I can normally get to the gym from my house in less than 10 minutes. I love that it’s so close, but its also extremely inconvenient because my gym is in one of the most popular parts of St. Louis. Today was an absolutely gorgeous July day. It was bright, sunny and breezy. Which means that everyone was outside and enjoying the sites. There was tons of traffic and no parking near the gym. All of the cars were circling like vultures, hunting for a parking spot, each minute ticking past, making me more and more irritated. I was super frustrated because today my session with my trainer was only 30 minutes. My Gym Cousin trains with him for the remaining half an hour. We share the sessions to save on the cost. I was so tempted to send my trainer a text saying that I wasn’t coming.
Although I felt relieved when I finally found a parking spot, I was so frustrated that I didn’t want to work out. I had driven around for nearly 15 minutes; half of my already short session was over. I decided not to let my annoyance be an excuse. I said to myself, Dan can give me a great work me out in 15 minutes, I know that he will come up with something. I jogged across the busy intersection, still sore from Monday’s Squat Fest. (I can squat with 135 pounds weights across my shoulders!)
I climbed the stairs and of course Dan was eagerly waiting for me at the front desk entrance to the gym. “Let’s go outside” he said. I thought to myself, “I just came from outside.” But, I didn’t complain, I just tried to keep up with his brisk walk. On the way out, I had flash backs to the last time he took me outside. He said “I have a surprise for you!” I was only excited for about two seconds before I realized that a “surprise” from him would not be a cupcake, movie tickets, a sexy single man or anything else I’d enjoy. I braced myself for his “surprise.” He walked over to the trunk of his car and he pulled out a 30 pound weighted vest. He helped me put on the vest and reminded me that I used to carry this much extra weight around everyday. It made me wonder how I did simple daily tasks like walking with all that weight. It made everything harder. We walked across the street, and I had to jog and do “suicide runs” down the neighborhood block.
Fortunately today, he left the torture vest in his car. He indicated Point A and Point B, about the length of a short block. Today’s mini session was all about cardio and running. I reminded him that I was still sore from Monday, and he said moving around was the best thing to help alleviate the soreness. He might be right, because I do feel even more sore after I sit at my desk at work for too long. I had to run full speed from Point A to Point B, take a 10 SECOND break and run from B to A. And repeat about ten times. He told me to run faster, “like someone is chasing you with a knife.” I did several more running-from-a-psycho speed sprints, and I was breathing heavy and pouring sweat within 5 minutes. Once I quasi caught my breath, I huffed, “I knew that you would come up with something, even with just 15 minutes.” “You still have 7 minutes,” he replied. I wondered how in the world were there still 7 minutes left when my lungs were on fire. He instructed me to jog to Point B, jog back to Point A and do 10 body weight squats. “You can squat lower than that” he reminded me after I attempted a lazy half squat. Last time I had to start the rep over because my squat wasn’t low enough and “didn’t count.” After 10 proper squats, I had to walk from Point A to B for my “break” and then repeat the cycle, jog, proper squat, and walk break. I was feeling grateful for the 10 seconds break I had grumbled about earlier. After what had to be the longest 7 minutes ever, I was finally done. Whew! I never underestimate him. Even if you don’t have a whole hour, or even a whole 30 minutes, do what you can in the time you have. It all counts!
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