A personal training & food journal. Read about our weight loss progress at Train With Ron in Chicago, our nutritional habits and the life changes we're making to get in shape and stay healthy!
May 26thToday was my 100th workout at Train with Ron! It was sort of an exciting day and I spent some time during my workout remembering my first days with my trainers. DB trained me today and he had incorporated some exercises I had done in the beginning. Burpees, … oh … I couldn’t even do a real one back in October. I had to use an elevated surface to place my hands on as I jumped down to a push up position, then back up. How many could I do in a row? I think like 3 or 4 maybe … argh! Mountain climbers? … I don’t think I could do more than 15 in a row and today, I did 86. I tried to go for the 100 but my thighs just did not let me.
Me at Blarney Island
Those were the days. The hard days! The days when getting into the routine of working out 2 times a week and changing our diets was still a task on it’s own. Now … well now, if I don’t go to the gym I miss it and if I eat too much of something I shouldn’t. I literally get ill. So I try to avoid it but there are still days when it takes a stronger effort. (Chocolate, you are truly evil yet I love you so!)
I could not be happier though and to have also broken the 170lbs barrier and measure in at 167 this week truly makes me smile! My body fat % lost to date is 12%. I’ll say that as an average because it seems to jump all over the place.
Last week I made it through 6 days straight in the gym every morning. This week it will only be 5 in the gym and a long week end! I need it. Both working out and work has taken a toll on my body and mind so a little r & r will do me some good. Sunday we’re heading up to Milwaukee for a baseball game and outside of that there are no big plans. Just relax and try to not work 
I look forward to coming back in after Memorial day and have a strong June. I’ve said in previous posts, I’d like to lose another 30 lbs about, before moving into maintenance so I have to work hard these next 2 months. My next challenge … the 2 hour workout … I just wonder, do i go into it having already decided to do 2 hours OR do I finish the first hour and if I feel like continuing, I do? Hmmm.. I’ll take the rest of the week to think about that.
May 20thToday, I had one of my most fun workouts at TWR. I worked out alongside one of the most kick-ass girls at the gym who ALWAYS makes me push myself to the max because she is just so good and she is also super motivating. Not only that but our trainer Matt worked out with us. Literally, I felt like I was 12 years old and just got asked to eat at the big table with the adults. Whoa! Little intimidating but also very encouraging. We got going with some warm up runs like high knees, skips and runs up and down the ‘runway’ and then got set up for agility drills. I had never done agility drills, this was a first for me. I’ve seen others do it and I’ve always wanted to try. Matt said, “Don’t worry, it’s kind of like dancing“. I love to dance so I thought maybe I would do well. At the least not fall on my ass.
Agility Drills (BTW, In case you're wondering, that's not me in the picture.)
Here is a picture of an agility ladder because if you’re anything like me, you won’t know what the heck one looks like. It’s a floppy ladder you lay on the ground.
The agility drills were fun, we did hops, scissors, two feet in & one out and various other drills like that through two ladders down the runway and then sprint back to the start. While the other person went through the drills I did ab exercises and then on the second round I did upper body exercises. On the second round of drills and runs we had our feet banned together with a …. well a band. An elastic band similar to what I had on my upper legs in previous workouts but this was around my ankles. That added a level of difficulty but it was great. Have I mentioned how much fun I had? Just making sure And I didn’t do too shabby either. I did pretty good I thought. Soon the hour was up and the fun had to end but I will back in the morning for my 5th day.
I’m feeling much better than last week and ready to finish the week strong. 6 days! That is the plan. Lets see what they have cooked up for me for tomorrow. Can’t wait!
Tonight Dan and I are heading to a black tie event and I’m feeling good about the dress. It was fun picking it out and trying on several dresses that all FIT!! No frustrating fitting room catastrophes or meltdowns. I can’t wait to loose this next 30 pounds but it feels awesome to fit into regular sizes like 12s and mediums. I still hesitate when picking those sizes off the rack but once I get in the change room, try them on and find out that they fit makes my eyes tear up a bit. It’s going to be an awesome summer!
I get emails asking about how TWR can help people stuck in their workout routines so I wanted to share this link for a some info about that. Post your questions in the comments section.
May 13thThere are days, especially now that I’m in the gym more days than not, that I miss the gym on my days off. It’s like my day feels incomplete. As I move around the house or go out and I feel soreness or fatigue I’m reminded that Oh yeah, I really need the rest. But it’s just one of those things where it has become so much a part of my life that when I don’t have it, I miss it.
Last week I felt proud of myself for going to the gym 6 days in a row but this week I’m taking tomorrow morning off and will only go 5 times this week. I just knew that I needed a rest when I noticed myself getting real negative in my head today. Physically I was pretty tired too. So at the end of the workout I told Ron that I was taking the day off tomorrow and he agreed that I could use the rest. I told him that I felt like a wimp about it but he reassured me that my body knows what it wants and if it’s telling me I need rest than I should listen to it. OK, so I understand and don’t feel AS bad about it but I still kind of feel like I should be in there in the morning pushing through it… you know, not be such a wimp . If I don’t, at some point of the day I will get that feeling of Did I forget something? and this time I’ll have to push through that and try to sit and r-e-l-a-x to gather my strength for Saturday and next week.
