Make the Impossible Possible.

Yesterday during training I had Dumbbell and sandbag to attack. Dumbbell was lightish weight with a solid amount of reps. Nothing too special or strenuous. Its always going to be an event that I’ll have to continue to work on. Pressing has never been a strong suit. Well, to be honest, no static lift for me is a strong suit. I’m 5’11 3/4″ (aka basically 6′) with long limbs.

    So, when I tell people that I lift, naturally I get asked “Oh yeah? How much can you squat, deadlift, and bench?”.  In my head I’m like ugh, please don’t ask me these things! For two reasons, I typically don’t max out. I don’t need to. I haven’t yet done a competition where it has a maxed lift in it. And reason number 2 is because my numbers are as impressive and entertaining as Nickleback… Theres a reason why I do strongman and why I don’t do powerlifting competitively! I am NOT built for it what so ever! That doesn’t mean that  someone with my body type can’t do it. I’m just sayin, when you have legs that take up your whole body, that squat is a looooong way down, and that deadlift pull is a loooong way up. And when you have arms with a wingspan the length of your height, well I think you see where i’m going with this…That and I’v had yeaaaars of major back problems from not having a strong core and throwing in college on my track and field team. But now that my core is getting stronger, my back is also getting stronger and better.

Now that doesn’t mean that I don’t come across these lifts in a competition, or that I don’t train these lifts to build my strength. Just means that my strongest events are moving events; yoke, farmers, carrying events, stones, etc. And when I do come upon these lifts in a competition ( some sort of deadlift mainly) my form is never perfect like a powerlifters. If its max reps in a minute, my gosh, those last reps I swear will probably be THE UGLIEST reps you’ve ever set your eyes on. But you better bet your sweet buns that I’ll be doing everything I can to pull my hips through and lock that sucker out.( 300# 18″ Axle dead for reps ) <- perfect example of that.

Same as benching, pressing anything with long arms is, to be perfectly blunt, a bitch.  But that doesn’t give me an excuse to sit on the sidelines and wine about it. That just means I have to train that much harder at it, and really focus and work on my form. With both log and DB, I’v been shaking the rust off and very much been trying to change my form so that I can use my leg drive more and shoot it up there. I’ll touch more on log this Tuesday after I train with it. I’m in the process of fixing errors that have been occurring with it.

Sandbag is a horse of a different color. I’v been working with the 175# sandbag for a couple weeks, up until yesterday. My trainer told me to have fun with the 225#…

The most I’v ever done with a sandbag was a 200# annnd that was on the day of a competition. And it felt good…but then again, that could have been that competition adrenaline pump getting me through that one…

Welp, that 225# sandbag showed me that this was NOT going to be an easy prep for this competition what so ever. I already knew that I had my log and DB weights to work up to, but I officially had to add this sandbag to the party. It slapped me around like a shark with a seal (its shark week, i had to 🙂 ). I was the snake to its mongoose. Or is it, the mongoose to its snake. Either way it was bad…I don’t know animals… ; -)

I was able to pick it about 5 times, walk it a measly 5 feet at a geriatric pace, before loosing it. I had to adjust how I picked it because its fat butt kept getting stuck between my legs (large leg problems). And even after doing that the struggle still continued. But the more I struggle with an event, the more motivated I get to conquer it! Yesterday I didn’t quit conquer it, but alas! I have 9 more weeks to do just that! That sandbag has not seen the last of Keeley Moffit!!

                               Check out my intsa for my sandbag and DB videos from yesterday!

:kekebball7

https://instagram.com/kekebball7/

FOOD. More Specifically- Pizza Bites

I like to consider myself a simple person… aka an easier and less offensive way of calling myself a boring grandma. My life tends to revolve around only a handful of things. Obviously lifting/ training being a main one, my faith, movies, my dog, annnnd FOOD.

I’m a grandma who likes her rest. I prefer Netflix and a couch, over a late night party. Do I like the beach? Yes! do I like taking long walks on the beach…? Maybe if theres going to be some sushi after that long walk, then sure.

I honestly used to go out all the time and party. But my life has drastically changed since two years ago. I don’t care if some consider me boring and call me a grandma because I choose to be in bed at early hours rather that at a bar on the weekends. I love how I live my life. I love training, and I love resting my body so that I can train even harder the next day.

