Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Ramped Up

I know I'm not the only one out there that looks at their workout sometimes (ok, most of the time) and thinks in their most whiny voice "I don't wanna do this!" I admit it. I did that last night. I didn't want to do my tabatas. They suck. Still, I put on some peppy music and pushed through anyway. By the time I was done, I was feeling pretty kick ass. I was all proud of myself, struting around my house, informing my cat that "Yeah, that's right. I did that. Did you see? I totally just did that hard thing and I kicked its butt!"

Yeah, that was me.

There's nothing wrong with being proud of your hard work either. I was mighty proud last night when I peeled my sweaty butt off the floor. I could take on anything at that point. In fact, I then went to my dance studio and signed up for a new belly dance class that was starting.

For those of you who aren't familiar with belly dance outside of the video I've shown you and bad 70's movies featuring scanitily clad women swaying in  lounges, allow me to dispel some myths. Belly dance LOOKS easy. It's supposed to. Heck, most people just think it means getting dressed in sparkly stuff and jiggling a lot. The first part about the sparkly stuff is true, the rest is bull hockey. Dance of any form is very hard and belly dance isn't just jiggling in place. It's the careful, precise isolation and movement of individual muscle groups. It's a very hard thing to do correctly.

To get a feel for what I was doing last night, try standing on your tip toes. No, no, higher than that. Ok, now bend your knees slightly, tuck your pelvis under, and suck in your tummy till all of your abs are clenched. Then lift your chest, place your arms out to the side with a slight bend at the elbows, lift your chin and don't forget to smile. Hold that for an hour and a half while rapidly shifting your weight from thigh to thigh. Then keep moving your hips, while standing on your toes, and dip your knees till you lower down a good foot and back up again.


Seriously, my calves are going to look like this at some point.

By the time I got to the end of the class, my thighs were shaking so hard I could barely walk and my calves were knots. I dragged myself home, cursing my stupidity for trying to combine my workout with a class, which mind you is 5 weeks long so I have 4 more of these sessions to look forward to. On the plus side, I told my husband about it and asked if perhaps I'd pushed too hard but he assured me that my lack of permanent injury means I'm pushing myself just enough. So, I suppose I'd better get used to it since it seems my work out has just taken a massive step up in its intensity.

I am convinced, however, that given 6 weeks of this kind of work out, I'll be able to crush walnuts with my butt cheeks. You know, cause that's useful as a skill. ;)

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