Gratuitous fibery photowith absolutely no connection to the content of this post
I signed up for a new class at the YMCA, ‘Strength Training for Women’. The first class was Saturday. I am feeling remarkably not stronger at this point since every muscle in my body hurts.
Well maybe not every muscle - just the ones I seem to use for common, everyday tasks. Like sitting or walking or breathing. Or using my mechanical pencil at work, which was not the effortless affair it usually is.*
I’m really not used to feeling my abdominal muscles when I’m only breathing. In fact, up until now I was fairly convinced that my abdominal muscles were long gone and never to be heard from again. Much like my youth or seeing “102” on the scale in the morning (::sniff:: miss you, metabolism!).
So you’ll understand when I briefly considered reneging on my commitment to go out jogging with Mr. CPA after work this evening (it seemed like such a good idea when we had discussed it in the morning over coffee, you know, before the 10 hour workday…). But I rallied and managed to make the 2.5 mile route, though I must admit it was more of a 'run/walk' than the solid jogging event that it should have been.
Well maybe not every muscle - just the ones I seem to use for common, everyday tasks. Like sitting or walking or breathing. Or using my mechanical pencil at work, which was not the effortless affair it usually is.*
I’m really not used to feeling my abdominal muscles when I’m only breathing. In fact, up until now I was fairly convinced that my abdominal muscles were long gone and never to be heard from again. Much like my youth or seeing “102” on the scale in the morning (::sniff:: miss you, metabolism!).
So you’ll understand when I briefly considered reneging on my commitment to go out jogging with Mr. CPA after work this evening (it seemed like such a good idea when we had discussed it in the morning over coffee, you know, before the 10 hour workday…). But I rallied and managed to make the 2.5 mile route, though I must admit it was more of a 'run/walk' than the solid jogging event that it should have been.
ETA: 'run/walk' in my case means *run until you think you're dying, then walk until your heart stops feeling like it's attempting to pound its way out of your chest and breathing semi-normally is once again possible, repeat from *. I should note here that it was Mr. CPA's second run of the evening and the 'run/walk' format was solely for my benefit.
It's frustrating that one can get out of shape so quickly and easily, yet the path to fitness is so slow and painful (and did I mention how slow it is?).
It’s all about the baby steps. Small, painful little baby steps.
*Did you know your shoulder is a big player in the whole writing process? It sure likes to let you know it too, especially after making it lift those weights and barbells for no apparent purpose just two days ago. The shoulder is not really so big on the suffering in silence it seems.
7 comments:
i feel your pain! i am going through the same thing here.
one tip: go do weights today! (no, the pencil doesn't count.)
the sooner you repeat the weights, the faster your muscles will stop hurting. [increased blood flow leads to increased peripheral delivery of oxygen, blah blah blah, reversal of lactate metabolism, blah blah blah]
Well. I admire you. I know how you are feeling, and I guess I should also be trying to feel that way. However, I just cannot imagine coping with that much pain and soreness right now. Keep up the inspirational exercise. I might join you. Someday.
Hang in there with the weights! It's so gratifying when you start to see muscle definition happening...and so empowering to be able to lift and carry things most people find too heavy! Also, as I'm sure your trainer has mentioned, it will increase the ol' metabolism. (Have you seen the Body Electric program on PBS?)
Quit selling yourself short...working a mechanical pencil is harder than it looks. I could say something inspirational, but...I can't think of anything. Keep on truckin'
I am still laughing TWO DAYS LATER about how you took up spinning to save money! Such an innocent.
that spindle is beautiful.
Oooowwwwwuuuuu! Sounds like you got the whole body punishment at once! Just reading your post made me feel a little sore! :)
I really would like to say something encouraging, but secretly I want to hate you for doing what I'm not. There goes my excuse about not having time to exercise since I know that you are even busier than I am.
Back to working out with my mechanical pencil ...
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