I wanted to give an update on the strength training and the T25. 🙂 I have temporarily shelved the T25, but have plans to return to it once I get stronger. I found that although it didn’t bother my hip, it was starting to bother my knees….which I found strange. Again, I think it’s the strength issue. I think my joints need more muscular support from all the “helper muscles” to keep my joints stable when going through the T25 routines. Also the extra weight I am trying to lose is a factor in any joint pain from the lower back and hip on down. So for now it’s shelved but I will pick it back up again.

I did start lifting at work like I had planned. Kirmayer Fitness Center at KU Medical Center has an awesome weight area, two areas in fact. I headed for the machine area and I loved all of them. I had to overcome my inherent shyness because I picked the busiest day of the summer (when they were holding a student resources fair in Kirmayer) to begin my weight training and both areas were very busy. But I didn’t let it deter me and I felt good about making the effort.

Then my sister found a personal trainer here in town that used to work at Haskell as their certified trainer for their athletic department. She visited with him and discovered he was running an intro special on individual training sessions. He does Olympic-style weight lifting, something I didn’t have a clue about but was interested in. So Sharon set us up with an appointment last week and I’m heading into my 3rd session with Travis.

I was able to visit with him before we started our first session and I told him my health history and my goals. He did an excellent job of explaining how Olympic-style weight lifting will benefit me and my hip OA. He is very personable and very encouraging. You can tell immediately how knowledgeable he is about his work. From what he shared with me, Olympic-style weight lifting is all about learning how to do the “Clean and Jerk”, and I am fortunate that he is acquainted with a power lifter who has gone through total hip replacement surgery and still returned to lifting heavy

My sister and I are doing 2 individual training sessions per week with Travis. It’s fun working out with my sister again, so I am very grateful to her for finding this and encouraging me to try it. Right now we are all about learning technique and proper form. I really like how I can feel the different muscles in my back firing as well as the muscles that I know need to be strengthened around my hips and legs. We are learning at a good pace where I can tell later that day (or the next day) that I’ve put in some work, but I can still move around. My favorite thing about this is that it’s brand new to me….so it’s really interesting. I’m learning something new and it’s helped immensely at getting me motivated to lift again.

Travis has just created a website for those in my area that may be interested. Here is the link:
http://www.travisbarrett.com/

He also has a Facebook page, Barrett Sport Performance LLC.

I’ll update this later as I progress through this individual training program. I have another session today and I’m looking forward to it. 🙂