Insert Rocky Theme *Here*

Where to begin? Believe it or not I’ve had at least one blog almost all written and just never posted it so now it is somewhat stale. I have lots to update on, most of it pretty awesome!!

The picture above is the actual picture of the pool I work out in. I am now up to a full hour workout and am shooting for three times a week while continuing the exercises I’m doing at home and I’m finally starting to see real results! I’ll give you an example workout in the pool:

First 15 minutes: I warm up doing a step routine. I typically start by standing on the stair and doing 50 deep squats. Because my body is partially out of the water, it works my legs without putting so much pressure on my knees. Then, facing the step, I do 50 step ups on each leg starting with my right and then moving to my left. Today I added some lateral steps and discovered that, for whatever reason, they are MUCH harder to do. I stand with the step to my right and side step up and then go back down and repeat. I could only manage 20 of those on each leg. By the time I got to 20, my thighs were a-burnin’ something awful!
Next 30 minutes: Cardio using my legs. Today I ran for 15 minutes and used some Styrofoam weights to push under water as I ran. Then I did 5 minutes holding on to the bars at the end of the pool and kicking my legs, then 5 minutes on my back, holding onto the bars and kicking my legs, then I did 5 minutes treading water with just my arms. The latter is SUPER hard, by the time I’m done, my arms feel like jelly.
Last 15 minutes: Abdominal workout. I grab onto the bar at the end and bend my legs so that my knees are pointed at the bottom of the pool and then use my abs to bring my legs up into a crunch. I do 50 of those. When those are done, I lean to one side grabbing a pole so that the left side of my body is facing the bottom of the pool and, keeping my feet together, pull my legs forward working my obliques. I do 50 on each side. I wasn’t sure that would really work my obliques, but I started them yesterday and I am feeling it today! It was funny last night because I had some discomfort in my abdomen and initially thought I was getting sick and then it dawned on me…I’m just SORE!

The last two days have been my days off so all three of us (Erik, Tanner, and myself) have been going together around noon. I go work out in the pool while the guys work out in the gym. Today, we were walking out to the car and Erik had actually made it out and into the car before either one of us so I walked out, shut the door and started walking to the car. I stopped for a second because it dawned on me that I was walking NORMALLY! Part of my problem walking has been that my muscles were so messed up from me sitting so much and getting so little activity that they had actually shortened a bit. When I would go to stand, I couldn’t straighten my legs! If I tried to stand up straight, it felt really uncomfortable, like my inner knees were going to pop or something. So, I often had to keep my knees slightly bent and my feet further apart than normal just to walk. You can imagine how difficult it was to walk in this position.

So, I stopped for a second because, for the first time in a LONG time, I felt like my old self. Putting one foot in front of the other, my legs straight, my knees bending normally without feeling like they were going to give out any second. Something so simple gave me the most incredible joy you can imagine! It’s WORKING! Regardless of what the scale is doing…this is working!

I got to the car, opened the door and sat down and went to bring my other leg into the car. Three weeks ago, when I started back to the pool, I couldn’t use my leg muscles to lift my leg up and into the car. Instead, I would have to reach under my thigh and kind of assist my leg muscles a bit in order to lift my leg in so that I could shut the door (yeah it was that bad). I noticed today that I don’t need to “assist” anymore. I was easily able to lift my leg up high enough to clear the floor of the car. I’m sure I’ve been doing this the last couple of days, but just hadn’t noticed. The first thing I did was turn to Erik and say “Oh my god Erik, I felt like I was walking almost normally there!” to which he replied “I was just thinking the same thing Michelle! I was watching you walk to the car and thought ‘Wow, she’s just walking like she used to walk!’” I think it was kind of a cool moment for the both of us.

Later, when I was working out in the pool, I realized I was grinning like a damn fool the whole time. I was so cotton picken’ PROUD of myself and happy to be actually FEELING results. I almost picture the weight I’m carrying as my body wrapped in these enormous, heavy chains and today I felt what it was like to hack a link off. I’m not free yet, but I’m free-er than I was yesterday! It is pretty awesome guys :)

Well, I do have lots more to share, but I guess I’ll include that in tomorrow’s post since this one has already gotten quite long! Hope everyone else is doing amazingly well and enjoying the beginning of the summer!