Life is an Adventure

It's been another week of new challenges and interesting people.

Thursday I jogged to a park 2km away and then performed some sprints (100m).  I only did 5 before jogging/walking home.  Even though I didn't perform 10 like I'd aimed to (nor did I perform the 8 I'd mentally prepared myself to "downgrade" to) I still felt the effects.  I got a nice, sore set of quads and inner thighs, plus a feeling of accomplishment.  Lots of room for improvement on this front, so I'm just scratching the surface here.

Friday involved BodyPump followed CXWorx again with Marie.  We challenged ourselves and added some extra weight to our barbells.  The instructor this week did CX a little differently than the instructor who taught last week.  I preferred this week's.  I felt it targeted my abs a bit more (last week semed more leg-heavy).

After pumping like maniacs and having dinner, we attended a talk by American journalist Jeannette Walls.  Walls grew up in less-than-perfect circumstances, and in her book The Glass Castle, she opened up to the world about her childhood and her family.  Marci Ien interviewed Walls for the talk, and asked some great questions that led Walls to talk about perspective, interpretation of events, and "the truth".  The interview allowed her to acknowledge her siblings' different interpretations of events and differing emotions attached to those events. While I am curious about what she sets as the broader historical context of her upbringing, I am more interested in how she reaches deep down inside herself and drags out a story that may embarrass her or expose her to criticism.  She told us on Friday night that telling her story inspired others to come to her and reveal things to her that they were ashamed about or thought were not worth mentioning.  It appears that confession begets more confession.

We both got copies of her books signed.  In mine she wrote "Life is an adventure!"  Her Friday evening comments have made me think quite a bit.  She has inspired me to keep opening up and sharing stories, and I can carry that out by continuing to blog here about a few aspects of my life.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to go to BodyCombat, a first for me.  It's a martial arts-based workout.  I learned how to punch and kick.  I spent so much energy focusing on trying to get the choreography and the moves right that I sweat up a storm.  This class definitely had me huffing and puffing.  I also have to say that the instructor was superbly awesome!!  She made me feel very welcome as a first timer, and she got really into the workout herself.  At the end of the class, there was a push up track (I gave Marie an "are you kidding me??" look when I learned this).  We did circular push ups (you can see an example here) , something I'm really excited to add to my routine.

Today my arms and back are burning.  It's from a combination of the circular push ups and all the arm work used throughout the Combat class.  I'll be attending them more often now that I've been introduced to the wonders of martial art fitness.  I found I also got a more emotional release than I've had in any other class.  It was a therapeutic expenditure of pent up angry energy - anger at injustices, people, and situations out of my control.  When we were done, I felt calmer than usual.

I like to have a little conclusion or a theme with which I can sum up the entire week.  I guess this week I'll repeat the adage of trying something new every day.  I'd also like to add again that the mental benefits of exercise can really surprise you sometimes.  What I've heard about martial arts all these years (it's good for discipline and a focused mind) seems to be true, and I wasn't even doing REAL martial arts, but a martial arts-based routine.  Exercise is as much an awakening of the mind as it is a physical shaping of the body.