Stronger than Before & Motivated for Change

Today I met with Anthony at 24-Hour Fitness. He's this huge guy, body builder type, but very nice, funny, and promises to work me hard in our sessions.

Our session today was mostly paperwork. Measurements, evaluations, and then a little bit of time on the floor "seeing what you're made of" (his words).

That 20 minutes was very encouraging.I'm stronger than I was the last time I was in the gym. The weights he handed me were easy. He had me do some back, biceps and triceps - four different exercises - and then one more...some pull down thing where you spread your arms as you pull the thing down. Can't remember what it's called. He pushed me to the point where I couldn't pull it down anymore...and then took me over to a machine, telling me it was going to be fun.

I stood looking at that thing wondering what in the world it was, and what I was supposed to do with it. It's a chin up/ pull up machine. And it IS fun! And I did chin ups...lifting my body weight only, but still...that's a flippin lot of weight. Anthony was impressed at how well I did.

Then he took me to the most dreaded thing for me, something I've never done because I've been afraid of it. Crunches on the exercise ball. That big squooshy thing that surely would fly out from beneath my butt as soon as I tried to do a crunch. He goaded me on...teasing me a little about the fear, and pushed me to do it, not taking no for an answer.

And I did it. 2 minutes worth of crunches. I haven't been able to do crunches in longer than I can remember, and that big scary squooshy ball made 2 minutes of 'em seem easy.

So, he told me that he has a great idea of what kind of program to put me on, and Friday we hit the ground running with the entire session. :o) I'm excited!

And now, here I sit, watching The Biggest Loser finale - and have been in tears more than once. I've made a goal of being off blood pressure meds completely by the end of 2009. One contestant on the show was on 5 medications when he started. Within weeks, he was off all of them. He no longer has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes. Another contestant was in the worst health they've ever seen on the show - a 50-something year old man who's "inner" age (body-wise) was over 70. They did the same tests on him just recently, and at the finale the doctor told him that his "inner" age is now 52. That man has come off all his medications, and gained back 24 years of his life.

My goal of being off bp meds by the end of 2009 seems ultra conservative now...but it is SO ENCOURAGING to know that it's possible. This is going to be so much fun!