Live Fearlessly - Sometimes Easier Said Than Done

One of the things I love about working out is when I work out, I have no time to worry.  I have no time to be anxious.

My goal -- LIVE fearlessly!

Maybe some of you are saying, "What could you possibly be anxious about?  What do you worry about?"  Well let me tell you --  I worry about

Retirement

Health

My weight

My belly fat

My kids

Our Business

Our finances

If my trainer had to stop helping me, how would I do?

Will there be a United States for my grandchildren to live in?

Will I even have grandchildren?

Now some of you might say, Now, come on Patty.  You know what the Bible says.  Well let me tell you, I do know what the Bible says.  I should have Philippians 4:6 engraved on my forehead.  I also know there are great books like Dale Carnegie's "How to Stop Worrying and Stop Living."  And for the most part I do really well keeping myself in check.  There are times however, where it proves to be more challenging.

Something happened on Monday that momentarily took my breath away.  Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but the anxious thoughts have been resurfacing all week.  So my point here is that when I work out, I pretty much can only think about one thing - the workout.  Working out also makes you happier.  Remember what Elle Woods said in Legally Blonde while trying to clear Brooke's name?  "Exercise gives you endorphins.  Endorphins make you happy.  Happy people don't shoot their husbands.  They just don't."

AMRAP = As Many Rounds As Possible

Since this blog is also a summary of my 20 week plan of which I am completing week two, I wanted to share something cool that happened on Wednesday morning.  I was doing a "Ryan" workout which consisted of 20 Kettlebell swings, 15 kettlebell deadlifts, 10 kettlebell rows, 5 gassers for 25 minutes straight - AMRAP.  I'm always setting goals for myself, so I wanted to try and get 5 rounds done in 5 minutes.  I had my headphones on and my music blaring and I went after it.  There was a young man (mid-20s) working out in the same room as me.  I've never seen him before.  He was doing his workout, I was doing mine.  After the 3rd round, I was walking back from the sprints to the kettlebells and he got my attention.  (Remember I had headphones on.)  I looked at him and he raised his hand in the high five position.  It brought a smile to my face as I high fived him back.  It was nice a 20-something was encouraging a 55 year old woman.

This girl helps me forget my worries in a hurry!

So back to my week and my worries.  Let me tell you - I can quote the words to the song "One Day at a Time."  I can quote the article, "One Day at a Time."  I can almost quote all of "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living."  Heck I can even quote Baby in Dirty Dancing,   "Me?  I'm scared of everything.  I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you."  (Great movie by the way.)

So it's okay to be scared or anxious.  I still struggle at times and that's okay!  But I work on getting myself back on track as soon as I can because I know I do NOT want to live in fear or live with anxiety.  And for me - exercising helps me get back on track mentally -- whether it's the endorphins or just the great friendships I have built--I get my head back to its happy place.

It's been a successful week two of twenty.  My challenges this week were more of the mental sort.  But I got all the workouts done and the calorie deficit met and it's on to week three from here.  If you struggle with worries or anxiety, do all you know to do to "beat it" and come to the gym and exercise too!  Tori and I work out every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:00 a.m. together and we are always looking for more people to join us!  Have a great week!

 

Week One of Twenty - Done!

My daughter graduated college on a Friday in May and then my son graduated high school on the following Monday.  Since then it's been a bit of a whirlwind summer.

I've been in Branson, Missouri for a week, Bermuda for a week, Ohio for a week, and most recently Virginia for a week.  Some of those trips I was able to exercise, but not near as much as I am used to.  And it wasn't as easy to prepare the "best" food.

So needless to say right before my trip to VA, I asked my trainer Ryan if we could do a plan "similar" to what we did during the 12-week challenge, but perhaps not AS intensive.  He was thinking along the same line as I was, but he had to ask - "When will you be home for a stretch of time?"

So we came up with August 7 as a start date.  He has a 20-week plan mapped out for me and now all I need to do is follow it.  (I check in with him, of course, but I believe this plan will work great.)

This is MY Journey

One of the "benefits" of having a restful summer is that a lot of my more "nagging" injuries are healing and I don't wake up saying, "Oh, my ankle," or "Oh, my knee," or "Oh, my elbows," or Oh, my wrist."  So that is a good thing.  I've also found my voice to tell whomever I am training with if something is hurting me (in the not good way.)

Most of you know he had me remove the scale from my house over a year ago.  I used to stick to the plan really well, but I would also weigh myself EVERY day.  If my weight was not going down, I'd wander off the plan to try and self-correct.  (Like I knew anything about anything?????)  So he had us get rid of the scale and only weigh with him once a week.

Well now he is living across the U.S.  So I am weighing and measuring with Misty at Gold's Gym who I adore.  We did starting measurements and weight on Monday.  On Wednesday, I went to CMU and did the Bod Pod.  They weigh you there and my weight was already down 5 pounds from Monday (Now there's a reason for this.)  But my mind was like, RIGHT ON!  And so on Thursday, I didn't push as hard because I was like, "Well my weight is already down, I can let up a little."

Bod Pod 

I shot Ryan a text and asked, "Hey are we doing weight AND measurements every Monday (with Misty.)  He immediately replied -- "No, only once every 4 weeks."  WTF?  Seriously.  And then I thought, "Hmm, That's pretty smart actually because look what I did on Thursday."   I guess old habits die hard.

Swimming 2 to 3 x's a week

Anyways I am still swimming 2 to 3 times a week.  I lift weights 2 times a week (Rheumatologist requests only 2x a week).  I have a Ryan (heII) workout twice a week - cardio/weight based.  And depending upon where I am on the numbers, I may add one more workout in there.  Good times!

Day 1 of 140

Stats and the "why" of why I call them the workouts from hell!

This workout was a little bit more fun than the Monday Ryan one!

Cleaning out my desk and came across this photo on the left.
It reminds me that this is definitely ALL worth it.