2018 in Review: Exercise

A few years back, Samantha committed to fitness.  She walked the dog twice a day.  She took a weekly yoga class and a weekly Zumba class.  And then she signed up for a twice-a-week weight training class.  We switched from carpooling four days a week to one day a week, in part because she had exercise classes four days a week.  She is quite the badass.

She spent a good year bragging about how strong she was – and wholesale demonstrating it with her push-ups and planks – before I joined her in late August for the weight training class.  I didn’t have any solid goals with the class except to find an addition to my exercise routine that didn’t hurt my joints, maybe be able to do a “real” push-up, and overall get stronger.

Our trainer is adamant about strengthening in ways to enhance everyday movements and he has a routine that we follow: single-leg exercise, TRX rows, squats, push-ups, dead-lifts, and core work.  I was confident in my leg strength (hello, years of running and step classes!) and wary of all the upper-body and core work.  But I worked at it consistently, brought lots of enthusiasm, positive energy, and skipping to each class, and I have improved a lot.  My body activates in new ways now when I do a standard movement (like get up from the couch or carry groceries from the car), and I can tell that I’m getting stronger because I can lift more!  😊  I’m super proud of my newfound strength. 

Ending in 2018, I can do three sets of

-  12 single leg heel taps from three boxes’ up 

- 12 TRX rows

-  5 front squats at 105 pounds

-  12 traditional push-ups

-   3 dead-lifts at 160 pounds

-  whatever core exercise is thrown my way.

Most surprising out of all of this is that I willingly do push-ups and planks at home now.  I’m chasing after Samantha’s numbers but I’m nowhere close to her 195 lb dead-lift.  Maybe next year!