Workout Log (15)

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/30 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

Tuesday – Lower Body

Recumbent Bike: 5 minutes, resistance 8

Barbell Squat: 45#x8 Warm-Up, 75#x8, 8, 8

Stiff Legged DL: 65#x8, 8, 8

Leg Extensions: [Start 4#] +50#x8, 8, 8

Lying Leg Curls: 30#x8, 8, 8

Standing Seated Calf Raises: [Start 60#] +25#x12, 12, 12

Lying Leg Raises: 15, 13, 13

Exercise Ball Crunches: 15, 15, 15

Recumbent Bike: 5 min, 5 resistance; 5 min, 8 resistance; Cool-Down: 5 min, 1 resistance

Walked Luna.  Would have gone longer but it was hot and she has an ear ache so I didn’t want to strain her too much.

Workout Log (14)

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/29 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

Monday: Upper Body

Recumbent Bike Warm-Up: 5 minutes, resistance  8

Bench Press: 50#x12, 12, 12

Bent Over Barbell Row: 40#x12, 12, 12

Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 15#10, 10, 10

Skull Crushers: 30#x10, 10, 10

Barbell Curl: 30#x10, 10, 10

Recumbent Bike: 15 minute intervals of 8 and 3 resistance, first 5 minutes were 4 minutes resistance 8, 1 minute resistance 3 and remaining 10 minutes were 3 minutes resistance 8, 2 minutes resistance 3.

Recumbent Bike Cool-Down: 5 minutes, resistance 1

When I was in the weight room, I noticed another girl doing similar workouts to what I was going to be doing for the day.  I glanced over a couple times as she went on to each new exercise and could guess what she would do next, accurately.  When I was going over to the rack with the dumbbells, I said to her that I believed we were doing the exact same workout.  She said she found it on BodyBuilding.com and I asked if it was Jamie Eason.  She said it could be but I knew it had to be.  Thought that was pretty funny.

In the evening, I took Luna for a 1 mile walk to grab the mail from the mailbox.  It’s starting to get pretty hot out here.  Should be fun once it hits full-on summer.  It’s almost 2100 and it is 89°F out right now.  Feels like an oven outside every time I open the door.

30th Post, Yet The Beginning

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/28 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

Happy 30th post to me!  I’m proud of myself for keeping up with this thing.  This post is the beginning of tracking my goals.  I’ve been a member on BodyBuilding.com since Jan. 2012 but it’s been over a year since I used it, other than for Jamie Eason’s workouts.  So before breakfast, I had C help me take my measurements so I could log them into the website and keep an accurate record of my progress.

According to BodyBuilding.com, I am considered “obese.”  My body fat percentage is 34% after using the body fat calculator on 550 Cord website.  Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (sarcasm).  I can’t help but be skeptical but I’m also motivated.  I’ll accept this and use this as a catalyst to change how I am.

C and I are challenging ourselves to eat paleo for a month.  If we can stay on track, this should help me see progress.  After all, “abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym.”

Workout Log (13)

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/27 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

Friday’s workout: Lower Body

Recumbent Bike warm-up: 5 minutes, 8 resistance

Dead Lift: 65#x12, 12, 12

Leg Press: [Start 60#] +20#x10, 10, 10

Dumbbell Lunges: 15#x12, 12, 12

Seated Calf Raises: [Start 60#] +25#x12, 12, 12

Dumbbell Shrugs: 15#x12, 12, 12

Decline Crunches: 15, 15, 15

Hyperextensions (replaced with Good Mornings): 45#x 10, 10, 10

This concludes week 1 of Jamie Eason’s Female Fitness Bible workout.

I love how empty the weight room is at one of the gyms between 0900 – 1100.  They’ve designated that time for women only.  And I am one of the few women that go during those hours that uses the weight room instead of living in the cardio room.  It’s awesome.  Don’t have to wait for equipment to open up.

After the gym, I grabbed Luna and met up with a friend, her boxer and baby for a walk.  It was nice having someone to talk to for a change.  It was pretty hot and I didn’t realize until later that day that I had gotten a nice pink hue to my face.

Workout Log (12)

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/25 at indianajane87.wordpress.com)

Today’s workout focused on the upper body.  Like Monday and Tuesday, I warmed up on the recumbent bike at resistance 8.

