Barbell Training Session--I'm a Natural??

Last night I had another one-on-one barbell technique with my trainer; it went really well!! He seems to be really impressed with my progress.  He actually told me that I’m a fast learner and that I’m “a natural.”  That seems so surreal to me.   I've never been a natural at anything athletic.  I've been running for years, but even that has never been easy for me.  I've had to work and labor for step, each mile, and each race.  After I got home last night I was talking to my Aunt about her taper for her upcoming race and she’s all “Oh, I’m going to miss my long Sunday runs!”…and by long Sunday runs she means 20 miles or so.  I've just never been to that point.  In high school I sucked at sports—I was considered as un-athletic and uncoordinated as you can get.  But now…now here I am, being told I’m a natural at Olympic lifting.  Something that’s not common, and definitely not easy—I’m a natural at.  Yes, I have to work HARD—my form is by no means perfect and I can’t yet push a ton of weight.  But it feels so good to know that I’m actually good at this, and that I have the potential to really excel!  It’s incredibly nice to have a trainer that believes in his clients as much as mine does. He really wants everyone in his gym to succeed; and because of that, everyone is motivated to work that much harder. *I* am that much more motivated to work harder, to eat cleaner, and to push myself beyond anywhere I ever thought I could go.

I can’t wait to see what my future holds in terms of lifting and my personal fitness levels. I can’t wait to be able to deadlift or clean a stupid amount of weight. But wait I will. And while I’m waiting, I will put in the WORK to make my dreams come true! 

Trust the Process

Lately I’ve been struggling with frustration—I feel like I’m stuck, like I’m making no progress, like I’m actually going backwards in some areas instead of forwards.  I’ve been in the nutrition/fitness game long enough to know that results take time, but that doesn’t stop me from irrationally wanting them right now—and getting frustrated when I don’t get what I want.  We are a society of instant gratification, after all. 

Luckily, the universe seemed to know exactly what I needed. Both my inbox and Facebook feed have been flooded with posts about trusting the process, results taking time, etc. One trainer that I follow via email and Facebook (and hope to work with some day), Allison Moyer, sent out an email this morning stating that direction is more important than speed.  “Training + Nutrition + TIME = GOAL.”  Real results take real time—not one week, not two weeks, maybe not even six weeks. You can’t expect to get rid of weeks, months, or maybe even years of bad habits in a short period of time. You must stay focused, stay dedicated, and continue making baby steps towards your long term goals. As she put it, “Direction is more important than speed.”  So very true!

My trainer at Over-Achieve Fitness sent out an email this morning with the following quote: “If we just keep taking positive steps toward our goal (and refuse to be discouraged if these steps don’t produce immediate success), eventually the law of numbers will start working in our favor, and the outcome will be success." – Nick Murray” That was EXACTLY what I needed to read today. I cannot—I WILL NOT—let myself become discouraged.  No, I haven’t seen immediate success.   But that’s okay. I am making little bits of progress here and there—I’m starting to build some upper body strength/definition. My aerobic conditioning has improved.  I’m feeling more confident in my abilities.  Nothing huge or groundbreaking, but progress nonetheless. 

So, starting right now I will relax. I will quit analyzing my body.  I will work hard, train hard, and trust that I will get where I want to go.

Goals and Dreams: The Scarier the Better

Goals and dreams are an interesting thing.  They’re easy to set, hard to stick to, and even harder to attain.  I've set many, many goals in my life and I've achieved a lot of them—I've gotten a college education, landed a great job, lost a lot of weight and built a healthy body, just to name a few.  But in the scheme of things, none of these goals were particularly huge, or even really that hard to attain; a little bit of hard work reaped some great rewards.  And now here I sit with a goal in front of me that’s so huge it seems unattainable. It’s downright terrifying!  But you know what? I've also want it more than I've ever wanted anything else.  I want it so bad I can taste it. I’m willing to work harder than I ever have, to dig deep and push through, to sacrifice.  I want it so bad I can walk away from donuts at work (I freaking love donuts) and push through the millionth burpee my trainer is making us do on any given night.

I’m scared.  I’m scared of failing, but not trying is scarier than trying and failing. But I want it. I want it so bad I can taste it.  I’m hooked on the lifestyle and the idea; I’m hooked on the sweat and the hunger for the dream.  And that’s what it takes to succeed. You need to have hunger, you need to have dedication, and you need to have persistence. Look in the dictionary—dedication comes before persistence, which comes before success. You can’t have one without the other.

Dream big.  Work hard.  Visualize what you want and then go out and grab it.  No dream is too big, no goal is unattainable. As I've said before, small steps lead to huge victories.  Go get it!

Photo credit http://littlemisswife.com

Feel the burn...The After-burn, that is!

I am completely, totally, and thoroughly in love with my new gym.   Seriously, if you live in south-central Pennsylvania, Over-Achieve Fitness is the place to be.  The atmosphere here is a billion times better than any corporate gym (I’m looking at you Planet Fitness!) and the members work about three billion times harder.  I've worked out at a lot of different gyms and I've never seen the encouragement and camaraderie that exist at OAF, nor have I ever seen a group of people work harder than they do here.  Everyone truly just leaves their baggage at the door and gives it their all for the 1+ hour that we’re there.  And the owner/trainer Mike is completely fantastic.  His passion is beyond inspiring, and he really believes in his members and wants the best for them.  I won’t lie; I totally go all fan girl whenever he compliments me or tags me in a post on Facebook.  Last night he put a ‘Happy Birthday’ post on my wall and I was so excited that I saved a screenshot.

