Sore in places I did not know I had muscle

So in keeping with the New Year resolution I decided to take a couple of personal training sessions...you know just to get off on the right foot. The trainer I got is named Dan, he is 24, tan, has that spiky club hair, and is well built. I was more hoping to get a female, PE teacher type of trainer and not some good looking cocky kid...but what can you do. Our first session together consists of Dan getting my weight and measurements and discussing the workouts, nutrition and my goals. The later part I was okay with it was the weight and measurements part I was dreading. I knew I had gained some weight over the last couple of months but was shocked to see just how much. Dan then used that caliper thing to measure my BMI. That is something I can totally live without...a hot young guy pinching my fat. After calculating my BMI and my lean muscle mass Dan comments that he is surprised at my numbers. I ask how so and he says "you carry your weight very well"...which is code for "you are a lot fatter than you look". Ummmm....thanks? The weight range that he would like to see me in is the same as I had in mind so I know that neither one of us will be working towards and unrealistic goal. I am not going to tell you my starting point because yeah I am just not...but when I meet my goal I will be around 130-135 with 20% body fat. Day One I meet Dan at noon the next day for my first workout...we will be focusing on legs. Dan tells me he is excited about training me because he does not have to start at square one with me. So with that he says that he is going to start my workouts where I would be had I been working out with him for a month. I am a little flattered at his confidence in my ability...I am also hoping that he has not misjudged me. We start out warm up on the stair climber. The first thing Dan tells me is to look at my feet and only my feet because if I fall off the stair climber he is going to laugh at me then walk away and pretend I am not his client. We are going to do 2 minutes at level 10 (I usually only go to 7), 2 minutes at 12 skipping every other step, and then the final 2 minutes back at 10. All is going well and we are chatting away and about a minute into me skipping every other step I look up and I trip. OH MY GOD I was about to fall off of the stair climber just 3 minutes into my workout...not a good way to start. Using my cat like reflexes I was able to catch myself and get right back into step. Dan does not laugh but instead tells me I am awesome. After the warm up Dan has me do about 50 different kinds of squats, leg extensions, leg curls and there is a lot of jumping up and down off of boxes. Finally our hour comes to an end and not a second too soon as my legs are Jello. Tomorrow we are doing chest and triceps. Day Two Today when I show up Dan tells me that even though he knows I had my heart set on chest and triceps he had something else in mind. He had thought about burning out my chest and then doing a boxing workout but instead of that we would be doing a full body circuit. He runs me through the circuit which consists of 2 leg, 2 arm, 2 ab, and 1 total body exercise. I can't help but laugh as he is showing me the circuit because he only did 2-3 reps at each station and had already broken a sweat. I would be doing 15 reps at each station for 3 circuits. I was not looking forward to this. But first I had to warm up on the stair climber...there would be no falling off today. We are about halfway through the first circuit when Dan informs me that he this workout has made most of his clients puke. Great...not only do I have to concentrate on keeping my abs zipped up but I also have to try not to throw up. This work out killed me. I was pouring sweat, my legs and shoulders were on fire, I could not hear out of my right ear, but I did not puke. I literally feel like I want to die...but I am proud of myself because I did it. I addition to working out with Dan I have been going back to the gym with Boyfriend in the evenings to do about an hour of cardio and additional ab work. I am sore beyond words. Boyfriend says that pain is just weakness leaving the body...yeah and that pain he feels is just me punching him in the gut. I like the way I am feeling though and I want to keep it up.

Wasting away again...

This past January me, Boyfriend and my friend Tracy started meeting at Red Rocks on Saturday mornings to run the stairs. Back in January there would about 10 of us out there dragging out frozen asses up and down the ice covered stairs in subzero temps and blowing snow. As the weather warmed the number of people increased. Now on an average Saturday you are working out with over 100 people. Through out all types of weather Tracy and I rely on Boyfriend to push us beyond our limits. As he says..."Pain is just weakness leaving the body". Due to certain obligations Boyfriend is not always there to yell at us to do more push ups, crunches, lunges and squats after running the equivalent of 200 flights of stairs. On these weekends Tracy and I will sometimes stop at the Morrison Inn for margaritas, thus negating all the hard work we just put in on the stairs. This past Saturday as we stroll out on to the patio, still a bit sweaty from our work out, we notice that there are about 10 other stair regulars there as well. We take our seats and order our margaritas. We opt for the 12 oz rather than the 32 oz that the others are drinking. We all sit and look at each other guiltily over the salt covered rims of our glasses...but hey...one must reward ones self for a job well done.