Shannon’s BodyBlog

My gym fired the PT’s who were working for them and hired out a company who provides gyms with their PT’s.

The first day they were there, I was so rudely interrupted by a trainer whom I’ve dubbed "Jillian" because she looks just like her and she’s FIRED UP like her too.  Very intense.

I politely said I have someone who provides me with my workouts…thank you very much.

After another round of recruiting, I went as far as showing her the workout I had to do that day and since then, she’s left me alone except to tell my workout partner and I that she watches what we do and that we really inspire her.

She said this while she was with a client as she pointed us out and told the woman how hard we work.

A couple of women we know who workout regularly decided to take the PT’s offer of a free session and told us about their sell.

You have to sign a 1 year contract for $180 per month which gets you 5 sessions per month.

Considering I pay $15 per month in membership fees I say pisha! to that.

One of the women I’m friendly with at the gym had a free session with a male PT who is a hottie.

I was kidding around with her while the PT stepped away as she was curling 5 lb weights.

I told her she has to go heavy.  The PT came over and asked her what I said and then introduced himself.  We shook hands!!  Teehehe.

Finally, there is a PT who looks like Grandpa Lou Pickles.  He doesn’t believe in doing the leg press.  I heard him say this while I was doing the leg press.

So, my workout partner and I were kidding around saying that the hottie is the one who makes you bite, then when you sign on, they give you Jillian or Lou Pickles.

I’m not falling for that scheme!

Don’t get caught up in working your glamour muscles.

You’re heavy on bi’s and tri’s, but the rest of you is ribs and fat. (nod to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

I have to admit that I was slacking on my core, so I’ve been ramping things up a bit.  I have a long way to go, but I’ll get a rockin’ midsection one of these months.

Here is a song that will get you pumped:

Sometimes you don’t recognize how fit your cardiovascular system is until you do something that makes you aware of just how far along you’ve come along.

One night at Uno Chicago Grill, the family and I were eating our meals.  Once the food is gone and we’re waiting for my husband to finish (because he takes the longest to eat) the kids get restless.

So in a way to get them to simmer down, I came up with a breath holding contest.

My kids are ruthlessly competitive, especially if it means competing with me.  They will give their eye tooth to beat mom into the ground.

But by golly, they didn’t know what they were in for.

"On your mark, get set, GO!"

And there we sat, silent.

The waitress we had was THE most talkative woman I’ve ever come across.  And she was extra attentive to us.  Very motherly, wanting to make sure we were well taken care of.

It was one of those times I wish our server would buzz off.

I would smile and nod if she asked if we were OK, or if we needed another drink.

I wasn’t about to waste my breath on her.

I felt like I could hold my breath forever.

My kids on the other hand couldn’t make it through 1 minute.

But there I was with no end to my O2 in sight.

I thought to myself, "Wow, I can’t believe how much of a difference cardio has made.  I could be a frickin’ pearl diver!"

"Let’s try again!", my youngest son declared after I let my breath out.

We all breathed in deeply, my husband marked the time, and we held our breath.

After a few more rounds, I got tired of the game, so I steathily began breathing.

My kids, on the otherhand, stayed true and steady to the task hoping HOPING that this time they would beat mom.

Weight Training:  shoulders

Cardio:  600

Weight Training:  Chest, tri’s, abs (high reps)
Cardio:  Nada…too damned drained!

Weight Training:  Legs (supersets)
Cardio:  600

1) Box Squats

3×25 (140#)

1) Lying Leg Curls

3×15 (55#)

Hyperextensions

2×10 (hold for 5 seconds at the top of ea. rep)

Calves

4×15

2) Leg Presses

3×25 (180#)

2) Standing Leg Curls

3×15

Hyperextensions

2×10 (hold for 5 seconds at the top of ea. rep)

Calves

4×15

3) Leg extensions (toes pointed out)

3×25 (35#)

3) Seated Leg Curls

3×15 (110#)

Hyperextensions

2×10 (Hold for 5 sec)

Calves

4×15

4) Walking Lunges

3×50 (no weight)

Calves

4×15

Weight Training:  Shoulders

Cardio:  600

The next time you have a know-it-all at the gym telling you what to do with an exercise, consider using this as a response:

(Of course, retool a bit of the wording to make it applicable to the gym setting)

Everyone has problem areas that they focus on and brood about and obsess over.  Even if someone is in peak, physical condition, they’ll pick areas that they aren’t happy with.  I’m not saying I’m in peak condition, but we all have parts that we want to make to our liking so that we don’t focus so much on it.

Areas I wanted to pummel into condition used to be:

My triceps

My hamstrings

Janthony gave me routines to work the hell out of them.  I worked for months and months on those and I feel like they’ve finally developed into something respectable.

Now, my current areas are:

My lower back

My inner thighs

My waist

I’ve been given a ****load of exercises to get my lower back in shape.  I was told how to hold my stance during squats and how to position my legs during leg extensions.  And I’m doing more ab/oblique work than I’ve done in months.

SO, one day, I think I’ll be able to say that I have respectable parts that I can improve upon rather than build from the bottom up.

It’s just a matter of sticking with it and never giving up.

I’ve been very sad and down in the dumps for the past week.  This afternoon my husband and I are taking our dog in to be put to sleep.  He made the appt on Tuesday and I’ve been crying everyday since then.

Physically, she’s 11 yrs old with the health of a dog half her age.  We made sure to feed her the right food, the right amounts, exercise her.  We took good care of her so that she would have an easy time adjusting to old age and still be able to be active.  But nothing could’ve helped her brain.  Mentally, she’s a mess.  She was diagnosed with dementia a month ago and I’ve been crying off and on ever since after reading about what would happen to her over time.

She wasn’t herself for a while, so my husband took her in to be checked out.  Once she was diagnosed, her mind when downhill pretty rapidly after that.

She doesn’t know whether to scratch her watch or wind her ass.  She walks up to walls and just stares at it until I call her attention.  She doesn’t understand commands anymore.

We have to lead her to the water and food bowls at various times of the day and nudge her head toward them so that she drinks and eats.

She was a sharp, sweet dispositioned German Shepard who could understand commands just by looking at her (no joke).  She was my shadow.  I couldn’t go anywhere without her following me.  If I went out shopping or wherever else I had to go, she wouldn’t eat until I got home.

Now, her mind is mush.

She wanders the house and tries to fit into the most impossible spaces between chairs, closets, etc. and has the most awful cry when she tries to make her way through.  She doesn’t know enough anymore to back her way out of it.  I have to pull her out and this goes on all day long.  Not much has been able to be done in this house.

The only time I don’t cry is when I’m at the gym or out running errands.  And I’ve been running a lot of errands lately.

Seeing how healthy she LOOKS makes it so hard to bring her in.  I feel like she’s got a lot of years ahead of her, but she really only has weeks or months because of her mental condition.  If she were suffering from arthritis or some other debilitating condition, it would be easier to think of it as putting her out of her suffering.

This will be a very lonely and quiet house while the kids are at school now.

We had told the kids about her condition back when she was diagnosed, and last night broke the news to them about what would happen to her today.  It was hard.  This is the first major death they’ll be experiencing in their lives.

My oldest son said, "I feel like Rypley has been around my whole life….wait, she HAS been around my whole life."

My youngest son said, "Now we only have one fish as a pet.  My fish died."  He was referring to his sister’s fish who is a trooper and has lived longer than we expected.  Goldfish do not have much luck in this house, but those Beta fish have gills of steel.

The kids have off from school today for whatever reason, so I’m taking the kids to a fair this morning with friends.  Seeing the variety of people walking around will be quite a distraction from what will happen this afternoon.