Hello, my name is Erica Olympia.

I'm pretty much the next Ms. Olympia.  Minus all of the bulging muscles... and veins popping out all over the place.  That kinda creeps me out actually, so maybe not the next Ms. Olympia.  But the fact remains that somewhere inside this body of mine lurks a fair amount of muscle and every day, I see that amount increase.

Today's workout (with my awesome trainer!) included deadlifts and other things involving bars and weights.  I can never remember technical names for things.  It took me a couple weeks to remember the term deadlift and even then, I was pretty sure that I wasn't saying it correctly because it seemed like an odd name.  If I had to say it out loud, I would just kind of mumble or slur it, like how when you are singing a song and you don't know the words so you just make noises that sound close.  Anyway, I have a tendency to never watch myself in the mirror when I'm doing these things and I know that's terrible because I should be watching to make sure my form is correct.  You'd think I would want to do that because I LOVE doing things perfectly at the gym.  Alas, this is not the case.  I have come to the conclusion that it is because I still feel out of place in the weight room at the gym, despite the fact that I have been kicking booty down there for months.  It's a hard feeling to describe but up until 4 months ago, I would have NEVER been the type to be doing these things and when I look in the mirror, I still kinda see that girl, even though I don't FEEL like that girl anymore.  Does that make sense?  It's like my brain, my eyes and my body as a whole are not connecting.  I do totally belong down there and I'm getting more confident with these type of moves as the days go by and that's what matters in the end.  Maybe I should make friends with some of the men I see down there all the time and we can come up with some kind of fist bump or handshake so that I feel a level of camaraderie.  I'd suggest a chest bump but that would probably be going too far.  Also, probably uncomfortable.

One last side note, I have discovered that one of my arms is longer than the other.  What's up with that and why did it take me 27 years to make this discovery?