Dips: -80# body weight x 8, 8, 8

Pull Ups: -95# (first 5reps of 1st set) -110# body weight x 8, 8, 5    [I drew a frowny face next to this one.]

Lat Raises: 10#x10, 10, 10

Triceps Push Downs: 60#X10, 10, 10

Cable Curls: 40#x10, 10, 10

Recumbent Bike: 15 minute intervals (3 mins resistance 8, 2 minutes resistance 3).  5 minute cool-down, resistance 1

May 9th

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/24 at indianajane87.wordpress.com)

I have a date for the ASVAB.  May 9th.  Hopefully all works out this time.  SSgt H believes everything has been worked out.  Just in time for the ball that weekend.  I almost don’t believe that I’ll actually be able to take it.

Aside from that news and taking Luna for a walk, I decided to test out something that would help prevent her from barking.  I found a blog that talks about training your dog and read a particular post that talked about “reactive behavior” and preventing it.  Even though I read it a couple days ago, I hadn’t gotten around to actually doing the little project until today.

Humans: 1 Dogs: 0

 I kind of like the “frosted” look and so far it’s actually doing the job nicely.  She came inside a couple times from the backyard excited because there was probably a dog being walked near the front of the house that she wanted to get a better look at… and to bark at.  Well, she got to the front room and realized she couldn’t see out the windows.  After doing that a couple times, I think she gave up.  Now if only I had learned about this sooner.  It would have definitely saved my sanity.  I wish I could do something like this for the backyard fence.

Workout Log (11)

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/23 at indianajane87.wordpress.com)

This morning I weighed myself at 145.8!  Helloooo 145.  Well, basically 146.  But it has been a while since I even last saw that number.  Doesn’t seem like much but a few changes have made a difference.  Eating better and being more active.  And so far so good.

Today’s workout was lower body.  As mentioned in Workout Log (10), I followed the same routine but for Tuesday.  First I warmed up for 5 minutes on the recumbent bike at resistance 8.

Barbell Squat: (45#x 8 warm-up) 65#x8, 8, 8

Stiff-Legged Dead Lift: 65#x8, 8, 8

Leg Extensions: 50#x8, 8, 8    [This piece of equipment had a sticker that said "Start 4 lbs"... not sure if that means I add 4# to my weight for the total or not.  If anyone knows, please leave a comment so I know for future reference.  The seated calf raise was the same but with 60# start.]

Lying Leg Curls: 30#x8, 9, 9

Standing Calf Raises (did seated today): 20#x12, 12, 12   [+60#??]

Lying Leg Raises: 12, 12, 12

Exercise Ball Crunches: 15, 15, 15

I finished with 10 minutes on the recumbent bike alternating between resistance 8 and 3 with a 5 minute cool-down at resistance 1.

We took longer on our walk because I ran into one of my friends walking her baby and dog.  It was nice catching up.  The weather was nice for the walk.  Sunny, slight wind but warm.

Workout Log (10)

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/22 at indianajane87.wordpress.com)

Today is a day I can actually be proud of.  Why?  It was the first time in about a year since I had been to the gym.  It felt great considering I’m sick.  Well, C thinks I may have allergies.  Possible but I’m hoping it’s just a cold as I originally suspected.  But my mom told me she was around my age when she started having seasonal allergies.

I decided I would start doing Jamie Eason’s Female Fitness Bible.  So far I really enjoy it.  Monday is Upper Body.

Recumbent Bike: 5 minute warm-up, Resistance: 8

Bench Press: 30#x12, 40#x12, 12

Bent Over Barbell Row: 40#x12, 12, 12

Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 15#x12, 12, 9

Skull Crushers: 30#x10, 10, 10

Barbell Curl: 30#x12, 9, 9

Recumbent Bike: 15 minutes intervals, Resistance: 3, 8

Recumbent Bike: 5 minute cool-down, Resistance: 1

After I got home and had a protein shake, I took Luna for a 3.6 mile walk.  Pretty hot out today.

Didn’t realize how many days it’s been since I last posted.  Not really workouts but here are my MapMyRun walks and run.  Same day that I ran, I also did the Rittr Labs app for sit ups.  The sets were: 28, 26, 29, 28, 28, 26 = 165.

