I am in danger of moving from Brainwashed & Broken to the level of Sick & Twisted. I am always trying to drag friends to the gym, and I tend to not take no for an answer. It is a practice that has earned me the name Evil Gym Sprite.
Christi won a free session of PiM, then she made the mistake of letting me know. She joined me for an Austin PiM on Thursday. She does A LOT of classes during the week, and classes are awesome, but they can't compare to the intensity of PiM. There is also the fact that it is different movements that she is used to. She was worried about it. Through out the day I kept reassuring her that she would be fine (she actually out lifts me in BodyPump). When Austin walks into class, she looked at him and said, "This is my first PiM, so you gotta be nice to me!" He laughed wickedly and said, "You know, that was the wrong thing to say." Half way into class, she looked at me and said, "You should know, I'm cussing you out in my head right now."
I also drug Janae to last night's Mischief. Audrey hasn't been in town all summer, so it was nice having another girl. She did really well! She and I texted a few times through the day, and she was also worried about the workout. I tried to reassure her that it was an "injury workout" because Luke has a sprained ankle. It didn't mean the workout would be easy by any means, even injured, Luke can wring large amounts of pain out of me. I thought she was our "special kinda crazy", and I was right. She said she is going to come back because she wants to get to the point where she is GOOD at it.
On a side note, Luke is going to start weighing me once a week and doing my body fat. Something I haven't done since Kevin left. I will soon be able to give weekly updates again.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Monday, August 25, 2014
The Gift of Life
I have ALWAYS wanted to be a blood donor, but my body always worked against me. I have small, deep, rolling veins. As far back as I can remember, simple lab work was a traumatic experience involving multiple sticks and fishing expeditions. Shots don't bother me. From the time I was 11 months old, I took allergy shots. I distinctly remember a friend in college talking about the first time he finally went in to donate. A friend of his had asked if he was going to the blood drive. He said, "No, having someone stick a sharp metal object in my arm and draining my blood isn't natural." To which his friend replied, "They stuck a sharp metal object in Christ's arm and drained His blood....for YOU." How can you argue with that? So I went to my first blood drive. I walked in and told them, "If you can stick it, you can have it." They handed me the forms to fill out. They asked me all the medical history questions. They tested my blood for iron (at this point I think they actually started drooling - I have ALWAYS had very rich blood). I was lead to the chair for the actual donation. After looking my arms over (several times), the tech told me to go home without even pulling a needle out of a package. I was disappointed. I tried several more times at different blood drives. Finally one tech told me, "Go home and don't come back." Years have passed. Always the desire to give was there. I so admired friends that would give on a regular basis.
This past weekend, my brother Stephen called. One of his co-workers has a son battling leukemia. This guy is in his 30's with children of his own. He is in desperate need for blood to be donated in his name. My heart was breaking for this man and his young children. I told Stephen, "I've never been able to give in the past, but I promise you, I will try. Maybe with the weight I have lost, they will be able to finally hit a vein." I am so excited to say that they were successful!!!
The only drawback is I am not allowed to exercise for 24 hours. Next time I will have to plan it around my rest day. On a side note, they always offer a free snack when you are done. Thanks to LUKE, I passed on oreos. Sigh, I remain Brainwashed & Broken.
PS If any of you are interested in donating in the name of Stephen's friend, donations need to be made for Bradley Hoff, Dallas, Texas.
This past weekend, my brother Stephen called. One of his co-workers has a son battling leukemia. This guy is in his 30's with children of his own. He is in desperate need for blood to be donated in his name. My heart was breaking for this man and his young children. I told Stephen, "I've never been able to give in the past, but I promise you, I will try. Maybe with the weight I have lost, they will be able to finally hit a vein." I am so excited to say that they were successful!!!
The only drawback is I am not allowed to exercise for 24 hours. Next time I will have to plan it around my rest day. On a side note, they always offer a free snack when you are done. Thanks to LUKE, I passed on oreos. Sigh, I remain Brainwashed & Broken.
PS If any of you are interested in donating in the name of Stephen's friend, donations need to be made for Bradley Hoff, Dallas, Texas.
Friday, August 22, 2014
My Role
Every member of a group has a role they fill for that group. There are the leaders, the talkers, the thinkers. I have discovered my role in The Mischief. This is the "Passout Bench" at the gym. I spend lots of time on this bench between sets of our workouts. As you can see, the legs of the bench are not all the way at the end. About 2 weeks ago, between sets, Scotty was sitting dead center of the bench. I came and sat next to him for a breather before starting the next set. He got up, I hit the floor. Tonight, after the workout (have I mentioned that Luke is a sick, sick man?), I went over and sat on the bench. This time I didn't hit the floor, after all THAT has been done before. No this time I (not so gracefully) slid off onto the BOSU, Yep, I'm the comic relief of the group.
