(Image from marriedtothesea.com)

Today at Bulldog I gained a new appreciation for the ab wheel and renewed my gratitude for Gio's wisdom. Here's how it all happened: It was such a sticky morning that I brought two water bottles to Bulldog and drank most of the first one on my drive there! (My car has no air conditioning.) I think that was a good thing. I warmed up as usual, though I noted that my squats are really improving. I moved on to my PUPs. Gio upped my hold time for each plank position to 6 seconds and upped my PUP (ha! "UP PUP! Pup is up." Dr. Seuss) count to 6. I'm definitely noticing that I can hold a higher position for longer, but it's still pretty exhausting! I did 11 back planks (hold for 6 seconds) and did 12 one-legged back planks (6 ea leg). These are still twitchy, but coming along! At this point I was tired but so excited to see this much progress after one week's return to Bulldog and one weekend of extreme gardening!

But oh those one-legged box dip thingies. I told Gio that I felt like I was really struggling with them. I know that I'm too far forward -- I can feel it. And last week my knees were crying out "We can't hold ya, Girl!" At night they wept quietly. Anyway, what to do? Gio said, "Let me get the wheel." I fought the urge to run as he brought out an ab wheel. I had flashbacks to the one workout where I had tried to wheel myself forward and then back again with my hands on little handles. It was not a pretty sight to behold, friends. Lots of sweating, cursing, and flopping on the floor. I had to give up with that part of the workout and it was incredibly frustrating. But at second glance, this ab wheel that Gio brought out had pedals. Huh?

For a few terrifying moments I pictured myself trying to pedal it around Bulldog, like the guy in the top illustration. But no, I had to lie down on my back and then put my feet in the pedals. I then had to roll the wheel up to my butt, do a bridge, and then roll it out again. This was not easy, but I could kind of do it. I did three sets of 3. Gio explained that this would activate the necessary muscles for a better formed dip on the box. I was skeptical, but up for seeing what it would do. And by golly wow it worked! On Friday I could hardly dip with one leg and touch my toe tip of my other foot to the floor. Now I magically felt myself leaning back into my hip and butt and dipping the other foot to the floor successfully. Not effortlessly, but I could do it. My knees wept, this time out of relief. Or maybe that was just sweat. Anyway! The ab wheel with pedals is my new friend! I'm looking forward to another week of progress at Bulldog. Thanks, Gio!!