Kick Ass Workout

I splurged and had a session yesterday with trainer Traci. I do that when I need a reboot and I can't quite nail it on my own. I am going to meet with her again in about two weeks, then about once a month again.

I am going on a second date today with the guy I mentioned having lunch with last week. He does workouts based on the CrossFit training method. These are not workouts for beginners. And frankly even I am a little nervous about doing one. Which, by the way, is how we are going to start our date tomorrow sweating together doing a CrossFit workout. then it will be on to something perfect 'normal', dinner and a movie.

I needed to meet with Traci anyway, because I need to kick myself in the butt again. But I also wanted to get some guidance on workouts that push you to the limit. So Traci, never doing things half way, hooked me up. Here's what she had me do:

-15 minutes of running to warm-up

-3 minute rest

-Then 'pyramids'- 1 pull-up (all assisted with a machine)

1 dip (assisted but with much less weight)

2 pull-ups

2 dips

and so on until you get to ten of each, then you work back down - 10, 9, 8, etc. - no rest between sets

-1 minute rest

-3 minutes - bike

-1 minute rest

-Pyramids of push-ups and double crunches

-3 minutes jump-rope

-1 minute rest

-Pyramids of squats with 30 pound bar and dead lift with same bar

-2 minute walking cool down

In case people are keeping track at home, that's 110 push-ups, etc. Yes, trainer Traci was in drill sergeant mode yesterday.

I admit I whined a little, but it was because my technique sucks on dead lifts and I was making it spasm. Otherwise it felt great. I was a little sore yesterday, but not nearly what I was expecting. So, I kept it simple and ran and did a few light weights.

I am always ready for anything and say I want new fitness challenges. So I am looking forward to this afternoon. Hopefully it will simply be another kick my ass workout.

Yours in fitness, Kate

In the Swim

I had my first swim lesson last night. It was my second workout for the day, I will give you the CRAZY workout trainer Traci put me through tomorrow. Today, let's chat about coach Kelli, that's the name I have given her - she is my swim instructor.

Not at all shockingly, Kelli is a friend of Traci's from back east. (eastern Iowa) Kelli was a high school and college swimmer. She has great technique and a body any woman would kill for because she uses her skills almost daily.

"Why do you need swim lessons?" That's the first thing people ask. Then they say, "Can't you swim?" First, I want them and I need them. Second, yes, well enough not to drown, but that's about it. Okay, yes, I can get from one end of the pool to the other, but with no style and an inability to breathe properly. I expend WAY more energy than is necessary to get the job done.

Humiliating admission - I used to dive in the water with one hand squeezing my nose shut. Plus, I swam with my head uncomfortably above the water, like a cow just trying to get to the other side. Four times they tried to put me through swimming in high school. Four times I was having my period for the six weeks of the class, thereby failing. In my defense, I did generally have two+ week periods at the time. However, the brutal truth is, I was fat to obese and me and a swimsuit during those formative high school years was not going to happen.

I have thought about swim lessons for years, but the swimsuit thing was an issue. As was the real possibility of keeling over in the water from over exerting my larger than it should have been form. The idea has been poking at me harder over the past several months as I have gotten health. Recently my friend Colleen sent me a notice about a 'mini' triathlon and that was it. The tri is coming up soon, so I won't be doing it this year, but I am readying my game for next year.

I am always looking for that next fitness challenge and swimming is it. And it will get me in shape for another one, that triathlon.

Last night we covered the basics. She was excited that I was immediately willing to try the breathing and the strokes. I'll be honest, I have only three fears - burning/being buried alive, losing a family member to senseless violence and losing my mind and drowning. Early on last night as I sucked water and panicked a bit I realized what had really kept me from this, fear.

Not any more. Kelli is patient and kind. She was willing to go over things again and again. She didn't make fun of my fears real or imagined. Instead she did what all good teachers do when they see a block - she changed the way she was teaching the topic. She plans to be a pharmacist and is leaving for Colorado to pursue that in August. But I hope for little girls in Colorado she keeps giving lessons to pay for school, she has a natural talent.

That talent has me excited to practice on my own over the next week and already looking forward to my next lesson. This is another thing I never saw coming, it hit me like a splash of water in the face and I actually like it this time.

Yours in fitness, Kate

Training Session

I meet with trainer Traci today for the first time in like two months. I thought I was going to be able to be early, but now I will be there just in time.

Speaking of which, I have to go. But tomorrow I will fill you in on how she tried to kill me and my other big fitness news.

Yours in fitness, Kate

How tired am I?

That's the debate I am having with myself now. I have just wrapped up work for the day - yep 11.5 hours (I took out the one for lunch). It is not going to rain in the next hour, I have just checked the radar.

So, the question is - if I leave here now, can I convince myself to get in a quick run? Or is the window gone and I just need to hit it harder tomorrow?

I have some major guilt over the idea of not working out. But I am going to put in two longer workouts tomorrow, so some of that can be assuaged. That and the fact that I have been pitch perfect this week on food.

In fact, my food has been so good I would swear I was back to last August before I ended up in the hospital. And that, quite frankly is cool.

I have decided, one day off is not bad. Especially since I am planning two workouts tomorrow and Saturday with one big one on Friday to fill the gap. Instead I think I will go do what I never do - relax.

Yours in health, Kate

Put down the cookie and step away slowly

I have had a brutally stressful and angry day. I am swinging between wanting to scream and cry. When Kathy at the front desk brought in homemade cookies in the midst of this mental onslaught my instant reaction was "Thank god!". I immediately started toward the container. Then, before even reaching the lobby I stopped, spun on a heel and headed for the refrigerator to find my carrots.

Through unstoppable frustration I was able to abort my most basic survival instinct and not eat the pain away. It is the one bright spot in a day full of feeling like I dropped my ice cream cone when I was five. A mixture of sadness and loss.

I am now going to do something healthy with my anger - I am going to the gym. That's what you have to do - make healthy choices and redirect your energies.

Yours in health, Kate

From the beginning... Just Give it a Try

Tip - Breaking up your usual workout routine will help keep you from plateauing AND getting bored. So when the chance to try something new comes up, do it. The worst that can happen is that you don't like it and never want to do it again.

I am always up for trying something new when it comes to exercise. I still want to try snowboarding and rock climbing and who knows what else. Anything to shock my body and potentially have fun.

I have made a new friend who is into CrossFit. It's, and I am not well versed, a combination of exercises done in sets and taken to the next level. Nobody walks away without muscle ache and intense sweat. I am intrigued, so I am going to workout with him on Saturday. The worst that can happen, because I will be guided by someone who knows what they are doing, is I don't like it and I don't do it again.

To be honest, because it involves pushing myself to the next level, chances are I will like it. He thinks I will like it too much. I have seen videos of the women he pictures my attitude emulating; they are crazy and a little scary. I never want the word scary to be directly correlated with me unless it is being given as a description to the police by an attempted mugger, "And I tried to grab her purse and she went crazy, it was scary." Something like that.

Anyway, just so you don't think I like every exercise I try, I did a fitness class at my gym which concentrated on using an exercise ball and it bored me to tears. I didn't go back.

But this Saturday, in my never ending search for fun in fitness, I am going to give CrossFit a try. You should try something new too.

Yours in fitness, Kate

Sunday Inspiration - Another 100 Pound Weight Loss

This is the girl featured in my latest Women's Health magazine. She lost 100 pounds in about 18 months and she has maintained it for a couple of years. She has a couple of good tips and a story that as usual shows - every weight loss journey is different.

Get inspired - HERE.

Yours in health, Kate