Strength and HIIT Group Fitness Class

I instruct a Strength and HIIT (high intensity interval training) group fitness class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 5:30 a.m. at my local gym. I have been doing this for a few years now. I am so impressed with the regular ladies that attend this class every morning. We only have a small group of four or five on most days, but it is well worth teaching. You could say that I definitely don't instruct this class for the money but for the love of it. Like my crazy running friends, these ladies are inspirational because they also have families of their own, work full-time jobs to support their family, and yet are still dedicated to improving their fitness. No matter what the weather is like or how tired they are, they are always ready for a challenge and to workout. What amazes me the most is that this isn't your typical strength or HITT class, and these ladies still continue to show up. They are quite intense! We do all those exercises that people like to avoid: weighted step ups, bear crawls, burpees, crab walks, sprints, pushups, wall-sits and the list could go on and on with different variations of each depending on our current fitness level. We use our body weight, resistance bands, dumbbells and a medicine ball during these workouts. The idea of this class is to build strength and improve endurance with short bursts of HIIT to get that heart rate in the anaerobic zone to push our body to its limit. I can say that there are days that I dread driving in the morning to this class because I know what I am getting myself into.

"Yep; I said it, ladies!" 

This is a class that I plan to continue to teach for the regular ladies. They are physically and mentally strong women that I look up to. They give me motivation and strength to work harder. I don't think they realize how amazing that they are! Ladies that can do wall pushups with resistance bands around their ankles, burpee after burpee with a heavy medicine ball, bear crawls, frog jumps and more are SUPERWOMEN! A true funny story: one of the regular ladies invited her 35+ year old son to join and within 10 minutes of the class, he was on the ground ready to be done. That was a year ago and he hasn't been back.

"I look up to you, ladies, and enjoy our workouts together!"

Giving Thanks

I love this time of the year because it is the season of giving thanks to others. I'd be the first to admit that my running hobby can be very time consuming. I'm very thankful for my supportive family and friends. My dad, mom, in-laws, sister and brother in-laws, nieces, nephews and siblings have been to many races to help out with kids, cheer me on or meet me at the finish line. Most importantly, my husband has been to almost all of my races with kids regardless of the time wait and weather. He's flexible with his schedule when I'm training for a race; that's if it doesn't interfere with planting, harvesting or hunting. He will hang out with kids while I'm out for a long training run. Sometimes I'll even come home to a fresh pot of coffee and breakfast (coffee cake, pancakes, potatoes or egg omelet).

I have a few crazing running friends that encourage me to set running goals, run races or meet me at a distance in a race to talk me through the last miles. I won't forget running my first half marathon and appreciate my girlfriend who motivated me to do this. We couldn't stop yelling "labor pains" at the end of the race because we were in so much pain after running that race. Three other friends of mine ran Boston and encouraged me to do so as well. These friends are inspirational because they continue to follow their faith, stay in great running shape, never give up when life gets tough, are married with multiple kids, and work full-time jobs to support their families. It amazes me how much they continue to do no matter how busy life gets. They never make excuses. We've trained at sometime or another and continue to meet up for a run every now and then. I enjoy our social running because this is our time to visit, share family stories, get in a good laugh and chat about our training. These friends just understand me in a different crazy running way and I totally appreciate it. I couldn't be where I am at today if it wasn't for ALL of my support group. Thanks for having faith in me and believing that I can do anything that I set my mind to do.