paulapop’s BodyBlog

I was completely exhausted today.  I worked from 1pm to 1am setting up christmas candy (which is great therapy, you really don’t want to eat it after working with it for that long).  I woke up this morning exhausted and feeling completely run down.  Inspite of that, I dragged my butt to the gym to do some cardio.  I did a 30 min run on the treadmill and a 15 ride on the bike (a hill interval program) and did some abdominal work.  The surprise was, even though I walked into the gym exhausted, I walked out feeling really good.  The workout really revived me.  Tomorrow is another rough day at work, but at least today I learned the value of pressing on with my workouts instead of skipping them just because I am tired.  I am still surprised at how great I felt afte the workout.

I did a half hour of cardio this morning, on the treadmill at the gym.  I just did an interval uphill walk to a max incline of 15 speed 4.  I haven’t done that workout in a while, and I was suprised by the amount of calories that are burned by walking uphill.

After my cardio, I had a session with my trainer.  She is also our kickboxing instructor so she was kinda getting me ready to start up with that again next week.  To that end it was squat kicks while holding 8 lbs in each hand..at shoulder level of course, and pushups off the balance ball.  This is where the gravity sucks part comes in, I did pushups until muscle failure and ended up falling off the ball and landing flat on my face LOL.  No I am not hurt…well nothing but my pride, which will recover, but wow what a sight I musta been!

Well the christmas horror has started for those us in retail which means long and stressful workdays, in preparation for even longer and more stressful workdays.  I didn’t make it home until nearly 8pm tonight, so I didn’t have much time, and no time for the gym.  It was however an absolutely beautiful fall night, so I just took a run.  I only ran 2miles, kept it at a low pace, ran at 11 min/mile.  I ended up with a decent workout for the short amount of time I had to give it.

Tomorrow at 8:45 I have a training session with the personal trainer, so that was another reason to keep the run light, I don’t want to exhaust myself since there is such a short recovery time between workouts.  I wonder whats in store for me tomorrow morning…..gotta love it!

This afternoon was just too beautiful to not go for a run.  I went out to Point Pelee and ran the 5K trail.  It was soooo beautiful, the leaves were turning and falling as I ran.  I just ran thinking of nothing but keeping my stride and form in check, listening to 70’s classic rock and enjoying the most perfect fall day.

I made it to the gym for an hour as well.  I did a full body workout…..

1. leg presses 140×15 4 sets
2. genie squats 20lb body bar 3 sets of 15
3. bar bell dead lifts, 25lbsx12 3sets
4. tricep presses 45lbsx12 3 sets
5. chest cable fly’s 30lbsx12 3 sets
6. pushups for 20
7. crunches for 100

We have some new equipment at the gym that i was trained on last night.  Two new ab machines, a new pulley machine, a bowflex type fly machine, and something i can only describe as a modified Smith Machine except the bar can move horizontally as well as vertically.  I had fun trying them out, but boy am I reminded how it feels to use muscles in a new way….I feel it today!!  I went for a nice run last night before I went to the gym as well….really got into the zone, time just flew by when I was running, it felt like I was only out 10 mins….but it was actually nearly an hour…..

Well it was raining tonight so I hit the gym instead of going for a run.  I am still not doing any lifting while my arm heals so I did a 15 min run on the treadmill (I get bored very easily when running indoors), then I did 30 mins on the elliptical 5 mins forward and 1 min backward intervals.  I sweated off 400 calories then headed home for the night.

It was an absolutely beautiful day today.  I didn’t hit the gym at all, but instead I did a round of skipping outside and then went for a 4 mile run through a local conservation area. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the run was great.  I was out  about 50 minutes, which was not a bad pace for me over rough terrain.

My arm is feeling a lot better today, but i am still not going to push my luck and keep it low key on the upper body workouts until I meet with my trainer again on thursday.

Well my sore shoulders from thursday have evolved into something a little more serious.  Today I couldn’t even lift my arm.  I have suffered from ulnar neuropathy over the years and whatever I was doing thursday that hurt my shoulder, woke up my ulner nerve.  Soooo  I am in an splint for a few days to rest my arm and I am off the weights for a few days.

I took yesterday off completely to recover, and today I just did a run and worked out my legs.  Unfortunately hurting my arm doesn’t quite me totally off the hook….

Tomorrow is weight in day…and tuesday is measurement day with my trainer….can’t wait!

Well I was right…….today my shoulders are SORE!  I decided to take the day off from lifting and just do cardio to give my muscles a break.  My trainer was filling in for an aerobics instructor tonight and she asked me I wanted to go to the class.  I thought "what the heck, why not" so I went expecting an aerobics class.  Well I was WRONG…..it was a combo step/aerobics/cardio drill class…..EGADS.  First of all, the instructor (who is also my personal trainer) kicked over my step and made me put it up to the highest level (she can be a she-devil!)  and second of all, it was my first ever step class.  When i wasn’t tripping over myself trying to keep up with what everyone was doing, I was trying to figure out the combo’s and panting like a crazy lady.  It was definitely not what I expected, and here I thought I was going to have an easy night since my kickboxing class is on hiatus for 3 weeks…..boy was I wrong lol

Well I started my workout with a 2 mile jog.  I kept it at a nice light pace, was out about 25 mins.  It felt great, it was a beautiful evening for a run.

Then I got my butt kicked.  I had an 8pm appt with my trainer.  It was a great workout, but man oh man, my shoulders and legs are already sore.  Tomorrow should be fun, I probably won’t be able to lift my arms to put my contacts in lol.