Blog 5

 For the first time in our experience with Results Fitness, Abbey and I decided to take a more hands-on approach to our learning by joining one of their workout classes, instead of our usual observing and note-taking routine. 

The class that aligned with the date we selected was a high-intensity training (HIT) class. Although we were aware of this fact, we didn’t realize how challenging it would be. Unlike the more frequent small group training classes, we stayed in the same area the entire time and followed the instructor for each exercise, which mostly lasted around 45 seconds. We did exercises such as side planks, regular planks, push-ups, combinations of push-ups and planks, and many others. I didn’t attempt to count the total number of push-ups we did, but I’m guessing it was over 50. After a certain point, it became such a struggle to keep up that I had to start modifying the workouts slightly, like doing push-ups on my knees, because I felt like my arms were on the verge of giving out. Something I noticed that helped me push through the pain was the motivation I got from working out alongside a group of people. There were six participants in our class, and I was directly next to this woman who I could tell put all of her effort into the exercises. As we were cleaning up our equipment and wiping down our areas at the end of the class, I even felt compelled to commend her on how she continued to do each complete exercise until the last second, even though much of the group had checked out at some point along the way. 

As painful as this all sounds, I would love to keep strengthening my muscles and work my way back up to doing this class again. It was definitely a humbling experience (considering that I already lift at the gym and do push-ups fairly frequently), but I feel more motivated than before to continue pushing myself in the gym because of the long way I still have to go.