artsong27’s BodyBlog

So, today is leg day….again!

It’s a love/hate relationship, this whole gym thing.  The workouts are hard and torturous, but the benefits are UNDENIABLE and ADDICTING!  I can remember the very first time I stepped foot inside a gym.  I was a nervous wreck.  Here I was surrounded by women twice my age who had more stamina, more muscle, and less fat than me.  I could barely make it through the hour-long step class, but I walked out of the gym that day with a sweat-soaked shirt and a huge smile on my face!  By the end of that first year, I had become one of the front row aerobics bunnies, and it was starting to bore me.  My fitness certifications gave me access to free memberships all over the area, so I took advantage and started lifting.  That is when I saw true results!  It was easy to become addicted to the gym lifestyle, and my addiction soon became my mother’s addiction as well!  We would go to the gym together and burn the place up. 

Fast forward 4 years, and I’m still here burnin’ it up!  Yes, I have had my bouts of laziness, but I always come back around eventually.  There are times when I convince myself that I can’t go to the gym…but then this inner strength takes over and sees to it that I find myself there before the day is done.  It is amazing how that works!  My routine is constantly evolving.  If I get bored, all I have to do is change it up a bit.  Problem solved!  So…today will be just another day at the gym.  Another day of torture.  Another day of RESULTS!  For those of you who are hitting the gym today, congratulations!  You are one step closer to your goals.  Work hard and burn it up!  Don’t leave until the house is ablaze!

I’m tired, y’all!

School is wearing me down.  You know how it is when you’re close to the finish line; you get tired and you just feel like giving up.  I woke up today, and tried to talk myself out of going to the gym.  I almost succumbed to that little voice in the back of my head telling me to go back to sleep.  Thank God almost doesn’t count!

I had a great workout today.  I completed a back, biceps and shoulders workout.  It felt great!  You know you’ve worked your upper body really well when you can barely reach for that cup in the cupboard, or wash your hair in the shower.  Just knowing that I can defeat laziness and get up and work out makes me so proud.  This lifestyle is not easy, but boy is it rewarding!

Hello everyone!

I eagerly headed back to the gym on Wednesday for another grueling workout.  It was great.  I am amazed at how much strength one can lose in a matter of months.  My only saving grace is that I busted my butt for 10 months straight last year.  I exercised faithfully, and ate EXTREMELY clean!  If not for the hard work I put in last year, I don’t know what I would look like today.

On Wednesday I completed a back/biceps workout.  With Monday’s and Wednesday’s workout put together, I am basically sore all over.  My legs have yet to recover from Monday.  I’m looking forward to regaining my strength and losing this bloated feeling, LOL!!!  The sooner the better.  I just hope I can stick with my program like I did last year. 

Summer is basically here.  The gym was PACKED with the second influx of people who think they can look like Janet Jackson in 2 weeks.  Weddings are coming up, and summer vacations are as well.  It is easy to spot those who are in the gym to get quick results.   My hope for them is that they get bitten by the gym "bug" (the good bug, not the one that gives you athlete’s foot, or the flu).  Once you get a taste of the results the gym can give you, you’re hooked!  You may stray, but you’ll come crawling back eventually.  That’s all for now, folks.  Take care, and keep working hard.

Boy, have I missed bb.com! 

 I’ve been away for some time; I had a few tragedies in my life that knocked me right off the horse, but I’m back, baby!  I am slowly jumping back into my normal routine.  I had a great leg workout yesterday, and today I’m resting.  My legs are KILLING me…I hobbled around campus all day, grasping desperately to the hand rails as I walked up and down staircases, and groaned aloud as I got in and out of my car.  It feels good to ‘hurt’; I haven’t felt this way in a long time.  I’m just hoping I can keep this up like I did before.

 On a personal note, school is going well.  It is a grueling schedule: Statistics, Microbiology, and Chemistry, but I am handling it rather well.  Two more weeks, and I get a three week break before the next quarter begins.  I had forgotten just how much working out can relieve one’s stress.  I can already feel a shift in my energy level, and my appetite has gone through the roof.  Man, I missed working out!  Well, I am hoping to write more soon.   Take care, and keep working hard!

(All you opera lovers out there will understand the title!)

Well, must it?  I have two more days until the end of this fall quarter in school, and in three short weeks, winter quarter will be here.  I just know the time will zoom by, but I hope to enjoy my time off. Finals have been kicking my butt, and my brain is on overload.  Needless to say, my workouts have suffered tremendously.  I skipped out yesterday, so hopefully I can find my way to the gym sometime this afternoon.  But first things first!  The hardest final is over (I got 100, by the grace of God!).  One down, two to go.

Cardio went well yesterday.  I had a blast actually, and I usually hate cardio.  I’m lucky to be an aerobics instructor.  When I’m feeling lazy, I know I can always fall back on my classes in order to get a good workout in. Weight training is another story.  Nothing I do in a class setting could compare to what I do in my personal gym.  So, today I have to get my leg workout in.  This is just the beginning.  I can’t imagine how hard working out will be once the program requires 40 hours of my time per week.  I’ll find a way.

