Warm Up

Warm up.

Yes, I am talking to mother nature. At LEAST warm up to 40 -- please??

But really I'm talking about warming up before you workout. I went to a class the other day my coworkers hear me lovingly (and sometimes not so lovingly) refer to as the Kick Your Butt Workout Class. Really it's called Total Conditioning, an advanced strength training class offered at Lifetime Fitness. (More to come on my intense love of Lifetime Fitness. LT is my gym soul mate.)

The class takes you through a mix of cardio and strength training intervals. For example, you may start out pressing dumbbells from shoulder height up to the ceiling for 1 minute. The 2nd minute you may add a lunge with the press, and the third minute you're at a burpee with the press when you're standing. These three minutes are considered a set. There's a recovery period after a set and then it's repeated.

I'm not going to lie, it can be real intense. And if you don't want to look and feel like you're out of shape, don't come to this class because I guarantee you it will Kick Your Butt.

You know a class is going to be tough when in the warm up you're struggling. That's exactly how I felt when I went to this class earlier this week! The warm up KILLED and I considered darting to the door before we even started our first set! When I started to think about it, I feel the same way in yoga class. You know when you're in table top position and they have you put your right arm out straight and your left leg straight behind you? That gets me every time, and every time I feel so out of shape!

Is it the same as when you run and the first mile to two miles is pretty hard but then you hit your groove? It's like your body is saying "No! No! Don't do this to me!" but then like a stubborn child, realizes it has no other choice so it finally decides to stop fighting. If that's the case, I don't feel so bad about wanting to quit 5 minutes into a workout class. The only thing that gets me through is when I look around the room and middle aged, overweight women aren't even breaking a sweat. No way will I give in if they aren't. I'm stronger than them....I think.

There is no proven benefit to warming up before a workout, according to Mayo Clinic. But, their point is that it can't hurt. It slowly revs up your cardiovascular system instead of sending it into workout shock and gets your blood pumping. The theory also is that it can reduce your chance of injury.

My theory is that it's going to suck the first 5 minutes whether you want to call it a warm up or a workout. Call it what you will...I'm sticking in there.

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