The Plank...and Other Forms of Torture

Today was a Zumba day, but to switch it all up, I attended Zumba Toning Class. I walked in, confident. After all, I have Zumba'd before and I basically own the cumbia. Just sayin. But they were right, Pride Comes Before the Fall.

Workout: Zumba Toning
How I Felt During: I thought my arms and shoulders were going to die
Music: Lots of Spanish songs, and Mohombi's "Bang You"...classy.
How I Felt After: Glad it was over.

So, I attended Zumba on Tuesday at 7 and when I walked in I saw someone I recognized: Jenny Spencer. Backstory: Jenny and I met at my coworker's wedding. She and her roommate hosted the official after party and I vaguely remember her talking about how she taught Zumba (which should have been obvious by her killer dance moves on the floor). When I went on Tuesday, Jenny was just finishing her Zumba Toning class and I knew this would be my next class.

So today, I showed up for my 6:00 pm class at 6:09 looking like a champ and ready to rock this toning. It was a smaller class...full of a diverse array of health enthusiasts: all shapes, sizes, and ages. As Jenny handed me my "weights" (which are pictured below) I thought, these have no weight at all...but they make noise! I seriously considered picking up a set of 3 or 5 pound weights like the woman next to me.
So these 1.5 pound weights are filled with sand and shake like maracas. At first I was all over it. They felt great and they allow me to feel like I'm drinking margaritas and enticing foreign men, but after a couple of songs with my arms out or up, I began to realize that my shoulders were burning. Yep, Burn. They hurt like Hades and are primarily an evil torture device. Now, to those of you who may scoff: I have attended cross fit classes and I have attended boot camps, but these hurt just like something out of one of those classes. I guess I just wasn't expecting it. It would be like if you met a My Little Pony...and then it stepped on your foot and broke it. Unexpected pain.

To the woman next to me in Zumba Tone class: You go girl. I don't know how you survived with weights of 3-5 pounds. I commend you and the queen should have you knighted!

The steps were a little trickier tonight than they were in the regular Zumba class, but it may have been that I was in a little more pain tonight and thus wasn't paying as much attention to what I was supposed to be doing. It doesn't matter though: a quick glance around the room put me back in my "I'm in this with everyone else" mentality!

At the end of the class, we got out yoga mats and did some ab/core work. I think during the middle ages, they would have done a lot better to just get people into the plank position and force them to hold it. This may be gross to admit, but I literally drip sweat in the plank position. Literally. I may have even given up a little tonight. I took a small break. For you work out neophytes this is the plank:
Important to keep your body in a line. It hurts. Really.

So, between lunges and planks and holding my arms up while holding weights and shaking my bon bon, I think I'm going to sleep well tonight. Tomorrow's run should be interesting. Night!