Woman in Motion
It's almost the New Year. And this time, we're facing not just the end of a year, but the end of a decade. Because many people will be making resolutions to get healthier in the next few weeks, I thought I'd share a little bit of my own journey this past year, as well as a few takeaways that I’ve found useful as I've worked to get active again.
This is my sweet mama. Her name was Margaret. She was an English teacher and a librarian.
She also lived with severe rheumatoid arthritis. She fought it for much of my growing up years, trying a laundry list of medications to treat it, in addition to two knee replacements and a hip replacement.
Many RA drugs are immuno-depressant, meaning that mom was particularly susceptible to infection. And in May of 2018, we lost her to a severe infection.
Afterwards, as you can imagine, I was really sad. And I ate my feelings.
I hadn't really been very active since the spring of 2017, when I got a new job that required a lot of overtime and travel. So, after mom died, I gained about 15 pounds in six months. Shortly before Christmas 2018, I took an objective look at myself, and I knew that mom wouldn’t want me to be coping in this way. So, about a year ago, I got in touch with the gym I’d paying fees to (but not going to) and asked about personal training.
And this is the guy who responded to me. His name is Justin, and he also manages the gym. The picture of him on the left is the one the gym uses in their marketing materials. See how friendly he looks? The picture of him on the right is the guy who actually shows up to train you at 5:45 a.m. on Monday mornings. (Totally different guy.)
We did our initial benchmarking and measuring, we talked about my goals (drop a few pounds, increase muscle tone, improve cardio stamina), and we started out with four weeks of two sessions a week. One of the main reasons I was hiring him was that I wanted to get back in shape, but I was worried that I’d injure myself. I hadn't been regularly active in a couple of years, and since that time, I'd turned 40. Basically, I'd lost some confidence in myself, and I needed a safety net. So, off we went.
And I hated this man. I. Hated. Him. There were mornings I dog-cussed him. I shot him the bird regularly (sometimes when he was looking, sometimes when he wasn’t).
None of it phased him. (I think personal trainers are used to being disliked.) He kept showing up, and I kept showing up. And he kept pushing me, and I kept hating him.
But it was working. I was back in the gym again and exercising regularly. After my initial four weeks, I signed up for an open-ended contract of once-a-week training.
When I went on a vacation in the spring (after three months of this torture), I climbed hundreds of steps in and out of the Catacombs in Paris. A 20-something couple in our traveling party was sucking wind and begging for a break, but I was fine.
Five months in, I’d lost 15 pounds. I’d increased my muscle tone. I’d improved my cardio stamina.
And when Justin noticed that on cardio-only days, I was avoiding the Stairclimber in favor of the recumbent bike, he pushed me again. He told me that it was awfully hard to get a cardio workout while you were sitting down. (Side-eye.) He showed me how to use the Stairclimber safely and said that would be a much better option.
Stairclimber it was. I can log about 60 floors in 15 minutes now. When there was a fire in my office building, I walked easily down eight flights, back up eight flights to get our necessaries, down six flights, and back up four flights in the parking garage carrying camera equipment and computers. It was easy because of all the flights I'd logged on the Stairclimber.
I'm a year in now, and I’m doing things I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing before. I took up paddleboarding over the summer. (It’s great for arms and core. You just have to avoid the alligators.) In July, I tried some easy hiking during a business trip to Santa Fe. In October, I took a full-on hiking trip up to the Blue Ridge Mountains outside of Asheville. (I bought my first pair of hiking boots and hunted up waterfalls!) My clothes fit well again.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m no fitness model. I’m just stronger, more solid, and more confident that my body will do what I ask it to do.
I know that everyone can’t afford a personal trainer or a gym membership. It's certainly a splurge for me. If you haven’t been active in a while, though, maybe some of my takeaways from a year of personal training can help you get back into the habit:
And, lastly . . .
Remember that this is a gift. My mom lived most of her adult life with very limited mobility due to her medical issues. But I can run, and walk, and hike, and do all sorts of things. I don’t have to do these things. I GET TO DO these things. Doing these things is a gift I give myself so that I can live a richer, fuller, more enjoyable life.
This is my sweet mama. Her name was Margaret. She was an English teacher and a librarian.
She also lived with severe rheumatoid arthritis. She fought it for much of my growing up years, trying a laundry list of medications to treat it, in addition to two knee replacements and a hip replacement.
Many RA drugs are immuno-depressant, meaning that mom was particularly susceptible to infection. And in May of 2018, we lost her to a severe infection.
Afterwards, as you can imagine, I was really sad. And I ate my feelings.
I hadn't really been very active since the spring of 2017, when I got a new job that required a lot of overtime and travel. So, after mom died, I gained about 15 pounds in six months. Shortly before Christmas 2018, I took an objective look at myself, and I knew that mom wouldn’t want me to be coping in this way. So, about a year ago, I got in touch with the gym I’d paying fees to (but not going to) and asked about personal training.
