Standings

So the gym I go to (YMCA) has a system called fitlinxx connected to every weight machine and piece of cardio equipment. You come in, enter your code into the main kiosk before you workout...then every machine you get on you enter your code and it tracks your reps, weight lifted, has your machine info saved like seat settings, your range of motion so you can't cheat on reps...and tracks time spent and calories burned on cardio equipment.

My friend Elaine threw down the gauntlet to me at the beginning of Sept to see who would lift the most weight this month. Challenge accepted! The racegirl blood/competitive spirit in me comes out real quick with a challenge!! :)

Anyway, in just two weeks, I've lifted more than DOUBLE the weight I lifted in the entire month of August (109,000 lbs last month.....222,000 already this
month) doubled my cardio time and my "fit points" for the month!! Talk about bringing it!!! Just the incentive I needed apparently to focus even harder and ramp up the intensity.

And it's paying off....I've lost 2 more lbs....dropped a size in my jeans (which I kept having to hitch up on Friday as even those are already too loose in the waist)...and I can't wait to take my measurements at the end of the month all over to see what I've lost in that respect....which means more to me than the number on the scale since im
lifting heavy to gain lean muscle which in turn burns more fat, even at rest). I've felt stronger in my cardio intervals, I'm running much faster during the intense portions of my intervals (had the treadmill on 5.6 for my hill run portions yesterday for workout #2 in the afternoon.....never ran that fast back when all I was doing was distance running...i was lucky to hit 5.0 comfortably, 5.2 used to about kill me and my knees) so apparently I'm doing something right!!!! Increasing my weight I'm lifting pretty much every session, on almost every machine (went from
leg pressing 170 last month to 220 just yesterday) and doing intervals not just steady state boring cardio....and truly focusing on what I'm doing...not chatting on the treadmill, digging deep and making it all count....pushing hard thru my reps on weights...moving quickly from each weight machine and keeping my heart rate up.....hell I'm sweating hard just in the weight routine before I even set foot on the cardio equipment.

Loving the results of all this hard work. Planning ahead as far as meals go and working the workouts into my hectic schedule wherever they fit...makes getting up at 3:50 AM on weekdays, and hitting the gym first thing at 7 AM on Saturdays, again in the afternoons sometimes...all of it is worth it.....you make the time, put in the effort, make it a priority, and you get paid back in awesome results.

September is ROCKIN so far!! Gonna keep the momentum going....and rework my goals at the end of September for October.....and crush that month too!!!! Bring it on!! :)