Fitness Assessment

It has been just over three months since I first met with my trainer. Tonight was my third check in with her. I had started working out several months before meeting with her but I needed the goals and feedback to keep going. I was really nervous about tonight. I have been working hard in my own mind but lately a few events have led to me needing to hear the good news that it is really working. So now, it is 9:15 on tuesday night, I'm done with my fitness assessment. I should be happy (more on that later) but the numbers I wanted to see change (not necessarily the best one's to gauge fitness on) hadn't changed as much as I wanted them too.

Now the numbers which did change and the overall results were awesome. At my last visit with Paula 8 weeks ago I added an ab program. i'm using the gym ball, bosu ball and medicine balls. In 7 weeks since beginning those exercises I have lost 1 inch on my waist. That is in addition to the first .5 between my first two meetings. I have also lost 1 inch on my hips, to bring the total loss there to 3 inches at the hip level. so I've lost something like 4.5 inches in 3 months. Those are the numbers I'm not happy with. I really wanted to see a bigger loss in my middle. I HATE my belly. I have a roll that I just don't like and I want it GONE! Yesterday preferably. Paula, the constant cheerleader in a very good way, ensures me this is good progress.

The biggest and most positive change has been in my body composition and my flexibility. Please see
previous endeavors on this latter topic. My body composition has dropped 4% in the last 8 weeks. That is a total of 6.5% since starting. What that means is I've started building muscle. My percent body fat is dropping! Yippee. I knew it had to be because I am finally starting to see definition in my legs. Now if that definition would just move north and whittle away at my abs! See the recurring theme here? I have increased my sit and reach by another 3-4 centimeters, bringing the total bending improvement up to 8.5 centimeters. I'm noticing the difference there but i'm not telling you where ;)

So all in all I should be pretty proud of myself. My cardio/respiratory scores are up too. I'm losing inches, gaining muscle. The actual weight hasn't changed since my last visit other than the mass composing that weight is more muscle than fat now. I meet with Paula next week to step up the strengthening. My motivation? Proving to someone that I can and climbing Mt Everest. Not for real...as a summer gym sponsored program. One foot up the mountain for every 1 minute (60 max) of cardio a day and 5 feet for up each of up to five major muscle groups strength trained per day. With the gym, softball, volleyball, and biking on the trail five days will be easy. I just want to climb fast so that means muscle work to get the 5 feet per body part.

Wish me luck, I might need a cheering section. I am bad about seeing the positive in myself. I have accomplished a lot but lately the focus seems to be on what could still be done. I'll keep remembering what I've done so far and just keep plugging away. The goals...another 2% drop in body comp, a 2-4 point increase in cardio, another 2-3 centimeters in flexibility and I would like to lose at least 3 inches on my waist. Guess the best way is going to be to give it the gusto, say fuck it to the hard work and just do it!