off season

Busy, busy, busy! Life has had it's ups, it's downs, some twists, and some turns. I'm done with my 2009 competitive season and am now embracing the off season. Unlike in previous off seasons where my goal was to build muscle, I'm now aiming to streamline my physique a bit. Maybe bring down my waist and legs a bit all the while maintaing or adding a teensy bit of size to my arms and delts. Add some width to my back (hello pull ups!) but no more depth. That'll mean a slight change to my normal approach to lifting this winter. More plyos, bleachers, sprints, and hills. It actually should be more fun and I'm looking forward to it. I've been kinda doing what I want food and gym-wise since returning from New York but I think I'm ready to receive my official off season plan from Jeff.

Another goal this off season is to maintain my weight a bit better than in previous years. Since I'm not in need of a huge bulk then there's no need for me to gain a huge amount of weight really. My goal is to stay closer to contest weight than I have before. Now, I'm a pretty heavy girl. At 5'2" I think I probably weighed 120ish on stage this season. In the off season I can easily gain 30 or so pounds. It's amazing because I don't physically get huge, I just weigh a lot. I wouldn't be suprised if I'm up 20 pounds right now and I'm still fitting into my "skinny" clothes. It amazed both Jeff and myself how heavy I was while dieting. That's why I stopped relying on the scale. It did nothing but screw with my head.

So, to stay closer to stage weight I'm going to embark on something radical for me. I'm going to watch my cheats and really minimize my alcohol consumption. I don't drink at all during the season and have no problem abstaining. BUT, in my previous off seasons I've often found myself at happy hour. Bartending also provides easy access to alcohol. Not this year. I think it's really important to stay within close range and not drinking (so much) will definately help.

So, there. That's the plan. Streamline my physique and stay within show weight. Here's to the winter of 09!On another note .., I have to move. AGAIN! Ugh! So much for domesticity...