Unscheduled Training Interruption

Ya, know. You start getting strong and don't even realize it until you've pushed your limits. Saturday, I crashed a few times on my rollerblades and came away with a little road rash on my left calf. Every time I fell, I just couldn't stop laughing. I was surprised how much it didn't hurt even though I once landed fairly hard.

Thankfully, I had a massage scheduled with Jeremy later that day knowing I was going to push it hard that week. Jeremy has been working with me since I started training and I feel so fortunate our paths have crossed. He is working on getting his Physical Therapy degree and is not only a great guy but so knowledgable and fantastic at what he does. I've been getting massages every other week, but had started adding in another week once my workouts were intensifying. And these are not the relaxing, take-it-easy, so-nice-you-want-to-fall asleep kind. If you ever have had a deep tissue massage, then you know what I mean. And he can pinpoint those areas that have been really worked. I know because most of the time I'm trying not to hold my breath and ignoring the pain!! Some areas are worse than others depending on the week, but my left shoulder and neck really hold a lot of tension.

Scott, Jackson and I later that day took a hike up to the Y Mountain in Provo. I've climbed Mt. Timpanogos many a time but that was my first trip to the Y. I was a bit surprised how steep that hike became but I guess if you climb 1000 feet in elevation in 1 mile, that would make sense. Jackson did fairly well but my rock star hubby ended up hiking up about half the trail with Jackson on his shoulders. And he would even stop and let Jackson sit in his shadow to rest in the shade a bit. This man rocks my world!!

Tuesday, Scott and I planned on biking the Provo River trail from our house starting at Utah Lake and heading down to the mouth of Provo canyon and back. Scott was pulling Jackson in the bike trailer and we were making good time even stopping for Jackson to play at a few playgrounds on the way. Heading back, we had to pull off the trail where they had been doing some construction and as I was pulling back onto the trail, my front tire hit the lip between the road and the ramp going up and I slid across the pavement. Yes, I had my helmet on, but not my bike gloves and it was a hot day so my shorts and t-shirt provided no protection.

I thought the road rash from my rollerblading falls looked cool, this was 10 times worse and hurt!! I had black pavement all over my right leg and arm but I also left a lot of skin on the trail. There were huge gashes on my palms and my right knee. But I think the worst part set in quickly, my knee and leg stiffened up right away. I know my head hit the pavement and my neck was throbbing. Scott had disconnected my jammed front brake and we started back up the hill. We only got a few blocks before I couldn't ride anymore. I was shaking and bleeding. I'll leave out the rest of the gory details but I did finally get home thanks to a stranger taking Scott home to get our car. While I waited, I walked around hoping it would help my leg loosen up but mostly because I was just ticked! All I could think about was losing the momentum in my training and gaining back some of my weight.

Long story even longer, I had to make the phone call to Steve on Wednesday morning (when I woke feeling like I had been ran over by a truck!) to tell him we couldn't train that day. I'm not sure if he was upset but I was told I was banned from anything with wheels. And we will start back on Monday.

So grateful again for Jeremy, he was my lifesaver and we bumped up my weekend massage appointment to Thursday. Ibuprofen is good for a few hours but I was not sleeping well as any way I turned just shot more pain through me! I was very lightheaded and a bit nauseous after he worked out all those kinks but I finally was able to go home and sleep!

I haven't gone this long without working out for months. Monday will be interesting....

Training Session #31 - A Loss is a Loss

The measurements:
Caliper Bi - 15.2
Caliper Tri - 1
Caliper Sub - 26
Caliper Iliac - 20.9
Body Fat % - 34.4
Neck - 13.5
Chest - 43.5
Upper Arm - 11.75
Forearm - 9.8
Waist - 36
Hip - 45
Thigh - 23.7
Calf - 15.1
Weight - 191

Biggest accomplishment: Ok, so there is a reason I have a trainer. 'Cause I try to make sense of what I do and I just don't get it. After busting it big time last week, I am dissappointed not to see my body fat go down hardly at all. But after I entered all the info into a spreadsheet I've been keeping, I didn't realize that I was down over 2 inches overall - mostly in my hips and waist. And 5 pounds. I can deal with that.

