What a week!

Wow! Has it really been a week since I last blogged... time sure has scampered by! I guess that is what happens WHEN YOU WORK OUT 4X IN ONE WEEK!! :D

So, for the first time in about 15 years I have worked out 4 days in a row! I am very pleased about that. Monday was Latin Dance + Stretch and Relax, Tuesday was Water Fitness, Wednesday was BOSU Blast, and yesterday was Water Fitness. Today is a down day as I will be traveling to San Antonio for a friend's wedding. I have a feeling there will be some reception-dancing-as-cardio tomorrow night! :D I just have to say a word (or 140) about Wednesday's class. BOSU is described as:

• Take strength training to the next level with this total body workout using the BOSU balance trainer, a multidimensional training device that integrates core training, sports training and balance training. Come bounce and sweat in this fun new type of workout.

It was AWESOME! Led by Rafaela, the wonder instructor, BOSU was the butt-kickingest class ever. There was cardio, there was strength training, there was stretching. There was Mylynka sweating like never before and experiencing muscle failure for the first time since the Army (1994). I had some difficulty getting onto the BOSU at first, mainly because it is hard to stand on this:

But, Rafaela, TWI, leads class in such a way that all fitness levels can participate. We did all kinds of cardio then used weights to strengthen our back & arms. There was a time, during one of the triceps exercise (the one where you have the weight in your hands and you arms extended over your head and you lower the weight behind your head & back up), that I thought "NOOOOOO!" when she said "ok, give me 8 more.. and 7... and 6... and 5" .

Something cool happened to me, though, in the BOSU Blast class that I didn't expect. When I got to a point (during the push-ups) where I thought I couldn't go on a voice inside of me said "Keep going, you WANT this." I was so tired and so sweaty and my arms were shaking and I just pushed past it (pun unintentional) to do 4 more modified push-ups. I DO want it!

I DID those last 8 triceps ones & I felt so proud of myself and so happy to have made it all the way through without quitting!

YAY!

Exercise Slump

This is just a quick one to document the fact that I have missed the gym 2 days in a row. This bears documenting because I actually feel bad about it! For the first time in my 38yrs, I feel bad about missing exercise! That, at least, is good.

Wednesday I completely over-scheduled my afternoon with professor meetings and student organization stuff and failed to book in any cushion time. Needless to say EVERYTHING ran over by at least 30-minutes and I didn't even get to pick up Lupe until nearly 5pm, completely missing my 4:30 Group Strength class (and standing up my new workout buddy, Liz. - I did text her so she wasn't completely stood up.) and then late for dinner & a movie w/friends.

Yesterday I opted not to keep the car because I didn't have any errands to run or meetings to attend. Well, Lupe ended up working a 12-hr day because a simulator was down and they couldn't get it running until today! So he didn't even get home until after 7pm, so no water fitness. :(

I need to dig out my belly dance fitness DVDs & hook the WiiFit back up so that I will have a back-up plan for these kinds of unexpected gym absences.

I don't want this 2-day slump turn into the "never go back to exercise" thing that has happened often in the past.

On a good note, I have my comprehensive exam fields set and will blog about that later. Now, I have a baby shower to prep for!

Win-Win

Today's fitness class (which I am trying for the very first time at 4:30pm CST) is Group Strength - A full body integrated resistance training class designed to improve functional strength, coordination and balance using free weights, barbells, CorePoles, BOSU trainers, stability balls and more.

I CAN'T WAIT! I cannot believe I am this excited about exercising. I hope the excitement doesn't fade!

I am so glad the universe saw fit to reduce us to one vehicle and also cause a power outage at our home that Thursday a few weeks back forcing me to the gym where I met Rafaela, the wonder instructor, who has made me see that I don't have to be 20 and skinny to join in the exercise classes! I am also glad that my husband is going to the gym, too. We only have 1 running car so when I pick him up from work we go directly to the gym Mon-Thurs. It is really a win-win!

Ok, I am off to pack our gym bags (yes at 10:30am) as I have a full day scheduled with meetings with 2 professors about my comprehensive exams and dissertation topic, a lunch date, a meeting with the new THSO president to hand over the rest of the duties to her, husband pick-up, 4:30 exercise class, 6:15 dinner at Chuy's with friends followed by an 8:10pm showing of the latest Resident Evil movie in 3D on the IMAX... whew, I am already tired!

TIME FOR MORE COFFEEEEH!

Post-work out recap

Hello!

So, yea, my previous post with the over enthusiastic exercise schedule is kinda silly. What can I say I got excited. I realize (with the help of your comments) that i need to relax, ease on into the classes, and not set such a rigid schedule or I run the risk of quitting. So thanks for keeping me on the right path lovely readers! :D

That said, let me now regale you with the tales of triumph from yesterday!! HUZZAH!

