How to Take the Leap – doing things you’re scared of doing

Yesterday I did something scary. I jumped on a box. A really high box. So high that if I missed the landing I could have died.

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OK not die maybe, but it sure felt like it!!!!

I worked out on New Year’s Day and was semi-surprised to find that the gym was dead. Yes dead. I guess there’s an unwritten rule that resolutions start on Monday? My sis accompanied me and we took turns torturing each other. This was our workout:

Treadmill: 0.25 miles at 7.0mph for warmup

Treadmill sprints: run for 30 sec at 9.0mph and 10 sec jump off (repeat 10x)

TRX workout (by Jackelyn): Bicep curls, chest presses, atomic pushups, knee tucks, low rows, explosive squats, tricep presses. Do each exercise for 1 min. Below are some examples.

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Weight lifting/Plyometric routine (by Cassey): 10 bicep curls at 35lbs (repeat 3x), medium (up to knees) box jumps x 20, high (up to mid thigh) box jumps x 10, 1 legged squats with 40 lb barbell x 20 each side, shoulder presses at 40 lbs (really hard for me…) x 10, tricep pull downs at cable machine x 15 (repeat twice), lat pull downs x 15 (repeat twice), pullups 1 at a time until fatigued!

It was a fab workout and we ended by immediately drinking some awesome vanilla whey protein on the way back home. Now, I wanna briefly touch on the whole box jump bonanza.

When I was about to teach my portion of the routine, I pulled out the first box and Jackelyn was like ummmm why are you using that one? I was like uhhh because that’s the one I use. (Goes up to my knees) She said I need to push myself and use the mid thigh one. I looked at her like she was insanium in the cranium and kept saying no way, I can’t do that!! I am gonna cut up my shins and die!!! She told me she thought the same thing until a trainer forced her to do it. She assured me that I’d be able to do the same.

Then there I was. Just me and the box. One on one. Could I jump it? Could I land? I had never jumped higher than knee height before. I kept looking at the box. The box looked at me. I looked at Jackelyn. She looked at me. I looked at her. She looked at me and pointed to the box. UGH. If you guys don’t know yet, I have a fear of heights and dying. And well, this seemed to pretty much sum things up.

I took a deep breath, focused myself, and said, Cassey – just do it. Seriously just bend your knees and jump. If you don’t make it. Big deal. You fall. It’s only like 3 feet off the ground. And so what if your shins get scraped up a bit. You would never know if you could do it or not if you didn’t try. My heart was beating madly. I took my breath and put my weight on my toes, and….hesitated.

I did that 3x.

My sister was about to kill me.

It wasn’t until about 3 min later and a ton of laughing and focusing that I got myself to finally spring off the ground. The moment my feet lifted til the moment they landed, my mind was not thinking. It was just being. I was just being. Sometimes you shouldn’t think too much when doing things that scare you. Just go for it. Just do it. Risk it.

I ended up landing perfectly on top of that box. My eyes widened and my sister screamed. I honestly didn’t think this was possible. But I did it!!

So my lesson to you guys today is to push yourself beyond what you think is possible. Don’t underestimate yourself. As they say, “reach for the moon and land on a star” – but sometimes you’ll land on the moon if you try hard enough 🙂

Happy first Monday of the new year!!!! My weekly challenge video will be up soon!!!!

ANNNNDDDDD I did not forget!!!! The winner of the oGorgeous giveaway isss…..drum roll please….

Jennifer Quijada!!!!! Congratulations!!!!! You won the Beverly Bowtie Gym Bag. I’ll be emailing you soon. Thank you everyone who entered. I wish I could give all of you a bag! But you know what? What I can do is give everyone an extra 10% off their entire purchase!!! Just use code “BLOGILATES” at checkout on oGorgeous.com to save. Yes, love you too! The discount code expires on Monday Jan 9th!