I've been a bit concerned how high my heart rate has been while I've been doing the stair stepper at the intensity Steve has wanted me to. I have always been told if you keep it in the fat burn zone you'll burn more fat. I just need to stop worrying and trust the professional I work with. See the truth here: Heart Rate Zone or here or here.

The way I see it is that you will burn more percentage of fat calories with a lower intensity. But you'll burn more calories at a higher rate even though the percentage of what you burn isn't all fat calories, you're still burning more calories overall. There are many calculators but I'm sure the most accurate would be one tested by a Dr. My heart rate monitor actually has my limits exactly like when I put in my stats with the calculators:

Maximum Heart Rate (Calculated) = 184.5 % of Maximum Heart Rate Reserve*
100% - 184.5
95% - 175.3
90% - 166.0
85% - 156.8
80% - 147.6
75% - 138.4
70% - 129.1
65% - 119.9
60% - 110.7
55% - 101.5

Now I no longer have the excuse that my heart rate is too high. Crap...

Training Session #30 - Stronger than the Average Bear?

So, I've been running those stairs at BYU every morning like I planned and high tailing it from one class to the other. Also remaining consistant on my cardio, and swam laps for an hour yesterday. I am starting to get a bit fatigued but dang, I want to see results next Monday!

We have been fairly cool the past few weeks and the temps are starting to climb again. I think I sweat out more water than I could put in at today's workout. (So not a fan of hot temperatures, I can't believe how many summers I worked at Lowes in the heat and dirt!) Steve was really excited about what we were going to do. That always gets me very worried! Stepups, Ok, quads are already a bit tired but OK. Then a circuit of prisioner squats, side lunges and half lunges, yeah, now I'm really feeling it. Half stepups and then a new walking lunge with the ball. I'm dying at this point. My shirt is soaked completely through and I'm ready to prove to Steve I had lunch. But, Oh no, there's more... Bear crawls.

I found an article about bear crawls and can say they are 100% correct!

If you are short on time, there is no better way than using a bodyweight circuit.
One exercise is the Bear Crawl, this is a very demanding and result producing exercise that is long forgotten.
The Bear Crawl will give you a great fat burning and muscle building workout, most people will have a tough time Bear Crawling for 30 seconds.
The Bear Crawl will build an athletic and stronger body in record time, and will develop total body awareness.
The Bear Crawl will work the whole arm ( fingers, wrist, forearm, bicep, triceps,) the shoulders, back, chest, neck, abs, thighs, hamstrings, calves, not to mention working the cardiovascular system hard, in only seconds.
The Bear Crawl will burn fat while building incredible strength and muscular endurance.
To do the Bear Crawl you don't need a lot of space, just a few feet, than get down on all fours and walk and run like a bear.
Start out slow, take your time and get amazing results doing a simple but very effective exercise.
If you decide to add Bear Crawls into your workout you will know what a workout is.
So try this simple but effective workout :
Bear Crawl for 30 seconds rest 30 seconds continue for 5 minutes... if you can.

The only thing they didn't mention is that you can't have your rear in the air like this little cutie. No, no, no!!! We did them so the knees and tops of your feet skim the floor and you keep your hips down as you move! And just when I thought I was done after bear crawling across the gym room length 4 times with pushups in between, we then did calf raises and ab crunches on the ball. Oh me, oh my. I'm wondering how I was possibly going to get in my stair climbing that day because I was through, done, spent, over. Guess what?...I did it anyway!

Measurements on Monday. Oh please, let them be good!

Training Session #29 - Students Have No Excuses

Wow, I am tired today! I'm attending BYU Education Week this week starting today and had an interesting encounter. The parking there is horrendous and I ended up parking on the far southwest side of campus where the overnight RV parking is. Since I don't know the campus very well (sadly, I never attended), I didn't realize that hurrying to my first class at 8:30 in the morning that I would have to run up a hill of stairs, in flip flops. And I had to run because (as always and to be expected), I was late. Well, I'm sure when I was 35 pounds heavier I probably would have passed out at the top. But I actually passed a somewhat heavy teenager. I'm certainly no James Bond but definitely feeling the difference!