Well, as I promised, it’s back to the grind this week.  However, yesterday I almost didn’t make it to the gym.  I teach two classes back to back every Monday morning, and it takes me a while to recuperate in order to complete my Monday leg routine successfully.  Not to mention I had a test yesterday, and an assignment due before midnight that had not been touched over the weekend.  So, there I was in the kitchen, cooking dinner for my husband and I.  I had just about convinced myself that I shouldn’t go and work out.  I was tired, but not that tired.  As I began straightening up the kitchen, I say to my husband, "Babe, I don’t think I’m going to the gym tonight", to which he replies, "Yeah, I knew you weren’t going today".  Well folks, that did it!  I finished cleaning, got dressed, and had a kick ASS workout!  It’s ok for my husband to miss weeks of workouts, but I get criticism when I skip one???  Well, I showed him!

It was hard getting back into it last night.  I have recently reached the 200 lb. mark on the leg press.  I have been away from the gym for about a week, but I decided not to drop weight.  And to my surprise, the leg press felt better today than it had the last time I did it.  It was rough, but I made it through, and it felt right.  My legs and butt are on fire today, just the way I like it!!  I always remind myself about being consistent.  It’s amazing how the numbers at the gym slowly decline during this time of year.  I’m determined to be one of the last women standing!!!!  At least I won’t have to wait to get in the squat rack!  Lord knows come January 1st, there will be a line out the door just to get on the elliptical machine. 

Hello all!  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!  I did; I ate myself senseless, but I sure did enjoy it.  By Monday, it will back to business as usual.  School is kicking my butt, and my instructors must have forgotten that this was the week of Thanksgiving, because I had so many assignments and tests due.  On top of that, this was the first year that I had to cook the meals all by myself!  Talk about sore feet and an aching back!  But every dish I made came out well.  I even made dinner rolls from scratch.  I’m a huge bread lover…I think we have maybe 6 rolls left, and I doubled the recipe.

I miss the gym.  Because of all the cooking and schoolwork, I only got 3 workouts in this week, all cardio, and no weights.  What a loser I am, huh?  Well, it happens, so I just have to get it back in gear next week.  I can’t stop now that I’ve come so far.  In about two hours I will be among a sea of shoppers fighting for the hottest sale items available.  I can’t wait; I haven’t been shopping for anything other than food for at least a year, and that is no exaggeration!  It’s my turn to buy something for myself, and I’m so excited.  Ok, I’m off.  Take care, and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

It’s my anniversary!!!  (Tony, Toni, Tone…for those of you who need a reminder!)

Yes, today is my two month wedding anniversary.  I told my husband it felt more like a two year anniversary.  We courted (yes, COURTED)  for four long years.  I never thought I’d see the day when I didn’t have to wake up after midnight to drive home, so I could get to work the next morning.  Now, I wake up with him by my side….then I go to work. It was well worth the wait.  I love him so much!

So, I don’t know what we will do today to celebrate.  I think he wants to go out.  I’m much more simple than that.  Maybe we can cuddle by the fireplace, or rent some movies, pig out, and drink some good Riesling!  That sounds like a plan, but first, I gotta get my butt to the GYM!!!

Today is chest, shoulders and triceps day, then it’s off to the club to teach a cardio class. I’m looking forward to getting in there and working hard.  Good news!  I am now up to 200 lbs. on the leg press!  Yay for me!!!!  It’s hard work, but hopefully it’s paying off.  I feel better, look better, and the energy is high!  Working out affects every part of your life.  If I get a workout in, I know I’m gonna have a pretty awesome day.

so today, I have to hit these legs hard.  I came down with something yesterday, and I couldn’t shake it until last night.  I’m still a little high off the NYQuil, but in a little while I’ll be hitting the weights.  I detest leg day.

I know when leg day comes, I will be of no use to anyone for the rest of the day. I try my best to work as hard as I can.  Now that my progress pics are up, I can see huge changes in my lower half, and this only adds fuel to the fire.  I just have to stay consistent, keep eating well, and working out hard!  I can do this!  It’s so easy training other people, but when you have to push yourself and motivate yourself….I don’t know anything more difficult than that.  I love it!!!!!

It’s amazing how the body changes.  Putting it through the rigors of a healthy diet and exercise program are not easy, especially when results come so slowly.  My saving grace has been progress pictures.  I am sure to take them every three months or so.  Eating clean and exercising are great, but who cares what you do if you’re not getting results.  Since we see ourselves day in and day out, it can be very difficult to pinpoint small changes in the physique.  Although we may feel leaner and healthier, these feelings often manifest themselves into hardcore, visible results weeks or months down the line.  It’s amazing that the camera can sometimes notice what the physical eye overlooks.  The most important thing I think is to realize there is no day but TODAY!  Tomorrow will surely come, and so will January first, and next summer.  Will we still look the same then, or will we do what it takes TODAY, to look and feel better tomorrow.  Setting simple goals and sticking to them no matter what is very important as well.  I always look at myself as a work in progress.  As my body gets stronger and faster, my goals may change, but my willpower and determination can never change.  We all work so hard for these subtle changes.  However, small changes lead to big gains as the years go by.