If you haven’t noticed, I’m the senior mama in this sweet group of writers you know as the Douglas County Moms.
This doesn’t mean anything more than I have lived longer.
It’s given me a chance to fail a bit more.
One thing I know is that I have so much to learn and still have time to change my mind about things I’ve said I’d never do.
Working out is my latest change of heart and mind.
I finally drank the Kool-Aid.
I’ve written before about how my diet needed to change over the past couple of years. There were some health issues cropping up and it was obvious that food was one of the culprits. At least it was a place I could start.
What I’ve found is that “everything in moderation” doesn’t work when some foods, even in the smallest amounts, wreak havoc on my system.
Another lesson that has taken hold is when I say “I could never do that,” I cheat myself.
Over the past few years, like other writers have mentioned, CrossFit has gained popularity.
For me it fell in the “I could never do that” category.
There were a few others I rejected as well based on the time commitment involved or the emphasis on having an attractive body.
In my twenties I spent far too much time chasing body perfection in order to prove my worth.
My thirties added parental perfection to the list. (I also taught fitness classes for part of that time.)
In my forties I relaxed in those areas because I was busy keeping our youngest daughter alive while trying to parent a teenager.
Now I’m fifty. I absolutely love this age. I think I looked forward to it with more excitement than turning five.
As I’ve become better educated in the area of nutrition and as my body has become more healthy, I’ve realized that there was something else I needed to be focusing on: I needed to work on strength.
My 14-year-old doesn’t walk (although she is learning). She is around 85 pounds, uses a wheelchair and needs help transferring into other chairs or the van.
After all of my research, CrossFit seemed the logical choice.
A little over a month ago Russ asked me if I was still interested in looking into it and I was.
I spoke to the coach, took a tour, set up a sample workout and took the next step.
Tonight is my last fundamentals class. Everyone must take this class in order to know the moves before starting in a group.
It’s for safety more than anything, but it will help to keep from slowing down others in their workouts too.
There are a few things that have surprised me: I’m so much stronger in some areas than I thought and I have so much work to do in places I thought I had it all worked out.
What has shocked me most is how much I can’t wait for the next class.
I’ve teased my friend for a few years about her cult leader status and had to admit that I finally drank the Kool-Aid.
No matter how humiliated I’ve felt over my inability to catch on to a few things, I seem to forget the embarrassment the next morning.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be stocking up on Epsom salts, investing in a foam roller and keep talking walks on the in between days.
Through achy muscles I realize that for things to take shape in our lives, we just have to keep taking steps forward.
These steps might involve kettle bells, rowing machines, double-unders and wall balls.
More than that they come with the confidence of knowing I not only tried, but it fits and I’m really good with that.
Very cool, Jemeline. I’m more senior than you and pushing to get regular exercise and keep it all in some semblance of shape. Planning to get my bike down to the lake and do some laps around the shores.