Monday, April 4, 2011

Boxing Gloves, Biceps and Asthma ~ Weeks 3 and 4 The Gym

Week 3 Day 1

I wake up with my sinuses pounding.  I have already been on antibiotics for two days and I look at the prescription bottle and realize I’ll be on them for another week. Sigh.  I grab the bottle of Afrin and snort it.  Maybe it’ll keep my head clear for my training.
I’m actually looking forward to training with Kimberly again, but I’m nervous at the same time because I know it is going to be hard work, really hard work, and all I can think about is the block of bricks that is pressing against my cheeks and my teeth when I chew.  Yet I manage to get my No-Fun Diet oatmeal down.

Later, I walk into the gym and see Kimberly.  She walks up to me eager to get the training started.

“What did we work on last time?” She asks.  I kick out my leg and do a squat instead of conversing.  She walks over to a rack with boxing gloves.  “They might be moist inside.”  She says throwing a pair of red ones at my feet.

Well, shit…

“I have a sinus infection.” I offer up this information like it’ll make her go easy on me.  And as usual she tells me if I feel like I am just not into the right frame of mind to train today, then we can skip it.  But I ALWAYS take that as a challenge.

I pick up the gloves; they’re taunting me, daring me to put them on and to begin the workout.  After all, that’s why I was there.  Dreading any kind of cold, dampness I slip one on and then the other.  Yep.  Wet.  It’s like water that was left in sponge yet to be wrung out. 

“Ewww.” I say…Kimberly doesn’t like complainers, but she laughs and hands me a different pair.  Pink ones which were dry.

I’ve never worn boxing gloves before.  It’s so funny how they transform you.  My husband and I had just watched ‘The Fighter’ the night before, and I immediately felt empowered like Rocky.

“Do I get to hit you?” I asked, my mood surprisingly lifting.

She looks at me like she was surprised I would actually consider it.  After all the last time I trained with her she told me she was going to try to make me puke. And I came close, real close.

She puts on pads and begins teaching me how to throw cross punches.  Swing with my whole body.  Keep my hands up.  Thumbs on the side.  I like it.

“O.K,” she says, “we’re going to do 10 cross punches, side shuffle to the cone, side shuffle back and then ten more cross punches.”

I do it, and after the last ten, she makes me do it 8 more times.  Then, 10 burpees.  Then 4 cross punches with 10 reverse lunges, and finally 10 jump squats.  This is with no break in between exercises.  This is considered a circuit.  

Burpees


Jump Squats



I’m sweating.  I’m breathing….heavy, pacing around the room.  They say to stay moving.  After about a minute, when I’m starting to think that maybe my breathing is getting back to normal she says…”O.k., again.”

We repeat it, then again for a third time. We then move on to a second circuit of exercises, and then a third.  My whole training that day lasted 35 minutes. 

“You’re done.” Kimberly says, patting me on the back.

I leave feeling a great big sense of accomplishment.  But we were both concerned about my breathing.

Week 4 day 1

My sinuses are better.  But I went to the doctor, took a test.  I have exercise-induced asthma.  It never occurred to me.  I never liked gym class because I couldn’t keep up.  I thought EVERYONE felt like this when they exercised.  So I skipped P.E. a lot in high school and was probably deemed a slacker or a troublemaker. Ha. In your FACE.  Not that I think having asthma is cool.

It also makes me think about how this last year training at the gym, I saw new people come to bootcamp, and then pass me in training ability.  I was always stuck were I was, never moving forward.  It was very frustrating, and asthma makes sense.

After telling Kimberly about my new found knowledge on how my cool new inhaler works, we get started on an upper body circuit.  She hands me two dumbbells and has me sit on an incline bench.  She tells me to just let my arms go limp.  It’s awkward having your arms hang behind you. 

“O.k., curls.”  She says.  It’s so awkward.  It’s not like holding a barbell with both hands and doing bicep curls, or even standing straight with dumbbells.  I’m literally lying back at a 40% angle and expected to do a curl.  The weights are so heavy I know it’s going to be a challenge.  I brace myself, dig my heels into the floor and push my butt back into the seat. Clenching my teeth, I give it my all.  Nothing.

I’m so bummed because 5 months ago, this would’ve been a breeze.

After decreasing the weight…twice...Kimberly says, “Really?  Marcy, I’m bored! You are literally boring me!”  It’s the drill sergeant coming out.  I start laughing, but at the same time I’m upset because I really WANT to be able to do this.  It’s bad enough that I skipped the gym on the days I wasn’t training with Kimberly to try to rest my body and heal my sinus infection.  But to have to curl HALF the weight in my left arm than in my right?  It was embarrassing.  Luckily I have the ability to poke fun at myself.  I knew she was just kidding.

Week 4 day 2

“Did you weigh yourself today?”  Kimberly asks me.  I was dreading answering.  I’m only supposed to weigh myself once a week on Fridays.  I had stepped on the scale and lost .2 lbs.  Now, I’m the first one to know that it takes muscle to lose fat.  Muscle burns fat.  There are those out there that say the fat weighs more than muscle.  They tell themselves that to make themselves feel better about not losing or even gaining weight.  The plain truth is that 5lbs equals 5 lbs.  Muscle is just denser, more compact than fat.  So when I step on the scale and nothing has changed, in my mind I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing.  But the truth is, is that muscle is just replacing fat.  I have to re-train my brain…again.

“.2 pounds.” I say.  I try not to sound disappointed.  I feel bad. Almost as bad as the time I told my daughter that dragons eat princesses.  She didn’t believe me.

