More balance...

I started a new workout program this week. I wasn't seeing the results I wanted from what I had been doing so I made a change. Bought a book on the anatomy of workouts, they detail the actual muscles and movement so you can really focus on what you need done. They had a fitness test included and after doing that I decided to do their overall workout. It's a good balance of upper and lower body. Added some cardio and a few extra stretches and I was off to the races.

And I have discovered that I am way out of balance.

See this particular routine has pushing exercises as well as pulling. I am not really good at the push away. The pulling in? Three times the weight at least. On Monday as I set up the chest press machine I picked a fairly low weight, I thought, and laid down and pushed and...oh well that's not going to work. So I moved it down a bit. And...nope. A bit more...a bit more...Okay...so what is the least amount of weight I can do on this machine? And then it moved. Holy shit...well that's humbling.

Especially the next day when I felt like my arms had been taken off my body, thrashed around a bit and then reattached. Backwards. They were better enough today that I tried moving the weight up a little bit. Ummm...no.

So on Wednesday as I was working out doing a pull in at the high weight and dreading the move to the push away I thought...Well it kind of fits your personality anyway. I've always been better at bringing things in than pushing them away. I want to touch things. To feel them. To hold them in my arms. To have them. Even things I know I shouldn't have I grab and pull in. Cake. If I didn't pull in so much cake I wouldn't be pushing out so many reps at the gym right?

Anyway, I thought it was kind of symbolic.

But I still need to get the balance in my muscles back. As a former LMT I know how bad it is for you to be out of balance. It pulls your entire body out of whack. So I am working on it. It will eventually get there. Or at least get closer.

Then I started thinking; wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a simple balance test for everything else in life? Like one of those Buzzfeed quizzes maybe. You could take it and then look at the answers and see where you are not paying enough attention. Sure it might hurt a little, but it would get better as you focused on those areas a bit more. Everyone talks about needing balance in their lives, right? How do you make sure you are actually achieving it?

So there's your homework assignment. Look at your life. What is it you really want to do? What do you feel you need to accomplish in your day to feel balanced? Now what are you actually doing? Where are you out of balance? Work on those areas.

You might have to start on the lowest weight, but you'll get there...