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It’s Wednesday morning. I’m still in bed. It’s my day off so I’m trying to enjoy any semblance of not working (ie: sleeping in, lounging in bed until noon).
Unfortunately my body is attuned to waking early every morning whether it’s for the gym or for work.
My eyes open and my pupils widen as I remember it’s my fitness re-assessment day at the gym. My heart beats a little faster recalling the last test.
I’m always nervous when I know I have to evaluate my progress. It’s not that I feel I haven’t worked hard and won’t show positive results, but I’m worried that some freak incident will cause my results to be skewed.
Who knows, maybe I will suddenly develop an irregular heartbeat and my entire assessment will suffer due to it. Or maybe I’ll fall off the treadmill hitting my head and ending up unable to complete the test.
Regardless, I had to show up, because my trainer Amber Vrtar at the Kelowna YMCA-YWCA was expecting me.
Amber has been a tireless source of encouragement during my experience. Whenever I’m feeling worried or need a pep talk she’s there to keep me going. She told me all along that when it comes to a fitter lifestyle the changes to watch for aren’t in the scale’s numbers, but in your fitness abilities and your body’s shape. She was right.
Anyway, the assessment. I’m on the treadmill and go at a steady pace for two miles. I ran the entire way and didn’t even wear myself out–oops. The whole point was to push myself hard, but instead I just maintained a speed that didn’t see my heart rate go through the roof. Amber says I should try again next week and actually push myself to see the real results.
Despite the fact I blew the test, I still did better than my first time, 13 weeks ago. The first time I completed two miles in spurts of walking and running in 24:30. My final heart rate was 187. This time I ran the entire way in 23:30. My heart rate was 164. Amber says this is huge. My cardio fitness rating went from “poor” to “good” – that’s an eight per cent growth in cardio health.
My other tests, which included grip, pushups, sit ups, flexibility, posture and more, all saw improved results. In most cases I went from “good” to “very good.” Wow, I’m very good.
The point of a fitness assessment, says Amber, is to measure your muscular strength and endurance. My results showed my muscular strength and muscular endurance have both increased. The cardio test measures my cardiovascular fitness level. When it improves then it increases your capacity to train and your body’s ability to burn fat as fuel in the presence of less oxygen and to sustain rigorous activity for longer. This testing also lets us know if there’s something wrong with the modality of training.
In other news, my jeans are starting to feel a little loose. I don’t know if it’s because they’re stretching out or because I’m actually losing inches off my body.
Eating is become less and less of a burden. Fruit has become my fallback snack. If I’m hungry I’ll find some fruit. If I want to snack it’s fruit. I love green bean casserole and am bringing that back into my weekly meal plans. And I’m exercising five days a week–and it feels like routine, not a tedious task I’m forced to complete every day. The Y offers free classes daily through it’s membership and I’ve been taking advantage of those as well.
Next time I’ll tell you all about running club, which starts this week.
To learn more about the YMCA-YWCA and it’s programming visit its website.
entertainment@kelowna.com
250-575-0613
One Response to “Fit Club Week 13: The re-assessment”
Tags: Amber Vrtar, YMCA-YWCA
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Congrats Holly, that’s great progress!
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