Everyone must have a love-hate relationship with their personal trainer. His sole purpose is to force you to get stronger and healthier. And those lifestyle changes -that you are paying for- are painful. Literally and philosophically. Well, when your trainer is one of your besties, you already loved him before the workout sessions began. So, it stands to reason, you will hate him more during the sessions.
Josh tortured me today!
He cranked our training up full-throttle. Everything was a little more intense. We didn’t ease into the hour. We plunged or rather lunged into it. Instead of stretching out on the mat, he had me kicking and jerking into waking up my muscles. I did these lunges with full arm stretches. I was already feeling off kilter and then he pushed me harder. The dreadmill was set at 3.8… faster then I’ve ever done. I was already breathing heavy when we went into these burpees.
Burpees!? I vaguely remember hating them from the Presidential Fitness hoopla in grade school. It’s stand up, drop down, push up, stand up, jump. When I write it, it sounds easy. It’s not! I was going for 10. I did six and that was a huge effort – three times. During the sets, Josh paced it out to get me to go faster. “Drop, stretch, stretch, press, press, press, get down to the floor, get off the floor, pull up, pull up, stretch, jump, again!”
My heart was crazy pounding. I was sopping in sweat. And my breath sounded close to hyperventilation. During the rest period between those sets, I thought I was going to cry. I felt I was on that edge of emotional and physical exhaustion. It’s that hormonal hysteria where you know you could either burst out in uncontrollable laughter or tears. Well, I didn’t feel like laughing. And I might have shed a tear but it’s hard to decipher sweat and tears when water is dripping from your face.
I didn’t think I’d make it. Josh knew. He knew I could, I would and I should. And he made sure I did!
After working the triple over the weekend, Josh and I worked out Monday morning. I was pleased at my body’s endurance. It was tough (not like today) but I did it. The next day, I was so sore. Still, I managed to get my dreadmill homework in. And the amazing thing was afterwards, I felt better. Less sore. I reported my delight to Josh. He reminded me that our bodies are meant to move.
I believe athletes know the best way to work through soreness is to keep moving. No one told the fat people. I need to remember that. I need to start thinking of myself like an athlete in training and less like a fat person. I need to keep moving. For the last two days, I’ve hit over 100,000 steps for the week on the old FitBit. My goal is 15,000 daily so technically I should get to 105,000 for the week. I’m going to see how long I can stay over 100,000 on my seven day overview. It’s a good objective.
I didn’t hate on Josh for long today. I’m a controlling person. And Josh pushes me out of my comfort zone and into a zone I’m not in control. Yet, I know physically I’m getting stronger and healthier. And I also know my clothes are getting baggier. He’s getting results. I love him for that even when I hate him.