But I’m getting carried away here from the important topic of the day…FOOD! Lets be real, who doesn’t love food??! Your not my friend if you don’t. And thats just sad, because I’m a pretty fun gal as I’v described above…

So if you love food, and you like easy recipes, heres one comin at ya! I had a craving for pizza the other day. And because I typically like to keep my “down and dirty” foods (aka anything  I consider a cheat food) for the weekends, I decided to throw together a healthier quick version of a bagel bite! I got a request for the recipe of this baby after snap chatting it!

-I use whole grain english muffins

-split them in half

-spoon some tomato sauce on them

-topped them with onions, sliced peppers, low fat cheese, chopped turkey pepperoni, some italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper

-threw it in the toaster oven

-BAM Pizza Bites

I’m gonna start getting more creative with these soon because they are sooooo easy, cheap,and great for pre training meal. I’m thinking a mexican and BBQ style Pizza bite soon.

Healthy Pizza Bites

DEADlifts.

Today was a heavvvy Deadlift dayyy Heaviest Iv gone since injuring my shoulder a couple months ago (AC Joint sprain). It was one of those days where my mental focus had to be on point. One of those days where I knew I just had to get it done and not think twice about it.  It was also one of those days where I had to make sure to pee before each set…

My first set started off fine, weight felt good, form felt good, things were movin’ along 👌. Then as I kept reppin out, naturally my form started to break and I started playing the mind body game. Goes a little something like my mind yelling “stop acting like the old geriatric water aerobics grandma that you are and just get this shit done!” Then even though my body feels like collapsing, it usually just listens.

Anyway, I did around 87ish% of my comp weight with a trap bar for 4 sets max reps on a minutes time.

Set 1-12 reps (video in link above)

set 2&3- 10 reps

set 4- 13 reps

Set 2&3 were the worst. I was running down, form was breaking earlier is the sets than my first set and reps were becoming slower

set 4 I decided to just give it my all (not that I wasn’t for my other sets), but my motivation really kicked in on this set. I wanted more than 10 measley reps. I felt a kick of energy, anger, and aggression. Pulled out 13 which I felt good about.

I didn’t want to give up or give in. I like to make sure I finish strong. My mental focus is going to be so huge for me these next couple months. Mentally continue to push myself. Because as soon as your mind gives up, your body gives up. I was not built to give up.

I know there are girls training hard out there that I’ll have to come up against. But that’s not what I want to focus on. Right now I want to keep my focus on MY training. And not worry about anything outside of that.

Tomorrows the Day!

       I know I haven’t posted in a while, and thats mostly due to the fact that I never really felt up to writing. That’s usually what happens when I have a blog. I tend to be a bit MIA for a little, but no worries I’m back!! And tomorrow is the day! Tomorrow is going to be my very first Strongwoman competition!

I truly can’t believe how fast this came! I also keep forgetting!! Which sounds really bad and laughable, because you’d think I’d be jumping up and down in excitement in anticipation and not being able to think about anything else!

But for some reason, I’m rather calm. Yes nervous, very very nervous. But still I’m calm. And that’s just me. When it comes to competitions I get more nervous than I do excited. Mostly because I’m not the best competitor. I psych myself out, I go blank, I get queasy, I over think. At least thats how I’d always get at most of my track meets.

But tomorrow I’m going to change that. Tomorrow I’m going to treat it not like a competition against a bunch of other people.  Instead I’m going to treat it as a celebration! A day where 4 months of working my ass off almost everyday, pushing my body to the limits, changing my life completely, putting my wants and needs before others will be celebrated.

I know what I have accomplished. I know what I can do now. And I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. Of course I’m still going to bust my butt tomorrow and shoot for the moon. I’m an athlete and I want to win, who doesn’t? But even if I end up in dead last, it won’t take away from how much stronger I am inside and out. I’ll still be a strongwoman.

A special thanks to my friends and family who have been there with me and who will be there with me tomorrow!! Your support and encouragement mean everything to me! And a thanks to my trainer Rob Marino and Jenn Finucane! Rob has taught me everything about this sport along with building my strength in the weight room! And Jenn has been there supporting me every step of the way if I ever needed anything! You both have helped me more than you will know! Giving me more confidence, strength, and will power. If anyone ever has any interest in  needing a trainer, I will always HIGHLY recommend these two! They will kick your butt into shape!

Welp I have to continue with prepping my food and preparing for tomorrow!! I will post soon to let you guys know my outcome!!

Forget the Past, Live in the Moment.

Good morning!

