Thorn in my pride

I went to the gym this morning; the first time in about 6 weeks that I've had the time and/or inclination to get the most out of my $13 a week subscription. I went in gingerly because experience has taught me that long gaps between training inevitably leads to pain. And having no creativity or motivation beyond getting through the doors I did my standard 1 hour routine involving 30 minutes of cardio and then a circuit of core exercises to abuse my winter soft belly.

My cardio involves either treadmill or stationary bike and when I'm new back I always choose bike because it involves less stress on my shins/joints than the treadmill, even if it feels less satisfying. So that's what I chose today unfortunately. I say unfortunately as they have bought a fleet of all new bikes which excoriated my ischial bones for the whole half hour and complained any time it couldn't read my heart rate. I am determined to wear my extra hold undergarments next time and go treadmill instead.

My core routine involves a mat and a BOSU and a lot of mental determination, being as, to put it mildly, it hurts. I start off with a set of 10 pushups on the BOSU which is better than a regular pushup because you have to balance as well so you also get a lot of arm/shoulder/back involvement. Then I flip the BOSU over and practice the world's most painful exercise ever, the plank for one minute, with forearms resting on the BOSU, again so that you have to use lateral muscles to maintain stability.

Third exercise in the set is with feet on the BOSU, lying on my back and raising up until until weight is evenly distributed between shoulders and feet and then raising and straigtening one leg at a time alternately for one minute while keeping spine straight and stopping pelvis from tilting. This one I find pretty easy, but it does work my glutes a lot, and I know straight away if I'm doing it wrong because my back squeals in protest.

I then curl my back down to flat and leave my feet resting on the BOSU before doing 10 stomach crunches, finishing with a lateral back stretch on the floor. Then just for fun I do all 5 around 3-5 times over until everything burns nicely.

I love how I feel after doing that. How nice it feels to be sore and strong and blood filled. I backed it up with a full wax today and it was the perfect accompaniment. I know I probably sound like a BOSU ad above, but I hate a lot of the exercises people recommend with it as they put far too much stress on my knees and ankles, but for te core stuff I can highly recommend.

Being as I'm all cashed up courtesy of the ATO I'm also contemplating a Wii Fit because I am feeling the need for more yoga but the classes at my gym are all at terrible times. Bingley looked sceptical when I mentioned it - I don't think that he believes I would actually use it, but as someone that's not too bad at yoga I think it would help tip me over into practicing it more regularly.

I had a look in Harvey Norman to check prices after the gym for a moment, but it seems a lot to spend, especially if there's no guarantee that I'll maintain motivation. But, something to ponder.

I did groceries after all the above and they played one of my favourite songs so I sang along audibly to the musak while the elderly gentleman tag teaming me in the aisles smiled benevolently. It was while singing along that I reailsed that I'm out of my funk a little bit today. Remembering some beautiful things, not focusing on negatives, having visceral memories.

I feel myself today.