Darn You Lance Armstrong!

No, it's not what it seems. 

I love Lance. 

Really. 

 The things he has had to overcome, and the fact that he HAS overcome them, gives me hope and faith that I can do anything- even run a half marathon. "So, why are you dissing on The Boss?" you may be asking yourself. To clarify, I'm not dissing him at all. His exercise equipment, however, almost made my legs fall off! I tried out a new cross training machine today, it was a Live Strong LS13.0 Elliptical, and man did it kick my ass!

Source

Let me tell you a little bit about it: Firstly, the frame it has actually helps keep your body upright while you're working out. This helps lower the stress that is placed on your joints when using an elliptical machine. I noticed this myself when I tried to lean forward a bit and rest my arms through the loops (what? My arms get tired easily! Don't judge me!) and it felt really uncomfortable. Normally, on the elliptical I use at my gym, I can lean forward and rest my upper body and it doesn't bother me at all. Hooray for my own observational powers!  Another thing that rocks about this machine is the fact that it has arch pedals. They are rounded up (as opposed to the bucket ones on other machines) and this aids in stimulating your glutes and other various leg muscles so you get the ultimate workout.

As I've said before, I tend to use the elliptical for my cross training, so I figured this would be a "no sweat" workout for me. I put on an episode of Ghost Whisperer on my laptop and jumped on the machine. I planned on 45 minutes (the length of an episode, minus commercials- thank you Netflix) but made it about 25 minutes before I felt completely spent. I felt like I was running uphill the whole time- my glutes were most definitely engaged (and they turned into some monster Bridezillas! Youch! Get what I did there? Engaged...Bridezillas. Just me? Okay... moving on.)

Anyway, it was a great workout, just much more intense than I anticipated. I know Lance is hardcore and loves a challenge (don't we all?) but that was INSANE! Anyway, I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday weekend! I may or may not be having a bbq tomorrow at my parents house, but either way, I've got the day off and I may try and use this killer machine again. Now that I know what to expect, maybe I can make it 30 minutes!