These abs didn’t get there by making excuses.
I’ll go ahead and state from the get-go that I just got home from an awesome workout at the gym and am flying high on endorphins! I woke up early with Ronny (my husband, for those who don’t know his name) and hit the gym around 6:15 am, worked my back with weights and plyometrics between sets for one hour, then did 30 minutes of cardio on the stair mill and 30 minutes on the elliptical – all high intensity. I knew it was a kick ass workout when I’d finished up and felt like I hadn’t had enough, like I could do more. Being the smart gal that I am, however, I chose to cool down and head on home; the last thing I want to do is go overboard with training and be out of the game for a few days or longer due to exhaustion or an injury. To be totally honest, I probably will do another hour of cardio this afternoon though 
We’re heading to the beach in two weeks and I’ve put myself on a competition training schedule to make sure I feel good in my bathing suits!
With all of that being said, today’s challenge is piggy backing off of yesterday's blog about not letting negative cycles start (as in slump, lazy periods). Though I’m going hardcore for the next two weeks with exercise, I’m really just kicking off a scheduled training period that I committed to over a month ago. Basically, I want to get back into competitive figure bodybuilding – as an ostomate. I’m doing it for myself and also for the ostomy community to show that as an ostomate, I CHOOSE TO FOCUS ON THE THINGS I CAN DO, RATHER THAN THE THINGS I CAN’T.
I read posts almost everyday on various IBD and ostomy forums where people talk about all the things they can’t do because of their condition. Why the hell aren’t we focusing on what we CAN do?! Okay, so you can’t go jog a mile for whatever reason, but can you walk it? Probably. I understand the fear behind doing too much and setting yourself back a few steps in your recovery, but you can only let fear control so much of you for so long before it completely consumes you and keeps you from doing anything that could improve your quality of life. Fear does not protect you in this case – IT HURTS YOU.
To be clear, I’m not advising anyone to start an exercise program going balls to the wall. What I AM advising is for you to make a commitment to yourself, a promise, that you WILL start. Sit down and make a plan and don’t let excuses inch their way in because, believe me, for every excuse you come up with, I GUARANTEE you I can find a way to stomp it down.
So, like I ended yesterday’s prompt, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TODAY TO BE MORE ACTIVE? And what are you going to do tomorrow? Because I can tell you what I’ll be doing: I’ll be at the gym busting my ass, no excuses.
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7 Responses to 30-Day Self-Esteem Challenge, Day 13: GET PUMPED!
Hi, I’m Charis!
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Congratulations Charis! This is great! I have been seriously training for 3 months now and feel great and was considering trying to work up to entering a figure model competition but was skeptical… you’ve given me inspiration to do it!
I think that is great!!! I am working out the gym myself because I need to rebuild muscle because of weight I have lost. Do you listen tapes and do you do yoga also. I will start my yoga next Monday and am so excited.
Yoga is absolutely fantastic – I hope you have fun with it!! I haven’t done tapes in a long time, BUT I have recently done the Insanity workouts and those are quite the butt kickers
Rebuilding muscle can be slow for some of us, but it’s so worth it once you start to see results, as I’m sure you know 
Great message! Would love to know what kind of weights are safe for an ostomate? Really want to get back to doing some but so worried about getting a parastomal hernia! Can’t seem to get any information on it anywhere!
Michelle, I’ll definitely be doing a blog about this SOON because yours is a question that is often asked. I promise I’ll have an answer up soon as a new post or page on this site!
Excellent, thank you! Used to love doing kettlebell training but just too scared now. Looking forward to seeing what you say. You’re an inspiration to all ostomates that want to stay fit and healthy and not letting their stoma get in the way, so thank you
Thank you