It all started when I woke up early to watch my dvr of Biggest Loser, where they run the marathon. I know all the pros and cons of the show, resisted the first few seasons when it was recommended to me. ("You'll love it, big transformations, inspiring life changes..." "I hate TV, especially 'reality' TV!") But I was hooked somewhere in Season 5. I'm a sucker for Success Stories in fitness mags too. My big beef with the show (aside from the edited-in "drama" - isn't there enough drama inherent in their weight loss stories?) is that they hardly ever show us the other side of the caloric deficit equation: the eating plans. Aside from the requisite trips to Subway. And lots of Extra gum chewing. (The product placements actually crack me up. So NOT subtly integrated into the show!)
OK, I meant that to be a lead-in to my own workout woes, but went off on a tangent. So I mentioned I've been loving my Body Conditioning class in earlier posts. I saw there was an a.m. session with another instructor and thought it'd be good to see some other versions of the class. After being all pumped up and motivated by the BL contestants running 26.2 miles, I arrived at the gym to discover I lack the ability to read a class schedule. I had the day wrong and the strength training class I thought I was attending ended up being an old-school Step Aerobics class with the new-school twist of a 3-kg ball that I had to move from arm to arm, up and down and all around. It felt like a Harlem Globetrotters try out. Why do cardio intense classes seem so damn loooooong? We're up, down, up, down on the step, trying not to drop the freaking ball (literally!) and keep up, come on, you can do anything for an hour, it's not a marathon for crying out loud, you're almost done....and discover 3 minutes have gone by. Sigh...
After class I took a moment to really look at the class schedule and saw there was an actual Body Conditioning class that same evening. Being all pumped up with BL motivation, I rocked back into the gym studio a few hours later to try a different instructor's take on the class. I think I'll stick with my Monday night dude. Too much focus on abs for me. I know I have weak abs. I know my core needs strengthening. I know! But I find that when you try to work weak abs in a class setting, eventually you just end up straining back muscles. Usually I'm good at ignoring the class and doing my own controlled, focused crunches or some version of what "they're" doing that I can feel in my core. (Like if they have their legs in the air for crunches, I know that is instant back spasm and I do the same crunch with my feet on the floor. If they want to bicycle crunch, I'll cross one leg and do crunches on one side and switch to the other side halfway through. Controlled.) Usually. For some reason - fatigue? - I just did whatever the instructor called out.
And of course at some point went from working my abs to just pulling on my F&#$!* neck. Idiot! Well, lesson learned, I hope. Not a sidelining injury, just a pain in the, uh, neck. But still did my C25K scheduled run for Week 4 (getting challenging, but I'm not panicking yet...one run at a time...) And yeah, one class in any 24-hour period is probably sufficient for this aspiring "Loser" - aspiring to lose weight, not be on the show BL. I wouldn't last a week. (Uh, where's the wine fridge? No thanks, I hate watermelon gum. How about a rest day??)
And the Finale?? Danny for the win. Can't decide on the At-Home winner. Rebecca? Daniel? Shay? Those nice Red Team guys? Too many to choose. Just looking forward to the transformations!
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