Training Chest/Bicep at Defined Fitness Albuquerque, NM

Upon my return home from my travels, I had a little bit of a cold/cough that I am just now getting over.  I believe in sweating it out in the sauna and steambath, drinking a lot of water,  sleeping a lot, taking lots of vitamins I would not normally take, and eating really well to get over any minor illness.  I have barely touched the booze, red wine or spirits, because with an illness, I do not want anything slowing my recovery down.  

My good friend, Jason Sanchez, an independent contractor in Albuquerque is my trustworthy training partner.  I began mentoring him after his trainer, Romeo Villarino left New Mexico.  We all used to train at Libety Gym, the one and only hardcore bodybuilding gyms in Albuquerque.  We have been training on and off for the better part of the last three years (mostly off since I am away a lot).  Even though I am not a personal trainer by trade, I find it fun to train with people that look to me for guidance and support, which makes me step up my game and tap into my inner knowledge.  I have trained with many top trainers and athletes in the past five years, including professional bodybuilders, professional strongmen, powerlifters, fighters, and other athletes, and every where I go, I learn new techniques, new methods, and dietary and supplement approaches. 

Today a few of the local men in the gym wanted photos with me.  They always think I am the new girl in the gym because I am home so infrequently.  Jason and I have been hitting the gym this week pretty hard, and he has had a pretty long layoff due to injury and work, so he is not really used to my moderately heavy weights, (about 80% of 1RM) higher volume, minimal rest cadence.  In fact, I trained this way while I was in San Diego over the summer, and it took me a couple weeks to not feel gassed and nauseous all the time.  It's a lot different than training for power and strongwoman events.  I love lifting heavy because there is always a lot of laugher, camraderie and general bullshitting going on.  Not so when you want to get leaner and get out of the gym so you can do other things! 

So, we kept the workout pretty simple, only two exercises for chest and arms, but we did 4-5 sets and major drop sets until we could do no more.  This makes for an incredible pump.  A pump is cool because all the veins and vasularity comes out and everything looks so freaky and that is the fun part of training and getting in better shape.  Jason was asking me how to build his bicep thickness, and instead of telling him, "I am still trying to figure that out, and even with 16" biceps, I still think my arms are too small!"  Instead, I showed him some drag curls on the Smith machine and we called it a night.  

At the end of our training, Jason snapped a few photos with my Iphone.  He couldn't believe how much leaner I have gotten since we last trained a year ago.  He asked me what my secret is.  I told him, eating on time, clean foods, and drinking tons of water.  I remember when Romeo used to help prep me for my first bodybuilding show, he told me to force the water in, and I will get better pumps.  He was right.  For an athlete of my size, I need to drink at least 1.5-2.0 gallons of water a day. 

Happy training everyone!