Fitness ROCKS!
Mar. 3rd, 2010 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerThe stress has been kicking my ass lately. There are no words for how tightly wound I feel. It's sad. So very very sad. I can't be trusted near a cookie or GoldFish Cracker. In an effort to assert some control and sanity, I banned sugar from my day. It really is the root of all evil for me. And I made it through the day. This is really supposed to be a fitness post, but I gave myself a gold star for dodging sugar today. Thursday will be day-two. I feel like a 12-stepper; One day at a time.
So... fitness. This is where sanity reasserts itself. This is why I don't need to drink and why I haven't run away into the wilderness to gnaw on tree bark.
Lately, I reaquainted myself with the stair climber. My calves have noticed with alarm; running doesn't cause this kind of ache anymore. The switch is needful, though. Running has been painful and not in the "good-muscle building" way. In fact, I ran for 45 minutes Sunday morning in the beautiful mountainous outdoors and my left hip spent the rest of the day throbbing. However, on the plus side, the shin and calf pain seemed absent. Anyway, Sunday's run was the first run that lasted for more than 10 minutes in a week (and trust me, for a runner, a week-long break really is a BREAK!)
Last Friday I stair-mastered for 45 minutes and then did upper body free weights.
Sunday, I ran for 45 minutes and discovered the hip was still unhappy.
On Monday I did the stair climber for an hour and then did some lower body weight lifting; squats, walking lunges, straight legged deadlifts and abs (leg lifts, scissor kids, hello-dolly).
Tuesday I couldn't rouse myself to hit the gym... the aches and pains won. Besides, muscles really do need to recover, so it's not a cop-out.
Wednesday (today from 4:55am-6:15am) I ran. It felt so sweet. I ran 6 miles in 57 minutes, averaging 9.5 minutes/mile. This was a break-through run for me. I'm totally doing my touch-down dance but from a sitting position. oh yeah! oh yeah! Boogie on! Then I did weight training; upper body with dumbells.
But wait.. there's more.
I got a fitness trainer. Holy-Barfing-my-guts-out, Batman! Tonight was our second session (5-5:50pm). When we were done, I was shaking so bad, I just wobbled like a plateful of jello out to my car. (which was my 2nd workout in one day. Burn those cookie calories from earlier this week. Cursed Girl Scouts!)
A fitness trainer? I've been considering it. There's a lot to learn that you can't get from a magazine or book. I don't need someone to yell at me 3x a week to push it, I need someone to challenge my work out and give me new things to do in new ways. I'm in a rut. Losing 15lbs would be nice, too. So I've been percolating... I shifted to "commit" a week ago.
It all started when I went in for a Saturday workout a few weeks ago and they were offering free body-fat measurements. If you got one, you could sign up for a free training session with the peppy young man with the shaved head and amazing energy level that emanated like a bonfire at night. I got pinched and I got measured and I got weighed (I sighed deeply in resignation and called it a "bench mark") and then I signed up for the free session and for the raffle (didn't win raffle, but then I've never won one). I was specific about what I wanted: Help me with my core. I wanted an ab routine that was challenging, but NOT impossible. I hate doing abs and lower back, so it needs to be interesting.
The free session was last Wednesday. He wrecked me. Plain and simple, I was destroyed.
He seems to think I'm an athlete. I laugh. He's so young! He said his goal was to make me a more athletic triathlete. I tried running the next day and the up and down motion sent shockwaves of pain through my obliques with each step! I was flabbergasted. My solution was (a) run faster so the pain would be constant and ignorable and (b) sign up for training sessions with Captain Energy. I only managed to run for a few minutes, but it was plenty of time to consider the results of Wednesdays session.
Tonight he gleefully greated me with, "How was your day? Ready to get destroyed?"
Of course I said, "Bring it!" and did my sassy head-slide and finger flourish.
He did.
I am.
I leapt around the place with dumbells in my hands. I did explosive jumping things that I suck at. I did lateral leaping things that looked fast when he did it, but more like low-energy geriatric shuffling when I did it. I did swimming arm motions with dumbells in my arms until I couldn't lift my arms. I did jump squats with dumbells, leaping upward and then shoulder pressing the dumbells straight over my head (I only had one-near miss with the dumbell and my head as I was coming down). He seemed pleased that I was so driven; I grunted, groaned, panted, and had the face that could curdle milk through each set. And when we finished, he said, "how are you doing?" And I said, "keep it coming".
I discovered a whole new country of pain and ineptitude and clumsy. He got alarmed only once when I demonstrated that my will power and his optimism were no match for my clumsy. Apparently running 6 miles in 57 minutes means zip when it comes to jumping up and down steps with dumbells in your hands. My entire body was buzzing with exhaustion when we were done. It was AWESOME! If I can do that, I can do anything.
I have no idea what Captain Energy has in store for next week. But between now and then this white girl will get better at jumping.
