Success!

One of the reasons I had for working with a personal trainer was to bust a cycle. The cycle I was trying to bust was the one where I was only doing the exercises I liked (or the things I hated least anyway). Going to see her did that, and I’m about two and a half-weeks into the routine she devised.

Briefly, the routine is four days of lifting with each day consisting of six to nine exercises. Day one is back and biceps. Day two is chest and triceps. Day three is quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. Day four is shoulders and abs.

I hate day four, shoulders and abs day. I hate day four for a couple of reasons. One reason is that doing abs just plain sucks. I don’t believe for a second that there is anyone who has an IQ higher than their age that actually enjoys doing crunches and sit ups. It isn’t possible. The other reason I hate day four is because years ago I injured my left shoulder in a car accident and it gets very angry if I do the wrong thing. I’m so afraid of re-injuring the shoulder that I’ve done my best to immobilize it by packing it in a bunch of worry and fear. Working it out really means confronting years of worry and fear, which I hate doing. Too, as a result of not working my shoulders, they’ve gotten weaker and it’s embarrassing to have to go over and pick up a measly five-pound weight to work my shoulders. I feel like a wimp. Yes, I know I shouldn’t care about that, but I do. I’m human. It sucks.

Anyway, week one I skipped shoulders and abs day. I had dental surgery on that day--a valid excuse, but still an excuse. Week two, I found myself wanting to skip shoulders and abs day by saying that since I was only planning to work out three times that week (a shortened, post-dental surgery week), that it was easiest to skip the last day. The Brain is sneaky, but I felt guilty enough to make myself do a couple of half-hearted sets of shoulder work anyway. I completely skipped the ab work.

This week, I decided to get serious. At the last training session with Dorine, I had her walk me through the shoulder stuff so I was absolutely sure that I’d be getting it right. Then she showed me a bunch of new ab stuff. A couple of the ab exercises I actually--gasp!--enjoyed. (What that says about my IQ, I don’t know.)

Tonight was the first night I did shoulder and ab exercises from start to finish, 3 sets of each exercise: Arnold shoulder presses, bilateral up-out-in-downs (B.U.O.I.D.s), lateral raises, rear deltoid flies, weighted Russian twists, and self-passes. Yes, it’s a mouthful of gibberish if you’re not a gym rat, but there it was, four shoulder exercises and two abdominal exercises.

Success!