Oops, I Did It Again

I overslept this morning. Monday morning is apparently not my friend. Luckily I was only 15 minutes late for my workout, so I didn't have to reschedule like last Monday. I missed the warm up, but we did jumping jacks again at the end of class. Thank goodness. What would a session with Trainer Jeff be without jumping jacks? Heaven forbid. We also did a set of frogs at the end of class. Then Jeff decided they needed to be harder (?!), so he added a variation. First you squat down low and touch the floor like usual. With your hands flat on the floor, you jump your feet back to a plank pose. Then you jump your feet back to a squat. Then you jump up straight in the air with your hands over your head. Rinse, repeat. I have a feeling we'll be doing these again in the near future.

Today's workout had a lot of nice twists. Here are the highlights: We did walking lunges again, although by ourselves, not in a parade. We also did wall squats that we held for over a minute. Those were followed by the plank pose, which made my abs start shaking because my elbows were so sweaty that my arms were sliding forward. Someone had requested our abs get busted today and Jeff did not fail to deliver. We did a whole series of floor work. My new favorite ab exercise (other than the standing and punching one) is called the dying bug. It works the entire length of your abs without stressing your back or neck.

The Dying Bug: Lie on your back with your arms straight above your head and your knees pulled to your chest. Slowly, with control, straighten your right leg as you bring your right arm down to point toward your toes. Your leg should be straight and low, but not touching the floor. Next, repeat with your left side as you bring your right side back to the starting position. Your back and head should remain on the floor. I like this exercise because it works similarly to the bicycle, but it does not hurt my back or neck like that exercise does.

I'm noticing that I'm much, much stronger already. I went camping this past weekend with my husband and some friends. We went on a three hour hike that involved going up and down some ridiculously steep hills. While I will admit to turning shades of red and purple, dripping with sweat, and gasping for air, my legs were perfectly up to the challenge. I didn't have any issues with soreness during or after the hike. Later, when we were gathering firewood, I was able to pick up huge logs without a problem. I also built a kick ass fire all by myself, but that's irrelevant. It feels great to be strong again. I stopped lifting weights years ago when my carpal tunnel syndrome started, but these new workouts haven't been a problem yet. I'm so happy I could jump up and down, but I had enough of that this morning.