Correction

I realized tonight that I did not Decline on the Smith machine today...I Free Weight Declined!!!! Kinda funny that I had it in my head that I was on the Smith...But I wasn't, so I did very well!

I also meant to say 180 lbs. on the machine bench. And I guess I should have specified that the "resounding themes" in my life are to relax and trust...God is proving himself faithful...and so is Adam...that was the point of the first paragraph. I just have to relax and trust...both of them.

Relax And Trust

Oh the resounding themes in one's life...the Lord keeps sending more and more open doors for sponsors my way...And Adam keeps showing up to teach me to get along with those dumbbells.

My total that I need is down to $2,250. Thanks for all your support in your prayers.

Today I did Decline Bench Press on the Smith machine, four sets 12, 8, 4, 2. The weights I did were 95 lbs, 105 lbs, 115 lbs, 145 lbs, and on my last set, at 145 lbs I probably could have gotten four...and Adam agreed...but being on the Decline is the most difficult exercise. Adam kinda needs to be in two places at once...at my feet to hold me in and at my head in case I get tired with the weight. He was at my head today because I have the strap now, but my foot kept coming out from under the pad that holds you in...so we stopped at two, because he actually was only hoping for one to begin with. So, I was very excited that I went that far over what he wanted...progress, progress, progress!!!!

Cable Single Arm Flies were next (40 lbs). Then I did Incline Bench with Dumbbells (of course). I used 30 lbs (each side)...but I was SOO much more comfortable...I hardly worried about it at all, so much so that Adam even noticed I how comfortable I was!!! It pays to have a little trust in your trainer. It felt really good. Then Bicep curls with 20 lb dumbbells.

By myself was the machine Bench press 80 lbs, 4 sets of 15, Chin-ups 4 sets of 8 (and I got at least below my nose EVERY TIME!), FIVE...count them, FIVE....wrist curls (those seem to be a favorite of his also...he's moving me up pretty quickly), and decline abs, which are my favorite abs to do cuz I pull my bottom half up, while hanging on a decline bench and I REALLY feel them. I had forgotten that I used to do them a couple years ago, until just recently, so I'm back at them now.

Another great day under my belt...with many more to come!

Determination

Well, I think that Adam and I have both determined that I'm going to make it...no matter what it takes. I'm referring to getting through winter in Ohio without missing training, and for him, I think he's determined to make dumbbells my friend instead of my enemy.

Very crappy day out, icy this morning, about 4 or 6 inches or so of snow this afternoon. It took me almost an hour both ways, when it normally takes a half hour or under...but I'm home now, safe and sound. You just have to know how to respect mother nature...just go slow and wave at the not smart people as they blow past you. Everything turns out A-OK.

Today was shoulder/back day. I did rows 80 lbs, and pull down rows, I think the same weight, maybe 100 lbs. (I'm not sure that's what they're called, but that's what I'm calling them.). Adam has added "tempo" to some of our exercises, where I have to count pulling the weight, hold it for a count, and then count pushing it back out. Holding the exercise always makes it tougher to do more. But definitely works the muscles more.

I'm pretty sure we went to the ever-lovely dumbbell shoulder press after that. I "refused" to do 30 lbs....but Adam won, of course. And once I got started, they were too light!!!! I did two sets of 12 and for the third set we went up to 35 lbs!! He asked me if I "wanted" to go up in the weight...like he really gives me an option. lol. But I obliged and said sure. I'm glad I did. I did fine with the 35's as well. One time, on the ninth rep I got a little shaky..but he just yelled to keep going, which was really good b/c if I break rhythm it's hard to start again...and he's right there ready to catch if I drop them. It also REALLY helps to have the strap that my friend Mary gave me when I visited her in Ann Arbor. It's helped give me a LOT of extra stability. So, I'm very grateful to have it when I'm doing exercises out of my chair.

Then I did these straight arm things on the cable...I'm not sure what they're called but I just pull my arm all the way across my body and out to the side, keeping it straight the whole time. I did the first set at 20 lbs and the next two at 30 lbs.

On my own was machine Shoulder Press (100lbs), Pull ups (8, 8, 7, 7), 4 wrist curls and side bends for abs.

The Early Bird ALWAYS Gets the Worm

I TOTALLY DID ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC THIS MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!

