Ultimate Coffee Date: September 2014

How has everyone been doing? Come pull up a chair and enjoy some [virtual] coffee with me! :] This link up is hosted by Nikki, Jill & Lynda!

I actually still haven’t consumed a single cup of coffee yet (although I guess I did have 1/8 of a cup the other day…). I have only two weeks left of my Family Medicine rotation left though, and I’m a little sad about that. :[ I’m trying really hard to keep an open mind about specialties and the like, but I’m still pretty hellbent on outpatient family medicine at a community clinic somewhere in suburbia. I imagine I’ll need the whole coffee/caffeine thing more for my next rotation, since it’s Emergency Medicine, but for the most part, I’ve just been downing water and fruit/protein smoothies. :P

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I’d tell you that I’m hoping that I can still pop into my FM clinic or my friend’s preceptor’s clinic if I happen to have a free day/week in the future, just to learn some more. (My friend’s preceptor has already okayed this, so I’m rather thrilled!) I’m getting better with giving steroid injections, and I got to use liquid nitrogen to burn off several warts about a week ago! :] I still really love getting to know my preceptor’s patients, and I’ve been taking every chance I can get to counsel on healthier eating habits and exercise when it’s warranted. A lot of them have been pretty receptive so far!

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I’d say that it’s been really interesting living in a new state. I miss Lewisburg (especially the cat + dog shelters and my church), but the fact that most of my closest school friends are here makes it easier! I’ve been called “honey” more times in the past month than I have in my entire lifetime. I guess it’s just a really common thing around here! (Second on the list of things I hear the most from patients is, “Y’know what I mean?”) I doubt I would’ve noticed if I’d lived here all my life. People are very friendly here as well (I guess it’s a southern thing!), although nowhere as friendly as Lewisburg (that was a definite bubble, haha).

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I would tell you that I’m definitely not cut out to take naps. My naps are more like sleeps (or comas). I was completely exhausted one day after coming back from the hospital-clinic (it’s kinda both), so I decided to take a half-hour nap before running off to my TKD and BJJ classes. …I slept through both. I was sucking terribly at bench press and it made me a little sad. :[ I’ve got a long way to go, and not that much time before my competition to improve. :[ …I decided to tack on boot camp after bench press day because I missed TKD/BJJ the evening before…

 

 

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I’d tell you that mayhaps doing boot camp after lifting (just barbell bench and dumbbell bench, but still) was not the best of ideas. It’s been a very long time since I’ve worked out so hard that I almost threw up. x_x About 1.5-ish weeks ago, I decided to partake in the Wednesday boot camp that my hospital gym offers (free of charge to employees, and I’m considered to be one! :). Wednesday bootcamp is outside, and Saturday bootcamp is in the pool at the PT center. It’s still really hot and humid here, and my endurance is still pretty terrible (I’m slowly improving!), so it was a definite struggle! It consisted of the following:

• Short Tabata workout (7 different exercises, 20 seconds all-out and 10 seconds rest in between)
• 19 different stations at 1 minute each: squat to military press with a 15-lb. dumbbell, squat jumps, planks alternating from forearms to hands, sprints, walking lunges, planks on an exercise ball, bench dips, battle ropes, burpees, pushups, side planks, goblet squats with a 25-lb. dumbbell, farmer’s carry with 35-lb. dumbbells, deadlifts at 65 lbs, 12-lb. medicine ball carries, 15-lb. dumbbell presses with a mini-squat, tire flips, sledgehammering a truck tire, and either box jumps or step-ups onto another truck tire.
• Repeat all stations at 30 seconds each.
• 5+-minute pulsing squats to Moby Flower’s “Bring Sally Up” song. (I have a special piece of hatred in my heart for Sally. :'( )

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I’d tell you that my TKD/BJJ instructor is freaking awesome! After he found out that I was interested in sports medicine and also in potentially entering a strong(wo)man competition, he contacted one of his buddies who’d apparently trained with one of the guys who was on the World’s Strongest Man TV show so he could potentially give me some pointers on how/where to start (since I presently know nothing). He also offered up his gym for me to work out in during off-hours (so basically just not Tuesday/Thursday evenings) for free! :O! There are truck tires and all kinds of other awesomeness there, so I’m supersuper excited!

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I’d also tell you that what I’m actually most concerned about for my powerlifting competition is that I won’t be able to cut to the weight class I want to be in. Due to my love and adoration for food, apparent lack of self-control and complete disinterest in weighing myself, I think I have about 4-5 pounds to cut in the next 2 weeks if I want to be competitive. D: In other news, I came across a “What Kind of Eater Are You?” thing, and I am most definitely a combination of the following:

• Refuse-Not Unconscious Eater
  Will eat when food is in front of them. Vulnerable to jars or bags of food.

• Waste-Not Unconscious Eater
  If it’s free you better eat it. Sensitive to the value of the food dollar. Will overeat at a buffet just to get their money’s worth.

I’m sure the above contributes as well. >_> On the flip side, there’s also the very real possibility that the weight I’ve gained is actually muscle, seeing as how I’ve been working my butt off lately. This is awesome, but does not negate the fact that if I want to be at all competitive, I gotta be in the right weight class! I need to find the right balance. I’m sure that’ll be fun.

• How has your month been going so far?
• Are you more a fan of exercising outside or inside?
• What’s the most tiring/taxing workout you’ve ever done?