Workin out

Well these days I've been trying to go to the gym a lot. Be in the best shape of my life type of thing. I take 3 classes consistently: Powercut, Yoga, and Kickboxing.

Let's give a breakdown.

Powercut is on Monday's and Wednesdays and makes me want to die. As in...about 15 minutes in, I look at the clock and think WHAT?! I HAVE 45 MINUTES LEFT OF THIS DEATH?! I want to quit usually the entire time. It is SO HARD. It is a combination of cardio and weights. And the instructor yells things like, "IF YOU'RE NOT SWEATING, I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO HELP YOU" and she is also really awesome cause she'll turn her mic off temporarily to come over to you and tell you your form is wrong and help you do it right (she did that for me on basically every single set the first couple times I went)...she is one of those ladies that is in her fifties but you'd never know it looking at her body. She is RIPPED. And she just kills me. I am ALWAYS glad when it's over that one, I have not died, and that two, I AM A ROCK STAR! Seriously, even if I have to stop and rest for one set or tone my set down a notch, I am sweating my brains out and my heart rate is up and I feel like I am the strongest person ever! (Except of course for the crazy tough people in front of me that I watch for motivation lifting like 20 pounds on each side of their bar). I am happy to report that I use 5 pound free weights, and 3 1/2 pounds on each side of my bar. Now, I need to tell you something. In the class I take- my bar looks like it has about nothing on it compared to all the people around me. But if you watch my face while I'm lifting that bar repeaetedly above my head, you'd think I'm lifting an elephant. I am growing muscles though and slowly moving up in my weights. It's great! Don't you worry- I wont become a meat head (I know you were worried).

Yoga is Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and is probably the best thing of my life. It's cut down on my chiropractic bill, it has calmed me in my hard times, and it has made me sweat from every pore of my body at times. I LOVE YOGA. My favorite instructor also wants to kill me though. She likes to do things like "Hey guys how about a 4 minute plank today? Yeah?" and then while I have to break every 10 seconds, she stays put the entire 4 minutes  making jokes and talking us through it and basically being amazing. I have a really hard time with plank pose. But my downward dog is awesome, and my child's pose is spot on :) ha ha. But seriously, Yoga is my friend, and it should be yours too. Namaste.



Kickboxing is only once a week on Friday mornings, so I only get to do it on my Friday's off. Kickboxing is taught by the same crazy woman that teaches Powercut. She encourages us to make a face that wants to kill someone and tells us things like, "You think he's scared?! Do you MEAN IT?!" and she'll even stand right infront of you until you look tough enough. It's pretty great. I seriously...SERIOUSLY am sweating from every part of my body by the time this class is done. But its good because sometimes when I hear bad things in the news that make me angry I think of those bad people who do the bad things and pretend I am meeting them in an alleyway and THAT is where my punches and kicks are going to. I don't like to envision people I know cause really I don't really know anyone in real life that I'd like to beat up. I have found that I am not very good at side kicks. It's a work in progress.

Overall, my gym experience has been fantastic. I like working out in big groups of people with an instructor telling me what to do. I have found if I don't, I don't work out. Or I work out for 10 minutes. This has been great. And I have some friends that go with me some of the time, which helps.

Clay's gym experience is more like..."We worked on legs today" and collapses on the couch. He has a friend that they do things like weights and treadmill and such. He also plays basketball once a week. Isn't that great?!

I am by NO MEANS a perfect gym goer. I don't know that I've ever gone to every one of these classes in one week. But I am trying. And that's what counts. Hopefully my dollar will motivate me.

Two dollars a day keeps our bodies at bay

Hopefully.

So Clay and I, like I've mentioned, have been in a bad sort of way. We kind of ate a bajillion grams of gluten and sugar this past month. Oh so bad. 

Clay's body has been feeling it. I have felt it a bit but I felt it in a MAJOR WAY this past week when my body decided to get BLOCKED. Oh man. Without sharing too many gory details, my body was full of crap! Literally! Which caused me to be nauseous for over a week and wonder if I was going into kidney failure. Nothing a few laxatives can't clear out (joyous experiences here people). 

So anyway, Clay and I realized...we have GOT TA CHANGE! However, we aren't very disciplined or motivated people. Simply having good health isn't enough for us. The deliciousness of ice cream and Chick file' is just too tempting. So we decided on a new system.

For every day that we DON'T eat gluten or sugar, we get a dollar (each). Also, for every day that we exercise, we get a dollar. 

For those not savvy with mathematics, that basically gives us each the potential to earn about 60 bucks every month for good behavior. 

I know what you're thinking- WOWSA that's a big chunk of change for something that you should just do naturally as an adult. Well, that's true. But this is also the only money we can spend on ourselves for fun stuff, "Play money" if you will, and ALSO- I kind of consider this as treatment for Lyme. Do you know how expensive it is to be treated for Lyme like we used to? I thought about sharing an actual dollar figure, but it's just too depressing. Trust me when I say, it's more than you'd even think. 

I TRULY truly believe that eating well and exercising is a lot of what keeps us feeling well. So, if we pay $120 a month to ourselves to spend on WHATEVER we want...and it keeps us well? I personally think that's a bargain! 

So we are pretty freaking excited about this new system. It's already motivating us. We've gone on multiple walks (since we couldn't make it to the gym), and not eaten treats!

I feel pathetic about this new system a bit. Pathetic that I can't just be motivated to live a healthy lifestyle. But it's okay. I also feel completely fine about it and accept that this is just the way we are and its totally fine. I love us. So, hopefully this works and we are super healthy folks here soon!