[Amblus]

My Story:
I used to be overweight and a smoker. Boo. I was a junkfood junkie in college and that transitioned nicely into my post-college jobs waiting tables. I gained a lot for my frame size and I think my highest weight was 160ish. The only exercise I got was riding my bike, as I didn't own a car. Anyway, around 2001, I joined a gym and started taking classes like kickboxing, spinning and weights. I started counting calories. I started mountain biking. They weight started to drop off. It was great!

Then I got laid off from my job and pretty much spent an entire 8 month period doing nothing but work out. I was a cardio queen. I was thin as a rail, and not really in a good way. I think my lowest weight was 115. Yikes. After that I got a desk job and put on ten pounds, which was fine. I've continued to mountain bike (sometimes competitively) and take classes, but the weights classes, like BodyPump, just weren't doing anything for me. Where was the muscle I was supposed to have? Ugh. I got tired of my weak upper body and started with free weights last fall. I'm not very good on my own, though, and lacked the focus that I'm hoping I'll get with the New Rules for Women.

Goals:
- gain muscle
- lose the jiggle
- build bone density
- have abs that make babies cry
- overcome fear of heavy weight (not fear of bulking, but of hurting myself)
- overcome fear of the squat rack (see above)
- overcome fear of the "boys club" mentality of the weight room

Stats:

Age: 36
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 128
Bust: 34"
Natural Waist: 28"
Stomach: 33"
Hips: 38"
Thigh: 21"
Calf: 13"
Bicep: 11"

There's a BioMeasure scale thingy at the gym that calculated my BMI as 21 and my fat index at 24%. I have no idea how accurate this kind of machine is, but it got my height and weight correct so I'm assuming it's not too far off.

That's it! I did Stage 1, Workout A yesterday and will be doing Workout B on Wednesday. I'll post what I lift later in the week and if I get very brave I'll post my "before" pictures.