I’ll start off with a little story.  Back in January of 2008, I took my first ever class at my 24hour gym (this was pre-weight loss) - it was a lift class and I thought I’d be fine.  About 20 minutes into it, I was hurting horribly, I couldn’t do any of the lunges and I ended up crying in the bathroom because I realized how out of shape I was and how horrible I felt.  My friend Becky (Hi Becks!) was there with me to console me and get me out of the bathroom and back in the class to at least finish it.  I was afraid to take any gym classes since then because I thought it would be too hard and I couldn’t keep up.

Times have changed.  This week I hadn’t really noticed the scale moving so much and I knew I needed to do something different to challenge my body.  The VOD is great but I needed something brand new and challenging.  Tonight I tried the Everlast Shadowboxing class at my 24hour gym.  The first thing I had to do was jump rope.  I don’t jump rope.  Well, that’s what I thought at 6:15.  At 6:30 I was jumping rope and able to keep up with the people who are there every week.  I couldn’t believe how awesome I felt simply because I was able to jump up and down!  Then we moved NONSTOP for a good hour - and I could keep up every step of the way.  I punched, moved, jabbed, bobbed, twisted, lunged, squatted, and did jumping jacks for the entire hour and I kept up with the class.  I’ll admit I wasn’t the most graceful person in there, but who cares - I did it.  I was so happy and amazed at how different I felt and it was so awesome.  Of course, I was wearing my Bodybugg (an arm band that records how many calories you burn during the day, along with a built in pedometer - this has helped me immensly over the last year.  If you can afford it, get one!) and it recorded that in that ONE HOUR class I burned 650 calories!  Holy moly!  I still can’t believe it!  I don’t know if I’ll be able to take the class every week, but I’ll try for classes more often. 

      (Me, sweaty and gross after the class!  Yipee!)

Hope everyone has a great end of the week.  Go try a jump rope - I’m hoping to try it with my students (if we have any jump ropes at school!).  Woo hoo!  Maybe I’ll see 199 this week now!  Cross your fingers!

Love to all

Rochelle