Week Between Sessions Update

My week off of Boot Camp has been relatively anxiety free so far. I am always concerned about the accountability part of working out but this week, each day, there have been others that have met me downtown.

On Saturday morning, we were having a Garage Sale so I got up early, donned my resistance band and my MP3 player and went for a run. I did approximately a 2 Mile loop stopping about 3/4 of the way for some target work. I did dips, crunches, resistance band pushes and pulls, squats, sprints, curb push ups, step-ups, and a bit of other ab work before making my way home. I felt great afterwards knowing that I had made the decision to get up and had pushed myself to work hard in the time that I had.

Intensity Level : 8.8

I took Sunday off to rest and enjoy my friends and family.

Monday morning came early and I headed downtown hopeful that someone would show up to work out with me. There were three of us and we decided to do the Mile loop with pit stops. We did 3-way calf-raises, squat-backs, assisted spread-eagle jumps, push ups, lunges, wall sits, dips and push ups, and reverse crunches. After we returned to home camp, we did lots of ab work before treating ourselves to a few longer-than-usual stretches. It was a great work-out and I was in good company.

Intensity Level : 8.9

Tuesday morning, I was pretty tired but that wasn't going to stop me from heading down. Stephanie taught on Tuesday and it was a full-body, hard work out. We warmed up with a ten minute run which we haven't done in a while. It was nice to run again with relatively no pain in my foot. The air was extremely hot and felt heavy and I had to cover my mouth when running through certain areas because of the swarms of gnats and bugs. When we returned, we did lots of hand weight arm work with stability leg work integrated then moved on to resistance band work and push ups and dips followed by ab work then stretching. We were all fully-sweat-drenched at the end of class because of the heat and humidity but I felt really strong afterwards.

Intensity Level : 9

This morning, there were three of us that met. We did a run towards the "Plainfield Steps" and along the way, we stopped for step-ups, sprints, robot walks, step-up hip raises, steps, push ups and dips. We decided upon arriving at the steps that because it was still pretty dark, we would avoid them for safety. (I am determined to hit those steps sometime this week, even if it's on my own.) We made our way back to home camp and did some weights and ab work before stretching.

Intensity Level : 8

I am looking forward to tomorrow's class with Stephanie and Friday and Saturday mornings. I am feeling stressed this week but my work-outs are helping me release some of that stress and cope with situations of frustration. I have been tired getting up but once I've started working out, energy begins to flow into me and it lasts through most of the day.

This week, I have noticed a change in my clothing. Many of the items that I have not even considered wearing in years are making it out of my closet and onto my body (many of them haven't been worn out of the house yet, but, hey, baby steps, right?). I have to admit that I'm anxious to do our re-assessments on Sunday and find out where I'm really at with measurements and in pounds. But I must also say that I am feeling great most of the time now and my outlook is happy which truly is the most important thing.

Physical exercise continues to be a daily blessing for me and has been the tool that I have needed for so long in my life to equip me with the confidence and allow me to find the inner-strength I've needed to be successful in many areas of my life that have lacked in the past. I do believe that all things are simply gifts to us and that we are designed to have the free will to choose how we use or do not use them. Every day, I want to make the most of what I've been given in all areas of my life but my physical body needs to be a priority and I don't feel guilty anymore making it one. It really is the only body I have and if it isn't working properly, I have to make the conscious decision to do something about it and give it my full attention for tune-ups and repairs (ok, sometimes complete overhauls too!) every chance I get.

I'm to a point now where I don't see daily exercise as a chore but as a part of my every day routine for well-being. I enjoy it and I want to do it. If I miss it, my body feels lethargic and my mind feels stressed. I have made the decision to make daily exercise a PRIORITY and even though it means that I have to sacrifice some other things in my life, I realize that the mental and physical benefits that I get from it completely outweigh the sacrifices I have to make to do it.