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!
July 12th… that really, it isn’t.
The famous plate push at TWR, Oh! how I love thee, challenged me today. The task: push a 25lb plate on the ground 40 yards, run a couple of flights of stairs then push the plate back the 40 yards. Do that 4 times and walk 2 walls in between each round. I was on the last leg of round 3, pushing the plate back, a few yards from the wall when my thighs just would not cooperate and I collapse. It’s not that much of a fall and maybe that’s why it’s also so inviting. The ground that is. I took a short break curled up over my plate, panting and trying to motivate myself when I heard “finish it! it’s easy, like air-hockey”. I’m hurting, so at first I roll my eyes, as if annoyed, then I look up and I see that it’s Bob getting me to laugh and push through it. It’s strange but it worked. I laughed and made it to the wall. All the while thinking what backwards evil air-hockey is this? Then for the final round, I can always count on DB to provide the essential motivation to finish strong. At least as strong as possible in the moment. Not sure if it works with everyone but if I’m reaching the end of a move and I feel like I can give no more, a little joke or even the challenge of a quick competition can really get a nice result out of me.
Which brings me to my news. I made the TWR Top Performers Wall!!!!! Dan just told me tonight. I haven’t even noticed because honestly I didn’t think I had it in me yet to make it on the board. There are so many awesome and strong people at the gym I just didn’t think it was a possibility yet. The wall basically shows off the highest performers at TWR. Individual numbers in lifting, running, decathlons and other various events and exercises. It’s pretty awesome. My name now shows up in the top 5 under 1 minute speed on the fan bike. Tomorrow I’ll see what number it is exactly but Dan said top 5. Yey! I remember DB telling me that he though .41 miles was a record on there but I never sought confirmation. I might also add that on that particular ride, DB rode on the bike next to mine and challenged me to beat my previous .35 miles with at least a .37 miles. Well, I did more than that! Thanks DB! (check out DB’s triathlon pictures and bio here as well as our trainers Ron and Matt.)
Dan and I have signed up for another 2 months of the Unlimited and I have been going 6 days a week. Definitely feeling it! Lots of icing of knees and shoulders and getting ready to go for a massage soon. Need it bad! And now for trying to get 8 hours of sleep each night and drinking enough water are two things that still need improvement. Here is to doing better tomorrow.
April 25th
April 25th 2010 TWR Charity Stair Run - Dan and Monika in the rain - soggy.
Ahh! A beautiful Chicago morning. Just around 55 degrees and a chance of rain throughout the day. 
The TWR Charity Stair Run began at 10 am and we had hoped the rain would not reach us until noon. Crossing our fingers but bringing our hats. Train with Ron organized the Charity Stair Run to help raise money in the fight against childhood obesity. A problem that greatly effects the children in this country.
Dan and I had a late night last night because of his show, which he’ll tell you about, lets just say he rocked Wauconda! And because of that we got very little sleep. Basically there were plenty of excuses I could have used to not go to the event. 7 months ago, I would have. But, I was excited to go and once I gulped down a double espresso (i don’t usually do that) my body caught up with my mind.
We reach the track … still no rain … we’re very hopeful.
Train With Ron had a good turnout despite the possibility of rain and some of us, me included, changed into the event t-shirt (so comfy!) and started on the warm up. A light jog around the track and a couple of laughs got us going.
Slowly we sprinkled onto the bleachers in small groups just as it began to drizzle, and we began to zig-zag up and down the stairs in between the bleachers. I may get this wrong by a couple of numbers but I would say each side had about 10 flights of stairs. Right around there, anyway. One lap consisted of both sides. Some of us ran, some walked and some mixed it up. It went on to rain harder and pretty much stayed consistent throughout my first lap. It felt good though, running in the rain. It kept me cool. The first lap took me about 15 minutes then I took a short break and went around again. That’s about all I had in me so after we chatted with some friends we left for …. Breakfast!!!! Feels good to have breakfast after a great workout. Hmm, maybe that’s why I like the morning workouts better. Something to think about … just not for too long.
Tomorrow I begin my 2 months of Unlimited Training and start going 5 times a week. I’ll post a new picture of myself tomorrow to show my progress and note my weight and body fat. In the picture on the right I look like a wet cat so I’m not using that as my official ‘Begin to Kick Some Serious Butt Spring and part of Summer Training’ picture. Let’s see how much I can chisel off over the next two months and get closer to my goal. As of today I am 172lbs with 31.8% body fat. After the next two months I would like to be at at least 155lbs and get my body fat into the high to mid twenties. I know I can do that!
