Burn baby burn

"Actually, my quads feel fine."

This was me, in a moment of delusion. I got home from work tonight in time to make the 6 pm circuit training class held on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the gym. The complex hired a trainer to lead the class; he's got a dreamy Australian accent -- added attraction. At any rate, I went to this one-hour class today and it reminded me a lot of the muscle-burning abs and gluts and body sculpting classes (motto: when you stop waving, your arm should stop as well) in the Big City to the Northwest, pre-MBA. What I learned in today's class is that 30 minutes of cardio does not equal strength and while I was still going strong on cardio during the whole time, the strength excercises were murder. But man, I forgot how much I enjoy the burn.

The quote from above came in a moment of sheer desperation. We had just finished lunges and squats and then the trainer (all cuteness and Australian accent having lost their charm by this time) said that we should line up against the wall and basically just as if we were in a chair but without the chair. First minute, I was fine. Then came more lunges and squats. And then another minute of the 'sitting'. Trainer adopted me as his special needs student this week and chose to 'sit' next to me. He leaned over and said, "Are your legs shaking yet?"

Through gritted teeth, I said, "Actually, my quads feel fine."

Which was mostly true. My legs are pretty strong and I can hold my own with lunges, squats, etc. It's the push-ups that do me in. I've never been really able to do push-ups, not even in peak physical condition due to my weak right wrist which tends to swell and give out when forced to perform any work more strenuous than lifting a coffee mug. So you can imagine just how embarassing tonight was. I used to sit push ups out in my aerobics classes and do bench presses or arm curls instead. But I gave it a shot.

Anyway, my muscles are reverbrating atm and I really hope my schedule allows me to attend more of these. I was always grateful for my Mondays off when I worked for Very Large Insurance Company as I could go to a morning body sculpting class with this impossibly cheerful instructor ("Lower, lower, lower, now hold, hold, hold, hold..."). I also met some cool people, including a French guy and we had a very nice conversation half in English and half in French. He spoke a little too quickly for me at times, but I also picked up a couple new words, and that's always a plus.

I will address the earlier post (see below, the 1:46 pm post from earlier today) at another time. I've got more to say on the subject, but I've got gather my thoughts when I'm more, y'know, coherent.