Monday, November 11, 2013

Physical Fitness Update: 1 week in

I'm one week into my training sessions at the gym and feeling FANTASTIC. I met with Mike on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday of this last week. It was a rushed schedule to get 3 meetings in during the week with a busy work schedule, but moving forward I will typically be meeting with him every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. The only exceptions being when I travel for work and/or holidays when I'm in Bellingham. 

After my first session on Wednesday I pretty much felt like I'd been hit by a truck. I was nervous going into the second session the very next day because I was so incredibly sore. But we spent that day taking measurements and finding out super fun facts like my body fat percentage (hint: that was sarcasm because actually this is only medium-low fun). Then he showed me some fancy stretches for all the parts of me that hurt, talked about his observations from the day before, and then made me do a few circuits of funny and awkward exercises focused on balance and abs, which was the one part of my body not killing me from the previous workout. 

I spent pretty much all of Thursday walking like a one hundred year old woman who just finished riding a horse all day. But Friday was a "rest day" and I woke up feeling less sore. And Saturday I was only a little sore, but not all over - just in the areas the most out of shape - you know, like my glutes (i.e.; my butt). 

On Saturday I tried bringing Edie with me to the gym and she used the Kid's Club for the first time. When she was a baby I used a different gym and would bring her there but that was before she was walking and talking. Thankfully, Edie LOVED the play area at the gym, which includes a huge, multi-level play structure with tubes, nets and slides. She told me she went down the slide "eleventy million times" while I exercised. I felt good about the staff working the Kid's Club and it wasn't too crowded, so I think this will be a nice way to get weekend workouts in, especially given the shift in weather - it's a great way for Edie to burn off energy indoors.

Saturday was all about making my arms and back super strong. I am going to be a walking gun show soon! I lifted weights (which has always been really intimidating to me so I never try) and some of it was really hard, but in a good way. I feel the backs of my upper arms in a way that implies that I've never worked those muscles before.

And I will say this - when I said I wasn't going to use the scale in my earlier post, I wasn't sure if that was going to be true or not. I wanted it to be true - but the real truth is that I have a very ingrained habit of stepping on the scale every morning and it's hard to break. BUT, it's been really liberating to avoid the scale and just focus on how I feel. In the past, I've weighed myself during brief stints of exercise and expected immediate results on the scale - only to be disappointed when they don't happen. Or even worse - when I gain weight while exercising more. But this time I'm going to try something different and so far, it feels great. 

I return to the gym tomorrow for the start of week 2 and so far am not losing enthusiasm for the process. The only catch so far is that my gym wardrobe is not extensive enough for this type of plan... a  little shopping may be in order.

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