Hard Time Keeping Up!

I sure am having a hard time keeping this blog updated!  First it was that my home computer was down.  Diana was so sweet and gave me a laptop for Christmas.  Before I could get everything set up on it, it got a virus (disguised as an anti-virus and anti-spyware).  By the time I got up and running again I’d gotten just ridiculously busy with work….both personal training and preparing things for the 2009 Nutrishop NPC Texas Shredder Classic.  I’m having time to post this blog right now because one of my clients is MIA.

I was hoping to do some blogging from LA when I was there for the IFBB Ironman Pro XX/Fit Expo.  I had some time, unfortunately in order to log on through the hotel wireless internet connection you had to be either in the lobby, in the cafe, or in the bar.  I was thinking more in terms of sitting in bed and writing my blog, so that didn’t get to happen.  But, as usual the Pro Ironman/Fit Expo was an absolute blast.  I say it every year and I’ll say it again, the staff at Ironman Magazine is just a wonderful group of people, and it’s such a privelege and a treat to get to work with them!  To add to the fun we had Raven (my Jan 09 cover model partner), Christine Pomponio, and Camille (Feb 09 cover model) all in the Ironman Magazine booth.  We also had visits from Ironman Hardbodies Michelle Poulin and Tanji Johnson.  I had to sneak over to the Bodybuilding.com booth to get a quick photo with Hardbody Jamie Eason (can you believe the 2005 Texas Shredder Classic was her first show?).  Add to that we had appearances by Flex Wheeler, Chris Cormier and Bill Grant.  Tiny Meeker stopped by to shoot a photo with me before he headed to the bench press competition.  Afterward he stopped back by to let me know that he won.  I don’t remember the exact number, but I believe it was a 900+ bench press!!!  Then he did 10 reps with 600 lbs!!!

We had so many cool people stop by the booth!  It’s great to get to meet the fans and also great to see some of the same faces who attend every year and always come by the Ironman booth to say hi.  Raven was a slave-driver, forcing me to autograph copies of our Jan 09 issue rapid-fire.  We signed something like 500 copies in about 4 hours for appreciative fans on Saturday.

Also paying a visit to the Ironman booth was Crystal West who will be appearing in the Hardbody section in  an upcoming issue (I believe April 09).  Crystal reported that she is now doing over 1100 chinups in 2 hours.  Yes…you read that right!

Although I didn’t get to watch the prejudging, I thoroughly enjoyed the finals of the Ironma Pro XX.  Silivio Samuel was spectacular!!!  Silivio is so consistently ripped to shreds for every competition.  I knew it was just a matter of time before the took the Ironman title.

Unforunately for me, taking the trip to LA for the Ironman threw a little kink in my training schedule.  I worked out Monday through Thursday before leaving for LA.  But, I didn’t get home until 1:15 am on Monday morning and had to get up at 4:45am to be at the gym at 6am for my first Monday client.  I trained clients from 6am until 8:30pm.  I didn’t have any breaks long enough to get a workout done.  I got home at about 9:15pm then had to drive with Diana to Dallas.  Got to bed 1:30ish and then got up again at 5:45am.  I had planned to workout in Dallas on Tuesday, but I was so sleep-deprived that I was nauseated!  We got delayed getting out of Dallas on Wednesday morning by an ice storm.  By the time we got home on Wednesday afternoon I had to go straight to work and trained clients until 8:30pm.  So, finally on Thursday I got to work out again.  I couldn’t believe I went 7 days in a row without training.  I can’t remember the last time that happened!    Even when I had my hamstring surgery in 2007 I only went 4 days without training.  Needless to say, I was eager to get back after the weights!  My gorgeous training partner, Mari, was missing me really badly too!

I ‘m not going to make any promises, but tomorrow I hope to catch up with my workouts on the blog.