14: The Hike Shack & The King of Athletics

This week, I'm hiking five hikes suggested by The Hike Shack as the third week of my quest.  Fitness can be found out of gym, but I'm liking the fact I did a push-up on my knees yesterday.  One of my friends who is following my quest, and is also a medical doctor, suggested I add regular weight training into my journey.

Dr. Eric, of all your profile pictures I chose this one.  I wanted to use the Viking one:)

Having gained upper body muscle in the last two weeks, I am loathe to loose it.  While I know the hikes this week will push me in cardio and legs, I want to maintain a clear path to my new goal of doing a push-up.  Dr. Eric recommended I talk to his friend, the King of Athletics.

You can see why I've put off talking about fitness with him.

So the King & I danced around the subject of adding weight training to my weekly routine.  When I asked if I needed to go buy weights, he brought me here:

This is our garage.  Who knew?

He began outlining my sets & reps, while I began to compare him to Yul Brynner in my mind.

Same scowl, but Tom has a better chest.  I'll try to sneak a photo of him later.

Any how, he asks me what I'm going to do for stretching.  I shrug and smile.  Yoga?  I suggest. He grins and tells me to walk to the mailbox, run back up the hill and walk down to the house.

But this would require getting dressed, I explained.

Apparently, it never occurred to him I planned on doing them in my pj's.  Afterall, isn't that the clear benefit of working out at home?  So now, I have to put on pants, find my shoes, ward off the dogs, put on freaking foundational undergarments JUST so I can "stretch" by going to the mailbox. It took so long to get ready, and get the dogs ready, I ran into the King returning from his run.  As I had to run this portion, he helpfully agreed to take photos.

Oh my word.  Never wear your pj shirt on a run, and never, ever wear hiking pants. I look like a blimp.  (My choice of words.  Not a body image issue; this is me being critical of my fashion choice.)

I can hear it now....

So the King & I just finished my weight training.  Things I discovered:

1) I cannot lift my legs together while lying on my back.

2) There is a legitimate reason the King of Athletics is not my trainer.

3) Anything in a wheelbarrow only weighs 1/3rd of its weight.

This week, The Hike Shack has given me a series of hikes for my fitness quest, and this afternoon we explored Butte Creek Trail, near the base of Thumb Butte.  It was ranked as "easy" - I would call it moderate due to the 800ft elevation change over the course of two miles.  It runs next to Butte Creek in the easement backing private property in the Hassayampa area.

Always ready to draw.

The hike was gorgeous, and connects to Forest trail #321 behind Thumb Butte.

The trail was flat for good portions; then scrambling over rocks.  It had a gradual ascent (my favorite type) and kept my heart rate up.

Snow!!!  At 68°!!

I slipped on rocks during the return trip, but while I stayed upright I pulled my already sore right oblique.  One does not cry around the King of Athletics of the Central Highlands; tears are a sign of weakness.  I managed to push through; we ended up having a good discussion about my fitness choices.  Learning that I could not lift both legs simultaneously truly horrified me earlier; we agreed I may have narrowly avoided a major health crisis by starting my quest when I did.

We did four miles round trip, and it was very pleasant.  This week is Spring Break, so my children will be joining me in this week of the quest; I look forward to the adventure!