I had planned to go to Yoga really early - I figured I wouldn't sweat too much, it would give me some time to cool down before going to the appointment and I could show up not looking like I'd just tried to run the marathon and failed. (i.e. hot, sweaty, gross, and out of breath). The weren't any classes really scheduled after the tour, so it was going to have to be before.
Well scrap that plan.
My eldest decided - 5 minutes before I was about to jump in the shower - that she needs to shower right this second and I need to brush her hair afterwards.
Fine. I'll have breakfast first.
Except she showered for what felt like 40 minutes.
Needless to say, I didn't get to shower, nor did I make it to my Yoga class this morning... but her hair looks great. (hair brushing is a struggle; sometimes she goes more than week before letting me brush it - so when she asks for it, I'm not about to say "I'm too busy")
So I wandered into the gym with about an hour before my appointment and an 11 o'clock Drums class I had been interested in.
What the heck. I can just leave 5-10 minutes early and I'll be all set for the appointment.
Oh my goodness I've never sweat so much in my life.
The class was active, intense, and so engaging. And I sucked at it. But no one seemed to care.
Who would've thought drumming involved so much bouncing around and doing squats? My legs are STILL on fire. I kind of want to go soak in a bath, but that would involve cleaning the bathtub out first. It's on my to-do list, so it may not be such a bad idea, but not quite what I want to do at 9:30 on a Saturday night when I'm already feeling drained.
We jumped around to the beat and banged on our fitness balls with drum sticks and it was very high-energy. I really, really, really enjoyed it. But I had to keep leaving to use the washroom - another area with not-so-great muscle-control. I drank two bottles of water, sweat it all out again, and had a great time. I only slipped up a few times and left definitely feeling like I had to come back and do this again next Saturday. It was AWESOME.
I left 15 minutes early - realizing I needed to SERIOUSLY cool down before going on a tour of the gym. As everyone else shows up looking fresh and ready to go, while I look like a drowned rat and smelling like a dirty gym bag (and red in the face too!).
Sweat was still oozing out of the pores on my face twenty minutes later when we started the tour. Yuck. What was even worse than that was when I did volunteer for the rowing machine, I stood up at one point so he could adjust the seat - and there was a very clear line of crotch-sweat on the seat. YUCK!
I knew what it was, but still felt like it looked like I had pissed the seat, and I'm sure it grossed the other two older ladies out. I don't think the teenage kid noticed or cared. There were four of us in the group getting acquainted with the machines.
We wiped the machines down when we were finished, so in the end it didn't matter, but was still gross. I made sure after that to get off the seat in a sideways motion and drag my thigh over where my butt had been to make sure I left nothing visible on the seat. And I noticed after the next machine that the older lady went and got her own set of wipes to clean off the equipment for our little group.
I made sure I went last on the rest of the demos. ** update: it turns out the older lady who wiped down the equipment because she was grossed out with my crotch sweat lives on my street. Awesome. My kids decided to run a lemonade stand on Sunday and she came by to buy a glass. Talk about awkward. Do I say "hey, remember me from the gym? Longtime no see! *cough*yesterday*" or try to duck behind my car and hope she doesn't notice? My hair is fairly unique so people tend to remember my face a lot. I said hi and left it at that. She didn't seem to recognize me. Great! Then she was at class on Monday.
We went through a tour of the major machines, while we didn't get to see everything, we saw all the ones that focused on what I wanted to do, so I was totally happy with that. We each took a turn seated while he had us work through them and criticized our posture then had us re-align ourselves and get it right. Very helpful.
But oh my goodness, what a difference between today and the personal trainer yesterday. He was all timid and "is it ok if I touch your back?" like every time he put his hand anywhere near me. Not this guy. I'm sitting at the machine and all of a sudden there are hands on my shoulders pulling the blades back into position and fingers digging into the muscles to show me the difference. No prompting or asking, just bam, here's what it should look/feel like. This is not me complaining. As I said to my husband: I am well accustomed to having people touch me, it doesn't bother me in the slightest (physio, massage, chiro - I pay them to do it). It was good having a very confident grip putting my muscles into the correct positions and making sure I had the right idea. You can do a lot of damage using the machines incorrectly.
"You have very tight neck muscles."
Yes. I know. That's why I'm here getting a tour so I can use the machines to fix that. They are so tight I don't think anything can undo the knots in there. I've been trying for years. My physio constantly gives me stretches to do; I give them a cursory glance and then discard the sheet in between the seats in my van without ever trying them (I found two cleaning the car out last week). I am VERY lazy. Haha and I want to go to the gym every day. Riiiiight.
We tried six or seven different machines, only two focused on the legs and the rest were all things I wanted to use, so it was totally great. I tried them all out, had my posture corrected repeatedly, got to find out how to use them, and left feeling confident.
My one-month plan of intense classes is all great and wonderful, but it doesn't help me when I go back to school in September. These are all day classes. There isn't a whole lot offered in the evenings/on the weekend. There is some stuff, but I'll also be fairly busy with all of the extra curriculars we have going on during the school year. With my husband working evenings, it means I take the kids to and from every activity they are enrolled in. I joke that I'm like a single parent on a two-parent income; but I know that's not funny because being a single parent is really rough and I am grateful it's not a hardship I need to endure.
Still, feeding and transporting non-compliant kids eats up my evenings pretty quickly. (Did I mention they don't LIKE the activities they're in? They'd rather sit home and watch TV). I also can't leave them home alone while I run off to the gym for long periods of time over dinner or bed time. I'm going to have to resort to using the machines and squeezing in a class where I can once school starts. I can't even do the 6 am boot camps because they end at 7 am and I teach 40 minutes away in a school that starts at 8 am. You do the math, but that's cutting it a little close for comfort. And boot camp isn't my ideal class either.
I needed to learn the machines. I'm glad I went today. It was informative.
And oh my goodness the Drums class was fantastic. My thighs still hurt. I might go clean the bathtub after all...
I'll let you know how tomorrow goes. I think I may be waking up a little sore. Up until today it's all been low impact restorative stuff. This was the first real cardio type class.
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