So, despite all of those mixed emotions I have had an excellent workout week with DB, Matt and Ron, with very impressive sessions from all. My thighs in particular are sore from the squats, the squat jumps, the burpees, biking, rowing, plate pushing, step ups and several other moves that all seemed to latch onto my thighs and take them for a wild ride. It’s funny because as I leave to workout in the mornings, I walk by our small gym in our building and I always see people sitting on a bike or walking on a treadmill while reading a magazine or watching TV. I think wow, there is no time for magazine reading or TV watching where I’m going. I also know the results I got from going to that gym 5 times a week by myself – NONE. Absolutely zero. I did get caught up on my celebrity gossip! I should go in there one morning and ask them if they want to go for a real workout. I may get a Cosmo thrown at me but it’s worth a try. I’m nice, I love my neighbors!
So lastly a quick update on weight and such. I avoided it last time because I have only lost about 3 pounds in the last 3 weeks and I know it’s because Dan and I slipped on our diet a bit. This week we are back on track though and time for some good old fashion discipline. I did have an awesome thing happen today, I put on a shirt that the last time I put on was pretty tight on me and is now loose. Not just fit but loose! So I did a little dance and the wimpy feeling went bye bye! There is a happy ending after all… until next time.
May 9thEveryone has those days when nothing seems to click and everything seems to get under your skin. Well, a day or so I can handle, but a few of those days happened to line up for me this week. That got frustrating, starting on, ahem .. day three. I’ll chalk it up to mostly work related stress but there are some other things I could throw in the pot too. Overall, I think I did a pretty good job keeping positive all while lacking patience for myself. Going to the gym in the mornings did help. I knew I could go there and focus 100% mentally on what I was doing physically rather than stressing out about something arbitrary. I don’t like having to work on staying calm and exerting energy on that task.
I could have used some of that energy this week, it was my first week going 6 mornings in a row and my body is certainly feeling it. There is not one point of pain, just an overall soreness. Saturday though, my shoulders and arms were in pain after the last workout of the week. Either my body was waiting for the last day or it was feeling the many many reps of upper body exercises I had just completed. Dan and I worked out with DB Saturday and he had a great session planned. It was a day of 50 reps of upper & lower body exercises mixed in with short runs. The reps consisted of rowing, chest presses, various sit up moves, burpees, step ups with weights, leg presses and a few others. We’d do 50 reps each of 2 of the moves and then run 4 x walls (approx 40 yards/wall). All together there were 5 rounds and I went through it twice for a total of 10 rounds. So yes, soreness set in Saturday afternoon. It was also an excellent workout. I was telling Dan how I felt it was such an even combination of weights, resistance and cardio that with small breaks I could’ve kept going for another hour. It may have been done slower but I felt that I had the energy for it.
I’m feeling better today, rested up for next week. 6 days again and I hope to push 110% starting tomorrow morning.
May 1stActually it’s for 3 days. I’m taking today off which would have been my 5th day for the week and that means I’ll only be back on Monday morning.
This past week I went to the gym Monday through Thursday so it felt pretty strange to wake up yesterday not needing to jump out of bed at 6am. Don’t worry, I adjusted and went back to sleep. I feel that I got the most out of the days though, 4 days in a row (actually 6 if you count Sunday’s charity event. some do not. while by far not a TWR workout, it was a good 30 minutes of exercise… But I digress.)
I pushed myself as hard as I could each day and my reps improved day to day in some of the exercises. For example, I did lay down pull ups on the bar one day and could only do about 10 pull ups in a row before needing a few seconds break. The next day I did the same move and could do 17 in a row. That felt great! I thought about it and when we started working out, it always seemed that I had the same level of exertion with each workout. Very little variation. The workouts were unique, it’s not that. It’s how much I had in me to give. One day to the next it just felt hard, whereas now there are days where I feel like I have twice the energy of the day before. Now, everything from diet to sleep to stress can affect energy levels and I am trying to fine tune that combination. As I push myself more and more I notice how my body adjusts to what I need from it. That’s definitely something you can’t get out of a diet pill, shake or cereal. That feeling of your body changing, becoming stronger and leaner. It’s a fantastic feeling!
Next week I’m not skipping Friday and going Monday through Saturday. I also over heard someone saying they are coming in twice a day. I started to ponder …. quickly I retreated to focus on just finishing the 6 days in a row. That’s enough of a leap for me right now. Weight and body fat are the same as the other day and I’ll do a measure early next week after my 3 day rest.
PS. I’m looking into some swing dance lessons. Should be a fun addition to the workouts and also help with the balance. As much as the snowboarding helped a little with that I’m still struggling here and there with it. Matt said that losing weight can also cause that. I like hearing that … the losing weight part.
Have a great weekend!