And this is the guy who responded to me. His name is Justin, and he also manages the gym. The picture of him on the left is the one the gym uses in their marketing materials. See how friendly he looks? The picture of him on the right is the guy who actually shows up to train you at 5:45 a.m. on Monday mornings. (Totally different guy.)
We did our initial benchmarking and measuring, we talked about my goals (drop a few pounds, increase muscle tone, improve cardio stamina), and we started out with four weeks of two sessions a week. One of the main reasons I was hiring him was that I wanted to get back in shape, but I was worried that I’d injure myself. I hadn't been regularly active in a couple of years, and since that time, I'd turned 40. Basically, I'd lost some confidence in myself, and I needed a safety net. So, off we went.
And I hated this man. I. Hated. Him. There were mornings I dog-cussed him. I shot him the bird regularly (sometimes when he was looking, sometimes when he wasn’t).
None of it phased him. (I think personal trainers are used to being disliked.) He kept showing up, and I kept showing up. And he kept pushing me, and I kept hating him.
But it was working. I was back in the gym again and exercising regularly. After my initial four weeks, I signed up for an open-ended contract of once-a-week training.
When I went on a vacation in the spring (after three months of this torture), I climbed hundreds of steps in and out of the Catacombs in Paris. A 20-something couple in our traveling party was sucking wind and begging for a break, but I was fine.
Five months in, I’d lost 15 pounds. I’d increased my muscle tone. I’d improved my cardio stamina.
And when Justin noticed that on cardio-only days, I was avoiding the Stairclimber in favor of the recumbent bike, he pushed me again. He told me that it was awfully hard to get a cardio workout while you were sitting down. (Side-eye.) He showed me how to use the Stairclimber safely and said that would be a much better option.
Stairclimber it was. I can log about 60 floors in 15 minutes now. When there was a fire in my office building, I walked easily down eight flights, back up eight flights to get our necessaries, down six flights, and back up four flights in the parking garage carrying camera equipment and computers. It was easy because of all the flights I'd logged on the Stairclimber.
I'm a year in now, and I’m doing things I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing before. I took up paddleboarding over the summer. (It’s great for arms and core. You just have to avoid the alligators.) In July, I tried some easy hiking during a business trip to Santa Fe. In October, I took a full-on hiking trip up to the Blue Ridge Mountains outside of Asheville. (I bought my first pair of hiking boots and hunted up waterfalls!) My clothes fit well again.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m no fitness model. I’m just stronger, more solid, and more confident that my body will do what I ask it to do.
I know that everyone can’t afford a personal trainer or a gym membership. It's certainly a splurge for me. If you haven’t been active in a while, though, maybe some of my takeaways from a year of personal training can help you get back into the habit:
- It’s ok to start slow. My early workouts were with very light weights. I was unsure of myself, and so we increased the exertion gradually as I felt more confident.
- It doesn’t have to be fancy. I’ve typed every workout we’ve done into the notes section of my iPhone so I can refer to it later. Many of the workouts we’ve done can be accomplished at your house with a chair/couch, some light weights, and your own bodyweight. I’ve made do in so many crappy hotel gyms. (Though I *do* find myself checking out the hotel gym online before I book rooms for business travel!)
- Do what you can keep doing. You don’t have to be always blowing your body out of the water for every workout. What’s made a difference for me is consistency over time. Go do SOMETHING, even if you take your intensity down a peg on an off day. This has also held true for me as far as WHEN I work out. If I don’t do it first thing in the morning, it doesn’t happen. So that’s when I do it – when I can KEEP doing it.
- Have patience. It took you a while to get out of shape. It’ll take you a while to get back in shape. I call this the Hate-Wait-Appreciate model. I hated exercising and my personal trainer. But I was committed to showing up and getting my workouts in. So I did it. And I waited. And over time, I was able to appreciate what it was doing for me.
- Break things into smaller pieces. Smaller. No, smaller. Sometimes, I still have to talk myself into each step of working out. My alarm will ring, and I'll tell myself, "You're just going to get up and put on your gym clothes. You may not even go to the gym after that. You may just sit in a chair and read a book!" And then, once I'm up and dressed, I'll sometimes have to tell myself, "You're just going to drive to the gym. Once you get there, you may just sit in the parking lot and look at your phone. You're just going to drive there." And so on. And so on. (Sometimes, it's still real hard, y'all.)
- Music and variety can help you. My workout playlist has grown, friends. It's full of upbeat songs that I love, so it helps motivate me to move. And when I do cardio, I mix it up – only about 15 minutes at one thing if I’m at the gym - treadmill, Stairclimber, elliptical machine. I recently started trying out the rowing machine, so that's another one I can use to avoid boredom. And when the weather's nice, I'll go for a 3-mile walk or paddle board for an hour or two.
- Good shoes matter. Your feet are the foundation of everything. Go get fitted for good trainers to keep your feet happy.
And, lastly . . .
Remember that this is a gift. My mom lived most of her adult life with very limited mobility due to her medical issues. But I can run, and walk, and hike, and do all sorts of things. I don’t have to do these things. I GET TO DO these things. Doing these things is a gift I give myself so that I can live a richer, fuller, more enjoyable life.
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