"Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day" ~ Mark Twain
There is no doubt of what my 'frog' would be. Exercise. If I would be able to do that, I know nothing worse could happen to me for the rest of the day. I know that nothing else could make me huff and puff as those gym apparels. And yet, I know I have to exercise. No questions.
Every time I joined a gym I got excited about the promises of fast weight-loss, muscle-gain, and that I would love it in a month's time, since the brain gets all these fun-loving chemicals that leave you addicted to working out. Obviously, God skipped those in my brain, because no matter what I did, exercise has always been pure torture. As in the 'makes me want to cry' type.
This is my idea of a perfect day. No exercise needed.
So the other day I walked into Curves. I figured, 30 minutes, three-times a week, going around a little circuit with some sixty-year olds? That's what I need. No girls in size 2 working out by my side (while I kept thinking 'why do they workout so much? I'd be on the couch if I had that waist!'). No iron-man with scary bulging muscles waiting to use the biceps thingy, while I smile and push through the two lightest weights there are.
I bought into the program, did my first experimental class with the instructor and left the gym smiling. Half the time you are on the equipment (which is actually harder than it looks). And half the time you are on a platform, moving from side to side, thanking God you can take it easy for 30 seconds. It was perfect.
Day 2 was a bit different. A different instructor came in and got rid of the platforms. 'Today we are not working out our tongues' she said. And proceeded to give us specific exercises in between the machines.
At first, I thought it was cool. Shaking things up once in a while is important. But then, Saturday came and I was sore. No, I mean it, as in can't walk up the stairs sore. I decided I would go back on Monday and ask for a schedule of these 'special days' so I could skip, because I was a beginner, and I hadn't signed up for that.
It took me a whole 2 seconds to get into the gym and realize that the 'special days' of working out were now every day. The program changed, and now each day focuses on something different. There are Shiban lessons, Combat lessons, days we work out with a ball or focus on dancing. It's actually quite awesome. And much more fun than skipping on a platform.
I wasn't expecting to enjoy Curves as I am. I actually do wake up excited to work out, and that NEVER happened to me before. And I learned my lesson: we tend to build expectations of what things are like before we check them out. And it often turns out that we were wrong.
How about you, do you have a fun exercise?
***NOTE: This post was in no way sponsored by Curves***
