I Put This Off Long Enough...

One of the things Lori has done nightly at the gym that I have avoided are situps.  I wanted to get back in to working out slowly and situps were the last thing that I wanted to take on in the early stages of this journey.  I kept saying "next Monday" I will start.  But, each Monday came and went and I never found myself on the situp bench. 

It's not that I dislike situps.  It's not that I really love them either.  I am rather neutral when it comes to crunches.  And, I really wanted to start and fully understood that my stomach could definitely use them.  It's just that I have become so incredibly paranoid about hurting my stomach ever since my bout with diverticulitis almost three years ago.  I tried lifting free weights about six months after my surgery.  I went with my son and ended up hurting myself trying to be macho while seeing what my "max" was on bench.  At almost 45, I really shouldn't be trying to figure out my current max.  It ended up hurting and scaring me enough that it put a relatively quick end to that round of trying to get back in the gym.  My stomach has felt great this time and I didn't want to hurt it again.  So, I kept walking out of the club and not doing the situps.

On Monday, I decided that it was time to stop talking about it and get busy working on what remains of my gut.  Part of the reason is that I got tired of seeing Lori doing something that I was not.  I have done a good job easing in to new activities over the last three months and have rarely been even a little sore.  Well, situps were different.  I didn't think that I had done too many.  But, my soreness the next day said otherwise.  Not only did my stomach muscles hurt, but rib muscles I didn't know I had hurt as well.  I ended up being so sore that I couldn't do them again last night.  It hurt when I coughed... heck, it hurt when I did pretty much anything.  Tonight, I debated doing them again and made myself get on the bench and start crunching.  Ouch.  There is no better way to describe the soreness I felt.  I managed only about half of the situps I did on Monday.  But, I was happy that I got back on the horse.  I may not feel that way in the morning.

I hope that none of the pain I feel in my stomach has anything to do with any colon issues.  And, I don't believe it does.  But, it feels way too similar and this is the hardest mental block I have had to overcome so far.  But, I will overcome it and this fear will disappear as quickly as the last 50 pounds have! 

By the way, one week to go to hit the 100-day mark of straight days in the gym.  Here's to finding another 15 minutes in my day to accomodate one more activity...