The recovery benefits of training

     If six months ago someone would have told me that signing up for a trainer with Transform PT and lifting weights could help improve neck, shoulder and wrist pain I would have laughed. I have spent my life dealing with pain in my neck, shoulders, arms and wrists. It all started with a gymnastics accident when I was 11 years old when I injured my neck doing a front tuck. Since then I have had issues with herniated discs, bulging discs, degenerative disk disease, carpal tunnel, ulnar nerve issues, tendonitis, and bursitis from my neck down to my wrist and primarily on the right side of my body. In 2008 the pain got so bad I ended up having surgery to remove 2 herniated discs. A surgery that resulted in having a supporting piece of metal fused to my spine and a 9 month recovery. Then in 2010 I had surgery on my wrist to correct carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve issues.

     Over the years, when the pain got bad or my range of motion diminished for whatever reason (cold weather, exercise, lifting something too heavy, sleeping on it funny etc...) I would end up at the orthopedic doctor or neurologist and the treatment was always the same; heat alternating with ice, here take these pills for pain, muscle relaxers to help you sleep and anti-inflammatories for the swelling. For good measure I'd be sent to physical therapy which always helped for a day or two but the pain always came back and there would be no lasting effects. And when that course of treatment ran out I'd be back at the doctor still dealing with pain. I spent countless hours on my sofa or in bed trying to 'rest away' the pain. I bought a new bed, special pillow and even got a rolling book bag for work. I was convinced that the pain was something I just had to deal with.

     It has been 10 years since I had surgery on my neck and 8 years since my wrist surgery. And other than a stiff neck here and there I've been lucky to not have the pain I was dealing with before the surgery. But over the years other issues have popped up. Pain in my knees, tendonitis in my elbow and shoulders, and pain in my achilles tendon. Whenever some new pain showed up without cause I always blamed it on my getting older. And when I reached my forties my joints started to make noises I had never heard before. Again, I thought to myself, 'I'm getting older.'

     When I started training with Transform PT at Muscle Inc. I was actually dealing with shoulder pain from tendonitis and bursitis in my left shoulder. I had been going to the orthopedic doctor (again) and physical therapy (again) when my training sessions with Brandon started. When I went for my consultation with Transform PT I was told the trainer would work around an injury and not to worry. As we trained I began to realize that a lot of the exercises we were doing were the same as the exercises I was doing with the physical therapist. The only difference was I was doing those exercises with weights when I was at the gym. As a result, after three weeks I eventually stopped going to physical therapy.

     Training has changed my life in many ways. The most notable changes are in my physical and mental health. I am mentally stronger. I think more positively and I've learned ways to deal with stress that keep me from sweating the small stuff. I am physically stronger too. Aside from the accomplishments I've made at the gym (dumbbell presses with 25 lb weights almost went to 30 last night but the 30's were being used, barbell squats with 115 lbs and deadlifts with 135 lbs) I also recover from pain a lot faster. The shoulder pain I was dealing with when we first started training was something that diminished over time and now only bothers me when we train shoulders hard. But now I ice it and it recovers. Brandon explained to me once that the worst thing you can do for an injury is not move it. Of course you work around the pain but moving and working the injury gets the blood flowing which aids in recovery for the muscle. And our workouts over the last six months have proven this to me.

     A few weeks ago I woke up with terrible neck pain. Pain that was comparable to my pre-surgery pain. I could barely move my neck. The first day the pain was so severe I skipped the gym entirely. The second day I felt I needed to go to the gym even if it was just to do a short cardio workout on the treadmill. So I went. That night the pain in my neck had lessened. Just that short 15 minutes of exercise got the blood flowing enough to help my neck recover. By day three I was training with Brandon again. Now in the past I would have been on the sofa with my heating pad and by day three I would have been at the doctor's office. What a difference. Another time recently I was having pain in my wrist (I swear it was the weather. It had been a really cold, damp, dreary day). After training that day I put ice on my wrist for good measure. The next day I woke up with no pain. I've also noticed that since I've lost weight I have no pain in my knees and my joints don't click and crack when I first wake up in the morning like they used to.

     Brandon told me recently that training is making me younger. And I believe he is right. I can feel it.

   

Missing my mush

    So when Brandon said he was going to have me carb cycle for the last 2 weeks of the challenge I envisioned eating carbs on a bike. (cupcakes! LOL) No. Not even close. So carb cycling is basically doing zero carbs every other day or cycling carbs throughout your meal plan. He said he was going to make changes to the meal plan to accommodate this. At first I was a little panicked. HOW am I going to get through the day without any carbs?? Even if it is every other day, it sounded like a difficult task. I was, quite frankly, scared. I don't eat that many carbs right now to begin with; sweet potatoes, sprouted grain bread and rice. And I look forward to those carbs in each meal. I was having a hard time envisioning a day with NO carbs.

Brandon's Morning/Midnight Mush

    So last weekend Brandon gave me my new meal plan. Carb days would remain the same meals as the old meal plan. NO carb days were a bit different and included things like sauerkraut and fermented beets for their probiotic aspects. (I've never eaten a beat in my life.) I told Brandon, "I don't do beets." And he told me to get over it. The plan for NO carb days also eliminated fruit and fruit juice AND my midnight mush!! Oh no he didn't!! NO MUSH?? I look forward to my mush every night; plain Greek yogurt, scoop protein powder (I've used chocolate or vanilla) cinnamon, hemp hearts and blueberries. Referred to as Brandon's Morning/Midnight Mush (depending on where it is in your meal plan.) It has been my evening snack and little bit of sweetness every night. But for 2 weeks I would be missing my mush every other night.

    Well, here I am a week later and I have to say that Carb Cycling was a bitch the first few days but I think I've got it now. After two NO carb days in the cycle I found that I felt hungry shortly after every meal. When I told Brandon he said it was because my metabolism was up. And I found that after day five I wasn't feeling that hunger as much. In fact, I am enjoying the variety in changing it up every other day. I actually look forward to the NO CARB meals. Still can't get used to eating eggs instead of mush on NO carb days at bedtime. Carb Cycling is not something I would have been able to do 6 months ago. It's not something you should just jump into. I'm so glad Brandon has been guiding me through this whole process of learning about nutrition and how the body works. If Brandon had handed me the Carb Cycling meal plan back in June I would have given up on the first NO carb day. But by slowly introducing cleaner foods into my diet and eliminating the bad I have acclimated myself to a better way of eating. This slow transition made Carb Cycling so much easier.

     Things I've learned: 1. I DO like beets and actually look forward to them in my meals. 2. Doing Carb Cycling was not as difficult as I thought it would be. 3. I will always look forward to my mush on carb days and miss it on NO carb days.

2 weeks out, new week, new goals

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     Today I woke up pumped! Early morning at the gym with Brandon. It's Sunday. Leg Day. And only 2 weeks left in the Fall Transformation Challenge. Call me crazy but I love leg day and I love doing squats. I love the challenge of seeing how many reps I can do and lately,  I love seeing how much weight I can squat. Last week was a 100 rep day. Doing 25 rep sets Brandon kept the weight reasonable. Today he told me we were going to do shorter sets and more weight. My personal goal is to get up to 135 (two 45 lb plates) before the holidays. Totally doable according to Brandon. My personal record before today has been 80 lbs for 16 reps. So today I was anxious to see what I could do. In fact today is a day of new goals for the new week. Brandon and I have been talking for the last 2 days about changing up the meal plan and start carb cycling (no carbs every other day) and making sure I do HIIT cardio (High Intensity Interval Training) every day we train. Doing these things will help me drop more weight between now and the end of the challenge. Winning the challenge would be awesome (but I have no idea how everyone is doing and how many people in the challenge are crushing their goals). And although it would be nice to win and be recognized (not to mention the free year at the gym) I am starting to look beyond the challenge to new goals. I told my husband and Brandon that I am not done until I can see my abs. I want to be tone, cut and in the best shape of my life before I say I am satisfied.

