My Journey With Health And Fitness – Time To Stop Underestimating Myself

Yesterday I wore a pair of my new runners all day. By the end of the day I had walked 41k steps and run/walked 28 km. I have to say they are so much more comfortable than my previous runners. Tomorrow I will start breaking in the 2nd pair which I hope is just as comfortable though they should be since they are the exact same runners. I now kind of regret that I tolerated the old ones for so long. I had to laugh though, the company from whom I purchased the runners sent me an email with a receipt telling me the runners should be good until April 2025. I don’t think they get that I put 120+ km on them every week.

Today was Circuit Saturday at my bootcamp class. The trainer had set up 10 stations where you would perform an exercise before moving on to the next station. One of the exercises was a ball pushup for which you do a pushup with 1 hand on a medicine ball then push the ball over and do a pushup with the other hand on the ball. When the trainer demonstrated this exercise she did the pushups from her knees (as did all of the other participants). The problem is I can’t kneel so that kind of pushup for me is out. I spoke to the trainer and told her that I was concerned about this station because I would be doing a full pushup from my toes which is what I do now (as opposed to doing a pushup at a bench). She suggested I give it a try but maybe widen my stance a little. Guess what? Not only was I doing a full pushup with one hand on the medicine ball but it wasn’t overly challenging.

I then did some reflection as to what I am actually able to do without modification in the circuit that had been set up. I did have to modify the step ups as you are supposed to step up onto the bench but my right knee simply doesn’t bend far enough to allow that so I use a lower platform. Everything else in that room I could fully do. On top of that I am challenging myself more. When doing the push press I chose the heaviest bar to use. For the tricep dips I put my legs straight and go almost completely down to the floor making it much more difficult. Doing the Romanian twists (you are on your butt on the floor leaning back slightly and have you legs bent in front of you and holding a weight you twist side to side) I bump it up a level by taking my feet off the floor causing my core to have to kick into overdrive.

I decided as I left the class that I have got to stop underestimating myself. Maybe it is because of so many years of thinking my injured knee could only hold me back. Or perhaps it is because for a very long time I was made to feel I was inept. Whatever has been causing me to not have faith in my capabilities has got to go. I am strong, fit and healthy! While there are always going to be things that I simply cannot physically do, I think there are far more that I can do and until I know otherwise I am going to try all new exercises without instantly thinking that I can’t do it.

The time to stop underestimating myself starts now. Having said that, when I looked at my stats for yesterday I realized at 41k steps I was about 7.5k under my best day ever and that best day had me at about 48k. So new challenge, sometime in the month of June I am going to pick a day where I don’t have anything else planned and I am going to get in 50k steps. No question that this goal is not underestimating what I can do.