Bridal Boot Camp Day 16

Day 16 – July 21

There are officially only 47 days until the wedding. I think this is the point where everyone starts asking you, “Are you ready?” or “Are you getting excited?” or “What have you left to do?” If I got a dollar for every time I’ve been asked that this week I would have enough to pay for this wedding. Just kidding. I’d probably have enough to feed our 15-person wedding party (True Talk: weddings are expensive). The answer to all of those questions are “Not ready yet. Yes I’m excited. And here is the list…”

Here is the list of things I have left to do:

Finish all the wedding favors. Have I mentioned yet how I’m sort of a perfectionist? I may have bit off a little more than I could chew with this one because I planned on etching 150 ish mason jars. THANK GOD for my amazing friends who are helping me get this done. I think I have 16/150 done. So yeah.

This involved a 103-step process with stencils, transfer paper, a sand blaster, a pick to get the stencils off, and a nice wash.

Practice the correct version of a squat. Apparently, I don’t know squat about squats. Today I worked out with another of the Arena District Athletic Club’s awesome personal trainers. Aron sat me down and we talked about goals, which is what he usually does with new clients. I basically told him I want to look more toned in my arms and back for my wedding. At this point, he usually comes up with an entire workout plan for his client and goes about helping them achieve their goals. I did mention to him that I had never really done much strength training, so he wanted me to make sure I had the basics down. Turns out I have squatted improperly my whole life. Proper squatting technique works your quads, hamstrings, and your glutes, or at least it should. In order to engage that posterior, you have to get your quads below parallel to the floor. I was bad at it. So bad that we spent 15 minutes trying to get me into the correct position so that Aron could grab a picture. I have 47 more days to master this.

I have a problem with keeping my chest up, so Aron made my hold my arms way up in the air, except for the last picture.

I also need to paint my “guest book” for the wedding. Call me creative, or maybe crazy, but I wanted to have cornhole boards at our wedding for our guests to sign. Cornhole is an activity that I only picked up in Ohio, and it’s something that Chris and I have bonded over. One of our fantastic groomsmen made the boards for us. I’m just going to stain them. Maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll show you the finished result.

For now, here are my super fun corn hole bags!!!

I still need to work on proper pull-up form. I’d love to be able to do a pull-up all by myself, but I’ll settle for mastering the correct movement. I have a terrible habit of rolling my shoulders forward. I do it when I type. I do it when I eat. I do it when I walk around. I have terrible posture, and that has affected how I go about trying to do a pull-up. Because my back is weak, I tend to roll my shoulder forward and try to lift my body weight with my arms. Aron showed me that when doing a pull-up movement the correct way, I should feel it more in my back and lats, instead of my shoulders. The best way I can describe this is by trying to pinch the bottom of your shoulder blades together. This is how a pull-up should feel.

Here I am trying to smile whilst maintaining proper form.

I need to find shoes for my wedding. I know… I was supposed to have the shoes right after the fiancé and before the dress. What can I say? I’m a terrible woman and I have terrible feet. I am not supposed to wear heels due to a foot injury (Morton’s Neuroma), so I found awesome flats. And I still plan on using them for the ceremony. But my feet get tired after a while and need support, so I’m going to get some Nike IDs. I just haven’t done it yet. Should I put “MRS” on them or my wedding date? What colors do I want? There are just so many options.

I probably have 500 more lunges to do before the big day. Lunges hurt. I did 50 ish today, then Aron added weights because he likes to see my face scrunched up in pain. But for real, Aron pushed me way harder than I would have pushed myself. He also made sure I didn’t cheat when I got fatigued and let some of my other stronger muscles do the work instead. He kept me and my lunge form honest, which I will thank him for one day.

There is so much exhaustion hidden behind this face.

I have to make a seating chart for the reception. I didn’t want to. I was sort of feeling the free spirit vibe, but Chris pointed out that we really need to make one so that some of our more liberal friends don’t end up sitting by our more out spoken conservative friends. The thing is, I want to use an old screen door at my mom’s house (in Denver) and there is really no way I can do that from here. The control freak in my wants to just get it done, but I haven volun-told some of my Colorado dwelling bridesmaids that they have to do it. They are more creative than I am, so I’m sure it will be perfect, I just have to figure out who sits where.

I also have to calculate and buy alcohol for the wedding. How much can 150 ish guests drink? What if they like beer more than wine? What about our specialty cocktail drinks? How many squats will it take to work off a specialty cocktail drink? What about the low-landers who have never drank at altitude?

I have 5 sessions left with various personal trainers left. I will try to suck up all the knowledge they will give me in order to make the most of this Bridal Boot Camp. Today I learned a ton from Aron.

Aron was really great to work with and showed me tons of tips for remembering proper form.

Gain sweet awesome arm muscles so I look tight and toned for the wedding!

So you know, I’m basically done with wedding stuff 😉

The Arena District Athletic Club is more than just a gym, it’s a premier fitness facility located in the heart of the Arena District in downtown Columbus. We provide convenience and quality, featuring top-of-the-line equipment, top-notch personal trainers, spa-like locker rooms and a wide variety of free group fitness classes daily including Cardio, Spinning, Barre Fusion, Yoga, Boot Camp and more. We offer free 2-hour parking and convenient contract-free memberships, to fit your healthy lifestyle needs. Don’t just join, belong.