And then you had to run to your next class because they fill up so fast that sometimes they turn people away from the full classrooms. Not as much running today since the classes are more in the same area but I've forgotten what it's like to hurry from one class to another. Although I was very antsy sitting for the time during the class, I hoofed it to the next, as much as you can in flip flops. And I packed all my food according to my plan so I was set.

I'm going to park at the same place the rest of this week and get in some short cardio time in the mornings, and wear my running shoes. Was thinking that if there were students who couldn't find time to exercise, they could just arrive for school a bit earlier (see, yeah, that wouldn't work for me!) and run up those stairs every morning!

Today's workout was huge, now that I look at all we did! I was a bit tired from running all day but pushed through it as much as I could.

Training Session #28 - Great Horny Toads! My Biscuits are Burnin'!

Problem #1 - Go waterskiing the day after a big ab workout (Mon)
Problem #2 - 2 weeks of most of my cardio on the stairclimber

Result - My abs, my butt, my calves and hamstrings are begging for mercy! I even woke up early in the morning in so much pain and had to get some ibuprofen. We had to nix some of the ab work today because Steve thinks I must have torn my abs a bit. I don't think my massage on Friday will come soon enough!!!!

"Yeow!! Ow! My biscuits are burnin'! Fire in the hatch! Great horny toads, that smarts!

Training Session #27 - You Take the Good, You Take the Bad...

Why, oh why, did I decide to give in and eat pizza this weekend? And why after 5 days of heavy cardio, including 3 days with the stair stepper do I still look like Natalie from the "Facts of Life"!!!!???? Yeah, yeah, I know, she has a great personality (so many of us FAT girls do) Whaaahh! - (insert extremely whiney voice) When will I ever look like Blair but with Jo's coolness!? I want it and I want it NOW!

All joking aside, this weeks measurement results were like a punch in the stomach. I'm fairly sure subconsciously I thought that because I worked so hard on my cardio, a little pizza wouldn't hurt. Of course, that was a little pizza on top of not eating the rest of my food for a large part of the week. Add more fat to starvation and increased cardio and I'm sure my body was holding onto it for dear life. I've got to work through this awful relationship I have with food. I really have to force myself to eat. I think if I actually pulled everything I need to eat together each night, already prepared like my mom does to take to work, I could probably get through it. I just get going through my day and forget.

I would call today's training an hour version of bootcamp basic training. Lots of kicks, jumps, squats, held positions and pushups. Steve had two new forms of torture (dang, he had a new "torture" word today and now I've forgot it!) One is an exercise called squat thrusts. You know, jump into crouch, jump back into a pushup position, jump back to crouch and then jump up. And the other was like a reverse bridge where you balance on your back on the disc with your butt up, knees up and together, feet on the floor somewhat extended and hold that for what felt like FOREVER! I think I'll be feeling those tomorrow!

And after bootcamp I had 40 minutes of bonding time with Mr. Stair Climber. My hamstrings are screaming and actually were before I started! Good thing I have a massage scheduled this week, I'm gonna need it!

The BAD - The measurements:
Caliper Bi - 15.6
Caliper Tri - 18.8
Caliper Sub - 26.1
Caliper Iliac - 21.4
Body Fat % - 34.6
Neck - 13.5
Chest - 43.5
Upper Arm - 12
Forearm - 10
Waist - 36.75
Hip - 45.7
Thigh - 23.8
Calf - 15.3
Weight - 196

THE GOOD - Biggest accomplishment: Despite the fact that hardly nothing moved, including my body fat, my hips were down almost a whole inch. Weird. Steve tried to convince me that this still wasn't a plateau since there was some movement but I'm not buying it.

Met one of Steve's other clients who had lost a lot of weight, had rebounded and was taking another go at it. Got me thinking pretty hard but that's a story for another day...

Training Session #26 - I Just Think Steve is Great!

