The Good Pain

So I confess to being an eavesdropper. I'm bad about it...enough so that I pick up people's conversations as I walk past on my way from one place to another. As I was leaving the gym this morning I heard a pair of ladies complaining of muscle soreness to one of the gym staff. See, my gym now offers "classes" where two or more people are guided through their exercise goals by a coach. He'll show you which machines to get on, how to properly operate them, and how long and intensely you need to work in order to meet your goals. These two ladies were, apparently, pushed beyond their liking. The one said she hated that she could barely move the next day because she was in so much pain. In response, the coach replied, "Yeah, but it's a good pain." Really? I accept a small amount of nagging soreness as a necessary evil, but when it gets to the point that range of motion is impeded I find that that to be a problem. Pain is your body's way of letting you know something isn't right. This includes pushing yourself too hard. Don't get me wrong, the human body is incredibly resilient. It forgives a lot of abuse, but it also has limits. If you push too far too fast you can really hurt yourself. It bothers me more than a little that a supposed health professional was counseling people to ignore those signs of over exertion.

Speaking of sore muscles, I finally started working regularly on the weight machinery at the gym. I decided to split myself into 3 sections: legs, arms, and core (i.e. back and abs). I work one section every other day. It's difficult trying to plan around my TurboFire strength training so I'm not punishing myself more than necessary. I'm still working out kinks in the system. So far, my prediction that I would be sore every day has come to fruition. Some days are worse than others, but something always hurts. I'm trying hard not to let that deter me. I found this ointment called Tiger Balm that has been a godsend. Sure it smells like camphor and menthol, but it works so you won't hear me complain. It has even worked wonders on my knees.

Actually, I've been very impressed with my knees. They've always given me trouble, even before I was overweight. I just won the genetic lottery that way. They haven't given me as much trouble as I was expecting. TurboFire features a lot of lunging. I admit to only going halfway with most of it, but it seems the more I'm working my knees the better they're holding up. Every now and then, though, they like to remind me they will never be 100%, but those days are coming fewer and farther between. Go me!

Ok, one more thing and then I'm done. I'm experiencing what you call a plateau. I'm stuck bouncing between 288 and 290. I'm not mentally where I need to be so I've been eating terribly and I acknowledge this. My coworker and I are going to try to jump start ourselves out of this rut next week by cutting out all starches. We're going in together and cooking for two all week to help ensure we both do right. Personally, I'm starting today. I'm hoping it will really help get me back in the zone. It gets discouraging to look at the same numbers on the scale for like three weeks straight. Meanwhile, everyone keeps telling me how good I look, but I feel fatter than ever, which only contributes to the backsliding. I can't wait to say goodbye to 290.