Legs of Steel

More like, "my legs have been beaten with steel beams". So you know what that means? Yup, yesterday was my first day at the gym (a.k.a. the place that smells like sweaty socks).

The original plan was for me to do upper body on Monday, and then lower body/back on Wednesday, but she wound up switching things around. So yesterday we did lower body/back/triceps, and then Wednesday we'll kill the rest of me work the rest.

Yes, I do walk funny today. Yes, I make weird faces every time I stand up or sit down. Yes, I had an interview this morning that required me to stand up and sit down in front of several people who were probably wondering what in the world was wrong with that crazy girl who looks pretty healthy. Whew.

But in all honesty, I really did surprise myself despite my insane soreness. The sweaty socks room actually has three different workout rooms. One of the rooms is very tiny and is mainly for abs exercises. The second room has all of the cardio machine and what Roman likes to call "the girly machines". You know, with the vertical bench press and all that so that you don't have to deal with any real free weights. So the third room is what I like to call "the big boy room". Lots of free weights. Lots of dumbbells. Lots of scary machines. And lots of really big guys that are striving to get even bigger muscles than the ones they already have. I don't even like walking through that room to get to the women's locker room. Those machines look complex and intimidating. And the guys could probably pick me up with their pinky finger and throw me across the room.

So you can imagine my immediate despair when I realized I was working out in the big boy room. I decided that all of the guys must have dropped their weights so they could stare at me and make bets on how long I could go without crying. Surprisingly, this did not happen. Hallelujah. So what did happen? I discovered that the big scary machines were actually not so scary after all. In fact, some of them were just down right cool. Like the squat machine or that other funky looking machine that's supposed to work my butt and my lower back. (Hallelujah) Thanks to my trainer, I worked out on machines that I never would have selected on my own and used heavier weights than what I would have selected. And in case any of you are wondering, no, I did not shed a single tear. But yes, I sweated like a bajillion bottles of sweat. It was gross.

So even though it was hard as all get out and today I feel like I have been trampled by a million horses, I actually feel like this is something I am going to enjoy doing twice a week. Which means that one day, I will have legs of steel. So there.

"I can do all this through Him who gives me strength." ~Philippians 4:13