week 2 wrap up

I feel pleasantly sore today. Not too sore--I just feel my muscles when I do certain things. I wish there was a word a step less than sore to use....

I did cardio kickbox today. It was awesome! I took a friend to the class--my one free guest for January. I love that class because you can modify the difficulty by your energy level. I tend to punch and hop, bob and weave, and kick really high. Others tend to rock left to right throwing their punches. It's nice to know that the class will never get too easy or boring. I assume she changes the combinations every few weeks. There were a few of the same this week from the last--but it's hard to feel like you have it all memorized when you only do it an hour a week.

After the class, my friend and I hit the shower and then the steam room. The steam room is my new favorite relaxation technique! I felt so relaxed after spending about 15 minutes in there--not to worry, I had packed us some protein shakes to sip on in there. No dehydration here!

Oh, it gets better---after a nice steam, it only seems logical to put a face mask on. Oh yes, so we did. I brought in my green clay mask and we huddled in the corner for 10 minutes while it dried. I don't think people thought it was too weird, but we did get a lot of looks for being in our towels together. This was surprising to me--many women there walk around starkers, so what's the big deal about the two of us hanging out in our towels? Maybe people were opposed to us "hanging out" in the locker room. It can be tight quarters. Whatever. I pay for that steam room, lockerroom, classes, weights......maybe they were just sad they hadn't thought of it before!

I'm excited to head in to my third week of weight training. I think the only reason I feel sore today is because of the kettlebell squats I did after my circuits Thursday and Friday. I just did 3 sets of 12 with the 30lb bell. On Friday, I also wanted to see what it would be like to do real deep squats---since I'm now paranoid that I was supposed to be going way deeper all along. Wow--it makes a difference! I was definitely bending before, but my quads did not form a 90 degree angle with my calves. It's a lot harder to add weight to a squat like that. So--for practice, I did 4 sets of 12 with 65lbs.

Tomorrow is rest day! Good thing, too. It's nice to feel like I earn my rest day. Before when I mostly did long, steady cardio, I did NOT like to take those breaks.

Stay tuned for a post about the protein!