Oh What A Circuit!

Well that’s me popped my gym cherry. This morning was my first day at the Step In vitality class recommended to me last week by Kevin. I got there bright and early for a 10am start, having been up since 6.30am to get Vee up for school and walk the dog. I had to wait a few minutes as the sports centre was only just opening up then I went to get changed into my new yoga trousers and an LA Gear t-shirt I’ve had for ages. The folk already in the multi-activity gym were all way older than me – I was definitely the baby of the class – but they all looked quite sprightly and fit and the ratio was 8 women to 3 men. A young woman called Lisa who was really supportive and helpful led the class. She started us off with a warm-up of basic stepping exercises – I was doing quite well with them until she did something that my addled brain couldn’t follow. Since I have had ME and Fibro I have found it quite difficult to follow instructions sometimes and I felt a proper duffer having to stop and watch what she was doing until it sunk in. We were then started off on the circuit of exercises. I was put with two lovely older women called Hilda and Liz who saw me through the various repetitions. We did things like lunges, hand weights, steps, wall presses, etc. all for 2 minutes plus 4 minutes on the exercise bikes, which I think I enjoyed the most. We the ended on some more stretches and some Tai Chi-like ones. My only complaint is that the soundtrack was a bit old-timey – cheesy music from the 1960s and 1970s but I guess it was aimed at folks older than me. Folks don’t tend to chat when doing their circuits so I might look at making up a soundtrack of my own on my iPod with some of my tunes on it. I’m definitely going to go back next week and see how I go for a couple of weeks before trying out the slightly more intensive Step Up class. I was happy to find at the end that, although while I was doing the reps I felt some pain in my lower legs and a bit off-balance, when it was over I wasn’t as tired or sore as I might have expected. I actually feel quite energised – so much so that when I popped into the Asda Direct store to try and get a cheap-ish set of bathroom scales (I haven’t had scales in the house for years – basically I didn’t want them there as I am really anti diets and weight-watching but I want to try to weigh myself once a week to see if this new regime is making any difference!) and instead of taking the elevator, I bounced up the stairs.
Thanks to my good Twitter pal Janine aka The Rambling Duck I have also joined an online site - www.myfitnesspal.com - where I can log in the exercise I take and what I eat. Again I would normally have avoided a site like this like the plague but I see it now as a useful tool to set goals and keep track of what I’m doing. It’s only a wee step amongst many but at least I’m on this journey now and it’s been a long time coming. Onward and upward xxx