My body feels like a ragdoll's. It can be tough switching gears from taking a week totally off from weights, cardio, and healthy eating and driving one's body right back into the gym and cutting the carbs and fats drastically. I'm continuing to lose the water weight that I gained after the show because I've designed the diet this week to be a bit lower in carbs than I would normally have. I'm sticking with two to three meals' worth, but having only 1/4 cup of oats or two ounces of sweet potato at a time, and I'm used to a bit more.

Yesterday's back workout definitely did the trick. As the hours have gone by today, the soreness has elevated. It started in the middle of my back, right in the middle trapezius and rhomboids section. Now, it has transferred into my lats, the exact area I want to build for next year. I will most likely repeat yesterday's back workout next Monday, but I have to remain cautious about how much of my biceps I utilize when lifting the weight. The biceps are an assisting muscle group for the back, and when I do rows or pulldowns, I try to use a false grip, where the thumb is in the same direction of my fingers rather than an opposing direction, where my thumb is wrapped around the bar. This helps to take away some of the usage of the bicep muscles. I also never do biceps within 48 hours before a back workout. That's one easy way of tearing or pulling the bicep.

As I drove to the gym today, the clouds loomed darkly in the sky, and the threat of continuing showers was imminent. The downpour started within 15 minutes of my workout, but the effect was calming in a way. Sometimes, when the weather is so nice, it's easy to look outside and dream of being on the beach or sitting at the pool or taking a walk. With the inclement weather, I could easily focus on the task at hand.

I began with a light warm up of side lateral raises. Five pounds for 20 reps and then 10 pounds for 15 reps. A bit of stretching commenced, and I was ready to begin. Overhead dumbbell press on the incline bench started things off, and I grabbed the 30-pound dumbbells for three sets of 11, 10, and 10 reps respectively. I always need a spotter when doing any type of shoulder pressing movement because that left shoulder loves to quit with no warning.

I was pleased with the weight. I might go a bit heavier next week and drop the weights and then throw in a burnout set at the end, but we shall see. My goal is to get into the 40-pound dumbbell range when doing these. The heaviest I've ever gone is 35 pounds. Either way, I would need a very good spotter. Not everyone knows how to spot properly, and then it breaks my concentration and makes me angry, but that's a whole other story.

Back to the workout at hand. I did one arm side lateral raises. I held onto the post of the bench press and leaned to one side and did 12 reps with a few partial reps thrown in at the end. I repeated this with the other side and then did two more sets of the same thing, using a 20-pound dumbbell all the way through. I want to keep my form accurate and strict on these. It's easy to use my traps to help lift the weight, and I need to focus on my side delts completely.

At this point, I decided to roll up the sleeves to my gray t-shirt and check out the results of the work I had done so far. My veins have begun to come back, and small ones were threading their way through my front delts. The striations were apparent, and blood had definitely entered the muscles, creating a very nice, full looking delt. I needed that look for the stage, but the backstage area was so ice cold that I couldn't get a proper pump. Besides, even though I carbed up a bit on fruit preserves and a few cookies and did laterals with 25-pound dumbbells, I couldn't hold onto the fullness because of all the waiting we had to go through. Basically, I would prepare for the stage and then not actually step on stage until 30 minutes later. It was quite frustrating because I actually need to carb up and pump up in order to get my shoulders extremely full...which was a necessary component for the physiques in this show.

But today, I was very pleased with what I saw. It shows that my shoulders have the capabilities of being bigger. I just have to work harder to keep them that way.

I then did bent over rear lateral raises. I managed to finish one set of these with the 20-pound dumbbells before lightening began to tear through the sky and thunder roared around us. The lights flickered a bit and then the gym became dark as the power went out. Everyone else stood around dumbfounded. I picked up the dumbbells and went to work on my second set. Luckily, the lights came back on and the music ripped through the quiet and helped me continue with the intensity, but either way, I would have finished my workout. Three sets of these raises and it was time to move on to the upright rows, which involved just two drop sets: 70 pounds to 40 pounds. I use a wide grip on these in order to shut off the use of my traps. That reminds me, I need to add in shrugs every other week, so I'll have to put them in next week. I want to be sure that I don't have a dip from my neck to my shoulder, and the trap helps to smooth that area out, but I can't walk around with hulking traps either! So moderation is the key.

You should give me a pat on the back because I did three sets of ab exercises at the end. I wanted to quit at two sets, but I ignored that desire and did that last set. My abs are a bit tight now, which is good!

I have a cardio session to do tonight, 45 minutes on the stepper and bike. Woohoo. Hear the excitement? Lol! I don't want to do too much cardio on shoulder day because I want my body to utilize the carbs to replenish energy so I can hold onto my muscle gains. Anyway, my creativity is a bit zapped today. I'll get a second wind once I step onto the cardio equipment. It's amazing; all of my really good writing occurs in my head when a pen and piece of paper are nowhere to be found. Why is that? I should invest in a little tape recorder, but how dumb would I appear to be...talking to myself while I do cardio?

Anyway, that was my day at the gym. Did you go to the gym? Did you train your butt off? Did you meet your goals? If not, what are you waiting for?

Jodi