Yesterday, I did the sit up and push up apps.

Push Up sets: 11, 11, 13, 11, 11, 9 = 66

Sit Up sets: 28, 26, 29, 28, 28, 26 = 165

Now I’m all caught up for the past week.  No news on the ASVAB, yet.

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Took The Test... Sike!

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/16 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

First of all, I couldn’t decide if it was “psych” or “sike.”  I liked the look of “sike” better.  Moving on…

In my last post I said I was very likely actually going to be able to take the ASVAB.  Well, that didn’t happen.  I did the same ol’ song and dance of getting up at 0500 and got to the recruiting station by 0730.  There were five other people there (two girls, three guys) and as in the past, we are seen by the recruiter in the order that we arrived.  When it was my turn, I walked to his desk, told him my name and then said, “And the question is: am I on the roster?”

After he tinkered on his computer for a bit and looking at the printout of the MEPS roster, he saw that my name was on there but there was a strike-through on it with SPF and some other three letter mumbo jumbo.  So he called SSgt H.  After they finished talking he explained that the problem very likely (or actually) was that when they requested my MEPS documents from Indianapolis to be pulled, it was moved from Indy to the Los Angeles MEPS BUT it wasn’t switched from Marines to Army.  He said the computer was still showing I “belonged” to the Marines.

So he had me sign the same form that I would have been signing to take to the ASVAB site and made a copy of my social security card and driver’s license to send to MEPS so they can switch from Marines to Army.  I guess.  Hopefully that will clear it all up once and for all so I can finally take the ASVAB.  I believe I’ll most likely be taking it in LA instead of where I’ve been scheduled previously.  The recruiters believe it’ll make it easier to clear up any snafus if one comes up if I’m at the actual MEPS location.  I don’t mind.  It’ll be a later wake-up for me even though I’ll be getting back late.

Afterwards, I headed to Starbucks to kill some time.  The girl behind the counter said I had a very pretty jawline and that my hair cut compliments it well.  That made me feel pretty good about myself.  I have been struggling with liking my hair after I chopped off an unknown amount of inches a few months ago.

After running a couple of errands, I went to David’s Bridal and tried on dresses for the upcoming military ball (tried on about 7 dresses or so).  I ended up getting the first one I tried on.  It’s very elegant.  Much more expensive than I would have wanted to pay but I justified it by reminding myself that I paid only about $70 for the first ball and borrowed a dress for the second ball (free!).  I also hope to get my hair and makeup done because that’s something I didn’t do the other two times and want to look my best.  Who knows when the next time I’ll be able to wear a dress of my choosing to a military ball may be.  Well, that is unless my husband and I don’t end up being in the same unit.  I think women are allowed to wear dresses if they’re attending a ball where they don’t belong to the unit.  Not that I’m worried about that.  I’ll post pictures later when the time comes.

Coming back on post, the gate guard had me pop my trunk.  That was a first for me.  He said “Expect this to happen for a while.”  It has me wondering if this has anything to do with the Boston Marathon bombings and/or the letter tainted with poison sent to a senator.  Though I hadn’t heard about the latter until I got home and turned on the tv.  Kind of a hassle for me since my trunk doesn’t pop with the little lever inside the car anymore.  So I have to turn off the car, get out, and use the key to open it.  I felt a little bad for the people behind me waiting to get through as well.

When I got home, I took Luna for a walk.  We walked 3.78 miles, burned 318 calories and took a little over an hour to complete.

I found this Facebook page for the LA MEPS.  Looking through the pictures has me pretty excited.

Third Time's A Charm... Hopefully!

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/15 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

As it stands, I may be taking the ASVAB tomorrow morning.  Eep!  That is, if I’m on the MEPS roster.  SSgt H and his 1Sgt were not able to get a hold of MEPS to verify that I am in fact on the roster.  It does show in their own system that I am projected to test.  The only reason I am planning on making the drive out tomorrow morning is because SSgt H explained that they found three accounts with my name.  They deleted two and used the remaining to project me for the test.  Also, he thinks that there may be something to do with the fact that the first time I processed, I used my maiden name and this time my married name, all with the same social security number.  He said he has never seen someone have as much trouble to test as I have.  Fabulous, right?  Lucky me.

