totallytinab

The other day at the gym, I watched a woman do bench presses with 60 pound dumb bells.  Wow!  I have no shot ever of bench pressing that much weight.  You know what?  That is OK.  I like going to the gym.  I like the feeling of accomplishment after a good workout.  I like lifting weights and getting a good sweat on.  It is not a chore for me at all, it is just a part of what I do.

I first started working out in college.  This was a long time ago before the day of golf specific exercises.  We would meet a few times during the off-season and do some light weight-lifting.  I  also would do a little running but that was mostly to work off my freshman 15.  Once I got on tour, I worked out in the off-season.  We were careful not to lift heavy weight and we rarely worked out during the season.  Tiger and Annika changed everyone’s opinion about golf and working out.  Once everyone saw it was possible and even beneficial to be fit, working out became the norm.  I hired  a personal trainer and did golf specific exercises.My goal was always to try to hit the ball farther. I worked out hard in the off-season and continued throughout the season even working out before a late afternoon round.  I never did hit the ball farther,  but it was not for lack of trying and working out still made me feel good about myself.

When I retired, I knew I still wanted to work out.  I wanted to keep my womanly figure and still be able to drink beer and eat pizza and ice cream (insert joke here!)  My issue was that my workouts had always been geared towards golf.  So I did some research, watched people who looked like they knew what they were doing at the gym, and developed a work-out routine that has been pretty good over the last few years.  I do a 2-day workout that includes some cardio and abs.  Day 1 is upper body and day 2 is lower body.  I try to change up the exercises and reps so that my body does not get too comfortable.  I feel like I push myself pretty hard and until my accident, was getting stronger. After my accident,  I had to take more than 3 months off and I really missed the gym  I have been slowly getting back but found that I lost a lot of upper body strength (and I really didn’t have much to start with!)  But I am staying patient and slowly getting back to “normal.”

I go to a local gym only 2 miles from my house.  It is pretty hard core with a lot of body builders and serious lifters.  I really like it though.  They have limited the number of members so it is never very busy.  It has all the latest equipment.   The people are friendly and the employees are helpful. I feel good when I leave.  I feel energized.  I feel strong.  I feel like I can eat a piece of pizza and it won’t stay on my hips forever.  It’s a good feeling-try it!