Five.

So this may sound a little corny but here goes.... So I'm at a point in my life where I feel very secure.  I'm about to get married, I finally live in a house that feels like home, I have two dogs with whom I think of as my children, and as unstable as the economy is I'm pretty sure I have a stable job.  Everything just seems to have fallen into place.

And now I have MY gym.... it's nice to walk down the stairs and be welcomed by my name... or with a hollered "LB!!!!!!" And to have a trainer there that keeps me going there, even when I don't want to.  I have been a member to numerous gyms and this is the first one that feels right...

See, cheesy.... I know but hey whatever works for you and this seems to be working for me :)

Anyway, so yesterday was Tuesday and we all know Tuesday means 7:30pm torture session with Frankie.....

This time I am going handicapped though.  I made the mistake, the night before, of placing the pad of my thumb on a hot pan while taking my dinner out of the oven.... And then I peeled the blister off leaving myself with a nice fresh quarter sized layer of painfully new skin.

So I meet up with Frankie and here we go.... he instantly walks towards those tormenting medicine balls. Of course I have to object, 'we are NOT doing those torture push ups again, right??????'
He laughs, no this is something different.... I don't like how that sounds...

So we go over to our usual area and he explains we are going to do a cardio sandwich.... um, no thank you,I'm not hungry......

He then explains it's four moves sandwiched between a quarter mile run on the treadmill. (Oh God I hate running)

So he gets me on the treadmill and sets it to 5.0 MPH... This I can handle, a light jog, no problem... apparently this was a problem because he cranked it up to 5.3 mph... I guess 5.0 seemed toooo easy.
I have to admit it wasn't bad, until I went to step off the treadmill.  At my .25 mile mark I hit the stop button, which very quickly slows the machine to a stop.  I must have miscalculated when the belt would stop moving and ended up doing some sort of ballerina looking move nearly losing my balance one leg on the belt one in the air with my face facing the belt... phew that was close...

"Good moves..." Frankie says... thanks pal.

Then we move on to the first of the four moves...

Squat and toss... starting with the 15lb medicine ball held at your chest you dip into a squat and lift back into standing position tossing the ball in the air and catching it.  When you catch it you dip back into a squat and repeat.  10 of these.
This sounds pretty easy except for the burn on my hand being hit every.time.i.catch.the.ball. :x
 First one up, caught, dip... piece of cake!  Second one up catch, oh shit slip, bounce off face, Frankie laughing "did you just hit yourself in the face hahaha,"  yea, I knew that was gonna happen... I'm not exactly what they call graceful.  Luckily I didn't hurt myself, just kinda let it slip through my fingers just enough to knock me in the nose..... I got through the rest of them with no further incident.

Next move, burpee jumps.... say what???  Basically you drop into a frog position, switch to a push up position )no push ups though) then back to the frog position and jump as far as you can... it reminded me of leap frog.

Just ten of these.  Again I say no problem... jump... ribbit... one.... jump... ribbit.... two.... jump.... ribbit.... three.... shit my legs are getting tired.... juuuuump, uh that was hard..... ribbit.... four.... catch my breath... jummmmmmppppp, ughhhhh..... ribbit.... five.... Ok now turn and back the other way!


I took that as hey time for a break stretch it out.... phew..... here comes the sweat.... ok.... five more..... gulp..... five, four, threeeeeeeeeee, t...t...twooooo...... oooooooooooonnnnnnneeeeeee.... DONE! Shit those last two suck!

OK READY SET NEXT MOVE!  On the ground! Catapult crunches... lay on your back in sit up position with your arms stretched out long towards the medicine ball on the ground.  Grab the ball and while lifting into a crunch catapult the 15 pound ball at Frankie...... Hmmmm.... this could be better than I thought.......

Do you know how difficult it is to do this move????? 15 of these.... no don't get me wrong, I really wanted to throw a heavy ball at Frankie... I REALLY wanted to... that wasn't really that hard after I got used to the motion.  I hard part was going up in a complete sit up.... use the weight of the ball to propel you, he says... yea Frankie, easier said than done!

Next move... squats holding the medicine ball above my head... these were ACTUALLY easy for me.  Those damned squats that I curse I was actually welcoming....   That's gotta be a good sign.

Then back to the treadmill... .25 miles.... and back to the kick ass moves.... then back to the treadmill... then back to the moves.... then end with the treadmill....

And my half hour is up yessssss!!!!!....... noooooooo..... we are not done?????

Ok, Frankie says, we're going to have you walk at a 3.0mph pace on the treadmill and I'm going to increase the incline 2 degrees every minute.... start at 2 degrees.... then four... six..... phew I can feel that burn.... eight.... I feel like I'm mountain climbing.... ten.... oh this minute is longggggg..... eight..... ahhhh that's better.... six..... I can do this.... four...... piece of cake.... two..... walk in the park..... done.

Next week we take my measurements.... and I have to start a food diary........

torture session 5/52

***JOY***