Namaste, Kiai!

So, as you may have heard, having workout buddies is the bomb. Beth and Erin and I (all from book group) are training for this triathlon, so we have been meeting up every Sunday morning for our swim. It makes such a difference, having someone count on you to be there. This week, however, Beth and I swam Saturday, and then ran 3 miles. She and Erin wanted to swim this morning, and I wanted to do something new and exciting, so I opted for the exercise classes.

Last Tuesday I took what they called "Body Combat." It's a cardio-kickboxing class, mostly, except the instructors were scaring me. It was all "Take your imaginary assailant and SMASH SMASH SMASH his head on your knee! Now use your elbow to break his nose, BAM BAM BAM!" I mean, I'm all for self-defense, but I think we killed our assailants a number of times. I felt a little bad about it.

So today I took a Body Pump class, which is you, a small pile of different weights and a weight bar, a yoga mat, and a step … thingie. It was fantastic! I'm getting me some Michelle Obama arms now! The nice lady in the front says, now squats, slow squats, fast squats, and hold for 4 counts, etc. And bicep work, 2, 3, 4. And so on. The hour flew by, believe it or not, and I was pretty shot. But I decided to stick around for the next class, which was supposed to be Yoga/Pilates but really was just yoga. I knew it was time to throw in the towel when I started translating all her yoga-speak into the errands I wanted to run after class. She said, "Release your head and let it hang down. Lower your spine into the floor." And I heard, "Release all your cash at Costco. Lower your expectations at Aldi." So I went upstairs and ran a mile instead.

Then I showered and started running my errands. Perhaps you have already noticed where I went wrong. I'll run it by you again. Lifting weights in class for an hour. Then going to Costco. The trip took a lot of internal monologue. Engage the core and pick up the case of beer. And turn and lower, lower, lower. OK, good, 10 pounds of oats. I can … do … this. Ow.

We here at Bluestem encourage you to work out safely.