CUT

This is my goal for 2008. Not a resolution, just a one word goal:

******C U T ******

It really sums it all up for me, and I'm going to just keep this word in the forefront of my mind


By cut, I mean that by the end of 2008, I wish to have transformed my appearance to looking very ripped or cut. I am reasonably happy with the muscle definition in my upper body/chest/lower legs/back, so the focus will be on the abs and thighs.

I've been having a good look at my current shape and can actually see that my thighs are already quite muscly, there is just another layer of fat covering them. In fact, if I place a finger on the back of my thigh, I can "pull up" the fatty layer towards my butt, and reveal a very nicely toned hamstring area.

I know my abs are quite tight, from two years of regular workouts, but I have a lot of excess skin here (mainly skin here I think as the skin fold measurements are quite small) which covers the muscles.


So the plan is this:


1. Drop my body fat by another 5% bringing it to 12%. I don't think I want to go any lower than this, from what I've read it wouldn't be healthy. But I plan on spending the first 6 months prioritising my training around dropping fat through cardio, whilst maintaining muscle bulk through weight training. This means I wont use protein supplements to reduce the extra calories, but will still focus on a relatively high protein diet.



2. The second 6 months (or when I've achieved my desired body fat level) will be a swing towards cardio for fitness and fat maintenance, and a ramping up of the muscle building to target specific areas.



3. I have an appointment with the plastic surgeon for Feb 19, and I hope to book in surgery as soon as I can for a tummy tuck. I have accepted that I cannot improve my stomach any further without surgery. So "cut" has a second and more secret meeting for me - as I'm not sharing my plans with anyone other than my hb and children, and blogger world. My wider family have already expressed that they would not agree with this decision (and plastic surgery in general), so I have decided I just wont tell them. This is one thing that is made a bit easier living some distance from them!



So these are my plans. I have bought a couple of new books to help me with my weight training, since I do it all on my own at home.


Training @ home, by David and Melinda Obern

This has good photos of exercises including form issues to watch for, exercises for advanced lifters, and sample 12 week programs/program cards. I'm not going to use their programs, as I am finding everywhere that I look that I usually do more than what is put into programs already - and I'm not planning on going backwards! (Im mainly referring to the cardio component, as I am very strict on ensuring my rest between weight training sessions)



Muscle Mechanics by Everett Aaberg

Whilst my health training has made me very familiar with muscle mechanics, this book has a great variety of advanced exercises, with photo overlays showing the exact muscles that are being worked. As I plan on my training being far more targetted this year, I'm really looking forward to using this.


Sculpting Her Body Perfect

Of course I am still using my favorite . This book contains everything you need to develop your own program, and I'm thrilled to realise that now starting in my 3rd year of weight training, I am ready to progress to the third/most advanced stage.



Lastly - I had to pick up something at Harvey Norman the other day in exchange for something I returned and I picked up this:



Now you, like everyone else, are probably saying - why on earth would you buy an egg cooker. Well, for all my clean eating friends, I think this is going to be fantastic. With egg white being one of the purist and leanest forms of protein, I have been struggling with finding the time to hard boil the eggs - because you need to be around, watching for the pot to boil, watching the time to make sure they are hard boiled, taking them out when they are done to cool, making sure they don't crack etc. This boils up to 7 at time - no fuss - just a buzz when they are ready. And then.... you can poach and do omelettes in the little dishes - egg white omelettes made in a flash, with no watching, no frypans to wash Yum!

Sigh - I am such a gadget queen!