Inside Out and On Over to the Middle East

Whew! So indeed, yes, I do love my new gym. And with things planned in the afternoons, I've even started attending the 6am spinning class twice a week! what??

Back up---First of all, yes, I did the spinning orientation, and I knew: this was a workout I needed! It was the most challenging thing I've tried in a long time, and I also knew it'd be great to build up some leg strength. And so I started attending classes.

Now, being new, it kicked my hiney. The first class, I thought my heart was going to burst from my chest after eight minutes. But I remembered the advice I got in orientation about taking it at my pace, and I remembered how much I loved the challenge of interval training on the treadmill and really pushing myself on inclines with intervals, and I stuck through the class. Granted, I did only twenty-second spurts of "jogs" and "climbs" and "jumps," while the rest of the class could do those things for an entire three, four, even five minutes. But I was on my way.

And today, I finally made it through an entire class in which I did everything everyone else did! WooHoo!! :-) It is all a matter of trying a little at a time, pushing yourself just a little more each time, and keeping moving forward.

I've also found a great rowing class on Sunday mornings. Granted, I miss part of George (heavens no---not "W." George Stephanloaoiaoeriaoefalekjrlke. okay---you try to spell his name. ;-) ) But the guy who regularly teaches the Sunday morning rowing class actually uses the beat of the music. I love that in a class. My Thursday 6am spinning instructor does the same. Sadly, though, most of the other instructors just use the tempo of a song as a general guideline. But seriously, as a former drum major, it's all about staying on beat!

But Monday nights I get to find the beat of the music---just very different music. See, I'm finally taking a dance class I've wanted to take for so long---Middle Eastern Dance! Okay, okay, yes, most people call it Belly Dancing. :-) It's a blast! And yes, all those hip movements are horrendous on my back. Indeed---my discs that are sticking out of the spinal column do not like the hip shimmies. But so far the pain isn't debilitating, so I'll stick it out for now. I also plan to check into some spinal decompression. For now, I'm just gathering information.

Otherwise, I still love my yoga instructor and that Tuesday night class. She even has researched my back and hip issues to help me learn when I need to use props and make modifications, Of course, pain usually tells me that. :-) I've learned I cannot do the preparatory pose for side plank on one side, but fortunately, I already know how to do side plank in the full pose, so I can skip preparatory and move on into plank. And with forward bends, I know now (thanks to my instructor) to not dive too quickly down, but with my insane stretch in my hamstrings, I can still get all the way into the pose. Will I achieve a head- or handstand? We'll see. We keep working on preparatory poses in my Tuesday night class. And both of those are things I'd like to be able to do one day. But for now, I'm loving what I get from the strengthening and stretching and focus of each pose and each class.