Personal Training

A couple of weeks ago I told you about an opportunity I had to do some group personal training with some co-workers. I paid $75 for 4 weeks however, I am only able to attend 3 of the weeks. This leaves the cost of the training to $25 per session. At first I was excited about this new opportunity as well as a perceived inexpensive cost.

I have been very disappointed in this service. I think sometimes I try to spend too much time pleasing others and not enough time getting the value out of my service dollars. The training has been very lackluster for me. He has never challenged me or even made me break a hard sweat. Each week when I was done I knew I was capable of giving so much more. I realize that every exercise session doesn’t need to be hard core but I feel that personal training is where I need to be hard core. I don’t want someone who is mean but someone who will push me beyond what I would normally do. He never pushed me.

After I had completed my second session of training I looked at my heart rate monitor and it said that I burned 250 calories in an hour. SERIOUSLY! I swear that is what my body burns sitting at my desk. I find that unacceptable. I burn more than that walking at a leisurely pace on the Monon. I am evaluating this service because on Tuesday night I went back to trainer Mandy’s group personal training class and she kicked my ass! I know I had worked hard when I had left that class as well as received my money's worth. PS...my legs and butt still hurt.

I feel that going to Push has given me a such an education in proper body placement and form for calisthenic moves. As well as knowledge of the types of strength exercises I should be doing. I don’t feel that the work trainer guy did that for me. He would take about 7 minutes to explain a simple move and then he wouldn’t correct peoples form while they were performing the move. I feel that this is very important so you don’t hurt yourself as well as getting the most out of your workout.

I am so glad that I have learned so much from Push in the last six months. I don’t think I would have recognized the difference between a good or bad trainer when I have exercised in the past. Even though I am always money minded I never compared the cost of the two services before yesterday. The work guy’s cost is $25 per session or $18.75 if I had attend all four times. The group personal training at Push is only $12 per session. Duh…simple math. I paid for an individual session last night but next week I am going to purchase a six class pass for $72. I really think I need a twice a week hard core training with the rest of the days being lighter.

PS…I would like to note that I have decided against running the 5K. I found that it made my ankles hurt and I DID NOT ENJOY IT! I think that there are so many exercises that I enjoy why would I spend time on ones that I HATE! So…I will be walking the 5K. Perhaps in the future I will reevaluate this goal.

Emotional Eating

Sometimes it is easy for me to be in denial about my behavior. I like to think that I am a rational and logical person. I also like to think that my problems with eating have nothing to do with my emotions. I AM VERY WRONG!!!!

I had an extremely bad day at work yesterday. There were harsh words exchanged and I was upset all afternoon and through the evening. I exercised after work as normal but, when I got home at 7:15 I invaded the kitchen. I was overcome by a food demon and this is what I ate:

Frozen Pizza - 3 small pieces reheated
Chips - I opened the bag and began to eat, I don't know how much
Cookie's - 8 peanut butter cookies
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Macaroni and Cheese - individual serving

I was finally done and my stomach hurt. Why would I do this. I could hardly move the rest of the evening after I ate all of that food. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite done with the food nonsense. Today I managed to eat McDonald's for two meals. For breakfast I has a Sausage McMuffin sans the egg and at lunch I had a fish sandwich, fries and a cookie. At least I stayed away from the burger to keep my pact with ems.

Tonight I had the 5K training at work and afterwords I decided to go to the Push It class at the gym. This class is an hour long group personal training and it is TOUGH! The instructor is a nice version of Jillian from TBL. I felt very drained and sore when I came home, but also very satisfied with myself. It was much easier for me to make better choices for dinner.

Even though I have been working out six days a week lately I don't think I have been pushing myself enough. After tonight's work out I definitely believe I am capable of more. I think I am going to dump Monday's light training in exchange for the weekly Mandy beating.

The moral of this story is that I am going to try to become more aware of my emotional eating and try to stop it before it gets out of control. Ugg...I didn't feel good after I ate all of that food.

"The strong-minded overcome the weak-minded!"

A few weeks ago I was listening to a podcast (How Stuff Works) and at the end of the podcast one of the commentators said my now infamous quote:

"The strong-minded overcome the weak-minded!"

As soon as I heard him say the quote it immediately appealed to me. I quickly wrote it down. There has been much conversation about this new tag-line that now appears on my outbound emails. Some of it involved me become an evil queen and controlling the world. Other people were worried that I was becoming a dictator or a cult leader. We finally determined that I wouldn't be a good fit in any of those categories (primarily because I would not be able to control my minions) but I think it fits me nonetheless.

I was thinking about this today when I was emailing a friend about my goal of running a 5K. I have been having some reservations of my physically ability to complete this task. Every day that I work on my running I think about quitting. The logical part of my brain doesn't want to quit but the emotional part yells to me "YOU ARE FAT AND SHOULD NOT BE RUNNING".