Kimberly starts explaining, “Marcy, most people have a layer of fat over their lean muscle.  So I can just pump up cardio, and trim the fat to reveal the muscle underneath.  Unfortunately, you don’t have that much muscle, and you have no fat covering it.  So it’s not going to be as easy as just running cardio and burning calories.  We have to actually build your muscle up.”

God I love people who know what they’re talking about.  I also love weight training, so this sounds like a great plan to me.

We also discuss my diet.  I’m put back on a carb-cycle diet, but it’s not as long of a wait in between carb and no carb eating.  I switch it up more frequent.  We learned last year that my body responds most to more frequent changes in diet.

We talk about my asthma and I realize that it the inhaler is helping, but it’s not as much as I would like.  So I’m going to try to get a stronger medication.

“O.k.”  she says, “we’re doing legs today.”

She starts me on a circuit holding 10 lb dumbbells in each hand.  She shows me what to do, 10 lunges with the right leg, 10 reverse lunges with the left, 10 side lunges with the right and 10 backward crossover lunges with the left.  I start the circuit.

“Push through your heel.”  She says.  I wiggle my toes to let the pressure up and I immediately feel the burn through my butt.  It’s a good burn.  I start to think of all the toned butts I see in all my fitness magazines, and I wish the fat away.  I’m also going to need a tan. I think to myself.

I start the backward lunges.  I never knew that holding dumbells while doing lunges could ad so much effort.  My thigh screams.  I start to feel a trickle of sweat down my temple.

I finish the circuit and stand.  I shake my legs out trying to get rid the burn and the stabbing in my muscles.  I hate leg days.  The shakiness that my legs feel always reminds me that I just have two sticks for legs.  But I love it.  I keep coming back for more, and Kimberly always makes me feel good about myself every time I finish a workout.  I walk around trying to slow down my breathing.  What’s next? I wonder.  Incline press? Leg extensions?  I’m dying to sit down, to relieve the burning and tearing in my butt that keeps me walking funny.

Kimberly looks at me, “Two more sets.”

Well, shit.


Kimberly Elliot is currently running a special.  Buy 10 sessions and get two for free.
Contact her at alphaelite@hotmail.com, or follow her on twitter.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a free custom bracelet!

18 comments:

  1. Good luck and feel better! I'm following from the Blog Hop. Come visit me back!

    Michelle @ Things Sent My Way

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  2. Good for you for sticking with it! I was always congested for a while and it made it soo hard to work out.
    When I was little I used to hate running so much that I wished I had asthma. Now I'm glad I never got it as I'm starting to run

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  3. Wow...good for you for still exercising even though you weren't feeling 100% -- sinus infections keep me in bed, so you're a stronger woman than I am!

    Found your blog link on the Pay It Forward blog hop -- I'm a new follower :)

    www.theyallcallmemom.com

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  4. It sounds like you are doing just fine! Don't be too hard on yourself :)

    Stopping by from the Alexa hop! www.mooseandtater.com

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  5. Hi - I'm a new GFC follower from the hop - would love a follow back visit at Mom Always Finds Out when you get the chance. Thanks!

    Nicole
    http://momalwaysfindsout.com

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  6. O dear! Get Well Soon. Returning your follow.

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  7. Congrats for getting through it. Your trainer sounds tough and good. That stinks about your asthma but great to know. Now following you from the UBP. Good luck with your training. http://tvstake.blogspot.com

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  8. I'm returning the follow. Hope you feel better but it sounds like you're accomplishing a lot!

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  9. Am blog hopping and found yours. Just reading about the training was making me tired! I'm now following your blog. Would love for you to check out my blog and follow back!

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  10. Hello, new follower from Tuesday HOP. Please stop by my blog to see what freebies and coupons you can find.

    Cecelia~moneysavvymama.com

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  11. Hey, I'm here from the Tuesday Hop.

    It been the same for me to these past few weeks so I feel for you. The whole fam was sick and I was trying to start a new diet and exercise regimen.

    Hope you can take a minute to pop by my blog!
    Ry @ http://differentbreed-lifeintheslowlane.blogspot.com

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  12. Feel better. Good luck and have fun. My sister and her husband own a gym (boxing/fighting). She loves it. If I had the money and a place near me, I would love to do this.

    I am following you from the blog hop, I hope you'll follow me :) @ www.LetsStartSavingNow.com

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  13. your trainer sounds great and hope you get to feeling all better soon :) Way to stick with it!!!

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  14. I am your newest follower! :) I have a husky too! :) Love your blog! :) Erin

    www.healthybranscoms.com

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  15. You write like you are writing a novel. The guy doing the burpees and squat jump did them with more energy then I ever have. Seriously looked like he had springs in those shoes.

    Anyways, the workout sounds great. I am following from the blog hops and think I will look around your site a bit more and see if I can find the origin of these goals.

    Love reading about your workouts. It is inspiring. My husband is a personal trainer, but I don't share your love of weight training. I was in sports, gymnastics or dance my entire life until College and just can't get excited about lifting weights. I too want that awesome toned butt though. :)

    Follow back at http://jothome.blogspot.com

    Happy Wednesday!

    ~ Francine

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  16. Wow! I got tired just thinking about it! Keep up the good work!!

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  17. Hi!!! I'm stopping by and following from Catch A Wave Wednesday. I hope you'll check out my blog Frazzled Mama at http://frazzled-mama.com and follow me back. Have a great day.

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  18. I am a new follower and would love if you could stop by my blog when you get the chance!

    http://mehimandthecats.blogspot.com/

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Thank you so much for leaving your comments! I love reading all of them!

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