WerkIt Wednesday

Today was a little disappointing. I'm not really sure what happened, but I'm fairly certain that my trainer forgot to schedule me in today. Sad I know.

I got to the gym half an hour earlier than my appointment so I could warm up the joints on one of the bikes. I saw my trainer working with another client which was normal. Until 2:58 pm hit and they were still going hard at their workout. At 3 pm when my appointment was supposed to start, I slowly walked over to the front desk and waited for 15 minutes (that's half of a regular appointment!) and they were still going. *Side note: Something you should know about me is that I HATE any sort of confrontation. I'm the type of person who would rather eat the wrong meal because the cook got my order wrong rather than try and ask for my correct food.* So I sat down for another 5 minutes and waited and still nothing happened. And then I realized that I was at the gym and could be working out  while I wait instead of sitting. So I ran on the treadmills near the front desk until I saw them finish. I promptly got off the treadmill and started to walk over to the front desk once I saw my trainer making his way to the front of the gym. I looked down at my phone for ONE SECOND and poof. He disappeared. I scanned the gym twice to see if maybe he just went to grab water or something, but no, the man was just gone. So I grabbed my stuff and left. No work out for me. :(

Even though I was disappointed about not having a workout session today, I realized something. I don't need to go to the gym to get a decent workout in. So far, this entire blog has focused on working out at the gym. But there are multiple ways to be active and get those muscles going in other ways. For example, for three days out of the week I nanny two little boys. That in itself is a workout that doesn't feel like one...most days. Running after a 4 and 2 year old keeps me from sitting on my butt all day and not to mention all of the lifting I have to do haha. By lifting, I mean lifting the 2 year old onto his changing table, out of the crib when he wakes up in the morning and from his nap, in and out of the car when we go places, in and out of the bathtub, etc. And that's just the 2 year old haha. Seriously, to all the moms and dads out there...kids are a GREAT workout.

Having kids though isn't the only way to get a workout in outside of the gym. Walking is great, even if it's just around the neighborhood. Whatever works for you, DO IT! For me right now, going to the gym is what works. But I also love to go hiking! In fact, if you want to read a funny story, let me tell you about my "adventure" I had while hiking on Monday.

So on Monday I decided to go for a hike and test out a new trail since I'm still fairly new to the Salt Lake region. I downloaded the All Trails app (which is awesome by the way), and found a trail that was 15 minutes away from my house and only about a mile long. I had to be somewhere in 2 hours so I wanted an easy scenic hike that would only take an hour at most. Well, I ended up at the wrong trail head and instead found myself at this multipurpose bike park that doubled as a "hike". It was super hilly and not really pedestrian friendly. But, since I didn't have a lot of time, I wandered around the bike park anyways. I decided to take an off-the-trail trail which had more shade and lots of bushes. Half way through that trail I pulled my phone out to take a snapchat of the trail and thought I heard something move in the bushes at the same time. I didn't think anything of it because I thought it was just another critter. So I ventured on and when I was ready to go back to my car...my keys were not where I thought I had put them.

If you have ever lost your keys you know it can be frustrating. But do you know how frustrating it can be to lose your keys IN THE BLOODY FOREST??? Your chances of finding them are like....not very high. And I knew this. The stress alone of realizing my keys was enough to burn the calories from my breakfast that morning. Once I realized my keys were missing I immediately thought of when I pulled my phone out at the beginning of the trail and literally sprinted back to that point. I kid you not, I searched those bushes for a good 30 minutes with a twig in my hand so I could look through the bushes without getting any poisonous leaves on me (I wasn't really sure what was poisonous or not). After those 30 minutes - which felt like an eternity, especially in the heat - I walked back to the first area I searched and started looking again. I did this maybe 3 times before I did something I NEVER thought I would have done. Guys....I CALLED THE POLICE.

I called the police. I swear the operator was trying so hard to not laugh at the girl who was hysterically hyperventilating because she lost her keys in the bushes. Bless her heart. At first she recommended that I call some friends who could help me, but this was early in the afternoon and I wasn't about to ask them to leave work to join me in the bushes...to look for my keys. Once I told her that wasn't an option, all she told me to do was stay hydrated and keep looking haha. She then said that if I was really desperate, I could call a tow truck to take care of my car and then call a locksmith to make me a new car key...because apparently that's a thing? She then told me that she couldn't send an officer to help me because they were already completely booked with calls..."not that my needs weren't important". I totally understood, and then it hit me. I called the police to help me find my keys. This was worse than calling the fire department to help get a cat out of a tree haha. So, in my humiliation, I apologized and hung up and continued looking in the bushes...while I ugly cried because I thought for sure I was going to bake in the sun. I'm so pathetic haha.

