thanks Andy T!), you may have noticed that Tuesday came and went with nary a tattoo in sight. There's nothing to report. So I'm not posting another picture until I have another treatment. Which may be awhile. They're not cheap!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

My Lucky Day?

Ever have one of those days where it seems everything goes your way? I think today is my day. First, I was feeling really strong in the gym this morning. I was doing TT for Mass, phase 1, workout B and I raised up all my weights and had new personal bests in squat (110lbs), romanian dead lift (85lbs), cable chop (90lbs) and BB step ups (80lbs). Then I decided to try pull ups even though my arms were a little sore from yesterday. I ended up doing 5!! I used a closer grip (shoulder width vs. a wider grip) so maybe that helped. Or maybe it was the Depeche Mode I was listening to - who knows? :) I'm still proud of the effort. And I made my goal of 5 pull ups in only 2 and half weeks!

Second, as I was walking to the bus stop, I reached into the pocket of a jacket I haven't worn in a very long time and pulled out $4.03. Whoo-hoo! Money I didn't know I had. I think I'm going to buy a lottery ticket today!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

A Sneak Peak

Hubby and I took "2 weeks" pictures this morning. I'm going to keep most of my pictures a secret, but I have to confess I was impressed in the changes in my back in only 2 weeks. I can't wait to see how things shape up after 12 weeks!

Remember, the last day to enter the TT Contest is tomorrow, Monday, September 15. You can see the rules by clicking HERE. I hope you will join me in the contest. It's the most motivating thing I have ever done in terms of fitness and getting in shape. There are tons of people on the forums to help, advise and cheer you on! Remember you get 3 months free to the forums when you purchase the Basic TT Manual. For me, it's been the best $40 I've ever spent.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Advice From the Naked Cowboy

I was flipping through my Fitness magazine and they had a little Q&A with NYC's Naked Cowboy. About his workout, he says, "I lift weights for an hour and run for nearly two hours every day, but I would never call exercising 'tedious.' Once you do that, you'll be pitting it against what you'd rather be doing, and a kingdom that is divided cannot stand. I think of my workout only as fun - the most fun there is."

What a great way to put it! If you don't enjoy your workouts, you won't stick with them and then your diet will go off track and then 3 months from now you'll be wondering why your weight loss efforts failed. This morning I thoroughly enjoyed my workout. I started with 35 minutes on the elliptical. I used that entire time to delete specific songs on my mp3 player. It's not very user friendly! After that, I did 12 chin ups! New best! After that, I did the "6 minute abs" circuit (in previous post). Good ab workout! Then, I did 5 pull ups - 1 at a time! LOL I would do 1, then rest a bit, then another, then rest, etc. Fun workout today!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Week 2 Update

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE TT for Mass? I have been raising the weights as much as I can to get the most out of each workout and I try to achieve at least one personal best in each workout. Today I had to do 1-legged squats. Man, those are tough! I'm going to try to post more about my workouts and nutrition from now on. Stay tuned!

My plan for the current contest is to use TT for Mass for the first 8 weeks (phase 1 and phase 2 are each 4 weeks long) and then for the final four weeks, I am going to use the new TT Home Abdominal Workout (Advanced). There is a bonus $500 prize going to the Transformation Contestant who has the best results with the new TT for Abs, so I'm going to give that a shot!

If you still want to enter the contest, the last day to begin is now September 15. Here are the RULES. Don't forget the Original TT Manual comes with 3 months free to the discussion forums. And you can still get it for $4.95 for the first 21 days as a trial offer. CLICK HERE to read more about that!


Finally, here is a recent email from Craig Ballantyne about his new "6 minute Abs" program that all TT for Abs customers will receive as a bonus (PS. I think I am going to try this circuit tomorrow!):

I hit the local YMCA for a leg and 6-minute abs workout on Sunday morning. Six-minute abs is my latest mini-report and workout coming out in October. You'll get a bunch of great beginner and advanced 6-minute ab workouts that show you how to get six pack abs in less time than it takes to watch all the commercials in a half-hour TV show. So some of these workouts you can do right at home in front of the TV.

The one I did yesterday was an advanced 6-minute workout, and it requires a chin-up bar. Here's how it went down...

1A) Hanging Knee Raises (10 reps)
1B) Spiderman Climbs (10 reps per side)
1C) Plank with Arms on Ball (20-30 seconds)

Go through that circuit as much as you can in 6 minutes with as little rest as possible between exercises. Don't even rest once you've completed the circuit, just start back again at the top. It's tough. But fun and effective and gets your workout done faster than ever. And it was a far better use of workout time compared to the people I watched doing 15 minutes of crunches. What a waste. I'll send you the bonus, "6-Minute Abs" workouts on October 1st, as soon as it is ready! You CAN train your abs in only 6-minutes!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Tuesday Tattoo Watch

Ok, I'm a little late. Tuesday night we went to the ball park and it went into extra innings. Then last night, I went downstairs and found our hot water heater leaking. Just wonderful. But here is the new picture. I think I see a little difference.