I had to change my appointment to 8 a.m., because of my BVR appointment...that was to see if they'll fund me to go to school, to get a job. That went okay. I have to wait now for my doctor to send them a diagnosis about me, and then they'll send me an eligibility letter and we'll go from there. So that is in the works.

I benched 105 lbs. this morning...4 sets. Last weeks reps were 12, 12, 10, 10. This morning I gained FOUR REPS!!!!!! I did 12, 12, 12, 12!!!!!!!! It was awesome...AND I had the correct form and used my chest instead of my shoulders!!! Well...all except the last burnout set, when Adam has me do negatives and hold it 2 inches off my chest until he's done counting. It's really hard, and I started to get tired and the bar swayed back toward my chin, instead of being down at my chest. But during the lifts I did really good!

ALSO! I Dumbbell Bench Pressed 30 lb. dumbbells, and did Dumbbell Flies with the same!!!! I did three sets of each of them. There was one time that I got scared that I was getting too tired...after the fourth rep of the third set of the press, but Adam helped me push up again and I did 11 more! Just had to keep my rhythm going. It was tough...still scary, but I'm getting much better.

Skull Crushers and Close Grip Bench were supersetted for my triceps. I'm not sure how much weight it is...the EZ bar is like 25 lbs or something, and then I had at least 10's on each side, I don't know if it was more or not.

Then on my own was Smith Flies (50 lbs), Tricep Kickbacks (20 lbs), four wrist curls, and weighted Crunches holding a 25 lb. plate.

So, that was my day! No cardio today, I had to come home to get ready for my appointment...but I'll probably go tomorrow and do a long one, and then do my two short ones Wednesday and Friday.

Broad Shoulders Carry All the Burden

Adam and I discussed form today, rather extensively. Particularly my benching form. I did Incline Bench Press today, 95 lbs, 4 sets...12, 12, 10, 10 were the reps. Those reps are the same that I Flat Benched on Monday, but I only Inclined 10 lbs less than I Flat Benched (105 lbs). Adam says that tells him that I am using my shoulders too much...in both my Flat Bench and my Incline Bench. He explained to me how that's happening, but it's going to take some getting used to for me to widen my grip, since I'm so used to doing it the way that I am now. He says it will help my Bench weight go up, if I use my chest more...I just have to learn how to do that.

I also used my shoulders too much on my bicep curls today (20 lbs.). So, he had to guide my arm how far to go up and how far to go down, so that I could feel how to isolate my bicep being used, instead of my shoulder. He said that my shoulders take up pretty much every exercise I try to do. He says I've probably used them all my life for everything, before I came to the gym, without knowing it...so now, when I need to push weight up, my body automatically tells my shoulders to do it.

Ya know, they did think when I was being born that I was going to be a boy, because of my broad shoulders...but I need to learn how to take the load off, in more ways than one. It's incredible the spiritual correlations that I see, in amongst my days in the weight room.

But, it was a great workout. Lots of learning...learning is always good. I'm improving a little more all the time. I also did 40 lb. Cable Incline Curls, and 90 lbs on the Pec Dec with Adam. On my own, I benched ***on the machine***, 170 lbs...that's not actually 170 lbs. The machine is very controlled and I'm not lifting near as much as free weight, but it's still good. I did Chin-ups, and was VERY happy with them...I got 5, 5, 5, 6, and I came up high on almost all of them. Then 4 wrist curls, and 3 sets of 20 twist crunches with a 25 lb plate.

This week has been awesome. I've really enjoyed how my routines have been put together and I love that Adam has found so many things I can do on my own, without hurting my progress. I've always thought that on my own I couldn't do enough to improve at a decent pace. He also adjusted my routines so that I do Chest/Tricep on Monday, Back/Shoulder on Wednesday, and Chest/Bicep on Friday. He wants to keep with this for the next 5 weeks, then reevaluate where I'm at. Sounds great to me!!! I miss going 4 days a week, but with the donations coming in, at least I can get up there to do my extra cardio days again. That will get me doing something.

It's Goal Meeting Time!!!!!!

I got my first two sponsor checks in the mail today!!!!!!!!! YAY!! The goal is closer to being met! I need $2,775.00. I'm standing and believing. Are you all believing with me?!

I have sent out extra sponsor letters since the last time I blogged about my fundraising efforts. I have sent out a total of 61 letters to businesses. I got one rejection email today. But I thought it was very nice of them to let me know they couldn't help.