Last night I hit a pretty big realization which just motivated me to the max. What I most realized was that I had probably one of the best cardio work outs on my own that I’ve had in a loooooong time. And that was mostly due to the fact that my other cardio day this past week was complete crap. I made excuses after excuse that day, “my legs were tired from my leg day Monday”, “It’s snowing really bad out and I shouldn’t stay long”, “Well I did this many sprints, sooo that should do the trick”. GRRR just thinking about it makes me so mad!

I’m not one to not put my whole effort into things anymore. That was the old me, and it made me so mad that I let the old me slip in and make excuse after excuse to make myself feel better about the situation. The main reason why I’m frustrated is because my trainer gave me a goal weight to hit by February 14, which I know I can do! But if I continue to have crappy cardio days like that, then someone might as well hand me a donut because it just won’t happen…(I have donuts on the brain because tonight is my card night 🙂 !)

But thats why last night I knew that I needed to forget about Tuesday, I can’t change what happened, and hey I slipped up it happens. BUT NO MORE! I woke up yesterday on a mission, a mission to kick my own butt harder than I’v ever before!

I focused on my eating, went to work, then on my way from work I was off to the gym. I snacked on some sunflower seeds to get a little energy kick. Mind you, my drive from work to my gym is about 35-40 mins depending on traffic, and usually I can time my eating before workout out right. But anyway, I put my motivation cap on, put my handy dandy Polar Watch on so I could keep track of calories, and off I went!

I first attacked the rowing machine because treadmills were all taken, (I do HIIT [High intensity interval training] on all the machines I use). Then I ran over to a treadmill, when I saw it was freed up! SCORE! Now we can get this party started with some sprints! Whelp, as soon as I started going, I got a major you didn’t digest those stupid sunflower seeds you just ate cramp! I tried to keep sprinting through it, but it was useless. Beyond frustrated I knew I had to switch gears. This was NOT going to stop me, NO excuses here!

I decided to kick my butt in other ways…I did HIIT on the stationary bike and battle ropes. Did some ab work then light arm work. Then went back over and did more battle ropes and decided to finish with some HIIT on the stair master (which by the way, as much as I love that burning feeling, the stair master is the devil).

After an hour and a half I believe I was successful and it felt great! I got in a nice stretch afterwards, went home, had some isopure, ate dinner, and was lights out at 10:00.

Basically, we just have to remember that you can’t change the past, so why dwell on it?? Why waste all that time when you can enjoy the present moment? We never know how many present moments we are going to have (morbid, I know) so make them meaningful!

Oh by the way, I’m off from work today so……I’ll be back. 😉

Head, shoulders, back, and legs, back and legs.

New Progress pics time!!

     Lately I have been so focused on what my goal is, I don’t even think about cheating on my diet or skipping out on a workout. I have no excuse to do so. The other day I was driving home from work and passed a McDonalds, and thought to myself “imagine if you caved in and had some chicken nuggets??” Just the thought about having fast food and ruining what I’v worked so hard for makes me sick to my stomach! Cheating on my diet is NOT even an option for me! I have gotten to the point where when I see a temptation I kick it in the shins and walk away!

      I literally plan my life around my gym time. If someone asks me to do something or if I have work, my first thought is, “ok well if I go to the gym at this time then that can work!”. If your a busy bee like I am sometimes, you can take 30 minutes or even 20 minutes out of you day to get some exercise in! Go for a walk! Get up off your couch…DO SOMETHING! This will also just help you clear your head, get the stress out, take the world off your shoulders. Believe me, yesterday I had work at night, so during the day I was cleaning, eating, and watching TV. Damn Dance Moms got me carried away and before I knew it I had work in less than 2 hours! Thank goodness yesterday was cardio and ab day, I ran to the gym busted out a 45 min workout and felt awesome and accomplished afterwards!

    You can make it work!

       I have also gotten to the point in my carbnight diet where, I am not craving carbs. I didn’t even realize till a little bit after waking up that tonight is my carb night! I have gotten so used to eating low carb and loving it that it doesn’t even phase me for when my carb night arrives…Such a drastic difference from when I first started carbnight. Don’t get me wrong I still love my carbs and love having some cheat meals, but it’s the fact that I also love eating clean and seeing the results that I work hard for!

Ok time for some progress pics!

Left picture is from October when I was starting to lift and eat somewhat clean. The top is from last week and the bottom is from this morning 🙂

My shoulders are my weakest point. The to image is from October and the bottom is from this morning. You can see my strength growing in my shoulders and my traps.