     Normally, (at least since the challenge started) I would weigh-in today since it is a 2 week check-in. Today is 8 weeks in the challenge. But I got to the gym early and did cardio before Brandon and I started leg day and just totally forgot to weigh myself. About halfway through the workout as I was lunging towards the scale in a quad extension/lunge superset it suddenly dawned on me that I never weighed in. Brandon was like 'No problem. Just do it next week.' And added that by next week I will have been carb cycling for a week so I should see a difference. So I will weigh in next week and see how much the carb cycling and HIIT cardio affect my success. Getting on the scale is not a necessary a thing for me. It doesn't mean as much to me as the gains I feel from working out; more energy, clarity of focus and overall wellness and strength. 

     So today we started the workout with squats warming up with the bar first and then adding weight in sets of 12 reps. One set with just the bar (45 lbs), one set with 10's (65 lbs total), one set with two 10's (85 lbs total), and one set with three 10's (105 lbs). A new personal record (PR) and only 30 lbs from my goal! I was so pumped after that part of the workout the rest seemed so easy. Realizing I hadn't weighed in didn't matter in my mind because at that point I had already made other gains. So as I look ahead at the coming weeks and months I have new goals; to squat 135 lbs, to learn more about nutrition and how it affects what the body can do and to continue to enjoy the journey I am on by pushing myself beyond what I think I can do.

Can I take a moment to give my trainer props

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    I just want to take a moment to give credit where credit is due. My trainer, Brandon Mauro, at Transform PT is a beast. And when I say beast, I mean it in the most positive, kindest way. He is the only trainer I have ever worked with. So I may be biased when I say he is the best trainer I know. At 24 years old he never fails to impress me with his knowledge of workout programing, clean eating, nutrition, and general well being. He has taught me that the most important things in life are to be healthy, happy and positive and to have balance in your life. I have learned over the last 5 months that 'it's all about the process, setting goals, and seeing results while having fun.'  And THAT is just what I have been doing. And as I go through this process I realize just how much Brandon has to do with my success. He tells me I made a good choice to start training because too many people don't take care of their bodies and its sad because we only get one body. I never looked at it that way before. Brandon and I have become friends along the way and can talk about just about anything during our training sessions. I never think about Brandon as being a twenty something kid. In many ways he is more knowledgeable than I am and I respect that and have learned to depend on that when it comes to my transformation journey.

     I first met Brandon at the gym one day after doing cardio. He introduced himself to me and seemed nice enough. And then again, everyone at Muscle Inc. is friendly. We had our first training session 2 days later and I have to admit when I first arrived I thought I wasn't going to like working with him. I walked out of the locker room and said hi to him as he was talking to a woman I did not know. He told me to go do cardio until he was ready for me. He said it with what I have come to call his 'resting gym face.' LOL As I did cardio I thought to myself that this guy is probably some dumb jock who became a trainer to pick up girls at the gym. It didn't take long for him to prove my thoughts wrong. In fact, my first thoughts are so far from the reality I'm almost embarrassed I ever thought that about him. Brandon truly cares about his clients and their success. And Brandon's clients see amazing results as long as they follow the program he gives them and they train as hard as he asks them to. He always has more faith in what I can do than I have in myself and pushes me beyond the limits. Whether it's more reps, a heavier weight or a new movement; I may think I can't do it. But if he thinks I can, chances are I can.

     Along the way of this (so far five month) journey, I have come to depend on Brandon's guidance in everything that has to do with my health and well-being. I don't make a move when it comes to my health without running it by him first. And I never take for granted how lucky I am to have him as my trainer. I make sure to tell him on a regular basis how glad I am that I ended up with him as my trainer and how much I appreciate everything he has done for me. He very modestly tells me 'thanks, appreciate it!' But I don't know if he realizes just how much he has changed my life. My training and nutrition has truly become my life focus, the lifestyle change I set out to do. And although I have come far, I still have a long way to go. There are days where I talk to Brandon as much as I talk to my husband. Sometimes we text so much when we get into a conversation on a particular topic, I am surprised he hasn't told me I text him too much. He keeps me motivated and on point, shares my successes, talks me down from my set backs, shows concern when I am not well, explains things I don't understand and makes me smile even during a workout when I think I'm done and he says, 'one more set.' Although I know one day I will be ready to do my training on my own, I don't look forward to it because having the knowledge to do it solo is not the same as having a workout partner like Brandon.

