What On Earth Was I Thinking?

Last week, I decided to shake things up in my workout routine and try something new. So I scoured the YMCA catalog for something that looked interesting. I decided on a PIYO class which combines pilates, yoga and cardio. Have I ever done pilates? No. How about yoga? A little. And cardio? Well, I am a beast at cardio.

Alarms should have gone off in my brain when I walked into class and it was only the instructor and one other person- signaling A) this class stinks or B) this class is so hard no-one wants to take it. But I took my shoes off and hopped on my yoga mat, enthusiastic and raring to go. After some initial instruction and chatting with the leader about adjusting the routine to my bad wrist and knees, we were off and running.

After the first set, which focused on arms, I thought, I am out WAY of my league. But I’m no quitter, so I kept on going. Then we moved on to legs, and I thought, sweet Jesus, please take me home! My legs were shaking and like jello. We were doing power squats and lunges, combined with quick and repetitive yoga moves like airplane, tree, warrior and a whole bunch of crazy. Sometimes, during the workout, I had to will my body to move. Come on arm, reach down and touch your toe. Come on leg, unwrap yourself from the pretzel pose, you can do it, move leg, MOVE.  I’ve done plenty of workouts in my life, from Tae-Bo to strength training, from Zumba to kickboxing, yet no work out was as tedious as this one.

Did I mention that both the instructor and the other woman were in fabulous shape? Teensy tiny little ladies with muscles to spare. And there I was, extra weight on my knees and ankles, doing my best to…well…do my best. And huffing and puffing, I did.

When I got home, guzzled Gatorade (that I can’t stand the taste of), took some Motrin and got my heart rate down, my husband said “why on earth didn’t you stop if you thought it was too much?” I said “because I’m not a quitter” and “I really wanted to try something new”.  And I think he muttered something about not having common sense and that I was crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what’s your point?

Looking back now, the whole situation was a bit crazy. I was in over my head and I should have gracefully bowed out. But really, what was running through my head was that I had faced my fear and tried something new. And although I over did it (a tad), I walked through those gym doors and did something scary and out of my comfort zone, and that was the point.

When was the last time you tried something new?

Let’s face it, most of us are creatures of comfort. Yet I wonder, what really cool things are we missing out on? And more importantly, what’s holding us back?

Is there something you’ve been wanting to try? What’s stopping you? Make a goal to try something new this month, don’t wait until the new year, try it now. You’ll be amazed at what you can do, if you just give it a try!