Hell Workout and Rest Days
Luke has decided that we need a workout that we can judge our progress with, so he wrote Hell Workout. We did it last week for the first time to get our baseline. To make the torture complete, he told me about the workout 2 weeks in advance to that I could stress out about it for a while. The workout included: 1 mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 body squats, 1 mile run. He is a sick, sick, sick man...did mention sick?? First of all, it started with running. You all know how I feel about that, if not, see previous post. Pull-ups, I can't do a single unassisted pull up, so I am allowed to use the machine to assist me. As it is, I still am pulling about 1/2 my body weight...100 times! The push-ups weren't TOO bad. I had decided to do at least 100 of them from my toes and then finish from my knees. As it turned out, I managed all 200 from my toes. I can't help but be a little excited about that. Squats are squats. Squats alone don't bother me. I can DO squats. The problem lies in doing 300 and then trying to run again. About the 3rd stride, my quads were mush, and 1/2 way into the 2nd mile my hamstrings started screaming at me. I wanted to crawl the rest of the way in. If it weren't for my friend Beci doing the laps with me (she didn't want me to have to run alone), I probably would have crawled. I finished though. Took me an hour and 35 minutes to finish, but I did it. The guys only took 55 minutes. Good thing I started an hour before they did.
After Hell Workout, Luke decided to get in my face (he has been doing that a lot) about the amount of rest I haven't been getting. He isn't the first to say something. Kevin once told me to "take it easy" one weekend . See the post titled "Taking it Easy" to see how that worked for him. Austin once looked at me and said, "Are you over-training?". To which I said, "No...never...well, mabye...ok, yes." Luke, on the other hand, wouldn't leave me alone about it. The gym is closed on Sundays, so I always counted that as my rest day. APPARENTLY, I work too hard during the week to not take another one mid-week. I don't know what it is about Luke. He has a way of approaching subjects with me that other people have tried and met resistance. He just kinda tells me how it is going to be without giving me an option. I am still allowed to come to the gym on Wednesday, but he has written a "rest day workout" for me: 50 squats, 100 jump rope, 10 laps on the sport court, 100 jump rope, 50 squats, 40 pull-ups, and 20 minutes on the treadmill at a 5% incline. Someone at worked asked me how that is a rest day. "I only have to do it once instead of 3 times, and there aren't 4 other sets of something to do after it." We will see how this goes.
After Hell Workout, Luke decided to get in my face (he has been doing that a lot) about the amount of rest I haven't been getting. He isn't the first to say something. Kevin once told me to "take it easy" one weekend . See the post titled "Taking it Easy" to see how that worked for him. Austin once looked at me and said, "Are you over-training?". To which I said, "No...never...well, mabye...ok, yes." Luke, on the other hand, wouldn't leave me alone about it. The gym is closed on Sundays, so I always counted that as my rest day. APPARENTLY, I work too hard during the week to not take another one mid-week. I don't know what it is about Luke. He has a way of approaching subjects with me that other people have tried and met resistance. He just kinda tells me how it is going to be without giving me an option. I am still allowed to come to the gym on Wednesday, but he has written a "rest day workout" for me: 50 squats, 100 jump rope, 10 laps on the sport court, 100 jump rope, 50 squats, 40 pull-ups, and 20 minutes on the treadmill at a 5% incline. Someone at worked asked me how that is a rest day. "I only have to do it once instead of 3 times, and there aren't 4 other sets of something to do after it." We will see how this goes.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Mischief
I have mentioned that Luke invited me to join he and his friends for a workout and that I had no idea what that would lead to. Accepting that invitation has lead to a whole new chapter in my gym experience. The one invitation lead to an open invitation, which has now become my Friday routine. Luke writes all our workouts, and he has a twisted imagination when it comes to thinking up things for us to do. There are 6 of us: Luke, Scotty, Jason, Josh, Audrey, and myself. Whoever is available comes each week. That means there have been weeks that it was just Luke and I, and there have been weeks that we have had some newcomers. We are gym rats. In Scotty's words, "we are a special kind of crazy." We push ourselves and each other - HARD. No excuses, no backing down, no quitting. We feed off each others energy. We are community/family. We are a pack. I was curious one night what a group of gym rats would be called. Google told me that a group of rats was a "pack (which i suspected)" or a "mischief". I loved the idea of being a mischief of gym rats. Once I told everyone else about, we started calling ourselves "The Mischief"...it had a nice ring to it, it stuck. I know if I am every frustrated, all I have to do is spend a few minutes with my mischief and I will get all the support and encouragement I need. When I came back from being sick, I had lost some of my strength and so much of my endurance. I was getting annoyed with myself. Throughout the week, leading up to our workout, each member came to me individually to see how I was feeling, let me know they had missed me, encourage me to be patient with myself and not push too hard/too fast because they didn't want me getting sick again. During one of his (frequent) pep talks to me, Luke said, "Give yourself time to recover. I know you are frustrated now, but you are a fighter. You will be back soon." Then he told me about a whiteboard that he keeps motivational quotes on. At the top it says "How bad do you want it?" The only thing that limits your goals is you. When you want something enough to sacrifice for it, when you crave it as much as you do oxygen, then you will achieve it. This has now become our motto. More than once it has been written on the floor, once Luke even taped it to his arm, "H.B.D.Y.W.I?" So naturally we had matching t-shirts made:
With it being summer, all 6 of us have not been together since we got the shirts. We are hoping to get a group picture soon. Until then, here is 4 out of the 6 of us.
