Treading

Out of the room shortly before 6:00 a.m., in time to hear the roosters crowing and the turkeys clucking before sunrise. The Total Body Conditioning class is an incredible way to wake up every muscle in your body, and wake up they did.

Breakfast this morning was french toast with strawberries, along with a side of fruit...plenty of carbs to keep up the strength on the hike. Speaking of the hike, I opted for the Stop Sign Hike again, but was slowed down with a sore hip. My first stop back at the spa was to schedule a deep tissue massage for this evening. We'll be on the same hike again on Saturday, which will help us to see the progress we've made since our first hike on Monday. The cardio training throughout the week has to make a difference for a better finish, but my primary goal is to complete the hike.

Speaking of the hike, here's a funny story: I've finished the hike and I'm sitting in the van with an ice pack on my sore hip, waiting to leave and pick up the other hikers. Meanwhile, a couple of ladies (not Fitness Ridge guests) stop by to adjust their bikes and one of them says hello to me. We exchanged greetings, and after she noticed the name on the van, she says to me, "You're staying at that fat farm place, aren't ya?" I responded with "I'm at Fitness Ridge Resort", still shocked that she had asked the question, and she responded with "Good for you, have a great day." She then rode off into the sunset. God has planted yet another seed of motivation to help me reach my goals.

Back at the Ridge (not the "Fat Farm"), my post-hike class today was Yoga, which is just what the body needs after a hike. I felt much better afterwards and knew I could get through the day.

Today's lunch was broccoli soup and pizza. The broccoli soup was outstanding, but the pizza was not exactly something I'm looking forward to seeing on the menu next week. They do, however, do some amazing things with the menu here, which included chocolate-covered strawberries last night. See, it's not all veggie sandwiches and beet soup!

My afternoon classes consisted of Ball Works (too many new exercises for the ball to list), Treading, and a much needed Stretch class. Treading is probably the most feared of all the classes hear, which explains why after our cooking demo today the chef wished us good luck in Treading. The class requires you to choose one cardio machine that you'll use the entire session, you then start out with a ten minute warm-up, followed by five minutes of pushing yourself at max speed. The good news is that once you've completed the five minutes, you have five minutes of rest, the bad news is after the rest you'll have four minutes to go at max speed. You now have four minutes of rest, continuing the cycle and if you're lucky you'll stop after you reach one minute. We were "thrilled" today when our instructor, Sharon (who's absolutely fabulous), informed us we had a surprise at the end, which turned out to be another 80 second sprint at full speed. This was, without doubt, the hardest class I've experienced here, but I was able to run at max each session, so I'm very pleased with my performance. I actually can't wait until next week's Treading class to see how I've improved.

The trainers and staff here are outstanding and make it possible for us to push ourselves, while still allowing us to enjoy the spa aspects. They're all amazing at remembering our names, and the programs are very conducive to making new friends. With this support system, it's much easier to stay focused on your goal, whatever it may be for your time here.

I just finished the deep tissue massage and feel more than ready to crawl under the covers and call it a day. The roosters and turkeys will greet me soon enough, as will an energized instructor with a punching stand and boxing gloves.