Music Motivation-

If there's anything that can ruin a workout for me, it would have to be not having music at the gym. Everyone knows that trying to workout without music is like trying to lift without limbs (okay, I admit that might be a bit of an over-exaggeration) but honestly, I think that everyone can relate to this. With hundreds of memes floating around about failed workouts due to forgotten headphones, or low batteries on our phones/mp3 players, workouts without music can be bland, and become a chore. When I have the right music, it has the same effect on me as a preworkout. It gets me pumped, in focus, and I drown out those around me in order to murder my sets. I mix up my workout playlists with different genres of music. Personally, I love listening to all types of music. As long as it has a good beat and is fast paced for the most part, I can get in the groove and work out.

This week's queue:

1) I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor- Arctic Monkeys

2) 23- Mike Will Made It feat. Miley Cyrus, Wiz Khalifa, and Juicy J

3) Pour It Up- Rihanna

4) Trouble- Neon Jungle

5) Thinking About You- Calvin Harris

6) Bulletproof- La Roux

7) Sad Sad City- Ghostland Observatory

8) Baby's On Fire- Die Antwoord

9) Memories- David Guetta feat. Kid Cudi

10) Give It 2 You- Robin Thicke feat. Kendrick Lamar

11) Wild For The Night- A$AP Rocky feat. Skrillex

12) Black Skinhead- Kanye West

13) Ball- T.I. feat. Lil Wayne

14) Dark Horse- Katy Perry feat. Juicy J

15) 212- Azealia Banks feat. Lazy Jay

16) Fireworks- The Whitest Boy Alive

17) Motivation- Kelly Rowland feat. Lil Wayne

18) Gotta Have It- Kanye West and Jay Z

19) Heartbreaker- MSTRKRFT feat. John Legend

20) Tom Ford- Jay Z

21) Bad Girls- M.I.A. 

22) Black and Gold- Sam Sparro

23) Crown On The Ground- Sleigh Bells

24) Sunshine- Rye Rye

25) Opposite Of Adults- Chiddy Bang

26) The Fighter- Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder

27) Can I Have It Like That- Pharrell


-J

Catching up with A&J

A:

Wow! What a weekend I have had! As you know I was headed to Ohio on Thursday for the Arnold Expo and it couldn't have possibly been more amazing. I arrived on Thursday and spent the evening watching the men's physique along with women's bikini, fitness and figure prejudging. I spent the first night with Nikki (@pennywakefield) who is such a complete sweetheart.  Friday was spent meeting some my fitspo inspirations such as Jazzy (@jazzythings) Amy (@fitamysuzanne) and the one and only Dana Linn Bailey! Friday evening (which included dinner and a group lifting session) along with the rest of the weekend was spent with Lacey (@faithandfit) Emilia (@emiliafit) Zoe (@zoelivelovelift) and Kim(@pbeechie). Love these girlies! I learned so much from them and had a wonderful time getting to know them. What an experience it was to see Instagram friends turn into real life friends. They are all so supportive and I left feeling 10x more comfortable about my upcoming competition and my current prep. The expo was absolutely amazing, so many muscles in one place! I received samples from all my favorites: Cellucor, Optimum Nutrition, and Quest. I discovered new favorites such as Fitmiss and Perky Jerky. I could go on and on about my weekend and I will expand in other posts. Stay tuned for the weekends expo fashion- what was bought and what everyone was wearing. Also to come is a more in depth look of some supplement brands and samples that I fell in love with!

J:

Okay, so although I am super jealous of Arlene because she got to go to the Arnold Expo and had tons of fun, my week was pretty eventful too as well. I had some great workouts at the beginning of the week burning anywhere from 1600-2800 calories per session. I felt like I had a break through and honestly was getting the most of my workouts. I decided to reward myself with some new gym clothes. By Thursday I realized that I had a lot of homework to finish before my classes on Monday. Thursday night I got a call that I would be starting my new job at OSH on Friday. I spent all weekend at work trying to familiarize myself with the processes and the way things are done. Between that and getting caught up with my school work, I didn't have time to go to the gym all weekend. I woke up today feeling really down about myself, although I had been eating clean for the most part I still felt like I had taken three steps back. The more I thought about the missed opportunities I had at the gym, the more unmotivated I started to feel. Then I saw a quote on Instagram "Don't wait until you've reached your goal to be proud of yourself. Be proud of every step you take toward reaching that goal." I started looking back at old pictures of myself and I looked at myself in the mirror. My body still looked the same as it had 3 days ago, and while I definitely hadn't gained strength or muscle, I hadn't gained any fat either. I took a look at how far I've come and realized that skipping the gym for a few days isn't going to kill me or make me fat again. It just gives me that much more motivation to kill my next workout. I was stuck in class until 10pm but I definitely hit the gym afterwards and was proud of what I accomplished.