Out With A Bang

Little did I know when 2010 started, that I would finally start a successful weight loss journey. How many times has my New Year's Resolution been to lose weight? Let's see...I'm 39 years old...at least 30 times. Tonight during our workout, Trainer Mike said, "If I would have told you eight months ago that you would be doing this exercise (I can't remember which exercise he was talking about specifically...could have been deadlifts, lunges with barbells, stability ball chest presses or some new thing on the stability ball for my butt) would you have stayed?" Duh...probably not...but had I known how much running would be involved I wouldn't have stayed either. Yet, I didn't know what an emotional change this journey would result in either. Based on the scale and pics and clothing sizes there are significant physical results. The mental results are 100 times more rewarding. I'm a changed person. 2011 is 25 hours away. BRING IT!!! I'm looking forward to shedding more pounds and inches, increasing my running ability, and all of the other challenges Trainer Mike can conjure up. As we are saying farewell to 2010, (I don't know about all of you, but it's been challenging for me and I'm kind of glad to say...SEE YA!)I look back with pride at what I have accomplished and immense gratitude to an incredible trainer and friend! THANK YOU, Trainer Mike. YOU ROCK!

I walked into the gym tonight and Trainer Mike's girlfriend had just endured a workout. She wasn't lookin so good. I could tell it had been rather intense. So when he said to me "Are you ready?" I was kind of hesitant to say yes, but before I could reply he said, "There's no way you could be ready for this." And just like that we hit it and we didn't stop. It was intense. In a series of multiple sprints this girl grabs a mat and plops down right in my path. I had been doing this for a while and it wasn't just her she had two friends with her who weren't working out and they were having a little giggly chat time. As I prepared to take off on a sprint, Trainer Mike said, "Run as close to her head as you can. I can't believe she sat right there. It's not like she didn't know what you were doing." Me being the client that ALWAYS(insert sarcasm) follows directions, did exactly as I was told. That girl looked at me and said, "Oh am I in your way?" I didn't stop to respond...kept on sprinting cause that's how I roll. I don't have time for that nonsense. As I was trying to repress the feelings of nausea that were overcoming me it was time to try a new exercise. Here's how it was introduced. "When we came into the gym tonight Sean was doing this and it looked really cool. You're going to be my first guinea pig." Don't you think you would just be falling over to try an exercise with a intro like that? My response was "Are you kidding me?" It was a squat with a 40 pound barbell into an upright row...for just 20 times!!! Here's what you need to know...as I'm sitting in my pjs in my comfy bed writing this blog...my butt already hurts and it's just been 2 hours since we finished the workout. I can't wait to know what this is going to feel like tomorrow. I think it was a combination of that exercise, deadlifts, squats, and lunges that have really talked to the glutes. That's okay...they need to be talked to and they're not used to it so they're just talkin back a little bit. Trainer Mike decided that "since we went out like Johnny Carson last time we would go out with a bang like Ronald Reagan tonight." 2 sets of sprints, 5 regular pushups and 20 fingertip pushups followed by 30 crunches and 20 military jumping jacks. Yep, I wanted to fall on the floor when I was done. Yet, I wouldn't expect anything less.

Since Trainer Mike referenced Ronald Reagan, I feel that so should I..."There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect." Thus far in my journey I have learned that I had built walls and barriers that loomed over me and that I alone...not food...restricted my own success and debilitated my health. Please know, I still struggle with food. I still see it as my enemy sometimes. I am still challenged by food. However, I now understand that my thoughts about food and my lack of knowledge about food are the enemy. Not the food itself. (Okay...seriously...cake is an enemy to me. Truly an enemy!) Nevertheless, in 2011 I will tear down more walls and barriers and learn how to be friends with food and use it to my advantage. I look forward to it!

A Johnny Carson Workout

Dear Readers, I am so sorry for not writing for so long. I have been working out, but time has been going quickly. Well my great news is that I got on the scales tonight at the gym and have lost 6 more pounds. I need to lose 7 more and I will be below a milestone weight for me. I can't wait.

