Rules of Deduction

Over the last couple of days I have been doing some experimenting, taking notes, and deducting. I have also been taking notes and have drawn some conclusions based on my experiments. I will warn you, they are random.

And all of you get to read about my observations. And if you don't, well, sorry.

Conclusion #1: Soy Milk
I suffer from a bloated belly, upset stomach, and well, not going to the bathroom, at times. Since eating a clean diet (AND JUICING <--- do this to become regular!), I've helped take some symptoms away. But others are still present. I've tried everything to find out what the cause was. I've done only raw (that did help actually!), I've tried no dairy, no meat, no gluten, no yeast, lots of fermented foods, etc. It all helps but not 100%. I still get to the end of the day feeling blah and bloated or just plain full. Until I decided to stop drinking soy milk. I really don't even drink soy milk but for the last two weeks I have not had a single (once, mayyyybe twice weekly) soy chai from Pete's Coffee (they're just so good!). Soy milk, being the only thing I have changed from my diet, leads me to believe it is the nasty culprit. No more bloating, leaving me with a flat tummy I work so very hard for (more on that in Conclusion #3). So, yay to that. Check one for me, Soy milk zero.

Conclusion #2: Dairy
Since upping my workout frequency and intensity (and secretly wanting to look like this) I've also upped my nutrition intake. Along with more calories in, I'm trying to add in 'clean' eggs and greek yogurt. For the most part, I do not include any dairy in my diet but hey, why not try it out and see how it goes? The eggs are treating me fine. The dairy yogurt, while it tastes pretty damn good with some liquid Stevia, chocolate protein powder, and carob chips mixed in (um, delicious), has presented some other symptoms. Since consuming this small amount of dairy, I'm feeling a bit more mucus-y. And I know that dairy is mucus forming. Research has proven this. So, for now, I'll see how it goes with the yogurt. Maybe goat yogurt may be more up my alley... experimentation continues with this one.

Conclusion #3: MMA
Alternate titles for this post were 'Paying for Torture' or 'Double Days' but decided against them due to the lack of generality they would give. Anyway, I've deducted that MMA (or Mixed Martial Arts) participants and instructors are crazy. That can be taken however you'd like but they really are.

For example,  I told you about how I'm now having personal training sessions with my boot camp instructor. Boot camp is one class in the whole MMA program and this class really, really brings a full body, strength and endurance workout. But I needed more. (<--yes, that was a little bit of bragging...) So, I'm training two extra times a week with an INTENSE workout with a little more strength built in. So far, so good. I've had two sessions, yesterday being one of them. [Insert example one] Yesterday morning I did the regular hour of boot camp, then after work, did another hour of private training. It was killer but I feel amazing from the workouts; strong.

This morning, I made it to MMA kickboxing. Honestly folks, I've said it before, kickboxing is the worlds best workout. Today's class was a bit more on the boot camp/plyometric side, but still great. We worked on core today. [Insert example two] With a partner, we took turn taking body shots... and I'm unfortunately not talking Tequilla. Literally body shots to the stomach, with gloves on (oooh and that's not all). It was awesome (see crazy!). Here's how it went down:

Standing against a wall (or boxing ring's post), back flat, hands above head grasping opposite elbow, your partner, with boxing gloves on, proceeds to punch your stomach area, top, middle, sides by ribs, for one full minute. Your job is to keep your hands raised and flex your stomach as much as possible. This was so much more fun than you can imagine. Honestly. Wow.

Second body shot exercise included an eight pound medicine ball. Uhhh, huh. With a partner, you lay on the ground, legs up at a 90 degree angle, hands behind head. Partner stands beside you with the medicine ball and then drops it on your stomach, while you crunch up, flexing, to receive it. This continues for a count of 20 drops, then gladly, you drop your knees down to the right and get ready for the medicine ball from hell to drop onto your obliques and rib area. Repeat 20 times then switch sides. Again with the fun thing... But I really liked the first exercise better...

 Both of the above moves can be done with a partner of choice, hopefully those, they love you. The key, well, just take it.

I rest my case from conclusion 3.

Get ready for an amazingly special post on Saturday! (I'm so excited, I can hardly contain myself! But I will.)

Time for a question for you.
Do you enjoy reading about my workouts? Would you like more specific, one topic style posts about the exercises? Or would you rather not read about them at all? Just curious. All comments are welcome for this one, as they always are!

Since this post is long enough I'll just leave you with a single picture that will get more attention tomorrow.

That's a pear, in case you can't tell...

BYE!