I was watching "The Biggest Loser" this week and one of the contestants was having a mental block that wouldn't allow her to jump up on this one foot high platform. Every time you saw her it appeared that she wasn't really trying. The fear was holding her back. I think I feel the same way. I really don't think that I will ever be able to run 3.1 miles. It seems an impossible task so why would I spend time trying.

This is where my quote comes into play. I have to approach this with my "Strong-Mind" and not my "Weak-Mind". I know that a good portion of my battle with this new challenge is going to be mental. I also have some physical obstacles to overcome. I need to work on my cardio fitness. I still get very winded and my heart rate skyrockets after one minute of running and logically I know that I just need to work on conditioning my heart. Secondly, I am having some discomfort from the ankle that I sprained in May. I was in some pain today and I had to downplay my training today. UGG...

Does anyone have any advise for me. Are there any tricks to conditioning my heart. I should tell you that I am currently working out six days a week. I usually alternate my exercise days with hard and easy workouts. This is an example of what I have done in the last week.


Friday - Day Off
Saturday - 60 Minute Walk
Sunday - 60 Minute walk/run Intervals - 60 Minute Horseback riding
Monday - Group personal training Class - 60 Minutes
Tuesday - 35 Minute running/walking intervals
Wednesday - 60 Minute walk
Thursday - 30 Minute Personal Training

Any advise or encouragement on how to overcome my mental weakness would be appreciated as I am struggling with this goal.

Just for a Laugh

I had a silly conversation this week about fashion and we ended up talking about glasses. The conversation reminded me of the time I purchased some "fashion" glasses and I wore them everywhere thinking they looked good.

O Look...Football

The hair scared you didn't it! I wonder if I ever considered using any product? This was taken at the BGSU Saturday afternoon football game. I was in junior high and all of the students got free tickets to their first home game. See how I wore the gigantic "fashion" glasses to look COOL. I really think that the glasses accent my large nose. BTW...I look exactly like my mother in this photo. I just need a cigarette to top it off.

This photo was taken in front of the junior high school. I believe this was taken in the beginning of my seventh grade year. Seriously...it was August or September and I am wearing a sweater. I am still sporting the big '80s hair and costume jewelry. Why did I purchase those jeans. They look gigantic on me. Did I even try them on? I am embarrassed to say, but I do believe I wore those fake glasses to school.

The other girl in the photo was my best friend from 5th grade until the end of high school. We lived very close together all of those years.

This photo was taken in the front of the trailer we lived in. Do you see that all three of us are wearing glasses. I think the girl on the left has real glasses but the rest are for fun. The girl on my right was my other best friend since 7th grade. Don't you love her big white earrings and pink purse. The white and blue shirt I was wearing was one of my favorites. I think I wore it all of the time. Seriously...much needed hair product!

I have a Goal

There were three goals that I set for myself at the beginning of summer.

A. Ride a 26 mile marathon on my bike
B. Riding up Riley hill at Crown Hill without stopping
C. Have an Odometer reading of 500 miles on my bike at the end of summer

I accomplished the 26 mile marathon easily and the longest I have rode is 42 miles. I have also exceeded my odometer reading and it is currently about 650 miles (I am still a little amazed at the amount). Just so you know...summer will not be over for my bike until there is snow and ice on the ground! I have not accomplished the ride up the hill, but to be honest I haven't worked on that one very much. We stopped going to the cemetery very often because it ceased to be challenging.

I was thinking of this because I am getting ready to set myself a new goal. We are preparing to start another fitness challenge at work and it involves participating in a 5K walk. They have found a training program online that is supposed to take an inactive person from the couch to jogging a 5k in 9 weeks.

When this challenge was first discussed a couple months ago I shrugged it off as something I wouldn't participate in as I don't really like to walk. However, in the last month I have realized given the right circumstances I do like to walk and I find it a relaxing activity. I attribute this to three things:

A. I am in better shape now that I have been in forever due to the biking passion
B. Great company while exploring the area parks
C. Any outside activity interests me

I have decided that in addition to participating in the 5K, I want to jog it. Seriously, I want to try and jog 3.4 miles. I KNOW....Crazy Right. I wouldn't have said that 3 months ago. I would have laughed and said you are out of your mind. But, something has changed inside of my brain and I think I may have a chance of accomplishing this goal. The early summer goals were so easy for me to accomplish and they seemed daunting when I set them. I think that half of the battle is attitude and the second half is putting in the training work.

To be honest I do like working out. Some would say that I am getting a bit of a big head about fitness, but that quickly goes away when I hang out with an athletic person. However, it is good for me to hang out with the athletic people because they challenge me.

The training will begin on October 12, 2009. The training is comprised of a three day a week program that begins with baby steps of jogging. I have two friends who are interesting in participating in this with me. Is anyone else interested in participating or training with me?

