Saturday, April 19, 2008

Who Knew I Had No Abdominal Strength? At All!

I'm writing this today as opposed to yesterday, because I had to come home and collapse. Okay, not really, but it was close. Although there were no tape measures in sight it was a sad, sad day at the gym. I came upon the realization that I am indeed way overweight and that I have absolutely NO core strength left after having three kids. This may not come as a shock to you...it certainly hasn't to everyone I've told, but for me, Whoa, Baby! It was a kicker.

How, you may wonder, did I discover this interesting tidbit about my core strength, er, lack of core strength? By falling on my butt. Twice. While doing lunges. Go ahead, conjure up the image. Lunges go forward, knees are bending...yep, that's right. Now imagine that image standing back up. Up, up, feet together, whoa!, topple over backwards and land flat on your bottom. Apparently, balance is closely related to core strength. This I was so nicely informed of by my new personal trainer, Shawn, who not only used to be in the Army, but thinks everyone else should be. At least for the physical training part. So, after falling on my bottom twice (because, really, once was just not humiliating enough), Shawn so sweetly suggests, "Hmm. Well, let's find you an exercise where you can sit down now." Gotta' love him.

The rest of the workout went well, considering the shape I'm in, but boy, was it a wake up call. For 6 years now I've been thinking, "Well,running around with my kids all day is exercise! Who needs a workout program?!" Let me just tell you, all you stay-at-home mamas who are thinking the same thing....you need more. Dancing around the living room with little Johnny is great, but it's not an exercise program. So, Shawn will be working with me once a month (do you know how much personal trainers charge?! I'm SO in the wrong field!!) to gauge my results and help me come up with a plan of attack. I'm sure it won't be pretty at first and I may wind up back on my bottom a few more times, but by the time I see him in May I'm determined to be lunging without falling and have at least a little bit of my core strength back.

For those of you who are interested, yes, I will be spending the majority of my time doing resistance training. I know it burns fat faster and builds muscle quicker. Besides, the more muscle you have the more calories you burn even at rest. Like when you're watching The Biggest Loser with a whole lot more respect!

See ya' on Monday for Day 2 at the gym!

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