A Double workout that is!
Today was my first figure training workout. I could barely sleep last nite. I laid there thinking about the incredible journey I was about to enter. I started gulping down my daily gallon of water yesterday, to prep my body for the increase in H2o. I’m sure that added to the sleepless nite! My body hasn’t taken in that much water on a daily basis and I gotta tell ya I feel really good. The water has given me a boost of energy, my skin looks hydrated and I feel balanced. I’ve also gotten to know my “washroom” really well ;-)
I beat my alarm by an hour this morning. I was wide awake at 3:23am. I tried deep slow breathing exercises to calm the mind and put it back to sleep. Naturally, I didn’t succeed! I popped out of bed and started my day. For breakfast I had a whey protein shake mixed with water and a side of plain oatmeal. I think I threw in a few blackberries, but it was so early and so many hours ago I’m not sure if I actually did. I got dressed and headed to the gym to join 5 other women and our trainer for an insane leg work out. This work out was like none I had ever experienced…sure I can squat, lung, dead lift and do many of the same exercises we did, but I had never thrown on the amount of weight that I saw hanging on the “arms” of those machines.
My trainer introduced me to my partner who I was going to be super setting with over the next hour. We quickly glanced at each other and said a friendly hello as I sat down to perform my first leg press exercise. My heart was racing, I was still feeling incredibly excited about being there. It was surreal in a way to be training with women who had just come off a competition. They had beautiful lean muscles in their arms, legs and back. I wanted those same lean muscles they had. At that moment as I started to press up on 100+ pounds of weight…I said to myself I can do this!!!
Trish had me focused on completing 8-12 reps on every exercise I performed. That doesn’t sound like much when you workout every day, but it was MORE than enough when you have 100+ pounds you are trying to push away from your body. My legs were shaking; my heart rate was climbing from the intensity of the movement. There were many moments where my legs could not get that weight away from my body. Trish pushed me along with encouragement; my legs found energy to finish the set. I slowly moved out of the machine feeling the weight in my thighs. They had been worked, the muscles had been torn and this was just the first set!
My partner and I switched stations, she was now on leg press and I was performing reverse lunges with 60 pounds of silver glory between each hand. The reverse lunges felt like heaven compared to leg press. Before you knew it, I had completed my set and it was time to get back in the leg press seat. This time, the weight didn’t feel as heavy; my muscles remembered the movement and helped me get thru the first few reps. When you have that much weight to move, your mind goes into a zone, suddenly the music starts to fade, the voices become lower and you are there in mind and body talking yourself through each and every movement. If you could hear what my mind was saying…it wasn’t far off from The Little Engine That Could… I repeated over and over I can do this, I can do this, don’t give up! When the set was over, the music and voices came back into focus.
There was no chit chat going on between the women, it was all “get it done” attitude. Everyone was focused on their exercise. The only thing you could hear when you were out of the zone was heavy breathing; grunting and some even shared their own encouragement out loud.
We cooked our legs today! My legs were shaking towards the end of our session. One of the veterans came over and cheered me on as I was stuck in a squat. I could not push that weight up. I wanted someone to save me and lighten my load. I don’t remember what the competitor’s exact words were but she was my personal cheerleader, I looked straight into her eyes as I tried to push the weight up toward the sky and she motivated me to push up. I did it! I hopped off, we smiled at each other and all I really wanted to do was find a bathroom and puke. That’s when you know you worked your body over.
I was ready to go to my next exercise and Trish said, have a great day! I said, what’s next and she said that’s it, it’s been an hour. I couldn’t believe an hour had passed since I sat in the leg press machine. That was the HARDEST workout my legs had experienced and I made it through. You know what the best part is…I’m ready for more!
Remember that double I was talking about at the beginning of this blog…I got more alright. I got a double workout today…An hour of legs and 20 minutes of 30 second intervals. I seriously couldn’t imagine being able to pick up my led felt legs. I was once again, excited about the workout, but wasn’t sure if my legs were. I hopped on the treadmill and remembered those women I trained with. I know each one of them had to go through this kind of training to get to where they are and I was determined to get my legs off the belt of the treadmill. BAM I knocked out my cardio session.
Today I realized you have to want it bad enough to make it happen. I want it bad enough, I’m 100% in. There’s no deviating; I will do what it takes by sticking to the strict eating plan and giving it my all at every workout. Game on!
Until next time…
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