It Was Amazing!

Those of you who know me or my physical prowess (or lack of same), know that I go to a gym these days. It is an interesting time for me. I find out my limits, my abilities and my lack of coordination all while paying someone who, patiently I must add, encourages me while I puff and pant. We have done some exercises that I had never done before, like grabbing an enormous python-like rope and slapping it on the ground and even kicking a standing pillar of gym mat (oddly satisfying). Of course there are the exercises that I gave up on, too, like sit ups or lunges. All of these things are good for me to do, else I would sit in a gelatinous mess on a chair, reading yet another book.

The thing is, there are certain things I have never been able to do, like cartwheels. They look fun, but my legs would never straighten when going over, so I resembled a crab rolling on the sand in gym class. And I could never do a chin up. For love or money, though no one offered me money. The physical strength needed to pull myself up just plain wasn't there. So when my lovely, patient trainer suggested a kind of chin up today, I thought she'd finally gone 'round the bend. "A chin-up?" She nodded her head, she made encouraging noises and then she showed me what she had in mind.

There is a piece of equipment in the gym which has two vertical uprights, weights in back of them and other instruments of torture attached to the top of the uprights. She showed me a piece of webbed strap connected to the uprights and weights. If you asked me exactly how it worked I wouldn't have any idea, but the trainer had me step on the strap and essentially hang down while holding the horizontal bar. She told me to pull up towards the bar and VOILA I did a chin up! For the first time in my 59 years, I did a chin up! It was amazing. I was so excited and happy! And honestly that isn't how I frequently respond to my workouts. But I have to say, if she offers this to me again, I will definitely try it again. It was amazing!