My plan was to pick Lupe up from work and head to the gym for the 4:30 Ultimate Conditioning Class. We got there at 4pm & Lupe headed up to the machines to start his workout. I saw Rafaela, my wonder instructor, and she told me she wasn't teaching that one. I thought I would go anyway & she checked her instructor's schedule to see who was leading it... Turns out the guy who leads it is "really tough." She suggested I take the 5pm Latin Dance class with Charlotte instead. She assured me I would like it and be able to work at my own level (unlike Ultimate Conditioning - duh!) I KNOW I am not at the Ultimate stage yet. Her Stretch & Relax class was immediately after the Latin Dance, so she encouraged me to come to that to get a good post-workout stretch before going home.

SO, what to do for the approximate 30mins?? Well, I am no fan of the old treadmill, so opted to walk the indoor track at the Mavericks Activity Center (MAC). I figured a 30 min walk would be a good way to kill time, instead of sitting on the available computers & checking e-mail/Facebook. Nine laps equal 1 mile. I didn't count laps, but walked a full 30 mins. it was a nice way to warm-up before the cardio.

Speaking of... WOWZA! Latin Dance with Charlotte was HOT! And by that I mean the dance moves were sexy, the music was pumping, and I was a hot, sweaty mess! It was SO FUN! It totally kicked my butt & all my other parts, but it was fantastic! Of course going in I was worried that it would be all Dance majors and other fit-types, so imagine my extreme pleasure when I walked in and it was a hodge-podge of people. There were the young, the older, the black, the white, the Hispanic, and the Asian... fit, fat, and varying stages of in-between. Even Dean Wright was in my class (she is the dean of the College of Liberal Arts)! And Charlotte... she was great! She told everyone not to worry if they were not in step or were going the opposite direction of the class. The important thing was to keep moving & get your heart-rate up! I LOVED THAT!

And that is what I did. I am no fancy dancer. I am not good at the steps, combos, etc. So I just kept going, jogging or marching in place, or doing some variation of the steps so I was working it! I sweated myself out to the Black Eyed Peas, conga-ed to Gloria Estefan, got my groove on to Michael Jackson, and salsa-ed and kick-boxed, too. And after the class she came over & introduced herself, told me I did a "great job back there," (classic fat-girl position is at the farthest point back in the class) and said she would see me next week. She didn't ask me if I was returning, she told me I was coming back. I kinda liked that!

I followed up with a really nice 20-minute stretching class which was exactly what I needed after shaking my bon-bon for 50 minutes! Lupe was waiting for me when I was done and we went to a local Vietnamese sandwich shop for a yummy & pretty healthy grilled chicken and veggie sandwich and some strawberry boba tea. A great way to finish up.

I am really looking forward to tonight's Water Fitness class and Wednesday's Group Strength (lead by Rafaela). I will let you know how it goes.

My projected workout plan

So, I have been looking over the UTA Group Exercise Schedule and have decided that I have both the time & the desire for 2 workouts a day on some days. I remember ages ago that that is what Oprah did when she lost all her weight. If this can work for the Mighty O, mayhap it can work for me. This is my plan, tell me if this is good, bad, or ridiculous. I also know my limits, so I am keeping that in mind. I just am ready to not be obese. I have planned out a mix of aerobic exercise, strength training, and walking, with a down day on the weekend.

Monday: Kickboxing (12-12:50pm) then Jump & Crunch (5:30 - 5:55pm) followed by a 20-minute Stretch & Relax class.

Tuesday: Walking in the morning & Water Fitness at 5pm

Wednesday: Walking in the morning & Group Strength (4:30 - 5:20pm)

Thursday: Walking in the morning & Water Fitness at 5pm

Friday: Morning Yoga

Saturdays: Off

Sunday: Walking and maybe Group Strength and/or Yoga

What a breakthrough can do.

Howdy & good morning!

So, after completing a successful week and a half of water fitness I am so excited about exercise. And GET THIS: I am going to try other classes. I found out that Rafaela, my incredibly awesome Thursday night instructor, leads a lot more fitness classes at the campus gym. Sooooooo.... I spoke to her last night and asked about the classes. My inner comparison queen had questions that were keeping me from attending. Questions like "Is the class all fit 20-yr olds in spandex?" and "Will I be the only fat person in there?".

Come to find out none of the above is true!! The classes are a hodge-podge of the un-fit & fit. My inner comparison queen/ mean girl sulked off in a huff. HA!

AND

Rafaela, who I really like as an instructor, teaches the very classes I am interested in and told me she gives all kinds of modifications for all levels of fitness. So I have looked at the class schedule and it looks like in addition to Water Fitness I will be embarking into BOSU Blast, Kickboxing, Jump & Crunch, Stretch & Relax, & Morning Yoga next week! You can see the class descriptions HERE if you like.

