This picture was taken after a killer bootcamp class – Urban Escape Fitness members have guns and aren’t afraid to show them off!”

My trainer and Urban Escape Fitness owner, Heather Skoda, has a blog of her own http://heatherurbanescape.wordpress.com  in which she recently posted the above photo and text.  Of course I was very flattered to be showcased as a source of motivation (yes, that’s me in the center) but am also left lamenting the absence of old friends, my guns.  Unfortunately, replacing my almost daily bootcamp regime with miles and miles of running does not do much for the arm muscles.  And in the grand tradition of dissecting and assessing my body, I’ll say this:  I might be able to break boards or noses with my quads (no, I haven’t tried- I’m just guessing based on their girth) but my upper body has definitely grown progressively soft during the past 15 weeks.

I can’t imagine in what state of mush I’d be if I weren’t working out with Heather twice a week.  Today, following a solo 5-miler, she totally obliterated all but my leg muscles with a variety of upper body targeted exercises including f@*!#*! ropes.

(No, that’s not me.  I don’t workout with out a shirt on.  Come on, I’m undeniably middle aged and I’ve had two babies.)

In case you’ve never had the pleasure of using these things, I’ve included a visual.  Trust me, making them move is much more difficult than it looks, especially when they are part of a depleting upper body circuit.  Heather knows how much I hate the ropes, but for some reason keeps bringing them back in to the rotation.  The funny thing is that although I complained about their presence today as much as usual,  I was able to focus on the bright side- at least I wasn’t running.