March 13

"I pulled up to the BZ with winds a-blowin' and rain being dumped in buckets on us! It was freezing too! (Now, that's obviously a relative observation, as I have never lived/worked-out in say, Antarctica!) After getting soaked by the rain...can I just say the I LOVE being in a wheelchair in the middle of a downpour!;)...Nicole got me started with arm warm-ups right away. Within a couple minutes I was grateful that Nicole was turning down the heaters! I guess I just needed to get my blood flowin' with those arm warm-ups!

After the warm-ups, Nicole had me work with the weights. Right now I'm working with 4lb weights, but I'm sure Nicole will up the anty shortly! I brought the weight up n' down on each side, as well as out n' in towards my chest. It has been really encouraging to see...and feel...the muscle-strength that I've gained.

Then I tried pushing myself up, out of the wheelchair. I was frustrated and somewhat disappointed with myself in that I knew what it was supposed to look like, yet my right hand wasn't pushing-down flat on the wheelchair's armrest, and my left leg wasn't remaining bent to help me push up with my legs...that's known as muscle-overload; where I'm trying to do one thing and I'll be trying so hard with one muscle, that my effort unintentionally spreads to usually my left leg and it shoots out. Nicole, on the other hand, saw the good, successful parts of my attempts. She focused on the fact that I was able to lift my butt off of the chair a little bit.

Next, I did an exercise where I squeezed the heck out of this Pilates-circle-thingy with my feet while I did leg lifts simultaneously. It was such a leg-burning work-out! It was hard as hell, but it was also kinda fun!

And lastly, Nicole had me clenching my teeth doing the pull down dealy with the thick resistance band hanging from the ceiling. Also, I did these pull-downs with straight arms that hurt like a b****! I got all emotional, on the verge of tears during that exercise! It's crazy how painful and tiring certain exercises are!

Keep in mind that REPETITION for all of these exercises is the main goal during my sessions."

-Michelle