Ab-Work

Oh sure, I get on the Elliptical machine for 30 minutes, or spend time working on the upper body machines or the lower body machines...but I have Never used the Abdominal equipment at the gym. I hate sit ups. I always have. Even as a 140 pound "kid" at the CHP Academy doing PT every morning before the sun came up I hated sit ups. Friday I decided that I was tired of looking like I was in my third trimester, so I decided to try out the equipment that I had never even peeked at since I had joined the gym in the basement of the building I work in. I didn't do as bad as I thought. It was not easy or pretty, but I was putting in some effort. I felt pretty smug with my new-found determination to finally do what needed to be done.

Fast forward to Saturday morning in Taekwondo class.



Our instructor informs us that today we are working on our Core. We will also be working with a partner. Our partner is to stand over our head as we lay straight on the ground. We bring our legs straight up to past vertical, where our partners catch our feet and push them back towards the ground. Our feet are to Not touch the ground while we do this. Loads of fun to have a guy shove my feet towards the mat while I am bent in a 90 degree angle. The next task was to do crunches with our legs crossed and elevated while our partner held their body off the ground with their hands while their fully extended legs were being supported at their feet by our bellies. The final test of strength was to partner up four people, have them lay side by side with a staff (about the length of a pool cue) held by each of the four. This would force all of us to do sit ups in unison. To cap this torture off, they asked all of the waiting parents to watch us so they could judge us on our performance. Our team of four did not win Gold, Silver or even Bronze, but one "nice" old lady said that we deserved special consideration as a team because we were so supportive of each other. This is actually code for the Fat Guy in the middle slowed everyone down and they had to shout encouragement to coax every last ounce of strength I had left in me to struggle to a sitting position.

Lesson Learned: Do Not use the Ab Machines the day before a Saturday Taekwondo class.