An update and a success story.

Um, hiiiii!

Let me tell you how cool I am: I'm 25, and I couldn't be more excited to sit in this hotel room on a Friday night and write a blog for the first time in foreverrr.

I still wanna continue this blog- I promise. It's just...well, my whole life has been a shit show for the past few weeks. AND, guess what? It's not even from school! I mean, school is kinda part of it, only because I have homework and reading, but my work and coaching responsibilities have been outta wack and I've been a stress case. But no one wants to hear about that. Moving on.

That was the update, now, here's the success story:

I played water polo and swam for-ev-er. What does this do to your shoulders? Kill them slowly. Or quickly if your arm gets stuck in someone bathing suit. Anyway, my last surgery was about 2 years ago, where the surgeon discovered that I was born with a rotator cuff that was fused to my biceps tendon...aka, I'm a wierdo. Of course, water polo did not help the strain on my already messed up shoulders that had a number of other issues. I could not hook my own bra, washing my hair was an everyday challenge, and lifting heavy weight over my head was a laughable notion. I was told that I would probably not be able to lift my future children. Sweeeet.

A few years and a few shoulder surgeries later, I stopped doing chronic cardio and started lifting again for the first time since college.  A year or so later I joined Crossfit so that I could start lifting and training like I wanted to, because that certainly can't be done at Golds or 24 hour fitness.

I hated doing presses, push presses, snatches, thrusters and jerks because I was not strong when it came to lifting things over head. Pull ups and push ups still suck for me...and those are the basics! Everyday was and still is a battle to re-train my shoulders, to make them stronger, to trust my body again. I had lost all faith in my over head strength, and with my arms in general.

Earlier this week, I was able to do a strict press (imagine lifting weight straight up over your head with no assistance from a jump), OR, just google the damn thing if you don't know what I'm talkin' bout. For me, this is the hardest lift because it requires brute, strict strength; no power from the legs or glutes can be used. Drum roll...I lifted 80lbs! This more than likely means nothing to you, and frankly, in the world I live in, 80lbs is still kinda laughable for a strict press. However, this made me want to cry...in a good way! It's a small mile stone in a challenging, on going journey. My shoulders took a lot away from me years ago and have scared me since. For the first time in a long time, I found faith in my ability rather than disappointment in my inability. It's like a light bulb went off that made me think, "wait, maybe I'm not completely broken. Maybe this whole thing is actually working."

I still have a long way to go in terms of what I would like to accomplish with this body. I do my best to treat it right in many ways, and I can actually see how this has paid off. It's not always about seeing a certain number on the scale, or fitting into smaller jeans (although, that's always gratifying). Sometimes, it's feeling like a bad ass, seeing what you are physically capable of achieving, that breeds confidence and the feeling of success.

What seems impossible to you? What can you do to manage and build upon your weaknesses?  If you put in the work, the results you want will follow. Just expect to learn a little lesson on patience, humility and gratitude a long the way. :)