Fitness Beckons

    So apparently they have these places where the masses gather to sweat, gyrate, pump and jiggle... they are called gyms!  Despite an active childhood in tennis, I have managed to avoid these gym gathering places for most of my adult life with the usual excuses... too expensive, don’t have the time, don’t want to put my kids in the childcare etc... Sure, I did regular walking and have still played tennis at various times so I wasn’t inactive.  But this year I feel compelled to make regular cardiovascular exercise... the kind where you drip with sweat and feel like you will just collapse if you have to do one more push up... a part of my life!

    I started going to the gym this past summer and have been attending weekly Pilates classes as well as doing the occasional spinning class or boot camp class etc.  I must say I kind of feel like Rip Van Winkle in that there are these “superfit” people, shall we say... apparently while I was on fitness holiday for several DECADES they have been crunchin’ it out!  I feel like a big blob compared to them.  Some of the people in my Pilates class can get into shapes more complicated than pretzel twists. 

    After a holiday detour that included stops at the egg nog pitcher and cookie jar, I am trying to get back on the wagon.  I must toil on!  Today I took a total body conditioning class.  Every 30 seconds or so this guy named Charles was yelling out to us to switch stations...medicine ball lifting, jumping over balls, push ups, crawling on the floor, running in place.  How come when I did the exercises like he said they were so much harder?  Overall, I felt like I was in the middle... not the worst one but certainly many were better than me.  But it feels good to try and so I hope I will keep jumping and gyrating even when I don’t feel like it and hopefully actually see some results if I stick with it!  If I had to make a totally honest assessment, even with the coolest workout pants I still just don’t quite look like I am ready for the pages of “Shape” magazine.  Probably more realistic to try for “Middle Aged Women’s Workout” if there was such a read out there!  Welcome back to my life sweat... hope to be seeing lots more of you this year!