My mom wants a way to contact Trainer Mike! NOT! Yesterday my sister and I took our grandpa out for his birthday. There has been this place in Gardner, KS for years called the Blazer Burger. A few months after Grandma passed two years ago, Grandpa started going in there. The owners, a young couple, have adopted him like he's part of their family. When Sandy and I suggested we go to the Blazer Burger for lunch Grandpa's face lit up. He couldn't wait for us to meet Jimmy and Heather. Let me get to how this lunch with my sister and Grandpa resulted in my mom wanting Trainer Mike's number. They have this unique ice cream machine over there. It comes out in a swirl onto a cone, but the edges are flavored. I ordered strawberry and the edges were strawberry with everything else vanilla. You need to know I would have NEVER tried the ice cream if my mother hadn't talked about it over and over and how good it is. Sandy thought we should send a pic of me with the ice cream to Mom. We did. She called me talking about how mean I am. She's the one that's been talking about this ice cream going on and on like it's the best thing since indoor toilets. I straight up told Trainer Mike my mom wanted his number and why. And I also told him she is FAR more of an ice cream addict than I am.

I hadn't been to the gym since a week ago when Mike and I worked out. The stomach flu knocked the workin out right out of me for a few days. I was a little worried walking into the gym and I should have been. Right off I had to run sprints. But the hardest part tonight was the lunges with barbells. I lunged down and back which is approximately 44 lunges with 40 pounds on my back. Then I did it with 30 and then with 20. OUCH! This was AFTER I had done three sets of lunges with kettle balls. In the middle of this Mike said, "Who likes lunges? Tammy likes lunges." Someone in the gym had to comment on how they do lunges. It's hard enough to do them without weight, but when you add that component it gets all sorts of tricky. At the end of the workout, Mike decided we would sprint again. I said, "Um...I think you forgot that's how we started the workout?" He said, "I know. We started happy and we're going to end happy. Johnny Carson style." The thing is...working out does make me VERY happy! Sometimes I feel like I'm going to die in the process, but overall it makes me sooo happy. I leave the gym and think, "Wow, Bunch you did it! You didn't puke or pass out. You did it." I am amazed that I have been doing this for 8 months now (HOLY COW!!! I just now realized it's been 8 months! And my trainer has stuck by me. That's a miracle. Surprised I haven't scared him off!) and still I am so challenged by the intensity of the workouts and sometimes scared that I'm not going to be able to do it. However, to quote the great Johnny Carson "If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined." I do feel more peaceful and I'm liking myself more all the time. 8 months ago...not so much!

Do You Trust Yourself

Last night's workout was SCARY. I've yet to workout with Mike and not be challenged in someway, but last night we were at a new level. We started out doing a Hiway Patrol test. I tried to explain that I'm not going into the Hiway Patrol, but Mike thinks this is good for me. So I ran for 7 minutes straight without complaining or whining once. I walked for two minutes and then ran the rest of my mile. Pretty cool. I was impressed with myself. But then he decided we needed to run sprints. So it was two times down the gym and 20 pushups and 20 flutter kicks. Next three times down and back with thirty pushups and thirty flutter kicks. Four times down and back with forty pushups and forty flutter kicks. Five times down and back with fifty pushups and fifty flutter kicks. We followed that up with 50 crunches and then hopped right into some kickboxing. (I thought after I hit the trainer the last time we were finished with this, but I'm so excited he brought it back.) It's such a great stress relief. After that we did some squatting. Then we went into some serious ab work. First I held a weighted ball and with my legs in the air did 25 crunches with the ball above my head. I took a break then we did squats, jumping jacks and 25 more of the ball crunches. Then Mike said, "Do you trust me?" It's not a matter of me trusting Mike. I trust him completely. He's an expert and wants me to succeed as badly as I want to succeed. The question is do I trust myself? So I laid on the floor and Mike stood over me with the weighted ball. He dropped it, I caught it and then I threw it up in the air to him. I really had to focus because if I missed the ball it was going to hit my nose and you know I would end up with a broken nose. But we did it successfully 20 times. It was painful.

At the end of the workout I was dripping with sweat and extremely nauseous. I had to sit down in a chair. My husband had come to workout, but ended up watching my workout instead. He and the trainer started talking. I was extremely quiet because my seratonin levels were so high. It was like I was having some out of body experience. We finally got in the car to come home and Dave said, "He kicked your ass. That was just a spanking." I was nauseous for an hour after the workout. I managed to drink a protein drink and then I crashed. I could barely focus on the book I'm reading. When I fell asleep it was a deep hard sleep. It's the kind of sleep I love. I'm hoping for a workout like this next week when I don't have to get up and go to work the next morning. I could have slept way past my alarm this morning. My legs, butt, and abs were so sore this morning, but it was that good sore. And the scales were down another pound. It was a scary workout, but I LOVED it. The harder they are the better I feel. I'm enjoying this journey so much. "Every man is the builder of a temple called his body." ~Henry David Thoreau...I've got a lot more building to do, but I'm doin it!