Well, after crying, and praying, and more looking for those damn keys, I decided that I should try checking by the car just in case  they maybe fell out earlier. Yeah right. So as I made my way back to the car and went to put something in the other pocket of my backpack. And there, with me the whole entire time, were my keys. Tucked snuggly against one of my camera lenses that I was going to use to take pictures with. The whole time. At that exact moment, I experienced a wide range of emotions. I was thrilled at first, but that quickly changed into rage with my idiotic self, which changed into mortification about the whole situation, which then changed into uncontrollable laughter.

What this has to do with working out....I'm not really sure. Maybe just because I worked up THE biggest sweat of my life and I wasn't at the gym? Meh...that's a stretch. But the point I want to get across is that life in general serves as your "Gym". Whatever you do to get active is a great thing. I don't want you to think for a second that because the gym and trainer work for me (well not today they didn't haha), that that's the only thing that works in order to get back into shape. Do what works for you and keep on being active!



P.S. Because I technically missed today and haven't been as diligent about going to the gym this week as I should have been, I have decided to create a mini goal for the rest of the week. Starting tomorrow until Saturday, I will go to the gym and put in a decent hour of work to get that motivation back. And to add to that, I will write a mini post with a title that correlates with that day's workout. As an example, I gave today's post the title "WerkIt Wednesday". So tomorrow could be something like "Tough Thursday" (that actually doesn't seem like a bad title...you can probably expect that one). Either way, this is happening and I'm pumped about it!

Results!

The past week and a half has been extremely busy. I am still sick and unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to the gym at all last week. Yes I am disappointed in my lack of discipline; however, after talking with my trainer, he highly recommended not coming in if I felt really sick. He also suggested that I try and do some light exercises at home if I could, just to keep my body moving. I did that once haha. 

Despite all of that, this is a new week and I am proud to say that I made it back to the gym this afternoon. This session was similar to my last one: we kept it short and simple. But! There was one key difference in my session today compared to the one I had last time. I pushed myself and powered through. This time I didn't let anything get in my way which allowed me to power through the short session. And I feel great. 

For today's session, we did: 3 sets of pushups (10 reps), barbell lifts (12 reps), and body squats (12 reps); 3 sets of dumbbell overhead lifts (10 reps), step ups (12 reps), and V-ups (12 reps); and 2 sets of in place lunges (10 reps per leg) and 30 second planks. Short and sweet but definitely well worked. I am extremely grateful that my trainer has been understanding but also still pushes me. I don't need to be babied even though my brain sometimes tells me I deserve it (rolling my eyes). 

On another note, today I looked in the mirror and noticed my body has changed! It's not a huge difference, but for me, it's great to see that my semi-hard work is paying off. If anything, these subtle changes are what keep me going. 

Here are my before pictures from when I started my FIRST training session about a month ago. 

Here are my pictures from today. Again, the changes are subtle, but for me, they are a huge deal! And honestly, what I think of my body is all that should really matter. 

Half of the struggle about trying to lose weight is that we don't see results immediately, and trust me, it can be extremely frustrating. But be patient because the results are definitely worth it. These tiny changes in my body are giving me all time highs for the day!

Keep on lifting, running, yogaing, or whatever it is you are doing to get yourself in shape. You've got this!

Too Sick to Quit

Being sick sucks.

Following my bomb session last week, my allergies hit HARD. At least at the time I thought they were allergies. As the weekend progressed, my allergies turned into a relentlessly hideous cold. However, despite all of that I still played sand volleyball on Saturday, which may not have been the smartest thing. Long story short, by Sunday I was completely gone: I couldn't breathe like a normal living being, my body ached (mostly likely from volleyball, but also from the cold), and I was so drugged up that there was no use in trying to go anywhere or do anything. So obviously I didn't get any work outs in between my last session on Wednesday and Monday when I had my next session (I had to move my session to Monday this week because I got asked to work on Wednesday, and like an idiot I agreed -_-).

Anyways, despite being super sick, on Memorial Day I geared up and hit the gym with my trainer. BIG MISTAKE. I was so weak from being sick that I could only do one set of pushups, squats and barbell lifts. I felt so pathetic and I wanted to quit because I felt like I was being judged by all the buff guys around me who could basically do my workout with their eyes closed. However, my trainer was super supportive and pushed me just enough to get through that one set. He then suggested that we learn how to deadlift with a super light weight so we could rest a little and focus on form. We did this for about 10 minutes and then moved on to HIIT training. Again. BIG MISTAKE.