Edit/Update:
It's 10am the next day. I can't decide which hurts more, my glutes or the muscles that run parallel up my lower back (what are those called?). I am definitely sitting up straight and I'm very aware of my glutes. I dropped in on JZ and she fell out of her chair chortling as she watched me maneuver from standing to sitting. Jogging later today so this doesn't set in.
So... fitness. This is where sanity reasserts itself. This is why I don't need to drink and why I haven't run away into the wilderness to gnaw on tree bark.
Lately, I reaquainted myself with the stair climber. My calves have noticed with alarm; running doesn't cause this kind of ache anymore. The switch is needful, though. Running has been painful and not in the "good-muscle building" way. In fact, I ran for 45 minutes Sunday morning in the beautiful mountainous outdoors and my left hip spent the rest of the day throbbing. However, on the plus side, the shin and calf pain seemed absent. Anyway, Sunday's run was the first run that lasted for more than 10 minutes in a week (and trust me, for a runner, a week-long break really is a BREAK!)
Last Friday I stair-mastered for 45 minutes and then did upper body free weights.
Sunday, I ran for 45 minutes and discovered the hip was still unhappy.
On Monday I did the stair climber for an hour and then did some lower body weight lifting; squats, walking lunges, straight legged deadlifts and abs (leg lifts, scissor kids, hello-dolly).
Tuesday I couldn't rouse myself to hit the gym... the aches and pains won. Besides, muscles really do need to recover, so it's not a cop-out.
Wednesday (today from 4:55am-6:15am) I ran. It felt so sweet. I ran 6 miles in 57 minutes, averaging 9.5 minutes/mile. This was a break-through run for me. I'm totally doing my touch-down dance but from a sitting position. oh yeah! oh yeah! Boogie on! Then I did weight training; upper body with dumbells.
But wait.. there's more.
I got a fitness trainer. Holy-Barfing-my-guts-out, Batman! Tonight was our second session (5-5:50pm). When we were done, I was shaking so bad, I just wobbled like a plateful of jello out to my car. (which was my 2nd workout in one day. Burn those cookie calories from earlier this week. Cursed Girl Scouts!)
A fitness trainer? I've been considering it. There's a lot to learn that you can't get from a magazine or book. I don't need someone to yell at me 3x a week to push it, I need someone to challenge my work out and give me new things to do in new ways. I'm in a rut. Losing 15lbs would be nice, too. So I've been percolating... I shifted to "commit" a week ago.
It all started when I went in for a Saturday workout a few weeks ago and they were offering free body-fat measurements. If you got one, you could sign up for a free training session with the peppy young man with the shaved head and amazing energy level that emanated like a bonfire at night. I got pinched and I got measured and I got weighed (I sighed deeply in resignation and called it a "bench mark") and then I signed up for the free session and for the raffle (didn't win raffle, but then I've never won one). I was specific about what I wanted: Help me with my core. I wanted an ab routine that was challenging, but NOT impossible. I hate doing abs and lower back, so it needs to be interesting.
The free session was last Wednesday. He wrecked me. Plain and simple, I was destroyed.
He seems to think I'm an athlete. I laugh. He's so young! He said his goal was to make me a more athletic triathlete. I tried running the next day and the up and down motion sent shockwaves of pain through my obliques with each step! I was flabbergasted. My solution was (a) run faster so the pain would be constant and ignorable and (b) sign up for training sessions with Captain Energy. I only managed to run for a few minutes, but it was plenty of time to consider the results of Wednesdays session.
Tonight he gleefully greated me with, "How was your day? Ready to get destroyed?"
Of course I said, "Bring it!" and did my sassy head-slide and finger flourish.
He did.
I am.
I leapt around the place with dumbells in my hands. I did explosive jumping things that I suck at. I did lateral leaping things that looked fast when he did it, but more like low-energy geriatric shuffling when I did it. I did swimming arm motions with dumbells in my arms until I couldn't lift my arms. I did jump squats with dumbells, leaping upward and then shoulder pressing the dumbells straight over my head (I only had one-near miss with the dumbell and my head as I was coming down). He seemed pleased that I was so driven; I grunted, groaned, panted, and had the face that could curdle milk through each set. And when we finished, he said, "how are you doing?" And I said, "keep it coming".
I discovered a whole new country of pain and ineptitude and clumsy. He got alarmed only once when I demonstrated that my will power and his optimism were no match for my clumsy. Apparently running 6 miles in 57 minutes means zip when it comes to jumping up and down steps with dumbells in your hands. My entire body was buzzing with exhaustion when we were done. It was AWESOME! If I can do that, I can do anything.
I have no idea what Captain Energy has in store for next week. But between now and then this white girl will get better at jumping.
Edit/Update:
It's 10am the next day. I can't decide which hurts more, my glutes or the muscles that run parallel up my lower back (what are those called?). I am definitely sitting up straight and I'm very aware of my glutes. I dropped in on JZ and she fell out of her chair chortling as she watched me maneuver from standing to sitting. Jogging later today so this doesn't set in.
