Push

Time keeps flying by and I can't believe entire weeks go by and I haven't blogged. In the past, my silence meant I wasn't doing well and I just wanted to hide. This time it's not like that. Maybe because I have been blogging here for so long that sometimes I feel like a broken record. Or maybe there's that element of me saying how great I'm doing right now and fear that it won't last and I'll be ashamed if I lose my forward progress again. Or maybe its because my Peleton app is kicking my booty fiercely and I'm so sore that typing is a chore. The month of December my work is challenging us to do 12 Peleton workouts of 20 minutes or more. There are no stipulations about what kind of class so there's meditation, yoga, cardio, strength, outdoor based workouts and treadmill and stationary bike workouts. Since my work pays for my subscription to the app, I wanted to show my appreciation by doing this challenge. I actually started using the app just before the announcement for the challenge came out so I had one workout done which will count. Today I completed my 8th Peleton workout for December so far. I take Fridays off. I will be honest, there are classes I have taken on the app that I don't like. some of them rely so heavily on jumping that I just give half effort. I have had 40% of the cartilage removed from one of my knees and I'm still pretty overweight so jumping over and over is not great for me. I admit that I have had a pretty poor attitude toward the app but since I have been using it more this month, I have caught myself really enjoying some of the classes and instructors. One thing that I learned early on is that the bodyweight strength classes have a decent amount of planks of various versions, and squats and push ups. OMG, the first course I tool where I did push ups my arms fatigued so fast I had to go on my knees, and even then I could barely get back up. I was so sore for days afterwards. Today I did them again and wow do I still stink at them bad! It's going to take commitment in order to change that. I also tried a yoga class and Adriene Mischler has just simply spoiled me and I have yet to find any other yoga classes that can hold a candle to her instruction and personality. Yesterday I really didn't feel like working out but hit the basement before I could argue with myself. I tried a program for outdoor interval walking, just walking around my basement. The music was good and the instructor was uplifting and I found myself having so much fun. The strength classes I have been taking have been great too, they really challenge me to the point I'm breathing hard and sweaty at the end of 20 minutes. I think I was looking at things wrong in the past because I wanted change but didn't really want to work for it. Now I'm ready. I have been watching a lot of Extreme Weightloss on Hulu lately and it really inspires me. Yes, these people push themselves so crazy hard with 4 hours of working out each day, but just watching the spark come to life and seeing the confidence and passion is inspiring. At the beginning of the show, before they lose any weight they set a goal they want to accomplish that being overweight has kept them from achieving. For some that's running a marathon, or Ironman competition and one lady did a complex gymnastics routine. A lot of times they are based on things they ised to do in high school. When I am watching I always try to think what my goal would be; what's the one thing that would make me feel powerful and fit to be able to do? I have already done running and it's what led to my destroyed knee and subsequent early arthritis. I was never in sports so I do have that nostalgic yearning to return to something. Then today as I was dying doing those sorry knee push ups it hit me. When I can do 10 clean push ups I will feel so much more fit. And I mean real push ups on my toes not my knees and getting low. Right now even on my knees I can only get my chest close to the floor a couple times then I'm fatigued and have to modify. So in order to work toward my goal I will have to research how to train the muscles used for that and really put in some time strengthening my upper body. Thinking about goals got me thinking about the quickly approaching new year. Just before this Peleton challenge was released, I took time to save a bunch of zumba videos that were new to me. I thought 'how fun would it be if my 2023 challenge was to learn all 38 Zuma videos well by the end of the year? I love dancing so that would be a fun challenge and I'd be getting good exercise too. So that's a challenge instead of a resolution. I would also lime to fit more yoga in, maybe after work since I already work out before work. The scale has been so fickle with me since starting to workout but I not only feel stronger but am starting to see mote definition in my shoulders. I will probably take progress pictures soon, just so I don't forget the journey. Some days I feel like I should look better by now, but I'm learning to look at the bigger picture. I am moving easily, have loads more energy and just feel so much better in my body now than I did before I adopted this lifestyle. And now that I'm also working out, I have to keep the faith that if I put in the work the results will come. How long it takes is insignificant because I already feel so much better AND...I am proud of myself for having the guts to re-commit to this every day. I know big positive changes are going to continue happening because my intention to heal my body is my priority. I will leave with a great quote I heard today. Power on, friends, great things await! I do not own this photo: