Day 8: Double Happiness

My rest day was hardly restful. I spent a full day between airports traveling with one dog in cargo and the other under the seat. Just 20 minutes after having arrived to my friend's house, we turned in so we would be able to Bring it with Chest and Back at 5:30 the following morning.

Nazly and I had competed in triathlons in our mid-twenties. Still an avid runner and triathlete, she decided to go for the X after seeing my most awesome results.

During our racing days together, neither of us wanted to be beat by the other. Our friendly competitiveness had made us dig deep, making it so that we always gave our personal best, regardless of who came in first. So, I knew that working out with Nazly this morning would help us take our workout to a whole other level.

The workout started off with giggles as my telling Nazly that Tony doesn't eat dairy, that he's turning 50 in July, as well as my impressive ability to anticipate Tony's every-word made her give me one of those looks that made me realize that I've been struck with BeachBody mania. I found comfort in the fact that my ailment is contagious. Soon enough, I thought, Nazly, too, will begin to pick up strange behaviors and spew random facts.

When we hit the floor to do our first set of standard GIRL push-ups, I had a flashback of us giving it our all during our triathlon races. With that, I suggested that we really bring it by going for ten toe push-ups per exercise, which she had never before done.

The girl brought it, time and again, with ten, often 11 man-style push-ups. If I saw that Nazly was nearing 11, I would do an extra 4, to cap my reps off at 15. Oh, don't worry, kids, Nazly had her revenge with the pull-ups.

Prior to this morning, I had never done my back work with a pull-up bar. With Nazly's encouragement and guidance, I did 20 assisted pull-ups per exercise.

At times, Nazly would giggle in delight as I cursed like a sailor and as my body trembled. But, she also pushed me on by telling me how she saw my ripped back muscles and by reminding me to really Bring it! And oh, I did!

During Abripper-X, Nazly kept reminding me to straighten my legs and to lift higher. Believe it or not, even at that moment, I felt glad to have a friend like her to push me beyond my comfort zone (which wasn't all that comfortable to begin with!).

It also felt amazing to finally have someone who I could high-five!

Day 8 down. 82 more to go!

Bring it!

Barbie