Bonnie's Journey to Fitness
It might be hard, but I'm proving it can be done at any age.
What a week. I started the week proud of my 3rd place status and excited to continue on. Than work became a little more stressful each day, and I let it take over. The workouts were just a fraction of what I’m use to doing. And as for the diet, I admit there were times I forgot (or just didn’t bother) to eat. Dread sending my logs to DB.
The few workouts I did make …
Monday - Worked out at TWR with Ron as my trainer. There were 3 of us in the group. We started out with cardio. One of us was on the recumbent bike, one on the treadmill (speed of 4.0, incline of 12) and the other on the row machine. We were on our respective machines until the Rower did 20 pulls - than took a 30 second break. We would do this 5 times, and than we would switch machines. While I was on the rower, my best was going 165M in 20 pulls. Basically this was a 30 on 30 off workout and really got the heart rate up for a great calorie burn. We than moved to the upper body. Ron gave us each 6 different moves/machines in groups of 2 - one pull one push. Our goal was to get to 50 repetitions or to failure (whichever came first). Between each two we would run 2 walls. I think Ron underestimated how strong I’ve become … I was able to get to 50 on each, although I admit the last one got much more difficult and the muscles did start to burn a little. But that wasn’t the end of our workout. The “Leg Massage” was next. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Surprise! It consists of doing 30 seconds of lunges, than you would immediately go to a low bouncing squat for 30 seconds, back to 30 seconds of lunges, and than 30 seconds of a low squat hold. Did this twice. Your legs feel a little like jello afterwards. To end the workout we did 10 walls - run one as hard as you can and walk back. The walls at the end are very important. You need to maintain the same speed on the 5th running wall as you had with the first. If your speed is down, than you need to walk back slower. It was a great workout, don’t think there was one muscle that didn’t get used.
Tuesday - the stress at work was starting to creep up. When I got home I walked 3 miles. Typically I would than do some squats and sit-ups. But not this night. I didn’t even take the time to eat dinner.
Wednesday - stress even worse today. Ended up not working out at all. Instead joined two friends from work and drank 2 beers (don’t tell my trainers). But at least I ate something for dinner thanks to the Happy Hour offerings … and they were actually healthy offerings. Was able to have a mixed greens salad, some asparagus spears, a roasted portabella mushroom, a few pieces of boiled shrimp, and must admit to a tiny portion of their pasta with pine nuts & veggies.
Thursday - didn’t realize you could get this stressed! I did go to TWR. My attitude sucked. When you have people yelling at you all day, or complaining all day, it’s very hard to maintain that positive, cheery disposition. Ron even asked me why I was so angry. He assigned DB to take me on, with two other gals (one being Ron’s wife, Kedra … who I think was a little freaked out by my best Negative Nellie impression). I didn’t want to workout - but I just focused (maybe too much - my facial expressions came off a little hostile … sorry DB). The workout started with various moves/machines that targeted the back in different ways, the biceps, the legs and the abs. We had to do 50 of each move/machine and for recovery we would run 4 walls inbetween each. There was a new move introduced … the jumping pull-up!!! At first I thought … “Are you on crack, I can’t do that”. And Kedra made it look so easy! But I focused and actually did it … and did it well. The bar was above your head, but you could actually reach it by standing on the ground. The trick was to jump up and than pull yourself up so your chin came above the bar. Once I got through the first 10, I had the confidence I lacked going into it. I want to do it again! We ended with abs … 50 regular sit-ups, 50 suitcase situps (which I find difficult because I can never get my legs to stay straight) and 100 bicycle situps (Kedra had to do the reverse sit-up, where she held on to a pole that was behind her head and than had to lift her legs up and touch the pole). One day I’ll have that 2-pack. Another great TWR workout … but unfortunately the mood stayed dark!
Friday - I’m taking the night off!
Not a bad week, but not a good week. Lost no weight, but didn’t gain weight either. I have to make sure that I don’t let stress take over. Next week I have quite a few meetings that may interfere with my going to TWR as much as I’d like, but promise to find a way to get some workouts in on my own. Whether that be a quick 30 minutes before work, during my lunch hour or a good hour on the treadmill when I get home. The workouts may not make the stress disappear, but sure helps making it easier to deal with.
And this journey continues.