Legggssss. The left two photos are from December when I started to really train harrrd. I mean every leg workout I had I was DYING and sweating all over the place feeling that deep burn. Which is why my legs now look like the right photo taken two days ago!

PATIENCE = PROGRESS

Hey guys! I took a new progress picture yesterday and wanted to share! I also have a picture from when I first started my weight loss adventure about a year ago! NO JUDGING HERE! I, along with a lot of other girls, used to be embarrassed to say what my weight was out loud. But with where I am right now stronger inside and out, I don’t care anymore! This is MY journey and MY blog and I am here to be completely 100% honest with myself. If I’m not honest with myself then it will only be that much harder to achieve my goals! So here we go…

 In the top picture  I weighed a gross 250 lbs and in the newest progress pic I am down to 216! I am a tall girl so my weight (from what doctors have told me) should be around 180.  But for me, I’m not aiming for a specific number, I’m aiming for more so a specific body type. Which is strong, muscular definition (and no not to look like a man!) and lean. When your lifting it is very important to not weigh yourself on the scale constantly! Your body will be changing and turning that fat to lean muscle which is what mine started to do. Before I started carb night and just tried to eat cleanish I kept weighing myself and getting discouraged because the scale wasn’t going down…but yet I noticed I was getting leaner. Then it hit me. I was gaining muscle! I was loosing inches, but not lbs. Instead of weighing yourself, try measuring yourself! You definitely see a difference!

I started off with eating low carb, doing cardio, and some lifting. I now do carb night, lift heavy, with cardio 2 or 3 days a week,  and train 5-6 out of 7 days a week. I didn’t do any crazy crash diet here. I was patient with this whole thing (as much as I didn’t want to be!). I keep my lean proteins, green veggies like spinach asparagus, kale, and mixed greens in my diet. I changed my fats from eating cheeses to eating a little bit of cheese and getting my fats from avocados, coconut oil, olive oil, nuts, and seeds, AND LOTS OF WATER. As long as you eat clean and train hard theres no need for diet pills or crash diets! Your only hurting your body!!

A lot of my fat as turned to lean muscle mass which I am pumped about! I feel great, and super motivated now that the holidays are over…aka no more distractions by delicious holiday foods!

I shall get to it now!

Before:

250 lbs ugh I hate this pic.

And heres my current pics!

Catching up.

Hello all!

Ok we have some catching up to do. Lets see when I last left off was my first carb night. I most definitely went overboard with the amount I ate that night. I was pumped to get back to eating healthy and cutting the crap out again and training hard. My next carb night I had was wayyyyyy more controlled and I felt a million times better the next  morning!

That time I had BBQ pulled beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots for a traditional dinner. Then over an hour later I had one chocolate chip pancake. Then an hour or so after that I had 3 peanut butter cookies. Got some better sleep that night than the first time, and the next morning I felt tight and not bloated!! I was sooo excited!

heaven on a plate

for some reason I always crave pancakes when keeping it low carb.

happy Keeley!

After that night I had a week of training and then I would be off to Seattle for the holidays. This made me verrrrry nervous. I was just getting the hang of carb night, and now all those delicious holiday treats and wholesome carb filled foods that you devour to the extreme one time out of the year was fast approaching. I told myself I wouldn’t fall for it! I would stay dedicated and not go back to those old ways.

That week came and went, and in the middle of the week I made the executive decision that I was going to enjoy myself. And that doesn’t mean eat like complete sh*t. That means that I would portion my meals out and eat what I wanted in a controlled amount. I knew just from that one week I wouldn’t gain back a boat of lbs. But I also knew that while on vacation I wanted to spend it relaxing with my family, working out, and not counting every little thing that I eat. I have been eating clean enough for a while to know what a good portion amount for me is. But I also knew that upon returning I would just have to keep working my butt off.

And thats just what I did.

beautiful

Seattle

freshest shrimp I’ve ever had!

I’v been back on the low carb eating until tomorrow (my next carb night) and working hard in the gym. I decided to push my carb night back a couple days to fully recover from vacation. Even through New Years Eve My friends and I had a low key  nights where I had two drinks (which were no carbs) and raw tacos on a lettuce leaf. The next day I wanted to be nice and well rested to kick off my new year with a squat and leg day!!!

Christmas gift

NP in the sled

Oh and I got to use my new lifting shoes and lever belt that I got as Christmas gifts!!

Gifts that I got from one of my closest friends! She’s the besssst!