In other news, for those of you who like to start on Mondays, you now have until September 15 to enter the Turbulence Training contest!

Also, some of you know that music is one of my passions. I love discovering new music. I just got this CD a couple weeks ago and it has been glued to my CD player. It's called Division, by 10 Years. Hubby thinks it sounds a bit like Cold, but I also think it sounds a bit along the lines of A Perfect Circle. Maybe a mix of the two. In any case, I love every song on the album!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Turbulence Training Announcement

As of September 15, Turbulence Training is raising the rates for their TT Members website.

Here are the details...

1) If you are a current TT Member, your Membership Plan does NOT, and will not ever change. You are LOCKED IN at your low rate for life, unless you cancel. If you are a current member, you don't have to take any action right now, you are set for life.

2) If you are not yet a TT Member, you can join before September 15th for only $19.95 for a BASIC membership or $197 per year for a PLATINUM All-Access Membership (and NO monthly fee).

3) But if you wait to join TT Members until AFTER September 15th, it will be $29.95 per month for a BASIC Membership or $197 to jointhe PLATINUM Level plus $39.95 per month.

You can use this link to join the TT Members site to lock in the current rates: Turbulence Training Preferred Customer Discount Offer

Or you can use this link if you just want the TT Manual, which includes a 3-month free basic membership to the forums: Turbulence Training Manual


Either way, the last day to enter the contest is September 14 (CLICK HERE for Rules). As of today, there were about 55 people signed up for the contest. Think you can beat the other 55 contestants? Sign up!

This the video that the folks at TT created after the first contest. See if you can spot my You Tube debut!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

End of Week One Update

The end of week one is officially tomorrow for me, but I don't have any workouts between now and then. I've chosen to begin the new TT contest (For Rules, CLICK HERE) with TT for Mass. It's actually 4 days a week instead of the usual 3 days a week. I've really been enjoying it. I've done this program before (during the last contest) and I wanted to use it again. I'm sure it will help me reach my goals of gaining lean mass. My arms felt like noodles after the upper body days, and today my glutes are sore from yesterday's workout (yeah, I'm looking at you glute-ham raises). I've been aiming to eat around 2500 calories a day on my workout days, and about 1700-2000 on my non-workout days. I'm hoping this will allow me to gain lean muscle while minimizing the gain of fat.

Speaking of eating, today I got my other 2 new flavors of Muscle Milk delivered. (GNC has free shipping on internet orders over $40 through September 8th.) The cinnamon bun won first dibs so I tried it for my evening snack. I blended it with 1/2c cottage cheese, 1 serving of sugar free vanilla pudding powder and 3/4c water, then put it in the freezer for a few hours. It was very yummy with the taste of a fresh cinnamon roll. Not too overpowering, not too sweet. I am an ice cream fanatic so this is a pretty darn healthy substitute! I will try the rocky road flavor tomorrow night.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Tuesday Tattoo Watch

OK, does anyone see a difference here? Seriously.



I think I forgot to mention that you can enter the new TT contest until September 14. And the new Muscle Milk? The Cake Batter is Delicious!


Monday, September 1, 2008

New TT Contest...Cue the Patti LaBelle

"Ooo-ooo ooo-ooo oooo - I got a New Attitude"

New Contest.
New hair color (can't really tell in the photo).
New bikini (Hubby picked it out).
New photo-taking location.
New Goals.

I started the 2 new Turbulence Training contests today. The regular 12-week contest (For Rules, CLICK HERE) and the 4-week Twitter Twansformation Contwest (For Rules, CLICK HERE). I've loaded up my before pictures in the sidebar. My new goals for the 12-week challenge are to gain 4lbs of lean mass, and to be able to do 15 chin ups and 5 pull ups.

If you are looking for a new workout program that gives you results in as little as 45 minutes, 3 days a week, TT could be what you are looking for. And the $4.95 special is still going. Purchase TT for $4.95 for 21 days - if you don't like it, drop the folks at TT a message and they will give you a refund. Read all about it by CLICKING HERE. (The $4.95 special includes 3 months free to the forums.) Come and join me in either or both contests! I am Cesium0122 on Twitter.

I went to GNC to get the new flavors of Muscle Milk today and only found 1 store that had 1 left (Cake Batter flavor). So I went online and got the Rocky Road and Cinnamon Bun (Brownie Batter was on Backorder). GNC has Muscle Milk seriously discounted for Labor Day. And there was free shipping. I got a great deal! Will let you know how they taste!