Swish. Swish. Swish. The palms of my hands pressed up against the cold metal bars. Swish. Swish. Swish. Oh good, my heart rate increased. Swish. Swish. Swish. I glance down at the red numbers changing second by second. Swish. Swish. What?! It’s only been three minutes that I’ve been on this damn machine?!? Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish…
Spring Break is this week and I am without my beloved tennis, Pilates, and yoga classes and to make up for those lost work-out opportunities, I’ve been swishing away the calories at the gym.
Perfect tennis weather!
Four minutes into my work-out I sent a text message to my sister, Alyssa, complaining about how boring the gym is. It’s amazing how long it takes for time to pass when I’m going miles without even moving three feet. If you want to find out what I’m like when bored, come see me on the elliptical or treadmill at my local gym. Even more fidgety than a three year old getting their portrait taken; I have an incredibly hard time working out on an exercise machine.
Most of the weight that I have lost in the past has been with my favorite seductress, the Hill. She stares down at me from above, taunting me with the thought of what I’ll see when I finally climb to the top of her. I love that wind breezing by my ears as I take long steps pushing myself up her, fighting back the urge to stop and take a break. Finally, when I get to the top of that hill, even though I feel like my heart is beating as fast as the squirrels I passed, I look out into the horizon. I take a deep breath and smile to myself, knowing that my struggle was instantly rewarded with a magnificent view of rolling green hills or bright blue coastlines.
Unfortunately the only satisfaction I get at the gym when I’m done with my “goal of a set time” is when I spray down my machine and wipe off my germs with a paper towel. “Oh good, now I can help make sure someone else doesn’t get my sweat on their hands.” Exciting, I know.
This year has been very different for me as I have chosen to try out many different ways of exercise so I could work out parts of my body that have often been ignored. I signed up for Pilates so I could get rid of the fat that hugs my core. I registered for yoga so I could gain flexibility and be able to someday touch my nose to my toes. I just started tennis so I could get rid of my bingo wings. Last weekend I went ice skating in hopes of making it a regular occurance so I can really sculpt my leg muscles into the long and lean “stems” they deserve to be. Typically when ice skating I just end up with blisters but this time around, I ended up with no blisters but did get a gnarly bruise on the front of my ankle but for good reason. I forced myself to ice skate backwards for the first time! I knew I could do it roller blading so since the ice skating rink was empty enough, I gave it a shot. I did really well except I obviously put way too much pressure on the front part of my shin! But the good news is that according to myfitnesspal, I burned 923 in the 1 hour and 15 minutes I was ice skating for!
April on ice!
I thought about how many different kinds of ways I have been losing weight this year and how much fun it has been in the process! Challenging myself by doing something new has made the pride I feel in myself more intense than ever when I finish. Plus, it’s been a blast bonding with other classmates about our personal struggles. All three of my classes have been awesome enough to inspire me to do it on my own time too. Today while I was scanning incredibly old raver pictures onto my computer, I practice my “wall sit”. I probably got to around four minutes on one of them! After that, I dragged myself down to the local tennis courts to hit some balls up against their big cement practice wall. I worked up quite the glow while doing it too! It’s tough getting me to shine pink but apparently the constant running around in tennis makes the glow come out much easier!
April and her pink glow from tennis
What’s your favorite way of getting a pink glow going? Or maybe a bright red shade instead? 😉
Lots of love,
PS – I arrived home to a big box from Big Train today, a company that makes a variety of healthy drinks. I’ll be trying out their Chocolate Fit Frappe for the next few weeks and doing a review on the product! Plus, they gave us a few products to do another giveaway! Watch next week when Alyssa posts the details! <3
Thank you, Big Train!
I think ice-skating may be one of my absolutely favorite ways to get that pink glow! Too bad it’s so expensive! (Go Sharks!) ahem.
Yum! We sell Big Train at my work!