I’m catching up on blog reading tonight, but I wanted to record my progress on my personal challenge, The Tippy Toe 500.
After following the various training protocols for two excruciating weeks, I completed my first assessment on Monday morning. The results:
Push-ups (full): I increased by ONE push-up, completing 26 as opposed to 25 in the pre-assessment. Not nearly as much as I hoped for, considering I did 40 push-ups on my last personal training assessment, but it is what it is. I’ve clearly lost upper body strength since I quit training with the professionals. Part of the problem, as I see it, is that I can’t do some of the bench work because I don’t have anyone to spot me. I’m going to explore a few of the machines to add in to the mix in addition to the free-weights. The bottom line is that two years ago, I couldn’t complete that ONE push-up and now I’m building upward from 26. I’ll take it and keep trying.
Sit-ups: Big, big progress! I’ve been focusing more on core and it shows. I went from 35 to 81 sit-ups in two weeks. My biggest problem is the counting. 
Squats: More progress. I completed 60 squats, compared to 45 during the assessment.
Overall, I’m quite impressed with myself. Disappointed in the push-up results, but I’ll try to use that to push a little harder.
My reward download tune for the week was Oh Yeah by Yello. I don’t really know why it struck my fancy, but it’s working for me.
Today I repeated the last workout of the second week plan, and I’ll probably do that again on Friday. If all goes well (meaning: I don’t die from it), I’ll move on to week 3 next Monday.
One lesson I learned was to do the assessments on Friday so that I have two days rest. Today, with only one day’s rest, was brutal. It did, however, give me a great product idea: a gym barf bag! Small (and cute!), foldable wax-lined paper bag to slip into your gym bag for those days when you might dig a little too deep.
What’cha think? I’ll let you know the date for auditions for the infomercial. (Hey, if that guy can talk about his bowel movements–not to mention his kid’s poo–for a half hour, gym barfing ought to be okay too! With somewhat insincere apologies to any fans.)
Lastly, for my permanent record, the weigh-in was EXACTLY where it was supposed to be. Always a relief when a Cake Day has been observed.
And this was supposed to be a quick post. Sigh.…
Happy Canada Day to all who celebrate(d)!
