Week 2 2012

This week’s blog is all about breaking old mind sets and overcoming obstacles! I was given my treadmill & weight lifting workout this week by my “fairy godmother” trainer, Angela. Since I am “cardio queen” of the world I figured my cardio workout would be no sweat (boy was I wrong…LOL).

Then, on top of that, I had to make things more difficult on myself by running to get the phone at work and completely wiping out!! After assessing the damage I had a knee that was swollen AND bruised, a wrist bruised from almost the elbow down and a huge bruise on my shoulder (when I do things I do them RIGHT)! In the past this would have given me the perfect excuse to bow out of my workout for a while but after one night of ice and rest I taped up my battle scars and continued on. It wasnt easy but I did it! Its hard for me to say. bu for that I’m proud of myself!

Issue #2..as I glanced at my weight workout for the week I felt myself break into a cold sweat as old mindsets crept in. In the past whenever I lifted weights my number on the scale would never budge…did I feel better, stronger and look better?? ABSOLUTELY!!! But, tell that to someone who stepped on the scale 2 million times a day (yes, I know it’s an awful habit and believe me I’ve been warned to not do that). I’d always give up because of not seeing the scale budge; nothing like quitting 2 steps before success. Last but not least my diet is going well with the exception of drinking a gallon of water a day; I’m working on it, but it just seems so wrong when sweet tea is just sooooo yummy!!! (YES, ANGELA I KNOW!!)

I’ll finish this week with a quote from Frederick Douglass who said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress!”

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Well, we were really moving along, until last week Cheryl got in her own way, physically speaking, and had a major klutz moment at work which gave her some minor injuries. I immediately breathed a sigh of ‘relief’ knowing she wasn’t badly hurt, but given I had just given her lower and upper body weight workouts, I encouraged her to do the R.I.C.E first aid method as much as possible for her swelling to go down. For those of you who do not know what R.I.C.E means, it’s a very common first aid treatment for minor slips, trips and falls: Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate! Too often, people believe ‘no pain, no gain’ or ‘just feel the pain and get through it’–I NEVER prescribe that to anyone who’s recovering from an illness or injury, much less “newbies” to resistance training. Our bodies are fragile when healing and beating ourselves up to appear like a ‘tough guy’ is not smart. No amount of enthusiasm alone will heal an unhealthy body in the gym. That said, I know Cheryl didn’t load herself with heavy lifting, but she still pressed forward with her routines to the best of her ability.