madermouse's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3/18/02 First things first: I had to delete a bunch of you from my mailing because your e-mail addresses are bad...so, if you aren�t getting my updates and you want to - you�ll have to re-join by clicking here. Saturday morning evidently my step aerobic teachers were both at some health conference and they stuck us with a substitute teacher. So in the space of about 3 minutes, I was transported in time to my grade school gym class....and all the humiliation of being fat came rushing back to me. This teacher chick was plenty peppy - but obviously didn�t know a damn thing about step aerobics. We seemed to spend most of our time �avoiding� the step itself. She spent 20 minutes of the class �warming up� to cheezy, dated 80's music, making us use arm movements like �climb a rope� and �wash the wall�... I was thinking, next will be �sand the floor� like Karate Kid movie... Just about the time I couldn�t take any more of these silly moves, she says, �Okay now - I want to you run laps around the gym. Run like you mean it!!� I was like, looking at her dumbfoundedly with the words, �Run like you mean it!� ringing in my ears. So everyone breaks out into a run - which of course I cannot do - so I start a shuffled walk, being immediately lapped by ponytail girl and basketball player girl. We circle the gym a few times, (or rather I circle twice, everyone else circles like 5 times or more) then she opens the door downstairs and announces that we are to run up and down the stairs now. I�m thinking, �Aren�t we at a step-aerobics class?? Why the hell do we need to run up and down steps??� But - like the gentle lamb that I am (ya, right) I followed the herd, up and down, up and down, up and down...and of course I was always the last one to get up the stairs...the last one to get down them. We get back into the gym and head for our stepping platform and I�m thinking �Yeah - onto the fun part!� Only when we get there she has us repeat the same 4 step moves until I�m totally thinking about something else entirely. I�m counting the calories my dinner had in it from last night...thinking about how many loads of laundry I needed to do. Never falling out of step- 4 knee lifts, 4 v-steps, 4 across-the-tops, and 4 basic steps. Over and over and over and over and over again.... At the end of each set I was sure she�d change her tune - but no. She just started at the beginning again, like a sad, broken record. What was next in the wonderful line-up of exercise fun??? Why, of course, PUSH-UPS!! Yet another exercise I�ve never been able to do!! ;) I did the best I could, pushing Nothing like a harsh dose of reality to make you feel like shit, you know? I mean - I don�t consider myself an athletic DIVA or anything. But being in that class - with all the other girls surpassing me in every single exercise.... ug. It was just like being back in grade school again and I was this uncoordinated fat girl picked last for the team. Now - onto the moral of the story. Seriously - I�m torn on the moral of this particular story... Part of me was completely pissed at this lady for stirring up all those old feelings inside of me, for putting me in a position I never asked to be put in. I PAID for a low-impact step aerobics class, not a gym class where my faults would be put on display for everyone to see. So, I DID NOT get what I paid for, or what I expected. However - the next day I was sooooo sore. Muscles hurt in me that I didn�t even know I had! And this tells me something about the workouts I�m currently doing. Most of the time I�m doing step aerobics, supplemented by the occasional bike ride, weight training, and/or walk. But that�s it. My body is getting pretty good at doing those things, pretty comfortable. I hardly ever hurt anymore when I do these things. This means I�m never pushing myself out of my comfort zone - I�m not �shaking things up� enough. This type of class is probably just what I need to - oh, I don�t know - break a plateau or something.>! So I�m torn. Is the moral of the story here to only do exercise that you like, that�s fun. Because otherwise it becomes a tedious chore that you most likely will not complete. Or - Is the moral of the story to push yourself outside of your comfort zone in order to reap the benefits of different types of movements? To challenge yourself until you ARE better at those things which you cannot currently perform well... What do you think? 2:03 p.m. - 3/18/02 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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