I have officially returned to my redneck roots....last night, my husband and I, went to the Desert Brawl in Bend. If you have never been to one of these: it is a series of cage fighting matches. You either are knocked out or tap out. I felt my IQ drop by 10 points as I entered the room:) But I must tell you that I had a total blast!! The energy in that room was amazing. I even felt like beating the hell out of somebody:) Anyway, I had a lot more fun than I ever thought I would. I found myself getting mad at the ref for stopping the fights too early, I was like "let em keep beating each other!!!!"

We came home to find our babysitter asleep, and my children giggling and trying to decorate him in his sleep. (It was 12:30am!!!) My kids are good kids, and I really would trust them to be alone (if it wasn't against the law.....HA HA HA). They are really independant and can take care of themselves pretty darn well, but they love our babysitter so much. He is just as much a play partner as he is a babysitter.

I trained shoulders and chest today--could barely write in my workout log by the end of the session. I LOVE that feeling!!!! Then I had to train a client after that.....and she always reads my journal every week, so I have to give her props! ( Hi D) She reminds me if I haven't updated my journal enough:) I work tomorrow and Wednesday this week, but have tons of appointments on Tuesday and Thursday. So I will try to update my journal later this week. Take care everybody! Train hard, no excuses. Love ya,

Tami

3-29-06 It has been brought to my attention that a comment I made in this blog entry offended some people.....I have erased those comments out of respect for those people mentioned. I don't ever want to hurt another individual, so I respectfully withdraw my comment. My blog is meant to be fun and entertaining, not hurtful. A good friend said to me today:

"It is not what happens to you in life....it is what you do with what happens to you in life that matters...."

I am choosing to learn from this experience. I am a very "unfiltered" person....I am passionate about my feelings, I say what I mean. I have just realized that I cannot do that in this forum. Thank you so much to the individual who brought this to my attention....you are a true friend:)

Guess what I just did????? I booked a trip to Disneyland for June!!!! We have been saying for the past 2 years that we should go....so when Trent came home with info about "kids fly free to Disneyland", I knew we just had to do it. The best part, is that we aren't going to tell the kids until we pull into the airport in Redmond. I'm going to secretly pack their bags the night before......so sneaky huh? My friend just did that with her kids, and she said it was the funniest thing ever to see their faces! So, now I have to work some major overtime at the hospital, or pick up a few more training clients so that I can pay for this trip:)

So sorry I haven't written in over a week....I have been diligently studying for my ACE certification exam, which I am taking in 3 weeks. There is so much to learn about high risk clients, and how to develop programs for them. Between studying, working, training, and planning a baby shower for my best friend....I've been just a tad busy:) I work best under pressure though.

My training is going very well....the endothil CR is incredible!! I am gaining so much strength, and hopefully more size soon also. I have gained about a pound in the last few weeks, so I am hoping it is lean muscle:) It's hard to train and be objective about my body in the off season because I carry all of my fat on my butt and thighs (which makes me look bigger on the bottom and even smaller on the top). So I really can't judge my symmetry until I am about half way dieted down.

Exciting news!!!!! I have 2 pictures in Muscular Development magazine! I couldn't find it anywhere in town....but finally found it at Barnes and Noble. They are both from backstage at nationals. I can't wait for the Oxygen issue that reviews nationals....I hope the pics are good. That might get me the exposure that I am looking for. (and possibly a few sponsors) Well, I must go, I have a sick child who is waking herself up coughing....a mother's job is never done:) Take care everyone, train hard, NO EXCUSES! Love ya,

Tami

Hello my friends!!! I am feeling great today! I worked my back tonight- I was able to do 130# reverse grip pulldowns for 11 reps (my best ever). My strength gains are improving every week, so hopefully soon, I can convince my shoulders to grow:) I am trying a new supplement called Endothil CR. I started it today. It is a "muscle cell recruiter" that is used on people who have suffered some sort of muscle trauma (usually due to an accident of some sort). It is now being used by bodybuilders because it increases muscle mass. It only works if you tear down your muscles to complete failure. Since I already lift that way, I think it may work for me.....It is sold at GNC, I've done a lot of research on it. I have yet to find one person with a negative thing to say about it, and it is a totally legal supplement. I have to be careful that I am not taking any banned substances (gotta follow all the rules:)