I can't believe I am SO excited about this! I am really looking forward to it. I didn't go to the classes previously because I was afraid of being the only uncoordinated fat person in there... come to find out there are a lot of body types in there (according to Rafaela). I am no longer letting my fear of being gawked at/laughed at get in my way. I mean I am going so that I can be healthier, if someone wants to ridicule me for that then they are missing the point. Besides, I have noticed that the only one who cares is me... and I am changing that daily!

YAY ME!

InnerMeanGirl you don't win - NOT TODAY!

So some of you know that I am doing the 40 day Inner Mean Girl Cleanse, well this week's challenge is to give up Comparison. You know, comparing yourself to others, comparing yourself to your old self, etc. Last week's challenge of giving up gossip was a piece of cake compared to this one. My IMG is the QUEEN of Comparison. Oh man is she good. I can remember from way back that she would rear her head to point out that I was the only redhead in class, then as I got older she would look around the room and point out that I was the fattest one in the class etc. It is something that has been a constant and I never realized how powerful she was.

Well today, today was the mother-load! The day started off with no sleep (Lupe wasn't feeling well and we were both up most of the night) and then our power was out. No power meant no coffee, no internet, no A/C. No doing the things I wanted to get done today. So after a time we packed up the laptops, pumped Lupe full of decongestants & allergy meds and headed to the Coffee Haus for food, coffee, and the internet. Caffeination and feeding accomplished we headed home to see if we had power... we did not.

I decided that the Universe was forcing me to go to the campus and get to the Water Fitness class I have been putting off. My honey, feeling a lot better for having rested & medicated, went with for moral support and got a spousal membership, too. He wandered off across campus to get his gym ID and I went to the pool.

MEAN GIRL ALERT!

Who was at the pool? Like 100 Army ROTC kids all doing some sort of water survival PT... DOUBLE WHAMMY! Here. At. The. Pool. 100 young & fit people. Inner Mean Comparison Queen was having a grand ol' time. Not only was I bemoaning (in my head) the fact that 100 fit people were at the pool and I was supposed to go put on my skirted (ugh), size 3x (triple ugh) suit, BUT I had been in the Army! I was a young, fit, Army of One at one point in my life and look at me now. FAT! FAT! FAT! It was all too much to bear. I left the pool almost hyperventilating. I went outside, I had 30 mins before my class... I could figure something out. No phone, as I had left it in the car to charge, so no distraction... hmmm what to do. I watched the Army kids come in & out of the building, Sr. ones barking at the Jr. ones, two guys on hallway mop duty hollering at the others to "stay on the carpeting!" and the random "HUA!" as people did well.

I had to face my fears. I had to go in. I had 15 minutes to get in my suit and get to the pool. Straggler female cadets were changing while one yelled at them to MOVE IT! I circled around the changing cubicles the anxiety building up in my chest until I thought I might pass out. I finally went into one at the very back, facing the back wall and sat my bag down. I pulled the little plastic curtain closed and faced the wall. And I cried. I SOBBED. I put my arm out onto the wall for support and cried silently in that busy changing room. I was so upset at everything. How had I come to this point? I weigh 275 pounds & now I have to stuff my fat ass into a skirted, fat lady swimsuit and waddle down the hall full of fit Army cadets to the pool. How am I going to survive??

And then it happened. My inner whoever said, "Suck it up Kilgore! Shut the FUCK up with all this goddamned whining and crying and get your ass in that swimsuit. You can cry in this stall for an hour or you can put on that suit, walk down that hall, and go to that class. You make the decision RIGHT NOW to do something about your situation or you never will!" And that was it. I took off my t-shirt, I wiped my face off and I put on my swimsuit, and the cute matching flip-flops. I grabbed my cute matching towel, threw on my cover-up, grabbed my bag of clothes, took a REALLY DEEP BREATH and went to the pool. And you know what?

IT WAS AWESOME!!

No one looked at me funny in the hall, no one made a comment, no one gave me a second look. NO ONE CARED! HA! There were no hot babes in the class to compare myself to... double HA! There was 1 old guy, 1 older lady, and the big-boned instructor! That was it! And they were so welcoming and the gals loved my suit and that my toe polish matched. We hopped in the pool and 50 minutes flew by! We ran, we jumped, we did arms and legs and abs, we did push-ups, we did stretching and I had so much fun and I couldn't believe I was so worried about it! Maybe it was the exercise endorphins, maybe it was kicking my Inner Mean Girl square in the taco, or maybe it was finally owning who I am, but I walked from the pool building back to the gym to meet Lupe in my swimsuit & cover-up and I didn't care who saw me. I actually ran into someone I know and wasn't even mortified.

I WAS TRIUMPHANT! And I am so ready for Tuesday's class! I think I will WiiFit tomorrow because I can't wait to work out! I want to exercise! I want to make a healthy change! I want to live my life! YAY!

Now, I am going to bed because I am TIE-ERD! :D