Plank Challenge Met!
Yesterday I hit up my gym for my second-ever TRX personal training session with Marcy. She was kind enough to offer me a freebie after I blogged about my first one for Kaitlin! And I now have two more freebies under my belt (or yoga pant waistband) because before we did our TRX, I accepted – and met – the Healthtrax Abs of Steel June challenge!
I had to hold good form for the whole five minutes. The bottom right is me immediately after finishing. Sweet relief! (That’s what she said.)
I had a feeling I’d be able to meet the challenge because I’ve achieved my five minute plank goal once before, but it sure was physically and mentally tough. Once I hit four minutes though, I was positive I’d get there. Plus I’d committed openly on the blog yesterday – something Marcy gave me props for! She also gave me triple-quadruple props for taking my rest day on Sunday. It was nice to continue to get support and encouragement for doing something so anxiety-provoking. Taking a day off is harder for me than ANY workout.
The Under Armour pinney I received as a What’s Beautiful participant of the Fitfluential campaign seemed like a very appropriate tank choice for a fitness challenge!
After my plank was over, Marcy had me doing boat pose and MORE abs right away! Then we moved on over to the area where she’d set up the TRX straps. We started with a kickass five-minute set of cardio intervals – squats, then jump squats, then holding a squat for 10-seconds. My quads are starting to feel sore this afternoon and I’m guessing will be even more sore tomorrow! We did some more strength stuff that I’d done last time mixed with brand new moves. And of course, we ended with my favorite part – assisted stretching! Specific exercises we did included:
The fit version of being on a boat!
Now for some real-talk. TRX is a tough strength-training method and I’m so thankful to have had my second session provided on-the-house by Marcy. But I got home from the gym and was – in fact, I still am as I write this – struggling with the fact that I didn’t do an amount of outright cardio for my mind to accept as “enough”. I had a lame workout on Friday, did weights on Saturday, took Sunday off, and did the TRX last night. My mind is telling me right now that I did NOT do enough cardio – I haven’t taken a cardio class or had a cardio “session” on a machine since Thursday – and I’m really annoyed with myself.
I’d like to be able to give myself credit for doing TRX and completing every rep I was asked to complete – AFTER doing a five minute plank challenge. But instead I am focusing on what my mind is telling me I “should” have done, what I “could” have done more of. Thankfully Marcy sent me a super-encouraging congratulatory email last night about how GREAT I did during my session, which made me feel a lot better. We already have our next one (my first of two more freebies!) scheduled in a couple of weeks. I’m totally looking forward to it, but am also going to focus today on realizing that not doing cardio since Thursday is not the end of the world. I’m going to attend an hour long spin class today after work and it will be great, and I will feel fabulous. But I also want to be able to feel that way WITHOUT a spin class – and I’ll get there!
How is your relationship with cardio vs strength training?
Are you a TRX fan? What are some of your fave exercises?
What’s your plank PR? I challenge YOU to a five minute plank!
