Just Do It!!!!

Yesterday I surprised myself. No really, I did. This usually doesn't happen often since I am a very routine person. I like to stick to what I know and am pretty stubborn in most areas of my life. As many of you know, and if you don't you can read my post about one year ago called "the strength training woes of a cardio queen," I am not into toning or lifting weights. Give me a 7 or 8 mile run and I can run it out in no time, but the motivation to lift heavy things has never been a natural desire in my soul. Until...yesterday. My fiancé and I headed to the gym yesterday morning and only had about 30 minutes to workout because of the crazy busy day ahead. I planned to just run or do some cardio for the entire 30 minutes...because HELLO calorie burn! But then, 18 minutes into my run (yes, 18), I started to get an itch in my soul to lift some heavy things. Now, I've been lifting regularly since May, ever since I got a personal trainer to keep me accountable in the toning department. I workout with him once a week, and workout of a logbook of exercises he gives me twice a week. I had already done my allotted logbook exercises for the week, so yesterday should have been a purely cardio day (days that I usually look forward to more than logbook days). So when I started craving lifting some weights, on my own, without a trainer or my logbook accountability to stick to, I was shocked!!! I decided to grab hold of that feeling, run another 2 minutes to hit 20 minutes total (OCD problems), and hit the weights. I did a short 10 minute circuit, but it felt amazing, and I feel sore today! Just from those short 10 minutes. Here was my circuit, and I even had time to stretch afterwards!

The point of this post is this: just do it. Start that program. Start lifting the heavy things. Even if you don't feel like it, just start. Eventually, the feeling will follow. Lifting weights has transformed not only my body, but my mind as well. I feel stronger and challenged every time I pick up a weight. I want to see how heavy I can go and how many reps I can do. And the thing is, I NEVER thought I would enjoy it. I was always the 40 mins on the elliptical, 3 mile run, kind of girl. But now, I find myself wanting to fit in the toning and lifting into my workout routine because of the results I have seen in my overall health, body, and sense of self. I have more confidence in my abilities and my strength. The combination of toning and cardio have helped me find more balance in the area of fitness, instead of being lopsided to one side. Sometimes, we have to workout not for the sake of a calorie burn, but for the sake of bettering our strength and abilities. I challenge any girl, or even guy, out there who is scared of weights to start a toning program this week, even if it is with a pair of 2 lb dumbbells! Starting is the biggest step!