Today, this is exactly how I feel! Whew!
I wanted to post a quick update between appointments to tell you about what torture Jimmy had in store for me today.
Since we didn’t workout last week (I cancelled two appointments because I was feeling under the weather), today was deemed “cardio day.” Ugh. What does cardio day mean, exactly? It means that my heart feels like it is literally going to come out of my chest. At one point it was beating so hard thaI could feel it in my brain. My pulse is racing just thinking about it.
We started out on the StairClimber. Oh, how I hate the StairClimber! It looks simple enough, just go up the steps, right? Well, in theory, yes. What one may not realize at first glance is just how high your heart rate will go, making it nearly impossible to breathe. At the same time, your butt and thighs will start to burn. Fun stuff, let me tell you. Jimmy put it on Level 5 (seriously, this guy must have a lot of confidence in me, cuz I would’ve started it at 1) and told me that I was going to do it for 10 minutes. Well, after 3 minutes on it, I was huffing and puffing so much that I could’ve blown all your houses down, and I think he realized that I wasn’t quite at the level he thought I was. He told me to do 6 minutes, which I did, but towards the end I think I actually left my body and went into another realm. Otherwise, I seriously don’t know how I made it. Whew!
Jimmy told me that he’d like me to push myself to continue on that machine, a little bit at a time. He said that I could move it down to level 4 and try to do it for at least 6-10 minutes each time. I told him I would, and I know that the more I do it, the less torturous it will become. At least I hope so.
Next we did some work with the heavy ball. He had me raise it over my head and bounce in right next to me, then make a circle with it in my hands, and again lifting it up over my head and bouncing it. We did 20 reps on each side. This may not sound like a lot, but that ball is heavy, and it takes a good amount of control to keep it bouncing vertically and not have it veer off (as it did the first few times I threw it). Plus, going overhead like that really gets the heart rate up. It was fun, though.
Next we did some boxing moves that I love. With 5 lb weights in each hand I did some cross-body punches where I swiveled my foot as I moved my arm. This really makes the shoulders burn! (2 sets of 30 reps). Next we did more boxing where I was holding the 5 lb weights and punching directly in front of me, fast. (2 sets of 20 reps). I love these boxing moves, and it really makes me want to take the Shadowboxing class that they offer, because I think I’d enjoy it. I’ll have to look it up and see when that class is offered.
Next up was a boot camp-esque set up that was almost as bad as the StairClimber. Jimmy strapped resistance bands on both of my ankles (they had a cord between them, so it was as if I had on ankle shackles). I was to run in place (”Get those knees higher, Bella!!”) for 1 minute, then shuffle across the room and then do 20 jumping jacks. It sounds a lot easier than it was. Those jumping jacks nearly killed me, especially with the resistance band on my ankles. I was supposed to shuffle back to where I started and do the whole thing over again, but I was so out of breath after the jumping jacks that I had to take a breather and some water every time. I did this segment 5 times. Whew!
Next we went down on the floor. I still had the resistance bands on, and I had to do crunches where I had the ball between my knees, my hands under my butt, and lift my knees to my chest and then tap my toes on the floor. (2 sets of 30). The hardest part of these was keeping that darn ball between my knees.
Finally, I did cross-cuts. The resistance band was wrapped around a pole and I took it in both hands, together, and then lifted from my hip on the left side over my head on the right side, while swiveling the left foot. The movement sort of looks like swinging a bat or starting a gas-powered mower. I did 2 sets of 30 of these.
I was so tired and worn out after the workout, but I burned over 450 calories in 45 minutes (I think Jimmy took pity on me and only had me do 45 minutes, because he could probably tell how hard it was for me towards the end). When I look back at what I just wrote, I am so proud of myself for doing all of that. It was tough, yes, but I did it, and I know that the next time we have a dreaded “cardio day,” I’ll be able to do even more.
In other news…
When I asked Jimmy about the measurements this week, he said he wants to wait for next week, since I missed last week. Bummer. But that means that I’ll have even better results!
Also, I jumped on the scale this morning and was thrilled by what I saw. Now to hold you in suspense for a minute longer, I should say that I had gained 2 pounds when I weighed in at home last Thursday, but I didn’t count it as an “official” weigh-in, since I didn’t do it at a WW meeting. Even though my scale is a very expensive WW scale made by Conair, it is still off from the WW meeting scale. Today when I got on the home scale, I had already had a Green Monster Smoothie, and I normally weigh in without anything in my system. Anyway, when I got on today, it showed that I had lost 4.8 pounds! Now, before you get too excited and start congratulating me, I am not going to get my hopes up until I see a similar result at the WW weigh-in. Although, I know that this week’s weigh-in at WW is going to be skewed because I’ll be weighing in at 6:30pm, rather than my normal non-eating 9am. Still, within a week, the results should show up accurately. But if I can just give myself a moment to indulge in a bit of excitement about this weight loss (if it’s accurate), that means that I lost almost 5 pounds in one week. Could this be true? Is the Wellbutrin finally out of my system? Are the workouts finally paying off? Oh, I hope so!!
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Ok, so enough writing for one day. I need to get ready to go to the dentist, then clean up a bit around here, and then go to the Aqua class later tonight. Today is a great day!
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