My latest trick ... and "duh" moment.

As I walked through the door this morning, my husband asked "How was your workout?"

(actually, he technically asked me after I had had more coffee and breakfast in my tummy...LOL!)

"Hard", I said. 

Which it was.

It gets long. And mind numbing. 10 sets of anything can get rather mind-numbing.

I have to put myself in "endurance athlete" mode. 

One mile at a time. 

One step at a time.

One set at a time. 

One rep at a time.

As much as I love working out, it's not easy. That sh*t is hard. Especially when you are pushing yourself. 

Which you should be if you are trying to make progress.

So that’s what I’m trying to do.

Go heavier but still with good form.

That is key.

Why? 

Because that his how you force your muscles to grow. They adapt super quickly and you have to continuously challenge them.  

Something new I am doing is actually tracking my workouts.

I know, I know ... I should have done that before.

I have a little notebook that I bring with me to the gym, with a full week's worth of workouts already written in. I write down what I actually did in pencil and any observations I have. How I am feeling, what time I started and ended, what I ate beforehand, etc...

MIND. BLOWN.

I don't know why I didn't do this before!

Like, DUH.

I have found it invaluable to document the weight I use, how many reps I got out of a set, how long I rested.

Again.

DUH.

It's never too late to start, right?

LOL.

Because we workouts go through a 3 week rotation, I can easily track where I was a week ago.

It’s pretty awesome!

Every pound up-age (is that even a word?) counts in my book!

So the last few days workouts:

Friday:

Saturday:

Monday: 

Tuesday (Today):

I was having some fun in NYC with my man, thus the delay.

Do what makes you happy.

TBT: Wedding Photos Vol. 1

Today my name officially changed to “Rosenberg” at school.

It’s such a weird feeling.

Because that means my username has changed.

You know, the username you use to log into EVERYTHING?

Yeah. 

Something to get used to (after 13.5 years of typing in something different).

And it got me to thinking about the wedding, of course. 😃

And I realized I have not yet shared the professional photos from our wedding! So I will start doing that in bits and pieces on my TBT posts.

So, vol. 1 of wedding photos, courtesy of the amazing Stephanie Rita.

I don’t have the brain power to think at the moment (it’s the end of the quarter and I just entered like 1500 grades … no, I am not exaggerating).

So I hope you can enjoy the photos without clever and creative captions. LOL.

Vol 1: Wedding Prep

(my gorgeous dress courtesy of Alfred Angelo)

(Michael's grandfather's personal items)

(Wonder Woman and U of Miami garters)

(Make-Up Artist Brittany Cretella)

(Michael and his Best Man)

Off to see my groom for the first time. First Look photos in the next post. :) 

Oh and workouts…

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Do what makes you happy.

I'm with the band(s)

That’s right.

I’ve been working with bands more.

No, not that kind of band.

I know in my last post I talked about music.

No. This is something completely different. 

THESE bands.

My latest BFF.

I’ll be honest, I did not think highly of bands before. 

I didn’t know how to properly use them and was resistant to them, thinking they were a cop out to lifting weights. 

Little did I know…

Obviously I wasn’t using them properly. 

This stuff is no joke when you do the right exercises and put them in your workout program in the proper place.

I am one week into this “Butt Bible” Challenge and I am noticing something. You work your glutes every workout. EVERY. SINGLE. WORKOUT. It alternates between weights on the “heavy” days and bands on the “lighter” ones. Or both. But when I say, “light” it’s not really “light” as in “easy.”

This band business is no joke.

Bands challenge your muscles by creating resistance in multiple directions. Using bands forces your body to maintain stability throughout an entire movement, thus engaging multiple muscles simultaneously … as in “I had no idea those muscles existed!” (when you feel sore in new places…LOL!)

Super awesome for stabilizing muscles which can be easily neglected.

AND it’s low-impact so it’s much easier on the joints.

So I’m a fan.

Sort of.

The bands and I kind of have a love/hate thing going on right now.

And it’s only been one week.

Oy.

But I’m excited for the challenge.

Speaking of which, the last two days workouts.

Monday:

Tuesday:

Do what makes you happy.

Hanging out with the "other" men...

Pyotr. Geroges. Franz. Ludwig. George. Alberto.

These are the men I am currently hanging out with.

Don’t you worry. 

My husband knows aaaaaall about them.

Who on earth are these guys?!?!? And why is my husband OK with me spending time with them?!?!

Let me give you a hint.

Their last names are...

Tchaikovsky. Bizet. Liszt. Beethoven. Gershwin. Ginestara. 

Aha. 

Now it is becoming more clear.

LOL.

In a past life I used to be a concert pianist.

Well, I guess I still am, but that is not how I earn my income or how I live my life. 

I tried that.

Was not a fan.

It was just way too stressful for me.

Even with all the really cool experiences.

Like playing with orchestra.

(me in front of my concerto debut concert poster in Lviv, Ukraine)

Or getting to spend time with famous pianists.

(playing duets with my buddy Lang Lang. He's super famous now...because he practices. LOL!)

But I decided it was not the life for me.

So, I fell in love with teaching instead.

(at one of my first jobs teaching group piano to little kids)

But I still LOVE playing.

When it’s for family and friends and not to pay my rent. LOL.

I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I stopped (pretty much completely) while planning our wedding. 

Before our wedding I learned a crazy piece of music because my then boyfriend (now husband!) challenged me to it. He didn’t realize I would actually take it seriously. LOL! It is a huge part of our engagement story which I will tell another time… #Rach3foraRock

But now that there is no wedding to plan, I have gotten back into playing.

Though, much like working out, I need to have something to train for or work towards. I don’t “just” practice for the fun of it. 

So, I am back to doing what I love best: collaborative playing. With a little solo playing in between.

A date is in the books (April 14th), and my piano is seeing a lot more action these days. 

My cat, Roman, likes it, too. 

Kind of goes along with my “do what makes you happy” mantra.

Woohoo!

The last 3 days workouts:

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Do what makes you happy.