Stephani Morrison's daily journal for my 2013 shows!

[sgkelley]

So let me tell you what's been going on since i've taken a year off competing. I got married, opened my own women's personal training studio, hired 3 girls to work with me, prepped other girls for their bikini contests, got another dog (so 2 awesome bull terriers), bought a house and had some health cancer scares and found out i had thyroid problems as well.

Well now since january my health has been straightened out....which i'm very excited about, my business is doing well and my marriage is great....yet everyday different stressors happen. Everybody has stress, and some more than others, but it's about how you approach your situations and handle it. For some things you just need to breath and understand that stressing about it won't make it any better. Other situations are when you need a great friend and/or support system to tell you to get it together, handle it and move forward.

In february 2013 I made the decision to do my contest prep with Dave Pulcinella of Pulse Nutrition. I had watched Dave's Raising the Bar movies and then found out my best friend was using him. The way she spoke about him made me itch to want to work with him. It took me almost a year to make that decision. Let me tell you, after just doing our initial meeting i had such a great feeling about how well we would work together.

It can be tough for a trainer to abandon their thoughts and theories of what they should do. Sometimes you just need to let someone else take the reins.

So feb 4 was my official start day. I was approx 143 lbs and 28% bf. I can't believe that's what it was but when my thyroid decided to konk out on me i started gaining 2 lbs a week no matter what i did.

As of monday i weighed 131 lbs and 18.8% body fat. I am 8.5 weeks out from my first show of they year. I have high hopes of doing well and we shall see. My goal is to do well in this first show so i can qualify and compete at the ifbb north americans and then next year to the arnold classic!!!! a dream that i am working to make come true :D Right now every monday i am meeting with dave to check-in and see my progress and get my stats. We just recently made a change to my nutrition plan and my body is actually loving it. I am learning that I feel better on no carbs than when i have carbs. Carb cycling rocks!!

What i am going to do with this thread is each day write up what i did so you can see each day what my life is like, workouts etc. If i come up with some recipes or tips i will def share them.

So right now i am doing cardio first thing in the morning 7 days a week for an hour and then 4 days a week i do another round of cardio but not as long. I keep my lifting routines to around 30 mins. My current stressors are my business and i am flying overseas in 3 weeks (5 1/2 weeks out from my show) and return when i am 3 1/2 weeks out. My grandfather was diagnosed with 2 cancers and this weighs on me a lot. I love my family very much and hate to see any of them sick or in pain. I want to help but it is out of my hands. Hopefully just being there for him will do something. But i must stay focused and keep pushing.

Tomorrow look for my post of my workout for the day and how the day went :D

[The Prodigy]

WELCOME to my favorite place! RX Girl is the place to be! I will be keeping my eye on you, your prep, and cheering you on! Post in others journals, read others journals...there is a LOT of great things going on in here! You are sure to learn a ton, stay motivated, network and make a ton of friends!!!!!! #pulsegirlforever #ingoodhands

[broadys]

Welcome to Rx Stephani
Look forward to following along with your prep

[sgkelley]

Alrighty so heres how today went.
Completed my hour of cardio this morning. I did 30 mins on the arc trainer(love what it does for the booty) and a walk on a high incline for 10 mins then dropped the incline and walk /ran for 20 mins.
On my way to work ate my first meal and trained a few clients. After had a few errands to run and an appt for me. I wanred to lift today but since i had 40 mins and it was pretty outside i ran at a local park for 30 mins. Went back to work from 4-730 and got this crazy idea that i should use my push mower and cut my grass at 730 pm. Felt like im doing a bazillion butt blasters!!! Well now im getting my last meal in so i can go to bed and make it through tomorrow :)
As far as my meals today. Did great with that however all of my meals were swai fillets becaause i forgot to thaw chicken. Its ok.....the fish was better. Im trying to eat my food plain and disassociate it from it being yummy. I am actually enjoying it plain and learning to think of it as fuel. :) just be a robot and eat it :)
Tomorrows workout will be cardio 2x and a lifting session. Stay tuned :)

