Motivation Monday -- Giavanni Ruffin

I found this video of Giavanni Ruffin on Alwyn Cosgrove's blog. I was totally inspired - his athletic ability is amazing. Watch the whole video - it's worth it.

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful."

I also came across this quote. I looked online but couldn't find the source for it (if anyone else has better luck please let me know) -- when I read it, it made total sense to me:

Don't trade in what you want most

for what you want at the moment.

These two quotes really hit me hard. I know what I want. I know what I have to do to get it and I'm working on it every single day ...

Feeling the Burn

I was back in the weight room yesterday and it felt great! I was a bit apprehensive at first about lifting weights for the first time after traveling - I wondered how much strength I had lost and was a bit afraid that I would have to spend a week or two rebuilding the strength that I had left off at.

I did some warm-up cardio - mainly at a steady level with a few high-speed sprints thrown in to elevate my heart rate. Then I proceeded to my weight training which was basically going to be a repetition of workout 8A.

I am happy to say that I didn't have a problem at all - even with the 3 sets of 15 reps prone jackknives!! I was stoked! I did a warm-up set for the seated row and for the squats before working out at the weight where I had left off ... it felt really good, and I felt really happy that I didn't struggle nearly as much as I thought I was going to. It reminded me of Alwyn Cosgrove's article on the benefits of resistance training lasting longer than endurance training.

I had intended on going to the gym today, but after teaching my first class of the semester followed by 2 meetings and a leisurely lunch with some friends I knew that it would be better for me to go home and get some studying done ... plus, by the time I got home my legs were burning from the squats and the step ups ... not to mention spending the whole day in heels after such a long time! Tomorrow I'm going to try and work in a swim! Fingers-crossed :)

Alwyn Cosgrove & Motivation Monday

I am so glad I found Alwyn Cosgrove's website today. Cosgrove designed the workouts in NROL4W. His latest post discusses what happens when you stop training, and he discusses strength training vs. endurance training. As he mentioned in NROL4W, strength training is the way to go. I think it just helped me feel a bit more confident in going forward with the program since I've been feeling a bit restless.

He has another really good post about tracking results. I wish I had the opportunity to workout at a gym where the trainers were as particular to keeping track of results and encouraging people to keep working on their goals. Don't get me wrong, the trainers at the Palms are great, but I've always felt like there's something missing. Like when I started my personal training with C, I should have known that something would be off when he didn't take any of my measurements, didn't keep track of any of the workouts that we were doing, and kept talking about other non-related exercise things during our session. I know that the trainers get clients who are not really that keen on personal training - they just want someone to stand next to them while they're working out - but I'm not one of those people. I actually want someone to be there to kick my ass and push me to my potential. I think I'm trying my very best - I'm not afraid of hard work or sweat - but perhaps I could do better, push more weight, up the intensity a bit more? As someone who is interested in health and fitness but is kinda running (independently) blind through the whole thing, I can't fully be confident that what I'm doing is correct or working ... Anyway.

I was going to post another mini-video clip for my Motivation Monday, but I think pointing you over to Alwyn Cosgrove's website is a much better motivation tool.

PS: Alwyn if you ever read this and fancy coming over to Kuwait to train me, let me know!! :)