With it being summer, all 6 of us have not been together since we got the shirts. We are hoping to get a group picture soon. Until then, here is 4 out of the 6 of us.
Left to Right: Scotty, me, Luke, Jason
Medication, Mesas, and Running
I have been a little stressed and out of focus lately. It has taken it's toll. I put a little of the weight back on, and my wheels have been spinning on the dreaded mesa. Family health issues, money difficulties, new job, my own health issues that nearly landed me in the hospital...the excuses are endless. It is part of life. You fall down, you get back up. I had a doctor's appointment and was expecting the worst. I saw my lab results before I went to the appointment, I knew Dr. Ezzell was going to be disappointed. My cholesterol was out of whack again. My A1C was up. He walked into the room and asked me what was going on. I told him about everything and said, "I'm just needing to get back in focus." Then he surprised me. He looked me in the eye and said "Yes, your A1C is up a little, but if you are going to refocus (I know how you are when you are focused), I am comfortable with pulling you off your metformin." My heart stopped. This is what I have been working so hard for. Yes, I have a weight loss goal. Yes, I want to be thinner. But THIS...THIS is my big goal. Get healthy enough to be off medications. I wanted to dance!!!! I am officially off all diabetic medication. My A1C level puts me as "pre-diabetic". I know when I focus, I can bring it down even further.
As far as the mesa goes, as I said, I have gained some of the weight back (5-15 lbs fluctuation). Luke recently got in my face about my diet, and unlike some, did it in a way that didn't make me want to rip his face off. After a week long diet challenge he put me on, I lost 9 lbs. At my lowest point, I was 173. I will not declare the mesa broken til I'm down to 170, but I'm hopeful.
Running (sigh), the bane of my existence. I have conquered bouncing, well kind of, I do it when I have to. Now the guys at the gym are conspiring to make me run. What they don't understand is that running to me messes with my head. Growing up, I was terribly bullied in school. Not your average everyday kinda bullying either. People sought me out to make my life hell. Honestly, I have gotten past it, but from time to time, the scars left behind pull and ache. I tell you this, not because I dwell on it, because I don't. I tell you this so that you may understand the why of what I am about to share. I always struggled with my weight. Looking back at pictures, I don't think I was really that big, but I was made to feel like I was HUGE. It is amazing the damage body image can do to a person. I was also the slowest in my class, which meant I was forever "it" in tag, I was always the last picked, and when we ran, the entire class would lap me. These things were repeatedly used by my peers to beat me down. Sadly, I find that now, when I run, some of that old self talk comes back. As I am being lapped and ultimately left to run by myself, I can't help but think, "What are you doing? You don't belong with them. You can't keep up. They are going to get tired of always having to wait on you." Know that these thought come strictly from my own head. The guys have NEVER made me feel this way. In fact, they have instinctively done things to counter these very thoughts. As I said, these are old, deep wounds. There has been healing. Scar tissue has covered them over. But I believe what is happening is that God has decided it is time to do a more complete healing. Time to cut away the scar tissue to restore my full range of motion. It is a good thing, but sometimes the process is painful. I trust the people He has put in my life for this time. I just don't know if they understand the battle I am facing.
New Program
Programs, get your programs here! You can't tell the players without a program!!
