I’ve been reunited with my nemesis and it didn’t go well – at all. It’s been more than a year since we’ve seen each other and I had forgotten how unrelenting and demanding this frenemy could be.
At first I was happy to be in the same room with this adversary. Maybe it was the fully vaxxed glow clouding my judgement but my spirits were high that in this new post pandemic world we could form a loving relationship.
But no, it was not to be because after a mere 50 minutes of sharing each other’s company I felt like I had been stretched beyond my limit. That I was being made to do things that quite frankly I wasn’t aware that I needed or wanted to do.
Worse, 24 hours later I’m still feeling the effects of this encounter. In fact, every part of my body is currently in need of being soaked in a vat of Icy Hot. It seems the object of my love/hate relationship – the Pilates reformer has bested me – again.
There are so many things about my aches and pains that confuse me. First, I did work out during the pandemic. I even cleaned out the junk room in my basement, painted it, including two windows that each had 36 separate little pane divider things (Did you know they are called muntins? Yeah, me neither.) that took a solid hour just to tape off and made me go hard core with the cursing. I also got new curtains, installed a mirror and rounded up all sorts of fun goodies like stability balls, kettlebells, and resistance bands.
And yet here I am a day after using a Pilates reformer unable to get out of a chair or worse off the toilet without some rather spectacular groaning. This whole unflattering scene has made me really start considering if it’s time for a bathroom grab bar. I wonder if West Elm or Pottery Barn make attractive ones perhaps in a very on trend antique brass.
The biggest area of my bewilderment is how after only 50 minutes on a contraption that at first glance looks like an elevated nap mat at a Cirque Du Soleil preschool my body would feel so horribly out of shape. It’s not like I’m a Pilates reformer newbie. I just took a pandemic year break from it. I still did mat Pilates online in my new workout room while staring at the muntins I had painted.
In fact, this was exactly what I was thinking as I attempted to power through my first class back – I had been doing Pilates so why the struggle? This is when I imagined the reformer I was using laughing at me and whispering that it was absolutely adorable that I thought I was getting the same workout from a YouTube class while hitting pause for periodic cookie breaks.
Unfortunately, it seems I’m one of those people that need the peer pressure of a class with an in person instructor. There’s also nothing like getting bested by an octogenarian to make you really up your dedication to your workout.
Then there’s the reformer itself. It’s pulleys and ropes at first make you think it’s going to be all easy peasy and then BAM it’s got your muscles doing things that you didn’t imagine were possible in this lifetime or beyond.
So, consider me rededicated to Pilates and attempting to forge a deep and meaningful relationship with the reformer. But first can someone help me get out of my desk chair? I don’t think I can do it by myself.
🙂 Snarky peeps here’s something to listen to while you workout – The first book I ever wrote is now an audio book! Yes, Snarky book “Snarky in the Suburbs Back to School” is now available on Audible & iTunes. Here are the links.
iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/snarky-in-the-suburbs-back-to-school-unabridged/id1564179737
Snarky in the Suburbs 