I spoke with a lady at my former doctor’s office regarding the medical documents that I have been waiting on.  They sent the request out to an outside doctor that has the files but they saw that the request was still pending.  I asked specifically if they’d be able to send the documents concerning my ACL surgery from 2004 over to the recruiting station if/when they find it and she said they could.  So hopefully the recruiting station will receive the faxed documents tomorrow and that part can proceed (hopefully) without issue once it comes time to me going to MEPS for the physical.

I recently went for two 2 mile runs.  I suppose the first one was short of 2 miles, and admittedly not really so much of a run than a walk/run.  I had Luna with me for that one.  Yesterday’s run I did sans dog.  Barely made my time much better, though.  For some reason, the neighborhood runs just kill me.  And I’m still breaking in new shoes that give my pain in my shins and calves + the hills.

Prior to the run on the 14th, I did the Rittr Labs apps for push ups and sit ups.

Push up sets: 11, 11, 13, 11, 11, 9 = 66

Sit up sets: 28, 26, 29, 28, 28, 26 = 165

I was pretty close to muscle failure on the push ups.  And my chest is sore from them.  Today I took Luna for a .8 mile walk around the neighborhood in the gusting winds.  Not really worth posting the MapMyRun image.  Anyway, I need to end this post so that I can get to bed at a decent time.

Catching Up & Big Bear Lake

(Originally Posted on 2013/04/09 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

I’ve been slacking on posting.  However, not a whole lot has happened in regards to working out or enlisting.  As it stands, I am scheduled to take the ASVAB next week on Tuesday.  My recruiter believes it will actually work this time.  He just wants me to call on Monday to confirm I’m on the MEPS roster to test.

Last week I took Luna for a 3.21 mile walk, 1.23 mile run, and a 2.06 mile run.  My run times were awful because I had the dog with me.  About halfway through the 2 mile run, Luna had some business to attend to, and I don’t know about you but I wasn’t about to run with a bag full of poop.  That slowed me down until I made it to the nearest trashcan.

I really need to up my cardio.  I run very sporadically without any real plan.  In fact, I need to workout in general a lot more regularly.  It’s still been about a year since the last time I went to the gym here.  I used to have a workout partner or two but I really need to stop using that as an excuse to not go.

This weekend C, Luna, and I went up to Big Bear Lake with intentions of going camping.  However, I missed the information in my research about the campgrounds being closed for the winter until next month.  So we had to improvise and instead stayed at Big Bear Lakefront Lodge, which is dog friendly.  The experience of that was unique in itself.  I say that because Luna had never stayed in a hotel setting before and was on edge almost the whole time.  She wanted to be out and about and hated staying in one room while we were there compared to having free reign of our house.

The best part was that we had a great view of the lake from the room and Luna was able to go out and play in it for the first time.  At first she was afraid of the moving water but she and I walked along it until she was comfortable to step in.  And then she had a blast splashing away.  After the lake, we went for a walk, which I have no idea how far we went since my phone’s battery was low and running the MapMyRun app would have killed it.  It was probably a couple or few miles.

The second day we were there, we hiked 4 miles.  There were a couple times that it was difficult due to the steep incline but it was a lot of fun.  The view was gorgeous (first picture).  Coming down went by so much faster than I expected.  Several others brought their dogs and they were all almost better behaved than Luna.  She just gets excited when she sees other dogs and wants to meet them all.

I think we may try going out there again when the campgrounds are open and it warms up.  I want to see if Luna will try swimming in the lake since she only went in about chest-high and she may need encouragement from me if I’m able to get in all the way myself, as well.  I waded in this time but the water was still icy cold.

Glitch In The System

(Originally Posted on 2013/03/29 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

I just got off the phone with SSgt H.  He said to not come in on Tuesday 2013APR2 for the ASVAB.  There is, for some reason, a glitch in the system with my name.  He believes it’s very likely that it’s caused from the request for the documents from the MEPS in Indianapolis.  He’s hoping to get it resolved by the 9th so that I can take it then.

