I am not going to write every day's progress and experiences, I promise, but today... Well, today was a bit of a surprise for me, so I thought it would be good to share it.
To be honest, considering I don't have that much weight to lose (if any at all), I have not and will not expect rapid declines in my weight (if I lose 5 kilos by the end of the program, that's gonna be great). Moreover, after all the food yesterday - all in total I ate like 1.7l of food (not counting the juice) - I was not thinking I was on diet anymore. In the evening before going to bed, I simply sighed and thought "Oh well, who cares if I don't lose weight, I'm still within the normal range for my height" (163cm). So in the morning I simply step on the scales to record the weight of today, no expectations. And after I saw the weight, I had to step back off, look at it in wonder till the blinking number disappeared and just step back up... And again the electric scales show the same 55.7. Same time, same clothes (=no clothes), exactly 24 hours after the previous measure... 0.8kg off? nearly a kilo?
I mean, I understand, it is not permanent, it is probably all the water and all... And tomorrow I will be back to my 56.5, but hey - I have NOT been under 56 in the past half a year!!! When my scales showed 56.0 were the happy days. So, whatever it is, it is the first day in the past 6 months or so i actually went under 56, and I am happy about that.
I walked quite dazed away from the scales, into the kitchen to prepare some Blueberry Applesauce for breakfast... I think I am still surprised, but, boy, it is encouraging. I started my workout like I have the last chance to dance in this life time :)
So, DC went OK, though as I was dancing like crazy, I got pretty tired after 15 minutes, so had to bring it down a notch. Then again jammed in the last 3 minutes or so. I still feel like a hippo a little, heavy and uncoordinated, but better than yday. Still can't follow all the arms motions, but I'm trying. Some movements feel a bit weird, but I will get to it. I am not a very sweating type when I do sports (I'm more like a face-reddening-type), but jeez I was sweating like hell.
MS killed me even more today. I guess because I was pumped from the scales' revelations, so I was really into it. I switched legs today - doing left first, and right second. And I thought my left leg would fall off somewhere in the middle, and I would have to get to emergency... I was really struggling even with right leg (which is so obviously stronger) - exercises 3 and 4 are excruciating (funny but I know this word after reading Harry Potter). But went through it, slower than Tracy does (hence - less reps), but at least I did it all, with only minor little breaks. I have to say, it was the first time in my life I was swearing in full voice... All the advice on how to deal with struggling (like trying to distract your mind by thinking of something pleasant, planning the day, planning what you would write later in the blog - that actually helped me, watch at the shadows on the wall....) - is weeeeell forgotten when you start to really struggle.
Result after two days: minus 0.8kg, I feel great, as if I am flying (I don't take drugs!), I feel lightness in my whole body, my back and shoulder muscles are extremely sore and glute muscles are aching to sit on. The feeling is welcome though and I can't wait to train them again tomorrow. I still feel my muscles awakened even much later after the training. Ah, good day (I even squeezed in laundry for the time I work out)!
A great start!!! I hope you;ll continue loosing weight day by day!)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I stictly disagree with a point of view considering distracting your mind by thinking of smth else but the excercise you are doing at the moment. It is no good! I m a gym fan (so trust me!-)) and every coach will proove you this simple fact: the muscle work is straightly connected with your brain. You should be very concerned on what you're doing, you should think of the muscles that work, try to imagine how they work and how they become stronger (this positive way of thinking is also a very important aspect of the process), othewise you can do the excercise in a wrong way, it may even lead to trauma (t'fu-t'fu-t'fu ) or at least give no effect so you'll work in vain.I'm not thrust my point of view on you but it is a well-known fact - when you;re doing excercises involving strength (sylovye uprazhnenia) you should be very concentrated on those muscles that work, you should feel them every second as if nothing exists except them.
There're many many ways to cheat yourself))
You may invent your own)
I'll just share some with you...
For example when I feel tired to death working on my buts, I start imagining myself in sexy shorts next summer on the beach and...suddenly I gather strenght from these dreams and images and don't stop and do another set of exercises mastering myself.))
Or...Another example...I have a very difficult series of exercises which are aimed at my ABS. For instance I have to do 3 sets containing 30 repeats each. After the 10-th repeat I think "" Someone kill me please! Such a long time till the end!!!I found the means of cheating myself. So as I have to do 30 repeats of this concrete excersise I start counting not "One, two, three..." as usual, but "One, one, one...Two, two, two...". When I come to "Seven-seven-seven" - I only think "" Ha!!! It is just SEVEN, it is so easy!!!Ten is not far!!!I can do it!!!, but in fact I've done "Twenty One"!!! It is about your psychology again. Hope you undersood my complicated explanations))
Long to see your futher success!!!
Take a picture of your equipment, and of yourself in your track-suit, taht would be great!)
Thank you for the Abbreviation List!))
ReplyDelete:) No prob :)
ReplyDeleteWell about concentration... I do try to concentrate. But at the same time when I concentrate too much, it is too hard: i can't continue doing the exercise... Like you know try to hold your arms up at 45 degree angle, and def something will come up: you need to itch, to scratch, to sneeze, whatever. Same here, I start to create excuses. When however, I am half-concentrated (as long as I keep noting and feeling the muscles), but at the same time have some other thoughts (besides self-pity) like planning the day, it actually helps... Really I wouldn't do more than 10 reps if I was constantly concentrated on muscles... Is that really so bad?
It is not bad, it is not right, sorry. Working with muscled demand your brain to be involved, especially when you just started going in for sports, and your movements are not fixed automatically, you should always check whether you're doing right the excersise or not, check it out that no other muscles (that are not supposed to be involved in the process)are not working - for ex. - NO neck muscles while working with your ABS (it is the most common mistake) and so on... I'm sorry, it is really very important.
DeleteAs for me, I can't imagine my usual training without music, it really helps smtimes to distract at the most critical moments, for ex. the last repeats of the set when you have to overcome pain fiercely. I always look for new tracks, and listening to some I clearly see, which one would be great for ABS, which for arms, which for this or that. I like Madonna for her songs are very encouraging, Jey Lo - I use her tracks for buts (guess why?) and Britney for ABS (being young this part of her body was perfect!), a huge part of my playlist is given to all kind of Rap compositions, especially 2Pac or RNB - Black eyed Peas, etc...they are very struggling...
Does Tracy have some music against a background during her trainings? May be it could help?
The main thing about the gym which I like - is that it is a place of total brain vacuum. You come there and forget about your problems, there are only your body and music.When I come to the gym feeling tired or angry or irritated or blue, I know, finally I'll leave quite happy, pleasant with my life and satisfied with myself.
I think in a way, it is also my way of tricking the mind... I keep to it, while still thinking of something else. :) But I totally understand your examples of self-tricking, its useful in everything we do actually.
ReplyDelete