under armour | moonfitness

I’m so excited to a part of the Under Armour What’s Beautiful Challenge with the rest of my friends from Fitfluential. The reason why I promote this campaign and think it is such a beautiful movement is because it pushes women to perform better and challenges them to do whatever it is they have been wanting to do but haven’t been able to make the commitment. Last year when this challenge first started, my goal was to compete in my first NPC Competition. I didn’t sign up online for the Under Armor What’s Beautiful Challenge, but I did mentally. I was so busy with training, I didn’t think I could have had enough time to do video logs and blog about it on both the Under Armour website and my own blog….but I wish I did! Regardless, this movement helped me to pick a goal and DO IT. No thinking, no pondering about it endlessly, just doing it. And it was ultimately and amazing experience. (By the way, this post might look slightly familiar to one I wrote in October of 2012 about self-worth….check it out here!)

This year is different though. As much as I wish I had one goal to work towards, I’m focusing on two slightly broad things. Balance and muscle growth. I believe balance is a challenge in itself, but it’s one that I’m learning how to master. Muscle growth, as you probably know, is a HUGE challenge for me. I tend to psych myself out a lot because I think that the reason why I’m not growing is because I don’t eat enough, but honestly, I think I eat just fine. I have a very well rounded and balanced diet and I would much rather eat when I want instead of having to time everything and eat to the point that I’m stuffed. I hate feeling stuffed. Usually, that’s when my energy is the weakest and I would much rather pick awesome energy over a uncomfortably full belly.

So my training techniques are what I’m focusing on for this challenge. More power lifting and compound movements. Not only do they increase mass, but they also make you feel like one tough cookie. Who doesn’t love to see their PR increase in deadlifts and pull ups?

So my goals for the Under Armour What’s Beautiful Challenge are as follows:

1. Continue to seek out balance
2. Learn proper power lifting etiquette and form
3. Continue to do sprints once per week (all other cardio has been cut out)
4. Increase my strength
5. Increase my muscles, duhhh

Here are my PR stats for the compound movements I’m already comfortable with:

Straight-legged deadlifts- 170 lbs
Normal deadlifts- 155 lbs
(Decline and Flat) Bench Press- 100 lbs
Back squats- 115 lbs (I used to be much higher but then I realized I wasn’t even going parallel…now doing booty to the ankles!!)
Overhand barbell rows- 70 lbs
Military press- 60 lbs
Barbell curls- 65 lbs
Dips- 10 per set
Chin ups- 8 per set, no assistance
Assisted pull ups- 10 per set (with 60 pounds assisting)

All of these exercises in particular I would like to see at least a 10 lb increase within the next month or so.

And then of course, there are the movements I’m not too familiar with that I would really love to get better at…such as:

Overhead Squat, Cleans, Snatches (ahh), Pulls, Jerks, Presses, etc…..I’d mostly like to learn the basics and then all the different variations. The names are confusing in themselves to me…power clean vs. high-hang clean vs. clean and press vs. clean whatever. Yeah, maybe I should look into Powerlifting for Dummies. I’ll think about it.

I’m working on putting a group together on the Under Armour Website, where my females friends can join and push themselves with me! Because of some technical difficulties, I’m having to post-pone the creation of this group but I’m hoping I’ll have it running asap. So please stay tuned to my facebook page for details! I’ll most likely be posting it there.

The first step is to go to the Under Armour website, create an account and upload your goal. Easy peasy. And feel free to give yourself completely different goals than mine! If you’re a runner, pick a race and start training for it! If you are a competitor, pick a show and join in on the fun!! We all have different goals for our bodies but we can encourage each other every step of the way! And you can follow individual athletes’ pages so be sure to follow me by clicking here and then clicking “follow athlete” 🙂 I’ll do the same for you!

By the way. I really wish I could take pictures and videos of myself doing particular exercises in the gym and post it on my group’s page. I know a lot of people post pictures of themselves working out but how in the world do you muster up enough courage to ask somebody to take a snap shot of yourself?! I just don’t want to be that person!

The Under Armour What’s Beautiful campaign has been causing quite a buzz in the fitness industry lately. Woman from all over have been committing themselves to live a healthier lifestyle by achieving a goal they never thought possible or one that they never had the motivation to go out and accomplish.

Bless this campaign.

I love it.

To all you woman who already appreciate your body and love yourself for WHO you are, congratulations. You’ve achieved a feat it takes some woman a lifetime to achieve. If you love yourself unconditionally, no matter what shape or size you are, then your life must be feeling pretty fulfilled already.

That’s an issue in society today that needs a serious makeover. Self-esteem. Self-worth. Self-value. Self-this/Self-that. The body is more than what society says it is; I believe it deserves much more credit. It can do things, be things, make things, create things. The body itself can be a work of art. It can lift people up or tear them down. How you move your body, what you do with it, how you present it, how you challenge it…all of these things add up. You are WORTH something…in fact, you are probably worth a lot more than you think.

You’re more than just a body. There’s beauty on the inside as well as the outside and both of them are what make you unique.

When I think back to the 21 years of my life I can remember a few moments where I yearned to be or look like someone else.

Age 4: Skinny, beautiful, blonde haired Barbie (click here for more information on the Barbie effect)

Age 7: Slender, damsel in distress, Cinderella

Age 10: Cute, sweet, innocent Brittany Spears

Age 15: the ~~hundreds~~ millions of skinny woman in ads and movies

And so on….

Image plays a huge role in the media. It says you MUST look like this or you must look like that. It’s time for a revolution.

What we woman need to start doing is focusing on ourselves. Our actions. Our happiness. Positive energy, people. This campaign is wonderful because it redirects our attention to ACHIEVEMENTS and the beauty of goals. Basically, it’s time to get off your butt of the couch, set your mind to something and go out there and DO IT for your own sake, nobody else. Don’t focus on what you look like, how far you have to go, why you weren’t born with a model’s metabolism but start thinking of your body in terms of art. Because that’s what it is, right? You can mold it, shape it, work it, move it and do a ton of other things. Things that you can’t do without putting a little effort into it.

Stop focusing on the outside and start focusing on feeling good.

It’s pretty simple. Do good to feel good.