Gym Ratness

I managed a double workout yesterday morning – pool time (laps and H2O aerobics) as well as a full session on the recumbent elliptical. Yea me! The Y was jam packed. Of course it was – we were all trying to work off all those feast-time calories in advance.

Now then, during my usual, midday exercise sessions the crowd is mixed.  On weekdays there are loads of olds, disableds (differently abled?), mothers and/or fathers with toddlers with just a few ultra fit younger adult types for spice. On weekends there are TONS of families.

Yesterday morning though, the gym rat crowd was out in force. I’ve never seen so many hardbodies in one place at one time before. Six months ago I would’ve been intimidated beyond belief – I prolly would've dejectedly pissed outta there, feeling all fat and frail. Now? I’ve lost a bunch ’o’ weight. While I’ll never be mistaken for a 30 year old triathleting endorphin addict, I feel and look better. I’m not done with the diet (will I ever be? don’t answer that) but I’ve gotten to a much better place. Onward!

At dinner with the McMurrer clan, everyone was asking me if I’d been triking much. No, no I haven’t begun outdoor pedaling yet. I need primo concentration to trike and that shattered when my brilliant man died. Wut up with the total attention need?
A) I wanna avoid being run over by passing tanks. Traffic – it's a three headed dog from Hell.
B) I also don’t want to roll the damn thing and break myself into a zillion pieces. Yes, a 3 wheeler CAN tip and tumble end over end. I’ve done it...twice. What can I say? I’m talented. I still want to trike the Hebrides – that dream, while back-burnered, lives.

Swimming laps helps my focus. I'm getting there.

While looking for an out-of-water tai chi or barre class, I found these savage offerings:

Body Combat
This fiercely energetic program is inspired by martial arts and draws from a wide array of disciplines such as Karate, boxing, Tae kwondo, Tai Chi and Muay Thai.

Coco, who is naturally lithe, doesn't understand this diet shit.

Sounds awesome but the name implies, to me anyway, that I’m at war with my body. Shouldn’t I be working with my bag ’o’ muscles and bones – ya know, becoming one with myself and shit? Also, what's up with the cafeteria style Eastern disciplining? Is this for folks who saw The Matrix too many times and wanna live it all at once?

Insanity
Transform your body with this total body conditioning program.

Again, the name puts me off. Insanity does NOT seem like a smart goal. Maybe that's just me.

RIPPED
The one stop body shock fitness system is a total body workout.

The title – all caps. That means it’s a SERIOUS workout, yes? Also “shock fitness?” I do not want to shock my body. I want to be stronger and more toned, not stunned.

GRIT
HIGH-INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING

OK, now this is clearly a class that’ll work my bod into a small pile of fine ash. That's the goal or so it seems. The tip off is that both name AND description are in all caps. It’s shouting at me, THIS CLASS IS FOR INTENSE GYM RATS GOING AFTER 6-PACK ABS ONLY!

Yeah, no thanks.

I think today's high intensity workout will involve stretching (and more of it) and a long Nantasket walk. Yup.