     Working out on my own will come sooner than I like in just a couple short months. I recently found out that Brandon will be leaving Muscle Inc. to move on to bigger and better things and I have no doubt that he will be successful in whatever he sets his mind to. I've told him he has a bright future with his experience and education in personal training and he will go far. But that doesn't mean I have to like the fact that he is leaving. In fact, I am very sad to see him go. Training will not be the same without him. So for the next couple of months I will continue to learn from Brandon and work towards my goals until he moves on. And then continue on my own after he leaves. He has assured me I will be ready even though I don’t feel like I will be. But just like I never imagined doing squats with the right form, he is probably right when he tells me I’ll be ready. So if you are reading this and are lucky enough to have Brandon as your trainer, don't take him for granted. He is a beast that knows what he is talking about.

Your body is a furnace so fuel the fire

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     Today marked 6 weeks in the Fall Transformation Challenge. 6 weeks down. 4 weeks to go. I couldn't wait to get to the gym today to see how all my work was going to translate in weight loss since today was a 2 week check in for me. In the first two weeks I had lost 7 lbs (and believe me I was excited!) but at week four I had only lost an additional 2 lbs. So today I was hoping for a bigger loss. We had been training 4 days a week and I was following the meal plan and doing cardio. Although, I did have a cheat meal each week which was something I hadn't done in the first two weeks of the challenge. So when I stepped on the scale and saw I only lost another 2 lbs I was disappointed to say the least. Six weeks into the challenge and I've only lost 11 lbs. That's a good loss but I thought it would be more. I mean since June I've lost a total of 26 lbs which is amazing but once the challenge started we stepped everything up and I expected the weight to come off faster. Two weeks ago Brandon said I was building muscle which would affect my weight loss. But I couldn't keep saying it was muscle gain that was affecting my weight loss.

     So just like any other time that I am disappointed or don't understand something about the workout or my nutrition, Brandon and I sat down after the workout and talked. We talked about my nutrition. He looked over my meal plan and decided he didn't want to make any changes but asked me if I was eating every meal. I told him there were a few nights where I wasn't really hungry and didn't get in all 5 meals. He then tells me I HAVE to get all the meals in to fuel my body. He explained that it may sound strange but the more I eat the more I'll lose. I was like huh?? How is that possible?? It was in that moment he gave me an explanation that totally made sense to me.

     Brandon explained that the body is like a furnace and the food we eat is the fuel for our furnace. Okaaay. When you fuel the furnace with a meal it keeps the fire burning and your metabolism stays up and burns fat. As long as the furnace has fuel the fire keeps burning and the metabolism stays up. Makes sense. If you miss a meal the fire doesn't burn as well or may go out completely and the metabolism slows down. Okay. So every time I miss a meal my metabolism slows down. Great. Not doing that anymore. And so by eating all five meals throughout the day I keep my metabolism fueled. Makes perfect sense. Now. This was the first time I felt like I really understood what role nutrition plays in my weight loss. All my life I have been told that I needed to eat less fat and calories or eat less in general. But everything I have learned about eating clean and nutrition while training is the opposite. Eat healthy fats, protein and veggies and eat five meals throughout the day rather than just three. And now with this analogy from Brandon I totally understood why he tells me that nutrition comes first, then rest and working out.

     So today when I got home from the gym I spent a few hours doing meal prep for every meal for the work week. 5 days, 5 meals each day. I will not miss a meal this week. No excuses. I will fuel my metabolism and lose more weight this week. Can't wait to see the results!

When you realize how far you have come...

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     This week I was reminded of how far I've come and how I never want to go back to the old me. While going through pictures from my trip to Morocco last March I came across several that I didn't like or actually couldn't believe was me! So I took the picture and put it side-by-side with one of my after workout pics from the gym. A friend recently asked me if I had been documenting my progress with pictures. I had taken a few but nothing consistent. After comparing the pic from Morocco with a recent pic I decided I need to take more pictures as I go through the rest of this journey. I posted the comparison picture on social media and it has been overwhelming the number of accolades and comments I have received. It is so motivating. And today I decided I want to make this blog public so people can see what I've gone through and the journey that it has been. And if along the way I inspire someone to do the same for themself that will be awesome.

