Fitness

I have sampled both of my new exercise dvds now and have aching thighs and arms to show for it.  Of the two, I managed to watch 20 minutes out of 50 of the pilates dvd, participating in at most a third of it, and about 30 minutes of the ballet dvd. 

Tuesday night - Pilates dvd: I watched the intro, arms section and the belly section.  The arms section used weights, which I have, and frankly they were not needed.  I know my arms are feeble but I struggled to do any of the exercises even with my tiddly little weights.  I think they are 1kg each but will check.  The dvd was very fast (I'm a real plodder as my "running" log will testify) but I decided not to bother pausing it as I was really only doing recon.  I had seen some crazy looking moves on the dvd home page, so I wasn't surprised when the belly section was practically impossible.  I couldn't really get into the beginning postures.  At this stage, I began to think I should have ordered the beginners' dvd and this is something I'm going to continue to consider.  I then went out to dinner and had swordfish, which I haven't had in ages and it was yummy.

Wednesday night - ballet dvd: I thought about going out for a bike ride instead of trying the dvd but it was a bit drizzly and I'm not unduly concerned about falling off.  I know people say you never forget, but I have a very special bike that is really wobbly until you get going and I haven't used it for three years.  The ballet dvd turns out to be exactly what I wanted and is very hardcore.  SERIOUSLY.  I was thinking, maybe I have strong legs as I do all that run/walking, but really not.  I think I suffer a bit from living in a very flat village.  For years, I lived at the top of hills, so my daily walk home involved striding upwards carrying my little backpack.  It was a real bitch, I tell you, but must have done me more good than I realised at the time. Any strength developed back then, and trekking in the mountains on my gap year, has all eroded in favour of sitting in my car.  So, I tried to join in all the exercises, but wobbly thighs made them impossible after about 25 minutes so I stopped.  I also noticed that simple holding my arms up in graceful-ballet-poses really made them ache! No wonder I can't lift weights, I barely have strength to lift my own arms! This was all enough of a challenge to leave me feeling like I'd tried hard and looking forward to next time.  And I did prance around my flat afterwards, holding my stomach in and head up for the rest of the evening so I could say I saw instant results. 

Tonight it's time for a run and I'm looking forward to seeing if my achy thighs make running harder or if the running eases the pain.  Also, tonight is knitting night (gosh, it's moved to Thursday which normally is a busy day for me anyway) in a place that also sells cake. I'll take the blanket along but I'll really have to concentrate because I don't want anymore ripping incidents.