By the fact that there is a new post you can guess what conclusion I came to. Yes, this blog is public and you are reading it, but it's also my blog. I get to pour the crazy out here and you can choose whether or not to read it. I won't know who reads it and who does not. Yes blogger has a feature that tells me how many times a post has been viewed, but I have no idea who those views were. Sometimes I know because I also post the link on Facebook and some of you comment. I am NOT begging for comments by the way. I want you to read if you choose and you are always welcome to comment, but it is not a requirement. I hope that this blog helps other people in some way, but mostly it helps me and that is its purpose.
In the weeks before my vacation I pushed myself like never before. If there was a class offered at Pride that I could attend I was there. Were they all stellar efforts? Maybe not, but I did my best. What I had to give to the workout I left in the gym. By the time I pulled out of the driveway on Saturday, July 11 I was ready for a break. I didn't do myself any harm pushing the way I did, but it was time to rest.
My last workout on July 10 was Survivor Series. There were ten exercises, each with 50 reps to complete, on the board. Once you started an exercise you had to do all 50 reps, you couldn't break it up. For the sit ups or the straight leg raises this didn't sound too bad at first, but by rep 50 it felt a lot like hell. Then there were the knees to elbows, those were hell from rep 1.
If you've never had the pleasure of trying knees to elbow let me try to explain it. You hang from a pull up bar or a set of rings and the goal is to bring your knees up to touch your elbows. It can be done, I've seen other people do it. Me? Well, my knees were elbow adjacent and by adjacent I mean they came up and I could see them, but they never touched. My core is stronger than it used to be, but it's not that strong.
I'll spare you every minute detail and cut to the chase: I finished all 500 reps (10 exercises X 50 reps=500) on Friday morning. Permit me a second to brag: I finished the same 500 reps on Thursday, then went on to buddy training. Bragging over before it gets obnoxious. Or maybe I should say before it gets MORE obnoxious.
There were also TRX rows which is where my thoughts for this post came from. I like TRX rows, not 50 of them in a row maybe, but I like rows. I can get in a rhythm with the TRX rows and as long as I don't lose count, which happens far more often than you'd think, I'm fine. Friday morning I probably wound up doing 60, given there was a period of time I was doing the rows and realized that I'd stopped counting. When that happens I've learned to just pick up with the last number I remember counting and continue on. Yes, it means I might do a lot more reps than I was supposed to, but if I can't count to 50 without my mind wandering off I deserve it.
Back to the point of this post, assuming I ever had one. We had a guest at our workout on Friday. My friend Hailey's sister, Kristin, was there with Eric. We were in the welcome area, I was sitting on a bench trying to remember my name, what my shoes looked like, if I had even worn the shoes I thought I had. You know, the normal post workout haze. Kristin said something that stopped me. She told me I was her hero. Yes, I actually looked around to see who was sitting beside me on the bench. No one was there so I smiled and said thank you. She told me I made the TRX rows look easy.
Then Eric spoke up mentioning that this compliment was coming from someone who didn't even know me and it was time I started believing people when they compliment me. Easy concept, right? Not for me. I don't think anyone is lying to me or stroking my ego, but I don't see it.
Despite this blog, I don't do what I do for pats on the head or attention. I appreciate the "Atta girls", the fist bumps and the kind words. I enjoy praise, I'm not going to say I don't. I am just not comfortable with recognition. When time for recognition comes around at Pride Fitness Performance I'm the one crossing my fingers and hoping. Not hoping my name will be mentioned, just the opposite: I'm hoping my name won't come up. I like celebrating my friends' accomplishments, let's leave it at that.
I do what I do because the best part of my day is walking into that gym and seeing what I can do that I haven't done before. If I give myself time and I am patient I make progress. I'll be honest though, progress also comes when I get angry about something "defeating" me. I don't like to be defeated, in fact I hate it. When I can't do something I think I should be able to I get angry and eventually that anger will eat through any objections or fears my mind can manufacture and I'll try. I don't always succeed, but I will always try, eventually.
