- Today’s Workouts:
- Group Circuit (1 hr)
- The Hell of Sand (2 ½ hrs)
- 1-on-1 Session (1 hr)
- 60-Minutes Cardio
I think God is punishing me for my sarcasm in yesterday’s note because it never rained and we had to go to the Sand Dune. Uggggh! First, however, I was excited to have Mom meet everyone and get a taste of what I’ve been doing for nearly six weeks. We had breakfast at the gym first, then while I was in the Group Circuit session, Mom got dunked – apparently the dunking method is the most accurate method for measuring body fat percentage. Hers was way better than mine was when I started and still better than mine now (but I’m improving!). Then we had to head to the Hell of Sand. I even did a little rain dance before we entered the van to encourage the rain to fall, but alas, I do not know all the proper Native American rituals and thus I just looked silly bopping around on one foot to the other in the parking lot behind the gym.
Mom came along for the Dunes workout and as we approached the Dunes, she said that the pictures online do not do it justice. It is unbelievably steep and very high. I asked Mom to do a guest blog about her experiences today, but she has already crashed out on the sofa as I’m writing this! As for me, well, I don’t know what got into me, but I started up the hill and in 9 minutes I was at the top! Whooaaa, personal record for me. I had to pace myself because we were going to be there for two hours. At this rate Marco was going to expect at least 6 climbs from me. Recall that the first two times I did it, I could barely do four climbs, and then this past Tuesday I did three climbs in less than an hour with exercises in between each climb. Mom was still on her first climb as I was descending. It’s really an exhausting task which sucks the breath out of you and makes your whole body burn in an unpleasant way, and I believe Mom can now attest to that. I reached the bottom, had a few swallows of water, and started again. Before I knew it, another 9 minutes had passed and I was at the top again. Who is that girl in the LSU Tigers t-shirt, hmm? I’m exhausted, of course, and I stopped several times to give my thighs a rest and to catch my breath, but I guess I have figured out a pace and method that works for me. I think Mom was descending from her first climb by the time I was descending from the second. I reached the bottom, and as before, had some water, and started up again. I have to say that I was absolutely pleased with myself….I did FOUR climbs in under one hour. But we still had another hour-and-fifteen minutes to go. Plenty of time to get a few more climbs in there. Marco said he wanted me to do at least six climbs. OK, I knew I had at least one or two more in me. The climbs were slower for me each time, but I maintained my method. I would take either thirty or forty steps and then stop for a quick break, turning around to face the bottom and give my thighs a break. Then I’d turn back to the top and try another thirty or forty steps. I was doing that “self-coaching” thing that Eric (owner) had discussed two weeks earlier after I had my first climb and I was absolutely miserable the whole time then. This time I didn’t complain and I kept a positive attitude and before the first climb once again I prayed, “Dear God, Please get my butt up that hill.” And this time I was just plain determined not to look weak, not to make a fool of myself, and to just get UP THERE. Mom, meanwhile, had managed a second climb and declared she wasn’t going to do it again (I have photos below!). It was a cloudy sky, however, and thus a bit cool if you weren’t moving around, so she was motivated to climb again after resting and doing some reverse dips so that she could get warm. I continued on, and managed a fifth and then surprisingly a SIXTH climb by the time we had about 15 minutes left. Mom by then pushed herself and did 4 and 2/3rd climbs by then. Way to go, Mom…that’s better than I did on my first try! As for me, I was tired, I was thirsty, but guess what…I went for SEVEN. And did it. I AM SO PROUD! What a difference a week makes! I still DON’T LIKE doing it, but I did conquer that damn hill as Eric said I would. He also said two weeks ago that it represented the bad parts of my past (i.e., all the things that led to my being overweight and living an unhealthy lifestyle) and once I conquered the hill, those bad parts will be GONE. Y’know, he’s almost completely right! (Are you hearing this, men? A woman is agreeing that a man is right for a change!) Currently I am living a healthy, yet sheltered lifestyle, but I do feel like I’ll be fine when I finish my twelve weeks here. I can’t wait to implement all that I’ve learned and continue on this healthy path.
