Strength in Numbers

I have been writing quite a bit about my own training lately, but rather than bore you with more details about my killer shoulder workout today, I thought I'd write a bit about what's truly helping to keep me motivated... my wonderful friends :)

Several weeks ago during a (fairly healthy) lunch at Northstar Cafe, I mentioned to Melissa, Sam, Annie and Celina that I was going to start working with a personal trainer. Since all of us will be going to Put-In-Bay at the end of May, we want to look our best in our bathing suits. So now they have also started training with a trainer at the RPAC.

It has been so nice to be able to talk to them about my successes, and to laugh with them about my failures (as in, the first day when I couldn't do even one push-up). Our trainers seem to have slightly different training philosophies (i.e.-- Amanda is crazy about my diet and makes sure I'm sweating like mad by the end of my workout, whereas their trainer seems to be a bit more laid back), but the point is, we're all working on making ourselves healthier.

I also learned over the weekend that my friend Lindsey is going to start working toward her certification to teach kick-boxing, so she has also started working with a personal trainer to get her in even better shape than she already is. Also, my friend Kelly in Pittsburgh has started working on her own "get healthy" plan, so we're following each other's journeys through our blogs.

It just makes me feel really good to know that I have such a large group of people that I can turn to when my muscles are just a little more sore than I'd like, or when I need someone to remind me that I really don't need that extra large chocolate chip cookie that is tempting me :)

I'm definitely noticing positive changes in my body and that's certainly a motivating factor, but even more importantly, my friends are helping to keep me on track!