Ice ice baby

I'm kicking ass with my workouts this week. Monday morning, I joined the boot camper only group exercise, Tuesday evening, I did the open boot camp class, and then on Wednesday and Thursday, I worked out with Tina one on one. Today, I totally kicked ass by doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred Levels 1 and 3. I've heard from multiple sources that Level 2 is harder than Level 3, but after my workout today, I'm not sure if I believe that :) I think I might try Level 2 tomorrow, although I might hate myself for it.

As a bigger girl, I am frightened of a lot of health issues: hypertension, diabetes, infertility, etc. But the one thing that I've seen time and time again in my family are knee issues. My aunt has had both of her knees replaced by the time she was in her mid-50s, my cousin who is in her late 40s is a candidate for knee replacement, and of course, knee stress is a huge by-product of being overweight. So, on Tuesday night, when I walked out of boot camp with my knee killing me, I was worried and stressed. Did I just hurt my knee? Can I keep going with boot camp? What should I do with Tina on Wednesday, since I had a 1-on-1 with her? I went home, iced my knee, took some Advil, and called it a night.

The next morning, Tina was sympathetic. She told me that knee pain is normal when you're working hard, and even she needs to go home and ice her knees at night and pop a few pills before bed. Teeny tiny Tina? I don't believe it. She had a lot of cardio planned for us on Wednesday, and she gave me the option to modify for my knee, but I pushed through it, and luckily, no more pain. Thursday's 1-on-1 with her was killer. I specifically requested that we do more weight training, but that was a mistake. It was way harder than any cardio (except those asshat burpees... yes, I hate them) she threw at me on Wednesday.

I really like Tina. Yes, she works me hard, and sometimes I refer to our workouts as "beatings" but she's different than what I thought she'd be. When we first started working out, I thought she would just be this skinny little blonde chick who was doing this because she had to. One thing I hate/am afraid of is people judging fat/obese/overweight people because of how they look. I don't know why I thought Tina would be like that, but I did. She's the complete opposite. She knows that we're there to work, she is a great motivator, and she's honest. She never gives me something that I can't do, and if I need to take it down a notch, she doesn't shout in my face, Jillian style. She trusts me to do what I need to do, and I trust her to help me down this path.

What's on board this weekend? Well, more "boot camp" style workouts. Between Jillian's 30 Day Shred and The Biggest Loser/Bob Harper's Boot Camp videos, I think I have enough to tide me over until Monday morning.