[nic902]

Hey girl, welcome aboard! I look forward to following along your prep :)

[The Prodigy]

Alrighty so heres how today went.
Completed my hour of cardio this morning. I did 30 mins on the arc trainer(love what it does for the booty) and a walk on a high incline for 10 mins then dropped the incline and walk /ran for 20 mins.
On my way to work ate my first meal and trained a few clients. After had a few errands to run and an appt for me. I wanred to lift today but since i had 40 mins and it was pretty outside i ran at a local park for 30 mins. Went back to work from 4-730 and got this crazy idea that i should use my push mower and cut my grass at 730 pm. Felt like im doing a bazillion butt blasters!!! Well now im getting my last meal in so i can go to bed and make it through tomorrow :)
As far as my meals today. Did great with that however all of my meals were swai fillets becaause i forgot to thaw chicken. Its ok.....the fish was better. Im trying to eat my food plain and disassociate it from it being yummy. I am actually enjoying it plain and learning to think of it as fuel. :) just be a robot and eat it :)
Tomorrows workout will be cardio 2x and a lifting session. Stay tuned :)


Do you get Udo's Oil in your diet? That stuff is growing on me! I was a Mac Nut Oil fan before..

[sgkelley]

I actually do get udos oil. I love it. When i first tarted i only read on my sheet i read udos oil went to gnc and go the softgels. Well i later realized i was the oil i was suppose to get and for the first week had to take like 14 softgels to equal 1 tblsp. Oops :)

[The Prodigy]

I actually do get udos oil. I love it. When i first tarted i only read on my sheet i read udos oil went to gnc and go the softgels. Well i later realized i was the oil i was suppose to get and for the first week had to take like 14 softgels to equal 1 tblsp. Oops :)

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! I hated it at first! It was to "fishy" for me! Now I love it!

[Tiffany Heilaneh]

Welcome Stephanie!

[sgkelley]

Thanks tiffany!
last couple of days have been crazy. I was exhausted and it was my body telling me to rest. So unfortunately thursday i rested as well as friday. Friday though I thought I was going to be able to go to the gym and have a fantastic leg workout and then go to the park and get some cardio in. Well first i had clients all morning and had to do some program updates. Right after i had to go to a bank 40 mins away to give them stuff in order to get our auto loan to go through for my new Jeep :D
well i was already on my way back home when i received a call that they needed more from me. So i drove back and ended up sitting there for 2 hours. You know what I'm thinking about the whole time.....crap i didn't bring my food. Here is a lesson for everyone. Don't ever think you will be back in time to eat. Always always pack all of your meals. so i ate the almonds i had with me, then got chicken from chipotle across the street. Then on the way home a protein bar. This all sucked!!!! I was very hungry since i was over my time on my food and ate more than i should have. poop. well you move on! got home, took care of the dogs and passed out on the couch. They decided to climb on top of me and sleep as well. My husband thought this was a good moment for a picture. will have to post that pic later :D
Saturday morning had to get up early and get the paperwork done so i can get tags and title for the car. Can i say how much i hate sales tax on a car. so we were out for 3 hours and oh....didn't bring food but i loooooooove my jeep. Made it to his parents house right after and i raided there fridge. I found some black forest ham and ate that.

Here was my workout for the day. I push mowed the lawn for over 4 hours!!! I felt like i was pushing the mower straight up a mountain! my legs are sooooo tired today. When i do too much stuff and not rest my immune system shuts down. today i am coughing and tired but my mindset is great :D A lot of household duties to get done and programs to write up and spend time with my husband.

