JUST DO IT!

JUST DO IT!

Filthy Fifties on Friday the Fourth

Today was awesome.. Poor Jaxi is sick as can be from some little bug that is lingering in his tummy after California, but taking it in stride! After a few bouts of vomit, all Jaxi wanted to do was sleep. Tommy and I (and two little munchies) tucked him back into bed and headed for the gym.

I had mentally prepared myself all week for today. I usually have from 8pm the night before, until I walk through the door at 7:15 am, to gear up for the torture of a new day. Today was different. Jason told me about the RX'd workout, for Friday, on Monday. I watched the video everyday, sometimes two and three times. I am no dummy. I know my strengths. I know my weaknesses. I know better than to admit either, in front of anyone. I knew that this workout was gonna be a killer. I was ready.

Who the heck was I kidding?

I got smashed. Like a bug to a windshield. It was brutal. I had to modify one of my exercises because I came down way too hard the 3rd time I went up the rope on Monday and my knee has been hurting since. I hate modifying.

The filthy fifties are as follows:
50 Box Jumps
50 Jumping Pull Ups
50 KB Swings 53m/35w
50 Walking Lunges (50 steps, not 50 ft)
50 Knees to Elbows
50 Push Press 45m/30w
50 Back Extensions
50 Wall Ball 20m/14w
50 Burpees
50 Double Unders


One round for time. I watched the machine we know as Kelly, rip through this...in 39:08. She is an animal. She is 40 and I want to be in the kinda shape she is in. I tend to dream big.


Funny thing is, for me, this is no longer about the workout..or the training as it is referred to at our gym. It is about inner and outer strength. I love watching the women and men push their bodies harder and faster and more than they ever thought possible. I love knowing that my kids are seeing their parents get strong and learning to push past the everday stresses and problems that so many people complain about.


I love feeling my muscles twitch, involuntarily, 20 minutes, after I have finished my last round. Seeing the sweat drip off my fingertips when I am holding a kettlebell, feeling the burning in my thighs as I throw the wallball up and praying that I catch it without my biceps giving out. To me, this is inner emotional and outer physical strength. Beautiful, ripped up strength. Waking up everyday, waiting, knowing, I can take anything someone throws my way. It is a great feeling. It is trickling over into our entire families attitudes and our physiques.


Friday's filthy fifties brought out some serious challenges for us. People almost fainted when they got to the wallball. Some had to lay down to regain focus and some ran for the bathroom. Not one single person quit. No one stopped for good and everyone cheered everyone on. We were all a team and no one was going to be left behind.


I actually did the 50 double unders at the end of this workout. I was so physically exhausted I didn't think I would be able to jump rope (it was a 10:1 ratio for single jumps) let alone double under. I did it. My time, well, to me, it wasn't so sweet. 47:01 or something like that. My time didn't matter. (In the end, I was in the top 4. Still not good enough for me though) I helped three people push themselves harder than they thought possible when they walked through the front door. I had Tommy yelling at me to get it in gear or I was going to go above his time, while double undering. I had sweat dripping off every muscle my body owns. My lungs were on fire and my legs were numb. I have never in my life felt so physically and emotionally energized like I was, when I finished this.

Today I could have taken on the world. Our kids are seeing how this is changing the way we see things. How we feel about ourselves and others and how happy feeling so fit makes us.

A long time ago, Tommy told me, "the couple that works out together, stays together." If the past 17 workouts are any indication of this statement... this man is stuck with me for a long, long time.

~SWITCHING TEAMS~

Tommy and I did a new workout today. We always compete with each other, but against each other, if that makes any sense. Today he brought Matt and Dulce in from his squad and we did a team workout. I took Dulce on my team and Tommy took Matt. They killed us by 5 minutes on our time. Now with that being said, Matt is ginormous at 6'5" or something like that, so one of his rowing strokes is like 25 of mine. INSANE! You guys did awesome. I, on the other hand, can not walk now. You will not see a picture of me laying down though!! 150 wall balls, 150 kettle bell swings and 5000 meters on the rower. Rules were... you can only have one person resting at one time, and you can not do the same exercise at the same time. BUST IT OUT! Dang it was hard!

