Bummer Dude

What an interesting year for me in the area of fitness/workout knowledge. I started weight lifting in college... along with doing step aerobics (with slouch socks and the thong over the bike shorts look.. but we won't discuss that now). Regardless, I have been weight lifting for a long time... and I love working out and challenging myself... or so I thought.

In the past year of studying to get my personal training certification, I realized I don't know jack crap.

• I had no idea of how the human body REALLY moves and works. I am learning more about it and its fascinating!
• My world has been opened to a huge arena of amazing trainers and programs and ideas that I never knew existed before. I can't get enough of reading their blogs, books and listening to their podcasts. (Nick Tumminello, Leigh Peele, Alwyn Cosgrove, Todd Durkin, Craig Ballantine, the Fit Cast, Tom Venuto, Chris and Kara Mohr and Alan Aragon...just to name a few).
• I am learning moves.. and I mean really learning how to do moves that I have been doing for years...squats, lunges, deadlifts. I am learning for the first time how to clean, push press, kettlebell swing. It is a bit bewildering how much new stuff I am learning about stuff I thought I knew!!

I am as fit as I have ever been in my life and yet there is SO MUCH MORE room for growth.

I wish I would have had a strength coach or a weight lifting mentor when I started. I can only imagine where I would be now. I never really progressed beyond "doing 3 sets of 10"that I read in a fitness magazine. That is where I was comfortable. That is what I knew. I did not really know about how to push my limits... how to really grow my strength, my fitness level, my capacities.

I am learning now and I guess that is better than never learning it.

I read the other day that it takes 10 years to master a certain field.

I can hardly wait to see where I am in 10 years. It should be wonderful.

Round 2 Weeks 9 & 10: Playing and Learning

I can't lie. 12 weeks is a long time for me to follow a plan. While I have cracked down more on the food simply because I was feeling really bad there for a few weeks (fatigue, depression, lack of motivation, weight gain), I have started to play with my workouts more. I have been doing crossfit a couple of times a week which has been fun. I have also been putting together workouts that I want to do. Today was leg day but I didn't want to go in to the gym so I created a great leg circuit in my workout room and had a blast. I like workouts where I can feel playful and joyful. I will probably open this up even more once I get through my plan.

2 weeks from being done and I am pretty sure I am not going to hit my 18% goal nor my goal to be able to run the Monument 10k wearing just a sports bra and running shorts in order to show off some killer abs. While there is a bit of disappointment in saying that, I am ok with it. I have learned a ton about myself and my body over the past 10 weeks (how many people can say that?!) I am sure if I would have executed the original plan flawlessly I would have met my goals.

But there were times I wasn't happy and I wasn't feeling good. When that was the case, I made modifications and got help. It is funny to me that what helped with my food was really getting strict back to the original plan and writing down my food again. I feel good again and am enjoying the tracking of the eating. With my workouts, it meant being more open. I like to play and explore and push and move. This is one reason why I love being a personal trainer.

"Oh you don't like that exercise or can't do it? Lets try this one instead!"

" I just found this great new workout. Lets try it and see how it is. "

With clients I am able to increase my cycles of learning and learn more than I ever could on my own... and they get more fit because of it. win-win!

Some of you had asked what is next for me when this 12 weeks is up... I am not sure is my answer at the moment. I want to continue to get leaner for sure but I feel like I need a rest from following a prescribed plan. What ever is next it will definitely involve playing and learning!