Soul Cycle kicked my butt! And I'm going back for more.
I have to admit that exercise has never really been my thing. I've always been part of the artsy crowd, not the athletic one. In college I started yoga in college and fell in love. And since then, that was my main form of exercise (that and walking like crazy of course). Yoga feels fantastic to me. It resonated with my body and mind and is a staple in my life. Since having Bar, my yoga classes have been helping me get toned and strong and remain sane.
The thing is, in so many books I've been reading (like Mark Hyman's UltraMetabolism and Andrew Weil's 8 Weeks to Optimum Health and John Douillard's The 3 Season Diet and others) these top holistic doctor are talking about interval training and how important it is to getting to your proper weight and maintaining optimum health. For so so long I breezed through these parts of the books focusing only on the nutrition and lifestyle sections. It was really a block for me and a laziness coming from a place of knowing that hard, heart-pumping, sweaty exercise was uncomfortable for me and I'd prefer not to do it.
But in my struggle to lose this last bit of baby weight, and hitting a major plateau, and being so tired from lack of sleep and maintaining my status quo and no more, I decided last week to start some interval training. There's no reason I can't fit it in (it only takes 25 min) and I have a gym in my building and Baby Bar sleeps for a hour every morning (during which I was walking with her in the stroller...i.e. the bare minimum exercise I could do). No excuses!
The interval training on the treadmill made me feel awesome. I was sweaty and hot and I could totally get through it. I was even using some of John Douillard's recommendations on breathing exercises (basic pranayama) while I ran and it felt great! Ujai breathing and sprints?!? What a fabulous combo.
Jump to this past Saturday when my sister-in-law, Rachel, convinced me to let her sign us both up for spinning class this week. Jump to this afternoon: anxiety, nervousness, spinning shoes on my feet, and ready to go. Our teacher Jolie was amazing! She was 7 month pregnant and in waaaaay better shape than me! She had amazing energy, dj skills to impress any amateur like myself, and had me sweating my face off (literally I was dripping down my face onto my shirt, though you couldn't tell cause I also drenched my shirt). She was inspiring to say the least.
I couldn't come close to doing all the moves. There is a lot of choreography and strength work combined and I'm far from the most coordinated as many of you know. That said, I made it through the whole class and never stopped moving. It incorporated abs, upper body, weights, sprints, resistance work, full full body.
Everyone said I'd be addicted. Not sure if I'm addicted...yet...but I'm definitely up for the challenge. Soul Cycle, here I come! Baby weight, here you go!