Maggie Goes on a Quest to Get Fit!

Since I joined the YMCA as part of the deal of joining I got 3 free personal trainer sessions of which I took full advantage. In one of these sessions the trainer had me lifting weights. This was in my 2nd session with the guy and he prefaced the weight lifting by saying "Maggie, I think you might have trouble with this but we'll try anyway." So he set me to work doing bench presses. (which was indeed hard for me to do but after he said I'd have trouble with it I decided I'd be damned if I let him know I was having trouble!) So I started shouting "I can do this! I can do this!" Lo and behold suddenly it miraculously got easier. I thought to myself "Hah! take that you 'o ye of little faith' trainer!" I was feeling pretty pleased with my little self until I looked up and realized the trainer had been helping me the whole time and I hadn't noticed because I was too busy yelling away about how I could do it! Ah well, I reasoned, I'd still done it anyway really. 

Since then I've graduated to taking an actual class (although not in weight lifting.) I've started taking a spinning course which I go to about 3 times a week. Spinning basically involves riding a stationary bicycle with a gear on it that increases or decreases resistance to how fast you can peddle based on which way you turn a knob controlling the resistance. The nice thing I like is that although the instructor urges you to increase resistance at certain points, you do it at your own pace so you basically are in charge of how hard it is for you. Not that I didn't exercise before, but spinning has actually helped me like exercising. Yes, sometimes I do wonder if I'm slightly masochistic as I always come out of that class sweating like no other and although I feel like hell when I'm in the class, I do feel pretty good when I finish. It's a nice sense of accomplishment. Maybe if I get really good and fit I'll try and graduate to real bicycle racing and win something fun. Tour de France here I come!