No truer words have ever been written. Sometimes you just have to remind yourself.
Day 25 of the pull up/push up challenge. I'm doing 15 pushups, this time with the proper form. Proper form sucks. I've had to break them back down again. I do 5, rest 20 seconds, do 5, etc. What my hubby does that drives me nuts is he waits until I have done my full arm routine with bicep curls, hammer curls, tricep kickbacks, etc., then he tells me to bust out some pushups and pullups. My form may be perfect now but my arms are screaming. Pullups...I can do 2 full ones still but they are not easy. I'm still working on pullups his way. I can hold myself up 8 seconds and slowly lower myself...he makes me do them overhand instead of underhand which is HARD.
Everything he makes me do is hard. But ultimately it is worth it. I want to be stronger and to preserve myself for the future. For this I have to stay with it and do it right. I want to buy weightlifting gloves but he says no. My wrist keep moving out of the right position on the benchpress...he says he would rather I get accustomed to doing them right without assistance because ultimately the glove isn't going to help in consistently doing it right without it. Now he thinks I'm going to do the benchpress competitively but he has another thought coming. Squats are my bag.
I went shopping for some gear this weekend...Kmart had this crazy sale on workout shirts. I picked up a medium but the hubs stopped me. "Get a small," he says. I look at him like he is nuts because I haven't been a small in eons. I got it anyway because hey, I can always return it, right? It fit perfectly. I love my silhouette now. When I started out I was so lumpy and misshapen it was disheartening to look in the mirror, let alone wear clothing that fit close. This was a serious confidence booster for me.
I saw a young lady I hadn't seen in awhile (since December) at the local natural food store. I had told her about my fitness aspirations at that time (with only 6 pounds lost). She was stunned when she saw me (13 pounds down). I showed her my comparison picture from August until mid January and she pointed out something I hadn't noticed: I was even thinner than the picture I took mid-January! When I went home I immediately took some pictures to compare and yes, indeed, I look smaller now even though the scale hasn't moved for the past week or so. I will have to give it to hula hooping. There is an evident visual difference in my upper and lower abs between January 20th and February 8th. Also something else I noticed is that my upper arms are much tighter. I guess that came from holding my arms up while hula-hooping. I can't wait to take my measurements on the 21st. Even if there isn't a change, visually things just seem much tighter.
My husband did measure my calves for comparison with his. It's a shame...our calves are the SAME SIZE! 15 inches. I'm 5'3" with 15 inch calf muscles. I've always had big legs (my husband calls them cheerleader legs) but for crying out loud. I measured them around the beginning of the year and they were 14.5". They grew a half an inch in a month! Darn squats and calf raises. In my quest for muscle, I am well in the running for She-Hulk legs. I knew that was going to be a consequence of focusing on squatting...my legs have always been more muscular and larger in proportion to my body. So much so that a classmate back in high school swore up and down that despite my petite figure then I was going to be overweight when I was older because my legs were so big. What a mean thing to say to someone (now that I think about it). Anyway I am going to keep an eye on that.
On the bright side, I no longer have cankles so I guess you have to take the good with the good (but huge).
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