YOU KNOW IT IS AN AWESOME WORKOUT WHEN YOU CAN STILL DO THE THUMBS UP HOLDING THE PUKE BUCKET!!!! I LOVE IT!

A SHIFT...

I have been feeling it for over a week now. Nothing earth shattering. It wasn't like a lightning bolt. Gradual, one might say.

The summer has been hard on me. I know my kids see it. I should say they hear it daily. I scream at them to pick-up, get-up, shut-up, clean-up, stop hitting, stop screaming (yes, I am screming as I am telling them to stop screaming.) It makes absolute no sense for me to hit them while yelling, "stop hitting," but sheer frustration had set in and my children were becoming animals and I was fried.

They fight like cats and dogs some days. They say the nastiest things to each other, they kick and yell and throw things at each other...all before 9 am most days. Planning days of things to do has not helped. They are typical little kids that are good until after the fun. Then the tired little demons were coming out to play and I was furiously screaming and threatening and constantly spanking. Then the days started appearing where they were nice to each other for longer than 8 seconds at a time. Brinkley was cleaning the toys up without being asked. Jax started helping with Pudgie and wanted to play nicely with Brinkley all day. I started wondering whose kids these were and when they arrived on my doorstep.

It hit me today while I was driving home from a very disappointing outing at Tempe's Splashpads . It was never about my kids. It was about me and my attitude towards them and myself. My attitude shifted when Tommy and I started training at the gym we now belong to. I took away my kids ability to run the house. I changed my attitude. My kids had too many choices and as bad as it sounds.... Summer would now be about ME and how I wanted to have fun. I started looking past the insignificant things and centering our family's world on some more important things. It seems funny to even talk about it. Somehow though, I can see past some things that were making me irate two weeks ago and laugh at things I was spanking my kids for.

It is still just a little shift. A little shift that made me decide to run at the gym today. I have not run in 6 and a half years because of my accident. I was told to never run..ever. I was told I shouldn't run. I was told I can't run. I believed some of this for a long time. It overflowed into other aspects of my life for so long. CAN'T, SHOULDN'T, WON'T, DON'T...... I didn't realize how those words were making things miserable around here for me.... and to top it off, I have been taking it out on my kids and Tommy all summer long.

It is amazing how good it feels to not yell at the kids because we have toys on the floor. The dishes can wait, some days, for hours on end. Someone always offers to help with this and that and in reality, when I don't yell, things gets done faster and the house is nicer to be in. Laundry is not going anywhere, so why scream about that. Summer is really almost over and then another will come and go until there are no more summers like this. Owning up to my attitude and actions is what it comes down to. There are still going to be days that I would sell my kids to the lowest bidder. Days that I don't dare blog about because it would need serious sensoring....

All in all though...it ain't so bad. And I think I may just run again!

Muscles!

I love going to the gym with TOMMY. He is the best workout partner. I just love him! Some days I love him so much I make up some wonderful names for him. Some days I love him so much I don't even bother going near him at the gym because the love is just spewing from me like verbal vomit. Some days I just love him so much I lay on the mat and stretch the entire time we are at the gym just so I can watch him lift. That is because Some days... I just don't want to be there. He is so dedicated and some days I am not! Thankfully I am waaaaay too competitive to let him get more days in than me.

When we first started dating he would always say to me, "The couple that works~out together, stays together." I am sure that is not always the case for some people, but it has sure worked for us for over 10 years now. There are days that I just really don't want to be there.....After all, 30 Reese's peanut butter cups does sound better than 50 pound dumbbells most days. But..

There is something to be said for
climbing up that hill,

when you would rather slide down it,
for doing the sit ups,

when you would rather lay down,
and

for lifting the weights,

when you would rather lift the chocolate!

Thank you for getting me to LIFT UP all those evil weights, so I can GO DOWN in jean sizes my love! I love you, even when I am so sore I can't pick up the baby!

Here's to our workouts of the past and to the new ones yet to come!