Nancy21’s BodyBlog

Too long, since i’ve been on here.  With all the excitement of getting the heck out of iraq and some other stuff, i kinda forgot about this… but i have not forgotten to work out… i kinda can’t, my job requires it haha.  But now i’m back to the grind and in the gym a lot more. So i’ll be getting some more recent pictures up… ones where i’m NOT in a pod in iraq. YAY!  

Last night I had an awesome workout with one of the NCOs here. He’s an infantry E7… and he’s pretty intense, not just in fitness, but all around. He’s one E7 I would not want to get angry. He’s all the time working and in everything he does it with passion. So anyway we ran sprints last night and did sit ups and push ups in between, of course he lapped me. He’s a freak, I swear he’s just not normal. After that, creativity spewed from our little brains and we were super motivated. So we decided to grab some boxes of self-heating meals, threw them in a wheel barrow and pushed it through the gravel and sprinted back. And then we took this huge block and rolled it the length of the gravel part. It was a great lower back workout and it got my forearms too. So, initially I wasn’t sure how this would work not having enough equipment, but I’m learning creativity and using what’s around works just fine and you can get the same results. Don’t be afraid to be innovative. It kind of breaks up the monotony.

It was actually pretty cool out this morning. Cool meaning not 100 degrees out. I set my alarm for 0630, I didn’t actually roll out of bed until about 0700 and got in a quick workout. Its shoulders/back day. The 15lb weights I use for a couple of the exercises is getting easier to do so that’s encouraging. I’m really starting to notice a little change. It’s definitely a great motivator. I was going to do cardio tonight, probably running the stairs and some jump rope, but we went on a walking patrol in the city we’re in and it was hot, and felt like we went 20 miles… when really it was probably only like a mile. I met these two cute little boys, Muhammad and Ahmed 3 and 5 yrs old, I didn’t understand a word they were saying, they probably cursed me and told me to jump off a cliff, but they were cute none the less. So yea, I’m a little tired from that, I might just hit the stairs a little bit. One of the issues I’m dealing with is diet… not that I can’t stick with it, but that the options where I’m at are very limited. I have a choice from cereal, tuna, ramen noodles in a cup, pop tarts, burgers, hotdogs, cookies (one of my vices!! They’re oh so good!), muffins, steak, and huge cans of chicken noodle soup. Oh and of course there’s always the option of MREs. I’m so grateful for food and it could be A LOT worse… but I just can’t wait to be able to buy my own stuff and have a fridge full of the stuff I want. When I go back to the FOB, the chow hall is frickin great! I love it. It’s just that out here things are a little different. I don’t think I’ll ever complain about grocery shopping ever again.

I checked my weight this morning… still at 185. I’m thinking if I lost 10 lbs that would be awesome… I might just make that my next goal.

So my job kinda puts a damper on me keeping a steady relationship with the gym. Lately work has pulled me away from the gym on the FOB and out to another makeshift gym at a small compound.  It has all the weights I need and a bench but it screws me over on cardio. So I’ve had to get a little creative.  Running up and down stairs has proven to be effective, but boring as crap! Kind of dangerous too… I fell UP the stairs and gave some people a laugh for the day the other night. Hey, as long as I make someone smile I also found a long enough area of gravel in the compound to do sprints… however i have to sacrifice a little bit… specifically my sense of smell. It’s by the port-a-johns.  So my progress the past 2 weeks has kinda been put on halt due to lack of time and energy…. i’m getting old people.  22 is over halfway to 40 which is half way to 80.  lol jk.  Seriously though, i’ve been really tired lately, it’s been hard to get out of bed in the morning to go hit the stairs or sprint by the port-a-johns. Maybe it’s hormones, or the way i’m eating. I dunno. I’m gonna try to switch some stuff up and see what happens. 

Until next time… (probably tomorrow)