Thursday, April 7, 2011

I squat, you squat, we all squat...

Interesting title makes for a good blog. Actually, the interesting title is only in hope that this blog will be good. So many things have happened since I last updated spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally. Heck, it was like extreme makeover!

I feel like God is bringing me back to being content in my singleness and all that He has for me right now during this season. I am by no means ready to entrust my heart to a man right now. I was able to go back to my hometown this weekend and spend some time with my family. One of the greatest parts of the entire weekend was getting to spend some one on one time with my daddy. Sadly, I don't get to do that very much anymore. With me getting older, I realize that those times are going to become extremely rare... even more rare than now. I want to cherish these sweet memories with my daddy. He is the greatest man I know. Over the last two years or so, my heart and head have been clouded with so much that I never really took the time to listen to my daddy's heart. Yes, I heard him and all that he was saying, but I never truly listened. The biggest thing that I was reminded from him on Sunday morning (he stayed at home with me because I was exhausted and needed rest) is his heart for his little girl. I don't care how old I am, I will always be my daddy's little girl... his first little girl. I've always known my daddy has loved me, he shows me that in so many ways. He is one of the main reasons why I am so secure, content and confident. Hearing him talk to me about the way I deserve to be treated brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I will never get tired of spending daddy/daughter time with him!
When I think about the love that my father has for me, I can't understand how much he truly does love me. I won't understand until I am in a hospital bed some day, holding my own child for the first time. I've heard it's indescribable. Then I think about how much my heavenly Father loves me. He loves me even more than my own earthly father loves me. That's something that I will never be able to understand. I am so loved!

This song by Chris Tomlin has meant so much to me this week. I have no idea why, but I love it! It's on his new CD "And if our God is for us." You need to go buy it right now! :D

This last week I learned a new definition of the term "sore." I thought I knew what sore was, then good ol' drill sergeant Billy decided to re-define it for me. How thoughtful. I get to class on Monday thinking, "it's Monday... he was tough on us last Monday, surely he'll give us a break..." Whew buddy was I wrong! He introduced me to an evil practice called "ladder sets." Word of advice to all you folks out there, as soon as you hear the term "ladder sets"... RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!

Aren't you dying to know what a ladder set is? I'm so glad, because I'm gonna tell you! :)

The point of a ladder set is to work out a specific muscle group until you reach muscle failure.
What is muscle failure? Basically it's a term that means there is no possible way for your muscles to do anymore. They are shot, finished, done.
You grab a partner or two who are around the same strength level as you. Then you pick an exercise, decide on a weight that is heavy enough for all of you because you do not change the weight throughout the reps. My group consisted of myself and two other girls. We decided that we wanted to do squats (squats are by far my favorite, but a max out squat is probably one of the most torturous workouts to do). We used the smith machine to spot us just incase our legs gave out and we fell. (It happens). We put 25's on each side and went to work (without a spot, it would be a 95 lb. squat, but with assistance I would say it was around 50-60). Each person starts out doing one repetition (rotating people after each rep), then 2, 3, 4 and so on. You keep going until someone's legs finally give out and you can't do anymore. (Which was me, I was done after 13 rounds...which in total equalled 91 squats... ouch!)
After that was done, we had to do an opposing muscle group. Since squats work mostly quads (and some hamstrings) we did deadlifts as our opposing muscle workout. Deadlifts mostly stress hamstrings, but it's also very good for your lower back. Everyone in the group successfully did 8 rounds of 50 lb. deadlifts!! Girl power!!
Then I woke up the next day... there are no words to describe that pain that I was in. I have never been so sore, nor do I ever think I will be that sore again. I'm competitive, especially with something I'm passionate about, so I was not going to be behind in the lifts. I certainly paid for it the next day. Then Wednesday rolls around and I can still barely walk I'm in so much pain. I arrive at my class again... and there's drill sergeant Billy, with that awful smirk on his face. He separates us into two teams and decides we were going to have a relay and strength competition and guess what kind of strength competition we had... SQUATS. I wanted to cry. The girls had to squat 100 lbs. as many times as they could. I successfully did it 5 times. I was definitely a little disappointed because I could've done more if I wouldn't have been so sore, but I still got more than any other girl in the class! WAHOO!! So yes, that was my extreme week at the gym. I challenge you to push yourself to the max one day in the near future. Go out to GNC and buy some glutamine powder and take it at night before you go to sleep after a hard workout. I recommend mixing it up with orange juice.. yum! (Not really, griny O.J. really isn't that great, but your muscles will thank you the next day). Glutamine really does help with muscle soreness, sadly I did not think to buy any after my two crazy days at the gym. (Thanks, daddy for the reminder) Hopefully this weekend my legs will feel normal, function properly and I will be able to go on a run!

To top off a crazy week, tomorrow I will be participating in the Relay for Life. It's a cancer awareness rally that goes on once a year. I am teaming up with my fellow Exercise and Sport Science Club members to be a part of the rally. The event goes all night long. During the 12 hour event, 2 members from our team will be walking around the football stadium at all times, raising support for cancer patients and survivors. I'm not sure who we are representing, but tomorrow night I am walking for my Papa. He's my hero and he deserves to be remembered at this event. He may not be what everyone considers a "cancer survivor," but he was to me. He fought till the very end and he did win. He got to go hang out with Jesus... sounds like quite a win to me!!

I miss you Papa, this is for you.

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