I wrote about my Total Body Conditioning instructor in my last blog entry; the one who would say, "You can do anything for two minutes!" This week, I thought of another one of her phrases about strength training.

I was in the "abs room" at the gym, as I call it. This is where they keep the rubber mats, the stability balls, etc. There is other equipment in there also, like jump ropes and light weights, but all I ever do in this room is work my abs. So it is the ABS ROOM to me.

I've always had weak abs, even when I was a kid. It's probably why I was a terrible gymnast. Those double leg lifts and V-sits they used to have me do were torture. I did everything I could to cheat and not really do the exercise.

I realize now as a grownup that I was only cheating myself. Maybe if I had done the exercises, or (for those of you who follow my mother, Brooklyn Born's, blog) held my stomach in all the time, I'd have abs of steel.

But I didn't. Even now, when I finish my run and head to the abs room, I mentally groan, look at the clock and come up with all kinds of excuses why I should skip ab work. My number one, favorite reason is, "I don't have the time. I need to shower and get back to work."

However, most of the time I realize that my "reason" is not really true, and the true reason is simply... I HATE AB WORK BECAUSE IT'S HARD!

That bring's me to my TBC coach's saying when we would complain about a particular strengthening exercise.

"If you hate it, it probably means you need to do a whole lot more of it."

I think she's definitely right.