Workout Helper

Since the pandemic shutdown, I’ve been working out at home. I’d had a regular routine of going to 9 am JCC classes that fit very nicely into my schedule. I’d wake up, the kids would head to school and Cute W would head to work, I’d clean up the kitchen and check emails and respond to anything urgent for work, and then I’d head out to the JCC. Sigh. I liked that routine. Since staying home, I started out just sticking to my trusty fallback Workout Trainer app, which isn’t bad. I especially appreciated the oh-so-appropriate “Yoga for Anxiety” routine. But following along on my teensy phone was annoying, and I didn’t love having to decide which workout to do each day–it made it too easy to procrastinate or slack off. I also tried a couple of my usual JCC workouts that they put on Facebook Live, but it was a little depressing to do the usual when it wasn’t usual at all, anymore. And in general, I feel like most of the live-broadcast workouts I’ve tried have a bit too much explaining and patter and not quite enough pure working out.

Lucky for me, Cute W had obtained a whole set of Insanity CDs at some point, probably because it was an irresistible sale at the time. Since then, they’d been gathering dust on a shelf, just waiting for their time to shine. So! I have now gone through the whole 60-day workout and started over again. It’s good, and basic, and I like the trainer, Shaun T. Now, if you think that my body has transformed into a fabulously fit specimen, I’ll remind you that my last post mentioned our recent outing to get empanadas and ice cream. But, I have improved vastly on my “fit tests” that I do every couple of weeks, and really, the goal is always. . . oh my gosh, y’all, I went to look for the story to link to my goal, but is it possible that I never wrote about it here? I guess not.

Here’s the quick version: For spring break in 2018, we took a family trip to Spain. And during that family trip, we took a day trip to Toledo. And on that day trip to Toledo, our plan was to take the last train of the night out of Toledo to our home base apartment in Madrid. Except then we were having so much fun that we were running a little late. And then, after a bit of confusion, we were literally running to make the train. Running farther and longer than I wanted to run, making a spectacle of our American tourist selves. And my always-fit husband and track team daughters were kicking my ass, way up ahead, and I was panting and heaving and not even close to keeping up with them. This made me feel really quite tragically out of shape.

So, anyway, whenever I get done with an Insanity workout and I am gasping for breath and dripping sweat and the girls say, “Why are you choosing to do this?” I say it’s because I’m trying to keep up with them the next time we have to run to catch a train.

But I digress. The point is, I’ve been working out down in our basement (and I am deeply grateful that we fixed it up in time for the big shutdown). But lately, at just the moment when I’m about 30 or 40 minutes and really wanting to take a pause mid-workout, Ruth comes downstairs, meows at me significantly, and plops down in front of me so that I can serve my Life’s Purpose and pet her instead of working out.

Sometimes, my trainer Shaun T makes us stop to stretch, and when I’m standing in a straddle, Ruth likes to position herself and look at me expectantly.

She’s also found that a great technique to stop me from working out is to wait until I pause for a drink of water and then sit on my feet.

While I do appreciate the attention, it is not necessarily great for building the endurance I’ll need the next time I have to catch the last train out of town. On the other hand, since I don’t anticipate taking any trains anywhere in the foreseeable future, I will take the unsolicited affection when I can.