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!
February 16th was our last update and I feel I’ve let too much time go by. I’ve been busy, sure, but more than anything I’ve felt my progress slipping and my motivation draining. We’ve been going at this since November of ’09 and I have yet to reach my ultimate goal. My thoughts were that the last thing I want this blog to become is a place where I whine and moan. I want to inspire and motivate. So I didn’t write my feelings down thinking it won’t help anyone if I spread the negativity I felt. Truth is, that those types of struggles are the reality of so many people that maybe I was wrong not write during that time.
I wasn’t being vocal about my struggles with anyone and let it fester. I allowed myself to be convinced by my negative thoughts. I guess it was falling back on old habits. Bottom line, I’ve created the situation I am in and so I have complete control to get myself out of it. There is nothing wrong with getting stuck and asking for help. I shouldn’t take that as a sign of being incapable or inadequate. I realize how difficult it is to accept that as fact when you’re frustrated, depressed or just plain angry about a situation but I think you have to actually say the words to yourself over and over again so that you can accept it. You have to return to thinking positively. That’s easy to do when you’re feeling good and everything’s going well, but positivity is most effective when you are feeling down. I hope I can get back to being a little bit of that for you. (more…)
It is week 6 in the TWR Ten Weeks to Fitness Challenge and team AM leads 3-2. Team PM is turning up the heat. I think that losing the first 2 challenges in a row gave them additional motivation. I say ‘bring it on’
This week is looking really close again. We need everyone to do the challenge to win this one!
February is a short and busy month for Dan and me with lots of birthdays and business trips so I apologize that I haven’t been keeping you as updated. Let’s do a quick recap. Week 5 was the 3 Minute Burpee Challenge. (Burpee Presses actually where you do a burpee with weights and once you’re back in a standing position you do a press above your head.) As many as you could do in 3 minutes. I did 43 with a 10lb weight.
Honestly I think it’s the most difficult physical activity I have ever done. Only time I ever involuntarily began to cry during a workout. Luckily my trainers and my support group, aka Steve and Bob, were constantly talking to me and motivating me. I was able to get out of my head and essentially just told myself, ‘do what they say don’t think about anything else’ They told me to keep moving my legs and that’s what I did. The mind has a way of talking you out of uncomfortable situations. I guess that’s it’s job or something.
This week’s challenge is a total of 6 walls* wearing a 20lbs weight vest and fireman’s jacket.
Sprint 1 x wall, gear up with a 20lb weight vest, a fireman’s jacket. Grab the 30lb rope.
1 x wall run w/gear and rope
Drop rope, push the 350lb tank 1 x wall
1 x wall drag the 170lb body (dummy). 10 burpee chest compressions. (To revive him of course from the smoke inhalation)
Train With Ron - TWR Fitness Challenge Week 2 Group Results - Total meters.
UPDATE: Team AM wins overall for week 2 AND The AM ladies win over PM!!!!! I am really happy about that! Everyone worked really hard and pushed themselves hard. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Lets keep it up!
The challenge last week was to do 5 minutes each on the Rowing Machine, the Airdyne Bike and the Ski Erg Machine. Longest distance in meters wins.
This week’s challenge involves sprints so I will channel my speedy side and keep my fingers crossed. I saw the guys doing it this morning and then heard from Matt that they had some pretty good results for team AM already. Yeah!
I’ll be doing my part probably on Wednesday since tomorrow I have Pure Steel. That’s been going really well too. It’s a lot of heavy lifting but I’m enjoying it. Let’s see if I can muster up the (inner) strength to step on the scale this week
Special CONGRATULATIONS to my Dan, he got the highest numbers overall at last week’s 5/5/5 challenge! So proud of you!
The AM girls won by 12 walls* and the AM guys by 1 wall. This week is looking really close again but I’m keeping positive. Last week’s Tank Challenge was won on the last day, so I feel confident. The challenge was that each person had 10 minutes to push the tank back and forth. The tank, you see in the picture to the left, is one version of the tank. The one we used for the challenge was a bit more compact and maneuverable. The girls had to push 280 lbs and the guys 350 lbs. Our personal trainers kept track of what we completed and added up everyone’s individual results for the team total. My personal number was 13 walls and 1 post. I felt pretty good about that. We had an opportunity to go through the challenge again to see if we could get a higher number and I think I could’ve gotten 14 but that Tank is no joke and I opted not to go through it again. (more…)
Happy New Year! I really hope you had a great Holiday Season and you’re refreshed for an awesome start to the new year. We’ve had a relaxed last couple of weeks and stayed home, entertained some friends and treated ourselves to a some delicious meals. I even decided to take a few days off from the gym in an effort to heal my knee and to get some much needed rest. I’ll tell you, I can get used to sleeping in again for sure!
It’s back at it this week and since my knee has been bothering me for a while now, Matt showed me some rehab moves and additional stretches that I can do to help with the healing process. Both him and DB are cautious and make sure I don’t make it worse. It’s just another benefit of working out with the TWR Personal Trainers that practice what they preach. They know how to still give you a strong workout while a part of your body may not be 100%. So along with that, the icing and the brace, I will be back to 100% soon.
Hi! I'm Monika. I started this blog with my husband in October 2009 to journal our personal training experience at the Train With Ron gym in Chicago.
Like many, I have struggled with my weight throughout my adulthood. Most recently I had about 75lbs extra that I needed to lose. I have come a long way since I've started at TWR and I invite you to continue reading our blog for inspiration, laughter and just some good old fashioned motivation.
Getting started is the first step and sometimes, the hardest step. Especially when it's something that will change your daily habits. Dan and I took about 3 days after meeting with Ron to fully commit ourselves to this new way of life and give it our all. Since then, it's been the best experience of both of our lives. Click here to set up a time to meet with a trainer and BECOME YOUR BEST!
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