Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Ow.

Today I worked out on my own for the first time, and I came home feeling defeated because I could only do about half of what I had done with the trainer. I wondered if it might be because he was not there encouraging me, but a better guess is that it's because I'm so fucking sore I can hardly move. Yesterday I woke up feeling like I got hit by a truck. This morning it felt like the truck put it in reverse and backed over me. Most of the pain is in my arms and shoulders and chest.

I almost didn't go to the gym today. Since I could hardly lift my backpack, I wondered if it would really be productive to try to lift weights. Finally I told myself to just go and do whatever I could do. I didn't want to skip a day so early in the program. (Besides, my backpack weighs about 3 times as much as any of the weights I'm lifting.) Most of the exercises that my trainer had me doing for 10 reps I could only do 6 or 8.

I found out that the gym is much less crowded at 1:30 than it is at 5, so I may start going early on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday I have a couple big gaps between classes, but I can't imagine going to class after the gym. I can't imagine doing much of anything after the gym. Honestly, I could barely work the computer to check my email when I got home. (I'm trying hard not to exaggerate, because that would be complaining, which I don't do any more.)

After I regained the partial use of my hands, I wrote my first paper! It's only a one-page paper, but it was exciting for me because it's the first in my second college career. It's called "Is That a Pen in Your Pocket?" It's a reaction paper to the Sandra Gilbert essay, "The Queen's Looking Glass," which is a pretty important piece of writing if you're a feminist literary scholar. Check it out.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool title for the paper....

Hope you feel better today. I think, from what you told me, that your trainer is on the right path. Very basic. I will go with you once you have gotten over the sore and can think beyond getting through.


Hasta luego.

Miguel

m00nchild said...

In my humble and not super successful experience at becoming semi-muscle bound there's about a 30day warm up period where exercise leaves you noticeably sore.

One thing you might try are amino acid supplements that provide your body with specific precursors for repairing damage.

I take: Alpha Lipoic Acid, L-Gluatimine, L-Carnitine, and N-acetyl Choline daily. I started taking them for my HIV infection as they help repair the stress that viral replication places on the body.

I noticed as a side benefit that my muscles stopped hurting as much after strenuous exercise.

You can get these supplements at any health food store or Whole Foods.