     On facebook the comparison picture has drawn 63 comments and 194 reactions so far. I am humbled by what people have said and the words of encouragement to keep going. Friends who work out understand my addiction to this process, others have told me my results are motivating and that I am awesome. Like I said. Humbling because I look at this as a journey of self discovery and change. I told my husband from the beginning that if I did this I was all in and I was doing it for ME and no one else. I've stayed true to my word. Every piece of advice, every change in diet and exercise, every time Brandon has said to do something during a workout that I didn't think I could do...every time I remind myself why I started and what my goals are. I remind myself that I am doing it for me. But it's really nice to hear the compliments from people because they remind me that I'm doing something great for myself and I'm doing it the right way. Friends are telling me I am 'crushing my goals' and 'killing it' or that I'm 'freaking awesome' or 'looking fantastic.' And now I have friends asking questions and I find that I have gone from inspired to inspiring. All this makes me feel even better about this transformation journey.

       So to continue getting outside my comfort zone when it comes to documenting my progress. This week I asked Brandon to take a video so I could see my squats. I don't normally like to see videos of myself. I've always been very self conscious, especially when I started to gain weight. But it took a long time for me to get to this point where I have the squat form without losing my balance and I wanted to see what it looked like and I'm quite proud of myself. Who knew back in June when I signed up for a trainer with Transform PT that I'd be squatting 80 lbs today. The video shows the last set, last exercise of the workout, superset with deadlifts. If you don't know what a deadlift is it is a weight training exercise where a loaded barbell (in this case loaded with two 45 lb plates) is lifted off the ground to hip level and then lowered to the ground. Four sets of 12 reps each. So last set when Brandon took the video I was really pushing through. Again, I decided to post the SQUATS VIDEO to social media and the comments were again overwhelming. I don't think a lot of my friends realized what exactly going to the gym is for me. Although, I look at the video and say to myself I can do more. I want to squat 45's. So I set my goal to be two 45 lb plates (total 135 with the bar) for 12 reps. I think I'll be able to do it sooner than I think too.

      So this week has really made me realize how far I have come. And although I have come far, I still have a long way to go. I have also realized I am more comfortable in my own skin and that I want to inspire people with my progress to go out and be the best version of themselves that they can be. 

One Month into the Fall 2018 Transformation Challenge

     So I have been training with Brandon for four months now. One month into the Transformation Challenge and I've lost 9 lbs. Good but I was hoping for more. Brandon put strict guidelines on how often I can weigh-in, only once every 2 weeks. After the first two weeks of the challenge I lost 7 lbs. I was so excited. The meal plan, HIIT cardio and training were all working to boost my weight loss. Then this week I weighed in a second time and only lost 2 lbs. I was a little disappointed but still it was a loss. Brandon reminded me that since we are training four days a week now I am gaining muscle and that could account for the small loss. But like I said it is still a loss. Plus, I keep reminding myself that this is a process. That the challenge is not the end of my journey. Nor is the challenge my goal. The challenge is one of my motivations. We still have six weeks to go. Plenty of time!!

     So I took some time today to reflect on how much I have changed over the last four months. I look at life so differently now. I eat clean, workout 6 days a week (and like it!), lift weights (never imagined I'd ever do that), do squats and deadlifts (never even heard of a deadlift before), think positive, manage my stress, do meal prep and look for alternative ways to deal with things like pain and insomnia. I have an awesome trainer who has taught me all this and who I continue to learn from about nutrition, working out, supplements, and weight training. In fact, all the trainers at Transform PT are pretty awesome. The atmosphere at Muscles Inc. is motivating and they make you feel like family there. Training has been the single most valuable decision I have ever made for myself. I started out wanting to lose weight and get in shape. Now I am obsessed with the process and excited to see what I can do next. It's not just about the pounds I've lost so far. It's about all the changes I have made and about what comes next. I am not done with my transformation journey and I have a long way to go but I've learned to trust the process and I have fallen in love with taking care of my body. It's the only body I've got.