Workouts thus far

So far, my workouts have been a fast-paced, keep-my-heart-rate-up-the-whole-time sorta deal. I usually start out with cardio (we tried jumping jacks and jogging in place one day, but it may have been what triggered the calf issues so now we've gone to the bike or elliptical). Then Peggy takes me through several 3-4 circuits of exercises that seek to engage all muscles - leg, core, arms - while focusing on one specific muscle. So... some of the exercises, and my "skill" level :

• 15 reps or so doing curls, lift up over your head, lift in front of you, tricep dips, etc., while in a squat position, with weights... I do pretty well with these, though the more tired I get, the more Peggy must encourage me to keep at it and finish the set.
• The rope. Ohhh man, the rope. Its this loooong heavy rope, looped up around one of the machines and with handles for each hand. You flap your arms in front of you, or swivel them round and round, or do a stirring motion, with the goal being to get the whole rope rippling. In a squat position... Wow, this is hard, and I can see how it never gets easier, because you're always trying to get bigger ripples out of the rope. I can barely make it through 30 seconds.
• Planks and "mountain climbers." So basically she starts me out in a boy pushup position, then has me walk my hands out in front of me a few inches, and then hold as long as I can. Between my general weakness (in both arms and core), and my hot sweaty hands, I can barely make it 15 seconds. After the 30 seconds in total, she has me do the mountain climbers, where I hold the position with my arms and core and bring my legs in one by one. I always want to turn my feet and hips out on these, but my knees are supposed to come to my chest. Sooo... I'm pretty bad at this whole thing
• Abs. Various crunches and situps. I'm not bad at these
  
• Step ups on the block - facing front, and sometimes straddling the block. Whoo. This is intense cardio. Gets my legs working, and my core, and I get a chance to work on not turning out my legs or feet (root of the calf trouble, perhaps?). By the end, I'm verrry out of breath

So after some combination of the above (and some more I've left off, I'm sure), she has me finish off with cardio, or peppers cardio throughout. After that, she stretches me out, sometimes focusing on my calf, and then I'm done.

I write all this to be a measuring stick for my progress. These things that are so difficult for me now, that Peggy has to encourage me to keep pushing through, like the planks and mountain climbers, the rope, the block, should only get easier. So remember, Brittany of the future, when you first started, you could only hold that plank for 15 seconds before collapsing into a quivering mess... think how far you've come!