The Work Out That Challenged Me...

Okay so this might seem like a  bit of a rant but the beauty of this blog, is well I can write and say what I want haha. Last week, I was home in New York, spending the week with my family. While I was home I wanted to get some workouts in, besides my running, because I was still having some leg pain and there was a blizzard, so the roads were covered and that wasn't happening.

I had reached out on Facebook and asked my friends and family members to let me know of some places that offered free passes, classes for work outs, rather a fitness class or a gym or yoga. I got a ton of responses and was quite pleased to see my small town had so many different options. 

On Thursday, I looked up a place called 9Round. I had driven by it many times and it was in a plaza I was very familiar with. A lot of my friends from back home had recommended going there. It looked like something way out of my comfort zone. 

"9Round is a specialized fitness center for people who want an unique, fun, and proven workout that guarantees results. 9Round offers a kickboxing themed fitness program that incorporates a functional, interval, cardiovascular, and circuit training regimens. The programs consist of a proprietary system of nine challenging workout stations developed by a World Champion Kickboxer."

I looked up the classes and watched some videos online and it seemed really cool and different. Remember I am usually just a runner, or some stuff in the gym and yoga, so these work outs are new but exciting to me. When you go to the website, it offers a free work out. I knew that this was franchise and I remembered seeing a new one open up here in Florida too, quite close to me also. So my thought process was I will do the free workout, burn some calories, get my endorphins going and if I really loved it I would consider down here. I knew I wasn't going to join back home in NY, I only come home 2 a year, if that and it wouldn't be worth the money, BUT FREE is for ME.

I signed up for the free work out and chose to the do the later class, mainly because I figured no one would be there. I get embarrassed very easily when I am working out. I can run with millions of people but jumping around and doing stuff I am not comfortable with, makes me kind of anxious. 

I know weird.

All day I thought about the work out and I was exited. It is a kickboxing atmosphere and dang I have never attempted that before. So when the time came, I got in my car, in my work out gear and headed over. When I walked in there was a young guy there and no one else. He nicely asked what I could be helped with and I explained I had signed up for a free work out online and was going to check it out. I also explained I was visiting from Florida and wanted to just sweat a little bit. He said okay and then quickly ran down the process.

I was a bit taken back because he didn't walk me through anything, he just jumped right into it. He didn't even tell me where to hang my coat or put my things. Remember I had NEVER been there before. He explained that there were 9 stations and each one, he will show me what to do, I will do it for 3 minutes and 30 seconds of active rest. Okay I got this I thought. Thank goodness I knew the active rest idea and the concept, not so lucky with the attitude.

The rest two stations were based around strength. They switch the work outs each day to something different, so he told me to not pay attention to the board, I would just do what he said. He gave me a jump rope and told me to jump for 3 minutes. Ummmm okay, I hadn't jump roped in like 20 years. Dang I felt good at first. I was skipping and moving and getting into it. Then the rope hit my pony tail and I was thrown off. But I kept going. He yelled out something, Maybe like 30 seconds and I stopped but he told me to keep going. Already station 1 and I was confused and INSTANTLY I could tell he could care less I was there. He was walking around, he did put on some music, but that was it.

No conversation. nothing. My groove was instantly off. I groove off of other peoples vibes and he was giving me that last customer, get out vibe. Station 2 did not include kettle bells, dumb bells, medicine balls or anything like the website included. I did jumping jacks for 3 minutes. My attention span was shot. 

Our 30 sec. active rest was jumping the line. Which he said so quickly, before I knew it, it was over. Station 3-8 was where the kick boxing came in and I was done for. He gave me some gloves to put on, pink ones of course. I punched some bags and then kicked some. Let me tell you, I suck at kickboxing. He showed me the moves I was suppose to do. Didn't explain much, okay. honestly at all. 

This was the part where I felt really defeated. I wasn't getting it. I wasn't punching correctly or kicking. I hated that I wasn't getting it. I instantly felt stupid and well less than. And I thought for sure the trainer would step in and try to help me. Build up my confidence. I tried to make a joke and say man I must be the worst person, he said no we have had worse.

Dannnnnggg. Build me Up Buttercup, why don't you. If it wasn't for the sweat dripping down my face and the satisfaction I was feeling inside I would have given up there. I felt like I was an incipience. He even went and changed into his jeans while I was attempting to kick the bag. The last station was station 9 and that consisted of 3 minutes of a plank and then push ups as the active rest and burpees. Oh joy!!

That plank was hard. Planking and me don't get along much anyway and then add 2.5 more minutes than I normally do and well disaster zone. He was walking around telling me to not drop down, 30 seconds, generic type of messages. I tried to do a side plank or add some push ups to make up for the plank I was not doing and he was telling me to suck it up. At the end, of the work out, finally, he said alright your done. 

He didn't say great job or job we'll done or even what did you think. He made it clear he knew I wasn't coming back and that was it. I grabbed my coat and left. My legs were shaky for the work out and my arms too, I was sweaty and I felt good, but I also didn't feel good. I felt judged right away that he knew I wasn't coming back and that I was new. It was a different feeling. I didn't like it. My comfort zone was slowly closing in on me. I was upset at the experience but glad I did it.

I can tell you, I liked the work out and realized I needed to add more of those routines and work outs to my life for sure. I am a runner and that is all I really do, so I need more endurance, Clearly I don't have. I would try it again if I had a better trainer.

The moral of this story was a bad work out is still a Good Work out! I got out of my comfort zone and I tried a class I would NEVER had done before and I did it on my own. And I didn't give up. I didn't sit in my car and cry either. I looked at myself in the mirror and said you are better than that and great job. I gave myself the support I needed in that moment. And heck I burned some calories and you know what I am still a bit sore from that work out. So that is a plus. 

My advice is try something new. Do something that scares you and when it doesn't work out how you had planned, its okay, don't let it discourage you or get you done, pick yourself up and try a new one again.

I plan on doing beach yoga next :0)