Mission: 6-Pack Abs

I started doing weights last Saturday. Legs and back. Pretty basic stuff, but boy, my muscles sure hurt like hell now. Especially my calves. I don’t know why. I worked out my thighs just as hard, but it’s my calves that are complaining. I can’t even walk straight.

Today I did upper body workouts, but mostly shoulders only. I don’t feel the painful effects yet, but tomorrow they’re sure to come out.

It was frustrating because I’d wanted to do fast-paced aerobics today — I think I can handle it already now. But, they only had yoga when I was at the gym. They were going to have something more lively but I couldn’t wait. So I just did 20 minutes on the treadmill, running at a brisk clip most of the way.

It’s exhilarating to find out that, after almost 2 years of being nearly sedentary, my body is indeed responding right away. Pain, mostly. Seriously, I feel like I’m back on track already, after only a week of warming up. When I jog on the machine, my heart maxes at 142 bpm, and I don’t lose my breath trying. Actually I could’ve done more than 30 minutes this afternoon, but my calves were already shrieking murder by the time I reached the 20-minute mark. (Besides, gym rules say you can only use a machine for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

This week I’ll just lift 10- and 15-pound weights. Never mind if I look like a newbie among the body-builders around me! It’s not my objective to be as big and muscled as they are anyway. Then next week I’ll probably do heavier stuff.

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