Last night’s workout was pretty brutal. I’m not sure that I've ever been that sweaty or out of breath. I burned 830 calories in the hour that I was there.  Because of a glorious thing called EPOC, I was over 1100 calories an hour later; by the time I took my HRM off to shower (about 1.5 hours after class), my calorie burn was almost 1250. Incredible!!  I thought about putting my HRM back on after my shower and sleeping with it just to see what the continued burn was, but I felt a bit silly doing that.

EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) is a pretty amazing thing.  Basically, working out at a high intensity forces your body to work harder to build its oxygen stores back up for a period of anywhere from 16-24 hours post-workout.  This means your body is continuing to work hard for that time period and continuing to burn calories. Eventually, high-intensity workouts will increase your body’s VO2 max, which is the body’s ability to use oxygen for energy.  This means better endurance and the ability to sustain more work for a longer period of time.  (Source)  I’m really hoping that this helps my running, since I have a half marathon coming up in roughly a month.  I feel obligated to note that you shouldn't do this kind of high intensity training daily; be sure to allow your body to recover. But don’t mistake recovery as an excuse to be a couch potato! Do yoga, stretch, or some light jogging to keep the circulation going and aid in releasing your tense muscles.  Now, enough internets.   Get out there and work!  Get those heart rates going.

“Small daily improvements are the key to staggering long-term results”

The Power of Positivity

Isn't it amazing how one negative comment can completely unravel you?  I was talking with my sister in law recently and she was telling me about how one of her best friends called her obsessed and told her she needs to just give up the whole diet/working out thing already.  She was absolutely crushed—she said she almost cried on the spot.  Luckily, she wants it bad enough and is strong enough in her own mind that she was able to put it aside and keep on truckin’.  But a year ago, that may have been enough to make her quit.  One simple statement could have completely stopped all of the hard work and progress she’s made. 

It is so incredibly important to surround yourself with positive, uplifting people—both in person and online. I've recently started unfollowing/unfriending people on Facebook and Twitter who are nothing but sources of stress and negativity.  Instead, my feed is filled with supportive friends and family and people in the fitness world.  Every day I can log onto social media and seek support and inspiration instead of negativity and its done wonders for my own attitude and outlook.  When I’m surrounded by positivity, it’s easier to be kinder to myself and others. It’s also easier to cheer others on and lift them up.  I’m genuinely happy for the success of others—it’s no longer a threat or a competition.  The only person I’m in competition with or strive to be better than is myself as I am today.

You have to believe you can do it, whatever “it” is.  You have to believe that you can run that distance, lift that weight, nail that public speaking engagement, land that job or promotion. You have to believe it, visualize it, and want it so bad that you can taste it. Only then will it happen! It may not happen right away…but it’ll happen.  One day you’ll wake up and see that all of those tiny steps, all of those struggles and hiccups and yes even failures, led to one giant, terrific, fantastic result!

Smile. Stay focused. Love yourself.  Cheer yourself on. Cheer others on.  You've got this!

“Strength doesn't come from what you CAN do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you COULDN'T.”  ~Unknown 

Down But Not Out

I've been quiet for a bit—over a week now!—but I haven’t lost sight of things.  I came down with a stomach virus on Saturday that had me knocked down until Tuesday.  It was pretty dang miserable!  It kept me out of the gym for four days, which made me even MORE miserable. I was getting quite twitchy!  But, I am recovered, so onward!

I started at a new gym this week: Over-Achieve Fitness in Chambersburg, PA.  It. Is. Incredible.  It’s not your typical gym; right now it’s just group fitness and personal training based. He eventually hopes to expand to be a full access facility. But the owner/trainer has equipment no one else in my area has—real lifting equipment.  Barbells, TRX systems, kettlebells, you name it he has it. Right now I’m just doing group classes; next month (once I get through my half marathon) I plan to start private training with him once a week.  Mike (the owner) is incredible. His passion is inspiring and contagious.  He truly loves what he does and really wants the best for his members/clients.  I cannot wait to start working with him one on one.  I have no illusions that it’ll be easy, but I’m 110% confident he’ll help me achieve both my short term and long term goals.

Wednesday night I went to a class called CRUSH.  It’s essentially the beginner level (though it’s still tough!) and is designed for fast, efficient weight/fat loss.  It was circuit training based.  Half the class focused on strength and then the second half was conditioning.  It was pretty much 45 seconds on 15 seconds off the entire time.  Let me tell you, I was crushed by the end of it!! I was a panting, sweaty mess but I felt like I was on top of the world!

Last night I got a bit more than I bargained for.  Thursdays at 530 is usually the Shredder class, which is much more advanced and is typically filled with fit/strong people and athletes.   It’s all strength work—a lot of barbell stuff.  Mike had to cancel the 630 CRUSH class last night, so he told us that if some of us wanted to come at 530 he’d have an alternate workout for us. Several ladies said they’d come and they talked me into it. Well, guess how many showed up? Me and me only!  Sooooo Mike decided that *everyone* was going to do the Shredder workout.  Oh my goodness. I was terrified!  But I did it.  It wasn't pretty, but I did it. My arms were so sore when I got home that I could barely get my sports bra off, but I did it.  It was nice to get an idea of what that class is like and what I want to work towards, but I will be the first to admit that its way beyond my current level. I need to stick to CRUSH, get rid of some body fat, strengthen my muscles, and then transition to that. But hey, everyone has to have goals right?!

I do have to say that the people in this gym are the most welcoming group of people I've ever met.  There don’t seem to be any of the cliques that come with normal gyms or workout crowds. In both classes everyone introduced themselves, cheered me on, high fived me at the end, and said they hope to see me at the next class.  In both classes someone took me under their wing and showed me the exercises and helped me through.   It’s just such an incredibly positive environment—even though I leave exhausted, I leave in a better mindset than when I got there.  And that, folks, is the power of positivity—which will be the topic of my next post. Stay tuned!