Sunday, January 11, 2009

Great Work Out




I've had a few more great work outs. I'm feeling somewhat stronger and the interval rowing is easier. It feels so good to be working out my heart the way I am. Muscles.... in my arms, legs and stomach are great to have strengthened but my heart is the most important muscle in my entire body. Only 12 days to go!! I am so going to reach my (short term) goal!
C~

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Turbulence Training Resumed

Douglas and I have had a lot on our plate the past few days. He's back at work busier than ever! Problems to solve, traveling to plan, presentations to create and so much more. With that being said he took the night of from working out to play catch up. I don't need much of an excuse to take a night off so I joined him. I got in a great cardio session at the gym so I don't feel guilty about it. I think Douglas missed his work out because he was talking about how hard he was going to "pump it" tonight. He's motivated to say the least.
I don't know how but I managed to weigh in at 164lbs for a second day in a row. I'm super stoked about that. Things are going well.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

New Lows bring New Highs!

So persistence does pay off! I was feeling horrible about myself, my work outs, my eating. I was critiquing every single thing I touched over the past two weeks. I know it's early on and I shouldn't expect so much but I thought for sure I'd be dropping a lot these first few days of the program. I was Analyzing everything. Wondering where I was going wrong. Apparently nowhere. I just needed to stick with it. I'm a habitual starter, stopper when it comes to setting goals. I talk myself into failure before I start. By two weeks in I've already convinced myself I can't do it therefor I don't and then I feel terrible. But this time I didn't do that, for the first time and I feel so good about myself for doing so. Douglas was the best. He tried to keep me motivated and on track. It's amazing how he knows when to push and when to back off (most of the time). What a wonderful husband and gym partner! I am at 164lbs. The lowest I've been in a really long time and I feel fantastic. So much so that I'm going back into the gym for my interval training with more determination than ever. I'm so close to reaching my goals I can feel it. I want it and I know I can make it. I'm doing it and it feels GREAT.
WOOOOO!!
~C.B~

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Up and discouraged

GEEZ! I'm up half a pound. I thought for sure I'd break the 166lb mark today. Nope! I'm up, I gained. Why? What the frick is going on? To tell you the truth I want to give in. I'm so easily affected by things like this. I feel like I'm giving it my all with no return. What I want to do is have a big ol' glass of Mtn. Dew and some french fries! That'll show the scale..... you wanna go up, I'll make you go up. If my anniversary wasn't 18 days-14hrs. and 37min. away I'd hit McDonald's for a McGriddle combo. Instead I'm going to spend the morning trying to get myself out of my funk and back on track. The upside.... my favorite pre-pregnancy jeans are fitting better. Good things are apparently happening they're just not transferring to the scale. Oh well, tonight is another workout and tomorrow is another day to weigh in. Maybe, hopefully, prayerfully this will be my week to break the mark. Who knows? We'll see.
~C.B.~

Friday, January 2, 2009

That wasn't 1/2 bad

Wasn't 1/2 bad? Oh! Who am I kidding! It was workout B. Of course it was bad. The only upside to this go-round is that I don't feel the urge to puke as intensely as before. I still can't knock out all of my push-ups so I've scaled down to 6 instead of the required 8. And I find myself tugging on my neck and head to get the last few reps of my bicycle crunches finished. I know, I know you're not supposed to do that. It's supposed to be all abs. What if your like me and you don't have abs? Then what? All joking aside I know that's not the proper technique and can cause injury so I'll just have to focus on not doing that during the next workout. I am postponing tonight's rowing. Only because Douglas, Daniel and I are going to the Y in the morning. I'm going to try to do 40 min. instead of 20 to get caught up but knowing that my boys are having tons of fun in the pool might drag me off of the bicycle a little earlier.
~C.B.~

Thursday, January 1, 2009

TT 6-Month Bodyweight Program

Last night I did workout A from Phase 1 of the TT 6-Month Bodyweight Program. As the name implies, the workout is all calisthenics and consists of a circuit of 8 different exercises done for between 12 and 20 reps. You do all the exercises in a row, rest a minute and repeat two more times. Again, this is a big change from the 3 sets of 5 workouts I'm used to. The effort is totally different and my body will really have to grow to adapt to these new workouts. While I do enjoy the heavy weight lifting more, I'm excited about how all the little stabilizer muscles are being worked and how that new strength will transfer over once I start regular weight lifting again. Tonight I will spend another 20 minutes on the rowing maching getting in my interval training for the day. My favorite soundtrack to listen to during this workout is Best of Johnny Cash. All his songs about tough guys make it easier for me to resist quitting when I get tired.
-D.B.

Turbulence Training workout A

I have to say that I find TT's workout A easier than B. Each workout requires the entire body including all of the tiny balancing muscles that I never knew I had so they're each equally challenging. Maybe it's because B seems to focus on legs and lower body which are by far my weakest muscles or maybe it's all my imagination. Either way I enjoyed last night's workout (A) much more than two nights ago. I failed in the eating department yesterday. I don't know why but I ate a handful of marshmallows. BAD, bad,bad!! I haven't ate marshmallows in years, I know I don't love them. It's because I'm "dieting" that I craved them. I kicked my own butt on the rowing machine after strength training to make up for it. When I was supposed to be giving an 8 out of 10 (per TT) I gave 10 out of 10. Tough and I didn't want to do it but I feel good for doing it. Just starting each workout is a challenge for me. I wish I were a gym rat, someone who enjoyed working out, a person who could be pumped and looking forward to pumping iron but I'm so not that person. I know that nothing comes easy and that anything worth having i.e.: a few shed lbs by our 10TH anniversary and a bathing suit body by summer is worth putting in all the effort. The tricky part is staying focused and keeping those things in mind when temptations arise. A month ago I would have taken my "failure" to the extreme. I would have stopped working out, ate whatever I wanted all day long and then felt horrible about myself for giving up for an entire week. That's not the case. I'm sticking with this...... for the first time! It feels good.
Well, it's off for some cleaning while Douglas and Daniel are out playing.
~C.B.~