Compliments

It's Sunday morning, one of my favorite days at the gym. I enjoy Saturday and Sunday because I don't have to rush to get to work, so as usual, I get to the gym as soon as they open and it's quiet, the weight room is pretty much mine and I can do everything I want, throw in some cardio, take time to chat with friends, or the gal in the cafe as I get my coffee.

I stick to a regular schedule all week long, with the exception of waking one hour later on weekends because the gym opens one hour later. This means I may stay up a half hour to one hour later too.

I am a firm believer in sleep, lots of it and regularly scheduled. It is as important as nutrition and weight training, one piece of the triad.

I trained shoulders today, they look pretty nice here in the picture don't they?  I am not flexing or posing, I am totally relaxed. Shoulder day is my favorite! 

I was really pushing hard, I can tell because people start to watch, I am sure I am making all sorts of painful sounding noises, but I cannot hear a thing, I have my music on way too loud.

As I gathered my things in the locker room a woman looked at me and said "You have a stunning physique". I thanked her and told her I work very hard at it.

So she asked what I do - what type of training and how often. I explained I train with weights, 7 days a week and I don't do much cardio.

She said she thought I looked like I lift weights, and asked if I was a bodybuilder. No, I explained I compete in Figure, and told her I was a poser!

She wasn't familiar with the sport, and that isn't unusual, most people aren't.

I hit a pose and laughed and said "That's what I do!" ha ha ha

We both had a laugh, she said "I don't usually comment on peoples physiques, but those arms, they are absolutely amazing!"

Again, I thanked her and explained I just trained shoulders, so they looked especially good at that moment.

Turns out she is no slouch herself, she is training for her first triathlon! She was in her suit and was going to swim for several miles (I can't recall how many), but I asked how long that would take her and she said a half hour.

Then she would go on a 27 mile bike ride. She said she still had 100 days left for training, her event is in Idaho.

I told her I ran a marathon once, when I was 40 and I would never do it again. I told her I was impressed with any woman who had the determination to tackle a triathlon.

That put everything into perspective for me. While I do believe I am an athlete, the sport I compete in is not athletic, it is physique based. I honestly don't think I have the passion for it that many of my peers do, It keeps me on track for weight management, keeps my body fat low and allows me to interact with others who have similar interests. 

I often consider  stopping, the competitions only, I love to weight train and would never consider limiting that part. In fact, I don't particularly like the look they want for Figure competitions, I much prefer a more androgynous, muscular physique. There is a new division in the NPC called Women's Physique that I am interested in, it's for more muscular women who don't want to look like bodybuilders, in fact, they will be marked down if they are over muscular, I am keeping my eye on this new division to see if I might fit in better there.

But  the culmination of all of my training? A walk in the park compared to her triathlon. Except maybe the fact that I have to do mine in 5 inch Lucite heels!

I wished her luck and went out to the cafe for a cup of coffee, thinking about how much bigger I want to grow my arms and quads.