21 Days to Change a Habit??

I'm not a morning person. Ever. I am the queen of comfy blankets and snooze buttons. I sleep like a rock most nights and rarely ever get up during the night. I am also very proud of my abilities to sleep while at the movie theater, on an airplane, in a car or under a nice, shady tree on a hot day. I rarely have trouble sleeping in hotels or while visiting friends. Yep...it's one of my many talents, which may or may not include Narcolepsy. :-)

I am currently in Week 4 of the 12 week Fitness Comp training program. I lift weights 3 evenings a week, do early morning cardio 4 days a week and due to scheduling issues, I had to change one of my weight lifting days to a 6AM class. Uhhhhhhhhhhh...WHAT?? Did I mention that I like to sleep?

So, I set my alarm for 5:15 AM and only hit the snooze a few times before I got up and headed out the door. I was actually on time, which isn't like me. I slept in my gym clothes the night before to decrease the task list for the morning and increase the last few moments of sleep. Not sure if my method is genius or pure laziness, but I do it nonetheless.

The class was difficult, but I was awake. I wondered if my early morning cardio sessions were actually becoming part of my new routine. Was I actually getting used to the grueling morning schedule and becoming a morning person? The jury is still out, so I will go with maybe.

As I was leaving class, one of my fellow Fitness Comp trainees said that it takes 21 Days to change a habit. Funny enough...today is day 21. Our bodies are accustomed to certain habits, good and bad and apparently it takes time to change them. If the Queen of Sleeping can actually train herself to get her happy arse out of the comfy, cozy, warm bed and head to the gym, liftweights for an hour and then be home for breakfast by 7:15 AM, then anyone can.

Now if I could only find 21 days to lay off the nail biting. Hmmmmm....

Life or Something Like It

This girl has big ideas. The more impossible the goal, the more I want to achieve it. I wake up with a list of short and long-term goals buzzing around in my brain and spend the day living off of the energy that comes from the mere thought of completing these near-impossible feats. I cram as many activities into my weekly schedule as possible and often end up exhausting myself in the process. So, what's the lesson here? Take the time to take care of your health and body before taking over the planet. I should write that down and remind myself everytime I want to pick up yet another sport, book club, networking group, charity event, volunteering opportunity, fitness challenge, etc. etc. This girl needed a break and one was given to me, whether I wanted it or not.

My last post was an introduction to my next round of training for a March fitness show. The last round of training Blogs had tons of readers, which is immensely encouraging and envigorating. The "6AM Booty Shorts" post gathered countless comments (shocking) and I still get emails inquiring about my dad's health after a challenging 2010. This Blog has created a virtual buddy system, which I plan to continue as I embark on this journey for the second time. The March show didn't happen, which leads me to that pesky break from life and everything in it.

Stacey Cooper, my trainer often says, "Sometimes, life just gets in the way". True story. And while fitness programs can be a good distraction, sometimes you have to consider your physical and mental health before committing to a program this intense.

Life got in the way for several girls who planned to train for the March show. Some got injured, a couple gave up, a few got divorced, one had a sick relative, a few got divorced, one discovered she was expecting (yay!!), one bought a house and a few got divorced.

I went into this program in January thinking that all my frustration, anger, nervous energy, emotional confusion could be poured from directly from my brain into a yoga mat funnel, ending up tidy and organized after a good workout.

Nope. Wrong. Fail. Try again.

I started out strong and then I hit the wall. Emotions need to be dealt with in all sorts of ways and if you don't deal with them properly, your body will step in. The body will sloooooooooow you down. This process results in loss of appetite, which results in lack of sleep, which results in a lack of energy, which results in Alisa getting lectured by Stacey Cooper about looking like a zombie while trying to put up twice the weights I normally would.

Was it that obvious? Apparently so.

Here I am in April, ready for another round. For reals this time. Today marks day one of the 12 week program and my next show will be June 25th. I am ready, excited, and I am more realistic about what I can handle.

So, strength isn't always about the size of our muscles. It's also about how we choose to handle life...or something like it.

This girl is BACK and ready to WORK!!!