#ny2src-kortsgroup

I’m going to carpe deim today! Take this dance and my body image by storm. I’m going to be okay showing parts of my body covered in hives and I’m going to be proud of the work put into this piece!

I learned something very interesting today...that side raises are so much more difficult than front raises for me. I guess there's a muscle imbalance in my shoulders for sure! About 6 years ago I partially tore a ligament that holds my scapula and collarbone together. Since then I've always been tentative about shoulder workouts. However, since beginning to lift weights I've developed more confidence in what I can do, while always being mindful of the limits of my body. Since starting CRUSH and being involved in that community as well my confidence has only increased! I can't wait until next Wednesday for my pledge to progress pictures because I think they'll look pretty awesome...and maybe I'll even get a picture of my developing arm muscles/definition!

And by heat it really means CARDIO!!! I've heard that most people hate this workout. But I LOVED it!!!! I wanted to die at points, but that's the kind of cardio I live for. I've also never had a treadmill workout hurt my glutes and hamstrings so much until the 15 min fast walk at max incline at the end of the workout!!! bbbenwilliamson Certainly knows how to structure a kickass cardio session! Thank goodness my power song (Uptown Funk) came on at the beginning of that portion of the workout when I was dying! I got home and worked on my paper some more while stretching on my yoga mat and eating a quest bar (multi tasking FTW!). Then had a shower. I'm feeling pretty good right now, but I have a feeling I may change my mind about that tomorrow :) I'm loving CRUSH so much! It's fantastic to have a structured workout that kicks my butt every single time! Also weird side note observation - either I'm getting more fit, or these new meds I'm taking for my hives (that aren't working particularly well) are helping my asthma. I didn't need my inhaler once in today's workout and I would say I worked harder than my normal 5k run/jog/walk plus the workout was almost an hour and a half! BONUS!

Crushed my arms today!!!! Man my arms are weak though. But they're so much stronger than they were in January so I can't really complain and I'm even noticing the extra strength in my everyday life as things like grocery carrying are getting so much easier! I think my arms may be exhausted tomorrow and they may also be imobile. I may or may not get a chance to do day 5 tomorrow because after strike work I have an advising meeting and then I have to work on choreographing a piece for a class project. But then I'll get to the cardio on Thursday!!! This workout is so intense and amazing! Surprise myself every workout by how much I can push myself. It's great and I'm loving it and the community so much!!!!!

Make me tired, but they have reduced the number of hives. So it's not bad. I'm still a little dizzy, but I'm hoping that goes away soon, because I really want to go to the gym!!! But I need to work on school first then I can gym it up and finally do day 3 of CRUSH 60. At least I don't look like I'm going to start some sort of epidemic or the zombie apocalypse anymore.

Now I’m sitting in bed trying to avoid scratching myself to death. So far I’m being highly unsuccessful :(

And no napping today! I won’t let myself.

I'm back and showered from my workout. It seems that a combination of positivity and less cardio, and shorter clothes helped with the uncomfortableness of working out with hives - so that's a HUGE plus! Out of respect to bbbenwilliamson I'm not going to post my exact workout because after today's workout and having glanced at the rest of the program I believe CRUSH will be worth the money (and more) in the end. But anyway the workout focused on the chest. I'm not sure if my chest muscles are stronger than my arms (probably) but my arms are TIRED post workout. Don't get me wrong I certainly felt it in my chest as well, but mostly it's in my arms right now. Ben's also super awesome and got me set for the nutrition portion of the program by giving me tips on macro ratios as a vegan/vegetarian as well as the Facebook community which is wonderful and filled with some other veggies as well. Honestly it's nice to have a good day. I've been feeling sorry for myself since the hives started 2 weeks ago and it's been impacting all aspects of my life. I'm glad I was able to just force myself to get going, not only in the realm of exercise, but in terms of my attitude, work ethic, and cleaning the house as well. Sometimes giving yourself a kick in the butt works (not always), and I'm glad it did today.