So, today and the past few days have been a whirlwind. Stampin' Up! is having their annual demonstrator convention. Although I'm not attending convention itself, I do enjoy getting together with my demo friends and sharing swaps and ideas. Since I've started training with Steve, I've slowly been spending less time stamping, crafting and blogging about it. I'm sure I'll never stop crafting because art is so much a part of me and normally, I really enjoy it. But, I had to have some swaps done for a dinner on Tuesday night with my Stampin' Addicts sisters (love ya!) and waited until the last minute to get those done. I was up Monday night and into the wee morning hours of Tuesday. Tuesday night came so fast, I had one set of swaps that still didn't get completed. I then drove home after the dinner, got together supplies for an all day meetup with the sisters on Wednesday, tried to finish the swaps and by 2 AM, decided I just needed to go to bed. I tossed and turned all night (or should I say, morning) and maybe got 2 hours of sleep, I get so stressed and anxious when I'm not prepared like I want to. In the meantime, I'm hardly eating, by that I mean maybe a yogurt in the morning and something small at dinner. Yeah, I was depleted.

I got up early today to get to get myself and Jackson ready, take him to the sitter and head up to the Salt Palace. I didn't have time to pack things to snack on and had a hard time just eating the salad I got for lunch. Next thing I know, it's time to collect all my supplies and hit the road to get to my training (and I was looking forward to it all day even knowing that I would struggle from my lack of sleep and food!). Well, I'm not used to driving from SL in rush hour and was 1/2 hour late for training. My phone was in my stamp bag in the back of my Explorer and I was considering just pulling over in rush hour to call. I tell ya, every minute that ticked by past the time I was supposed to be there was killing me! I was feeling so bad as I have not missed a session yet and I really have an issue of respecting people's time and getting to places when I say I will. (as I also get very annoyed when people don't respect my time).

So very long winded today, that's what happens when I'm tired, I ramble. Long story short, I have a great trainer and I can still get through these workouts even on no sleep or food - and no, I don't recommend it!

Measurements next Monday.... and more stair stepping tomorrow, hooo- ray...

Training Session #25 - For the Love of the Game (of weight loss)

The pictures. Have I ever mentioned the pure agony for me to stand in front of a camera, on purpose? (I even avoid mirrors) But, I also had to have a photo for a scrapbook page that my stamping friends were exchanging. My mom was so great to stand in as the photographer with a difficult client, lots of eye rolling in between shots. The photo at the top is where I am now, the 2nd below was at my heaviest weight in April and the 1st below (lookie, you can see my collarbones!) was where I was before I started fertility treatments in 2000 - and where I intend to get back to. And I will. I still have that size 6 dress and will be anxiously working to post a picture of me in it again. (And yes, I've always been "chesty". Really, I don't understand those that want to "enhance" theirs, it's more a burden than anything!)

Today officially marks 12 weeks since we started training. I've lost 24 pounds, 12.14 inches, and about 4% body fat. I'm also down 35 pounds since April when I was at my heaviest.

Steve didn't want me to preview today’s workout (which I usually don't even want to know so I don't pysch myself out) but he had already named it. And for the love..., it was also killer core work. Tri plane lunges, ball squats on one leg, ham curls (Yowwch!), ab ball toss, prone bridges and much more! I'm actually hoping for more of this just because one of my goals is to be able to do full sit-ups and still be able to throw a medicine ball back and forth and not have to have my feet stabilized. And my waist is getting small but my lower abs just doesn’t want to give up the ghost! Glory, just go, will ya?! (Although, in the beginning, they just got in the way and I don't have that excuse anymore). Another goal, to have the tendon in my ankle define and just pop out. My mom and I have such different body types; I'm built more like my dad's family. But the thing I've inherited from my mom, cankles (you know, when you can't determine where your calves end and your ankles start). After the last set of ham curls, Steve told me to just hold the last one. He may have intended to add another layer of torture but he also pulled out his phone and took a picture of my calf and ankle. It was cool to see the definition forming in my calves and the ever-so-slightest indention in my ankles! (I'll have to snag that photo somehow!)

I would like to see better improvements for the next 12 weeks. I didn't realize it, but I was supposed to be doing cardio at least 5 times a week along with 3 days of weights. I was slacking a little on some days the past few weeks not because I didn't want to but it's just summer and busy. No more excuses, this week is the beginning of that routine. Steve says that doing the cardio after the weights is more beneficial. And what cardio does Steve think is the best?... That blasted stair climber! So today, I spent 40 minutes after our training with that evil machine. We're still not friends but at least now on speaking terms....