Advice and an NSV

Another morning at the gym. Another hour on the all motion trainer. Another 705 calories gone. I was feeling pretty good about that. When I finished, I went over to the basket where I stowed my stuff to get out my iPod so I could do some work on my arms. The trainer who teaches the class I have been taking two days a week (Randy) came over and asked what I do on the days we don't have class. Now, I'm thinking, you just saw me do it. But I told him that I do about an hour on the AMT, followed by some weights if I have time, and on Fridays I run. He asked whether or not the machine is challenging for me, and when I tell him I want to quit halfway through, and that I do it in intervals of resistance, he just kind of says ok and starts to hesitantly turn around. So I asked him what it is I should be doing, and he suggested that I do more of a circuit thing. He said to do 10-15 minutes on the machine, then do a short weight circuit (but not enough to let my heart rate drop) and then hit the machine again, so on and so forth for an hour.

Now, he's a trainer, and I figure he knows what he is talking about, and it isn't like he gets anything out of getting me to switch up what I am doing, so there is no reason he wouldn't be telling me this for my own best interest. But at the same time...I am going to have an awful hard time giving up my 700+ calorie burns on that hour on that machine. There is just something so comforting about seeing a number that big after I have sweated it out for an hour. I have the ability to point to that and say "look what I did" and come home and tell my husband about it. I won't have any concrete reading on my workout with this circuit training. But adding more muscle will help me burn calories all day long, right?

Randy's advice also came with a little NSV for me (the likes of which I don't see too often - not, I think, because they aren't there, but because my eyes aren't open to them.) As he was questioning what I've been doing, he said "You're making obvious progress..." That's it. Four little words. But to me, for the trainer to notice that in the last five weeks my body is changing and I am getting somewhere means a lot. And I know this guy - he doesn't say things just to make you feel good. In fact, he didn't even notice he said it. But I did.