The Last 5%

It is much easier to do things that we are good at than to work on things that we are not so good at. If only I had a dollar for every client that I have trained that said, "Please don't make me do pushups, I am not good at them." Even though this usually only makes me add more pushups to their routine, I must admit that sometimes, I am no different. Unfortunately this has left me playing catch up in regards to getting my body ready for the show. I am much happier and confident withmy upper body than I am with my lower body, this is because I enjoy training my upper body. My lower body is much more of a physical and mental struggle for me and therefore it is my biggest area of concern. For the past 6 weeks I have had to go much harder and be much more dedicated to my legs than ever before in getting them up to par by August 28th.

Now that you are aware of my physical weakness (which is no longer a weakness), I will share with you my biggest mental weakness. This is the phenomenon of the last 5 %. Maybe some of you can relate. No matter what I am embarking on in my life, I always struggle the most getting through the last 5 %. Every single day while doing my cardio, I feel the last 5% percent kick in and I literally want to stop right before the finish line. In the past, I would have occasionally convinced myself that I had done enough and that there was no harm in stopping early, but I can honestly say in the past 6 weeks that has never been the case.

As the last 5 % of my training and preparation is quickly approaching, I am keeping a close eye on my dedication, enthusiasm and motivation to eliminate any tapering before it starts. Here is how I have managed and will

continue to overcome the last 5 %. And for this, I am eternally grateful for my teammates.

During my freshman year of college basketball, my team succeeded on making it to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. Every game and every practice during March could have been our last, and we knew it. We truly understood that tomorrow our amazing experience could be over and this drove us to leave everything out on the court, every single minute we were on it. The motto we adopted was simple, "Limited Edition." Without even realizing it, this has become a philosophy in my life. I have one chance and one chance only to give it my very best every single workout. My last few remaining workouts, like everything else in life, are in limited supply, so stopping early or cruising through can not be options. Like the experience of the Final Four, realizing that their are no moments in life that we can get back, makes

us appreciate each one a little bit more. At the end of the day, this will leave us without that empty feeling of what we should have or could have done better.

"Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touch down."

The Wanderer

There is something I feel really guilty about and need to get off my chest... My confession is the numerous gyms I have been to in the past few weeks without ever paying for an actual gym membership. There is no way around it...I am a straight up gym nomad, a wanderer. There should be a wanted picture of me hanging up in every gym in the tri state area. I can not say I am proud of all the times I have casually walked past the people at the front desk or how many times I have used the same three-day pass, but as a struggling college student who currently answers phones at a pizzeria four nights a week, I have to do what I have to do. On the plus side, it is more than just about saving money. I truly enjoy visiting all these gyms with a variety of different people. It keeps me on my toes. My workouts are fresh and exciting and my mind stays motivated. I will give you an idea of all the places I have been so far just in these three weeks.

1) New York Sports Club, Springfield- I have been on the same three-day pass for three months. Thanks Ari son.

2) Gold's Gym, Greenbrook- My brother Mike's been working out there for years, when I walk in with him I'm golden.

3) Lifetime Fitness, Berkeley Heights, NJ- I intended to use my friend's guest pass, but no one was at the desk, so the guest pass lives for another visit! YES!

4) The College of New Jersey Physical Enhancement Center- My home away from home.

5) New York Sports Club, Mahwah, NJ- Guest pass.

6) Planet Fitness, Staten Island, NY- All I had to do is flash my dad's gym membership card.

7) Core Connections, Stirling, NJ- great yoga! Great friend and occasional workout partner of the owner.

I wish that I was as good at figuring out ways to get into bars without an ID, but my extent of acting like I belong in a place that I shouldn't be only extends to gyms.

I will say though that I have one and only real home when it comes to gyms. Only one place where my sweat is permanently ingrained on the floor around the stairmaster. This is my brother, Mike's, gym, The Body Shop, in Stirling, NJ. It has got everything my mom and I need to have a bad ass workout, including a Rocky Balboa and 300 poster. Another benefit about The Body Shop is that it is less than a mile from my house. On days that I am crazy enough to wake up at 5:30 am, I workout with my mom before she goes to work. We take the dogs for a brisk walk and let them hangout in there with us while we do our workout. On our brisk walks the dogs get in their cardio as well. My mom probably could medal in the Olympics for speed walking and every few steps my pug, Rocky, and I must break into a jog just to catch up.

Here is the website for the Body Shop so you can check it out...

http://thebodyshopstudio.com/Site/HOME.html.

So since I have unintentionally collected such a long list of gym's where I have got my swell on, why not make it a goal of mine to visit as many random gyms as I can before my show. If anyone wants to barter a workout in my gym, The Body Shop, for a workout in your gym, where ever that may be let me know. Hope to see you soon!

P.s. Six weeks till show time!

Stepping outside the comfort zone...

So three weeks have gone by and I still can not decided whether the time has flown or its dragged on...Either way a lot of thinks have things have taken place in this small amount of time. Fun fact, in three weeks I have consumed roughly 14 dozen eggs, over 5 lbs of chicken, over 5 lbs of turkey, 6lbs of tilapia, 42 scoops of protein powder, and 21 cups of asparagus. Multiply that by two and you can imagine the type of protein that is being manufactured in our kitchen day in and day out.

Before I started this specific training regiment and diet I weighed about 130 to 131 lbs, which is a normal, comfortable weight for me. However, currently I am weighing in around 124 to 123 lbs. My estimated weight the day of the competition is about 110 lbs, which I probably haven't weighed since birth. Anyway, anyone who knows my philosophy as a personal trainer, they know how much I hate scales and forbid my clients to use them. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I have turned into a total hypocrite. Every morning right when I wake up, I go pee, and then go right to the scale to record my weight and send it to Al. Although I eat the same thing everyday and roughly expend the same amount of energy, my scale weight is unpredictable and whether I will be up a pound, down a pound or exactly the

same seems completely arbirituary. I know my body and I know it is changing regardless of the number on the scale, so I do not get too bent out of shape. I have always preached that being obsessed with your scale weight is pointless and we should not use it as an indication of whether of not our hard work is paying off. I believe that now more then ever. Trust me, one thing I am looking forward too is getting rid of this dreadful morning routine.

This past week I realized how this whole experience is going to take me out of my comfort zone. It is actually going to throw my comfort zone out the window. This realization occurred with the arrival of my heels in the mail. They are clear and four inches high. The box they come in literally says, "Pleaser...Sexier than ever." Coming from a girl that wore the same converse sneakers to prom that I am wearing right now, I honestly can say I do not even remember the last time I wore heels. This is my first and hopeful my last pair of hooker heels. Although my mom and I are still searching around for our competition suits, I am getting a taste for just how revealing they are. Something about me you may not know is that I only started wearing bikini bathing suits at around age 18. And If I did wear one, I was always that girl who kept her clothes on over it. Yesterday I put it all together and strutted my stuff in a swim suit... and the heels of course. There were only three other people in the room and I felt like I was going to vomit.

TWO words...AWKWARD and UNCOMFORTABLE. There was only one other time in my life that I was on stage alone. I was seven and I played twinkle twinkle little star for my violin recital. I was so nervous that I was on the toilet the whole morning before the performance. And I thought that the diet and the working out were going to be the hardest part of this whole thing... Wrong.

(This is a picture of the classic flirty "dip and wave." Something I definitely need to practice)

WEIGHT LOSS TIP # 2: Concentrate on how your clothes fit, not what the scale says. The important thing is lowering your body fat and increasing your lean muscle. No matter what your scale says, nothing is more rewarding then when your hard work pays off by some saying, "Did you lose weight, you look good."