Evidence of a quality workout. :) Gotta love it.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Hurt So Good
One of the first things I mentioned I love was athletics and fitness. Now, I personally believe that in some light, every elite athlete is a masochist. If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me, “How do you do that?” or “Why do you do that?” accompanied with that you-crazy-idiot look after telling them my workout regimen and schedule, well… I’d probably be a couple bucks richer. But seriously, I couldn’t begin to count how many times my teammates and I had group sessions to share the agonizing soreness/fatigue/inability to easily sit on the toilet we felt from training.
So now that I’m through with the 7am weight training, feared conditioning tests, 6-hour practices, and countless Versaclimber challenges, I should be relaxing sweat-free right? Well, the masochist in me is still very much alive, and I can’t seem to live without rigorous training. Somehow that inability to breathe and unceasing sweating is just oh so appealing to me.
Without organized athletics, I’ve adopted another form of insanity. Literally. I decided to take on Team Beachbody’s 60-Day Insanity Challenge to keep me sane (ironically enough) and fit. It's a 60-day at-home conditioning program that kicks. your. ass.
An edited infomercial...
"If you're a masochist, bring it!" Love it!
So I'm actually almost three weeks into the program already and I've definitely noticed changes since starting the program. I didn't take a "Before" photo but I still have some relevant pics to post. ...will do so shortly. I've always had pretty fit legs, but they're getting really toned with this workout. Honestly, I haven't lost that much weight but I can still notice my stomach shrinking. Really, the number on the scale doesn't matter that much if you can see the results on you! I do my workout every morning to take advantage of a high metabolism throughout the entire day. It's been a ton of fun and the laid out calendar keeps me on track so I feel guilty if I skip a day. It's all about individual will power to do it but having someone plan your workouts definitely makes it easier to stick to! And the workouts are less than an hour each day (for now anyways). We can all make time for something that benefits us in so many ways. More to come soon.
Happy Friday!
The Pilot
Here we go--
Welcome to my first attempt at blogging! Let me begin by introducing myself and my current life situation. My name is Ashley and I’m a recent graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Communication. I was a member of the Varsity Softball team for 4 years and was (that past tense still sounds weird to me) a competitive athlete for 8 years before that. I’ve competed on some of the biggest stages in softball, and my love for fitness and athletics is far from over despite my retirement from the field.
The fam bam with me at graduation
Proud days competing for the Cardinal!
I have an immense love for traveling. I think traveling to unfamiliar territory is one of the best ways for an individual to discover, grow, and learn from every possible outlet! The world, other people, and themselves. I could go on, but I'll refrain. I’ve been very fortunate in my life to experience so many cultures, both for business and pleasure. In my brief 22 years, I’ve been to Asia twice and Europe six times, spending ample time in a multitude of locations, absorbing the lifestyles of everywhere from rural China to Monte Carlo.
A couple of my favorites...
The indescribably beautiful Swiss Alps
Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italia
So like many others, I’m currently unemployed. After two months of wild job hunting and only a handful of interviews, I began to find myself in a mental rut. You know those days (or weeks?) when you're in an unexplainable funk? It was a couple days too many for me. There's a quote by Steve Jobs that I love: "...I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something." With this in mind, I decided I needed to get myself busy again. I decided to take this time off as a beautiful opportunity to do things I’ve always wanted to do, teach myself a few things to improve me from a personal and professional standpoint.
There are so many things I would have loved to dedicate my time to in the last 22 years but was never able to. Cooking. Reading for pleasure. Expanding my style. Honing my foreign language skills...the list goes on! The possibilites (and time for the time being) are endless!
Off top, these are the things I'll be working on:
- Completing an insane at-home workout regimen
- Creating fun, easy, tasty, and healthy recipes
- Improving and evolving my Italian
- Teaching myself Management Science (why am I doing this to myself?)
- Reading Ana Karenina (hello 600+ pages)
- Ah yes, finding a job
Now, this is no promise that I’ll complete every task, but the options and FREEDOM make it fun. And so the journey of no obligation begins!
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