Yup, that's me, doing one of my favorite gym tricks: box jumping! Mastery of the box jump was one indicator that I am now fit to surf. Many, many lunges, planks, kettle bells, primates, burpees, pushups and lots of other stuff later, my trainer, Jeff, has recently pronounced me as "ready." His exact words were "You're ready. If you can't get up on that surf board it won't be because you're not strong enough."
Hooray!
We didn't take any body or fat measurements and didn't chart weights, sets or reps, so I don't have any hard numbers to show my progress. I've done a variety of exercises, mostly using my own body weight but some with free weights or straps, that were increasingly difficult as the weeks went on. I've gone from watching Jeff demonstrate an exercise for me to do and thinking "there's no way I can do that" to knowing that I can.
I started being able to do only two push ups on my knees to now three regular push ups followed by eight on my knees. Burpees (jumping from standing to a plank) seemed impossible and now, not a problem. I've lost ten pounds in the past twelve weeks of training.
Of course as predicted, the work-out schedule was blown up the minute school let out and the kids were home with me. I was lucky if I got to the pool once a week, let alone twice. My walk/jog has been almost nonexistent. But twice a week scheduled with a trainer goes a long way and that's one of the huge benefits of enlisting the help of a trainer, you show up. I got out for tennis and bike rides with my family and that helped too.
There have been noticeable psychological benefits too, of course. I've been a happier camper this summer. The Title Nine shopping bag sums it up, "Sometimes sweat is the best form of therapy". Each work-out has rewarded me with the feel-good brain biochemicals dopamine, serotonin and epineprine. I must enjoy that neurochemical cocktail because I've reached a point where I actually look forward to working out. Oh, and one more thing, I feel really good! A little stiff some days, but mostly really good.
I'm going surfing on Thursday and putting all this hard work to good fun use. Whether I can stay up for five seconds or five minutes, my quest to surf has already been a remarkable ride before I even put one foot in the water.
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