Working out and breathing...

Tobe destroyed me again today.  He destroyed me with cardio! He put me on the treadmill and started me out walking at an incline of 10 and had me hold a 12 pound ball.  I had to hold it on one side then after a minute, he had me move the ball to the other side for a minute.  I also then had to hold it above my head for a minute.  We did this for about 10 minutes, where he kept upping the speed on me. Ick!!! He told me that I really needed to up my cardio because of my breathing.  When I told him that I didn't like breathing like that, he said it was because, I don't like getting out of my comfort zone.  This is VERY true, I don't! I like my comfort zone, and I never like to go outside of that on anything that I do.

Then when we were done with the ball, he brought the incline down to 2% and had me running sprints for a minute each time.  Each sprint, he would up the speed.  I started out with a speed of 3.8, which is a complete jog for me because I'm so short! By the time the last sprint came around, I was at a 5.7! Yeah, that was a FULL blown run for me!  During the whole time, Tobe had to remind me to concentrate on my breathing.  I guess, even when I was a competitive swimmer, I never really learned how to breath properly while working out.  I tend to hold my breath or take really fast breaths, which practically put me in an asthmatic state! Not to mention, all those years of smoking surely hasn't helped.  I can tell a huge difference, but I'm sure my lungs still have not repaired themselves yet.  With all that damage I did to my lungs from smoking, I guess I will never truly be able to breath like I did before I started smoking at the age of 16.

However, after we were done, Tobe told me that he was very proud of how well I pushed myself, and that I'm a lot stronger than I think I am. He said that I should be very proud of how well I did, and to remember, that I did push myself out of my comfort zone.  That I certainly did do!!


What I learned from this... concentrate on my breathing and keep pushing myself past my comfort zone.