My Journey With Health And Fitness – Underestimating Myself

Ok, I am so done with this cold weather. Yesterday my husband got up early in the morning and came back to bed saying it snowed last night. Wait, what???? Dammit, I had planned to do an 8km yesterday. Ended up doing a good run on the treadmill but it wasn’t the same. And, because there was snow on the ground it meant my seniors group couldn’t do the morning walk. This morning it was sunny but once again cold. Fortunately that did not deter me from doing a run and a walk up Oxford Hill but seriously, I need the weather to improve.

I have come to realize I am my own worst enemy. Despite all the work I have done on improving both my physical and mental health I can still easily get bogged down in thinking I can’t do things. I know I said I was going to start challenging myself and I have. I always try for heavier weights now and yes, sometimes I might only get through 1 successful set before having to drop down to something a bit lighter, at least I am trying. But every time a trainer introduces something new that looks challenging I immediately think I can’t do it. I’ve resolved that I need to stop this and just go for it regardless of a successful outcome.

Today was a case in point. The trainer wanted us to do squats with barbells and I thought ok, no way can I do this. Then I realized no one in that room was going to fault me if I tried and had to revert to doing dumbbell squats. And so I gave the barbells a try and yes, I got through the first set so I prove that I could do it. To be honest I didn’t enjoy it so opted in the next 2 sets to use dumbbells but to make up for it I went to even heavier weights than what had been on those barbells.

But really, there is a lot I am doing that I never thought I could. Again today, we were given a burnout exercise to do after one of our rounds. It was doing tricep dips (look it up if you don’t know what those are) which I have become pretty proficient at doing. The trainer gave various modifications and said if you really want to challenge yourself do them with your legs straight out in front of you. I decided to take up that challenge and guess what, I got through that burnout and was pretty proud of myself.

In reflection of how much I under estimate my capabilities I am going to remind myself of what I did yesterday. At the end of our workout the trainer said we would do a plank and I thought no biggie, my best is toughing it out for 90 seconds. But no, she wanted us to hold a plank for a full 2 minutes. She’s a great trainer so told us if we needed to, drop down to your elbows or do the plank on you knees instead of you toes. I got down on that mat and decided this was just going to be mind over matter so I focused on other things and didn’t I manage to hold that plank for the full 2 minutes (I will confess the last 15 seconds pretty much my whole body was shaking with exertion) and not once did I drop to my elbows or knees.

Time to kick that voice telling me I am not strong enough or fit enough out of my head and just get on with it. I am fit, I am strong and most of all I am determined.