About Me

My photo
Who am I? Wife. Mother of 2. "Newbie" to fitness. Personal Trainer-in-training. Lover of health. Fitness. Religion. Family. Gluten and refined sugar intolerant. Welcome to my journey. Learn with me.

[Small Novella] on M.E.

 Updated 2/11/13
My girl [A], Myself and Cute Hubster in 2010


I was a pretty active child. I had long, blonde hair that my mom loved to style in elaborate curls all the time but I would often come home disheveled and worn from spending recess on the basketball courts or the soccer fields with the boys. I was enrolled in dance classes from the time I was very little and so activity was a pretty common part of my childhood. All of that changed in the 5th grade when I contracted a severe case of bronchial pneumonia and was out of school for an entire week. I don’t recall if it was that year or the next year when it came back again that things really changed for me because the damage in my lungs brought on the beginning of my life with activity and allergy induced asthma.
                Once I had asthma I am sad to say that I really allowed the disease to control my life. When we were required to run the mile in 7th grade I pushed as hard as I could to the point of cutting off the oxygen to my arms and legs and my teachers response was, “Well you came in at 10:20. 10:00 is the cutoff so you will have to do it again.” I was so infuriated and scared by the reaction in my body that we obtained a doctor’s note that excused me from such activities in the future.
At the Zoo with my girl [A], my sisters, niece and my mother - October 2010

                I quit dancing to focus on piano when I was 10 years old. I don’t recall exercise or physical activity being present in my life at all during my teenage years. I went through periods of time when I would try to get out walking but those brief stints of motivation never lasted really long. Puberty hit my body hard with curves galore and I spent much of my teenage years down on myself and self-conscious but without the proper tools or knowledge to know how to change things for myself.
                I have never been obese although I do think that I qualified as overweight at some points during those 12 years between asthma onset and my change of mindset. I was (still am) 5’6” and topped off around 155-160 pounds. Never too bad but when you compare yourself to all of the “pretty and popular” girls in high school it was easy to feel down on myself.
Junior Prom 2005
                After I had my second (and most likely last) child I visited my doctor at my 6 week appointment. I weighed in at 155 lbs which was 5 lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight. Again, not too bad but I went home feeling down on myself and my body and when I noticed a stretch mark developing on the top of my left thigh I completely snapped. I decided that I was done letting things that I believed were out of my control run my life and I decided to take control.
                I started slowly – only 15 minutes of exercise a day as I worked my postnatal body back into health and got it used to the new influx of motion. I did postnatal videos and a little bit of yoga. As I got stronger and more confident I started the Couch to 5k program. This was really frightening to me because nothing triggers my asthma worse than running; however, I pushed through and eventually I could run for a mile without my asthma flaring up. This was a really pivotal turning point for me because it helped me prove to myself that I could do anything that I set my mind to. Once fitness seemed like an impossible goal and dream but I was doing it and it was so liberating. I found a passion for fitness and nutrition that I hadn’t felt for anything else for a long time and that is when I decided that I wanted to share my love with other people and I started back at school to become a Fitness Technician.
                I went through a running phase where it was my main focus. I visited with my family physician to get the proper medications to keep my asthma under control and ran in two 5k and one 10k races. (And I did very well.) I hurt my heel in the 10k race and was out of running commission for a while so it could heal. During that time I didn’t want to just sit idly by so I became a member at Gold’s Gym and started attending the fitness classes there. Once I got to the point where I could start running again (injury free) I found that I wasn’t as interested in it as I once was. My goals and ambitions continue to change as I find what I love most and where I really want to be.

                Right now I exercise six days of the week. I attend Boot Camp at SLCC on Monday and Wednesday mornings. I attend Powerflex, Cardio Circuit and Step at Gold’s Gym on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday mornings. Thursday I could attend another Powerflex class at Gold’s Gym but typically I use the day as a “whatever I am feeling” workout day. I devote at least 20 minutes of every day to meditation and stretching and on Sunday I try to extend that even further (60 minutes) so that my rest day truly becomes a day of rest for mind, body and spirit.
                My primary goals right now have to do with the assessments that we take in the program I am enrolled in. My flexibility is terrible and I have always felt like I am about as flexible as a fossilized tree; however I don’t believe in things holding me back anymore and I understand that mobility and stability are the key foundations to fitness. I was able to score a 12 on my sit and reach assessment but I would like to better that number to 15 by the end of the semester. I plan to do this as I continually make stretching and meditation a part of my daily life. I would also like to lower my body fat percentage a little bit. I am currently at 24% which I understand is perfectly respectable and falls into the “fitness” category of the ACE guidelines; however, I feel like it is a possibility for me to reduce that number as I continue with the exercise routine that I have implemented into my life. As I focus on good nutrition and arm myself with the tool of my target heart rate (which I now know thanks to this class) I believe that I am already doing everything that is necessary to get me to that point. I will re-evaluate my progress mid semester and if I am not obtaining the results that I desire I will change my plan at that point.

                I also desire to pass the progression assessments in my Evaluate and Assess Fitness class. These assessments include: deep squat, active straight leg raise, trunk rotation, in-line lunge and hurdle step. I believe these will also come back to the need for better flexibility which I will achieve with my new stretching/meditation program.
                As a personal trainer in training I really desire to have the kind of physique and ability that I would expect from someone I would want training me. I understand that that will take a lot of sacrifice and work but I believe that I am willing to do what it takes to get there. I seek to always learn and better myself and I try to seek out new knowledge and ask questions. It has been a long road so far but I am just unlocking the potential and possibilities and I love it.

My girl [A], Cute Hubster, Me, My boy {N}
December 2012

My girl, [A]

My boy, {N}

No comments: