Today I got out of bed, feeling groggy and unmotivated to leave my pajamas.
As I slowly prepared myself a cup of morning coffee and nibbled on my peanut butter toast, my mom, who was already dressed in her workout gear, asked: " What are your plans
for the day Camille?”
“Ummmm….” I replied
apprehensively. “I’ll probably workout later."
My mom didn’t buy my
explanation. “Why don’t you come with
me? I’ve got a personal training session with Amy. We can make it a group session."
“Ha!” I thought to
myself. Going to a training session
with Amy on a normal day would be a challenge, but today it sounded like an
impossible feat. As I’ve mentioned in
previous blog posts Amy is the type of trainer that pushes her clients to get
out their comfort zone when they workout.
Against my great
desire to stay in my pajamas and watch television, I decided
to go with my mom to the gym. As much as
I would like to say that my decision to workout arrouse from stellar ability to self motivate, the truth is my mom pretty much dragged me out the door. Her motherly intuition was most likley telling her that if she
didn’t get me out of the house for the training session, I’d probably be in my pajamas the whole
day.
When I got to the gym, still determined to avoid the group training session, I
told my mom and Amy politely that I was fine just workouting by myself.
But Amy would have none of my excuses. “ You've gotta particpate. The workout I
planned requires both of you and your mom!”
I had no
choice but to dig deep down and find the motivation in this workout that I was clearly
lacking when I woke up this morning. Amy organized the
training session so that my mom and I were required to do the majority of ther exercises together. Knowing that my mom and I were going through the same torture, prevented me from cheating on the diffcult exercises.
Here are some of the
excersises we did together-
1)
Partner wall squat (2 sets x 15
reps)- First partner sits against the
wall in a wall sit position. Second partner
puts their hands on their partners knee’s and does 15 triceps push-ups (note-
make when you do the assissted tricep push up, you should be facing away from partner
with your elbows tucked in and your back faced towards your partner). After one set is complete, the partners will
exchange roles so that the first partner is now doing the triceps push
ups. Repeat twice.
2)
Partner squats- (2 sets x 15 reps) For
this exercise, you will need two somewhat flexible workout rubber bands. Each partner grabs the end of both rubber bands and stands far enough apart so that the rubber band is
stretched as far as it can go.
While, maintaining the grip of
the rubber bands both partners will enter a squat position and
simultaneously pull the ends of the rubber band to their sides of their obliques x 15 reps (strengthens shoulders and back). Repeat twice
3)
Push up plank high fives- Each partner
should lye an arm’s length across from each other while they do 8
push-ups. After pushups are completed,
each partner will get in a plank position and give each
other 8 high fives with opposite hands (should remain in plank position and limit
core movement).
After
my workout today, I realized why it is important to incorporate other people in
your workouts. Not only did working out
with my mom motivate me to get off my lazy butt and come to the gym, it also
pushed me to work out harder than I normally would if I was working out alone.
So the next time you feel sluggish and
unmotivated to workout, call up a friend and try out these exercises at the gym. Who knows you might even have a good time and
want to do it again.
photo- http://www.lucilleroberts.com/blog
Labels: motivation to workout, weightloss., work out plan