I'm also having a fundraiser through Tastefully Simple...products that my mom sells. I don't believe I blogged about that yet. I'll be placing my order next Thursday, January 29th, and I already have close to $390 in sales. I'm very close, with everything together thus far, to being able to pay for 10 sessions with Adam. It's coming! I can feel it!!

I'll be back tomorrow to post about my training day...thanks for all your prayers and support everyone!!!!

The Ante Is Upped!

Adam said he was going to up the ante on my workouts, and that he did! This week I started doing a half hour with Adam and a half hour by myself after Adam, with things that he's figured out I can do on my own. Actually, Monday, he stayed with me extra long to see how everything went, cuz he had time and he's just nice like that :-) Today though, I did the second half by myself. It's been awesome. I get to work out harder with him, because we don't have to cram so much stuff in.

Today the only things I did with him were bent over rows starting with a 45 lb bar and we went up to 75 lbs (I THINK!), the same type of concept only I held the bar over my head and pushed up to straighten my arm with the 45 lb bar and i think we went up to 55 lbs on that, and then we did close grip pull down...oh! and lateral raises with 10 lb plates. The close grip was weird...I did 20 reps at 150 lbs on the cable in the weight room, and went out to the front room to another cable and I could hardly get 100 lbs!!! Very odd...Adam says that's why people get so confused. He's not sure which is accurate, but apparently one of them isn't! I did 3 sets of everything, plus a burnout set of as many as I could do with the bar on both the row things.

On my own I did pull ups, which I wasn't impressed with myself on. I did four sets, 6, 5, 4 & 4 reps. But, I guess that isn't bad considering A) he wasn't helping me, B) it was after I worked out with him, and C) he had me pull up and hold for a second, then come back down...that makes a BIG difference. Then I did Military Press on a machine at 90 lbs, 4 sets of 15, I did wrist curls, 3 reps, and then I did some side bends for abs. The wrist curls are VERY interesting. They don't look like much when someone else does them, but it's all I can do to get 3 reps out!! I hold a wooden bar with a rope tied around it and at the end of the rope is a 5 lb plate. You have to roll the plate up to the bar and then roll it back down....controlled. Try it sometime!

So, that was that...normal day...I needed a normal day though. It was great. I had fun, as usual. And I feel like I worked hard. I finally feel like I'm getting my focus back. I was definitely more into it today than I have been for a while.

Conquering the Fear of Instability

"Wounds that can't be seen are more painful than those that can be seen and cured by a doctor. I learned that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate. I learned that courage was not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. I felt fear myself more times than I can remember, but I hid it behind a mask of boldness. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid but he who conquers fear. Where people of goodwill get together and transcend their differences for the common good, peaceful and just solutions can be found, even for those problems that seem most intractable." - Nelson Mandela

Most of the time, life isn't about what you overcome physically...but what you can overcome mentally. I had a great day at the gym today with Adam. But it wasn't because I did anything spectacular on the bench or on any of the other exercises I did. What I did do was come just a little bit closer to overcoming the war in my brain about the limitations I have without the use of my legs.

Today, in the middle of my workout, Adam had down for me to do Incline Dumbbell press. Dumbbells and I don't get along well...Flat Bench Dumbbell press already pushes my limits of comfort, but put me on Incline, and I have a SEVERE attitude problem. With not having any force in my hips or butt to keep me grounded, plus the fact that my legs are swaying back and forth because they don't reach the ground, when I have unlevel weights in my hand (even though they're even), it's extremely hard to make my arms push up into the air. My arms and hands are the only parts of my body that control the rest of me. It goes along with Newton's Third Law of Motion, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." I am without my equal and opposite reaction.

Adam handed me 35 lb. dumbbells today. And I was on an angle (incline), and my legs don't touch and the seat is extremely small and barely fits my butt. I'm not positive what it is about the incline that I hate more than the flat bench, but I'm sure it has to do with the angle that I'm sitting without being anchored. I thought for sure I was going to cry. But I fought it off.....and I did it. I completed two sets of 10 Dumbbell Incline Presses with 35 lb. dumbbells. And I didn't drop them.

