About this whole business of waking up at 5:00 a.m. in order to walk for an hour and twenty minutes to get to the gym so I can work out for an hour before work: what I want to know is why didn’t you guys try to stop me??
I’m exhausted. I’m in pain. Did you know there are muscles in your armpits? Well there are. And when they hurt, they hurt a lot. My shoulders hurt, my chest hurts, my legs, my neck, my triceps, my biceps, everything hurts. I can’t even blow my nose without wincing from the muscle pain.
I’m hanging in there though. I feel alternately virtuous and ridiculous.
So far I’ve managed to get up all three days at 5:00 and stumble downtown through the dark streets with only bunnies and raccoons for company. I’ve gone to Body Pump class twice, and done a weights circuit, and attended a weight machine orientation session. The trainer who conducted the orientation session kept poking and squeezing me.
“How come your muscles are already firm?” she asked.
“Rigor mortis,” I replied.
I think they’re taught to find things to compliment people about in the early days when you join, even if they have to make it up. Legislation gives you a 10-day cooling off period in which you can change your mind and quit without penalty, so I suspect the compliments will taper off in about a week. So far the staff have told me I’m firm, they like my shirt, and blue looks good on me.
By the way, it’s true what they say about everybody’s ass looks good in Lululemon pants. In BodyPump there’s this routine where you bend over and stick your ass out and squeeze your butt cheeks, over and over and over again, and the Lululemon asses look better than the non-Lululemon asses.
My dishes and laundry are piling up and the house is messy. It’s not that I ever spent much time doing housework, but now I’m not spending any time on it. I’m exhausted when I get home, and I’m going to bed at 10:00 instead of 11:00.
My son was over last night for dinner, wine and another income tax session. It was a lot of fun doing taxes with him, but I didn’t get to bed until 10:30.
Duncan had a bad dream during the night too. We were all cuddled up and cozy and asleep when he suddenly hit the eject button. He flew straight up in the air and took off. I’ve got two sets of scratches: this one’s on my lower arm, and is from his hind foot. The other one’s on my shoulder and is from his front foot.
We both woke up freaking out. He didn’t come back to bed for awhile after that, and I lay there wondering what cats think when they wake up from dreams. Do they think whatever they dreamed about really happened? Or do they understand it wasn’t real? Poor Duncan. I hope he understands it was only a dream.
Next thing I knew it was 5:00 and the alarm was beeping. I almost caved in and went back to sleep. But I didn’t. I’m a trooper. I refuse to crash and burn in the first week.
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“rigor mortis”…loved it
I can’t do much beside chuckle at your descriptions.
Wow, in bed by 10 and up at 5. I’m impressed. Whenever I need to do something like that it usually involves income otherwise, zzzzzz.
Stick with it. You’ll get used to it, I promise. Eventually you stop feeling tired and can even do more than before. Besides, once you’ve done your daily exercise, you can experience guiltless couch bonding while feeling virtuous and superior to the rest of the human race. That’s what always motivated me when I was still able to run.
I don’t know where I heard it but I heard that exercising strenuously EVERY day was not good … that you need to work up to an exercise routine and you need to rest your body as well as work it so you need days off.
Watch those scratches. Cats dig in their litter and cat scratches can be nasty things.
I have had that “cat scratch fever” that Oma mentions. If it starts to look infected (swollen and very red) get on antibiotics immediately. I thought that the doctor was being dramatic when I went in, but apparently it is very dangerous.
Muscles need to rest a day between workouts. When you exercise your muscles actually get small tears. This heals if you allow it by resting the next day. When I used to go to the gym my trainer taught to only come every other day. If you must do something in between, try something gentle like Tai Chi.
I’ve been getting up at 6 since January and think that’s pretty virtuous. Some time ago, Peter also got up at 5 am every single day. It lasted a few months but then something happened (we can’t remember what) and he stopped doing that. He got the idea from someone’s blog like Zen Habits only it wasn’t that.
No wonder you are sore with TWO Pump classes. I have been putting off resuming the Pump classes because I know after my first one I am going to ache. But it gets better.
