A Rough Four Days
Monday, July 13, 2009 at 7:07 PM filed under Exercise & Fitness postings
I haven't posted in a little bit, and I guess its
because I was feeling a little down after my workout on Wednesday.
Remember the "Fitness Assessment?" Well, let me tell you about it...
I
went to the gym excited to see what more I might learn about my fitness
and how I should be thinking about reaching my goal of losing 100
pounds. I got there promptly at 4:00 and I put the kids in the Kids
Club. I didn't think that they would need to be in there for much
longer than an hour being that the receptionist had told me that an
assessment last about 30-60 minutes. No problem.
I went over
and introduced myself to Sean, my trainer for the assessment. He was a
nice guy, but it was already a little annoying that he was hanging out
with the other trainers and they were all joking about whether or not I
would show up. I checked in right at 4, but it took me a few minutes to
put the kids in the club and then stash my stuff in the locker. The
fact that the trainers were all concerned about my potential no-show
already had me thinking that this was definitely going to be a personal
training promotional thing. But...I was still optimistic that I would
learn something.
So Sean and I went and talked about my goals
and what knowledge that I had. He was pretty good at listening to me
and understanding that I have a pretty good grasp on how my body works.
I may be overweight, but I know a good amount about healthy living.
Unfortunately, he seemed to have a set spiel to give, and so even if I
mentioned something and tried to steer the conversation in a direction
where my knowledge was lacking, he seemed to always just forge ahead.
It was ok though and I did learn a little.
He took my body fat
content with a little machine that I held in my hand...not sure how
that works. I should look it up. Its at a whopping 43%. I definitely
have my work cut out for me.
So we went to go do a workout
together, and we started with lunges. I was definitely impressed with
how well this simple move that we were all taught in school works. My
thighs were getting a fantastic workout with just the first set. My
form was really good, and he seemed surprised. (news flash...not all of
us fatties are un-athletic) After that, we added 10 pound dumbbells and
then repeated the set. It was tough at the end, but I got it done. Then
we moved onto a "sumo squat" where he fastened a rope around his waist
with two handles coming out for me to hold onto. I leaned back into a
squat and he held me up while I "waddled" backwards. This was also a
highly effective exercise.
At this point, my thighs were already
getting very jello-y (haha, like that word?) and so I wasn't able to do
the next exercise, although I really tried. He wanted me to stand on
half an exercise ball that was on a platform, and then do squats with a
barbell over my shoulders. I couldn't balance though because my legs
were too shaky (I am pretty sure I could have done it if it was the
first exercise though), so instead I just did a wall burner. Remember
those from junior high gym class?
Then we moved on to a
machine squat. With 10 pounds on each side, I did 15 squats. The
HARDEST part of the whole workout came next when he had me hook one leg
up and then do one-legged squats. I was only able to do 5 each leg and
I needed the spotter. It was VERY hard and he had to egg me on to
complete them. He wanted me to do 8 reps, but I could barely do 4. I
pushed out 5 and was pretty happy with that.
The final couple
exercises were PLANKS! (haha my friend, we meet again!) Plank position
into push up position. Hard, but I did a couple. Plus I held the plank
for a while. And finally, I sat back and balanced on my rear, drawing
my legs up to my abs a bit (I needed a little bit of spotting on my
feet) and keeping my shoulders off the ground, I passed a medicine ball
over my abs from left to right, 10 reps.
Finally, I was done. It
was grueling, and I definitely had a better appreciation for strength
training. I knew at this point that I was going to need to step up my
game, but I also felt that I better understood how to do that. So he
asks me if this is something I can see myself continuing to do in the
future, and I think maybe he's just asking if I'm going to do any of
the exercises he showed me. So I say yes, and then of course he points
out that there were a few exercises that I couldn't do alone. Here
comes the sell...
I got the information on training, and its way
too expensive. I said no, talked about how we might be moving soon, and
told him that I would rethink it in the future. So he goes and gets
Lee, his boss, and the "closer". Now, I liked Sean. I thought he was a
nice guy and I could totally appreciate the fact that he has a job to
do and that includes pimping the training to me. But his manager was
just sleazy. He left me with such a bitter taste in my mouth. Up until
now, I have had nothing but positive experiences at the gym and I've
loved every minute of it. Lee basically tells me (after he realizes
that I'm still saying no) that I have too big of a goal, that I will
need 1 on 1 training in order to ever make it, that I should be worried
about diabetes and high blood pressure (neither of which do I have)
blah blah blah. He makes me feel so deflated and upset. Basically, if I
don't work out to that extreme every day, then I'll never make it. I
have to get blunt with him so he'll back off. I try to end it all on a
smile, but my mood is ruined.
It took 2 hours and I didn't even
get to clean myslef up because the limit on the Kids Club is 2 hours.
So I pick up the kids and wobble my way to the car and home. My legs
are so bad that I can hardly drive. Little did I know...
The
next day is HORRENDOUS! I understand that your muscles should be sore
if you worked them. But this is too far, an obvious injury. I couldn't
sit at all, I couldn't get up from the couch, chair, floor, etc. I have
2 small kids to care for and my legs are useless the next day...and the
next day. They start getting better on Saturday, and by Sunday I can
walk even though my thighs freeze up occasionally and I trip. I missed
my workouts for 4 days.
I got discouraged big time. I didn't eat
right, I didn't work out. Thank goodness my determination far exceeds
the desires of the trainers to convince me that I can't do this without
them. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. No
exceptions.
So today is Monday and I have eaten well today, been tracking my food and stuff on FitClick
and I'm heading to the gym as soon as the baby wakes up from her nap.
I've revised my workouts a bit based off of what I learned during the
assessment, so I guess that it wasn't a total loss. I just need to move
past the way that they made me feel. I'm sure that I'll have a great
workout today and feel much better.
I'll have to let you know!