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Flat abs begin in the kitchen

Posted in Project 40,Workout on Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 10:00 am by flerly.

I heard someone say the other day “You know the old saying: flat abs begin in the kitchen“. Well, I’d never heard this saying, but it does make sense that you’ll never see any kind of ab muscles if you’ve got layers of fat over top of them. So, diet is what it’s really all about.

Getting the diet clean is really going to be the key to success. That way, any time spent at the gym won’t be playing catch-up for something bad I gave in to, it will be get-ahead on burning the results of stuff I’ve given in to for years. Or something like that.

I do want to report a positive on the smoothie front this morning. I’ve cracked the code on adding powdered greens to my smoothies without the sewer water taste. One scoop, dissolved in a small amount of water, added LAST spoonful by spoonful.

This morning I made a great smoothie of fresh pineapple, banana, strawberries and peaches, put in a little yogurt, and a small spoon of flax and whey protein, and had it smelling just perfectly palatable. A taste made me add just a little honey, then it was perfect. Then… I started tainting its perfection with greens. In that method, the smell stayed the same, the color tinted just a little green, but not too much. And it still tasted pretty damn good afterwards.

I’ve recently started making a big blender of smoothie and dividing it for the day. I find drinking half as much as usual in the morning leaves me the other half for a snack later already made.

Because I’d been slack on climbing Monday, I got JamesT to take me to climb some last night. He wasn’t ready to climb himself, but he was happy to belay and advise. Last night the goal was to work some 5.8s that I either hadn’t tried or had previously been unable to do. 

The couple of short ones I hadn’t tried before I did manage, though they weren’t pretty. Another 5.8 in the corner I only finished because James managed to take most of my weight for the big transition around the corner, but it still wasn’t without some effort to get through the rest of it. I thought I was done done, but James encouraged me to rest a bit, then I did two more short 5.8s without too much trouble, but again without any grace or skill. Wobbly is the word I’m looking for I think.  

Another long rest, because again I was sure I was done, but James encouraged one more… a long 5.8 on the overhang wall. And… I struggled my way up to the overhang and wore out. Slipped off, but he caught me and had me hang and rest. I climbed back and tried a few more times, but eventually the hanging in the harness to rest my arms was putting my legs to sleep, and I gave up. It was a lengthy effort, though, so I wasn’t too disappointed.

Then we went upstairs for weights.

James had been encouraging me and Kit to do more weights when we came over during the day, but that time table hasn’t worked out for us in a while. So, he escorted me upstairs to “show me how it’s done” I guess. I think I may have blown his mind on the squat machine a bit, but my thighs are really strong. After all, I’m used to squatting at least my body weight. 

My ankles and calves, however, are another story, and that seems to be a big weakness in me trusting my feet on little holds to push my body up the wall. So we worked calves, and he suggested I should do this every night after we climb. I’m game. I’m hurting and feeling hobbled today, but I’m game.

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