I'm a CPT! And other mid-week musings

Happy Hump Day, everyone!

This week is flying by, at least for me. What's been going on lately? My biggest news is that--drum roll, please--I PASSED MY NASM-CPT exam last week!!!!!! I'm exhilarated and yet totally scared. It's weird to think that after nearly 6-months of work, the test is over, I'm "certified," and can now train people. Learning the material theoretically is one thing, but learning to harness it and putting it into practice is another. Luckily, I have my mentors at the gym and a great environment in which to hone my craft. Despite my nerves, I'm very excited about new developments and seeing where this road leads me!

I was so excited to be certified that I took a picture in the
testing center's bathroom!

In addition to studying for and passing the exam, I've been diligently participating in the Love Your Body Challenge, which I wrote about last week in this post. I've been doing a lot of introspection as a result of these challenges, and they've pulled some really powerful stuff out of me. For example, yesterday's challenge on Day #15 was to write about all the things I've put my body through, and how despite all of this mistreatment, it's still an incredible machine. The mantra for the day is "My body has put up with all of my antics and it still thrives. And for that, it deserves love." With that in mind, I wrote the following in about 10 minutes; the words just flowed:

When I was about 12, I decided that I hated my body. I felt like it had failed me in some horrible, unfair way: I had bad acne, I was slightly overweight, I had crooked teeth, I was hairy...the list goes on and on. So I decided not to eat, or eat very little and see what happened. What happened is that I developed an eating disorder. I started bingeing, and although I never purged, the guilt brought on by overeating kept the vicious cycle of punishing my body by strictly limiting food continued.

I eventually sought help, but was so resistant. When I gained weight, I felt like a failure. By the time I "recovered," I'd discovered cigarettes and booze. I binge drank throughout college, ate way too much pizza, sugar and every other bad substance there is. I had a very unhealthy relationship with food and no concept of how to work out. I thought an hour of cardio would undo the damage I was doing to my body wit my diet and drinking. I was so clueless!

After college, I put on weight. At my heaviest, I still didn't make the connection between my diet, misguided exercise regiment, and lifestyle. Even a diagnosis of hypertension and a prescription for Lipitor at age 24 didn't phase me. It wasn't until a coworker suggested to me, in the summer of 2011, that I train for a half marathon that fall, that it clicked. My training experience was enlightening. Even though my training plan didn't call for much strength training, I started lifting weights and noticed an immediate sense of accomplishment. I loved feeling strong and I wanted more.

I completed the half marathon in less than 2 hours and 5 minutes which made me so proud. After that, I was hooked on strength training. Funny enough, even though I did things rather backwards and didn't complete a 10-or-5k until after the half, I think I needed the lofty but attainable goal to change my mindset. It shifted my perception of what my body could do and what physical accomplishments were possible if I worked hard enough. As a result, I overhauled my training, eliminating almost all traditional cardio, and focused on strength gains. And I've never looked back.

In spite of everything I've put my body through, it's come out on the other side. It is strong, sexy, healthy, creative, bold, determined, intelligent, unique, and unequivocally mind. I'm more grateful for it now than I've ever been, and I promise to never treat it with such disregard ever again. 

It's pretty powerful to see, in writing, the ways that I've disrespected my body and yet how it's never totally abandoned me. It's shown me signs, which I've ignored, but it persisted until I got the picture. This particular challenge really resonated with me because it reinforced so much of the previous Reasons to Love My Body, particularly because of its incredible intuition and feedback mechanisms. It's an amazing machine!

I hope you have a great rest of the week, and don't forget to leave a comment! XO

Rocking my "Unapologetically Strong" tee during this

morning's workout #liftweightsfaster