I'm Running My Life…

Welcome to week 2 of me balancing running (well walking for now) and strength training into my life. If this is your first time reading one of my strength training post, I’m taking a strength training class at Columbia Fitness Boot Camp and sharing my experiences along the way.

Haha!! After week one, I am noticing a few small changes in my body. I actually picked up a heavier weight in class on Monday 🙂 .

This was a very busy week, but somehow I managed to get it all done. It wasn’t easy but actually taking the time to ‘pencil’ it in really helped me to stick with it. On Sunday, I wrote down a plan of action for the upcoming week. I knew what I was having for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I even had my snacks planned out.  I also wrote my workout and eating schedule down as well.  When you plan it is kind of hard to fail (note to self:  Write this in big letters for next week post).

My goal for this week was to incorporate two workouts in one day (2adays) at least three times a week. One day I had the balls to do three in one day!!!

Monday
Cardio

Since I’m still not running, I figured I would go join some of the BGR! weekly meet ups and just walk it out. Cooper and I joined the ladies for a brisk walk on the Summit early that morning. You know that Cooper is a trip 🙂 . I guess he was just so happy to be outside that he decided he wanted to run, which had me running to keep up with him. I’m not going to lie, I loved every minute of it (so ready to run again without pain).

Strength Training

Stepping into boot camp today looked very similar to last Monday.  I was thinking…here we go again about to do the same darn thing :-).  Yes the stations were very similar to last week but this method allows me to really focus on the exerice and learning the correct form.

I really look forward to this class and enjoy doing the circuits. In reading a Shape article, I can agree with most of the benefits they have listed for this type of workout.   For me anytime I can get my bang for my buck, it’s a win win situation.  And with circuit training, I feel as though the workouts are very effective within the 45 minutes we have in the class.  Another benefit is the mixing of cardio and strength training.  Every now and again Mike/Ken will mix cardio with our strenght workouts…okay, who am I kidding…this is an every day occurence here at Columbia Fitness Boot Camp 🙂 .

We were at each station for three rounds before moving on to the next. Once we completed all stations we did them a second time for two rounds. Today’s focus was on the upper body (as is every Monday).  Which included: pushups, bench presses, latteral pulls (on machine) to name a few.

Knowing what is expected really helped me out in several ways:

1. I was able to plan out a more effective workout schedule for the week (which is important when figuring what type of 2/3adays I’m incorporating).
2. I’m more likely to perform the moves correctly since I’m more acclimated with them.

Tuesday
Cardio

Woke up and met my BGR! sole sistahs for a nice three mile walk around the Sandhills. I’m so so ready to run but I don’t think my hammy is tho’ 😦 .

Strength Training

Walked in to a new instructor today. Would have been nice to know all the players up front but no biggie…the show must go on and it did. Ken (the other instructor) was awesome. You can tell he had a great rapport with the ladies because they all joked around and gave him a hard time when he started us out on arms (today was lower body). Well he quickly informed us that he ‘had this’.  Let me just say…we really focused on the lower body!!!  I don’t think I have ever done so many variations of squats before 🙂 . We also worked on our abs and ran it out using the step.  The last ten minutes of the class was pretty intense (for me).  Intense because here I go again about to tackle the bike.  I had just did 45 minutes at lunchtime on the bike (and may I add, I wasn’t that good at it).  Oh well, NO PAIN NO GAIN!!!  Ken had us going from level 1 to level 3 every so often.  My legs were really thanking me after that…NOT.

Wednesday

Thursday

Cardio

I guess I was feeling myself this day (don’t mind the picture…I do not let my curls stop me from working out LOL).

I woke up and led the group in our Thursday morning run/walk. I walked for the most part but ran up all the hills on the route 🙂 .

For lunch, I decided to give SWEAT a try.  SWEAT is a 45-minute full-body cycling workout that incorporates resistance and core exercises on the bike. The instructor had us moving and working our shoulders, triceps, biceps, abs and obliques to the beat of the music as we cycled.

Okay this was my first class, so needless to say I felt like a deer in the headlight.  I had not a clue.  Brandon (the manger) was very welcoming by showing me around the facility and setting up my bike.  I guessed I missed the part where he said ‘let your butt hang off the seat’.  I can tell you for sure that  I didn’t keep up with the instructor.  When people say they love cycling classes, I give them the side eye. There was nothing fun about that class. I felt trapped on the bike (foot secured in pedal). When trying to stand I must have freaked out because my foot popped out of the pedal and scared the heck out of me (needless to say I was nervous standing up again) and it took me almost five minutes just to get my foot back secure on that dayum pedal. Oh and my azz was on fire half way into class.  Even with all that, I’m looking forward to trying again next week. I refuse to let that bike beat me 🙂 .

Strength Training

There is nothing bad to say about this strength training class.  I really look forward to Thursdays because I never know what to expect. Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty standard (focusing on lower and upper body respectively).  Yeah, I know that Thursday is total body but the workouts are never the same.  Mike is always switching it up.  Today’s class had us working on abs, shoulders, legs, the back and triceps (just to name a few).  It was a great workout!!

Friday/Saturday

Until I start running again, I’m going to have to find something to fill either both or at least one of these days.  Stay tuned to find out what I was able to work in next week.

So that was my week in a nutshell.

How do you find balance?