Literally the hardest workout in my life

I had the hardest workout in my life on Wednesday night.

I was a little bored with my normal workout regiment that night, and thought I gave the power circuit class a try. How hard could a gym class be, right? I guess I didn't understand what circuit training was, and boy I was in for a "treat"!

When I walked into the studio, there were only 2 other students and my personal trainer Juan, who was the class instructor. Juan was a friendly young fellow.

Juan prepared the studio by laying out exercise equipments around in a big circle: sets of weights next to a bosu, a high step with weights next to it, a pair of punching gloves and shields, a jumping rope, a set of swinging ropes, 4 hurdle hops, etc. There were totally 11 exercise stations. Meanwhile, another lady came in, so there were four of us in the class. I heard that normally there were six to seven people in the class.

Juan explained that we worked on a workout for 45 seconds, then took a quick break and move on to the next workout. When we were done with a circuit, we would start from the first workout again.

I started with bicep curl on a bosu. It was relatively easy, as I have done that before. The trick here was to be balanced on the bosu, and it was OK if I lost balance and stepped on the floor.

My next item was the hurdle hops. 4 innocent looking 1 foot high hurdles were placed in a straight line a few feet apart from each other. I hopped quite high and with my feet apart, so I saw myself looking funny in the mirror. Oh, after a couple of rounds my heart started pounding hard, and I could hardly catch my breath! I couldn't believe that it was just the beginning of the class and I was already worn out and wanted to quit.

Next, I did triceps extension, punching, shoulder press, jumping rope, swinging ropes, step up shoulder press, and crunches on a fitness ball. My heart was still pounding hard from the hurdle hop exercise, so everything became fifty times more challenging. At the end of the first circuit, I was already done, but it was only less than 10 minutes into the class. I was so depressed and thought I was going to eventually pass out. Juan was going around the room to give instructions:

"Feet together, jump, jump, jump."
"Come on, full extension."
"Give me a hard punch, you can do better than that."

I took every opportunity to slow down and take a break, when Juan was working on punches with someone else. I wish there were more people in the class, so he wouldn't focus so much on me.

I was huffing and puffing the rest of the class, and looking like totally out of shape. We did three more circuits. 20 minutes before the end of the class, Juan took pity on us and started the cool down early. I was more than a little relieved.  I wasn't sure if I would go back to the class again, but people reassured that the next class would be easier.

The next two days I stayed home and nurse myself. My neck hurt, my back hurt, my abs hurt, my torso hurt, my shoulders hurt, my arms hurt, my thighs hurt and my legs hurt. When I tried to get up from sitting, my thigh muscles gave in and my knees shake! When I laid down I didn't want to move, as my body felt so heavy, and any kind of movement brought pain and suffering.

The stiffness and painfulness started to subside on Sunday, and I could go back to the gym and happily resume my boring workouts.

Workout

Among the many benefits of exercising, a notable one to me is it gives me a peace of mind. 

Human being is not designed to be sitting at the desk for 8 hours a day, and then sitting some more to watch TV at night. Over a few years, one can develop stiff neck and back, carpal tunnel disease, premature slouching, or worse, weigh gain. So we were told that we should go and do some exercises at least 3 times a week, e.g. Swimming, running on a machine, or some stretching exercises such as yoga or Pilates, to stay in a reasonable health.

Jack and I had been trying to keep up with our every other day workout regiment, and we reward ourselves with a nice steam bath afterwards. Then we can sit to watch the all episodes of The Big Bang Theory in the right order without guilt or reservations.

Spinning and the aftermath

Last Monday I went to the gym for the evening spinning class. Spinning is just another way to call cycling on a stationary bike.

I only go to spinning class on and off, and I normally can't balance on a real bike, so you get the idea.

I went in the class just 2 minutes late, so the class was in warm up. The instructor - Karen? I should know her name, because she is a pleasant athletic young woman, and I like her class - was telling students to let her know if we needed her help to adjust the bike. I took up the offer, and she was so nice to come and help me adjust it correctly. I don't mind looking dumb.

The studio was dark, as there was a lighting problem. Karen could only either turn on all the lights, or turn them all off to complete darkness. She chose the latter, but for the rest of the class, she would sometimes run around the room with a flashlight.

To my left were a couple of young women. They were skinny but strong. I was like: darn, I used to be like that. I hate feeling this way, as my friend Ying Chen told me: it makes you sound old.

During the class I was thinking about my plans to take mom for a trip for her birthday, so the 45 minute class was tolerable, and I was not bored out of my minds. I had a good sweat, got plenty of oxygen into my heart and lungs, and was satisfied. I told myself, not too bad, I should do it more frequently.

Starting the next day, something didn't feel right. My back and my abdominal ache. The smallest movement around the mid section would bring pain that was coming from the inside. Oh no, not that again...

The last time I had this feeling - it was caused by something totally different and it was only 4 months ago - I went to see my doctor to ask him if I had kidney stones or spinal problems. He said I strained my muscles, and sent me to a physical therapy class. The physical therapist taught us back care theories and some exercises. He also gave us handouts to take home, as we should do the exercises everyday for the rest of our lives. Nope, that didn't happen to me.

Now I have to find the handout and try to stick with the back care plan.