I’m still going to be at the Queen Street gym at about 6:30 on Monday. I told Peter about it and said, “call me crazy” and he obligingly said, “you’re crazy.”
I used to get up at 4:45 to walk the dogs before I rode my bike to work (for years). Stuff happened and I didn’t do it for 6 months, and now I just can’t get up. I think I will, but I can’t. By the way, when I was getting up that early, I went to be at 9:30. It’s sad to think that waking up at 6:30 was “sleeping in”
I think it’s okay to go five days a week if you vary the routine enough. So I’m doing BodyFlow Monday, BodyPump Tuesday and Thursday, and cardio Wednesday and Friday. I’ve decided not to do the weights circuit for now, since BodyPump uses weights and targets all the major muscle groups.
Julia, I can’t be there for 6:30 on Monday unless I get up at 4:45! Let’s make it 6:45, ok?
Julia, Leo over at Zen Habits gets up at 4:30 am!
Oh I LOVED Bodyflow classes, I’m envious
Mo got celulitis from a cat scratch so if your arm strarts feeling “wierd” and heavy spreading up from those deep scratches go to the doctor. Umm when it reached his armpit he could barely move his arm.
My arm seems to be getting better, not worse. Duncan’s pretty meticulous about grooming – he rivals Lady MacBeth for paw-washing – so I think I’ll be okay. 😉
Effing OUCH! That looks painful!
I am proud of your gym routine. I have been avoiding mine like the plague.
Good job on the gym routine!
The only way I ever make it through the first few days of working out is generous amounts of SportsCreme or Tiger Balm.
You might not smell super duper, but you’ll feel a lot better.
Well, I see I’m going to have to be the voice or reason here and say quit that gym before your 10 days are up. There are so many better, soul-feeding things you could be doing with all that extra time and energy. And, there are so many more soul-feeding things you could be doing that will give you a good work-out at the same time.
Like what, XUP?
I was aiming to be there for “6:30” because I wasn’t sure exactly when the bus would come by and how long it would take me to walk, etc. So don’t worry about me and when my arrival time is – I just didn’t want you to be waiting for me! I am sure we will manage to connect. If there is time before the class starts, I will show you a few of the moves they like to do, even though I think it might be a new release i.e. new choreography. If it is a new release, we will muddle through together.
I bet your the first person in the world to ever have said this – “It was a lot of fun doing taxes…”. LOL
Like go tend a community garden; be a volunteer dog walker at the Humane Society, help old people work their yards or clean their eaves; join adopt-a-park and help clean up a park; become a volunteer tree planter — the city looks for some every spring; load and unload the bus for the toy library… I don’t know…something fun and outdoors that requires lifting and bending and stretching and makes you feel good instead of weary.
For the past 3-4 months, I’ve been attending yoga class 2-3 times a week and feel more fit than I have in years, all stretched and toned. And it calms the mind and leaves you feeling energized instead of wiped out. But I still need to supplement with aerobic power walking 2-3 times a week. In the past I did the gym thing until I thought I would scream from the boredom. My new routine is much more enjoyable.
You’re a trouper zoom.
The rigor-mortis answer made me gigglesnort! And how sweet that you worried about Duncan, instead of getting angry. He’s lucky to have such a caring keeper.
Julia – I’ll be in touch through other channels.
RWW – I know, but we DID have fun doing taxes. There was one line of the form that had us laughing helplessly for a good two minutes.
XUP – honestly, that sounds harder than going to the gym. And without a car, I’d end up spending way too much time just getting to all these places where I could be helpful.
Abby – I’m not bored yet, but I can see how the gym could get boring. I think the BodyFlow class has some yoga elements in it, along with Tai Chi and stuff.
Robin, is that how you spell it? Ooops.
Toni – it takes a lot to make me angry. I really have to work at it, otherwise it just fizzles out after mild annoyance. 😉
I’ll be your companion in the torture process. My “new and improved” work out schedule involves two Body Pump classes and two RPM classes. I am totally feeling your pain, and your exhaustion.