I've been working on my physical health quite a bit lately. This is because I find that I think better when I exercise and eat right. Go figure. There are good things to be said about having equipment and being able to exercise at home. Unfortunately, there are down sides too. The most glaring issue I've become aware of recently is the lack of a personal trainer.

A PT is there to be sure you're doing things correctly. If one were around, he/she would have corrected my workout the other day, saving me from hurting myself. When on an elliptical machine I thought you just got on and pushed it until you became exhausted. This isn't the case. I pushed it until my heart rate was 180 and kept it there for ten minutes.

Those of you that are fitness savvy are groaning, I can here it already. My target heart rate is 133. Thus explaining the pain I was in when I ended my workout. Not from my legs or arms which were happily zinging from the workout. No, the issue was in my chest. The workout hurt my heart.

For four days I lived with the ache in my chest. Finally, yesterday, it felt fine. I will be going on the elliptical machine today, monitoring my heart rate closely, and keeping it within the targeted range.

As I continually prove, ignorance hurts.