AHHHHH, body fat!!

Body fat: do you REALLLLLY want to know what yours is? It's one of those things that you're curious about but never really sure if you want to know right?? Me too. Its one of those kinds of "ignorance is bliss" things. Definitely not the case in my instance though...body fat is one of the most important things to consider. It sux but very true. Most gyms offer to calculate your body fat if you ask but I've found that the majority of them use a four point (measured at the abdomen, shoulder blade, bicep, and tricep) skin fold caliper body test. These calculations gives a person a rough idea of their body fat but not as accurate as the nine point exam that is also available. The nine point exam not only determines body fat more precisely but determines how much body fat to lean muscle mass a person has. My goal for this show to is to be around 120-125 lbs. with 2-3% body fat. At 5'8" with a medium build, that weight is haaaaard for me to maintain....too skinny for everyday living but not for competition. Since I placed so high at last year's show, I will only be eligible to compete in the open tall division...although I'm going to ask Kristie if I can be in the middle height class too since I'm on the clusp of both. I should tell you that the overall winner of the open division earns her pro card where she then will be able to compete in shows for prize money. I told you I was setting my standards high this year!! :) I'll be posting my body fat chart each week for you to view.

I'm about a week behind in telling you about my training progress (due to my slowness in developing this blog) but hopefully will be all caught up by the end of this week. My first official training day with Twin Fitness (TF) was last Tuesday, Jan. 6th. I was wide eyed and bushy tailed at 6am...with the help of a couple cups of black coffee and splenda! EARLY workouts: one of the things I'm going to have to readjust to since I prefer late afternoon or late evening work outs. I orginally was going to attend every Tuesday mornings but found out that my friends Allison and Jessica were in the Friday morning session....no harm; no foul on switching days for me. TF also added intense cardio classes that I'll be attending so from now until show time, I'll be at there every Friday mornings from 5am-7am...doing cardio class from 5-6am and strength and measurements at 6-7am.

It was soooo nice to see Kristie and some of the old faces that I saw last year. It brought back great memories and made me pumped up about this year's training. Allison isn't training for show but she will be working out again at TF the end of this month. Jessica, a competitor that I grew close to last year, has been working out there for a couple of months now. Jessica and I are veterans this year with over 20 competitors...a huge group of girls; more than last year!! Many of them are beginners just as I was last year...I'm VERY excited to share my knowledge and help anywhere I can.

Getting my first set of measurements made me just a tad nervous. I knew I had maintained, if not increased, my muscle mass on the off season but didn't know just how much. I always feel more out of shape then I really am but Kristie was happy with my starting measurements. If she's happy, I'm happy. :) My shoulders are more rounded and my legs are more muscular this time. I'm starting at 142 lbs with 17% BF with 15 weeks to go. I'll be right on track with my goal if I can lose a pound and percent body fat a week....a very reasonable goal. I'm going to try to take a full body photo every Friday and list my measurements. The numbers might not mean anything right now but they will after a few weeks of comparison. No photo for last week but definitely will have one this week!!

Til tomorrow,
LM

JAN. 6TH, TUES.
Pec: 4.0
Sub scapular (under the shoulder blade): 8.0
Bicep: 4.0
Tricep: 6.5
Kidney: 19.0
Suprailic (above the waistline): 15.0
Abdominal: 19.0
Quadriceps: 11.0
Medial Calf: 6.0
TOTAL: 92.5
Body Weight: 142.0
Total/BW: .651
Total BW x 27=BF%: 17.58%
BF% x BF= BF lbs.: 24.96
BW-BF lbs= lean mass lbs.: 117.03