Never Miss Monday

People ask me why I am such a proponent of getting to the gym on Mondays.  Well, because my awesome personal trainer, Amanda, told me once that Monday is the easiest day to get the gym.  It's the beginning of the week, things don't USUALLY pop up, and you get it out of the way while you're still fresh from the weekend.

Obviously you need to go to the gym more than just on Mondays, but I have really made it a point to live by this advice when I am seriously in the swing on working out.  To that end, I had to share this great graphic that I found on Pinterest.

Back to Workouts

The bridal bootcamp has been underway for weeks now, but unfortunately I haven't been as on my game as I should have been... I'm going to blame the long hours at my new job.  

Well, two weeks ago I emailed my personal trainer, the wonderful Amanda, and let her know what my pain points are as far as not having a regular work schedule.  I told her that I'm going to make fitness a much bigger priority and focus on a manageable work life balance.  And she helped me out with some awesome workouts to help get me back into shape.  

First up on the list?  I started getting my act together for spin class on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:45 p.m.  I cannot even begin to give Sam enough credit for how much he's enabled me to focus on myself.  Sam's on a really easy rotation (think reliably short hours) at Kaiser so he's been able to get home to let Hunter out on the nights I head to the gym directly from work.  

Additionally, Amanda has given me some really handy workouts that involve walking the dog - which is a win win for us because it gives us a chance to do something as a family (Sam joins us) and we also get to involve Hunter.  He has been sleeping through the night A LOT better with all this exercise.  

The best news of all is that I've gotten more than 10,000 steps and more than 30 minutes of intense activity for the last five days in a row counting today.  I know it's not going to happen over night, but this is the second week in a row that I've made it to two spin classes.  Let me tell you, my legs are BURNING, which is a good thing because in the simplest of explanations: the muscles in your legs are the largest, most powerful muscles in your body thus they are capable of burning the most energy aka fat.  

I'm also working my upper body so that my arms and shoulders are as sculpted as possible when I don my beautiful strapless wedding dress in less than five months!  I can't believe how quickly the months are ticking down...

I'm not sure if it's partly because of the Lexapro, but I don't have quite the same level of agitation and stress at work these days.  Not to say I'm not committed, but I don't feel the need to push and give my job all 110% of my energy.  And it's been making me really happy to spend some time on myself, improving my fitness and getting back into shape. 

Like Lead

So I started back with my amazing personal trainer from a couple of years ago, Amanda.  We make a fabulous team- she pushes me but is like a teammate not a drill sergeant.

So anyway, I have been trying (and failing) to lose weight on my own for about 16 months.  Due to some upcoming life events, Sam thought it would be nice to get me a personal trainer.  I think he was envisioning that I'd work out once a week with a trainer at our gym, but I had other plans.  I immediately texted Amanda and told her it was time to whip me back into shape.

These days (and actually, I think back when we were first training too) Amanda is doing online training via FitOrbit.  So I signed up.  I got online and I filled out the surveys and I submitted my credit card.  Woohoo!  So as of June 1, 2013 I am back on my health kick and fitness plan.

Let me tell you, it has not been easy.  Today for example, I was incredibly hungry.  Just ravenous.  Probably because I had a breakfast backfire where my intended meal was just not going to cut it.  So I tried to hold out until lunch but I ended up eating my lunch around 11, dozing off around 1, and having second lunch around 2.  Oops.

Good thing my workout tonight was INTENSE!  I did 30 minutes of Sculpt Cycle weights, walked Hunter for 40 minutes, and then hit up my new favorite Spin Class (Tuesday nights at LA Fitness with Jen).  Exhausted is an understatement.  I mean seriously.  I can barely move.

My arms are still sore from the insane "Just Push" arm circuit I did on Saturday morning.  Now I have legs like lead from my workouts yesterday and today.  I don't even know how I am going to take Hunter down for his before-bed potty walk.  I could have easily gone to soak in the jacuzzi for a while this evening... but I didn't have enough time.

Thankfully tomorrow is a pyramid swim set so I should have some chance of stretching out my arms and legs and doing some lengthening after all this tightening.  And since I'll already be down in the pool with my suit on I definitely foresee some soaking time so that my achy muscles can recover a bit.

