Lactic Acid, How I Love Thee

On Saturday morning, I went to a strength training class at a local gym. My friend Cyberchick was filling in for the usual teacher and invited me along. I love strength training group classes. Love them. Mostly because there is a LOT of variety. And usually because, it takes less balance and coordination than a Step class. 

I had a lot of fun and enjoyed myself. I kept up on most exercises without much trouble except when we were incorporating the stability ball. The stability ball does require balance. If you have one you probably know the few exercises that make you feel all wobbly. I use my ball at home to do push ups. I lower the ball back to my hips and then do the push ups. Cyberchick took it further and when we were in the push up had us pike our butts into the air using our legs which were on the ball. I tried that position once, laughed a little and then just kept doing push ups throughout the routine while those at a higher level did the killer pike position. I kept moving and that was the point, right? 

I'm not too much of a slouch in the hand weight category either. I move between 8 lb weights and 5 lb weights. 

But when I woke up yesterday morning, and even worse this morning, what I noticed is that there are two particular parts of my body that I apparently don't load with enough weight in my day-to-day life, because good golly are they sore. My hamstrings are pretty achy, but the thing that's taking the worst hit -- my pectoral (chest) muscles.

Seriously. I did a lot of push ups. I did a lot of flies and lawnmowers and all that good stuff that involves the chest. I used my lighter weights for all of them. But how random is it that the rest of me is doing fine, but those two muscle groups are sore to the point that I don't want to raise my hands to put my shirt over my head or sit on the toilet?

I'm old. But I thank Cyberchick for inviting me over to help me in my quest to improve my fitness level. She was a great teacher. I look forward to trying the class again once I can commit to the whole body sitcho. Until then, I think I'm cardio/ab work out girl for a few days.