There is a spinning class that is offered here at work over lunch. The regular instructor is a 6'6'' ex-pro European basketball player that is constantly lifting weights when he is not teaching this spinning class. Needless to say everyone who steps foot in the class doesn't leave with a dry shirt. I have not been to his class in over three months because it usually fills up so quick you have to go down at least 20 minutes early just to reserve a bike. But today I decided to really get down there early and get in a good, hard workout in preparation for our Hawaii trip. Much to my dismay upon swiping my badge at the front desk there was a sign that said that Marques, the regular instructor, was not teaching today. I headed to the locker room anyway disappointed.
I ran into one of the regulars in the workout room who said that a group of them were going to do spinning anyway on their own. I said great and that I would bring my ipod in case we could use it for music. So I went into the 'class room' and worked with the fitness center guy to set up my ipod. Now granted it was four girls and myself so I said that I would sit next to the sound system since some of the songs on my ipod aren't 'group appropriate.' As the fitness center guy and I are working on troubleshooting the sound system more and more people start filtering into the room and setting up their respective bikes. Within minutes the class is full and everyone is cycling away to get warmed up.
The fitness center guy decides that for some reason he can't get my ipod to work but comes up with a CD out of the drawer that would hopefully suffice. So I now say to the class that I don't need to lead now since we aren't using my music... but they insisted that no one else was leading and I might as well give it a go. So now I am kind of stuck. Mind you, I haven't attended this class in over three months (although I was previously a regular) and currently my body is not being featured in any workout magazines.
So as I mount my bike in the front of the class with 15+ people staring at me expectantly I become a little intimidated. I mean there are some real athletes in the crowd that are looking for a Marques level workout. I made a conscious decision to just do the best I could and to mask my out of shapeness with a lot of shouting.
The music starts and I start to makeup a routine. I started with a hill and then a few sprints and the more I go the more I get into it. Within just a couple of minutes I have the music cranked up and I am yelling for people to "PUSH IT! PUSH IT! PUSH IT PEOPLE! YOU HAVE ALL DAY TO SIT AT YOUR DESK YOU ONLY HAVE 45 MINUTES TO GET IN A GOOD WORKOUT!" I mean I became a woman on a mission almost a little crazy. I mean the power of making people suffer and really push themselves is addictive. And yelling at them to continue to challenge themselves without them yelling back at you.... awesome. At one point I looked down and my shirt was soaked, my arms had sweat dripping off of them and my face was throbbing. I ignored all these things and forged ahead. When a big, muscular guy in the front of class kept giving me dirty looks when I shouted something harder I assumed I was doing an ok job.
Before I knew it the class was over. I looked like someone had painted my face red and thew a bucket of water on me. But when I gazed around the class at the other participants their shirts were soaked too! I was so happy! I don't think other people's sweat has ever left me with a sense of accomplishment. As the class filtered out they thanked me for making it a good workout. Personally there was no way I would have ever worked out so hard on my own!
I took a quick shower, redressed, and came back up to my desk I got many stares. I mean after all my face color had not faded. Someone even made a comment that I could use some ice packs to maybe lessen the redness. Pretty soon after that I started to hack, and hack, and hack some more. I sounded like someone who had ran a marathon in 0 degree weather. It was brutal. Luckily that stopped after about 30 minutes which is when I made the mistake to get up. The lactic acid had built up in my muscles which forced me to hobble to my destination.
In a nutshell, I am wreck. I can't even imagine how sore I am going to be tomorrow. But I tell you what, given the opportunity I would do it all over again. I mean for someone who likes to enthusiastically yell at people it was a perfect outlet and on top of that I also got in a great workout!
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