Bridal Boot Camp – Day 11

Day 11 – July 16

The past few days should be in a montage to Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.”

First thing’s first, I’m the realest (realest)
Drop this and let the whole world feel it (let them feel it)
And I’m still in the Murda Bizness
I could hold you down, like I’m givin’ lessons in physics (right, right)
You should want a bad bitch like this (huh?)
Drop it low and pick it up just like this (yeah)

First things first, I’m a realest. The realest part of me is saying “For real, I AM SORE.” Boot Camp class kicked my butt more than I realized. I’m still a bit sore from it. Chris (the fiancé) made it a point to tell me that this is how it feels when you haven’t been to the gym in months. He is right. Pretty much all of me is sore. But that means that my workout hit every single muscle group. YAY!!!

Drop this and let the whole world feel it. I’ve done a lot of squatting in the last few days. Lots of squats mean I want the whole world to know how it feels. It burns. It’s a nice burn. But it’s the kind of burn that has made me walk really slowly up the stairs at work.

And I’m still in the Murda Bizness. Not gonna lie, I have been MURDERING some of these moves. Burpees for one. Burpees and I had a fling back in high school when I was forced to do them at soccer practice. Since then we have pretty much stayed away from one another. With the help of some of the awesome classes I’ve been going to, I think Burpees and I might have a future together after all. Also, and I’m SUPER excited about this. I basically did a chin up on my own today!!! Sort of.

Today I went to the TRX class taught by Charles G. (who by the way is awesome). If you have no clue what TRX is, it’s a type of equipment that is used for suspension training. It’s like a rope that has handles at the bottom. You can adjust the height of the rope and then use the handles on your feet or hands. It’s a type of workout that uses your own body weight. It’s actually really fun.

Just one of the different squat variations you can do on a TRX.

Charles likes to call this class “Adult Recess” and that is exactly what it is. You feel like you are playing. The TRX even reminds me of the monkey bars that have handles on all the jungle gyms I experienced growing up. So while there are a lot of moves that focus entirely on strengthening your body, some of the moves actually just feel like playing.

Charles is a super fun guy already. He’s like a kid at heart that knows how to push you just a bit further than you think you can go in a workout.

One of the moves Charles made me do was a chin up. He looked at me and then at the bar (that was about 20 feet above my head… not really but it felt like it) and told me to jump up and do a chin up. My eyes were trying to say, “I can’t reach that much less pull myself up,” but Charles came over and helped boost me up there. Then he help my feet to his chest and had me use my own legs to help me pull myself up. It felt super powerful and inspiring!!! It is so much better than doing on of the assisted pull ups on a machine at the gym by yourself. Any way I felt like I MURDERED that move and I’m glad that I’m well on my way to accomplishing one of my fitness goals!

Another woman in my class has been coming to TRX for over a year now and she CAN do a chin up basically by herself!

I could hold you down, like I’m givin’ lesson’s in physics. My first one-on-one with a personal trainer was yesterday. It was with Charles. He wanted to do Thai Yoga Massage and I was completely ok with that seeing as how the previous day had worked me pretty hard. The first thing he did was have me sit down and look forward. As I inhaled and exhaled, he pushed down on my arms and shoulders and he would pause there to help my body feel the stretch. He told me the pause is really important and I totally agree. Thai Yoga Massage, is unlike any workout that I have ever done. It’s a mash-up of Yoga and massage that focuses on deep breathing and stretching, but also on helping release tension in your body.

It’s really hard for me to describe so you can check out this video here. Usually a personal training session with Charles would last 90 minutes but we did a fast version and he had me contorted in all different kinds of moves. I felt like a human pretzel that was being kneaded and stretched. It was actually awesome. I felt relaxed and rejuvenated and when it was over I was bummed. I’m actually going to try to go to a couples’ session that Charles leads sometime soon.

In this picture I literally am lying on the ground as Charles has me folded up like a pretzel.

In today’s TRX class he wanted to show me some other fun moves and had another classmate way up in the air on his feet to show me even more of the awesome moves he can do.

Have a kink in your back? Charles will get it out for you!

You should want a bad bitch like this. I feel like bad bitches always have this incredible confidence. Now I feel like I have this same incredible confidence. I know it’s crazy because I’ve only been doing this for about 11 days now, but I honestly, I really do feel like there is already a difference. Maybe not a noticeable one physically, but I feel really great about myself. I feel like I’m getting stronger. I can sort of even feel a tiny muscle in my arm when I flex now. Tonight I’m going in for my final dress fitting/alterations and I’m pumped for it.

As for progress that I can keep track of, I am back down to about 130 lbs. So I haven’t lost all of my Hilton Head weight, but I’m well on my way.

Drop it low and pick it up like this. If you are like me, and super new to the whole gym experience, I totally recommend doing the TRX class. It involves a lot of strength training, but seems less intimidating, because there are not really any weights involved. There are lots of squats. There are also lots of dips, bends and rows, but you can drop it low and pick it up just like this!

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