Iron Maidens

Generally, I work out at the Y four times a week.  Mon/Wed/Friday I do aerobics and lift weights plus do some weight machines, mostly leg stuff.  I try to get in one other day a week to do straight aerobics.  The idea is to burn fat and build muscle.  Some days are better than others.  This week I discovered an inner thigh weight machine and now I can barely walk.

This has been my routine for the last two years.  I had not been near a gym in the previous decade.  Working at CNN, esp during the blowjob presidency, 9/11, subsequent wars and sniper fun had been a 60+ hour weekly grind.  One year I also worked both days 13 weekends.  I was virtual mom and wife. 

Then I quit and headed back to the gym.  The first year was mostly just getting fit enough to exercise efficiently.  Everything hurt all the time and I did not lose much weight.  The second year I saw changes, in my weight, body shape and clothes size.  I hope this year gets me much further down the road to fitness, in both weight, strength and bone density.

Here is some useless advice.  Don’t skip working out.  It is really hard to get back in shape, plus you have lost ground permanently.  Hindsight is always 20/20.

It’s hard, balancing work, family demands and personal time.  Something always has to go, and personal time is the sacrifice most women make. 

I do step aerobics or the elliptical – cybex machine I think its called.  It has all these settings so I try and mix it up to keep myself miserable and avoid repetitive motion injury stuff.  When I’m doing step, I just try to keep up and not knock anyone over.

The current step teacher is 6 months pregnant.  I have to work to keep up with her, and I cannot do the abdominal exercises she does at the end of each class.  She can hold advanced core positions for minutes.  I can for maybe 30 seconds before I have to stop and regroup.

There is a group at the Y that I watched for a long time before joining.  They are called the “Iron Maidens.”  They bench press free weights.  None of that Life Fitness machine stuff.  You get a certificate once you have bench pressed 100 lbs.  It is a diverse group, in age and stage of life.  The one thing in common is that they all want to be stronger.  One of the “Iron Maidens” is a 70-year-old woman named Rita.  She presses 100+ lbs 5 times every time.  

I can press 65 lbs 10 times, rest, return and press 85 lbs 4 times.  Then I’m done.  I’m lucky if I can lift a pencil later in the day.

So here is my goal:  I want to be able to do the abdominal exercises that the 6 month pregnant woman does.  I want to bench press the same weight the 70-year-old woman does. 

Wish me luck!