Time vs. Intensity and Backtalk

It’s 6 pm and I am finally home for the night. Wow, what a day… As I signed off from my blog this morning, I left home at 615 am and headed for the gym. Working out has become something I really enjoy, almost every morning. In fact I really miss it on the days I can’t get over there or on the one day I must wait for after work, so that I can meet with the personal trainer. As I said earlier today was set to be a very busy workday and boy did I ever understate that fact. Talk about a lot to get done and nearly not enough time to achieve it all. I was at work by about 730 or 740 and immediately set to work preparing paperwork and such for the many meetings ahead of me. Before I knew it, it was time to get back to Palmer for my first visit. That went well, back to the office, and another meeting down, then a short break before it was off to complete another2 visits in the community Mission accomplished, and back to the office for one final meeting By the time it was all said and done, it was a 10 hour work day. This is normal for many people but not for me, still I was feeling great. I attribute that to the fact that I start the day off with my workouts, as I have felt better in general since I committed myself to this new lifestyle.

At the gym this morning I began with a trip to the cross ramp elliptical, for those who may not know this is an elliptical machine that does not require the occupant to use their arms as well as legs to operate it correctly. As recently as a week ago I would have told you that I could not operate this machine for any longer than a minute. I had tried it a few times and was honestly unable to keep it going longer than 1 minute. Last Saturday during my session with Krista (personal trainer), she challenged me to focus from the abs down this week. In this challenge she said the length of time was not as important as the fact that I could do it as long as possible and at a good speed or intensity. When she left me Saturday I again tried this machine and was successful at getting myself to last a whole 2 minutes – I was stoked. Today though … I made it to 5 and a half minutes. WOW!! I did it, was all I could think – I couldn’t wait to share my success with someone. Now I am not going to sit here and tell you it was easy, in fact it was very difficult. I know to some this sounds like no time at all, but again length of time is not as important as the consistent intensity. At least twice during that short length of time I wanted to quit, but I didn’t. Then it was on to the stair master – my challenge for this is 5 minutes at a moderate speed, which usually ends me up climbing the equivalent of 11 to 12 flights of stairs, the last but certainly not least I completed a 10 minute tread mill routine. The treadmill starts with a moderate walk for a few minutes then the speed goes up to somewhere in the 3.0 – 3.5 range and the incline goes up to 3.0. I do this for 5 minutes then 1 minute back at a 0 incline and lastly 1 minute back at a moderate walk. All said and done this workout was only about 20 minutes in length but the intensities are the most important factor. More than once on each machine I wanted to stop – I was cursing myself, questioning myself, and most of all I found myself just wanting to say enough. But, instead I would back talk those negative thoughts by putting a positive spin on the time ahead of me – instead of “ 5 minutes to go .. I slowly counted backwards (with the timer inside the machine and encouraged myself to just keep it going for only 4 minutes 30 seconds, 4 minutes, 3 minutes 40 seconds, 3 minutes etc… I like to think of this as positive backtalk and a way to encourage myself to keep going, even if the time spans seem inconsequential at this time – I know one day I will be able to go longer and longer time wise, as by doing it the way I just described I will soon be increasing my endurance and strength.

Hope your successes are still in sight – Talk positively to your self, it works!

Until Next Time,

Amber