Tomorrow is a new day and a new week....thank goodness. I report to my coach tomorrow and will find out how i am doing. I def know this week wasn't good but each day you learn something new that will help you progress.
I am 8 weeks as of yesterday to my show and 3 weeks until i leave to go overseas to see my parents and grandparents and help my grandfather as he is going through his chemo treatments. Cancer is a bit@#. My husband had lymphoma about 3 years ago and now my grandfather has it. My husband has been in remission for about 2 years now and every 6 months or when he gets tired or a cough it is something that is always in the back of our minds. Now my grandfather is going through stage 4 lymphoma and also has melanoma. I have a goal of putting together a 5k this year through my studio for lymphoma and melanoma.
There is always a lot going on and one of my goals with my business is to be able to get really involved in my community and schools. My clients know that I compete and that I am currently preparing for a show. What people need to understand is yes, you are going to miss a workout, you are going to eat something you shouldn't, you are not going to lose 2 jean sizes in a day.....you will however learn what your strengths and weaknesses are, feel better about yourself, you will be healthier, stronger, faster and have more willpower than ever. The point is that you keep pushing yourself. Surround yourself with people who support and believe in you. Not everyone is going to understand why you don't just take a bit of something. there are going to be people who will try to sabotage you, people will put you down....and why? because they are insecure and unhappy with themselves and want you to be as well. Instead of fighting it why not ask them why don't you eat _________? why keep complaining about the way you look/feel? why not come with me and workout? why not eat better?
Whether you are competing or just trying to get healthier there will always be obstacles. But those obstacles are steps to a stronger you

[nic902]

Great post!

We're always learning something new...NEVER leave the house without ALL your meals, the worst thing is being stuck out somewhere and starving!

Surrounding yourself with people who support you is KEY to having success and happiness. Not just in bodybuilding but with anything we do in life. The people we share our lives with don't have to understand why we do it, etc but support and encourage our choices.

My thoughts are with you and your family <3

[sgkelley]

hey rx peeps!
so this week was actually a great week. I have just been very busy so i chose sleep over typing something up. This week i am less than 8 weeks out from my show. I did cardio 2x a day this week (loved every minute...not sure why :D ) and lifted everyday except for thursday (every muscle in my body was sore). Some examples of what i did for my workouts this week were legs and shoulders on monday, tuesday was back,biceps and abs wednesday was shoulders, triceps butt and abs, thursday only abs and today i am going to hit legs again. Every single time i workout i do a different routine. The body parts i stick to about 10-12 reps are back, shoulders, abs and butt with a challenging weight. Parts like biceps and triceps are about 12 reps with a moderate weight because I don't want to train them for growth but for now just maintenance so that my shoulders can appear bigger (but i do have some guns) and I love having my arms but i am thinking about overall appearance. I don't want my shoulders to have to play catch up. My legs it varies with the exercise of how many reps i do. some of my favorites are sumo squats in the smith, dumbell walking or in place lunges, db reverse lunges, db reverse curtsy lunges, using the leg extension as a hip extension for the booty :D straight leg deadlift and using a heavy dumbell to do a sumo squat where i squat down, set the dumbell down, stand up and squat back down and pick it up and i try to do it quick and squeeze my butt really hard.
I do use the leg extension and leg curl machines however every now and then.

My main focus is to keep losing body fat while maintaining my lean mass. my trouble areas are right underneath the butt to get that really tight and some hip fat where my bikini sits.

I would love to know what everybody else does either for lifting or cardio to tighten up the area right under the butt, the hips and what was worked for them to shed overall bf. any help is greatly appreciated.

time to get some cardio in so i can eat and head to a wellness fair our county has put on that we are a part of. time to inspire and help more women...i love my job!
btw today i get carbs :D

[nic902]

I would love to know what everybody else does either for lifting or cardio to tighten up the area right under the butt, the hips and what was worked for them to shed overall bf. any help is greatly appreciated.


That is a pretty common trouble spot for women..UGH! Of course, we cant spot reduce and it comes down to overall body fat but to get that area tight as far as training goes, I'm all about squats and deadlifts. When it comes to cardio, nothing beats sprints (outdoor when possible) or the stepmill.

[sgkelley]

Thanks nic902. Wish i had access to a stepmill. But i am going to start incorporating sprints. Ill prob put it at a decent incline.
Mow another question. Any go to exercises to get my abs to show up quicker as im losing bodyfat? Starting monday one of my bffs and i will be filming little clips on mondays for the next 7 weeks to watch a competitor and a non competitor change :)