I have the above quote from Nelson Mandela hanging in my room...below the following Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 - Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to elt it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's stength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size - abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

If anyone can come up with an invention of some type of visor or something that would hold these in front of my face, while I'm lifting, that would be fantastic! The biggest struggle I have is remembering these when I leave my house. I read them every day. But, in the moment, when the fear is so real that something's going to happen, or that I'm going to fail and not be able to do the exercise, it's hard to drown out what's happening, to remember the truth. Sometimes the truth isn't actually what's going on around you...but it's the most difficult thing to remember that and pull the truth back into the situation.

The truth is, Adam would never let anything happen to me. The truth is he's right there if I start to drop them. The truth is I CAN do it even though I'm not as secure as everyone else. And the truth is, I have nothing to be embarassed about if I can't do it.

The gift is that I have Adam there with me to enable me to do things that I couldn't do on my own. The biggest gift of all is that he puts up with the attitude, instead of not making me do things. The gift is that he believes in me, and through that, he shows me, each time I'm with him, that I CAN do it. He helps me remember that I can conquer the fear, and that my limitations are not as bad as I think they are. He encourages me and coaches me through it, when I want to quit...and in the future, sometime when he's not there, I'll be able to close my eyes and hear him and REMEMBER that I CAN do it, because they weren't just words that I read on pages...he proved to me that I can, and his encouragement was what pushed me through to show myself that I can.

Please keep up the prayers for the money to come in. I really miss training full time. It's just not the same. Thanks everyone!

There's Never a Day Off

Well, I know I told you all to check back next week, but it's been quite a wonderful day for me. So, I thought I'd share. I ended up going to the gym, just to bench a little bit...it's my favorite thing. I didn't want to miss out on it today. So, I did a couple warm-ups, and then I did 2 sets of 10 reps w/ 95 lbs. I was going to try 115 lbs., but I was by myself, so, I just played it safe. I also wanted to practice a little bit making sure I bring the bar down completely on my chest. That's what I'm going to have to do in competition. Adam has been doing some great techniques to teach me to steady it there. So, I wanted to test myself to see what I've learned.

Adam came up with many more solutions, regarding ways that I can train when I'm not able to be with him, and I'm sure he's on the verge of more. I'm really thankful to have him. I don't have much faith in myself, but the more he's teaching me and making me experiment with things, the more the faith in myself is starting to grow. I'm excited to get back with him on Monday to train.

I started to print off business cards this evening. I made them up for anyone who has any odd jobs that they want to pay for me to do here and there. I named it "Gopher It!!" and put a picture of a gopher in the corner...then listed some ideas such as organizing, cleaning, or errands, and put to call if anyone had any other needs.

I also just finished stuffing 50 envelopes with letters to businesses in my area, hoping they will sponsor me. I have to print the labels out in the morning. And I sent a letter to Oprah and Dr. Phil today. (wink). It never hurts to try, right? I figured out this evening that I need $2,925.00 to be able to train for an hour a day, four days a week with Adam starting February until my IPC competition in September. That's the competition that really counts for ranking points. 50 sponsors times $50.00 is already $2,500.00, so if I could get just a few of them to sponsor me for just over $50.00 I'll meet my goal, even without my odd jobs! I am believing and knowing that is definitely possible, because with God all things are possible. I would appreciate it if all of you would stand and believe with me in prayer that this would be achieved. If I could train for an hour instead of a half hour, I know I can see gains in my benching far passed what I ever thought would be possible.

A couple of side notes...I noticed I forgot to say that the IPC competition in September is in Georgia. And also, if any of you were wondering...that's Adam with me in my picture. We were at the gym's Christmas party, and Adam wanted a decorative picture, so he's holding a star from the tree and I'm holding a fake Christmas present. I told you he's fun! (And maybe a little crazy too. ).

Bummer...

I'm not training tomorrow. Adam and I are taking a break. Resuming after the weekend. Check back the beginning of the week!

BRRRRRREAKTHROUGH!

BRRRR!!!!! It's FREEZING OUT THERE!! I must be out of my mind to go to the gym on a day like this!! It's almost single digits! And will be later in the week!!! Oh well, life must go on.

I had a great day at the gym today. Had a good breakthrough with myself. There are soooo many things at the gym that I have difficulty doing because of not having the use of my legs. It's super frustrating. And, when I started out with Adam trying to figure all of it out, like why certain exercises are so difficult, I would get so frustrated that I wouldn't even be able to talk to him. I think it was mostly embarrassment/a shot to the pride, because I need his help so much. He has shown me many, many exercises that I had never even tried before....therefore, I didn't know that I was going to need his help or what ways to tell him to help me or that I was going to need his help so much. But today, for only the second time, I was able to keep on working through the frustration and figure out and THEN EXPLAIN what the problem was. YAY!