April 21stThis week I’m back to the gym four mornings and next week I’m adding a fifth day. I’m ready for it. It’ll be tons of hard work but I feel that I will be able to push myself hard 5 times a week. Summer is making it’s way around the bend and I’d like to reach my goal before it’s over. What is my ultimate goal you ask? Or maybe you didn’t but I’ll tell you anyway. I don’t really have a hard number in mind or a certain body % or any of that. I have a range I would like to land in between. Since I was a pre-teen I have never been super skinny and it is not a goal of mine now. I do want to look great in a bikini etc …. but we’ll leave that for a couple of months down the road. Right now the ultimate goal is of course to be healthy so that means low body fat. I still have a ways to go on that, probably just a bit over 10% I should lose there. Weight wise, I want to loose another 30 – 40 pounds. Once I accomplish that I should be at around 135 – 140lbs with a body fat around 22-26%. Now, with the training I’m doing I’m also gaining a lot of muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so that messes with the numbers a bit especially if you’re just watching it to go down (like me). Make sure that if you want an accurate measurement and you do not know how to properly do it, you get a personal trainer that knows how to do it for you. The personal trainers at TWR know how to do this and educate you in this as well. It’s vital info to your workout.
Train With Ron Charity Stair Run - April 25th
A little sore still this week from just getting back into it after vacation. The guys are easing us back into the routine and we’re also going to the TWR Charity Stair Run this week end. It’s to help TWR raise money in the fight against childhood obesity! (All proceeds go to Chicago Run, a local, non-profit organization that facilitates running programs for youth in Chicago.) TWR holds many charity events each year, and Dan and I finally get to be apart of one. We missed the previous one in October so we’re really looking forward to this one. I’m not a big fan of stairs as you may have learned from previous posts but I am a fan of children getting in shape. So I will walk and run stairs for the little ones. I think kids should get more exercise in school and also better nutrition. Exercise should be mandatory and so should team play. It’s so important for being fit but kids can benefit so much from team play and competition.
Stairs – Here I come!
March 2ndI’ll start by saying that the last few times we’ve gone to workout in the evenings, I’ve taken a short cat nap just prior to leaving for the gym. About 20 or 30 minutes. I’ve found that it helps me a great deal. I stare at a computer screen for most of the day and even though I may not be exerted physically, mentally, I am. Some days more than others …
Our workouts during the week are in the evenings at 7pm and when we go Saturday mornings I’ve found that I have more energy. Of course, nothing ground breaking there, a person is much more refreshed after a full night’s sleep. Anyhow, since my cat naps, I’ve had a lot more energy during the workouts. If you workout in the evenings and time permits it, I suggest giving it a shot, especially if you’ve stopped drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks as I have tried to. Dan and I talk about the foods we eat on here a lot and that certainly does make a huge impact too.
All of this is to be able to work out as hard as I can when I’m at the gym for the hour or so. It has been paying off a great deal. I’ve felt being able to push myself harder and longer, taking less time to recover, less breaks and definitely a lot less than just a couple of months ago.
Each workout is unique and challenging. I think everyone has certain moves that make them cringe just a little bit. Well, for me they are running up and down stairs and ‘push up walks’.
For those not familiar, ‘Push up walks’ consist of doing a regular push up and then walking one step left or right without getting up. You’re just walking side to side with your arms and legs while keeping the pushup position, then doing another push up and so on. Either you count how many you do or by distance.
Now, back in October, when we started, I could barely do a regular push up so I did knee pushups everytime we had to do pushups instead. Back then I was barely able to step over 2 times before falling to the ground. Those things are tough! You try it! That was October 2009. Yesterday, one of my exercises was to do push up walks for about 30 yards, and each time that I had to stop because I could not continue I had to run up and down 4 flights of stairs. Of course when my trainer DB described this task to me I immediately made a joke because that is what I do. (If not always out loud, at least in my head.) Then I started to mentally prepare myself for the task. I knew it was going to be tough but I also knew that I wanted to get through it and not let it beat me. I started out by telling myself that “I can do this“. “My goal is to do as many push up walks as I can so that I’ll have to do less stairs. And I am going to do ALL full pushups and no knee pushups.” I started out strong and continued to talk positively to myself in my head. If I had the thought of quitting I immediately started thinking about pushing through it and motivating myself. I had to stop a few time in between and run the stairs but I never quit thinking that I could and will do it. On top of that, DB was encouraging and pushing me. When I finished I felt like the toughest workout to date that I’ve gotten through.
On top of that and a few other exercises I was also proud of myself for cranking out 50 sit ups while holding a 15lbs medicine ball without stopping. Man, it felt so great! Especially because I didn’t really feel that I was struggling with it. I was done and thrilled to have accomplished it. On to the next one!
Our trainers offer so much vital information, support, motivation and experience that it is invaluable. Our personal trainers at TWR don’t just go through the motions; they bring a new level to working out that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
You have to work hard, sure, but hey, that’s what you go for. I’ve so far lost 25lbs and March is going to be a strong month for me. I can feel it.
Till next time … Monika
