Aviendah’s BodyBlog

Haven’t been at the gym in a few days…

15 minutes bike @ level 4

15 minutes run 1.5 miles (10 min pace)

2 x 8 w/15lbs chest press

2 x 8 w/10lbs shoulder raise

2 x 20 w/ 6lbs ball behind the back tri-raises

2 x 8 w/ 25lbs fly

2 x 8 w/25lbs shoulder press

2 x 8 w/10lbs tri kickbacks

Eh. Feeling rather inadequate, and rather insecure.

…..

Wooooey, where have I been the last month!  Well, tonsillectomy went well, I ended up losing five pounds so I guess we can consider that a nice little cutting session.  Unfortunately, my body’s been revolting against my inability to eat for the previous 2 weeks and has spent the last 7 days gorging itself on anything and everything.  I just have to eat the hardest, crunchiest foods because I’ve been deprived of them for so long. 

Which brings me to my gym hunt yesterday.  There are two major commercial gyms in the area, Planet Fitness and Golds.  I’ve never signed up at a commercial gym, so I was going to base my decision between the two on customer service.  Who wants me more?  So I go into Golds first because my man goes there and he really enjoys himself.  I had to sign up!  They were great, and the facility is just so much better than Planet Fitness.  I coughed up the moolah and signed up. 

Today I’m working 9-3 then at my other job from 6-10:30, so I’m hoping to fit gym time in there because I really can’t wait to get started again!!  Traffic and other delays may prevent me but I’m going to try…

I think I’ll start with some easy cardio to ease back into it.  Went to the MD for a follow up yesterday and apparently I’m only 85% healed, but I can’t wait any longer.  Note to self, I need to upload some pics, my Jegs picture is so old!

So I’ve been doing p90x for about 5 weeks now and honestly, I miss the gym.  I miss the atmosphere, I miss going at my own pace, I miss doing what I want.  I’m really losing motivation for it.  It might be because I feel like I’m not doing enough cardio.  I also feel restricted working out in just one space, and I like being able to go back and forth between rooms doing cardio and lifting.  I don’t want to give up because once I start something, I got to finish it.  Maybe I’ll join the gym anyways and just do double sessions.  Then I can make guiltlessly sweet emotional loving to a Friendly’s sundae.
But really, I miss you, Gym.  And I may beg you to take me back.

I think there could be a whole class taught on appearance and psychological well-being–maybe there already is.  In any case, how is it that one achieves total satisfaction with their body?  Some bigger people are completely content having a beer belly.  Others strive to lose minuscule amounts of fat that make them feel like a whale.  Do you achieve this when you get acceptance from others?  I don’t believe this is the case, because if it was, more people would feel more satisfied, girls would feel prettier all the time because people tell them so.  So it must be some internal fixing of the mind that allows you to look in the mirror and accept imperfections as beautiful, and go about your day very much in love with your own body.

I was prompted to word-vomit this because I’ve noticed a change in a small area of my personality.  I have been doing the p90x for about a month.  I have not lost any weight, not that I wanted to lose that much, but before, I was generally satisfied overall with my appearance.  I’ve always been healthy, fluctuated year to year in my body fat percentage, but I was always happy with it.

Now, every time I sit down and see fat on my tummy I think, wow, I must have put on some belly fat.  This wouldn’t make any sense as I’m working out so much, and my weight remains stable, so I think it’s a psychological thing.  Perhaps I’m working out so much and going on bb.com so much where the abs defy nature that I’m so much more aware of my imperfections.  I have time for them now.

Maybe there is always a level of dissatisfaction innate in humans, and maybe those that are 50 lbs overweight see it to the same extent as people who are fit.  Comparing myself to bigger people and seeing hard work pay off is all well and good, but I think looking in the mirror and seeing hard work pay off is more important.  Or, I just have too much time on my hands.
Ok, going to do Core Synergistics now Have a great day!

So today was a rather busy day, and this morning I had about an hour before I had to leave for class.  The result? An hour workout on an empty stomach–my worst nightmare considering my love affair with breakfast.  It reminded me of an analogy one of my professors (who was in love with carbohydrates as an energy source) taught us in my energy metabolism class, and here it is.

Your body runs on gumballs.  Your first way to get some gumballs is through your creatine/ATP stores, which come in the form of quarters.  So easy to pop those quarters into the machine and get some quick gumballs–unfortunately those quarters run out fast, because nobody carries around rolls of quarters in their pocket.

Next up is your carbohydrate stores, which when you wake up in the A.M. are pretty much depleted.  CHO stores are like your dollar bills, which you have to trade in for some quarters, but no big, pretty easy to get those gumballs, and the most economical, lasting fuel source for a good workout.  This morning, I wish I had some dollar bills.
What if, like me this morning, you’re out of dollar bills?  Next up, its fats, which are like your hundred dollar bills.  Holy mackeral you can get a LOT of gumballs from your hundos, but it takes a while to get to the bank and cash those in for quarters so you can get your gumballs, so contrary to popular belief, your body doesn’t benefit from working out on an empty stomach.
Because cashing in some hundos in the form of fat takes so long, you whip out your credit card, also known as your protein stores.  Now that’s some diesel, pretty fast money right there to get your gumballs.  Problem is, you better pay back that debt in the form of some extra protein or you’ll be hurting your credit (protein) for later.  This sounds like me this morning, who was feeling like a mack truck hit me after working out for an hour.

Moral of the story?  Note to self: don’t work out on an empty stomach, because in the end, you really need those dollar bills to get those gumballs. Needless to say, my numbers for my legs and back workout today really sucked it.

Better luck next time I guess

I ACTUALLY completed the hour and a half p90x yoga, hot damn I didn’t think I’d ever finish.  While I sure don’t have the attention span for it (I hate being still for so long!) I have so much respect for yoga as a fitness form.  When people think fitness, they think cardiovascular fitness and strength, but really, balance and flexibility are equally important when concerning every day well-being, particularly when you age.  Older people cramp up, lose range of motion, leading to injuries.  Elderly people fall so much because of poor balance, and a fall for them can mean limitations for the rest of their life.  I hope I never lose any of the components of physical fitness.  It’s a scary thought.

That’s all for now!

Woot woot! Made up for my missed session yesterday with a double plyometrics w/shoulders & arms today   I haven’t done a double session since high school, so I feel pretty good…tired, but good.

Miss my workout again today to study!  Ugh, that’s the second time this week.  I’ll just need to start waking up earlier in the morning to fit it in.  How frustrating!  P90x is awesome, but it’s so time-consuming, I’ll be slightly relieved when it’s over and can do some high-intensity short-duration workouts.  I’ll make up for it tomorrow with a double session of plyometrics + shoulders/arms–yikes!

Ok, let’s see–2 weeks in, I’m really digging the results of P90x…I feel stronger and harder!  I’ve never been able to do pull-ups or chin-ups before in my life, now I can do 2 reps of each.  Doesn’t sound like much, but I’m proud!  Today it’ll be a run with my dog (~ 2 miles), maybe some additional cardio because I’m missing softball today…

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