4/17/2016: 12 Week Challenge, Day 2!

Weight:  162.6 pounds - I've made a little progress already!

Yesterday was an exciting day for me as I dreamed up the idea to start a 12 Week Challenge, set goals with Lauren (my personal trainer), made a brand new chart (I do love my charts!), and put up my first blog post in months.  I was practically giddy about getting back on track and accepting the challenge to reach my new goals.  I am a goal oriented person and it helps me so much to have something specific to work towards.  I was really pleased with how my chart turned out and today I got to put my first mark on it, showing an 8/10 of a pound weight loss.  It was a good way to start!!

I had a great workout with Lauren yesterday.  I can't put my finger on why, exactly, but working out with a trainer completely changes the way I feel about lifting weights.  If I do it alone I have trouble pushing myself beyond comfortable.  I also feel like it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get through all of the exercises.  I think constantly about what I could eliminate to make the workout shorter.  But when I work out with Lauren I almost have fun.  In fact, maybe I actually enjoy it.  I look forward to her coming here.  I don't do it because I have to, I do it because I want to.  The effect lasts all week, too.  She designs three workouts a week for me, one we do together and the other two I do on my own.  My desire to fulfill her expectations drives me and gets me out of bed in the morning.  I don't want to disappoint her, so I get up and work out.  I also don't shortcut her routines.  I don't know why it motivates me so, but it does.  I like Lauren, she is still relatively new to this business, but she is keen to succeed.  She listens carefully and designs workouts to help me achieve my goals.  Finding a good personal trainer that really listens and responds to your needs is as tough as finding a good shrink.  I've worked with several different personal trainers over the last 15 years and I have found two that I really enjoyed working with.  The first one was Jeremy, my first trainer at 24 Hour Fitness.  He quit the business (after I followed him to Aspen Fitness Center and signed a three year contract) because he could make considerably more money building decks with his dad.  I worked with quite a few trainers between him and Lauren, but finally found Lauren at the beginning of 2015.  Unfortunately, she left Gold's Gym (my Aspen membership transferred to Gold's) and I had learned my lesson about following trainers from gym to gym.  It's a tough business.  You never know how long they are going to hang in there.

But finally, all of my gym memberships expired and I was not beholden to any particular gym.  I was a free agent again!  I poked around, visited gyms, talked to trainers, and nothing felt right.  I did not want to invest a bunch of time and money with someone that I didn't enjoy training with.  I kept thinking about Lauren, but her new gym was too far away from home and work.  I had made that mistake before, too.  If the gym isn't convenient, I don't go very often.  Finally I decided to offer to pay her to come here and she accepted.  As I said in yesterday's blog post, the arrangement is working out great for both of us.  She gets paid enough from this one session a week that she was able to give up her part-time gig installing hard wood floors.  Since she is coming here, I can be very flexible with regard to what day a week we work out together, so she can fit me into her schedule.  I have a pretty decent collection of equipment here, so she can design robust workouts.  I am thrilled with the arrangement!

Here is a photo of my little home gym:

Home gym - 4/17/16

This is the back half of our family room.  On warm sunny days like yesterday, I open the blinds and the windows.  It is a delightful place to work out.

And here is the workout I did yesterday with Lauren:

4/16/16 Workout

I've done this workout twice, the first time on my own, those notes are in black.  The second time was yesterday with Lauren, her notes are in red.  She changed it up a little bit on the fly, but you get the idea.  The workout takes a solid hour and it is hard work!  But when it's over, I feel great.  As I've said before, I love to exercise - the other 23 hours a day.

The clock just chimed for 8:00AM so I better run.  I have a lot of cooking I have to get done before kickball this afternoon.  Go Tequila Mockingbirds!!!!