Pilates, You Might Be The Death of Me

Maybe it was because I spent an hour and half grocery shopping and another half hour unloading the car and putting groceries away this morning (i.e., I'd already had a pretty good workout). Maybe it's just because I am woefully out of shape (note that I did not say fat. I do not think I am fat). Either way, if I keep doing pilates I might die. Or get in shape. One or the other.

I told you yesterday that I bought a pilates dvd. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Way back when, in the Year I Was Blonde (i.e., sophomore year of college), I took aerobics to fulfill one of my P.E. requirements. Tennis was the other one. Bowling was an option, as was ballroom dancing, among others. But anyway, I took aerobics more years ago than I care to count (crap, I counted. It was 7, almost 8 actually. My how time flies), and in these aerobics classes we occasionally did some pilates. At the time, I was living in the dorms and walked all over campus (usually while lugging a backpack full of books) because parking was hell. So I was considerably more fit than I am now. Back then, those pilates sessions seemed easy. Or maybe my memory is a little foggy. But I definitely remember enjoying my aerobics class. It led to my job with Mobile's ill-fated arena football team. But I won't talk about that now.

Today I decided that instead of going for a walk or jog I would try out my new pilates dvd. The one I bought consists of five separate 10 minute workouts, and I did four of them. The idea behind the 10 minute workout is that you can get a better body in just 10 minutes a day. Personally, I think that's crap, but that's just me. Maybe I *could* do one 10 minute workout five days a week and see results.

But anyway, I started with the total body workout. At the end of it, I barely felt a thing. So I moved on to the upper body workout. That one I felt. Actually, I *still* feel it. Out of shape, remember? Woefully so. Then, arms burning, I decided to press on and do the lower body workout. Which actually wasn't so bad. I guess my legs are pretty strong. Finally, I decided to give the ab workout a try. Oh. My. God. SO HARD. Actually, for the first half of it, I really didn't think it was doing anything. So maybe I was doing it wrong. But by the end I couldn't finish all the reps of all the exercises.

I did lots of additional stretching after the workout, so maybe I won't hurt *too* much tomorrow. I'm saving the 'Pilates for Flexibility' workout for next week. In retrospect, maybe I should have started with that one.