Marshall Ramsey

Congratulations, you survived the first week. You’re sore (and tired). You’ve done things you never thought you would in your life.

For example: Today, I jumped rope, then pushed a board 3/4 the way across a football field. When I was done with that I put my feet on a chips and salsa tray and pulled my body to the other sideline and turned around and went back to where I left my board. I then pushed it back 3/4 of the way to where I started.

Then I did it again.

It was tempting to say, “I can’t.” But “can’t” is a word I’ve taken out of my vocabulary (except for singing.) The next level requires the body and the mind to work together.

Right now both my mind and body are pooped.

My shoulders are baked. I am ready to eat my lunch (it’s 7:52 a.m.). But I’m happy. This will be an awesome 12 weeks.

I hope you feel the same way. That soreness you feel is your body changing for the better. You’ve got this.

The next level is in reach.

I paid for Christmas today. No, I didn’t get a credit card bill. I just thought my arms would fall off during my workout.

Truth #1: You can work out for a year and if you lay off for a day, you lose it all.

Truth #2: I’m glad we work out in the dark.

My pants kept falling down like a Benny Hill skit. So I got double the workout — I did my exercises while pulling my shorts up for an hour.

There’s about 150 folks doing Fit4Change at JSU — inside. There are above 70 of us up at Madison — and we’re outside most of the time. So keeping my shorts up was important for more than just modesty reasons. Don’t need frost bite in unfortunate places.

Thankfully there were no wardrobe malfunctions.

Oh yeah, and I did Burpees (how the Devil stays fit) with a chair. That had to look REALLY stupid. I’m glad it was dark.

Speaking of dark, I heard a familiar voice when we first got out there. (I usually arrive 15 minutes early and run a 1/2 mile to warm up). It was Bevo Gandy. Bevo and I have worked out together off and on since I started PLS five years ago. He’s also the dad of Hannah, an awesome young lady who kicked cancer in the teeth. The Gandys are a very strong family and I’ve alway respected Bevo’s inner-fortitude. But today, that respect rose to another level.

Why? When I saw him, I didn’t recognize him. Seriously. He had dropped from 237 lbs. to 179 lbs. since the last time I saw him. And he looks great! I asked him if he had a tapeworm, but he said it was actually better than that. One day he was cleaning out his truck and found 20 Diet Mountain Dew bottles. That was one day’s worth! So he switched to drinking that much water instead. He said he has recently also cleaned up his diet, too.

I found that to be inspirational. My weight has plateaued at 215 lbs. (my scale). Yesterday, my doctor said I needed to lose about 20 lbs. (his scale). I held out my left arm and said, “Go ahead and cut it off.”

He said just keep the fork out of my mouth. Why? I need to help stomp out my reflux. And my cholesterol was a historically high (for me) 177. (last year it was 125). It’s time to get busy.

So I’ll drink more water. And I’ll really push my workout like I did today. Coach Clark worked our shoulders and core (as he always does). Coach Neil put us through the paces in the weight room (he’s as motivational as they come.) And Coach Trahan had us running through quick-foot ladders, cones and bags. I almost got out of breath.

I burned a lot of calories today. Or more accurately, a lot of Christmas cookies.

Question for Fit4Change folks: What was your favorite part of today’s workout? Your lease favorite?

It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.

I saw Bracey this morning in the office. She works out at JSU, I am at Madison. But we both did our Paul Lacoste fit test today. So I asked her, “how did it go?”

She told me her mile time sheepishly. She went over her workout and then said she jogged between every test because that’s what Paul wants. I looked at her and was incredibly proud of her.

Why?

She’s out there. She’s up early and making a change in her life. I told her that she would be SO proud of her numbers at the end of the 12 weeks. That all the soreness and hard work would pay off with great results. I hope that helped her a little bit. Bracey’s one of the good guys. She always has a smile on her face and works amazingly hard — I offered to encourage her anyway I can.

It’s not where we start, it’s where we finish.

The best way to finish well is to focus on the process. Try to get better every step along the way. And encourage your friends. Because you never know when you’ll need a lift yourself.

Good job Bracey. I’m very, very proud of you.

#fit4change #PLSports

This morning was the PLS fit-test.

No, we weren’t pushed until we threw a fit. We had to do push-ups, sit-ups, the 100-yard short shuttle, the one-mile run, step-ups (with a 45 lb. plate) and squats (with another 45-lb. plate.)

How did I do? I passed.

Some people don’t like doing the fit-test. I do. Why? It gives me accurate benchmarks to set my goals by. It also reminds me of what happens when I eat like a pig over Christmas.

So here are my results and my goals for the end of the 12-weeks.
1. Pushups: 40. Goal 80.
2. Sit-ups: 30 Goal 100
3. 100-yard short shuttle: 24 seconds. Goal 21 seconds.
4. Step-ups: 40 Goal 60
5. Squats: 50 Goal 100
6. One Mile run: 8:38. Goal 7 minutes flat.

Weight today 218. Goal 199