I feel like bragging. And maybe encouraging someone. But mostly bragging.
I’ve improved my 500m sprint time on a Concept 2 rowing machine by about 14 seconds. Didn’t think it was possible to improve that much, even early on.
I’ve gone from needing assistance from a trainer while doing pullings from a jumping start… to successfully completing my first hanging pull-up by myself today.
I’ve dropped 12lbs. And they’re not the easy pounds either, those 10lbs came in the 3 weeks of doing cardio at the gym before I decided to hire a trainer. That’s 240lbs to 218lbs in 7 weeks.
My calories burned in 30 minutes on a stationary bike have increased from 250 to 430.
I have learned how to do squats, jerks, deadlifts, various kinds of rows and presses, high pulls, and a bunch of weird exercises on stability balls, bosu balls, suspension straps, stability boards, and core boards – properly. Some of these, like squats, I’ve done wrong in the past and almost injured myself. Others, like deadlifts, jerks, and presses, I’d probably be afraid to try if I didn’t have someone show me how.
I can jog/run to my local grocery store. I couldn’t make it even a third of the way before, and yes, I tried. Note: try and remember you have eggs in your bags before you decide to jog back.
I moved this ridiculously heavy and unwieldy desk out of the basement without breaking a sweat. It wasn’t easy, but seeing as when I moved it down I was like a pig stuck on a roast 18 months ago, I’m feeling pretty accomplished.
In the past 28 days, I’ve spent roughly 15-20 hours doing any kind of boring cardio work like elliptical machines or bikes. Not a second on the treadmill. Even the boring cardio work can be made fun with interval training… relatively fun. I’ve gone from seeing the gym as a chore to actively enjoying it, even going out of my way to go there.
My eating has improved tremendously. I refuse to sabotage my progress by eating poorly. Here’s the grand total list of “bad things” I’ve had in 4 weeks: 2 donuts, 1 milkshake, a handful of chips. The milkshake was today as part of a friendly celebration. The donuts, I admit, I could not resist at the grocery store while shopping in the morning recently. The smell of fresh donuts is intoxicating. The handful of chips was a last goodbye to fatty snacks as I was throwing them out of the pantry.
Mostly, I cannot believe how differently I feel. There’s a whole whack of stuff I never thought I could do, like pull-ups and deadlifts, that I’m now doing routinely.
Questions, flames, comments?