So...thanks to a friend I finally dragged my butt to Water Aerobics over the last two weeks and can I just say how much I LOVE it?! I have been reminded again of the days when I actually LIKED to exercise and absolutely loved going to the gym every day.
Yesterday morning we had a really great teacher that spent the class time as we were working out talking to us about the proper way to exercise (she regularly teaches an early morning class that is all about body conditioning and I would love to go if I could fit it into my schedule of sending kids to school...maybe in the summer) I learned a LOT from her--including some insight into why, after 3 years of exercising regularly, 2 years ago I stopped losing weight no matter what I did. She talked about keeping proper posture, saying that if you exercise with bad posture you actually strengthen the wrong muscles. She also talked about how HARD you should be working...which apparently has been my problem.
Problem #1--I carry around with me at all times this dead goose that hangs around my waist (like a fat rubber chicken--hence the name "dead goose") If I wear the wrong pants I look like a muffin. It really isn't very funny, but I had resigned myself to the fact that after 4 C-Sections and almost 18 years of being fat I was doomed to carry around my dead goose forever. Now, after some instruction from a very informed aerobics instructor, it seems that I have probably been making my dead goose get bigger because I am a chronic sloucher....even when I exercise. So... my new goal is to watch my posture...and attacking problem #2 should help with problem #1 if I can make the proper adjustments.
Problem #2--When the weight loss stopped, I told myself I "just wasn't working hard enough". Add that to the fact that I was in way better shape than I had been in for a long time, and I really pushed my workout. I was going to the absolute point of as-fast-as-you-can-walk-without-running-or-looking-like-a-loser (bad knees--no running for me) and by the time I was done I felt like I could die. I definitely couldn't talk--I could barely breathe. It turns out that I have not been burning any fat AT ALL. I have known this before, so I don't know why I didn't realize until yesterday, but she talked to us about how if you aren't burning fat, you're burning sugar, and if you can't breathe deeply, not enough oxygen is making it into your muscles to CHANGE the way your body looks. Again, a reason why I still have a dead goose.
So now that I know, I am making some changes. There are a couple other classes at the Rec Center that I am going to try (I did a TRX class on Saturday that just about did me in...but it was still awesome). I'm SO GLAD I have gone back to Water Aerobics...it's so FABULOUS!
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