Shelli's Stories: 90-day Fitness

While I was home for Christmas, I made a pretty big decision. It took me almost my whole Christmas break to decide whether or not I wanted to commit to 90 days of doing something that I would inevitably hate, and cost a pretty penny to boot.

A friend of mine was sponsoring a 90-fitness challenge. She would train us three times a week; provide us with tips and tricks for managing our weight, getting stronger, and general health for our bodies; and take a lot of pictures to monitor our progress. I was nervous about starting, but it's Alaina... and she's pretty much the nicest trainer anyone could ever have.

Over the past three months, I have to admit that I was wishy-washy on the diet. I did increase my vegetable intake, and I made an semi-effort to keep my carb intake to a strictly after workout comsumption... But I have felt myself getting stronger. Instead of dreading the workouts, I was often happy to have the time come when I would grab my gym bag and change as quickly as I could at the bathroom at work and head off to meet Alaina and Janessa (my partner in crime, my competition and quickly my friend during my workouts).

I started the three months with two goals: to see some progress, and to enjoy what I was doing.

I am happy to say that I accomplished both.

There were certain workouts that I hated. But mostly, I hated them because they were challenging and hard, and even though I didn't want to do them, they were the exercises where I felt the most progress. I still can't do a pull-up. I have lost any significant amount of weight, either. (Ok, 13-lbs isn't nothing, but...) But I feel stronger. A lot stronger.

I think the most surprising thing of all: I'm devastated that it is over.

There are several things that I absolutely loved about working out with Alaina.

She's pretty much the nicest person ever. But don't let that fool you. She doesn't let you get away with doing half-baked work-outs. She encourages you to go heavier, harder, and longer.
She is very knowledgeable. I have terrible knees, so that meant that instead of squats, she had to come up with an invariable amount of exercises that worked the same muscle groups but didn't make my knees scream in protest.
She listens to all your complaints, and then still expects you to do it.
The workouts are varied. We never did the same things two weeks in a row. I never knew what to expect. They level in difficulty. They level in how much fun I had doing them.
She's hardcore. She had surgery halfway through our 90-days, and refused to be laid up. She showed us up in her cast everyday.

I think my favorite things of the whole workout were the medicine balls. We didn't get to use them often because there was often a class going at 6 PM, which is when I trained. But! I loved them. They hurt and were so fun!

Alaina has a blog that you can read here: http://alainawoodfitness.blogspot.com/

You can also find her on Facebook and on Youtube.