Friday, January 31, 2014

Fitness Friday: BYU Campus Stairs

Disclaimer: This is a long post with a lot of complaining, if you don't want to read it then here is what you should know....
1. Be grateful for your healthy body, and use it!
2. If I, being as nonathletic and weak as I am, can do a triathlon so can you!(its not about speed, its just about finishing!)
3. Don't let the BYU South stairs be the judge of your fitness level

Yesterday was a REALLY long day! I woke up at 4:30am to go to work and didn't get home until 10:45pm and the only break I had in that whole day was when I ate my PB&J in the car.  I went from work, to the physics lab, to take a physics test, to physics class, to chemistry class.  Well yesterday was supposed to be Thankful Thursday on the blog, I was so tired and wasn't really feeling thankful for anything so I just didn't write anything.  But that is ok because today I'm combining Fitness Friday and Thankful Thursday, so here it goes!
 I was under the impression that I am in the best shape I've every been in, as far as cardiovascular strength and muscle strength goes.  So the other day when I approached the hundreds of stairs on the South side of BYU campus I thought to myself, "I am going to rock these!" Much to my disappointment I got winded about half way through and people were passing me left and right! I know this is a small thing but it really got me discouraged.  This happened last Saturday and it has been on my mind all week! How is it that I work out 5-7 hrs a week and still can't climb those stupid stairs with out feeling like I'm going to die!?  I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I didn't warm up or that the workouts I do are not similar to climbing stairs, it doesn't really matter, what does matter is what I learned from it.  I felt pathetic all week, in my spin classes, in my weight classes, and again when I had to climb the stairs yesterday.  It got me thinking that I've always been weak.  The only fitness I really did growing up was dance and I was remembering that in all my classes I've always been the weakest one.  I always felt like I was trying my hardest and just falling short of what everyone else is accomplishing.  I don't want this to be a "woe is me" type of post, I'm just trying to share my thought process this week.  So I had all of these things running through my head yesterday as I was struggling to keep up with the instructor in spin class, and the instructor said just what I needed to hear.  She said, "Aren't you guys glad that you are healthy enough to get tired!?".  It was kind of a weird way to put it but as I thought about it more it made sense.  Even though I can't climb those gosh darn stairs without getting winded, or run a 6 minute mile, or keep up with my spin instructor I have something to be grateful for. Because I am healthy enough to use my body, I may be winded when I get to the top of those stairs but at least I can get to the top! I think the truth of the matter is that unless you are athletically gifted or have 15 hrs to devote to working out a week your going to have a hard time.

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