I also don’t believe it’ll be likely for me to take the test at the ed center on post, which I understand.  It’s not in the system as a possible testing site and it’s run by the Army, not MEPS.  And the people that proctor the tests and the sites are employees of MEPS, not the Army. I’m just glad they seem to be doing what they can to get me able to test and aren’t making me come in next week only to find out I cannot test and go through the same thing as the past two weeks.

I am honestly glad that I did get more time to study.  Two weeks ago I was worried and stressing out because I didn’t feel prepared.  I had only had two weeks at that point to refresh myself on the math sections and that isn’t really enough time to let all that information sink in once again and have it memorized.

I have the ASVAB For Dummies book, and I’ve made myself flash cards.  In my previous ASVAB related posts, I’ve also found websites that can help me with my studies.  I feel like I have to get as close to, or better than, the 83 that I got in 2008.  I definitely owe it to myself to score as high as I can with these chances to study more.

ASVAB - Mathematics Knowledge & Arithmetic Reasoning

(Originally Posted on 2013/03/28 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

I mentioned before that I would be taking the ASVAB on Tuesday.  However similar (almost identical) to the previous week, I was unable to take it.  Last week a recruiter said he’d call me before the day of testing to confirm that the projection was successful.  Which he did.  So I woke up at 0500, get there by 0730 and again sign the document for the ASVAB.  However unlike last week, the recruiter (different than the previous week) looked at the roster that the 1Sgt (by the way, apparently he emails it to the office the day of the test… but I guess the last recruiter didn’t get it or didn’t look?) and did not see my name on the roster to take the ASVAB even though the projection went through in their system.  He said I could go to the testing site but the chances of me actually taking the test that day would have been 5% and then would have to stick around with the recruiter for 3 hours until the other three finished.  I opted to try again next week.  I joked that maybe the third time’s a charm.

Therefore, five days from today I hopefully will be finally taking the ASVAB.  Four days of studying.  I found a few random websites to hopefully aid in my studies.

Everything You Need To Know About Fractions

Decimals

Fractions, Decimals, and Percentages

Math Word Problems

I view this as the Universe saying I better get a pretty awesome score with all these extended chances to study.  But I also hope that I get to take it soon and move on to the next step!

Workout Log (9)

(Originally Posted on 2013/03/25 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

I keep a “to-do” list on my phone.  For the longest time, I had “Pass APFT” on there.  Today, I am very happy to say that I crossed that off my list!  *insert crazy person happy dance here… too tired to actually do so*

I’ll let this picture do the talking.  If you click on it, you’ll see two previous test results with today’s at the top.  Pass!  And you know what?  That’s only 90 points away from a perfect score.  I think I’ll get there.  With a little extra work and some time.

I tried something a little different with my push ups today.  Instead of pumping out as many as I could before needing a break (front lean rest position), I did 5 at a time, taking a rest in between up until I could only do 2 and then 1 at a time.  Not sure I liked that since it takes some out of me just to be in the rest position.  I kind of like the idea of just getting as many as I can and then two at a time until I can’t do any more.

As for my run, you can see I did it on the track again.  Since I’m having trouble knowing when exactly to stop, I’ve changed the setting on MapMyRun from minutes (it updated me every 5 minutes with my distance, pace, and time) to distance (it should now update me every mile).  It’s next to impossible to see the screen outside in the sun and before I could hit the pause button, the screen went blank and that little extra time kept running.  So from my computer I looked at exactly the 2 mile mark and it said 18:34.

Here’s proof!

I’m glad I pushed myself to run until I was finished.  That’s right, boys and girls, this moi didn’t walk.  It was still an incredibly slow pace but now I have no excuse to walk for the next time.

Now that I got that out of the way, I can focus on studying, cleaning and getting to the clinic.  I need to get a release form so that my previous doctor’s office can fax over my medical documents since I cannot seem to find those anywhere despite my mom saying she gave them to me prior to me getting married and moving out here.  I’m going to need them so I don’t have to get every shot under the sun and the biggest reason; because I tore my ACL in 2004 and had surgery for that.  I know I had those documents when I enlisted with the Marines in 2008 but they seem to have gone missing.  I do have an appointment set up to have a physical to be cleared that way, just in case I can’t find the original documents.  But the hunt continues for those because I know it will only help to have them.