Fun back and chest workout

Last week, I created my own workouts to add some "fun" into my prep. I am a little over one month away from the NPC Jr. USA show in Charleston, South Carolina. Guess who is excited?!?!

My favorite body area to train has been back. I think it is one of the most difficult body areas to train. You definitely need to have a focus with your mind and practice the movements so they target your back. Sometimes, our arms get too involved in back exercises.

Continue learning how your body works and what you can do each day and workout to become stronger!

Check out that forearm vein!

I am at a lower body fat percentage right now as I lean down for my show. One thing is for certain: there is a direct correlation with increasing muscle mass and decreasing body fat. Exercise alone will not make you reach your aesthetic or health goals. However, I hope workouts like the one below can help.

Thankful 30 - Day 10, broad shoulders

This morning, I felt like Batman. Why? The past few weeks, I have been falling... not anymore.

It is hard to get past tough times. I am lucky. My struggles are primarily internal and emotional. This weekend reminded me there are many other people facing greater hardships than I could ever imagine.

What do you train for? I train for life.

Today, I walked into the YMCA as usual. My Blender Bottle and iPhone in hand, focused and ready to go. Today was an arm and shoulder day, one of my recent favorites. I started with some stretches and warm up movements to get my arms prepped and noticed a young man in his teens and a 20-something, athletic man heading over to do some arms workouts with dumbbells. The 20-something walks over and says "hello", since I had seen him a few days before. I suspected he was one of the personal trainers with the Y, but had no confirmation of that until today.

We all continued with our routines and about a half hour later, the trainer approaches me.

"What are you training for?" I replied, "Nothing really, just life."

He seemed dumbfounded at my response. I have considered training for a body building competition as a bikini or figure competitor, but have not made the plunge yet. Nonetheless, the fact that I was doing supersets of heavier weights and circuit training for "life" seemed odd to him.

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you know I enjoy weight lifting much more than cardio. It's more challenging and I feel more active and accomplished when I finish a good session. The important thing to note about fitness though is I have not always been good at it. It has taken time, practice and training.

Let's compare fitness to work.

It's easy to get stuck in a rut. You may go to work every day, have the same tasks and problems to solve, work with the same associates over and over, and maybe feel like no progress is being made. For me, this past week was extremely trying and tiring. I am still new to the territory and my customers and there is a lot to learn. What happens when I give up? Do I move forward? Doubt it. The training I had this summer helped prepare me for where I am now, but I am still training. Everyone could classify himself or herself as in training because it does not stop once you get a job, get married, have a child, move across the country, etc. It is a continuous process.

Not every day or week is going to be a good training session. You might sweat or cry. However, if you remember you are training for YOUR LIFE and what you want it to be, don't you think it's worth it?

What are you training for right now that you can make a small change to make it easier for you, simpler in nature or more fun? Try something new and see what you can do.

Here is a video of something new I tried today. I could not do it for very long though after an already intense shoulder session! The trainer said I was in beast mode when he saw me doing them. :) I only did it for about 5 minutes in all honesty. But, you have to start somewhere!