Friday, November 6, 2009

showing, not telling... my 5.

In this post, Torey talks about "showing, not telling." I have had moments when I've been really good at this, but lately my posts have been slap it down and call it good. I know that I am not reaching my full potential in this area and want to do better. Thanks, Torey, for the challenge! people, this is long. and fairly ridiculous. fair warning.

strength training class. two mornings a week I go to a local church building to workout with other women who share my desire for both social interaction and a stronger body. there is a generous sister who has teaching skills and volunteers her services. friday I came home with a deep awareness of my gluteus maximus which increased each time my legs attempted to carry me up the stairs. I don't think I had fully recovered before it all began again. lunges after squats after side kicks after knee raises... my thighs were yelling at me to "stop the burning!" I just yelled back, "you need this, toughen up!" so as cindy told me I had one more set of squats to go, I cried out, "lower, deeper, make it burn!" my legs yelled a little profanity and I reminded them that we were not here for a walk in the park.

I had a very similar conversation with my shoulders as they are the weakest part of my upper body. {you might think it be my pectoral region, but surprisingly, I can chest press with significantly less grunt than I shoulder press. I know, unbelievable} give me shoulder flys and all of the muscles northward tense right up in protest. "don't make us do it! we're too weak! put down the weights!" lots of times I really want to comply, but aren't strong upper arms sexy? so I make them do it. my face twists and winces and I often have random outbursts of unrecognizable sounds, but I do it.

and then it's time for abs. I have prided myself on my abdominal region in the past, say, in college when I actually dared wear a sports bra all by it's lonesome and there were ripples, my friends. I'm not even lying. you could see them, feel them and seeing as I never really had any muscles to speak of, I was awfully proud. but funny thing, I grew a couple of kids in me and while the muscles are still there deep down, there's all this stuff on top of them. that wasn't very good description. there is a layer, I'm guessing about an inch, of whitish-grayish, jelly, goopish material that squishes and no matter how many bicycle crunches, froggy abs, crossover crunches or reverse combinations I do, it doesn't go away! It's like my skin just got thicker. my dad is dying right now, I can feel it. anyway, today there was fire in my upper abdominal region. the sinewy strands of muscle fibers were screaming, "that's all we have, we've given everything! we are going to rip apart!" so I did 15 more and said, "you will be tighter than tight, firmer than firm and you will ripple, gosh darn it!" and then beckham came and jumped on me and I surrendered to the soft, very un-tight, un-firm and non-ripply cheeks on his face that were smiling down at me. it was a workout that inspired me to pick up doughnuts on the way home.

from this extremely eloquent soliloquy, you may glean that this very day I am indeed grateful for:
1. the opportunity to work out free of charge with friends I adore.
2. my body and the fact that even though it yells at me, it's strong and making progress. I am able to push my body harder and further than I could a few months ago.
3. I have beautiful, round creamy cheeks attached to a perfect face to kiss whenever I want.
4. a cute pink girlie yoga mat with tropical flowers on it that make glut exercises and ab tortures bearable 'cause the gym floor is all kinds of nasty.
5. doughnuts. although guilt accompanies this one, so it doesn't really count.
5b. the fact that my sports bras are cheaper than yours 'cause I can buy mine in the pre-teens department. ha!

(torey, how'd I do??)

4 comments:

Torey said...

LOVE it!. You've always been excellent at showing, not telling, by the way. I have a perfect visual of your 6-pack and, although I have to dig deep, I can relate to the pain that accompanies lactic-acid buildup. Your determination is inspiring.

I wish I could buy cute pre-teen bras!

The Silly Witch said...

I definitely count you among my showing not telling friends. And I loved this post. Your workout pieces are ALWAYS inspiring. Way to tell your body who's in charge.

Jana said...

That was great. And I love that you are still real and went to get doughnuts. No matter how bad the guilt. :) I think I love it most of all because it decreases my guilt. :)

Unknown said...

You covet over my vacuum...I'll covet over the fact that you've had abs that had ripples! :)

Love it!!!