Day Four. Where optimism starts.

Day Four. The big day. The first time in weeks that I would actually hold a dumbbell. Ooh, the anticipation… Truthfully, I was a little bit excited. Yes, I’m a geek. I headed to The Factory, reviewing my plan in my head:  No more than 50 minutes weight-training. Baby-weights. Teeny-tiny baby weights… Only chest and shoulders. [...]

Getting the hell out of the way…

No one has ever accused me of having a small ego. Because I don’t. I have always had what I see, unapologetically, as a very healthy self-image, and it has always stood me in good stead. It is the source of my self-confidence and the reason for my lack of shyness, and it probably goes [...]

Live, from The Factory, a Muscle Girl progress report…

Okay, it’s not really live – that just sounds so much more dramatic. It is a progress report, though. Of sorts… It’s been quite a while since I announced that “Muscle Girl” was back in action, and yet I haven’t posted once since that earth-shattering proclamation! Kind of makes you think I’ve been slacking, doesn’t [...]

Broad Shoulders.

(Note: Last autumn, long before I took a sabbatical from blogging in general, several events collided into a mini-explosion that left me uncertain whether or not the Muscle Girl site was going to remain in my life. Shortly thereafter, I quit blogging altogether, even at paythepiper.wordpress.com. Recently, I re-entered the blogging world at my main [...]

Emotional Breathing Room

Monday September 20. Mom was failing quickly, and we all knew that the end was nearing. It had been over six weeks since I had arrived in Canada again, and exactly a month since Mom had been admitted to Hospice.  During that time,  I had spent most of my days involved in her care. That [...]

Crash & Burn. Saturday September 17.

This was easily one of the worse days of my entire life. I came the closest I have ever come to falling apart, both emotionally and physically, and I don’t remember a time in my life when I have ever been so exhausted. Halfway through my workout, I actually felt like sitting down and crying [...]

Making up for Wednesday. Oh, and Thursday, too… Friday @ Ultimate Fitness.

As I recounted in my last post, I really didn’t get much of a workout on Wednesday. And Thursday… well, frankly, I just chose not to go to the gym. I was uncharacteristically tired, though to be honest, more psychically than physically. Still, I felt I needed a break, and so I took one. But [...]

Healthy Stress Release. Tuesday @ The Factory.

Life’s been a little tense for me lately. It happens to all of us sooner or later – we’re travelling along a smooth and open highway when suddenly, we hit a little bump. That little bump is followed by a pothole or two,  and before we know it, our level roadway has turned into an [...]

Short, Sweet and Solid. Leg Day. And a Few Mind Games.

My workout today had to be squeezed into a tight time slot, somewhere between the multiple errands I had to run and the World Cup broadcast of  the USA/Ghana game.  Knowing it would have to be an abbreviated version of legs, I decided to go with just a few exercises – and go heavy.  It [...]

Sleepless Nights = Shaky Days

Leg day. My fave. But it was a little wobbly today. Last night, I woke at 3 a.m., and try as I might, I just could not get back to sleep. So I was more than just a bit tired when I got up, and by the time I made it to the gym mid-afternoon, [...]