It's easy to over supplement or just be confused with all of the different things out there. There are so many attractive seeming products with the claims to make us pretty much awesome at everything for the rest of our lives if we take them. Staying basic and doing research on things before trying them is so important. Choose wisely when deciding what to put in your body. 

Different people will have needs for different things depending on age, sex, activity level and other special considerations.

The list of supplements currently being taken is pretty long, but everything has been selected for specific needs.

Current Supplementation and Sources:

-Whey Protein Isolate- Iso-Gold All Natural Chocolate by PVL

-Greens Supplement- Greens1 by North Coast Naturals

-Glutamine- Fermented Glutamine by North Coast Naturals

-BCAAs/Glutamine- Extendavol by PVL (also includes citrulline malate)

-Omega 3.6.9 Essential Fatty Acids- Udo's Oil

-Multi Vitamin for Active Women by Progressive

-Probiotic (live cultures, found refrigerated) - Acidophilus/Bifidus by Natural Factors

-Vitamin C- Natural Factors

-Certified Organic Green Tea- Tocha Tea Green Mint and Panfired Green

-Milk Thistle- Puritan's Pride

-Alpha Lipoic Acid- Puritan's Pride

-B Complex- Organika

-Calcium/Magnesium- Organika

-Vitamin E- Organika

-Vitamin D- Carlson

-L-Tyrosine by Organika has just been added in this week for Neurotransmitter production which can be affected during prep and other bouts of higher physical or psychological demand.

I went to bed at 9PM and stayed there until 7AM! I feel so much better today and now have lots of energy for this afternoon's leg training :)

Hello there! It's 9 weeks out tomorrow and today was my first low energy/I think the devil is trying to take over my body day. Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic! It was just a low energy day and I wasn't exactly feeling like the most upbeat person ever :) lol there that sounds better. Most times when feeling irritable or uneasy it isn't very often that it's overly noticeable (or atleast that's what the people in my life have been nice enough to tell me!) Since doing shows is a personal choice and no one should have to deal with a crappy attitude because of it, I try really hard to keep it in check when it does come around. That's not to say that I'm always 100%, because there are definitely times where I am not, but focusing on keeping those times to a minimum is important. Stepping back and paying attention to feeling irritated, frustrated, or whatever the not so great feeling is, helps us see it's not really "personal". Maybe you're just overly tired and/or going through changes that are making your body say what in the sweet F' are you doing to me?

At 9 weeks out I think this is pretty early to be feeling like that so it could just be getting used to the training increase/meal plan?? I'm not really sure. I haven't been as vigilant with sleep times as I should be either, so that's something that will change and will help. I'm not overly concerned, everyone has tired days but I do need to make sure I'm not running myself into the ground especially so early on. There's the tendency to go extreme and overdo things. If I want to keep doing this, which I do and I will, I need to learn when to listen to myself. As I've been advised to do, I'm setting my alarm for the 5AM cardio wake up and if I'm feeling overly tired at that time, I'm sleeping until 7, in time to get ready for work. It's leg day so it's important to have enough energy for a great workout in the evening. That extra rest will also ensure that cardio can be increased on a lower energy expenditure day to make up for it (which is something I've also been advised to do :) )  

Tomorrow is a brand new day:)  Have a great night!

Shoulders are being trained on their own day and have been switched to the day before chest/biceps day. 5 exercises are used, 4 sets each, 10-15 reps/set (depending on the movement).Rest times between sets will vary throughout the year. Right now they are being kept pretty short, 30-40 seconds between sets.

The goal is to maintain as much fullness as possible in the shoulders since they can flatten out as prep goes on. Here's what yesterday looked like:

Dynamic warm-up

Dumbbell side laterals (4 sets of 12-15 reps each)

Seated dumbbell press (4 sets of 10-12 reps).

Standing arnold press (4 sets of 10-12 reps)

Standing Cable rear delt flies (4 sets of 12-15 reps)

Cable upright rows (4 sets or 12-15 reps)

Steph has advised using this higher rep scheme now to shock my body a bit.

The launch of www.fitlode.com is coming soon! It's really exciting to be on the team of writers and there will be an update when it's up and ready to go! The wide range of topics provide helpful information for various levels of fitness.

Here is a great quote by Jim Rohn, motivational speaker and entrepreneur:

"Take care of your body, it's the only place you have to live." (www.jimrohn.com)

 Have a great day!