Just went for a bike ride with Matt. It was hard. There were hills and cars and the insides of my chest started crunching like aluminum cans as I panted, “I think I’m having a heart attack.” Oh, and Matt taped a flashlight to the top of my helmet. I guess I should have opened this post with that more newsworthy detail. Yes, I RODE A BIKE WITH A FLASHLIGHT TAPED TO MY HELMET. Shut up. I hate you.
(Not you.)
I’ve been needing to get back into some, any exercise rhythm, but it’s hard because I never really found my thing. The Bar Method was promising. I loved it very much and felt that it was working, but it was crazy expensive. I just couldn’t keep shelling out $250 a month for exercise. When it came down to it, no matter how tranquil that beachside studio was and no matter how much positive reinforcement those pretty ladies gave me (”That’s it, Michelle,” “Nice work, Michelle,” “Great improvement, Michelle”), I knew deep inside that there had to be a way I could burn off my jiggling gut and afford new underwear. So I stopped.
Then there was running. That attempt went miraculously well as Alice and I would wake up at the butt-crack of dawn (OK, like 6) and circle around the high school track. We did this three times a week for six weeks. All the way up to the Mud Run. Then we high-fived after the race and never ran again. Then Alice moved away. Then I got blubbery.
Oh and before that, there was kickboxing, hip-hop DVDs, tennis, water aerobics, spin and yoga, but none of those worked out either.
So I have yet to find my thing. Maybe I’ll try running again, but seriously, it’s not that fun. Bike riding is kind of fun, but not really. Matt has a Wii Fit and that’s SUPER FUN, but he lives with his parents and it’s kind of awkward thrusting my pelvis at the TV screen (hula hoop game!) as his dad works on his laptop just a few feet away.
So what should I do? One thing I’m considering is not eating a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos and a Sausage McMuffin every day. Which may very well solve all of my problems.
12 responses so far ↓
1 DomestiGal Jen // Sep 11, 2008 at 2:55 am
Michelle, this is one of my favorite posts of yours! You are hilarious. “crunching like aluminum cans” = genius. We have all been there.
Sue and I have heeded your request! Tomorrow and Saturday we will be posting about our workouts, so hopefully you might try some of our moves. Seriously, I have never felt better than since I’ve been weight training. Like you, I tried it all (and even ran two marathons!) but have totally found weight training to be my favorite thing ever. This is partly due to my fab trainer but I really like going on my own - I get a kick out of lifting the same weights as the dudes at my gym.
So - stay tuned.
Also! I would love to have a Wii Fit. Hoping Santa drops one down our chimney this year. We have some Wii sports games and they are AWESOME and totally a good workout! So the Wii Fit must be beyond fab.
Keep us posted on your fitness quest…
2 julieann // Sep 11, 2008 at 8:51 am
HAHA… yeah… i did not go biking. i would have passed out!!! next time! …. and i opt out on wearing that flashlight ahhaha.. funny…
but wii fit is a good workout even just watching!
if ur awake, ur working out.
3 Big Sky Girl // Sep 11, 2008 at 10:07 am
awh, the flashlight. how… safe of you. :) i love it! the summer before my senior year of college, my best friend and I took up bike riding. Buuuut I had to give it up because my chubby little thighs rubbed against the bike seat and it was not fun at all. :( Now I’m a big fan of the elliptical and the bike at the gym. You’ve tried a LOT of different things — you’ll find your niche! Have you tried working out with music? Helps me a stay motivated if I have that driving beat in my head! :)
4 M in SF // Sep 11, 2008 at 7:42 pm
You took the words right out of my fingers…
5 di // Sep 12, 2008 at 9:34 am
What about taping the flashlight to the front of your bike instead of the helmet? Hilarious!
6 maggie // Sep 12, 2008 at 11:32 am
i do a totally embarrassing and demeaning DVD routine called The Firm. (picture Laura Linney in the Savages)
hey, it keeps me calmer and firms my butt.
7 m@ // Sep 12, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Let’s put things into perspective here. This was not a huge flashlight. This was a bright 5-light LED flashlight that is just larger than a roll of quarters. It is not a giant Mag-Lite.
Taping lights to the front of bikes is tricky when you have brake wires in the way. I thought these things through. It’s actually quite common to attach lights to biking helmets.
8 Alice // Sep 12, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Awww….I miss our 6am runs. You could always ride in circles on the track without a flashlight. If you fall, the track is rubbery.
9 Anika // Sep 13, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Brilliant use of the flashlight and helmet. I am quite curious, however, as to how you got it to stay attached. . .
10 Zandria // Sep 14, 2008 at 11:41 am
It very much sucks when you identify something you’d like to do but it costs too much money to continue it. What I’ve been doing is just taking different fitness classes as I find out about them (krav maga, strip aerobics, kettlebells), and interspersing that with running, walking, and biking. I might end up finding something that I want to do on a regular, continued basis, but right now I’m having fun testing out a lot of different things.
11 Jen H. // Sep 19, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Before I even reached the part about hula hooping at the TV, I decided to encourage you to hula hoop for some “exercise!” I’m a huge advocate of any sort of spinny, twirly, happy movement. Why not loose weight that way? I have yet to find a hula hoop to call my own, sadly. They are surprisingly difficult to find at sporting good stores!
12 Keep Up With Me // Nov 11, 2008 at 7:47 am
How Much Would You Pay to Be Fit?…
(This is cross-posted at BlogHer.)
I had a private kettlebell session back in September, which set me back $80 for one hour. The BOSU balance trainer I bought was another $80, and that was after using a coupon. The krav maga class was $20. My bicy…
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