Aches and Pains......

My body is in denial at the moment, it believes it is a lean, mean, fit fighting machine but it isn't and today just proved it. After a gym session yesterday that left me feeling slightly sore, today's workout proved to be a killer. I decided to try to do the one class I had been avoiding on purpose just because the description of the class put me off, Body Attack. I decided to tackle it the only way how, the old "go hard or go home" technique. I figured if I was going to conquer my fear and the mountain of this class then I would need to put myself through the torture. After 20 minutes I was sweating profusely, had gone a nice shade of beetroot red and felt like my lungs were going to burst but I had a drink and kept going. Then I stopped again only 15 minutes later for another drink break and to catch my breath for another 15 minutes. I kept pushing my brain, the thoughts going through my head were "you can't do this, you're weak, go home" etc. I wouldn't quit and kept going even if it meant rest periods and am some points doing smaller moves than the rest of the class, I was going to succeed and get through the class and conquer it. An hour after the class started, I had finished. I felt exhilirated but tired and feeling the full effects of working muscles in areas I didn't know existed. I went home for a hot bath and was feeling good. However now, I am hobbling around the house like a cripple. My driver muscles just above my knees ache like I've gone and run and a marathon. It just goes to show that when we let our bodies become rundown and complacent and we become couch potatoes, our bodies lose what fitness it does have. Before I started working out at the gym I never exercised and I'm feeling it now. Where before I would have quite easily run for a bus or a train or a tram before I piled on the weight, I couldn't do until now. Being at the gym up to 6 times a week doing various exercises to get my body back into shape with stronger muscles, flexibility and aerobic fitness has changed my measurements, changed how fast I can run and has also changed how much weight I can carry with my bare hands. You can only go as far physically as your mind lets you. If you have a defeatist attitude, then you will not make it through even one training session in a gym because your mind will put blocks in the way to stop you. If you have a positive attitude, you can do anything you put your mind to. I've put my mind into losing weight and becoming fitter before I hit menopause and my body has a mind of its own. Age is no barrier for me and neither are the aches and pains that I get each time I go to the gym and push myself further. No pain, no gain.

Until next time,