Salutations!

[Maris Stella]

Hello, everyone! Half-Elf aspiring Ranger/Druid, reporting for duty.

I'm here for several reasons, mainly this article about Staci's success with lifting, which I read a week ago.

Some backstory: I started working out regularly about six months ago, when I decided that I was truly tired of being a squishy weakling, but haven't really made much progress. I've never been overweight per se -- I was a swimmer and competitive equestrian in high school, and even though a casual mountain hike was the most real exercise I got in college, I did walk everywhere and had a pretty decent diet. After graduation I taught high school for a year and spent 90% of the day on my feet. Throughout that time my weight was pretty stable and I felt ok/meh about how my body looked, but I had no upper-body or core strength at all, and my endurance was just pathetic. I was skinny-fat. And then, a little over a year ago, I joined the Chair Force...

WOW. Sitting in a chair all day is just AWESOME. It didn't take me long to realize this is NOT what I want for my body at all, but I struggled with a lot of self-consciousness at the gym. I've made some progress on that front, but it is still hard for me to muster my pride and head to the free-weights. At first that was fear that I "looked stupid" (because obviously if you're working out you should look elegant and refined, right?), then it was fear that I looked weak (...I did), and now it's just the basic agoraphobia, I think, and too many mirrors. I'm also intimidated by the gym guys in their little tanktops, and the incredible-looking girls doing handstand pushups. While I don't think I'm a nofreaking cluicus any more, it's still taking me some time to transition to the weight machines to real, natural exercises. I'm definitely open to tips and advice, if you've got 'em!

My goals are to be able to do big-girl pushups (maybe even the handstand kind!), big-girl pullups, climb mountains and fit into my favorite pants that are crying at the bottom of my dresser. I also want to stop feeling terribly awkward when I work out, which is a lot better now that I am stronger, but still pretty inhibiting.

Anyway, that was longer than I intended, but I'm really happy to be here and looking forward to learning from all of you!