Social Workout

Workout

Kilt Me Dead (Equinox with Eden Kessler)

45m pilates class with Eden Kessler - the class used to be 1 hour, but instead of being easier, Eden made the class more challenging. If you aren't going to work as long, you are going to work harder. I love pilates. I love the grace, elegance, form and powerful control that you have with it. I find moments of it in rock climbing that beautiful breathe, move sweep dip drop exhale. I've heard of people finding moments of that in yoga, but pilates has always resonated more with me - closer to some of the martial arts I've studied. It isn't about spirtuality (I lived in a Soto Zen Buddhist monastery for a time. I'm simply not yoga-yadda spirtualistic. My spiritualism takes a more pragmatic bent and letting myself enjoy the world at hand rather than being wrapped up in my own navel gazing - except in pilates, where you are supposed to be looking at your navel ;p This is where I notice my tummy is pooching too much and remember to pull my abs in.)

45 minutes of abuse later, I'm feelin frisky so jump into 'ab blast' for 15 more minutes of intense core work - with eden. Here's where she smiles gleefully at me and kills me. Dead. my core is spasming out of control and laughing hurts. Muscle failure in the core is...interesting ;p

Not enough? So I stay for the dovetail class "Chisel'd" which is a brutal combination of weights and cardio. Rows, pushups, jumping jacks with medicine balls, push-ups off balance balls, crunchies from the top of a bosu with your legs in table top, jumping squats with weights and medicine balls and one legged squat jumps with weights/medicine ball, bicep curls, lat raises, etc. You get the gist. There are points in this that my eyes are blacking out, I'm seeing spots and I have the distinct desire to be violently ill. I hate cardio. Loathe it, in fact. I hate running, I hate the elliptical. I get bored out of my mind. Obviously, I'm not pushing hard enough - but I want my mind engaged. I want my brain to be figuring out the puzzles, feeling every muscle move grind pop snap. It's one of the reasons I love rock climbing, martial arts - and recently, pilates.

So there it is. This is my Tuesday/Thursday routine - two hours of death. Three classes. (the first class is usually 4 people so it might as well be a private training session) Tonight I'll be trying the endurance circuit on the TRX and antagonizing a friend to do it with me. 6 hours is enough time for recovery, right?

Not sure what is for dinner tonight, but it's going to be red.