Feb
2018

It’s all about Fitness!

I finally got my round off back handspring today for the first time!

He said

Yes, February has arrived. And, with that it means the return of the Wellness Challenge at work where the goal is to close the rings on my Activity App on the Watch as many times as I can in the month. At the start of the month you pick what level you want to try and achieve between Bronze, Silver, or Gold which as you’d think requires increasing levels of activity. We’ve done this at least three years at work and every time I’ve picked and managed to achieve Gold. This time is no different which means I need to get at least 80 points per day for the month. Right now, four days in I am averaging 98.5 points a day and that average I includes today which I haven’t even got all my points for.

The thing I enjoy most about it is that it lands perfectly in February every year, right after Christmas and the holiday season where my workout routine gets seriously derailed and my festive eating isn’t necessarily conducive to pants fitting well. So, I’ve come to count on this challenge to kickstart me back into a healthier lifestyle. And in February while the weather is cold and I can find any excuse to be lazy and not leave the comfort of our bed, it’s nice to have a reason to get some exercise. And, because I got the new Series 3 Apple Watch I have been able to add swim workouts – yesterday I did 55 laps of the pool which was one and a quarter kilometres!

This week at work we announced that one of the Managers at our store was moving to our Conestoga store. It was a bittersweet announcement as it was one of the Managers who was there with us when we opened the store almost six years ago and she has been a big part of my journey. When I became the Lead Genius, we were partnered up as she was the Manager of the technician team. And, that partnership continued when I became a Manager as were shared the technician team. She has been a huge part of my development and given me all sorts of support along the way, and we’ve become very good friends as a result. As much as we will be sad to lose her at our store, I am excited and proud of her for taking this new step in her journey.

The schedule this week afforded me the ability to see Emelia’s gymnastics a couple of times and this week in the ever-growing list of things she blows me away with was her arm strength. In the last couple of months in addition to Emelia sprouting upwards still, she has also started to develop some crazy tone and definition in her arms. The ten and a half hours a week of conditioning is for sure making a difference. When they do handstand walks, she can easily go from one end of the spring floor to the other with control that blows me away. But this week, I was also taken aback by her strength on the bars. I mean I shouldn’t be surprised as soon as she was big enough to do so, she spent every second in the school playground on the monkey bars or climbing the nearby trees.

On Friday this week the Groundhogs prognosticated six more weeks of winter which didn’t get us the slightest bit down. Last week we were able to finally firm up the weeks off we have this summer which meant we could start booking our camp destinations. And despite how many times this week I have had to shovel the driveway, all I can think about is that first time we back Wolfie Too into the driveway for a trip out this spring and I could care less about what the groundhogs have to say. That first campfire and the beer I crack open at it is enough to get me through whatever is left of winter!

She said

This week winter returned with a vengeance so this meant trying to get outside in mini spurts to keep us sane and active. With John’s fitness challenge we are all in a different mode around here and are taking our activity back to a level we were used to in years past. With Emelia’s training schedule and our differing work schedule we have put our fitness on the back burner. No more! We are all taking to the gym and getting back into the groove.

Now getting back to the gym is something that we never have to worry about with Emelia. Emelia is in constant training mode. She works so hard and has taken things to a whole new level of determination and intensity over the last few weeks. She is focused and driven with some big goals she has set for herself. We went though a phase a few months ago that she was burning out in training and she wanted more variety, this is when we added acro and jazz to her activities. She likes them but they are certainly not her passion, but what it has done is refocused her and gymnastics is her whole heart focus.

Next weekend we are having a joint birthday party for Emelia and Amy and when I ask Emelia for gift ideas for her family all she wants is things for home to up her home training. She blows my mind at her focus. All the hard work has really paid off. The areas in her routines she has been really stressing over have really come together. Today after a lot of practice she nailed beautifully the one big element for her floor routine. Today she got her round off/back handspring combo and her form is in amazing shape. We have video of her combo and its amazing! So proud of this girl!

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