My Gym Prodigy

My little gym prodigy...Sidney  :)

6:10am, Sid was ready to go to the gym.  Not many 10 year olds that I know want to hit the gym that early in the morning.  She was really excited about it and was dressed and out the door even before me.

Today Sid and I got warmed up and then we did some strength training.  I try to show Sid some different things while we are at the gym, see what she might like doing and also let her do some things that she wants to improve on.

Sid loves doing leg raises on the captains chair.  Last time she tried she couldn't finish one rep.  I keep telling her that all she has to do is practice and eventually she would get better and be able to finish one.  When I first started working out I had a friend that would do a few reps on the captains chair and I would be so jealous.  I couldn't do it!  I tried and tried but my muscles just weren't working and I couldn't lift my legs anywhere close to my chest, let alone off the rests for my feet.  Every week I would try again.  Eventually I got to the point where I could do these exercises and start trying to do more advanced ones where my legs are straight out rather than bent.  Today, Sidney found out that if she does practice she does get better.  She was able to do 1 leg raise on the captains chair!  She was so excited.  

We also tried an exercise where you put your legs up on a ball as you are laying down, you raise up your hips and core and then bring your feet towards you while they are raised up on the ball.  Sid was able to do a few of these after she figured out how to balance.  She was very proud of herself when she was able to hold herself up on the ball for a few seconds (long enough for me to take her picture!).

Look at that smile!  

That is a smile of knowing that she is accomplishing something that she wasn't able to do before.