A Beastly Workout

Today brought with it a much needed second wind and I was glad to be in the gym with my besties Millie and Sylvia.  Marisa had written up a strength training workout for us and Millie played trainer.  Even though I had to grit my teeth as I did bench rows with a 20 pound weight, it was cool to watch the muscles in my arms work.  We ladies are proud of our "guns"!

It was definitely a challenging workout, but did I expect any less from Marisa?  She's a cute little blonde thing on the outside, but make no mistake...she's a killer.  In fact, Dana has nicknamed her "Beastwood".

We were soon through our first beastly circuit and I wasn't paying attention to what was on the sheet Millie was reading from, so when she said, "Okay, pull-ups next," I was totally unprepared.

I silently followed the girls over to the pull-up bar, trying hard not to breakout into a cold sweat.  The last time I had attempted this, a couple of months ago, I clung paralyzed to the bar, frozen with fear as Jeff patiently tried to get me to attempt one pull-up which I couldn't do.  We lined up behind the bar, and all of those elementary school, self-conscious gym class fears overtook me. 

"Okay so we're each going to do four pull-ups and then go to the back of the line, and we do these eight times." Millie said, reading Marisa's instructions. Beastwood, what are you doing to me?  Millie laughed when she saw my face and pointed to the sheet where she'd written some notes next to Marisa's, and by the lines about the pull-up station Millie had written "machine where I cried that time."  I laughed, because we all have places in that gym where we've shed some tears.

Naturally, I got to the back of the line and watched as both Millie and Sylvia each did their first four pull-ups.  Then it was my turn.  I took a deep breathe and gripped the bar.  And paused. My cheerleaders cheered for me.  I took another deep breathe and concentrated hard on engaging not only my arms, but my legs and my core to pull myself up not once, but four times.  Then I ran through seven more circuits of those for a total of 32 pull-ups!

I was feeling like a rock star until it was time for the next circuit which included the place where I cried that time, the step up bench.  See a theme? All exercises that involve heights and the potential for falling.   A few months ago I found myself paralyzed and in tears with frustration at the fear of stepping up that high, not once but twenty times on each leg.  At that time, these wonderful ladies surrounded me and urged me on with a confidence in me that I didn't have in myself.  When I first started working out last year, I had a hard time going over a step on one riser, Jeff even had to hold my hand!  That seems so foreign to me now as I steadily lifted myself up onto four risers on one leg with no help.  I've been at this steady for almost a year.  I've worked out five to six days out of every one of those weeks, only missing two workouts when I had bronchitis and it still blows my mind.