Losing it, part II

My how time flies.

Just when the bottom of my feet started to feel normal again, it was time to pick the second class to audit in my “I Lost It At The Club” journey. I eyed the schedules and strongly considered a class on Friday at 4:15 p.m., but I was urged to attend the Wednesday class with the same trainer. I was told I would get more out of it.

They were not kidding.

Wednesdays at 2:15 p.m. at the World Gym on Georgia Hwy. 54, the Little Debbies meet. Led by personal trainer Debbie Stubbs, the class mainly includes several older women (older than me anyway at 34) which shamed me to no end when, well, I’ll get to that later.

Debbie was excited to have me attend her class and introduced me around the room. She then had one of the team members walk me around the circuit for that day’s class, while she got everybody else ready to go. This one student had worked with Debbie one on one for awhile and had already lost 80 pounds. She was definitely the professional of the class, knowing how to do each item on the list and how to do it properly.

The circuit started for me on the jump rope and I was off and jumping, adding 25 more jumps to give the person at the station ahead of me some more time. My overzealousness would later get the best of me. After using the jump rope, I moved on to bench press, lunges, bicep curls, duck walks and push-ups.

My push-ups are horrendous. I did a few of them correctly but soon had to move to my knees and do “girl push-ups.” By the end of the class, when my arms felt like wet noodles, the push-ups were even worse. Luckily, push-ups ended, but they were followed by jumping jacks and much, much more. Just prior to finishing the circuit, Debbie handed out a number of playing cards to everyone for a little game I soon dubbed “pain poker.”
Each suit in “pain poker” represents an exercise. For instance, clubs were crunches and diamonds were push-ups. Face cards were good for 20 jumping jacks and Aces were good for 10 second breaks. We got a few Aces (thank God) but we also pulled several face cards in a row. Nothing like doing 60-80 jumping jacks after some push-ups and crunches.

Eventually we finished with “pain poker” and moved outside for a leisurely jog around the parking lot. After one lap, Debbie handed me two weights (one for each hand) and had me keep moving. The exhaustion was starting to set in something fierce and when the call came for lunges with the weights, my body started to really tire out. We probably hadn’t run a mile all together with all the activity in class, but I felt like those people who collapse at the end of a marathon.

It was time to do some cool down stretches and when I laid back to stretch my legs, the soup I had for lunch (Southwestern - bad idea) threatened to come back up. Class for me was over and I hit the showers.

Maybe I was pushing myself harder than some of my classmates, but falling apart and almost throwing up at the end really illustrated how out of shape I am and how desperately I need a program like this to kick me into gear.

I have stayed active since the first class, changed my diet (Cheerios for breakfast - veggie heavy lunches, sensible dinners and little to snacking at night) and (so far) it has worked. I lost two pounds from class one to class two (216-214) and my hollering muscles are proof that something is happening to me. A class like Debbie’s could have made me feel miserable - weak as I struggled to keep going - but Debbie, and Linda the week before, keep the focus on the future. They kept telling me that at the end of the eight weeks, I would be able to do the things I was struggling to do now. I am looking forward to that day and I know the people I have met in the program are looking forward to it as well.

For more information about World Gym and their locations in Fayette County, visit www.worldgymfayette.com