Life happens

Life happens

The workout schedule got adjusted a little bit and instead of meeting at our normal time, there was an optional workout to attend before our next regularly scheduled installment.

To be honest, I was glad we didn’t meet that Monday - the 15th - because the night before I fractured my right pinky playing kickball and, although I didn’t know it at the time, the buddy tape to my healthy ring finger was creating a blister that was getting infected. Long story short, I was in some pain and had my mangled looking hand all taped up. I was in no shape to go to the gym for a little while. Plus, the day before injuring my finger, I moved my family from Jonesboro to Fayetteville. There wasn’t a lot of time for meal planning that weekend and my menu choices weren’t great.

Still, after a St. Patrick’s Day brunch and birthday cake for my sister, my son’s friend and my daughter all in the same week, I had seized a bit of control, got my self to the gym a few times and out for a demanding workout reminiscent of “Rocky’ before Monday’s class. Before you send in a slew of hilarious e-mails, no I wasn’t punching slabs of meat but I was lunging up stadium steps, squatting down the same steps, running the track and doing tricep dips and bicep curls to exhaustion. Isn’t it funny how exhaustion can hit so close to an hour?

This past Monday, the group assembled for class and weigh in. I was starting to rethink all of the pizza, hamburgers and non-essential beverages from the past week, sure that I’d have to slide the bar back over to 200 pounds (or over). Lucky me, I was safe, although my “loss” was only a half a pound - 197 from 197.5.

Monday’s class was mostly strength training with some “fun” cardio thrown in. The cardio started with some step exercises and soon enough we were pulling out the weights and doing all sorts of exercises. Other activities on Monday included crunches (150 in all) which really hurt after a while when you are doing them right, and squats with a giant ball and a mirror. This exercise is where the phrase “feel the burn” comes from - 25 seconds in a seated position with no chair burns like nobody’s business.

All it takes is one bad week in a program like this to get you refocused. My week wasn’t bad - aside from the broken finger - but it could have been better and the choices I made were the reason it wasn’t. After this past Monday’s workout, I’m more determined to get my exercise in and stay on task with my diet plan.

We’ll see where I’m at next Monday, but I’ll bet it will be significantly better than it was last week. Overall, the rest of the team is doing their part, so it’s time for me to step up may game. After all, there is no reason why I should be the weak link in the chain. They are being asked to make the same sacrifices and commitments that I am. I’ll remember that the next time talk of pizza or birthday cake comes up.