My trainer said that the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) training would go a lot faster which would be nice since I was sick. Did it go a lot faster? Yes. Did it nearly kill me? Yes. But I did it anyway. The HIIT training was extremely fast paced, but it allowed me to get through multiple exercises really fast without thinking of my current state of weakness. Yeah sure I was basically dead by the end of it, but I felt like a champion because I didn't quit. My mental state had been boosted to the point where I didn't want to finish the workout right then, but I also knew that I was physically in no condition to continue without doing myself more harm than good. So I walked out feeling pretty alright.

I want to point out that despite being sick, I still went to the gym. That in itself is a huge step. A month ago, my lazy "athletic" butt would have used the sickness as an excuse to cancel my session and just stay home. I may not be perfect at working out consistently...yet. But at least my state of mind is slowly changing. And for right now, that's a win.

Hurts So Good

Week 2!

I'm currently eating blueberries because apparently berries are a good carbohydrate to eat after a workout.

Today I had my second training session and I may need to go buy a Jacuzzi to sooth my aching body. The workout we did today were simple - not easy, but simple - and extremely satisfying. I came in about 20 minutes early so that I could get a decent warm up before powering through the next 30 minutes. (Not to mention that I was feeling extra motivated to get up and move, so I walked around the man-made lake near my house about an hour before my workout) I started on the bike for about 10 minutes and then spent the last 10 stretching out my muscles.

Once we started the actual workout, my trainer Matt went through the plan he created for me. For the first 4 weeks of training we'll be doing a full body workout, alternating between legs, core, back, and arms. I like this because whenever I would create my own workout plan, I wouldn't ever change it, and I would get bored super fast and just give up all hopes of becoming fit and ripped (I don't really care about being "ripped" though...).

Basically, for the next month, my workout is broken into 5 different sets/circuits which I will do 3 times a week. The first set is a nonstop rotation (meaning no breaks in between sets) of pushups, bended barbell lifts, and squats. For the first week I have to do at least 3 sets of 10. From there, if I feel like I can do more next week, then we'll bump the repetitions up to 15. Right now, as of today, I'm feeling like 10 is fine. I didn't mind the squats and lifts, but for some reason - that reason being that my arms are weeeeeaakkk - I couldn't do more than one and a half sets of pushups. That's right. I was that girl who had to use her knees haha.

The second set I liked a little more. We  walked over to the dual handled pulley machine and did some resistance training for my core and back muscles. The first exercise in this set is kind of like a butterfly stretch for the arms/back. After setting the weight, I had to bring the pulleys to my chest, walk forward a bit, and the extend my arms forward with the weighted pulley. From there, I had to outwardly extend my arms until my shoulder blades pinched and then bring them back to the front. We did this 15 times and then moved on to the next exercise. For the next exercise in the set, we did standing lunges. Basically the standing lunges are regular lunges without the walking - which I honestly like these better. These were really good to do with a trainer because I was able to have an outside professional tell me how to improve my form. (Because of my knee surgery, I am always worried that my form is not what it should be, so it's really nice to get that extra coaching and a watchful eye). Again, we did the lunges about 15 times per leg and moved on to the last exercise for that set. The last exercise was a core/arm combination on the pulley machine. I had to stand next to the pulley machine (so instead of having my back or front facing the machine, my shoulders were perpendicular to the machine) and use both arms to pull the pulley out in front of me. I then had to hold weighted pulley and slowly bring it in towards my chest. Again, we repeated this 15 times and then switched to the other side. This exercise was a little too easy at first because my stance was too wide, which allowed my arms to do most of the work rather than my abs. After shortening my stance, I was able to feel the buuuuuurn in my non-existant abs. We did this set 3 times for a total of 60 reps for each exercise.

By the time we were finished with this set, our session was over and I was sweating buckets. I was a little disappointed that we were done because I felt like  I was really getting into things, so my trainer encouraged me to continue the rest of the exercises we didn't have time to do. The next set of exercises consisted of assisted pull-ups, kettle bell swings, and supermans. I got through that set and quickly lost my motivation to finish the last set which included stair steps and the row machine. I was a little disappointed that I quit so close to the finish, but considering that I could hardly walk after my workout, I later felt like it was justified. Whether or not it was...well I don't feel like discussing it so we'll leave it at that haha.

The bottom line from today's workout is that I pushed myself to old extremes. I say this because this isn't anything I haven't done before, it's just been a really reeeeeeaaalllly long time since I've done this. But at the end of the day, I'm proud of myself for sticking it out to the almost end ;) Am I sore as hell? Oh yeah. But it was worth it, and I'm excited to see where this all goes.