Some thoughts and discussions from me.

Morning!

Last night I was at the gym training a client until 7:00, so when it came time for dinner, I wanted something that would take less than 20 minutes.

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Frozen veggies + pre-cooked chicken sausage = a meal in minutes. I just added some squash (the rest of the unfortunate kabocha,) onion, mushrooms, and kale.

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Satisfied my taste buds and did the job. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for Shane. He’s not a fan of feta (I know, right?) and it somehow slipped my mind as I picked these up from Sprouts last weekend.

This morning, aside from finishing up some online training plans for next week, I’ve got a pretty leisurely day ahead of me. I don’t train until this evening (still trying to build up my client base – ugh!) so I’ve made a list of things to do to make me feel productive:

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Hopefully I’ve got all of these items crossed off the list before my noon hot yoga class! However, I’m also awaiting a delivery I have to sign for today. My dad informed me that I have an early birthday present being delivered to ME today! I’m super excited, and can’t wait to see what it is Open-mouthed smile Hopefully it gets here before yoga.

Unfortunately, it might be my last sanity insurance hot yoga class for a while. The month pass I bought when we moved here is almost up, and to buy another one is $160. I just don’t know if I can justify buying one when our house in Illinois is still on the market (hello, two mortgages) and my client base isn’t exactly full time. Guess I’ll just have to bust out the space heater and yogadownload.com!

At least I don’t have to worry about the cost of a gym membership, though Smile

Oh man, was I humbled yesterday as I set up the barbell and rack for bench pressing.

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Yesterday I was back to the basic bench press – with an olympic bar and plates. Very, very tiny plates.

As part of my training split right now, I’m starting off each workout with a main lift – yesterday’s happened to be the bench press. A while back, I had my bench up to using pretty heft weights for me. Yesterday? They looked more like little birdies perched on the ends of my barbell rather than plates. I was pretty surprised how much my bench strength had decreased. But hey, just gives me somewhere to go, right? Right Smile

Speaking of lifting weights, I have a little confession to make.

Confession time: The other day, while speaking with a new client, we were going over her goals. One of her goals was to tone up. “So, where do you want to tone up, specifically?” I asked.

Yes. I say “toning,” “tone up,” and “get toned” every.single.day. when talking with clients.

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Now, I know better. In fact, not too long ago, I wrote a post on all the synonyms girls use for “build muscle.” I know that when a person sees results from resistance training, they aren’t seeing that muscle “toned up,” or with “definition” or even “sculpted.” They’re seeing new muscle – that they built. (Or they just cleaned up their diet quite a bit and can now see the muscle they already had.) It’s not physically possible to just “tone up” a muscle.

So why do I say the word “tone” at all?

Because I know what people mean when they say they want to tone up! Typically, it means they don’t want to get huge. They don’t want to get “body building big.” Generally, they just want a harder body, to lose fat, and to be able to see some of that muscle on their bodies. And then I explain what it really means while we’re working out and they start to see that muscle tone Smile

With that, it’s time to get crackalackin’ on this to-do list and make myself feel productive. And hopefully sign another client or two Winking smile

Your turn! When was the last time you were humbled in the gym? I remember, years ago, when I first used the smith machine for squats – I was using it backwards! I’m thankful for the person who came up to me quietly and let me know, too.