I'm in pain. Utter pain. Burning, throbbing, breathtaking pain. Just call me pain. That will be my name for the next three and a half weeks, for that's how long my legs will be dead before I step on stage in Connecticut.

I did legs on Saturday, and the workout didn't seem that much different from any other workout. I put in the same amount of intensity and focus, utilized many of the same exercises, attacked the same muscles groups, just in a slightly different manner, and yet the results varied incredibly. Here's the workout:

First superset
Wide stance straight leg deadlifts with the bar (I normally use dumbbells, but I was bored with that tactic and I alternate from narrow stance to wide stance depending on how I feel that day and how my glutes are shaping up) 3x20x70 pounds
Cable buttkicks (no, I'm not kicking anyone's butt but mine) 3x12x45 pounds

Second superset (I got creative and actually turned this into a tri-set; I think this is the main reason why I'm cussing myself out)
Lying leg curls 3x15x80 pounds
Leg extensions 3x25x30 pounds (remember, I'm trying to transfer muscle size from the teardrop area to the outer sweep of the quad, so the poundages will be less on quads; I hate that I can't put that pin into a more respectable slot on the weight stack, but I do like the look of my legs more now than in the past)
Sissy squats 3x30x10 pounds (Just try these; if you're doing them right, you'll be crying with me.)

Third superset
Walking lunges 3x45 steps per legxno weight (again, the legs need to shrink, not grow)
Narrow stance leg press 3x15x2 45-pound plates and a 10-pound plate on each side (focus is on glutes rather than any other area of the lower body; I also have not done a normal stance or wide stance leg press in four months and have actually slightly altered the shape of my legs as a result and put the size back into my glutes that was lost when I was training with Mike Davies in 2003.)

I then did 30 minutes of high incline walking on the treadmill. This meant that the incline was set at 12 percent --

Sidebar vent: my seamstress just called and cancelled the fitting for tonight and postponed it to this Thursday evening instead. I leave for the show in three and a half weeks! Arrggggh! No matter how early I pick out the fabric, determine the design of the suits, and set up the time schedule, we are always pushed to the very last minute, and I'm the one who has to switch around my schedule. If she wasn't such an awesome seamstress and a sweet woman, I would look elsewhere. But many girls in the industry deal with this, so I guess it just comes with the territory. Sorry...had to get that off my chest.

So, 12 percent incline and the walking focuses on long strides, pulling through the hamstrings and squeezing the glutes. It works!

Anyway, I had two cardio sessions to work through yesterday. And I was sore and hobbling about and was supposed to suffer through sprints, but I pushed them today, with the idea that my legs might decide to heal themselves and behave. Wrong! They got worse. I look like I'm walking about with a stick up my butt (not a pretty visual, not a glamorous one, but an accurate one nonetheless). And I had to do those dang sprints this morning. I don't think I can move now. Would someone call an ambulance?

But I know it will all be worth it! I weighed between 106 and 107 pounds for the past two mornings, and at night, with all my meals in me, I weighed 108 pounds. My goal is to get to 103 for the Junior USA's, and I have three and a half weeks to do it, and I would venture a guess that two to three pounds of that weight loss will be from water retention since my sodium levels in my diet are very normal. The sodium will be dropped one to two days out from the show, and I should tighten up and dry out just enough to have everything look right. It's an experiment, but it's been working well in the off season, and I have more energy and better growth results by keeping sodium in the diet. And I don't rebound badly from the occasional cheat meal because my body is already used to the sodium levels.

I do think that one pound of weight that I lost was from my chest. Now I know I'm almost ready for a show because what used to look like mosquito bites look more like ant bites! Lol! I'm just kidding! And the Victoria's Secret gel inserts that my seamstress sews into the suits will alleviate any problems with breast reduction from dieting.

I feel good today! Take care!

Jodi :)