Ok and now, last but not least! I have a couple progress pictures from this past fall and winter. I am really excited about this because it just continues to show how far I’ve come! And even if I get a little discouraged if I’m not dropping a certain amount of weight at a certain pace, this just goes to show that when you work hard and consistently lift (with some cardio of course)  lean muscle really takes over fat and does its thing. I will leave you with those progress pics and that is all for now! I will try and be better about posting more often as the progress continues!

left side is not flexing and the right side is flexing.

The Good, the bad, and the ugly.

Welp, I had my first carb night last Friday after 10 days of eating only 30g of carbs a day! This was a struggle, let me tell you! I love my carbs, I love bread and all things that go with it. It was especially tough when I’d come home from work and my mom would be making stuffed shells or some sort of delicious pasta dish…and there I was…making chicken…again.

I had to get creative. I had to start googling and make this more fun for myself, or else I’d never survive! I stuck with the stables of veggies as far as eating spinach on a daily. But I started to change up my proteins. Shrimp, ground turkey, and eggs (not the biggest egg fan but I spiced them enough to where I enjoyed them)! But I did the 10 days, and that glorious day had finally come!

That morning I had work and then a training session for a brutal leg day! I love me some squats and an intense leg workout, but this one was definitely a kick in the butt thanks to my trainer! I probably looked like I had a stick up my butt when I’d try to walk to the next machine, a stick that kept getting bigger and bigger after every exercise.

But after pushing through and working hard during my session, I was beyond excited!

Had some chocolate muscle milk and a banana after my workout and was ready to get this going! My Friend and I had been planning this night since before I even started this diet (sad I know). But what can I say, I love fooooood.

We knew we wanted pizza, along with some other goodies we picked up at the store while our pizza was being made. I literally kept jumping up and down in excitement and played blaring music in my car while dancing to it…again this all sounds so sad now that I am thinking back on this. But no carbs for 10 days and make a girl a little crazy.

Allow me to show you what my night looked like.

So after, 6 slices of pizza, 2 donuts, and a triple decker ice cream sandwich made by yours truly I was a little nervous about what would come in the morning. I went comatose after trying to finish the ice cream sandwich (but couldn’t), and finally went up to bed. I didn’t get the best nights sleep, mainly kept tossing and turning. And in the morning, I didn’t feel as “tight” as I was described as how I should have felt…More so bloated and soft.

I was a little disappointed, but realized that this was my first time, and now I know I have to make adjustments for my next carb nights. I am also making more adjustments during my low carb days. For example, less cheeses, more nuts and seeds for my fats, and a lower fat content in my proteins aka no more fatty bacon and sausages for this gal for right now!

I must say, as excited as I was for carb night, it was definitely a lot. The next day I was definitely looking forward to getting back to the healthy eats and cooking all my meals instead of ordering out. So until next carb night, I shall be enjoying my own delicious dishes…like this one!

Lazy Snow Day

  This will be my last post of today…I promise. It has been a long lazy day full of snow, christmas movies, and relaxing. Now don’t get me wrong it was not a bad day! I definitely enjoy those unexpected days where I’m off from all of my jobs and get to lounge around in my comfy sweats. Especially since this isn’t something that happens too often for me anymore. But these kinds of days often throw me off track. I get into a serious lazy mode and start an argument in my head of “should I just go to the gym today, or should I do (what I know will be) a half assed kettle bell workout at home?” I then continue to answer both sides with a “Just go to the gym and do your workout, get out of this house full of carbs!” Which the devil on my shoulder answers back with…”I never have real days off anymore and you deserve to keep resting! Besides look at how snowy out it is! You don’t want to drive in that, do you??” Ok I’ll stop it with the corniness now, you get the point.

 So in the end of all that arguing, I got my butt off of the couch, put some real clothes on, and went to the gym. And damn did it feel good. It was just a cardio and abs day today, but it snapped me out of my laziness mode and made me a real functioning person. Just because I had a day off from work, doesn’t mean I suddenly get to plan a day off from my workout as well (especially when I already had the weekend off from workouts).

 

With my new mindset I now kick that devil in the shins and now win every argument, resulting in me feeling ten times better after leaving a successful workout! AND I got to use the gym’s foam roller, that I was introduced to by Rob yesterday. And let me tell you, that thing is one of the greatest inventions EVER. Check out the video on my instagram—> here

 

So my advice to everyone on the snow day…SNAP OUT OF THE LAZINESS AT THE END OF THE DAY AND GO! You’ll feel like a million bucks!