It's Been A While...

Bank on track...woot! In my last post I said that I would be back in the gym on Thursday, but that didn't happen. Here in TN, just the threat of snow is enough cause for businesses to close and people run to the store all in a panic for milk and bread. Well, we got snow and ice on Thursday and since the way to the gym is on back roads, neither I nor my friend wanted to chance it, plus there was the possibility that the Y would close before normal time. I know,I know, I'm from Syracuse, so I should be fine with snow...I am, it's ice and people in TN that scare me in regards to driving in the snow. Seriously, light snow causes them to slow down to 5 mph, yet in the rain it makes them go 90 mph, so don't get it.

 Anyways.... I got back to the gym last night and it felt great! I've been feeling like the treadmill just isn't doing it for me anymore, so I want to stick with the bike and elliptical. The elliptical and I have a love/hate type of relationship. I want to be able to do a high resistance at a fast pace, but it just isn't happening...yet. I know it's something I have to build up with, but for anyone that knows me, I have no patience. Since I've only been able to use it for about 2 1/2 minutes and then felt like I was going to die, I figured I would increase my time in increments of 30 seconds. I told my friend to make sure I at least stayed on for 3 minutes last night, I ended up staying on for 5 minutes! For those of you that are like, "that's not very long," if you've never used an elliptical and you're just starting to get back in shape, they are a bitch! I've used them before, but only for a couple minutes at a time, and the one time I was able to stay on for 15 minutes was after doing lots of cardio on other machines. My goal is to eventually be able to stay on for 30 minutes. I love that the elliptical works multiple areas, whereas the treadmill doesn't really. The elliptical works your glutes, calves, quads, hamstrings and anterior tibialis for your lower body; and for your upper body it works your lats, pecs, triceps and biceps. For more information about how it works these muscles and the benefits of an elliptical check out this site: http://www.livestrong.com/article/159027-what-part-of-the-body-does-the-elliptical-target/  It will give you all the info you need. And Dad, it helps people with knee problems, because it takes the weight of them, so you may want to check it out!

 After my proud 5 minutes on what it going to become my new best friend (the elliptical), I did my circuit set that ActivTrax printed for me. We skipped the additional 20 minutes of cardio because we were both feeling the burn, and since it was our first night back to the gym in a week, we felt we did good. I have decided not to keep going with the ActivTrax because it keeps printing the same workout and it's supposed to generate new ones each day and it hasn't been doing so. It did teach me about circuit training though so I know which machines I want and need to use so I think I'll do just fine without it.

 I can't remember if I've posted about The Biggest Loser or not, but in case I haven't...this is my first season watching and I love it! Bob and Dolvett are hardcore! This season is about no excuses, so I've decided to apply that to myself as well. For me, it's just a very motivational show. I seriously end up all teary eyed by the end, I have no idea what is wrong with me lol. This week they had the nutritionist on and I learned some things I didn't know and different variations on some recipes that I'm looking forward to trying. I haven't checked it out yet, but on their site they also have different recipes. The one that I really want to try is a variation on pizza. Instead of ordering pizza or buying a frozen one, you take a sprouted tortilla, add some marinara and a little cheese and bake it in the oven for a few minutes. It's like your own little personal pizza, but much healthier! I'm also going to see if picturing Bob and Dolvett all in my face will help me push myself harder. It helped me a little last night, so we'll see how it works today.

 Another thing I'm trying out is eating yogurt for a snack or dessert. I really like the Yoplait Light; they have so many different flavors and they're all very yummy and satisfying. I've had the apple turnover and strawberry shortcake so far, and I still have key lime pie, blueberry patch, red velvet cake and black forest cake. I've had all of those flavors before except the apple turnover and strawberry shortcake, and after having those as well I can say that they're all delicious!

 Well, time for me to get ready to head out to the gym, I'll try to post more when I'm back!