Vacation is over now, a new phase starts tomorrow and I'll be there pushing myself, looking for the next challenge and feeling surprised and bewildered when someone compliments me. Give me time, some day I might see and understand what you see. In the meantime feel free to keep complimenting me and I'll do my best to smile, say "thank you" and save my doubts for this blog.
Thanks for reading!
My last workout on July 10 was Survivor Series. There were ten exercises, each with 50 reps to complete, on the board. Once you started an exercise you had to do all 50 reps, you couldn't break it up. For the sit ups or the straight leg raises this didn't sound too bad at first, but by rep 50 it felt a lot like hell. Then there were the knees to elbows, those were hell from rep 1.
If you've never had the pleasure of trying knees to elbow let me try to explain it. You hang from a pull up bar or a set of rings and the goal is to bring your knees up to touch your elbows. It can be done, I've seen other people do it. Me? Well, my knees were elbow adjacent and by adjacent I mean they came up and I could see them, but they never touched. My core is stronger than it used to be, but it's not that strong.
I'll spare you every minute detail and cut to the chase: I finished all 500 reps (10 exercises X 50 reps=500) on Friday morning. Permit me a second to brag: I finished the same 500 reps on Thursday, then went on to buddy training. Bragging over before it gets obnoxious. Or maybe I should say before it gets MORE obnoxious.
There were also TRX rows which is where my thoughts for this post came from. I like TRX rows, not 50 of them in a row maybe, but I like rows. I can get in a rhythm with the TRX rows and as long as I don't lose count, which happens far more often than you'd think, I'm fine. Friday morning I probably wound up doing 60, given there was a period of time I was doing the rows and realized that I'd stopped counting. When that happens I've learned to just pick up with the last number I remember counting and continue on. Yes, it means I might do a lot more reps than I was supposed to, but if I can't count to 50 without my mind wandering off I deserve it.
Back to the point of this post, assuming I ever had one. We had a guest at our workout on Friday. My friend Hailey's sister, Kristin, was there with Eric. We were in the welcome area, I was sitting on a bench trying to remember my name, what my shoes looked like, if I had even worn the shoes I thought I had. You know, the normal post workout haze. Kristin said something that stopped me. She told me I was her hero. Yes, I actually looked around to see who was sitting beside me on the bench. No one was there so I smiled and said thank you. She told me I made the TRX rows look easy.
Then Eric spoke up mentioning that this compliment was coming from someone who didn't even know me and it was time I started believing people when they compliment me. Easy concept, right? Not for me. I don't think anyone is lying to me or stroking my ego, but I don't see it.
Despite this blog, I don't do what I do for pats on the head or attention. I appreciate the "Atta girls", the fist bumps and the kind words. I enjoy praise, I'm not going to say I don't. I am just not comfortable with recognition. When time for recognition comes around at Pride Fitness Performance I'm the one crossing my fingers and hoping. Not hoping my name will be mentioned, just the opposite: I'm hoping my name won't come up. I like celebrating my friends' accomplishments, let's leave it at that.
I do what I do because the best part of my day is walking into that gym and seeing what I can do that I haven't done before. If I give myself time and I am patient I make progress. I'll be honest though, progress also comes when I get angry about something "defeating" me. I don't like to be defeated, in fact I hate it. When I can't do something I think I should be able to I get angry and eventually that anger will eat through any objections or fears my mind can manufacture and I'll try. I don't always succeed, but I will always try, eventually.
Vacation is over now, a new phase starts tomorrow and I'll be there pushing myself, looking for the next challenge and feeling surprised and bewildered when someone compliments me. Give me time, some day I might see and understand what you see. In the meantime feel free to keep complimenting me and I'll do my best to smile, say "thank you" and save my doubts for this blog.
Thanks for reading!
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