TAM-sore

This morning I did Day 1 from the TAM bootcamp (30-day method), and, wow, did it kick my butt.  I'm so used to the mat workout, even though it's still challenging, but this morning the 15 new moves really hurt - in a good way.  Tracy describes the pain as like having the flu.  It's a non-descript muscular pain.  Normally we're used to our large muscle groups hurting from physical strain, but her method purposely targets the "accessory" muscles - they're the muscles that aren't primarily used to perform an action, but can be recruited to help out if the primary muscle get exhausted, such as when a tired asthmatic starts using the SCM (neck) muscles.

The only time I have seen anything else like this method is the core-strength idea of Pilate's and yoga, and the "stability" training the personal trainers sometimes throw in, like doing pushups on a balance board.  Well, TAM takes this to a whole new level and is purposely designed to get the female body looking tight and as tiny as possible but still with great definition.  Which woman wouldn't want that?

I consider Tracy Anderson to be a genius, albeit maybe a slightly manic one (but aren't they all - I'm talking to you Isaac Newton).  She got obsessed with trying to get that ballet-dancer look and went on a personal mission to apply to it any female body type that came her way.  Being a female can be difficult - there's the apple, the pear, the hour-glass, added on top of the endo/meso/ectomorph body types, and let's not even talk about hormones and pregnancy.  A feel Tracy may have genuinely cracked the riddle and has at the very least added to the human collective knowledge.  She deserves an honorary PhD in my book.

So, yeh, I love her.  I say again, though, I have reservations about the diet plans of hers I have seen thus far.  I guess no-one and no-thing perfect.

Right now, after working out for 2 months with 1 month of TAM (muscle work only), I think my body might currently look the best it's even looked post-puberty.  And now I'm here, I want more.  And I can see how it can be done and I know what I have to do, so I'm going for it.  My aim is to get to a place I can maintain for life, which is about 5kg lighter from where I am now.  This might now sound like much on paper, but remember I have never been that light before since probably about Year 8 (13-14 years old).  I'm about 3kg heavier than in Year 8 now, but from Year 9 onwards I was within 1kgof what I am now.

When I visited Mum and Dad in Tasmania in January/February and did that Wineglass Bay hike, I was horrified at not only how I looked and how much I weighed (almost maximum ever, but I tried to ignore it) but mostly how unfit I was doing a hike that old people and children were doing.  It was disgusting to me.  Right now I'm going through the photos of that hike and have chosen some lovely "before" photos of myself and I am seriously shocked to look at them.  I had been hiding a lot of it under my work overalls, but in a singlet and short - eew.  I thought I was getting away with it, and I wasn't.

I always thought people who prioritised working out and had goals to "look good" were very vain and superficial.  It took studying med to realise that it is as much a worthy goal and becoming a doctor.  Controversial!  My body is my vehicle through life so, sorry, if I want a Ferrari instead of a VW Beetle.  And to be a good doctor you need to be fairly confident, and feeling confident about how you look and feel goes a long way.  I think I had just ignored it because I thought I was stuck with the body I had - the pretty but a bit chubby girl.  I now have hope.

As well as the new muscle routine, I did 20 minutes of her high-impact, high-intensity dance aerobics.  It was really basic choreography compared to her other DVD I have (had - I can't find it).  I was supposed to do 20 minutes high-intensity then 20 minutes low-intensity (step-touching instead of jumping).  After the first 20 minutes I was dead and just pend another 10 minutes playing with my dog in the backyard.

I go back to work tonight so I hope I can maintain this commitment and motivation.