Has it really been so long since I have blogged? So much has happened, so many changes. It is going to take several posts to catch you all up, so I thought the first order of business is to do a new "team" list, since all my original team members have moved on. Some of these, you have met briefly in past posts, but I have not given you a formal introduction. Others are totally new to my list. My team has expanded. The original 5 were all gym employees. My team is now a balance of employees, instructors, and other members. I am truly blessed to have so many great people helping me in this journey.
Lets start with gym staff (in alphabetical order so no one can claim favorite):
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Angel: Angel and I have know each other for YEARS. We worked together long before I got on my fitness kick. Then we lost contact. Back then, we were only co-workers, but now we are truly friends. She works the early shift at the gym most of the time, so I don't see her a lot in that role, but when I do she is always very sweet and helpful. As our friendship has grown, we have actually started working out/taking classes together. She is my cheerleader and sounding board. Being raised with brothers and mostly male cousins, I tend to gravitate to the guys. Angel is a nice balance for me. She is there to talk about the emotional aspect of things that sometimes the guys don't fully understand, try as they might.
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Austin: ex-marine, big, intimidating, but with a heart of gold. I jokingly say he is a big bully. When we took this picture I told him that I needed to show the world just how big of a bully he was. It took us a long time to get this picture right because neither one of us could keep a straight face. It never ceases to amaze me that I have the opportunity to work with him. He pushes me in a way that no one else does. I say that, but they all have their own unique way/personality. He is quick to smile and is even quicker with his encouragement. There are people that are scared to work with him, and it BREAKS MY HEART. It is truly their loss. This man is a force. I am beyond lucky to have him on my side.
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Josh: When I first met Josh, I declared he was "over-hyper, over-happy" and wanted to grab him and give him a good shake. In time, he grew on me. I started to see that all the energy he has is fueled by his passions. He has a heart for helping people. He seeks out those that may be overlooked by others, taking time to speak encouragement into their lives. He is a self-declared introvert which cracks me up. I swear he is about as introverted as I am. From time to time, he lets his eagerness get ahead of him. In those moments, I call him a dork, but I can't help but smile.
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Levi: Levi is a trainer at the gym. If I were ever to decide to get back to working with a trainer again, Levi would be my choice. Luckily for me, he also teaches the Power in Motion classes. He teaches early mornings, so I don't get to workout with him as often as I would like, so when I get the chance, I take it - no matter what. Today is a good example. I am running on almost no sleep. I get a call in the morning saying, "I have to go in early, you want to go to the gym?" I said, "Give me 10 minutes to get ready!" Levi is a bit of a goofball. Working out with him is more like playing with my brother. Don't get me wrong, it is still HARD work, but he has a way of making it fun. He pushes and talks trash, but instead of doing it loudly like some of the others, he just calmly comes along beside me and almost whispers it (which is sometimes bad since i'm half-deaf..lol). He looks me in the eye and truly cares about what I'm thinking and how I'm feeling.
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Now for the instructors:
Janae: I think if you look up the word sweet in the dictionary, somewhere you would find her picture. She is one of the BodyFlow instructors. After torturing myself all week, I like to take BodyFlow on Saturdays to stretch out my muscles. Janae has a gift for looking into a person's heart and seeing exactly where they are hurting and finding exactly the right words to bring healing to those hurts. What BodyFlow does for the body, Janae does for the spirit. A true gem.
Shawn: I take RPM with Shawn. What can I say about him?...hmmm. He is loud and at times obnoxious. He is a call you out in the middle of class and talk a lot of trash kinda instructor. He pushes hard and expects the people in his class to do the same. Behind all the vibrato is a heart that just wants to see people get better, and if he has to be the bad guy to get it done, he will be. Gotta love him!
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Now to other gym members:
Christi: Christi is a fellow gym rat. She is at the gym almost as much as I am. In fact, her health profile for work recently told her that she works out too much. I told her that mine said that I needed to drink more, so we may start skipping the gym and having a drink together. While we rarely take class together, we often see each other in the locker room, and we have a standing lunch date on Fridays. She and I have very similar senses of humor (poor woman), so we have a blast encouraging each other while making jokes (often about our own shared clumsiness) about the latest thing that has happened. She has become a dearly loved sister on this journey.
