Amazing.

Michelle and I have been working together for nearly four full months now. Stronger and more focused every time I see her, Michelle not only impresses me with her physical strength, but with her story. She comes in every day smiling, determined, even wily. She has so much depth, so much heart and such compassion for everyone around her, yet it's quite apparent she struggles internally day in and day out. I hope that I can help her in all ways possible through physical training, but quite honestly, I hope I can be there for her as a friend through this trying time that may seem like an eternity to Michelle. I am fully invested in this girl and her future -- completely committed. And, from here, I will be there every step of the way. There are those people out there that come into your life for some reason and you may wonder why, but I know there's something bigger for Michelle and I.

From Michelle:

So, for the past couple weeks I've been trying to kinda shake off these feelings of depression. On Sunday I went to church where Rene (the pastor...I'm a TLC-er) did a sermon on When Your Engine Is Fried. He laid out what we can do to help us get through the hard times. One thing he talked about was to reveal, not conceal. So, I decided  to REVEAL that I'm having a hard time right now! I'm just getting frustrated with the situation I'm in. Some of the things that constantly are going through my mind are: How much longer? Why am I having to go through this? If I'm supposed to learn something from this, teach it to me already! Am I missing it? Am I too wrapped up in something to see whatever it is that I need to learn? And if others are supposed to learn something from seeing me in a wheelchair, seven years has been plently long enough...LEARN IT! Why has wakeboarding been stripped away from me?  (I know that last one is kinda silly, but it's something I think about! :)) Anyway, Rene gave an awesome, much-needed sermon AND he did me a favor...he mentioned my tattoo (which says Only God Knows Why on my forearm) at the end of his sermon. See parents, my tattoo can be used as an example in church services! ;) He preaches so much better than I do, so my advice is to just listen to what he said!:

    http://www.tlc.org/sermons/1236/audio/when-your-engine-is-fried/

 

So, as I'm in the midst of fighting off this depression, Nicole greets me with the news that she's dating a doctor now, and she had shared with him all about our blog 'n such, and he said that he has been doing some research, and he said to tell me that I will walk again! Now, I realize that this guy has never seen/met me, but it's encouraging to hear that I'm on the right track from a doctor!

 

I don't know if Nicole was hyped up from that, or if she was showing off because I told her my mom was gonna stop by, or if there was something in her water that she was drinking, but Nicole deffinitely was NOT friendly today! ;)

 

She started out the session with arm warm-ups. I had my arms straight out to the sides, did mini circles & twisted invisible doorknobs. My arms also went straight out in front of me, and I did a set of over-unders. Then I worked on raising my arms above my head, punching straight up and returning my arms to a shoulder-level position (kinda like a position in which I could show-off my biceps!). I raised and lowered both arms at the same time, and I worked each arm individually. And Nicole had me do punches with both arms, holding my elbows up. My goal was to punch her hands as hard as I could. I, of course, did repeats of some exercises, or just did certain one for awhile!

 

The Nicole pulled out a resistance band thingy with handles and we worked with that for quite some time! First, with my right arm gripping a handle and straight out to the side, I pulled forward and across my belly, arm straight the whole time. Nicole held the band out & back to my right side. After a number of these on the right side, we switched to my left. Then, I did this exercise where I put a lot of strain...you should have seen my face!...in trying to pull the resistance band straight up. Nicole held the band down from behind me, and with my elbows bent 90 degrees, I pushed straight up. Next we worked on core-strength. Nicole stood out & back to my right side holding the resistance band. I held one of the  r.band handles with BOTH hands, arms straight out. I then did the same motion as the first exercise, only this time it was much harder. I really had to use my core in order to stay upright. Nicole had me do this forever on the right side...then we switched sides! We also did some "punches" straight up...trying not to whack my chest coming down! Nicole weakened/lessened the resistancce for those!

 

The following exercise I ASKED for...crazy, I know! I wanted to work my abs like last Tuesday! Nicole leaned my chair back (part way) and handed me the resistance BAND, she held onto the handles. This time, without the handles to grip, I had a lot less to pull me up,/forward. Either that, or having my hands on the actual band allowed me the be more aware of my pulling. I worked on these sit-ups for a good amount of time, then Nicole leaned my chair all the way back, put her hand on my stomach, and had me do normal sit-ups. She put her hand on my tummy in order to feel my abdominal muscles engaging. I certainly can't do full-on sit-ups yet, but I deffinitely feel improvement.

 

With that, the clock struck 12:00 and our session was up!