I might need some encouragement in this new goal so the next time you see me ask me if I have been doing my training.

PS...this is how my brain works...if I say I am going to do something and it is widely known...it is hard for me to back out of it.

One of my Rare “Girly Moments”

I was invited to a friend’s house for a party on Saturday night. I was excited to go and I thought I should take some time to pay special attention to my appearance for once, so I decided to wear this new skirt I had purchased the week before. This skirt has special significance as it is the only such item currently in my wardrobe. I don’t normally purchase skirts because I don’t like the way they look on me but when I saw the skirt, it immediately appealed to me. It was denim (of course) and has some cute little flares at the bottom. When I purchase clothes I don’t buy them unless I think they look good on me, and viola it did. In comparison, I tried on at least 20 (this is not an exaggeration) shirts and only ended up purchasing four of them.

After showering on Saturday I knew I wanted to wear the skirt but I wasn’t sure what to put with it. BTW…I had to shave my legs for the second time that day just to wear this item. I stood in my closet for a few minutes and pulled out a plain black sweater. I put it on and walked around for a bit. Then I went to the closet and tried on a pair of shoes. I am the type of person who likes to ALWAYS wear socks, so I wasn’t digging the healed Mary Jane’s without socks. Then I thought that I could wear my black tights…as I walked around I was already hot in the sweater so I discarded the shoes, tights and sweater.

I was almost naked again and I still needed to put the outfit together from scratch. I again looked in my closet for a magic shirt that wasn’t in there and I finally settled on a grey short sleeve sweater that has cute white puffed sleeves. I was beginning to like the outfit but, I was back to the shoe issue. I tried on a pair of brown clogs but they didn’t match…then I decided the best option was my black Sketchers without socks. I assure you, the no sock thing bothered me the entire evening.

Then I had to think about the jewelry. I put on my favorite necklace and it has several colors so I had to be careful when choosing my earrings. I usually wear my diamonds but I need new backs for them so they were out of the mix. After much indecision I decided upon my black pearl earrings that I purchased when I was in China. I think they fit in well with my shirt and necklace.

As I was getting ready to leave I looked back at my bedroom and realized that I have made a horrendous mess. There were shoes everywhere and dis-guarded shirts and tights on the couch. Is this the routine that girls normally go through when they get dressed? If so, it sucks. I am glad that I am normally a decisive person and I can go into my closet and come out dressed quickly. The best thing is that I usually match! I know that is the normal routine for many women but it was decidedly abnormal for me.

Checking Accounts for the "Unbanked" Population

Perhaps my Liberal friends should stop reading now:

I read this article in the Indianapolis Star last week and it pissed me off! It talked about getting checking accounts for people in Indiana who don't currently have a bank account. The article said that there were three primary reasons that the unbanked didn't have accounts:

1. Excessive Overdrafts or below minimum balances
2. Illegal Immigrants
3. Being afraid of the banks.

The article went on to talk about a program that Mayor Ballard is rolling out to help the "unbanked people" of Indiana. I am calling BS! Seriously!

The three reasons listed are clear to me why they don't or cannot have accounts. First of all, the article talks about all of the fees that the unbanked people pay using payday loan services to cash checks. They state the large amortization of paying $4 ($208 yearly) a week to cash a check. Duh...excessive overdrafts can cause a monetary irresponsible person to pay significantly more than that per year. I think that the people who cannot control themselves with a checking account are better off paying the check cashing fees and money order fees than paying exorbitant overdraft fees. Can the bank really teach irresponsible people to become responsible? I don't think so.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that banks should just cater to A+ credit risks but they should be a bit more responsible. There are already banks that have existing programs to help people who have bad banking history. Why does Mayor Ballard need to become involved. I find this to be a business matter and not a political matter. We already have a bad history of governmental interference in the banking industry. Aren't we currently in a housing crisis for this very reason. Hasn't the government bailed out numerous banks due to poor decision making? When will the madness stop.

The second group addressed in this article are illegal immigrants. I don't agree with special concessions for illegal immigrants. The word "Illegal" says everything. Getting a green card will open many doors. I think our country does a horrendous job addressing the illegal immigrant problem. My belief is to have much tighter border security but also allow significantly more legal immigrants access to our country. The bottom line is I don't think we should make it easy for illegal immigrants to get checking accounts.

The third group was people who are distrustful of the banking system. Is this little program really going to change that groups mind? I don't think so! That is why we live in America, we all don't have to herd together and do the same thing. Why does Mayor Ballard think that everyone should have a bank account even if they clearly don't want it. Why are we spending governmental dollars this way?

The author states that there are 79,000 residents in Marion county without a bank account. The current population of Marion county is 880,380. The 79,000 represents 9% of the population. Is this hoopla necessary? What do you think of this article? Do you agree or disagree with this viewpoint.