Luke: Luke is CRAZY. You know the type I'm talking about. Every gym has one. He is the one that is willing to try anything and everything to find the limits of what he is capable of. He has a degree in Exercise Science and is in the process of going for a PhD in Physical Therapy. He knows his stuff. One day he said, "So if I break you, I know how to fix you."- very reassuring...lol. I was honored one day when he asked me to join he and his friends in a workout. Little did I know where that would lead (this is one of the topics that will require it's own post). With Luke, I get the much needed variety that I was missing when Kevin left. I never know what he is going to have me try next. He has me doing things I never imagined doing, all the while working along side of me, treating me as a friend and an equal.
Scotty: I met Scotty through my workouts with Luke. Both of them are MUCH younger than I am and are in top shape. Scotty is in the trenches with me for the workouts that Luke comes up with. He is great encouragement to me. He seems to sense those moments when I am feeling like I can't go on, it is too hard, I can't keep up. In those moments, he looks at me and says, "yeah, I'm dying too." He lets me know I'm not alone. One day, he and I are going to stage a coupe. We outnumber Luke. It could happen.....
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Josh: When I first met Josh, I declared he was "over-hyper, over-happy" and wanted to grab him and give him a good shake. In time, he grew on me. I started to see that all the energy he has is fueled by his passions. He has a heart for helping people. He seeks out those that may be overlooked by others, taking time to speak encouragement into their lives. He is a self-declared introvert which cracks me up. I swear he is about as introverted as I am. From time to time, he lets his eagerness get ahead of him. In those moments, I call him a dork, but I can't help but smile.
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Levi: Levi is a trainer at the gym. If I were ever to decide to get back to working with a trainer again, Levi would be my choice. Luckily for me, he also teaches the Power in Motion classes. He teaches early mornings, so I don't get to workout with him as often as I would like, so when I get the chance, I take it - no matter what. Today is a good example. I am running on almost no sleep. I get a call in the morning saying, "I have to go in early, you want to go to the gym?" I said, "Give me 10 minutes to get ready!" Levi is a bit of a goofball. Working out with him is more like playing with my brother. Don't get me wrong, it is still HARD work, but he has a way of making it fun. He pushes and talks trash, but instead of doing it loudly like some of the others, he just calmly comes along beside me and almost whispers it (which is sometimes bad since i'm half-deaf..lol). He looks me in the eye and truly cares about what I'm thinking and how I'm feeling.
------------------------------------------
Now for the instructors:
Janae: I think if you look up the word sweet in the dictionary, somewhere you would find her picture. She is one of the BodyFlow instructors. After torturing myself all week, I like to take BodyFlow on Saturdays to stretch out my muscles. Janae has a gift for looking into a person's heart and seeing exactly where they are hurting and finding exactly the right words to bring healing to those hurts. What BodyFlow does for the body, Janae does for the spirit. A true gem.
Shawn: I take RPM with Shawn. What can I say about him?...hmmm. He is loud and at times obnoxious. He is a call you out in the middle of class and talk a lot of trash kinda instructor. He pushes hard and expects the people in his class to do the same. Behind all the vibrato is a heart that just wants to see people get better, and if he has to be the bad guy to get it done, he will be. Gotta love him!
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Now to other gym members:
Christi: Christi is a fellow gym rat. She is at the gym almost as much as I am. In fact, her health profile for work recently told her that she works out too much. I told her that mine said that I needed to drink more, so we may start skipping the gym and having a drink together. While we rarely take class together, we often see each other in the locker room, and we have a standing lunch date on Fridays. She and I have very similar senses of humor (poor woman), so we have a blast encouraging each other while making jokes (often about our own shared clumsiness) about the latest thing that has happened. She has become a dearly loved sister on this journey.
Luke: Luke is CRAZY. You know the type I'm talking about. Every gym has one. He is the one that is willing to try anything and everything to find the limits of what he is capable of. He has a degree in Exercise Science and is in the process of going for a PhD in Physical Therapy. He knows his stuff. One day he said, "So if I break you, I know how to fix you."- very reassuring...lol. I was honored one day when he asked me to join he and his friends in a workout. Little did I know where that would lead (this is one of the topics that will require it's own post). With Luke, I get the much needed variety that I was missing when Kevin left. I never know what he is going to have me try next. He has me doing things I never imagined doing, all the while working along side of me, treating me as a friend and an equal.
Scotty: I met Scotty through my workouts with Luke. Both of them are MUCH younger than I am and are in top shape. Scotty is in the trenches with me for the workouts that Luke comes up with. He is great encouragement to me. He seems to sense those moments when I am feeling like I can't go on, it is too hard, I can't keep up. In those moments, he looks at me and says, "yeah, I'm dying too." He lets me know I'm not alone. One day, he and I are going to stage a coupe. We outnumber Luke. It could happen.....
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