Counting is so 2009

Week: 2/ Day: 12

    So far, I've had seven training sessions (which I'll get to a bit later today) since embarking on this fitness journey and I've come to the conclusion that I am a wimp.  Not a physical strength wimp but a mental wimp.  When the going gets tough, I want to lay down and take a nap. Laziness is extremely tempting.  In Nerd-uguese, if laziness were a gold ring, just call me Frodo.  I know I have to get rid of the laziness, but it's calling to me, yelling at me: Sit back, grab some Funyuns and stare at the clouds. . .  my precious!

   My battle against the laziness is extremely evident when it comes to pushing through the burn.  And when the burn starts on rep 2 of 15 during something like bicep curls, it's easy to persuade yourself to only do 13 reps (or *cough* five *cough*).  I mean, I have no loyalty to 15.  What has 15 done for me? 8, on the other hand, has done a lot for me. So, maybe I'll just do 8 reps. 

   I quickly realized that I was approaching all the exercises like a negotiation.  If Larry or (my trainer from this week) Jenn wanted me to do 10 reps, I'd shoot for 7. . .  or 3. 'Cause 3's a magic number! When it's 3 - you can see - it's a magic number!! Damn you ,Schoolhouse Rock, and your catchy tunes that get stuck in my head!

  I came to the conclusion that counting reps was simply not going to work.  It's just too easy to compromise, to give up. I had to find a way to get through these reps, to resist the laziness. I found my solution in spelling.  that's right s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g reps instead of counting them! I started spelling anything that popped into my head.  If I had twenty crunches to do, I'd spell out a whole sentence like: I-n-e-e-d-t-o-s-h-a-v-e-m-y-l-e-g-s. So it's not twenty letters exactly.  That's not the point. The point is, by the time I'm done spelling, I have two more reps. While my trainer counts - I spell:
                                                  K-e-l-l-y-R-i-p-a (her arms are my goal arms)
                                                  P-a-i-n-f-u-l
                                                  H-e-l-p-M-e
Anything to get my mind off of what's going on.  Try it. I mean, you can't leave a word unfinished.  All of us have been conditioned from years of schooling that an incomplete word means a big red X.  You can't leave a word unfin. . . . ished (see!)

You can do it even if you don't have a trainer counting while you spell. Maybe you won't do exactly 20 reps if you spell out "I need to shave my legs".  But hey, if you spell out "I need to shave my legs bad!" . . . you've done 21.  You might impress yourself with what you can do.  

And if this seems like a I'm treating this like a game, it is isn't it? It's a game of mind over matter. And I insist on winning. Besides, counting is so 2009

Below is the video "Three is a Magic Number" from Schoolhouse Rock.  If it's gonna to be stuck in my head all day, I'm not going to suffer alone. So here!