Posted by And no, not because it is the end of the working week*.
I get to go to the gym on Monday and Friday mornings at the moment and I have rediscovered a great love of pushing myself physically.
As you may remember, I’m rehabing a dodgy achilles and that means I’ve had to find alternative ways to keep and get fit. One choice has been to use a personal trainer to make things a bit more interesting and also to keep me honest. If I went on my own I know my form would be mediocre at best, and iffy at tiredest.
As part of my recent focus on γνῶθι σεαυτόν, I’ve realised just how much joy I get out of the mental and physical effort of exercising. I love to push past what I think I’m capable of, and I’m getting to do that each time I turn up at the gym at the moment. We’ve changed at least one exercise at each of the past four or five sessions – either bigger weights, more reps, different or harder versions. And I’m feeling very happy as a result.
Today I went from squatting with a 3kg medicine ball on the bosu ball to squatting 6kg. I think I’ll be seat-bound for the weekend, but I’m pleased that I managed to work out the balance point required to do this – and squat low too. Frankly just having the balance to stand on the bosu ball was something of an achievement as I was convinced that I’d just wobble and fall off.
I’m still waiting to say that I can do pushups. At the moment I’m about half-way down, which even six weeks ago would have been impossible. When I started I could barely do little dips and now I’m nearly half-way there. And that trend continues across all of the other exercises in my circuit.
So, pardon me while I sit here with a goofy smirk on my face. Gently sore muscles, but a big grin. Just the way life should be.
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* like being a parent is limited to 5 day weeks – hah!