So, today, I did military (shoulder) press on the Smith Machine. I did one arm at a time at 65 lbs., then I supersetted (did in between) both arms at 85 lbs. Somewhere around 10 reps a piece...plus we did a lot of negatives (I come down as slow as possible, and he pulls it back up) and he had me bring it down and hold it there for 3 seconds before pushing it back up. That is NOT easy to do 5 times after you've done a set of 10...heck, it's not easy BEFORE a set of 10! LOL. We found that now that I'm not injured anymore, my left arm is stronger...by about 3 reps! Then we did Cable Lateral Raises (raising my arms above my head at my sides, straight out), both single arm, and then at the same time. When I did both at the same time was the major frustration...I couldn't do it, without him holding me down. But, we worked through it. He called me stubborn, because I wouldn't stop trying and just go back to single arm, which I know surprises all of you!! (haha). We figured out that I need to say my hips are the problem, not my legs. I've never used them, so it's hard for me to know what the problem is and it's hard for an able-body to realize just how much their legs are used! In ALL exercises! So, anyway, I did 20 lb. Cable Lateral Raises, and then I did 40 lb. Cable Front Raises. And then I did Cable Bicep Curls. I'm not sure what the weight was. But, I thought I was getting away with murder, because I pumped 20 out like it was a piece of cake...then he made me do negatives and hold those too!!! And the same for my skull crushers!!! THAT was brutal...the bar weighs about 25 lbs or something like that, then he had 10 lbs. on each side, and I was on my back, and brought the bar down to my forehead...it's a tricep exercise, for those of you that don't know...and they are NOT fun to do with negatives...but they are my favorite tricep exercise. All my reps today were about 10-12 each, and I did like 4 sets of the military press and everything else was like 2 sets. I was real happy with how well I did

So! That's a day in the life of training Chelsi...no, that's a day in the life of working out one of Adam's routines. Adam would have to blog about a day in the life of training Chelsi, and I don't think I want him to!! lol.

Getting Things In Order

Hello all,

I've had several requests from my friends and family to keep them updated on the progress of my powerlifting training. So, I'm keeping a blog so that you all can gather to one place and it saves me time from having to come to all of you.

As you all should know, I began lifting in June of 2008, with Brent Kasmer at Astre Total Fitness, in Boardman, Ohio. For the first several months, I increased my benching weight an average of close to 10 lbs. per week. Brent moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 1st, and on November 3rd, I began to train with Adam Capretta, founder of Victory Training. I decided to train seriously for powerlifting and make my goal to qualify for the 2012 Paralympic Powerlifting team.

Adam and I have had a very interesting time finding a system...mostly because of me and my insecurities and lack of trust in someone new. But, I've grown so much, as a person, with the events of the last two months. And I have a lot of fun working out with Adam. He makes me laugh...in fact, most days, he comments that my ab workout is that he made me laugh so hard. He makes it enjoyable to be there. He's the one that pushed me to set such a high goal for myself. And he has put up with a lot of attitude, while I adjusted to different circumstances. I owe him a lot.

I also have a wonderful new friend and lifting mentor named Mary Stack. She's a three-time U.S. Paralympian Powerlifter, and she holds like a thousand lifting records in states across the country...well, not really a thousand...but a lot! She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan and she's super nice and helpful.

So, I currently "max out" at 155 lbs. on the bench. The goal is 225 lbs. by September. I'm currently training Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, due to my financial situation...but that is soon to be on the mend, and I will go back to my full schedule of lifting Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with extra cardio on Wednesday and Saturday. I'm going to my first competition at Michigan State University in May of this year. Then I have a Nationals competition in Oklahoma in June. The biggest competition of the year is the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) Nationals competition in September, which will give me international ranking points to help me to qualify for next year's World's Competition. And, if I'm at or past my goal of 225 lbs. at that competition, I will qualify for funding for competitions from there on out. YAY!

So, I think that brings you up to date. Most of you should know most of this information, but I thought I should put a little background for my first entry. I will try to blog, at least every day that I lift. Today is Tuesday, so I have nothing to blog, since I'm on "part-time" training right now. Thank you all for your interest and your support!