The people at my gym started a "Biggest Loser" contest tonight. Each person had a private weigh in and payed $20, at the end of 12 weeks- the person with the most percentage of weight loss gets all the money. I think this is such an awesome idea! So far, there is about 40 people signed up. Nothing like $800 to help motivate you to diet:)

I watched my son wrestle tonight....can I brag for a minute? He is such a little stud! I am so proud of him. He is such a softy on the inside- and a little tazmanian devil when he's on the mats! I hope he keeps his love for the sport...it has given him such confidence. I am going to have to start taking valium for his actual matches.....I get so nervous for him- I can't eat or drink the whole day- which for me is a very big deal!!!! Did I mention he turns 6 this weekend? My baby is SIX!!! It seems like just the other day I was waddling around pregnant with him:)

I must go to bed....train hard everyone- NO EXCUSES!!!

Tami

It was my back day today....no pain no gain right? My strength gains are huge every week! I am upping my weights by about 10lbs each week, which is SO awesome! The only supplements I am taking right now are muscle milk, BCAA's, and Animal Stak 2. I have never tried Animal Pak or Animal stak before, but I am becoming a believer. I have had friends tell me they worked for them...but I had just never tried them. My endurance during lifting is improving a lot, when I am done- I feel like I could do more. My weight gain seems to have plateaued. I am about 128 to 130 on most days...it's just really hard to tumble and practice strength moves at this weight. It is much easier to throw my little 118lb body around:) I keep telling myself: it's all about the muscle right now. I am trying to eat clean, but in large amounts! My appetite is huge at times. I need to get my DJ working on my next routine mix...I'm excited to start choreographing it!

Thank you to everyone for the e-mails, I have had some "interesting" ones in the last few days. I love hearing from you guys! You can always e-mail me with questions about training or competing too. I have had huge traffic on my web site due to the Bodybuilding.com article- so if you are reading this from there- WELCOME! This is my goofy forum where I write about being a mom, wife, fitness competitor, and nurse!!!! Till next time my friends, train hard- NO EXCUSES! Love ya,

Tami

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!I've been having computer problems...but I finally figured them out! So, I can write again. The big new is this: I was chosen as fitness competitor of the week on Bodybuilding.com!!!!! The problem is that I was chosen 2 months before nationals.....and it is for amateurs only! I thought that they would have posted it long before now....so when they hadn't posted it, I just assumed they weren't going to because I had went pro. Here is the link if anyone wants to see it:

http://www.bodybuilders.com/fitness.htm

They forgot to put my web site into the article, so I e-mailed them to try to add it in. In the article I talked about how Kelly Ryan was one of my personal influences in the fitness world....so that doesn't exactly look that great now that she is accussed of helping her husband murder someone! For any info on that subject you can go to the gossip section on Getbig.com. But I do feel that there will be no one as good as Kelly Ryan in the routine rounds....she was phenomenal! I actually met Kelly about a year ago, and she seemed like such a wonderful person.

We took down our Christmas tree today and cleaned the house.....its amazing how much bigger your house looks without all the clutter. We had a very low key New Years Eve, we rented movies and ate pizza with the kids. Trent and I fell asleep on the couch and woke up just after midnight....looked at each other and said "happy new year" and then went to bed. Real exciting huh? I knew that if we had went out for new years, I would have ended up eating and drinking way too much! So it is just better to not put myself in those situations. My gym is closed today, which totally bums me out! I love to work out on the weekends, the gym is usually so slow. Thanks to New Years Resolutions it will be packed for the next month!!!! But by February, us die hards are the only ones left:) Well, I hope everyone resolves to get healthy in the new year (not just skinny)....I have whining kids at my feet begging for dinner, so I must go. Take care till next time my friends!

Tami