As alluded to in my previous post, I have joined a gym. The YMCA, to be exact. As I type this, my fingers are the only parts of my body that are not screaming with indignation with what I have put my body through this past week. To date, I have met with my personal trainer twice and hit a yoga class. That might not sound like much, but, given that up until now, I've been a Class 1 Couch Potato, this is a significant increase in the amount of activity I've performed.
The name of this post comes from my aforementioned trainer, as this is how he described himself to me over the phone the first time we spoke to set up our introductory appointment. To say I was apprehensive to meet him would be a tremendous understatement.But, he turned out to be a perfectly normal guy who lives inside a very fit body. To date, I have not perceived any knuckle dragging, club wielding, grunting, or an overabundance of dark matted hair. The first session was an assessment to see my level of fitness, and I don't blame him for that. All he knew of me was that I had 120 pounds to lose and had back surgery less than a year ago. After the assessment, he seemed pretty pleased, and actually told me that I move better than some people half my age that he's trained!!!! Apparently, my body's muscle memory is really good, and all those years I put in at the dance studio have paid off. My flexibility stinks, but balance and kinesthetic awareness are intact. That's good news in one sense, as I haven't squandered all of the good health God's blessed me with. However, it does mean that he feels perfectly fine with pushing me to my limits, knowing that I'm not going to fall apart if he does. I plan to continue to work with him for the foreseeable future, and have great confidence that he'll get me fit, even if it's against my will!
I'm also grateful to the gym for introducing me to another person who has been a virtual myth to me for a lot of years. This would be the Motivated Husband. Now, in fairness, my husband is an amazing provider and father. He picks up the slack for me more times than I can even do justice to here, and I don't know if any two kids are as loved by their daddies as mine are. If so, they are blessed children indeed. My only complaint with him is that he procrastinates when it comes to cleaning up and going through all of the stuff (read; junk) he brought into our relationship. Yesterday, I went to the gym and took my two boys with me. I love that the Y has activities for the little people while their parents are working out. A and L had a great time playing with new friends, running around and swimming in the pool (I went with them there), and I got to work on my flexibility knowing they were okay and busy. While we were gone, my husband did amazing things around the house, and it's almost entirely ready for it's once a month deep cleaning tomorrow. He also didn't complain that I fell asleep at 7:30 last night, tired and sore after training this week.
And, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite new species that I've encountered, and that has been the True Friend. It's strange; before this blog, my experiences with these have been limited, but since I've opened this window into my life, people have been coming inside, and really loving on me in unexpected ways. From the long-time, long distance friend who took time on a weekend to call me and cheer me on for an hour (thanks, Karina!), to the acquaintance who I didn't think was really interested in being my friend sending me a heartfelt email of support and encouragement (thanks, Allison!), and all the way to the lovely new friend who came to join me in twisting myself into new and interesting shapes at the gym yesterday (thanks, Julia!), I have been so incredibly blessed by women (and one guy, thanks, Jerit!), who have come alongside me to keep me company as I walk this road. I've also received messages too numerous to call out here (thanks, all!!!) on Facebook; messages of love and fellowship, and I am just humbled and grateful. That all of you have taken your time and cared enough to reach out is so amazing to me. Thank you, and I love you!!
So, it seems, my journey continues, and I have the sore muscles to prove it. I'm not seeing much result on the scale this week, but I'm not too surprised or worried about that. I think my body is having a "What in the World is Happening?" moment, and so while it's confused, I can't blame it for holding on to everything it can for security. However, if the body doesn't get the picture in the next week or so, I may have to do the unthinkable and take a Spinning class just to clue it in!!
MR
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