Last night, I went to the gym for the first time in forever. At least six and a half years. Since I first became pregnant with my first child. Don't ask; it's a long story.
This came on the back of having lifted weights for six years, three days a week, every single week. I was benching around 90-100 pounds regularly. At a weightlifting competition in Missouri, I dead-lifted 220 pounds, without any grips. Cardiovascular health, the more important, well, that's a different story. I wasn't in great shape. But, I made my attempts to do it a couple of times a week. The elliptical machine was my weapon of choice.
***
Fast forward six and a half years later, three pregnancies later and four children later. . .
My friend invites me to a turbo kick class offered by a 24 hour fitness that's offering a free 3-day trial. Dreaming about being healthy and getting back into shape, I said yes. The class was last night, Monday night. I dragged, dragged, dragged my feet and didn't find a babysitter until yesterday late morning and didn't go online for a free online 3-day pass until yesterday afternoon. I'm not sure what my hesitation was, beyond having a full realization of just how out of shape I was before even having set foot in the gym.
But, I had company. Going with someone to exercise is so much easier (for me anyways) than going on my own. And, it's free. And, I had childcare lined up. What could beat that?
***
That one hour Turbo Kick (yes, that was the actual name of the course) totally kicked my butt. KICKED MY BUTT. I stopped 4-6 times to drain my 32 ounces of water and to catch my breath for a minute. Four to six times; yes, that's right. Pretty pathetic? Probably. But, I put out there ahead of time that I'm pretty out of shape. And the instructor was moving at the speed of light, non-stop.
I dared not stop or rest long, because I didn't want to look bad. Who cares, right? I was in the very last row. Who's looking? That's what a bit of competition does to me. My leg muscles - the muscles by my knees, my quadriceps - were KILLING me. I was trying to do everything everyone else was doing. I was trying to keep pace. The difficulty was the bullet pace, the different movements of the arms from the legs, constantly changing directions. What the? What the? Now what are they doing? But, I stayed the whole hour and I didn't run away. I finished.
Never mind how red in the face I was. Or how out of breath I was. Or that I was feeling nauseated. I finished.
Determined was I to continue with some weightlifting before calling it a quits for the night. But, I had enough sense to stretch out first. Six and a half years ago, I had worked up to 110 pounds or so in bench press. I decided to try just the bar first, which is 45 pounds, to check my coordination and balance. Then, I did between 55 and 65 pounds. Since I didn't have a good spotter, I didn't venture more than that. Did some other stuff . . . rows, dumb bell bicep curls, dumb bell hammer curls, skull crushers, etc. I had to try dead lifts. Again, I tried the safe bet first: the bar. I had to be able to lift the thing off a bar, put it on the floor, and do my repetitions without wraps and without injuring myself. I could do 6-8 repetitions of 95 pounds. Though that's a far cry from 220 pounds, not too bad for not lifting weights for 6 and a half years, eh?
The sad news was that after all that stuff in the gym, I was feeling pretty sick. Nauseated. Not very capable of holding a conversation with an employee about possibly joining. Even sitting and putting my head between my legs didn't make me feel better; I felt worse.
I came home and had a banana, took a shower, and went to bed.
***
Woke up this morning at about 5:30, when my twin alarm (guess they were hungry) shouted at me. Didn't feel too bad, until I got out of bed and attempted to pick up the twins. My back's sore, my legs are sore. I definitely had a work out last night.
This morning, I ate like crazy. Had brussel sprouts, turkey, and bacon (a dish I made yesterday) served over rice; I consumed 3-4 servings of that. Not exaggerating. Then I proceeded to have part of a smoothie I made yesterday (made with whole milk yogurt, frozen strawberries, bananas, and some coconut oil) and some kefir yogurt.
***
Now I am ready to eat some more (not even 2 hours later). Can I go back to bed, first?
I'm glad I went to workout. Wouldn't have taken back a thing or changed a thing. Except maybe I should have stretched out before engaging in the killer turbo kick class.