Eye on the prize, kid.  Eye on the prize.

Love for Boston

This morning I was thinking good thoughts for my fitness mentor, personal trainer and (above all else) friend, Amanda, as she competed in the Boston Marathon.  I was so proud of her for overcoming the health obstacles she has faced during her training and was so impressed she had made the qualifying time.  Little did I know that a few short hours later I would be hearing harrowing reports of explosions near the finish line and wonder if she was one of the victims.

I am lucky to count the number of times I have really been worried about a friend's life on one hand.  Today, as I heard reports about the injured runners and spectators, I immediately thought of Amanda and her family.  I pulled up Facebook to check if she'd posted anything since the explosions and was preparing to send her a text message to check in on her when I saw on my newsfeed that she and her family were safe and sound and away from the danger zone.  Relief.  Completely and total relief.

I posted on my Facebook tonight: "I am so thankful that my Boston marathoner is safe, and my heart goes out the families and friends who weren't so lucky today."

After getting home this evening, I began pouring over the articles, images and video from the scene.  Nothing was more horrific than the video and images of the young man who had both legs blown off below the knee- his left tibia was exposed several inches where the flesh had completely been taken off before abruptly ending.  To say the scene was gruesome would not do it justice.

The thought that an 8-year old boy lost his life sickens me.  That child had his entire life ahead of him and thanks to the sociopath(s) behind this terrorism his bright future has been snuffed out.  How unbelievably tragic.  Just heart-wrenching.

Then there is this... the complete lack of humanity from the Westboro Baptist Church whose parish is threatening to boycott the funerals of the victims because they believe the bombings are directly related to Massachusetts's gay marriage laws.  WTF Westboro?  What is wrong with you!?  I believe in a forgiving God, a compassionate God, a God that would NOT kill an 8-year old boy because of gay-marriage laws.  It makes me sick.

And as I sat here venting to Sam about the horror that happened today, he looked at me and said, "Things like this happen all the time."  I was outraged.  I was offended.  And then I realized he speaks the truth.  Everyday Sam sees patients who have experienced tragedy- often at the fault of someone else.  Victims of car accidents, fireworks, stupid horseplay, etc. who watch their entire life change in an instant.  And many of those people are no different than the Boston marathoners; just going about their lives and then BAM- nothing will ever be the same.  Talk about putting things into perspective.  Right?  Makes my problems seem so insignificant!

So tonight, I am thankful for the health and safety of my loved ones in Boston and around the world.  I am thankful for the people who tended to the wounded and who sought to clear the area of other potentially harmful devices.  The ray of hope we experience in crisis is the humanity we see in the 'helpers'.

Training

Bubba stopped me on my way into the gym yesterday and wanted to train me for an hour but I told him that I was on my way into spin class.  He asked me to come back after class and talk to him.  So I did.  

Turns out it was a bit of a sales pitch and he wants me to buy into their personal training program.  Hmmm, I see.  So we talked a bit about my fitness goals and my history with training and exercise and then he asked me to come in tonight at 6pm for a workout.  

I knew going into this whole thing that he was going to try to pitch me on a $140 training program working out with their trainers once a week.  Oh wow.  For that much money I could do a lot of stuff, and frankly I am not that impressed with the trainers I see on the floor when I'm coming to and from spin classes.  

Yes, I want to get back to training... I need to begin weight lifting more.  I need to build up my muscle mass to help me burn calories and fat and get myself back into good shape.  I need to focus more on my core and my upper body instead of letting them get their entire workout at spin class.  Today, I go forward, but not with Bubba.

Side note: In Making the Cut is going pretty well and I'm getting to try LOTS of new recipes.  The book says I should be eating cottage cheese.  I have always been kind of iffy about the way cottage cheese looks, so I've shied away from it.  But today I found "small curd" cottage cheese.  I had it with strawberries for dessert and it was pretty good!  It's kind of like cream cheese only lumpy and more watery.  But still, I was impressed.  it's not sour like yogurt which was really, really nice.