Feeling stronger with more endurance

During my workout at the AT&T Sports Center this morning, I couldn’t help but think back to just a couple of months ago.

There was a time early during this Trim to Win challenge when I thought running a mile on the track was just too much to handle. Now, I start every workout by running a mile.

During this process, I’ve tried to look at more than just the number on the scale. Increasing strength and endurance have become important as I continue to work to lose more weight. There have been several weeks where I have lost only a couple of pounds, but I am reassured by the fact that I know I am stronger and I have much more endurance than I did two months ago. And I can feel that during my workouts.

Also, I thought I should blog more specifically about what I’ve been doing at the Sports Center. The bulk of my workouts lately have centered around circuit training. I really like taking the variety of things I can do, and mixing and matching to create different combinations on different days. Krista, AT&T’s trainer extraordinaire, has provided me with a wealth of options.

The following is what I did this morning at the Sports Center.

• Started by jogging 12 laps on the AT&T Sports Center indoor track, which is a mile.

• Walked a 13th lap to stretch the old muscles out and catch my breath a little.

• Clean and press, three sets of 10 reps. This is a lift that I typically do early during the workout, simply because it has the tendency to kick my butt.

• Run a lap. This keeps the heart rate up between exercises, and that helps burn calories.

• Abdominal work. This is the one where you lay back on the weight bench, lift your chest off the bench by holding on to the bar and lift your legs until they’re at a 45 degree angle with the bench. Three sets, 15, 12 and 10 reps.

• Once again, run a lap.

• Vertical press on the weight machine. Start at one weight and scale down for four sets — 15, 12, 10, 8. This is supposed to sort of burn that muscle group.

• You guessed it, run a lap. Actually, at this point it’s more of a jog. But for me, there’s a point where there is not much of a difference between my run and my jog.

• Lat pull down machine. Start at one weight and scale down for four sets — 5, 12, 10, 8.

• Run a lap.

• Curls with dumbbells. Start at one weight and scale down for four sets — 5, 12, 10, 8.

• Jog a lap. I certainly didn’t have much left in the tank at this point.

• Wall squats. Lean against an exercises ball, against a wall, and squat. Three sets of 20.

• Planks. This is just simply holding yourself in a push-up position without doing the push ups. It sort of burns what’s left in your arms and engages the abs. I try to hold for 30 seconds, three times.

• Stretch.

I actually got quite a bit done, which I’m happy about. Like I said, I try to mix it up quite a bit. It helps prevent boredom in your workouts, and I’m also learning that your body responds better to variety.

Tomorrow, I’ll see what Krista has planned for me.

Continued luck to all,

JB