To be fair, I did have a lot to do, and by the time I got around to being able to go, it was evening and there weren't really any classes being offered - I guess going to the gym is not everyone's "go to" fun thing to do on a Friday night.
I do have to say that my knees are feeling a lot better, so maybe taking a day off wasn't such a bad idea. The stiffness is almost entirely gone - whether that was from a day of rest or soaking in a bath I'm not sure, but it feels better. I did set my alarm for 5 am that morning to try and get up and make it to the 6 am class. But then I didn't get to sleep until 1 am and said "not a chance" to getting up that early - not when I had a busy day ahead of me. I also didn't accomplish even half of the things I wanted to get done yesterday either.
So I didn't make it, and yesterday I felt really bad about it (guilty), but now I'm over it. It was yet another day where I just didn't stop. According to my fitness tracker I got in 55 minutes of physical activity - I'm guessing all of that was walking around the school setting things up, and then around WalMart getting some supplies with my oldest daughter.
I had set an alarm to get up this morning to try the suspension workout but didn't get to that either. A small monkey crawled into my bed for snuggle - can't say no to that. And then she promptly fell back asleep on me and I didn't want to move her just to go to the gym.
BUT... I went to the drumming class a little later today. It was pretty good. More and more I am doing an increased number of jumps (instead of bouncing on my heels), and I am picking up the movement patterns faster - I even tried the shoulder shake the instructor does that makes it look like her shoulders are dancing (not successful). I can't seem to separate the movement of my shoulders and my hips to set them doing two different things. She makes it look so easy and natural and I feel like it's totally out of my realm of possibility. I came close a couple of times, I was doing some moves with my shoulders, one of which actually looked kind of good in the mirror before class had even started and I was shocked (no sense of rhythm here at all). I keep meaning to practice at home. I really can't dance. I'm getting a little better at finding the beat at least. Anyway... I wasn't out of breath at all, my throat got dry a couple of times from the heavy breathing (you breath a lot when jumping and bouncing around), but I was able to keep going the whole time. The only times I toned down my bouncing and jumping was when my knees started to hurt. I haven't fully been able to get them back to feeling like they are in the right place after the Aqua classes from last week. Also, with doing all of my squats (I think I mentioned I learned this month that I've been doing them wrong my whole life) the muscles around the knees are getting really tired because of the unfamiliar and new movements. 66 days to form an automatic habit. I have to keep going to get my squats down right and to practice keeping my shoulder blades back instead of rounded forward.
I'm still not 100% confident in this drumming class, but I'm getting closer. There are some moves I get right away, to the point I can even predict what's coming next. I am also adding in some of the "extras" to get a more intense workout (some, not all). I keep moving up closer to the front in each row; I'm no longer hiding out at the back. I'm getting there. The instructor is an elementary school teacher and part of me was daydreaming "hey, maybe I could do this too - get paid to get my workout in once or twice a week", but I'm not even close (probably comes with a free membership too). It's also helpful that she has a build similar to mine and isn't skinny with ripped muscles everywhere. Though she definitely has a stronger base of underlying muscle than I do - and WAY more energy. Distant future day dreams. I'd be far more interested in learning the Yoga Tune Up, but that's going to involve a lot of understanding of the muscles in the body and their interconnectedness. And better balance. And more flexibility. Both male instructors are constantly naming off the muscles, joints, and body parts that our moves are impacting. It's interesting, and way beyond my knowledge zone.
Like I said, distant dreams. I am contemplating the 2-hour leg, muscle and calf workshop in late September just so I don't lose the progress I've made so far. 2 hours on a Saturday, that's not so bad... But it's a body-part I don't wholly care to work on...
We'll see. I will most likely keep up my post-a-day routine for the rest of the weekend, but I think that after this point I will be submitting fewer entries, partly because I won't be going to the gym as much, but also partly because I am noticing I don't have a lot of new and exciting information to share in these posts. I am hitting a plateau in my workouts to some extent. I haven't lost any weight, but I am going to the same classes to work on my flexibility, mobility, balance, and overall fitness. As great as it is for my body, there isn't much to report back on, so my entries are side-tracking. I am going to try to overcome this plateau and continue into workouts with more results, so I will report back on that, but writing that I went to drumming class or Yoga again and it was a good workout isn't horribly exciting.
I think I am either going to try a Hot Yoga class tomorrow morning, or I am really going to push myself and hit up the Boot Camp class - time to get my butt kicked a little more...
There are a few more intense classes I want to try out, I'm just building up the nerve because many of them are way outside my comfort zone. When you are out of shape, it's one thing to show up to an "intro" class, or a class where you are the youngest one in the room because it's easy to get used to the workout. It's another animal entirely to walk into something that involves weight lifting, or interval training, or kickboxing, or boot camp-style stuff. A lot of these are marked as "Intermediate/Advanced" and even the ones that aren't seem a bit intimidating.
I'm working up my confidence, and trying to build a little strength beforehand, so I can go and give those a try. They may be even more effective in my fitness journey than the cardio classes. In looking at my body-type, I am not the type who benefits overly from cardio-based stuff. I am going to need to incorporate more weight-lifting and repetition-style workouts to get results. Joy. At least it's not telling me I need to take up running or cycling on a regular basis - so not my favorites. I guess if I was really bothered by my lack of workout yesterday I could've gone for a swim (I had thought of doing that but gave up), or I could've gone for a run; it was nice out and it totally would've counted as a decent workout...
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