For now I can’t wait to keep going, keep pushing, keep achieving. Next week, I’m going for TEN! Hmmm, we’ll see how it goes. Eighteen-yr-old Maxime did ten today, so I have to channel my 18-yr-old self and move my arse. Back at the gym after lunch I had another 1-on-1 session with Jason and I knew he was going to be tough on me. Oh man, what an understatement. I swear, I better have some rockin’ biceps and triceps when this is all done. I had twinged my left knee a bit, so it was wrapped up and we didn’t do any weightlifting that strained my legs at all. After the usual cardio warmup, Jason did a pyramid of weights in which I started at one weight with 20 repetitions, then increased the weight but did 15 repetitions, and so on until we reached 5 repetitions. The first machine he had me use was the Lateral-pull-down. Usually when I’m doing circuit on my own, I start at 50 lbs so that I can do fast repetitions in order to burn fat and increase cardio, rather than increase muscle. No, un uh…Jason started me at 75 lbs with a close grip. Yikes! It was heavy but I managed. I had to do pushups against a lowered bar, too, and also a chest press machine. I went back to the lat-pull-down three more times…by the fourth time when I had to do only 5 repetitions, I was yanking down 95 lbs. Yikes! It was TOUGH! But, even though my arms felt like jello and I didn’t mind demonstrating how they felt like jello, I was actually very pleased with myself. After those rounds of the pyramid were over, Jason had me doing bicep curls again. I think we started with 10 lbs – after yesterday’s 15-lb bicep curls, that seemed easy to me. Well, as before, weights increased while the repetitions decreased. After every other bicep curl I had to press the weights up over my head (shoulder press). At 10, 12, and 15 lbs, this was tiring, but I managed it. Then EVIL Jason decides to make an appearance and says “ok, we’re going for more.” Holy shit, TWENTY POUNDS on each arm? Yikes! I was meant to do only five reps, but by the third one my arms had totally given out so I returned to the 15-lb weights and included the shoulder presses. I did some overhead tricep extensions, too (gotta get rid of that flab there, y’know) and finished up with 50-lb chest flies. Wow. It was a tough workout and I was exhausted (I’m not allowed to say “I’m tired”) but I actually loved it. I LOVED trying the heavier weights and loved even MORE actually succeeding for the most part. Keep it coming, Jason, I can take it!
Mom, meanwhile, was doing cardio on her own and some mat exercises prescribed to her by her own personal trainer in Virginia. I’m thrilled that Mom and my sister Kitti are working out with this trainer a couple of times a week and are also doing their own workouts. When I get to San Antonio in June I’m going to get my other sister Arlene moving, too! After the session with Jason I just had to do an hour of cardio, so Mom and I hooked up our headphones into the tv on the treadmill and watched one of our favorite shows….CASH CAB! Seriously, if Mom and I ever got in that cab, we would kick ass and take all of Ben Bailey’s money (and then I’ll ask him to marry me).
Fridays are shorter days for us so we returned home after a bit of a fiasco with our parking space, and both crashed on the sofa. We were so tired we relaxed right through our next scheduled meal and only moved our butts because Direct TV was installed to replace existing cable (this is included in the camp fee). Mom is enjoying the meals as much as I do – who knew a turkey burger could be so delicious?! We are both exhausted…it’s nearly 10pm so I’m off to bed. Mom’s already conked out on the sofa (which is also very comfortable!) and I think will be in for a big surprise when she sees how tiring Saturday’s Beach Boot Camp is. We have lunch at the Catering Kitchen and then circuit training in the gym. And we don’t get Easter Sunday off either…that will be our 2-hour circuit training session, then we hope to drive around LA or Hollywood a bit and do some sightseeing (like, the Hollywood sign, and I want to see Gene Kelly’s footprints in the concrete at the Chinese Theatre).
For my Bermuda friends, I hope you had a wonderful Good Friday. From the pictures it looked like a PERFECT day for kites, the beach, hot cross buns, codfish cakes, Sunrise Service at Church, and just spending time with family and friends. I hope all my KPMG Tax friends were able to take some time off to enjoy the day, too, despite April 15th being only 5 days away (geez, I STILL gotta do my extension!). Have a lovely weekend, everyone! I might combine Saturday & Sunday’s note into one…we’ll see how Saturday’s afternoon goes.
Lots of love,
Donna
No comments:
Post a Comment